The abdication of Queen Margrethe of Denmark in favour of her son Frederik is a sign of a sensible constitutional monarchy. The 82-year-old queen felt “time was running out and the ills were increasing”. It was best to hand over now. In this, Margrethe follows the abdication over the past decade or so of monarchs in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. It is now being pressed on the 77-year-old Carl Gustaf of Sweden.
Heredity is an indefensible basis for the holding of high office. It survives only in the direst of dictatorships and the most liberal of democracies. Of course, in democracies it is impotent, merely embodying in one person the ceremonial functions of a monarchical head of state. Its mystique survives simply by remaining popular.
