Why Queen Elizabeth II Stayed Silent The Role of the Monarchy During the BLM Protests

The years 2020 to 2021 were marked by the pandemic mandates, as well as the BLM protests throughout the world, including in the UK.

In 2021, the situation escalated between the government, the police, and a section of the public. Buckingham Palace was urged to make a public statement on the issue.

However, the Queen skillfully stayed out of it and did not comment. Despite pressure from the press and public opinion, she remained on the sidelines and let the government work out its problems with public opinion.

Why?

In a constitutional Monarchy like the UK, the Monarch is the head of State but the Prime minister is the head of the government.

The Job of the Royals is to unify Great Britain and promote the best of its culture on the world stage. So they have historically remained Apolitical.

In contrast, the job of The PM is to deal with the politics and run the government. So he is in charge of dealing with Riots and protests.

LATEST ROYAL NEWS:

Riots by themselves mean multiple views are political and that causes a discord between the Monarch’s people and the Monarch’s government.

Therefore as Queen who was to unify, she could not Publicly voice an opinion on either side.

Of course, her silence could be interpreted as either/or, but ultimately her silence remained in keeping with her stoic character and wisdom.

What she chose to focus on was to give a message of hope about weathering the pandemic together “until we meet again”.

Furthermore, Great Pressure was also put on Prince William and Catherine to voice their position on the BLM riots publicly. The couple took the Queen’s lead and cleverly steered clear of any political statement.

She was such a unifying figure that upon her death she left us in a series of rainbows over Balmoral Castle, Windsor Castle, Buckingham palace, and Westminster.

I hope the Future of the Monarchy strives to follow in her shrewd footsteps and avoid what Prince Philip self-deprecatingly called “dontopedalogy”: The art of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth.