May 1, 2007
Citizen Kane and Prince Charles II Posted by Alexander Burns at 01:45 PM EST Thanks to John Steele Gordon for pointing out my unclear wording. Undoubtedly, I should have written: “I suppose, by Bragg’s preferences, the producers of Citizen Kane should still be liable to the estate of William Randolph Hearst for possible distortions of the man’s character.” In any case, though, I intended this comment as a figure of speech. The producers of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles and RKO Radio Pictures, are no longer in any position to be sued. Alternatively, I could have said something like, “By Bragg’s preferences, the producers of Gangs of New York should be liable to the estate of William Marcy Tweed.” Except, I’d be quite flabbergasted if Tweed ever had an active estate. As for the British royal family, Mr. Gordon is probably right that “their improprieties and moral behavior” have not been “any worse than that of millions of other British families who do not have to live their lives in goldfish bowls.” Of course, those millions of other British families are in no way charged with providing moral leadership for the country. It seems to me that the only way to really justify the continued existence of the Civil List is for the monarchy to provide an instructive, ornamental example of traditional British values. Even then, though, public financial support of the monarchy still seems pretty wasteful. Mr. Gordon and I had a good exchange a while back about American politicians and their decorating expenditures. The wastefulness of the Clintons’ White House redecoration, which we both deplored, was insignificant compared to the millions of pounds poured down the drain each year keeping up Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle. In the previously mentioned series House of Cards, there’s a character who, despite his loathing of the king (Kitchen), admits that the monarchy saves Britons from “having to elect some godawful President.” Like Mr. Gordon, I’d choose Prince Charles as my leader over Edward VIII, but, frankly, I’d rather have a President.
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