OPINION: Constitutional monarchy – could it be a Jewish invention?
The academic Vernon Bogdanor discusses how Jews have long sought a monarch that 'reigns but does not rule'
Perhaps constitutional monarchy – a system in which the king reigns but does not rule – is a Jewish invention.
In biblical times, after being defeated by the Philistines, the ancient Jewish tribes asked to be “like other nations” and to be given a king.
But the king’s powers were limited by the Mosaic laws; and, according to 2 Kings, monarchs who infringed these laws such as Queen Jezebel or Queen Athaliah of Judah were to be overthrown.
The British monarchy, however, is associated with Christianity.
In England and in Scotland, although not in Wales or Northern Ireland, there are established churches – in England, the Church of England, of which the King is the Supreme Governor.
But of course there is also complete religious freedom in Britain, now guaranteed by the 1998 Human Rights Act. And an established church has proved perfectly compatible with respect and support for other religions.
Speaking at Lambeth Palace in February 2016, the Queen declared: “The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood — its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country”.
The Prince of Wales declared in 1994 that, when he becomes king, he would prefer to be thought of not as “Defender of the Faith” but as “Defender of Faiths”.
The late Queen, and the new King as Prince of Wales, always showed great interest in the Jewish community, and in particular in Holocaust survivors.
The King’s grandmother is buried at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and commemorated as one of the righteous among the nations for protecting a Jewish family in Greece during the war; and earlier this year, the king commissioned portraits of seven Holocaust survivors to be displayed in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
“In every walk of life, in every field of endeavour,” he said in 2019, “our nation could have had no more generous citizens, and no more faithful friends,” than its Jewish citizens.
Admittedly Queen Elizabeth, although she visited around 120 countries, never went to Israel. That, however, would have been the result of government advice, and in particular Foreign Office advice, fearful of offending 22 Arab states.
But Arab hostility to Israel has now greatly diminished following the Abraham Accords and de facto peace with most other Arab states. And both the new king and the new Prince of Wales made official visits to Israel in 2020 and 2018 respectively.
Over the past week, we have been reminded of the great advantage of constitutional monarchy, that it makes the transition from one head of state to another seamless.
Charles III succeeded Elizabeth II immediately upon her death and there could be no dispute about the succession. The king can therefore represent the whole nation, rather than just a section of it.
In a presidential system, by contrast, the head of state is the product of an election and so represents just a section of the nation. We all say God save the King. Not all Americans say God save President Biden!
Our politicians symbolise the divisions in our society. The monarch by contrast symbolises our underlying unity and so contributes to that stability which Jews so value.
The Times columnist, Daniel Finkelstein, declares that his grandmother, who had been in Stalin’s Gulag, used to say, “As long as the Queen is safe in Buckingham Palace, I’m safe in Hendon Central!”
So the Jewish community, together with other minority communities, can look forward with confidence to the reign of Charles III.
Vernon Bogdanor is Professor of Government, King’s College London. His books include `The Monarchy and the Constitution’.
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