King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted "kings don't abdicate, they die in their sleep."
西班牙国王胡安·卡洛斯曾坚称“国王不会退位，他们在睡眠中死去。”
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.
但最近几次欧洲选举中报出的种种尴尬的丑闻、以及共和党人大受欢迎，迫使他食言并退位。
So does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days?
如此说来，西班牙的危急是不是表明君主制已时日不多了？
Does that mean the writing is on the wall for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyles?
是否意味着所有衣着华丽、生活高贵的欧洲皇室成员将有大难了？
The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy.
西班牙这一事例给支持和反对君主制的双方提供了论据。
When public opinion is particularly polarized,
而公众对此精神“象征”的意见两极分化严重，
as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above "mere" politics and "embody" a spirit of national unity.
佛朗哥政权的终结后，君主可能超越“纯粹的”政治，成为国家统一的精神“象征”。
It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs continuing popularity as heads of state.
正是这次明显的超越政治，解释了君主作为国家元首会继续受到欢迎的原因。
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，除中东外，欧洲是世界上君主制最盛行的地区——它有十个王国（这还不算梵蒂冈和安道尔）。
But unlike their absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia,
但不像海湾地区和亚洲的专制国家，
most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.
欧洲皇室家族得以留存，是因为他们让选民们不用去艰苦地寻找一个不受争议、受人尊重的公众人物。
Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside.
即使如此，国王和女王毫无疑问有其不足之处。
Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be,
尽管他们宣称自己是国家统一象征，
their very history — and sometimes the way they behave today — embodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities.
但他们的历史和今日的行为都代表着他们享有的特权已经过时、且站不住脚，以及在他们身上体现出的不公平。
At a time when Thomas Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth,
托马斯·皮克提和其他经济学家曾警告，皇室享受的特殊待遇和财产继承权在增强，
it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families should still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states.
贵族家族居然仍然是现代民主制国家的核心象征就很荒唐了。
The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways.
最成功的君主在力图抛弃或隐匿他们老套的贵族做派。
Princes and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses (or helicopters).
王子和公主白天上班，他们骑自行车出行，而不是骑马（或乘直升飞机）。
Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%,
尽管如此，他们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.
媒体的侵扰让他们难以在公众面前维持良好的形象。
While Europe's monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to survive for some time to come,
尽管欧洲君主们毫无疑问将很明智地留存一时，
it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example.
但看到西班牙皇室的下场，最担惊受怕的还是英国皇室。
It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy's reputation with her rather ordinary (if well-heeled) granny style.
只有英国女王以她平易近人、“老奶奶”式的行为方式（要是穿着考究的话）保住了王室的声誉。
The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world.
给英国王室带来危险的会是查尔斯亲王，他既有奢侈的生活品味，又有浓重的等级制世界观。
He has failed to understand that monarchies have largely survived because they provide a service,
他没能明白君主之所以得以保存是因为他们能提供服务，
as non-controversial and non-political heads of state.
他们是既无争议，又不涉及政治的国家元首。
Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy's worst enemies.
查尔斯亲王本应懂得英国历史所表明的道理：国王才是君主制的死敌，而非共和党人。