Letter to The Editor - Its fun to make fun of royal persons and the institution itself. However...

To The Age          In his elegant and eloquent musings about royalty and crowns ("Irrelevant yet significant, monarchies endure", 27/11) Dennis Altman states that monarchies are "deeply antithetic to democratic principles", but is this really so? It depends how you view the very idea of democracy. This does not necessarily mean equality or "one person, one vote". It can also mean rule with which the people are happy because it is in consonance with human nature and the variety of characters found among human persons and communities, some vastly more gifted than others. An aristocracy without universal franchise could fit the bill, but not a money-based oligarchy. Its fun to make fun of royal persons and the institution itself, whether in Australia or Id. However, at the heart of monarchy are serious values conducive to human welfare to which Altman does not do adequate justice: sacred truth, human dignity, chivalry and ceremonial beauty. Nor is it true that "few of us take much notice" of our ongoing homage to the Queen.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic