The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Monday 9 August 2004

The Monarchy, Sewers and Modernization

It may be slightly surprising to see the words ‘monarchy’ and ‘sewer’ appear together in the same sentence, but the two have actually shared a very close connection for quite some time. This is due largely, but not entirely, to the historically close proximity of the strongholds of the British monarchy to the River Thames, which, up until about 140 years ago, was London’s biggest sewer. More tangentially, both the British monarchy and London’s sewers owe their current form to the Victorian Era and both have, for some time, been in need of modernization. 

The reign of Queen Victoria presided over not only a period of major industrial development, technological advancement and enlightened thinking, but also of major improvements and modernization to the monarchy. By the time of the Great Stink in 1858, when the smell from rotting sewage in the Thames was so bad that Parliament had to be abandoned, the monarchy had evolved from a rather disrespected, if not entirely dissolute, institution to a progressive and meaningful symbol of government and family values. 

As the monarchy advanced into a more modern institution, a forward thinking man named Joseph Bazalgette was tasked with doing the same for London’s foul and deadly sewage system – creating an incredibly modern and forward thinking design that transformed the Thames from a cesspit into a free-flowing river and London from a deathtrap to a modern European city. But, once again, the fates of both the monarchy and the sewers are intertwined. Somehow, once both the monarchy and the sewers were updated to sufficiently accommodate the modern era, they just stopped growing. Sewers that were built to accommodate 2,000,000 people are now expected to serve more than 60,000,000, and a monarchy that was well-suited for the Victorian mentality has continued on in much the same way ever since. 

Today, we find the British royal family and the sewers of London in much the same place as they were during the Great Stink – catching up with a modern world that has surpassed them in many ways. In both cases, the masses have recognized the need for modernization long before the individuals handling the institutions. For Britain’s royal family, the need to grasp onto tradition has generally been the reason that calls for modernization have been eschewed, if not ignored. Ironically, instead of following Queen Victoria’s example of modernizing the monarchy, her descendents have been reluctant to change her traditions, most of which are entirely outmoded.  

Unfortunately, it usually takes a traumatic event to move a giant machine into action. As pouring rain pushed London’s antiquated Victorian sewers to the brink last week, forcing raw sewage to once again flood into the Thames and creating a modern day Great Stink, there developed a turning point reminiscent of the flood of criticism faced by the British royal family after Diana’s death. After years of urging to the monarchy to modernize, the delayed and distant reaction by the royal family was the last straw for most people – things had to change now. 

Slowly, slowly, they’ve gotten the idea. Little changes here and there have started to add up into bigger shifts. More topics, it seems, are open to discussion. Less is intentionally hidden from public view. The royal family is starting to be held to more “human” standards – both in terms of fallibility and responsibility. Expectations are both higher and lower. And, as is to be expected, much of the change is coming from the younger generation, with slightly more resistance from the older.  

For one thing, the head of the British royal family is a 78-year-old woman, so it’s no surprise that the monarchy is often perceived as “out-of-date.” You can’t expect a woman approaching 80 and trained to a certain standard to be progressively modern. That said, even the Queen is consistently taking actions to update the monarchy – mainly by changing her own outward behavior and responses to the world around her. While some of the changes may seem trivial or long overdue – like finally changing the rule that in order to avoid turning their back to the Queen, officials must walk backward in her presence at State occasions – others are more profound – such as openly accepting controversial figures like Camilla Parker-Bowles and Sarah Ferguson into the royal fold.  

On the other hand, the British monarchy consistently fails the test of modernity when compared to many of the Continental monarchies. Whereas Norway, Sweden and Monaco, among others, have all changed the laws of succession that once gave male heirs precedence over females, Britain has not. Even Spain, with its traditionally male-dominated culture, is seeking to change the rules of succession. And while the heirs to the thrones of other European monarchies are marrying who they want, when they want, archaic marital restrictions are still placed on the senior members of the British royal family. 

For our part, we demand change and variety on the one hand and urge tradition and uniformity on the other. And we’re both fascinated and horrified with the changes that have been made. Although we profess to desire a more modern, down-to-earth monarchy, we’re appalled to learn just how like us members of the royal family can be. We don’t seem to want to know that our Tupperware is newer than the Queen’s, or that the royals also have leftovers night at the palace. And most of us shudder at the idea of ridding the monarchy of the pomp and pageantry that routinely works us up into a collective frenzy. Modernization is fine, but don’t take away our amusements. 

Clearly, there’s a fine line, and it’s not an easy one for an institution as old and big as the monarchy to navigate with ease and speed. We don’t always make it easy on them, either. Returning to the sewer analogy, we have to remember that we get what we give. It’s the whole ‘garbage in, garbage out’ mentality. If we expect the royals to be perfect, they will always be doomed to failure and we will always be disappointed. If we challenge them to change, but don’t like it when they do, what incentive will they have to keep trying? And if we ask them to modernize, but get impatient with the necessary growing pains, how progressive are we? 

The bottom line is this – Britain’s monarchy, like London’s sewers, may be slightly behind the times in many ways, but the foundation is good. With continued attention to the needs of a modern world – and a little more patience from us – the British monarchy can successfully modernize and leave the sewers exclusively to the Victorian Era.

Until next week, 

- Tori Van Orden Martínez