Good morning! Welcome, and thanks for being here. Today is Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026. Today, Alexa tells me, is National Margarita Day. Cheers to all those celebrating. Make Jimmy Buffett proud. Today is also National “Cook a Sweet Potato” Day. Gee, I wonder who thought of that.
Whiteout conditions with 50–60 mph winds are expected as the latest nor'easter comes up the coast. The whole Northeast is looking at blizzard conditions and up to two feet of snow between now and Tuesday. Be careful, my friends.
1876 Johns Hopkins University opens
1879 The first "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" opens by Frank Winfield Woolworth in Utica, New York, and it fails almost immediately
1942 World War II: President Franklin Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defenses collapse
1968 Rock group Genesis releases their first record, "Silent Sun"
1969 The Beatles begin recording what becomes their album Abbey Road at EMI Recording Studio at 3 Abbey Road in Westminster, London, England; the studio was later renamed in honor of their achievements there
1980 "Miracle on Ice": U.S. ice hockey team beats heavily favored Soviet Union, 4–3, at Lake Placid in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history; the Americans go on to win the gold medal
Birthdays today include: President George Washington; Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (The New York Sun – "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus"); Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (first to broadcast and receive radio waves); actor Robert Young; actor and producer Sheldon Leonard (The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Danny Thomas Show); announcer Don Pardo (Jeopardy!, Saturday Night Live); Sen. Ted Kennedy; singer Louise Lopez (Odyssey – "Native New Yorker"); Formula One great Niki Lauda; Julius Irving; Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin; and Drew Barrymore.
* * *
We have been discussing the question of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and how long he's going to last in office. My take was and remains: "Not very long at all." But now, let's address the British monarchy.
It is perhaps fitting that we start this one out with some perspective: Shakespeare’s Henry V, Act 4, Scene 1. Remember the scene. King Harry and his army are in France and are about to go into battle come the dawn. Harry, worried about the mental state of his army, cloaks himself, hiding his identity, and goes about the camp speaking with his people.
COURT Brother John Bates, is not that the morning
which breaks yonder?
BATES I think it be, but we have no great cause to desire
the approach of day.
WILLIAMS We see yonder the beginning of the day, but
I think we shall never see the end of it.—Who goes
there?
KING HENRY A friend.
WILLIAMS Under what captain serve you?
KING HENRY Under Sir Thomas Erpingham.
WILLIAMS A good old commander and a most kind
gentleman. I pray you, what thinks he of our
estate?
KING HENRY Even as men wracked upon a sand, that
look to be washed off the next tide.
BATES He hath not told his thought to the King?
KING HENRY No. Nor it is not meet he should, for,
though I speak it to you, I think the King is but a
man as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to
me. The element shows to him as it doth to me. All
his senses have but human conditions. His ceremonies
laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man,
and though his affections are higher mounted than
ours, yet when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing. Therefore, when he sees reason of fears as we
do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as
ours are. Yet, in reason, no man should possess him
with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it,
should dishearten his army.
I pass along this snippet to point out that, as Henry says, “I think the King is but a man as I am.” The king is human. The monarchy is a collection of humans. Yes, I know — Captain Obvious. But we can't forget the importance of that as we judge these matters. So, with that as a backdrop, let's consider the question posed in the headline.
Bill Maher, a couple years back, suggested that the passing of Queen Elizabeth II would mark the end of the British people’s reverence of the royal family. I pointed out in response that King Charles was echoing the “climate change” mantra. That’s a position that the energy shortages that the UK has been suffering the last few years make untenable. I suspected that the people would get tired of that nonsense as they shivered in the dark. In a large sense, though, that hasn’t happened as yet. On that basis alone, I could conclude that any chatter about eliminating the monarchy is overblown, and it would take a great deal more than her passing and Charles’ initial bumbling to turn the people from that reverence.
The usual suspects at the then-failing Weekly Standard suggested that one reason for Queen Elizabeth being held in high regard was that she pretty much kept her politics to herself. I disagreed with that assessment at the time and still do. I point, for example, to her begrudging admiration for Lady Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, to name two conservative greats, which would seem to make that out a lie. The RINO-worshiping Weekly Standard was never a fan of actual conservatives (this being the cause of its swift demise), and so this fundamental misunderstanding of the Queen was to be expected.
Remember, though, that almost before the late Queen had (as Rush Limbaugh was wont to say) assumed room temperature, King Charles came out swinging on the subject of man-made global warming as if he had been worshiping at the Church of former Sen. John Kerry. Now, remember, this positioning was in response to then-PM Liz Truss removing the fracking ban in response to the shortages. Out leaps the King to fall in line behind Kerry, to put an end to that little bit of sanity Truss offered.
I suggest, to this day, that the King’s response was that of someone who had not yet grown up.
I have to give Her Majesty credit for this: she kept that kind of nonsense down to a dull roar among her family. I suggest, however, that the much-needed check on those matters exited the room when she did. That is manifestly true when the whole world notices several scandals going on within the monarchy all at once.
Prince Andrew, for example, has always been an issue, and his wife Fergie along with him—and that now has totally blown up. Then there’s the bit with Prince Harry and Meghan, the whole deal with Princess Diana, both of which left a sour taste in people the world over. And now we have a King under the weight of all that and his health problems as well… which, I note, Buckingham Palace isn’t saying much about, except that he is not in remission and is being monitored closely.
I am now seeing speculation that the King may end up abdicating because of all of this — particularly questions about why he let Andrew go on as long as he did. Time will tell (and my instincts say he won’t), but when I see speculation running so very high on the point in the British Press, I can’t ignore it. Reports from late last year had him already planning on handing the crown to Prince William, on the idea that the crown needed a younger man in the position—a view that the Queen, I note, did not share in the end. However, I see many reports that counter this. As an example, the Indian press is saying:
Charles's early abdication will surely be handing a golden opportunity to the anti monarchy campaign to frame the institution as a waste of money.
As you might expect, there are growing external calls for abdication in the wake of Andrew's arrest, blaming The King for letting the situation with Andrew get out of hand. Thing is, that reaction is mostly from the people who have never liked the idea of the United Kingdom being a Kingdom to begin with, and so Andrew seems a convenient excuse for the argument.
The polling I’ve seen from several sources shows a drop in popularity since Andrew’s arrest but still a net positive, with approval ratings from YouGov, for example, running 30%, disapproval running 28%, and neutral being at 33%. How that will change as more information comes out on the investigation into Andrew’s apparent misdeeds is mere guesswork at this point. On that point, approval has been dropping slightly, with the public being clearly unhappy. Only 28% of Britons think the Royal Family has handled the Andrew situation well since allegations were first made — down from 37% in November 2025.
On the monarchy as a whole, though, the positive feel of the British public toward the monarchy is more resilient than you might expect, given the scandals. 64% of Britons still believe the UK should continue to be a kingdom, consistent with the 61–67% who have felt that way throughout Charles's reign. Around 51% feel the monarchy represents good value for money. The overall feeling seems to indicate the next in line, William, and wife Kate, are the bright spot in all of this, though even there, the approval ratings of them are down some 8 points from November of last year.
Still, and at the moment, all indications from within the palace are that Charles has no intention of stepping down. According to well-informed sources, an emergency meeting among senior royals, including Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Kate, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward, ended with a clear consensus: "The King is staying. Full stop." One senior royal source said abdication "wasn't even whispered."
The overall picture is one of a British public frustrated with how the Andrew scandal has been managed, but not yet ready to abandon the institution altogether. The monarchy's approval is taking a hit, but for now at least, it retains a solid majority base of support. Based on the polling, I'd say the monarchy will, in fact, survive.
Well, at least for now. How long that situation will obtain is a matter of how all this is handled. We're talking about a massive PR effort. These are some pretty big hurdles, and I wonder if Charles is up to it.
Thought of the day: “As you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” ― Norman Wisdom
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