Later this year, Queen Elizabeth II will have been on the throne of the United Kingdom for fifty years, and will be celebrating her Golden Jubilee. Over the last fifty years, she will have seen more change than any other monarch, not only technologically and environmentally, but mentally as well. In other words, she will have seen a change in the way people think.

When the Queen came to the throne in 1952, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world was just recovering from the Second World War. Spirits were higher than they had been for the last fifteen years, and finally it seemed that, with a few exceptions, things were back to normal. As the monarch, the Queen was seen with an almost God-like persona -- she was revered, empowered and loved by all. Anyone that was seen to even suggest that she had flaws was practically excommunicated. This was true for the whole of the royal family as well.

Somehow, over the last fifty years, this has changed. We cannot open the tabloids, or even the more respectable broadsheets, without reading about how Prince Edward has been involved in some sort of scandal, or how the current King, Prince Phillip, has been caught making racist or abusive statements as if he had an advanced case of Tourette's Syndrome. Even the Queen cannot escape the barrage of media hype and tension, being accused of being as useful as a chocolate teapot (although the tabloids haven't used this simile yet, it's a matter of time).

This isn't just a new development. In 1977, to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the Sex Pistols released the song "God Save The Queen". To give you a taste of the lyrics, they went "God Save the Queen / the fascist regime / they made you a moron / potential H-Bomb". As you can see, they weren't that happy about the monarchy either. This song would have got to number one in the charts the same week as the Jubilee, but the powers-that-be fiddled around with the charts to such an extent that they only got to number two in the charts, citing that if it had got to number one it would have been a "complete disaster".

Unsurprisingly, "God Save The Queen" is going to be re-released this year -- and the powers-that-be, apparently, aren't going to do a single thing about it. Whether this is ignorance, apathy or cowardice I have no idea, but it seems that the Queen is going to have to like it or lump it.

Within the next week, the Queen is going to be coming to my hometown for an official visit. Fifty years ago everyone in the city and surrounding countryside would be celebrating that such an important figure will be coming to the city, and along the path of the official visit the people would be lining the course screaming and waving flags. Nowadays the public would only reserve such feverous rapture and applause for disposable pop groups and soap stars. The Queen will get a ten-minute piece on the local news, and that will be that. Within a few days, it will all be forgotten.

Personally, I don't care one way or the other whether we have a monarchy or not. I expect that I'm in the majority. However, it would be such a shame to see a family so embroiled in history and majesty to fall by the wayside without so much as a "Nice to know you, ta-ta for now" -- which is what looks like happening.

I know how much the rest of the world likes the monarchy (excepting some of the commonwealth states, of course) -- and how they are seen as kitsch, quirky, eccentric and even downright mad. That's OK with me, because they are kitsch, quirky, eccentric and downright mad. And that's the way we like them.

Chris("That was a party political broadcast on behalf of the Flawed Argument Party")topher