Mark Steyn: US may not be a monarchy, but people like 'Prince Hunter' get inequitably 'royal' treatment

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Steyn: Hunter Biden, other elite, get monarchical treatment without the title

'Fox News Primetime' host describes difference between titular royals in UK and US elite

Upon the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, "Fox News Primetime" guest host Mark Steyn remarked he would hold back from speaking at length about the British Royal Family on Friday evening.

Steyn, a Canadian native of Scottish descent, noted that monarchies in-name are often derided because of their definitive political power structure. However, when world leaders and elite figures act as monarchs without calling themselves such, they are more often than not treated with profound privilege that normal people are not.

"On the surface, this isn't age friendly to kings. Prince Phillip's cousins were murdered. His grandfather, King George I of Greece was assassinated," said Steyn of the late royal, 99, who was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and father of heir apparent Prince Charles.

Philip's hereditary line ran through the royal lineage of both Greece and Denmark.

"Yet," Steyn continued. "Monarchy has been the natural order of things for almost the entirety of human history. Whether it is an actual monarchy or as is more fashionable, hereditary dictatorship such as in North Korea."

In that regard he noted that a local Philadelphia woman famously stopped Benjamin Franklin coming out of what is now Independence Hall, and asked what type of government they had decided on.

"A Republic, if you can keep it," replied Franklin. Steyn noted that the "keeping" part is the "tricky bit" -- and that recent events show just how "tricky" it is, given the difference between true monarchs and those who are treated as such.

"Packing the Supreme Court -- Well, a 'Judge's Republic' is a contradiction in terms," he said of the Biden administration's new plan to study expanding the 9-member bench.

He added that while the United States outlaws "titles of nobility," the "hereditary principle" has been given to people like the president's son, Hunter Biden, as well as Chelsea Clinton, Meena Harris, and "any third cousin five times removed of JFK who plans to run for office."

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Steyn noted that in the case of Hunter Biden, the 51-year-old Wilmington, Del., native appears "protected" more than the average American or even his political opponents.

He said that one of Biden's business partners is Christopher Heinz, an heir to the Pittsburgh ketchup company fortune and stepson of White House climate czar John Kerry -- another member of the proverbial elite.

"Our elites marry each other," he added. "More crudely, there is a royal court. Those inside the circle and protected and if you're outside that circle, you're not. If you think eternally imminent Durham Report is going to put anyone behind bars, I have got a seven-figure Clinton Foundation speech by Chelsea on diarrhea in Africa to sell you," the host remarked.

Steyn said that Jeffrey Epstein-related allegations made against President Clinton, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and ex-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, have not amounted to much public scrutiny or political repercussions.

The only noted name allegedly on the Epstein manifests to get summarily punished has been Philip's son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, -- who Steyn noted is the only one to physically carry a monarchical title.

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"One advantage of a real monarchy over a pseudo-monarchy is that the very titles of prince and duke arouse a certain resentment that puts the bearer under scrutiny. Andrew, Steyn remarked, was "fired" from his royal duties by his mother.

"Our informal prince-lings, such as 'Prince Hunter, Duke of Crack', have no such restraint," Steyn said.

While Hunter Biden continues to escape major scrutiny amid photos on a laptop he potentially owned -- which the First Son told ABC's Jimmy Kimmel he is unsure thereof -- Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has been shredded in the media and public discourse over an allegation he paid a disgraced Seminole County, Fla., tax collector, funds that were used to pay for a minor's travel for the purpose of sex. Gaetz denies the allegations.

Steyn added that allegations against Gaetz have gone so far as to lead to the erection of a billboard in Northwest Florida claiming "Matt Gaetz Wants To Date Your Child" -- while Hunter Biden continues to escape such scrutiny.

"Ever since the New York Post broke the [laptop] story, the abysmal mainstream media have prostrated themselves and buried any needs of Hunter, the crack pipe, the hookers..."

"If stories about both these men, Matt Gaetz and Prince Hunter, Duke of Crack, on the other are true, only one is at risk of criminal prosecution and losing his liberty. It's not Hunter Biden -- because one of them is inside the club and the other isn't. 

"Prince Hunter left his crack pipe on the car seat of his rental car but he's Joe Biden's son," Steyn added -- pointing to a 2016 incident in Prescott, Ariz.

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Steyn added that Hunter also appears protected from potential legal trouble revolving around a firearm he owned being found in a trash can across the street from a Delaware school.

"I don't know what you call a system where officialdom goes to such lengths to protect the depraved scions of the ruling class -- but a Republic of citizens equal before the law isn't the first thing that springs to mind."