"This is a crucifixion as well as a coronation. The best kings we have ever had have been Queens, and every year Kingship becomes less and less suitable for a man. A constitutional monarch has constantly to behave as if he were a mindless puppet in circumstances which would prove fatal to everybody, including himself, if he really were a mindless puppet."
So wrote Rebecca West (1892 – 1983) in this 1937 article in which she rants on about how the coronation of George the VI will turn the city of London upside down.
The King's Speech
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