A Quote by Robert Lacey

The Billy Carter of the British monarchy.

Robert Lacey

Quote Topics

Billy British British Monarchy Carter Monarchy

Quote Author

Robert Lacey
British - Historian
Born: January 3, 1944

No. I am not a royalist. Not at all. I am definitely a republican in the British sense of the word. I just don't see the use of the monarchy though I'm fierce patriot. I'm proud proud proud of being English, but I think the monarchy symbolizes a lot of what was wrong with the country.

Daniel Radcliffe

Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution - perhaps the first modern political institution.

Adam Gopnik

Of all the memorable phrases that have been minted and mobilised to describe modern British royalty, 'constitutional monarchy' is virtually the only one which seemes to have neither been anticipated nor invented by Walter Bagehot. It was he who insisted that 'a princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and as such it rivets mankind'; and he who warned that the monarchy's 'mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic'.

David Cannadine

In the 20th century, the position of the monarch as head of the Church of England was given a meaning which it never had before. You took the fact that the monarch was head of the Church of England to mean that the British monarchy was itself a religious or moral institution and the monarchy became a symbol of national public morality.

David Starkey

Billy Carter, who asked his brother Jimmy, Do you think you could get me on the Gong Show? Never got a dinner!

Red Buttons

There is not a power in Europe, no not even Bonaparte's that is so unlimited [as the British monarchy].

Charles James Fox

Absolute monarchy,... is the easiest death, the true Euthanasia of the BRITISH constitution.

David Hume

The invention of the camera enabled the reinvention of the British monarchy for the modern era.

Lucy Worsley

I respect the British a lot - their history, their past, their culture. I think it's beautiful, what they have with the monarchy.

Jean-Marc Vallee

I'm in favour of more democracy - let the British public decide what the future of the monarchy is and what shape it should be.

Clive Lewis

The Monarchy...is the secret well from which the flourishing institution of British Snobbery draws its nourishment

Kingsley Martin

The way I read Billy Carter's testimony, he was a model citizen himself until the voters went and ruined his life by making his brother President.

Calvin Trillin

I'd like to see a much more open Monarchy, myself. I used to think they were completely useless and we should get rid of them. I don't necessarily feel that way anymore. I'm still ambivalent, I still loathe the British class system, and the Royal family are the apex of the British class system.

Helen Mirren

When it comes to the British monarchy, I prefer to be seduced by an image than presented with a real person. It's kind of a Warhol thing.

Damien Hirst

Canadians should realise when they are well off under the Monarchy. For the vast majority of Canadians, being a Monarchy is probably the only form of government acceptable to them. I have always been for parliamentary democracy and I think the institution of Monarchy with the Queen heading it all has served Canada well.