Royals – and, for that matter, all aristocrats – are supposed to have money, not to make money. If they do, they inevitably embark on the slippery slope.
Doug Saunders reported in last Saturday’s Globe and Mail that Prince Charles was so unpopular that parliament may decide to skip him when the time comes and anoint his son, Prince William, instead. One of the reasons, Saunders implied, was that Charles was the owner of a $50 million business empire.
No doubt the proceeds of this empire are to be devoted to the many causes close to the prince’s heart – “green” causes, charitable causes and, presumably, architectural causes. No one expects him to take any normal capitalist delight in profits. However, money is money and, though it is proverbially “fungible,” royalty is not supposed to make any.
One’s heart goes out to the prince. What is he supposed to do with his time? His great grandfather Edward VII, while waiting for the throne, spent it womanizing. Let us not think of that subject in connection with Charles. Edward VII never made any money, for any cause, except at the races and playing cards. Perhaps that is why he became one of the most popular monarchs England has ever had. Nor did Charles’ great uncle, Edward VIII, make money while being the fashion model of the world and setting the scene for the Abdication. Making money is a sordid occupation reserved for commoners. It is incompatible with the mystery that is supposed to imbue the crown.
The job of being heir to the throne is a lose–lose proposition anyway. Think of Prince Hal, wasting his time with Falstaff until the great moment arrived when he became Henry V. Think of the last dauphin, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Who knows how he spent his time while waiting for the succession and/or the guillotine?
Charles may be well advised to yield the throne to his son, William, and to devote himself happily to making money, for any – even for the most sordid –capitalist cause.
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
You are right – no one in a Guardian position (rulers, magistrates, police, government officials, armed forces, etc. – is supposed to muck in with the Traders. Commercial activity for them is strictly forbidden and for obvious reasons – they must not be on the take (think bribes, market manipulation, and other forms of corruption). On the other hand, they are expected to dispense largesse from their wealth. It may seem a bit old-fashioned but imagine if Bush and his cronies had not had such extensive interests in the oil industry – his public policies might well have served his country better.
Very true.
But there is also something else: feudal lords are not supposed to work.
Indeed — anyone in a position that requires defence of territory (kings, feudal lords, Samurai warriers, etc., etc., is not permitted commercial activity. The legal system in the UK maintains a strict separation between Barristers who argue their cases in court and Solicitors who collect the fees (and then pass on the correct portion to the Barrister’s clerk who then remunerates him or her. The Rumpole series was very exacting on this point — poor Rumpole had clients who had not paid for years and years, and yet he had no recourse other than to go through the Solicitor engaged in he case.
The most thorough examination of these differing societal roles and the values esteemed by each is given in Jane Jacobs’ Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics — or something like that. Her arguments are very convincing that these competing value systems serve important purposes (like avoiding corruption) and she give examples from around the world and throughout history. The dialogue format is a bit stilted, but the ideas are not.
Carol
After a Cambridge boat-race dinner some years ago where I met John David Eaton, I resolved that next time I would not sit at the same table with him because he was in trade.
I suppose the vagaries of the department store business have made his descendants more suitable table companions for you?
I have entered a new phase. I am all-forgiving. When I sup with the devil I simply use a long spoon.