This article got me thinking that the English were certainly better off when their monarchy had more power. Once the crown became merely a figure head, the British became a pale version of their former selves. I am sure I am oversimplifying their history but having had a monarchy for centuries had to do something to the English character. I would think that that character is one which responds to a monarchy; this is proven by the continuance of one even in symbolic form. I feel this way as well about all of those countries that gained their independence after World War 2 and to this day are impoverished and war torn. They certainly were in a better state when Britain was an Empire. Democracy and Republican values are not for every one. America was built by people who embodied those values which is why America works as a democratic society. My ancestors were the kind of people who were willing to brave a long ocean voyage and come to a new world, knowing no one in order to start a new life. That story is retold millions of times in the history of countless American families. But it was because those immigrants had a certain sense of adventure and independence that they were set apart from others in their former countries. I know it is too late for England to reclaim its former grandeur but they might want to ponder what brought them to that greatness in a world they once ruled.
I’ve often thought of that myself. I think what they did was to keep their “serf” mentality when power transferred from the monarchy to the PM and Parliament. The lower classes were used to being “kept” by the state. The independence-spirited Englishmen went to America.