He mirrors only himself, since few people run Aston Martins on wine and cheese by-products and wear handmade shoes. He has fashioned two new crowns and bought two new thrones, and he will crown Camilla, the woman his first wife, Diana, hated, as queen. Her approval rating upon her death was 80 percent. She also appeared reluctant, so we were grateful and felt sorry for her. Elizabeth II was all but silent - we did not know who she was - which made her a screen onto which certain ideals (stoicism, modesty, decency) could be projected. They can do little when monarchy is popular, and a popular monarch does two things: They plausibly mirror the country and pretend they do not want the job.

Republicans have long been a beleaguered minority - intellectuals, dissenters, punks, people who do not vote for the ruling Conservative Party. The Guardian reports that the Home Office has sent letters to Republic warning the group that new rules have taken effect ahead of Charles’s coronation day on May 6 to prevent “disruption.” Protesters could face prison sentences of up to a year for blocking roads and up to six months for locking arms, and are subject to search if suspected of sowing “chaos.” Smith said the letter was “very odd.” This is not the sort of thing a robust democracy does. In Oxford, Symon Hill, a history tutor, shouted, “Who elected him?” and was charged with disorderly behavior. At the proclamation of King Charles in Edinburgh last September, a woman held up a sign that read, “Fuck Imperialism, Abolish Monarchy” and was promptly arrested. There are signs, though, that all this is starting to change. When it is, people are curious, like children who have never seen snow. As an institution, the crown is rarely criticized publicly. Monarchy is sold by the British press as a blend of sacred ritual and cheap soap opera. They seem surprised to find news cameras there. Two weeks before the coronation of Charles III, 70 people gather to listen to Graham Smith, the CEO of Republic, and the progressive journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Republic, the group that wants to abolish the British monarchy, meets in a modern church in an ugly suburb of London, as if to make a point.

Royal Charles by Antonia Fraser