After days of political tumult in Westminster, a single image of calm suddenly emerged on Wednesday evening from the inner sanctum of royal authority: The Queen granting private audience to a genuflecting Theresa May, who has succeeded David Cameron as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Easily dismissed as nothing more than a shiny scrap of pageantry, the photograph of the newly selected leader of the governing Conservative Party and the monarch who invited her to form a new government is, in truth, a fascinating cultural document.
On its surface, the image reaffirms that democracy in Britain, at least symbolically, is still subservient to inherited power. Though the photo may be accented with smiles and the glamour of designer fashions, a stony silence entombs this week’s image. It divulges nothing of what was actually discussed between the queen and the new PM.