Kate Maltby is a regular broadcaster and columnist in the United Kingdom on issues of culture and politics and is a theater critic for The Times of London. She is also completing a Ph.D. in Renaissance literature, having been awarded a collaborative doctoral between Yale University and University College London. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers.

(CNN) It is 2017. Man has walked on the moon; scientific ingenuity has eradicated smallpox, split the atom and processed the bit. Yet my home country -- the United Kingdom -- still has a royal family.

Hereditary rank, hereditary political power and privilege -- the United States abolished these in 1776.

Many in Britain would like to do the same: The annual conference of Republic, an anti-monarchy movement, convened in Newcastle-upon-Tyne this weekend. But as political insecurity rattles both Britain and the United States, the British monarchy has rarely been so popular at home.

To some in Britain, the election of Donald Trump as US President -- and the questions that hang over his campaign -- have exposed the weaknesses of presidential democracies.

Here at home, the last three years have brought us two major referendums and two general elections; voters are exhausted and divided by the bile unleashed by populist politics.

Politics have never been so personally bitter. It has become newly normal for Brits to suffer major rifts over voting differences. Members of Parliament -- particularly those who are female or Jewish -- have reported an exceptional rise in targeted political harassment.

in the street. Just over a year ago, at the height of campaigning over Brexit, a female member of Parliament was murdered in the street.

Amid all this, the British royal family looks like the most stable institution we've got. The Queen has worked with 13 prime ministers during her reign -- more than 160 in the whole Commonwealth. Few of us know who the prime minister will be in six months. Theresa May totters unsteadily as Cabinet ministers plot openly to unseat her.

Meanwhile, a resurgent but divided Labour Party waits in the wings. If it can force and win a no-confidence motion in the UK Parliament -- a real possibility when no one political party holds overall control -- we may well see another sudden election and a Labour government.

The Conservative Party's most recent election slogan -- much mocked for its ubiquity and vacuity -- was "strong and stable." Months later, it is the grandmotherly figure of Queen Elizabeth II, not the shaky persona of Theresa May, who embodies that comforting mantra.

Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte walk on the tarmac of the Airbus compound in Hamburg, northern Germany, before boarding their plane on Friday, July 21. The royal family visited Germany and Poland on a five-day European tour. Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Prince George and Prince William view helicopter models H145 and H135 before departing from Hamburg on the last day of their official visit to Germany. Hide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany The royal couple tours the Airbus training facilities with Klaus Richter, chief procurement officer for Airbus, Marco Wagner, human resources director for Airbus in Germany, and Hamburg Mayor Olaf Scholz. Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Catherine receives lessons on how to conduct an orchestra at Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on Friday. Hide Caption 4 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Catherine and William say goodbye to German police officers who had led their motorcade on motorcycles at Berlin Hauptbahnhof main railway station before departing for Hamburg on July 21. Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Catherine attend a reception at Claerchens Ballhaus dance hall in Berlin on Thursday, July 20. Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Prince William hammers a tap into a beer barrel as Kate, far right, watches on July 20 in Heidelberg, Germany. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate participate in a friendly rowing race on July 20, in Heidelberg. Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate attempt to make pretzels on July 20, during a tour of Heidelberg's traditional German market. Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany The duke and duchess don lab coats during a visit on July 20, with researchers at the German Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg. Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Residents stand on a balcony decorated with a banner welcoming the Duchess of Cambridge to Heidelberg, Germany. Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate toast during The Queen's Birthday Party at the British Ambassadorial Residence on July 19, in Berlin. Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany The royal couple speaks with General Secretary of DFB Friedrich Curtius, left, during the Queen's Birthday Garden Party. Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, at Bellevue Castle on July 19 in Berlin. Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate visit the Holocaust Memorial on July 19, in Berlin. Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate visit the Brandenburg Gate on July 19, in Berlin. Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel shows William and Kate a view from the Federal Chancellery on July 19, in Berlin, in this In this handout photo from the German government's press office. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Kate, William and Merkel greet well-wishers shortly after the royal couple's arrival in Berlin. Hide Caption 18 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany The royal family arrives at the airport in Berlin on July 19, for a three-day visit to Germany. Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Basil Kerski, director of the European Solidarity Centre, accompanies the royals on July 18, as they visit Gdansk, Poland. Hide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate lay flowers at the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970 at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk, Poland. Hide Caption 21 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Prince William visits with performers from Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre, of which he is a patron, on July 18, in Gdansk, Poland. Hide Caption 22 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Kate and William are shown a piece of amber by a local craftsman during a visit on July 18, to the Gdansk central market in Poland. Hide Caption 23 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany A crowd lines the street to greet the royal couple during their visit to Gdansk, Poland. Hide Caption 24 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Former Nazi concentration camp prisoners Manfred Goldberg, second from left, and Zigi Shipper speak with the royal couple during their visit to Stutthof, a World War II Nazi concentration camp in the village of Sztutowo, Poland. Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate view a display at the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp site in the village of Sztutowo, Poland. Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William speaks as Kate, left, and Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, listen during a Queen's birthday party on July 17, in the Orangery in Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William and Kate make a toast during a Queen's birthday party in Poland. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William wears virtual-reality goggles as Kate laughs during a meeting with young Polish entrepreneurs in Warsaw, Poland. Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Kate speaks with a WWII veteran during a visit to the Warsaw Rising Museum on July 17, the first day of the British royal couple's official visit to Poland. Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Duda, left, and William, kneel as they light candles during a visit to the Warsaw Uprising Museum while Poland's first lady, second from right, and Kate look on. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany William poses for a selfie with a woman on July 17, as a crowd gathers outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, to greet the royals. Hide Caption 32 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Children welcome Kate in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw upon the royal family's arrival in Poland. Hide Caption 33 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Duda and his wife greet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on the first day of the royal visit to Poland. Hide Caption 34 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany The royal couple disembarks with their children upon arrival on July 17, at the airport in Warsaw, Poland. Hide Caption 35 of 36 Photos: Royals visit Poland and Germany Prince George and Princess Charlotte peer through the window of the plane as they arrive on July 17, in Warsaw, Poland. Hide Caption 36 of 36

Yet there is another reason why the Brits are clinging to the royals now more than ever. It's the real reason why William and Kate are courting headlines in Poland this week. Since the decision to leave the European Union, Britain has convulsed in an agony of introspection about its status in the world. Will striking out on our own win us more respect? Or does losing our seat at the EU table mean we have to work harder to form alliances and pay more for trade deals and political access?

Send in a British royal, however, and any government head will schedule a meeting. Or so the UK government hopes.

As young royals in a constitutional monarchy, William and Kate may not have executive power, but they embody the principle of soft power: the ability to influence, to charm, to garner the world's attention.

The playwright Mike Bartlett drew a sharp portrait of the royal couple's position in his hit play "King Charles III." At the moment of a great political triumph, his fictional Kate Middleton tells her stepmother-in-law: "Our column inches are the greatest influence that we possess." Everyone wants to be photographed next to her in Vogue.

The British Foreign Office knows this. It will have been no coincidence that Prince William's first trip after the Brexit referendum was to visit German leader Angela Merkel, giving a speech in which he celebrated Germany's relationship with the UK and assured the German public: "This partnership will continue despite Britain's recent decision to leave the European Union. The depth of our friendship with Germany will not change."

William and Kate will visit Germany again this week, after their first stop in Poland, in a trip heavily planned by the Foreign Office to consolidate personal links between the British royals and the leaders who will decide Britain's future trading access in the EU.

By taking Princess Charlotte and Prince George on their first foreign trip as a family unit, the Cambridges are introducing a new generation of ambassadors who will still be charming European audiences long after this year's chill in relations has thawed.

Does the royals' international feel-good factor justify the sheer absurdity of a system that grants privilege and power based on simple accident of birth? To many of us, it doesn't seem so. Sometimes, power is so soft that its influence looks negligible.

So focused on generating goodwill, Prince William has done little to speak out on the issue of human rights in Poland. His options to do so are limited -- the British government needs the Eurosceptic Polish government on its side in forthcoming negotiations with other EU states. What William himself feels about this as he recites platitudes written for him by the British government we will never know.

One thing is clear. Britain needs friends in Europe. Our royals are bred from birth to shake more hands in a day with shinier smiles than even the squeakiest politician. Is it a perfect system? Perhaps not. But as other diplomatic certainties crumble, Britain is feeling grateful for the durability of its secret royal weapon.