Modern democracy in the United Kingdom
Does the monarchy provide a much needed stability where our ephemeral politicians have failed us so badly?
Introduction
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, I have been meaning to look at the history of the monarchy and in particular the relative longevity of monarchs in comparison to Prime Ministers. Elizabeth II famously saw off 15 Prime Ministers (Harold Wilson twice) and worked with 16 in total including Liz Truss (likely to be the most ephemeral of all time!).
The following chart shows the total PM’s per monarch:
As you can see, she was not the first to work with a large number of prime ministers. George III had 17 Prime Ministers with three repeated and Victoria oversaw 20 though Gladstone did weight the figures somewhat, he alone turning up on 4 separate occasions. We can also see that Charles is already beating two past monarchs, having reigned for only two months.
Looking at unique Prime Ministers we can see that Elizabeth II takes the “prize”:
This of course comes down to Elizabeth’s longevity as shown in the following chart:
Interestingly the average age of all monarchs is significantly higher than the general population.as this chart provided by the UK Office of national Statistics demonstrates. For example, in the middle of this period the average life expectancy was around 40 years, i.e. about half that of the general population!
Source: UK Office for National Statistics: How has life expectancy changed over time?
In more detail
In the following timeline we can see in detail which prime ministers were in power during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
In the following timeline we can see in detail which prime ministers were in power during George III’s reign:
In the following timeline we can see in detail which prime ministers were in power during Victoria’s reign:
Conclusion
Looking at this period in modern history, since Ann became the first monarch for the whole of Great Britain, the ephemeral nature of politics and politicians is clear. I have not been a great supporter of the monarchy for many years, but looking at current events it is impossible not to yearn for a more stable form of government run by people who really care more about their country (and their duty to it) than their career ambitions. It is striking how “conservative” our country has been – though in recent years this has been more in name only. You can see this more easily by selecting the option to sort by “Category”.
I include the full interactive timeline below so that you can explore this timeline in more detail: