As hereditary an authority as
one could summon to mind, on
the dual risks of removal
from office - for an oddity
of the head, or for simply
having one attached to one's
neck - her perplexity with a
system of popular government
was incurable, especially in
view of who'd determine that.
These are trying moments,
and it seems to me a
defect in our much-famed
constitution to have to
part with an admirable
government like Lord Sal-
isbury's for no question
of any importance, or any
particular reason, merely
on account of the number
of votes.
To whose predicament is Her
Majesty's aperçu now more
applicable, than those to
whom the burden falls, of
tidying up the government
of the United States, from
the top? Far from querying
the prohibitive immensity
of his popularity, the jan-
itors need merely to act on
the oddity or the existence
of his head. All else is
bound to fall into place,
without all this unseemli-
ness of constitutionality.
No stranger to internation-
al treachery in the miscon-
duct of states, Her Majesty
clarified entirely how to
adjust to such interventions.
John Julius Norwich
More Christmas Crackers
Citing Peter Vansittart
In Memory of England
Viking, 1990©
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