Yes, Ma’am

Less than four months away from her Diamond Jubilee — only the second in history — we still tend to forget that we have the oldest monarch (85) and oldest consort (90) in history. We see a monarch who is reassuringly unchanged — and unchanging — in an uncertain world. It is an integral part of her appeal, at home and overseas. In Australia right now, the republican tide is out. Invited to field a ‘royal’ phone-in on national Australian radio earlier this week, I was struck by the consistent level of affection for the Queen. In half an hour, I encountered only one and a half republicans. It could have been Radio Royal Berkshire.

Yet what lies at the root of the Queen’s enduring popularity is not her small-c conservatism. It is, actually, quite the opposite. It is the fact that she has steered the monarchy through more change in the last 25 years than her predecessors managed in the previous century.