You might wonder why I call such an event offensive. Here are some statistics and thoughts.
By contrast, the new royal baby can expect to live in a family worth millions, and will likely never want for anything. Of course, there are plenty of families richer than the families of those children living in poverty, and people rarely complain about those. However, these families are generally not fawned over by the media at every opportunity. These families are not supported by taxpayer's cash. These families (or at least hopefully a significant proportion of them) will have earned their wealth in some way, shape, or form, and will not have gained significant wealth simply through the act of being born. In a country where so many people live in poverty, and when over 2,000 children are born every day, is it morally correct to lavish praise on one particular family having a child?
As you may have gathered by now, I'm not in favour of the monarchy. I think it is an out-dated institution which negatively shapes our ideological beliefs. Today's celebration of one child being born highlights this. Arguments for the monarchy tend to verge towards the economic. People will say that the monarchy brings in tourism. Having read some data from Visit Britain, this is unlikely to be the case. While some tourists state that visiting London has links to royalty, they come for the buildings not the people. Funnily enough, if the monarchy was abolished, these buildings would likely become more accessible (would we then see an increase in tourism? It's something to consider). Staying on the tourism theme, think about your last trip to London. Why did you go? Was it to see Elizabeth? Or was it to see the numerous museums, galleries, and historic sites? Think about your last holiday abroad? Did you narrow down your choices by whether the country had an active monarchy or not? Speaking for myself, last year I went to Paris, and visited the Palace of Versailles. It was packed full of tourists, and I for one enjoyed the day without ever once thinking 'Hmm, I wish this place had a King or Queen still'.
The monarchy costs a huge amount of money every year. Although there are claims of 'it's only 56p per year!' this is 56p none of us have had the choice of paying. Why should we pay money to a family that has over £14,000,000 in assets? When many families have to choose between heating their homes and eating, why should we accept a family whose annual utility bills are £1.9 million (why should we pay this bill?!)? However little it costs us per person, we should not be sending more money to a family who already has wealth and status while there are others starving on our doorsteps.
Furthermore, the royal baby is being born in an expensive private wing, while our NHS is crumbling. I see no reason why this child can't be born in a regular hospital, like many of the others being born today. The doctors, nurses, midwives, and all the other hospital staff will do the best job they can, irrespective of whether someone has paid £7,000 per night to be in the hospital. To suggest Kate is somehow above the usual, excellent care provided in a normal hospital is ridiculous.
Aside from the monetary arguments, the monarchy has too much of an ideological grip over us. Our national anthem (although not official) is about a single person - the Queen. Indeed, the British people are only mentioned as subjects long to be ruled over (or those rebellious Scots!). I don't remember asking for anyone to rule over me! I certainly don't consider myself a subject. The fact that the royal family are held up as somehow more important than anyone else is obscene. A recent article in the Guardian around the time of Richard III's reburial summed it up beautifully:
"It’s comical, but tragic too, as a reminder of the indignity the British accept in their accustomed role as subjects, not citizens. ... The one benefit of a supremely privileged family is to prove, once and for all, that talent and brains are randomly assigned. Forget a super-race, this royal selective breeding with the very best education and top university tutors has produced the least intellectually curious, least artistic, dullest bunch of polo-playing, hunting, shooting, fishing dullards you could hope not to meet. But then their adherents praise their very “ordinariness” as a quality."
In my view, the people who contribute most to British society aren't those born to one wealthy family with luck on their side. Instead, they are the doctors, nurses, cleaners, scientists, engineers, and carers, along with every other ordinary individual working towards making their life just a little bit better in some way. The real tragedy is that these people aren't celebrated as much as the monarchy. We are perceived as somehow inferior. Why? We were all created and born in more or less the same way as the monarchy. Although, my surname is Gallagher - apparently the name of the most senior families in Ireland in the 14th century. My birth wasn't hailed in the media, despite such potential high status. The birth of British Nobel Laureates (of which there are many) hasn't been heralded by news report. The birth of all those ordinary people who work to make the world a better place isn't covered by rolling news, and nor should the birth of Kate's child today. Every one of the babies born on the 2nd of May 2015 has the chance to contribute something amazing to society. Maybe one will become our prime minister. Maybe another will find a cure for cancer, or Alzheimer's Disease. One might work tirelessly as a nurse, or a midwife, helping other women bring inspirational people into the world. Why aren't these children celebrated just as much?
Everyone alive on the planet today has descended from families throughout history, and back through species until you reach the first single-celled organism. That's quite amazing. Why then, is one baby being held up to such adoration? It's senseless. Today, I'm sure everyone wishes Kate well. However, I also wish well the 2,000+ other women who are giving birth today. I also wish well anyone adopting a child today. I wish well the 3.5 million children in poverty, the 1 million visiting the food banks. Although the coverage will only be on the royal baby, these people aren't any less important, and our society will only progress when we recognise that everyone should be born equal and have just as many chances to succeed as anyone else.
Please visit these links.
https://republic.org.uk/
http://www.cpag.org.uk/
On a lighter note, have this Monty Python video, summing everything up nicely.
