A Spectator's Notebook
I DO NOT KNOW if many tele- viewers took the Queen's Speech literally, and thought that the Government's meas- ures and policy had her per- sonal approval and benedic- tion; but if they did, the remedy is surely not to prevent the ceremony being televised again but to modernise it a little. What, after all, is gained by making the Queen express sentiments and ideas which she probably does not share—or, if she does share them, only through coincidence? If the Lord Chancellor or some other Government dignitary read the Speech, and instead of 'my Government' talked of 'the Government,' not only would the risk of the Queen being identified with the Government of the day be removed but the true constitutional position would be expressed. Since the whole point of our Monarchy is that it is above politics, it is odd that in fits of pageantry we should try to pretend otherwise. And for the Queen to give up reading the Speech would not be much of an innovation—Queen Victoria sel- dom read it. So this time, tradition and common sense are on the same side.
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