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King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted "kings don't abdicate, they die in their sleep."
西班牙國王胡安·卡洛斯曾堅稱“國王不會退位，他們在睡眠中死去。”
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.
但最近幾次歐洲選舉中報出的種種尷尬的丑聞、以及共和黨人大受歡迎，迫使他食言并退位。
So does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days?
如此說來，西班牙的危急是不是表明君主制已時日不多了？
Does that mean the writing is on the wall for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyles?
是否意味著所有衣著華麗、生活高貴的歐洲皇室成員將有大難了？
The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy.
西班牙這一事例給支持和反對君主制的雙方提供了論據。
When public opinion is particularly polarized,
而公眾對此精神“象征”的意見兩極分化嚴重，
as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above "mere" politics and "embody" a spirit of national unity.
佛朗哥政權的終結后，君主可能超越“純粹的”政治，成為國家統一的精神“象征”。
It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs continuing popularity as heads of state.
正是這次明顯的超越政治，解釋了君主作為國家元首會繼續受到歡迎的原因。
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).
正因如此，除中東外，歐洲是世界上君主制最盛行的地區——它有十個王國（這還不算梵蒂岡和安道爾）。
But unlike their absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia,
但不像海灣地區和亞洲的專制國家，
most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.
歐洲皇室家族得以留存，是因為他們讓選民們不用去艱苦地尋找一個不受爭議、受人尊重的公眾人物。
Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside.
即使如此，國王和女王毫無疑問有其不足之處。
Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be,
盡管他們宣稱自己是國家統一象征，
their very history — and sometimes the way they behave today — embodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities.
但他們的歷史和今日的行為都代表著他們享有的特權已經過時、且站不住腳，以及在他們身上體現出的不公平。
At a time when Thomas Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth,
托馬斯·皮克提和其他經濟學家曾警告，皇室享受的特殊待遇和財產繼承權在增強，
it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families should still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states.
貴族家族居然仍然是現代民主制國家的核心象征就很荒唐了。
The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways.
最成功的君主在力圖拋棄或隱匿他們老套的貴族做派。
Princes and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses (or helicopters).
王子和公主白天上班，他們騎自行車出行，而不是騎馬（或乘直升飛機）。
Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%,
盡管如此，他們是世界上百分之一的富裕家族，
and media intrusiveness makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the right image.
媒體的侵擾讓他們難以在公眾面前維持良好的形象。
While Europe's monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to survive for some time to come,
盡管歐洲君主們毫無疑問將很明智地留存一時，
it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example.
但看到西班牙皇室的下場，最擔驚受怕的還是英國皇室。
It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy's reputation with her rather ordinary (if well-heeled) granny style.
只有英國女王以她平易近人、“老奶奶”式的行為方式（要是穿著考究的話）保住了王室的聲譽。
The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world.
給英國王室帶來危險的會是查爾斯親王，他既有奢侈的生活品味，又有濃重的等級制世界觀。
He has failed to understand that monarchies have largely survived because they provide a service,
他沒能明白君主之所以得以保存是因為他們能提供服務，
as non-controversial and non-political heads of state.
他們是既無爭議，又不涉及政治的國家元首。
Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy's worst enemies.
查爾斯親王本應懂得英國歷史所表明的道理：國王才是君主制的死敵，而非共和黨人。
