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An early draft of the Declaration of Independence referred to the people of Britain’s 13 North American colonies as "subjects", the US Library of Congress has revealed. But, in the words of the Washington Post, in 1776 Thomas Jefferson "sought quite methodically to expunge the word, to wipe it out of existence and write over it". At Jefferson’s hand "subjects" became "citizens". According to the newspaper "many words were crossed out and replaced in the draft, but only one was obliterated".

There had been much speculation about what might be behind the smudge on the draft. Spectral imaging technology has revealed the truth.

The sentence in which the deletion was made did not appear in the final version of the Declaration. And neither did the word "subjects". The new Americans were "citizens".

For around 200 years after Jefferson made his deletion the British state continued to insult its citizens by calling them "subjects" of the Windsor family.

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Four legislators-for-life have quit the House of Lords because they do not want to pay taxes in the country where they have been making laws. The three Conservative and one Labour legislator had a choice between giving up their tax-exempt non-domiciled status or leaving the legislature. One was born in Hong Kong and had been living and working there since becoming a legislator. She said that she would have liked to be able to continue to make laws for Britain but had not been given enough time to "make adjustments to my personal affairs".

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The Washington Post has described the visit to New York by Elizabeth Windsor, Britain’s feudal head of state, as "subdued". It recalled that when Ms. Windsor first visited in1957 there was "a ticker tape parade befitting war heroes". But when the hereditary ruler addressed the United Nations General Assembly this July "there was hardly a well-wisher to be found outside" the building.

The newspaper suggested that this reflected "a monarchy whose popular appeal has perhaps crested". It reported that one British UN worker was puzzled by her head of state’s visit. However, she said that her "mum thought it was cool".

Historian Stephen Schlesinger pointed out that while this was only the second visit Windsor had made to the UN she more frequently travelled to the United States for the Kentucky Derby.

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The Windsor clan suffered two blows last week, suggesting that its hold on Britain may be weakening.

On Friday a High Court judged said that the actions of Charles Windsor in blocking modern architecture for an upscale property development in London had been "unexpected and unwelcome". The judge ruled in favour of a claim by CPC, the developers, for breach of contract. Its plans had been dropped after Mr. Windsor appealed to the feudal rulers of Quatar, the source of finance for the development. The judge said that Windsor’s intervention had put both CPC and the financiers in a "very difficult position".

A letter from Windsor to the prime minister of Quatar was made public in court. Allegations were made that the Quatari finance firm had destroyed email evidence and that witnesses had lied under oath. The judge said that it could not be determined whether emails had been destroyed but described witnesses as unreliable and dishonest.

It is highly unusual for Windsor family manoeuvring of this kind to be subject to such public exposure and for the courts to take the side of their critics. The case was widely seen as confirming that while their apologists describe them as a benign and neutral force they use their behind-the-scenes power to gain advantage.

In the other setback for the feudal institution the Chancellor of the Exchequer resisted Windsor pleas for more of taxpayers’ money. He said that the "civil list" payments would not be increased from £7.9m. The Chancellor also announced that the family’s accounts would be opened to public inspection and that the way they are funded would be changed from 2010.

The total cost of the feudal institution has been estimates at £110m a year. Elizabeth Windsor and her son Charles are paid almost £28m annually in spending money, income from the investments of the "duchies" of Cornwall and Lancaster.

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Recent news from Canada has also been bad for the family. Sixty-two per cent of Canadians want a democratic head of state in place of Britain’s feudal queen according to an opinion poll by IPSOS. Fifty-eight per cent believe their country should break all links with the British monarchy when Elizabeth Windsor leaves office.

The poll was conducted in advance of a visit to Canada by Windsor later this month. In French-speaking Quebec 80 per cent want to be free of monarchy.

The Canadian monarchist league opposed a change to the sort of republic with which most of the world is familiar as a "fundamental shift" for Canada "on a scale unheard of".

Windsor, who is 84, has been head of state of Britain and numerous former British colonies since 1952. She inherited the position from her father and will be replaced by her son. The people have no say.

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