Our late monarch's soft power was without equal. It now falls upon King Charles to replicate it
Now that the Captains and Kings , in Kipling’s words, have departed, we can look back at yesterday’s state funeral as a remarkable example of the late Queen as an international pole of attraction. 100 heads of state and government, a multitude of other international dignitaries, a global TV audience of over 4 billion, about half the planet: as an event it dwarfs the meeting of heads of state and government who traditionally flock to New York for the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly this week. Indeed many leaders curtailed their visit to New York to ensure they were present at yesterday’s state funeral.
And if the proceedings had very much a military feel, rightly given the late Queen’s connections with the armed forces and her close family having seen active service, it was soft power which brought and fixed the world’s attention to Westminster. Soft power, sometimes called the second face of power, comes in many forms. An ability to ensure that others admire your cultural values and foreign policies, an ability to coopt not coerce, to appeal and attract are all marks of an advanced liberal democracy in stark counterpoint to the likes of Russia, China, Iran and many others. If the Queen was often the face of this soft power in her visits abroad and her hosting of state visits at home, Britain in the course of her reign as a country has morphed from an imperial power to one where tolerance is still a prime virtue, where many of the senior offices of state are now held by politicians from an ethnic background, where there have been three women prime ministers and where leadership has been exercised in climate change politics and in resisting and combatting naked aggression by one state against another, most recently of course Russia’s against Ukraine.
The new monarch cannot initially expect to have his mother’s power to co-opt and to charm but the King in the course of his long apprenticeship has come to know many of the current world leaders and has repeatedly committed himself to the cause of the Commonwealth, the institution the Queen held particularly dear. The Commonwealth is itself an interesting pole of attraction. Among its 56 current members are several which have no historical or even linguistic links to this country. The King is uniquely well placed to capitalize on this good will and ensure the continuing vitality of the Commonwealth, even if several current members opt for republican status which seems more than likely.
Yesterday’s remarkable international gathering should not of course blind us to the very real diplomatic difficulties in our relations with three of our closest allies and friends — Ireland, the US and France — which the messy conclusion of the Brexit negotiations including the Northern Ireland protocol have thrown up. Prime Minister Truss has an excellent opportunity to build on the warmth created by the state funeral and concomitant events to find diplomatic solutions rather than pursue a path of confrontation. Wishing away the Northern Ireland protocol or dismantling it will do nothing for Britain’s reputation as a serious and trustworthy international partner.
Meanwhile the Irish President, Michael D Higgins and Taioseach Micheál Martin were at pains in the run-up to the funeral to highlight both the Queen’s concern that the future would be one that would bring peace and her “contribution to reconciliation on these islands”. Her landmark visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, the first by a reigning monarch for a 100 years, was widely seen and is still appreciated as a significant stepping stone on the path of binding the two countries closer despite their troubled history. It is a sign of how far we have come that Sinn Féin, the political wing of the erstwhile Provisional IRA, who fought an uncompromising and bloody thirty years war against the Crown and its forces, should have sent two representatives to yesterday’s event. A solution to the Northern Ireland protocol would pave the way for Michelle O’ Neill, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader to be His Majesty’s First Minister in Northern Ireland. Soft power, co-opting her party into governing His Majesty’s province rather than coercing, doesn’t come much bigger than that.
Sir Ivor Roberts is a former British ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ireland and Italy and former President of Trinity College, Oxford
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