Unofficial Royalty

Monarchy in Britain is many hundreds of years old. In England, the precursors of the modern monarchy arrived with Anglo-Saxon invaders during the fifth century, soon after the departure of the Romans. Crowned leaders have been with us ever since, with the brief exception of the republican Commonwealth from 1649 to 1660. The institution of monarchy pre-dates all other surviving institutions, including the church, courts and counties.

It is hardly surprising, then, that reminders of monarchy have seeped into almost every aspect of life in Britain. Is it possible to avoid them? Let's see. You get out of bed in the morning, go into the kitchen, get the breakfast cereal out of the cupboard, and you've failed! There, on the side of your Cornflakes packet, is the full royal coat of arms accompanied by the words "By appointment to HM The Queen .". The kitchen cupboards will be full of products bearing this testament to royalty, in some cases with a double or treble dose - in addition to the Queen, you see "by appointment" to Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales.

Oh well, we have to eat, but after that, can we avoid all things royal? As you munch your breakfast, the mail arrives (if you're lucky, in these days of only one-delivery-per-day anytime-during-the-day). Some of the letters have business pre-paid envelopes, but there are one or two personal letters with old fashioned stick-on stamps. And there's encounter number two with Her Majesty. On ordinary stamps, there will be nothing but the Queen's head and the value of the stamp. Commemorative stamps will be dominated by a picture of whatever is being commemorated, but Her Majesty will still be there, in silhouette in the corner. When Tony Benn was Postmaster-General in the 1960s, he enthusiastically supported new commemorative stamp designs which dispensed with the royal effigy, but the Queen expressed her wish that her picture should remain, and so it has. However small and insignificant she may appear, she has never failed to appear on any of the many billions of stamps produced by the Post Office since 1952.

You're dressed now. Time to pop out and buy a newspaper. The newsagent is just around the corner past the post box. There's Her Majesty again, this time in the form of the crowned initials "E II R" (Elizabeth II Regina). The first "Master of the Posts" was appointed by Henry VIII in 1516, and the General Post Office was established by Charles II in 1660. Although the Post Office has been a government-owned private company since 1969, it's delivery arm (Royal Mail) still uses the "Royal" name and crown in its logo. Post boxes carrying the Royal Cipher were introduced in Britain in 1865, and some from previous reigns are still in use.

Onward from the post box we go, past the local pub. Which pub? The Royal Oak, of course! It could have been The Queen's Head, or The King's Arms, or the Rose & Crown, Queen Vic, Prince of Wales, Duke of York there are dozens of royal or royal-related pub names. Despite that, the Queen's first official visit to a real pub, in 2002, was to the non-royally named Bridge Inn, in Topsham, Devon (it's well worth a visit!).

So you get to the newsagent's. At least one of the papers is probably carrying a royal story on its front page, and one or two carry a version of the royal coat of arms on their masthead (the eighteenth century arms, in the case of The Times). Time to pay - and out of your pocket comes the commonest and most widespread reminder of royalty in the realm, not only today, but throughout the history of the kingdom. Every coin you spend carries a depiction of Queen Elizabeth II, just as they carried images of her forefathers back to Saxon times, and beyond that to the Roman emperors. We're on to our fourth image of the Queen now - it has been changed over the years to reflect her advancing age. Because of decimalisation and subsequent coinage changes, Elizabeth II is the only monarch to appear on regularly-circulating coins. As on stamps, our coins do not bear any indication of their nationality apart from the Queen's picture. This is an innovation of the present reign : all coins before 1953 bore some reference to Britain or its predecessor kingdoms.

If you're short of change, you'll probably dig out some paper money, and there is HM again, pictured on the front of every Bank of England note. Opponents of the introduction of the euro used "losing the Queen's head on our money" as an emotive campaign issue, as though, somehow, it is an essential part of British sovereignty! The reality is that the monarch has only appeared on Bank of England notes since 1960, although some previous monarchs did appear on notes from some other issuing agencies (e.g. George V on 10 shilling and 1 Treasury notes between 1914 and 1928).

When you've got your paper, you can head home. Unless you're on a private road, you're walking along the Queen's highway, which might well be called King's Road, Queen Street or Coronation Avenue. The old local secondary school you pass may be King Edward or Queen Elizabeth School, named after the Tudor monarchs who endowed many educational institutions. A police car passes, and on it's side is painted the force's badge, in which the royal crown is prominent. They are there to keep the Queen's peace.

It's only 8:30am, and already you have encountered signs of monarchy everywhere. The crown is almost powerless in this modern democratic age, but, still, it evokes a sense of history, continuity and national identity. It warms the heart, makes you proud to be British, as you return to your home, your "Englishman's castle". Now, what was that brown-enveloped letter which arrived this morning? Oh. A tax demand from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs!

- Paul James
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it