Our monarchy is powerless and would remain that way under King Charles | Simon Jenkins

The prince has the right to voice his opinions, but he has no role, no clout and no one has to listen to him

Whenever an American asks me how Britons can tolerate being “subjects” of a hereditary head of state, I give an unsatisfactory reply. I say we are not subjects, and anyway it doesn’t really matter: other things are more important.

America’s obsession with British royalty took another turn this week with a book by the Time magazine journalist Catherine Mayer. In the published extracts she...