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British Monarchy Is 'A Self-Punishing Institution' & Near Its 'End Game,' Royal Expert Claims

The British monarchy is 'a self-punishing institution' and near its 'end game,' a royal expert claims.

Will the British monarchy end sooner than later? According to Dame Hilary Mantel, who is an award-winning author, she isn't sure "how much longer the institution will go on." 

“I’m not sure if it will outlast William. So I think it will be their last big era,” Mantel told The Telegraph. 

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Now, Mantel thinks Queen Elizabeth II might be “the only person who really believes in the monarchy.”

“I wish the Queen had felt able to abdicate … I understand that she thinks of this as a sacred task, from which you simply cannot abdicate, whereas the rest of us think of it as a job, from which you should be able to retire,” the author said.

“She believes that she cannot cease to be a monarch — she made those promises to God," she continued. “It’s such a cliché to say, but what a lonely position to be in. It’s a conflict, because most of the world sees the royal family as a branch of show business. And I’m sure that is very far from the Queen’s own thinking.”

Mantel claimed that the monarchy has become a “self-punishing institution."

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“No other family would be expected to parade a very elderly, newly widowed lady before the TV cameras, and yet it’s taken for granted that’s what will happen,” she said, referring to the Queen sitting alone at Prince Philip's April 17 funeral. “Just as it’s taken for granted that a new royal mother will appear beaming on the hospital steps within a day of giving birth. There’s no legitimate public interest behind it."

However, Mantel wouldn't talk about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's tell-all interview, where they made several bombshell claims about the royal family. 

The couple even claimed that someone in the royal family refused to give their son, Archie, a title. 

They "didn't want him to be a prince or a princess, which would be different from protocol,” she said.

“I wouldn’t judge them. And I don’t believe we will ever know, really, what has happened there. So, I just wish them well,” Mantel said.