Hugo Is Boss

‘NOT for Hello! any of this Republican claptrap about members of the Royal family having to brush their own teeth.

‘One sees oneself more as a silly point’

That’s Bolshevik talk that is – and Hello! is having none of it, even going so far as to commission Royal historian Hugo Vickers to respond to the Fabian Society’s recent 50,000-word treatise, The Future Of The Monarchy.

If the name Hugo didn’t provide a clue to Mr Vickers’ feelings towards the monarchy, his picture (in blue blazer and tie) confirms him as a man who thinks it’s a pity that the National Anthem is no longer played when BBC closes down for the night.

As does his turn of phrase, for instance in his description of the Queen as ‘a vital long-stop, as opposed to wicket-keeper, of the constitution’.

Incidentally, one suspects that Hugo spent many hours of his youth fielding at long-stop – a cricketing position invented purely to be able to ‘lose’ the worst player in any school side.

‘The main advantage of a hereditary head of state,’ Hugo opines, ‘is that the sovereign is above politics, trained from birth for the job, and gains in stature the longer they reign.’

And they also come with their own harpist…

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Posted: 23rd, July 2003 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink