Harry, Meghan and the power of their story Among journalists in Queen Victoria’s England, Walter Bagehot was a central figure. Not only did he marry well — to the daughter of the Economist’s founder, whose death installed Bagehot in the editor’s chair — he also wrote a classic study of British government, “The English Constitution.” Of the monarchy’s role, Bagehot famously cautioned, “Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it. When there is a select committee on the Queen, the charm of royalty will be gone. Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic.”