Opening out

Chives in the garden.
Just watched the Jubilee TV tribute programme hosted by Prince Charles - lots of old (royal) family movies in a beautifully simple documentary. Often as interesting when the camera was just watching Charles watching himself as a child playing with his mother. Moving too when he talked about the death of his great-uncle, Earl Mountbatten. It's odd, I feel politically I should be a republican, but the current royals do a decent job, especially the Queen, and replacing them with an elected head of state would introduce a political dimension to the position that isn't always needed. And if you didn't have a real monarchy I'm sure the tourist industry would need to pay people to dress up an re-enact the pageantry. Not sure if that means we need the rest of the aristocracy and the House of Lords though.