Britain has survived royal scandals before, but the Crown’s days in Canada are fading

The former Prince Andrew’s arrest is the first time a member of the royal family has been arrested in almost four centuries. And things didn’t end well for the previous arrestee: Charles I was beheaded in January 1649 and the monarchy was abolished. However, this republican experiment didn’t quite suit the English temperament, so the monarchy was restored in 1660.

The dispute with Charles was about much weightier matters than Andrew’s situation.

Charles was a Stuart. The Stuarts believed in the divine right of kings at a time when the English were developing a fancy for domesticating their monarchs.

The Stuart view was simple: if a king’s power came directly from God, it shouldn’t be circumscribed by mortal entities such as parliaments. However, sentiment in England was shifting in a different direction.

Buckingham Palace Image courtesy Sung Shin

King Charles is a 21st century monarch for Canada

What is the monarchy’s future in Canada?

Hereditary empires and the struggle with modernity

When the Stuarts were restored in 1660, Charles II was mindful of his father’s fate and thus kept his throne. But his brother and successor—James II—was a man with two problems.

He was a Catholic in a Protestant country in an age when Europeans took religion very seriously and it was normal for ruler and people to share the same religion. And with the birth of a male heir in 1688, the prospect of a........

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