On paper the European nobility don’t have power. On paper.
The English king can dissolve parliament when he wishes and has the big red button. The military swears loyalty to him and he is incredibly wealthy. So I wouldn’t say he’s powerless just not as powerful as previous monarchs. The English crown in general has had a lot less power because of various revolts which resulted in them being more restricted than other monarchs. A lot of his power is derived from people thinking he’s just a tourist attraction and is completely harmless. Also why take the flak for unpopular policies when you can let the elected officials take it instead?
The European aristocrats (ie old money) have a lot of wealth, influence, and much of their power resides from the institutions they control and their ability to lobby politicians. The European aristocracy is very socially progressive but also very authoritarian and distrustful of democracy. This isn’t new either. Back in the 1800s they were fighting republicanism in Europe and in the Americas. They tried to install one Maximilian onto the throne of Mexico and part of why he lost is that he was more socially liberal than his base of support. He basically was on the same page as the liberals he was killings and it led to an erosion of support resulting in his own death.
The European aristocracy have been clawing back power by increasing the size of the bureaucracies in their countries, lobbying with their wealth, and using their institutional ties to implement policies that favor them. They also encourage mass immigration because they want to replace the plebs with people that are more loyal to them via patronage.
The best example of this is the eu. The eu was created as an anti-democratic mechanism which would allow them to set policies in place when the people voted incorrectly. It was proposed as an organization to facilitate trade but the end goal was to create a pan-European state. They wanted a common currency, bank, and regulations so they could dictate policies even when the people voted incorrectly with the goal being the eventual creation of a rival power to the United States but better because it would be guided by their enlightened rule.
It is not a coincidence that the policies of Europe prevent social mobility and punish entrepreneurs. The red tape and regulations are a feature and not a bug. They are designed to prevent the plebs from accumulating too much wealth. It’s to safeguard the establishment’s positions and power. They would rather restrict Europe’s economic growth than allow anyone to outgrow them. Their wealth is largely tied to land and money they inherit so they aren't impacted by progressive income taxes which they lobby. It’s also why taxing the rich only results in squeezing the middle class. They are wary of any entrepreneurs, and especially talented ones, because they could outshine and usurp them. They don’t like capitalism because it’s a threat to their power and because they’re not as adept as their ancestors. Another reason is that many of them inherited money and don’t know how to manage it.* They know on a level playing field they’d be outmaneuvered so they stack the deck in their favor. So they push managed democracy and progressive socialism to entrench themselves politically. It’s a way to keep the plebs down and to funnel money back to themselves via NGOs and charities that deliver nothing of value.
Old money aligns with the bureaucracy because it’s a patronage system in which the bureaucracy gets easy jobs and benefits. In return the European elites get loyal foot soldiers that implement their policies. It’s why the uk government is so cucked because the bureaucracy was expanded by Tony Blair and they will comply maliciously with anything they don’t like that the people vote for. Ditto for any European country that elects a far right candidate that then doesn’t do anything even if they wanted to.
They consider patriotism to be a threat because they do not identity with the countries they reside in. This is a direct consequence to their isolation from the lower classes and their marriages with the elites from other countries. Furthermore, nationalism was always a threat because they often maintained territories with diverse ethnicities, languages, and cultures so they reflexively identify nationalism as a precursor to rebellion. They only like to use nationalism when they’re on the warpath or when it suits them. For example they have a lot of influence in the anglosphere and Canada specifically. They whip up Canadians nationalist just when it can be used to poke at America. They are ok with Canadian nationalism only so far as it is useful or to prove their managed democracy is superior but no further, so you better not have any ungood wrong think about neo-Canadians, neo-English, neo-Scott’s, etc.
This is especially true in the UK and anglosphere because the majority of elites can trace their ancestors to the Norman invaders that usurped the British crown. They spoke a separate language, French, for a long time and were culturally distinct from the natives they ruled over. The class divide in the UK and much of the anglosphere is essentially an ethnic divide. This is even evident in our language in which words with a French origin are given extra prestige over the words with a Germanic origin (ie steak vs beef). They do not get angry when English children are raped by foreigners because they do not identify with the English people. They do not see a difference between one outsider such as an Englishman vs a pleb Canadian vs an Indian.
They do not care when a Canadian, an Englishman, or a Scott is culturally enriched because in their view it involves two outsiders. Their thought process is basically “
who cares when a peasant yokel dies? I get to eat diverse food tee hee.” They like to think this makes them better and superior because they’re not racist
. The truth is they see an Englishman, a Canadian, and an Indian as all being equally inferior to them. They hate white culture because they associate being proud of your race as being low class and low status. This carries over to American elites as well that want to copy their European peers. They’ll look for and cling to anything that helps distinguish themselves from the dirty plebs even if the average American is more of a mutt than they are. If they can find a great great great grandparent that’s Cherokee, Jewish, or Ethiopian they will not let it go and let everyone know.
The European elites want to flood the west with foreigners because they arrogantly believe they can turn them into perfect diversity drones and because they hate the plebs. They think they can deprogram Mohammed just because they defanged Christianity - another subject for another day. They also don’t understand foreign cultures because they’re arrogant and sheltered. They can’t comprehend what it’s like to be deeply religious and to have a different world view from their own because they’ve been isolated from the real world for centuries. They literally think everyone is a blank slate and that their values and views are universally held. To them countries are lines on a map with distinct economic zones. Which is why they fucked up their administration of Africa and the Middle East. It’s also why they believe that the creation of the EU will somehow result in a pan-European identity when many countries, like Spain, have dealt with separatist movements for centuries.
The European aristocracy hates the plebs and wants them to suffer. It’s why they choose to not prosecute crime that hurts the plebs. It’s why they allow industries to be outsourced. They want the plebs to be miserable. They import Muslims out of spite and in the uk they increased the number of migrants despite the people voting multiple times against it to prove how little though thought of the little people.
They also posses a deep disdain for religion because they don’t like following social norms. They also want to virtue signal and stick it to Christianity by importing foreigners with a different religious affiliation. So they are creating a perfect storm by bringing in a bunch of religious fanatics that are the bottom of the barrel in Muslim societies. In truth the Arab monarchies and dictators are far more pragmatic and often consider the people the west are importing to be the more dangerous and the ones most in need to be tard wrangled. The Arabic and Muslim leaders are authoritarian by necessity because the Muslim plebs do not respect anything except for force. So taking a bunch of them and putting them into a system that is soft is a complete disaster. The European elites are doing the equivalent of a bitter old man that hates children intentionally adopting a pit bull with rabies while living next door to a day care and not bothering to lock his gates.
*
this is also why the European elites lean a lot on ashkenazi Jews. They have wealth they just often suck at managing it. They also can be used as a scapegoat if things go south or as an attack dog against their enemies. The ashkenazi Jews like the nobility don’t identify with the commoners and for a long time they served kinda like an autistic pretorian guard but just with finances and civic policies. The Ashkenazi are often progressive and often atheistic because it’s a social status marker. They like being Jewish to the extent that it makes them different from the filthy masses just like how American progressives will proudly show off their dna test showing they are 1/512 Cherokee 
