My concern is less the monarchy as such than the attempt of a fading colonial power to hang onto grandeur.
Hilary MantelWe have a number of very powerful women in the world now - Mrs. [Angela] Merkel, who the Germans call Mutti. What did we call Mrs. [Margaret] Thatcher? When she was minister of education, she stopped the children's free school milk. This may sound quaint, but after the war we were such a malnourished nation that part of the founding of the welfare state were public health initiatives. Every little schoolchild got milk. Mrs. Thatcher stopped it. They called her "Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher."
Hilary Mantel[Margaret Thatcher] was pretending that running a country was like running a household, which she knew wasn't true.
Hilary MantelTruth can break the gates down, truth can howl in the street; unless truth is pleasing, personable and easy to like, she is condemned to stay whimpering at the back door.
Hilary Mantel