LONDON -- The Crown Prince of Japan visited Britain last week and was warmly received all round.

Queen Elizabeth II treated him to a boat trip up the Thames while he stayed with her at Windsor, the lord chancellor hosted a grand official dinner and on a more everyday level he was greeted with public enthusiasm at numerous functions forming part of the Japan 2001 Festival -- a vast nine-month program of Japan-related events up and down the country.

None of this may have captured the headlines, which last week were full of angry exchanges between parties and politicians campaigning ahead of the British general election on June 7. But in a quiet way the visit did serve to underline several important points.

The first of these is that the old wounds and animosities between Britain and Japan, still noticeable during the Emperor's official visit to London two years ago, now seem to have faded to vanishing point. Maybe this is just a result of the passage of time. Maybe there is a feeling that a Japan that no longer looks like an all-conquering economic giant is more approachable -- and more equal.

But whatever the reason, there is no doubt that "things Japanese" have really caught the popular imagination in Britain -- whether it is gardens, department stores, design, fashion or theater.

The second point is that the old connection between the royal families of the two countries, which by all accounts were rather close in the early years of the 20th century, is clearly being renewed in modern form. Nowadays it has become a key role for "royals" to act as global networkers and ambassadors for their countries. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, operates highly effectively on this front.

If the foreign policy of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government is to "normalize" Japan's global role, then it looks as though the Imperial Crown Prince, too, could play a central part in the process, even though this may mean spending a lot of time in airplanes. Such is the fate of today's royal families -- a far cry from the withdrawn, remote style of the past.

Third, and perhaps most important, the Crown Prince's visit acted as a reminder of the broader role of monarchy in today's world.

There can be no denying that in this secular, skeptical age the whole institution of the monarchy attracts questioning and challenge. The British monarchy has certainly had its full share of this in recent years. Many people ask why we need a symbolic figurehead of this kind, what the throne contributes to the health or stability of the state and whether it is worth the expense.

But there are also clear sentiments running the other way, and these may well prove more powerful. As one of the royal retainers accompanying the Crown Prince remarked, the British visit seemed to emphasize an increasingly central point about kings and queens and emperors -- that in an age of political uncertainty, the institution of monarchy stands as the constant factor, the reminder that, while governments come and go, there is something more enduring that belongs to the people.

Far from fading away, this aspect of monarchy appears to be expanding in significance. As the realization grows that governments just cannot cope with the complexities of modern society, and as this in turn generates distrust and contempt for politicians and their traditional patterns of behavior, so the search for more lasting rallying points, set over and above the political maelstrom, intensifies.

In Britain, and maybe in Japan as well, there is now a widespread apprehension that social stability and coherence are threatened. Identities seem to be coming increasingly under challenge. With Scottish and Welsh devolution and the United Kingdom clearly no longer so united, with the European Union usurping national sovereignty, with reform upending ancient institutions like the House of Lords, a feeling is growing that the monarchy may yet be called upon to play a more stabilizing constitutional role.

No one is suggesting royal involvement in government affairs or politics. That would be fatal -- at any rate in the British context. But the responsibility has to lie somewhere for ensuring that government of some kind is in place and carries on -- in short, that the nation is governed and not allowed to drift in a vacuum. The obvious resting place for that responsibility is the monarch -- above and aside, but always in reserve, in case a crisis arises in the nation's affairs.

So, when crown princes travel and royals meet, it may be not so much the last traces of an old order as the signs of something fascinatingly new in a networked world, a development that helps ensure the stability of nations within it.

And if that's sounds too speculative, it is worth while noting that even in republic-dominated Europe a number of states are now openly demanding the return of their monarchies and crowned heads in one guise or another. King Simeon of Bulgaria, for example, looks set to resume a key role in his country.

My bet is that 10 years from now there will be more, and more active, royal heads of state than there are today, proving that monarchy is not a dying industry but a growing one.