He cannot
reconcile the theoretical right of the sovereign to choose his
advisers with his practically submitting to receive them from a
Parliamentary majority. He seemed to find a difficulty in
understanding that the sovereign's right to refuse his assent to a
Bill which had passed both Houses was by no means the same thing in
practice as the possession of a veto. He said that in his reading
of our constitutional history, the power of the sovereign seemed
almost absolute, while if he understood facts rightly, the throne
was more of an "ornament," or "figure-head," than a power at all.
He asked me if it was true that Republican feeling was spreading
very much in England, and if I thought that the monarchy would
survive the present sovereign, on whose prudence and exalted virtues
he seemed to think it rested. He said he thought his little kingdom
had aped the style of the great monarchies too much, and that he
should like to abolish a good many high sounding titles, sinecure
offices, the household troops, and some of the "imitation pomp" of
his court. He said he had never enjoyed anything so much since his
accession as the hookupu of the morning, and asked me what I thought
of it.
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