Another reason for Australia remaining a Monarchy is that it gives a
great sense of scale to Society. The Monarch and the immediate Royal
Family are larger than the human people that fill those Social Roles.
Presidents by definition are “one of us” and hence share our human
scale.
The great World Cities have a civic scale that is greater than the human scale. Melbourne doesn’t quite make it. London has the view up the Mall to the Palace. It has other majestic and massive palaces, including the V&A. Its Churches include the vast. Paris of course built itself a tower that made the city something to be seen as a whole, with a distinctive feature, just when the invention of the aeroplane made viewing a whole city possible. New York built a sky scraper, just as the Depression hit. Sydney was forced into the bridge by its geography, but really hit the spot with the magnificent Opera House, with its sweeping concrete sails on a scale that is civic, not human. By contrast, the interior is almost cosy, being suitable for chamber opera only, not the grandest variety.
Melbourne has little of scale. St Kilda Road is a world class boulevard, and the shrine has the required scale, but they are not enough. Roy Grounds came up with the idea of the spire, and had it been built to his original design it might have rivalled the Opera House as a piece of civic sculpture, but the present structure, even with a small addition, is hardly noticeable from a distance. We need a massive Opera House, perhaps in the presently open Birrarung Marr, perhaps shaped like a Big Footy near the fabled MCG. Melbourne needs something bigger than people. Federation Square has sufficient scale, but downplays the impact with the internal ramp that reduces the size to human scale as well as cutting the whole enterprise off from the river.
The great World Cities have a civic scale that is greater than the human scale. Melbourne doesn’t quite make it. London has the view up the Mall to the Palace. It has other majestic and massive palaces, including the V&A. Its Churches include the vast. Paris of course built itself a tower that made the city something to be seen as a whole, with a distinctive feature, just when the invention of the aeroplane made viewing a whole city possible. New York built a sky scraper, just as the Depression hit. Sydney was forced into the bridge by its geography, but really hit the spot with the magnificent Opera House, with its sweeping concrete sails on a scale that is civic, not human. By contrast, the interior is almost cosy, being suitable for chamber opera only, not the grandest variety.
Melbourne has little of scale. St Kilda Road is a world class boulevard, and the shrine has the required scale, but they are not enough. Roy Grounds came up with the idea of the spire, and had it been built to his original design it might have rivalled the Opera House as a piece of civic sculpture, but the present structure, even with a small addition, is hardly noticeable from a distance. We need a massive Opera House, perhaps in the presently open Birrarung Marr, perhaps shaped like a Big Footy near the fabled MCG. Melbourne needs something bigger than people. Federation Square has sufficient scale, but downplays the impact with the internal ramp that reduces the size to human scale as well as cutting the whole enterprise off from the river.
We are seeing new
generations now of a Monarchy where anyone can marry into the Royal
Family, for example in Sweden, where only the spouse of the direct heir
received a title and his brother and sister in law did not. Monarchy
has become truly democratic as anyone can become part of it, except for
the Monarch her or himself which is in direct line. It is a combined
system, partly hereditary and partly open to anyone with selection up to
Cupid.
On
Wednesday, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, led by the
bearskin capped regimental band of the famous Coldstream Guards
dedicated a new…
breitbart.com
New Whig I hope I live long enough to see HRH crowned king. I read of an intention for the regnal name of George VII, as had his Grand-Father George VI. Little Prince George will then be George VIII.
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