A most interesting assertion, from Plato forward through the centuries.
So a respectful challenge: name a kingdom of this world which has fulfilled this assertion for any length of time. Thanks in advance.
Hello,
no slight intended: but what about Frederick II., the king of Prussia from 1740-86, to name but one?🙂
His highest ambition was always to improve the lot of his subjects. Apart from that, he was a notable musician and composer, as well as a philosopher.
His reputation as a philosopher-king - and a friend of the newly-independent America, with whom he established diplomatic relations and signed a contract of friendship in 1784 - was so strong that even a town in Pennsylvania was named after him.
His motto was: „I am the first servant of the state“.
Not „I am the state“, as the Sun King in France had called himself a century earlier 🙂
In my opinion, he was more modest than some of our democratically elected politicians, who have assumed an air of royalty, like some leaders in the EU and its member countries.
This, sadly, didn’t make them royal in any way, if you ask me. Rather, it turned them into a royal pain in the behind…
If you ask me, there are countries which are better off with a Republic than a monarchy, yes, but in other cases a monarchy might be better.
Take Germany, for instance: the abolition of the ancient monarchy in 1918, which had been more than eleven centuries old (Charlemagne crowned in 800 A.D.), turned out to be an unmitigated disaster…1933 anyone? 😔
And Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander in post-war Japan, recognised the critical role of the monarchy for the Japanese nation- and let it continue.
He was a great and wise man indeed👍🏻🙂, who was very farsighted as well. I cannot praise him enough.