And I watched a video yesterday that perfectly encapsulated everything that is wrong with Britain. The whole thing. A lifetime of systemic failure, of grotesque inequality, of ruling-class contempt disguised as concern, all of it distilled into a single glittering, nauseating image.
There he was. King Charles III. Dressed in his finest robes, the Imperial State Crown on his head (this is a solid gold construction studded with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls, and four rubies). The Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross contains the largest clear-cut diamond in the world, weighing in at 530 carats…was present but not in the shot. The crown jewels are estimated to be worth up to $8 billion in total. And this man, wearing a hat that could solve homelessness in London, who holds a stick that could fund the NHS for a year, draped in robes worth more than most people will earn in a thousand lifetimes, was telling the British people to ‘weather the storm’ of the cost of living crisis.
Crosspost from https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11612563
My understanding has been that the Crown Jewels are held in trust for the State by The Crown/The Firm, and have been for centuries. That was set up specifically by the court to stop King Humphry Wonderblumph or whichever from selling them for booze money (and so the king he could borrow against the national trust when needed funds from the barons) - so no the king can’t sell the crown jewels without the consent of (now the modern parliment, then the court/feudal parliment).
Apparently it’s complicated, and I don’t care enough to investigate, because the royal trappings don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. They’re just a useful jumping-off point in discussing class and state power.