Celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee seem set to incorporate the usual royal fanfare, with street parties, televised ceremonies, and an extra bank holiday. 

 But this is set against deepening inequalities in Britain, from rising costs of living to the unequal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

 What does it mean to celebrate the British monarchy, the pinnacle of systems of inequality, at such a time of precarity? 

 Arguing that the monarchy is not just an archaic, backwards-looking, institution, Dr Laura Clancy, a Lecturer in Media at Lancaster University, draws on research from her new book to insist we cannot talk about inequality in Britain today without discussing the monarchy.

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Running the Family Firm

How the monarchy manages its image and our money

By Laura Clancy

Running the Family Firm, How the monarchy manages its image and our money, was shortlisted for the 2022 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for the best first, sole-authored book.