Following a day when a bunch of unelected peers undemocratically chucked a spanner into the Brexit works (however welcome I may think such a spanner might be), the Queen has announced that she would like to see the principle of heredity extended to encompass the role of head of the Commonwealth.
It is dispiriting enough that Britain appears to think that the only necessary qualification to become the head of the British state is an accident of birth. Only in Britain would it be thought desirable to extend that principle to a multi-national organisation such as the Commonwealth. The United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the International Money Fund, the European Union manage well enough (or at least no worse than the Commonwealth) without a hereditary head.
Prince Charles may or may not be a good choice to head the Commonwealth. But his appointment cannot possibly be justified on the basis of the identity of his mother.
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