Dancing with the Dead: Sue Townsend’s Metaphor of Monarchy

Sue Townsend, the author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, wrote that “The monarchy is finished. It was finished a while ago, but they're still making the corpses dance”

Here’s what she meant:

“The monarchy is finished”

Townsend is saying she believes the British monarchy has lost its real purpose and relevance.

“It was finished a while ago”

She suggests that this decline didn’t happen recently; it’s been happening for years.

This is a critique of its long-term relevance.

“but they're still making the corpses dance”

This is the striking part of the metaphor.

She is comparing the monarchy to something that has died spiritually or politically, yet is being propped up through:

- ceremony

- ritual

- pageantry

- media attention

- nostalgia

- national myth-making

The institution is “dead,” but society keeps animating it as though it’s alive.

It’s similar to saying: “We’re going through the motions for something that no longer has meaningful life.”

Townsend is making a satirical republican argument:

that the monarchy no longer fulfils a necessary modern function, but Britain continues to sustain it through spectacle and tradition.

The good news is that it does not have to be this way. Greens For A Republic members are working with other pro-democracy groups to push forward democratic reform.

What are your favourite quotes about the monarchy or republicanism? Email us!