Writer Martin Amis has given expression to the frustration felt by many Britons who endure a state that favours hereditary privilege more than merit. He told the French Le Nouvelle Observateur magazine that he would prefer “not to be English”.
Mr. Amis described meeting hereditary head of state Elizabeth Windsor when she seemed not remember awarding a knighthood to his father Kingsley Amis. He said that Windsor does not “listen to what you say to her. Because she is not supposed to understand the remarks that one makes to her”! Amis described the Windsor clan as “philistines”. The writer was particularly critical of Charles Windsor for condemning “The Satanic Verses”.
Mr. Amis saw Britain as a country in moral decay in which “celebrity is the new religion”. “You want it to come to you just like that”, he said, “with no effort, without having any merit”. He could have been speaking of the Windsors.