New Book Criticises Public View Of Royal Family

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29983, 19 November 1962, Page 15

New Book Criticises Public View Of Royal Family

(N2.Put.-R*ut«r-CopvrioM)

LONDON, Nov. 17. Britons regard Ute Royal family as “stained glass

saints offering themselves as scapegoats for all the squalid sins of their people." Hiis is the picture painted by the British author, critic and former diplomat, Sir Harald Nicolson in his book "Monarchy." The book, published today, is a study of the various forms of kingship throughout the ages. It traces its development* from the primitive priestking to modern constitutional monarchies. The biggest problem of kingship today is the question of publicity, Sir Harold Nicolson says. The British sovereign, symbol of th* State and head of the Church of England must observe the highest moral code.

The private lives of the Royal family are expected to be patterns of perfect domesticity. “It would be a shock to the British people if their scapegoat lert them down,” he writes.

Too much publicity would strain the essential mystery of the Crown, even its dignity. But too little would be regarded as undemocratic and would make the gulf between the sovereign and the ordinary subject an “unfor-

tunabe barrior* 9 rathor thao • nsoesotty of sigregstinn. “The real personality of monarch* i* seldom revealed to their people* until many years after their deaths,'' Sir Harold Nicolson says. "Few British subject* ar* aware that Queen Elizabeth II is a woman of exceptionally strong character and high intelligence." They realised rtte and her husband were hard-working and possessed a strong sense of duty.

But they had Uttl* ides of what they were really like.