King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted “kings don’t abdicate, they die in their sleep.” But embarrassing scandals and the popularity of the republican left in the recent Euro-elections have forced him to eat his words and stand down. So, does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days? Does that mean the writing is on the wall for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyle?

    The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy. When public opinion is particularly polarised, as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above “mere” politics and “embody” a spirit of national unity.

    It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs’ continuing popularity as heads of states. And so, the Middle East excepted, Europe is the most monarch-infested region in the world, with 10 kingdoms (not counting Vatican City and Andorra). But unlike their absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia, most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.

    Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside. Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be, their very history—and sometimes the way they behave today—embodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities. At a time when Thomas Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth, it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families should still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states.

    The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways. Princes and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses (or helicopters). Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%, and media intrusiveness makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the right image.

    While Europe’s monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to survive for some time to come, it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example.

    It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy’s reputation with her rather ordinary (if well-heeled) granny style. The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world. He has failed to understand that monarchies have largely survived because they provide a service—as non-controversial and non-political heads of state. Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy’s worst enemies.

答案精析：本题为主旨题，需要理解全文意思。文章开篇以西班牙国王退位为例，引出话题，即君主制是否末日将至？之后分别对君主制存在的积极作用和消极影响进行了描述，接着指出了君主制存在的主要问题，最后以英国王室为例说明君主制的危机所在。由此可知，作者想通过西班牙国王退位的例子来警醒欧洲王室，故正确答案为C。

错项排除：文章开篇提到了西班牙国王被迫退位一事，但在之后并没有对他有更多的描述，也没有提到他的荣耀所在，而且文章重点是在欧洲王室整体的情况上，并非西班牙国王，A项表述以偏概全，故排除。文章最后提到了查尔斯，但并没有说到有关继承王位的信息，B项表述无中生有，故排除。文章最后虽然提及查尔斯的问题给英国王室带来的危机，但此处也只是用英国王室为例来警醒整个欧洲王室，并不能作为文章的主旨，D项内容以偏概全，故排除。