The difference between a republican and a courtier with respect to monarchy, is that the one opposes monarchy, believing it to be something; and the other laughs at it, knowing it to be nothing.
Expanding on his observation in "Rights of Man," Paine distinguishes between a republican's principled opposition to monarchy and a courtier's cynical dismissal of it as an empty institution.
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The Aristocracy had hitherto opposed the despotism of the Court, and affected the language of patriotism; but it opposed it as its rival (as the English Barons opposed King John) and it now opposed the nation from the same motives.
It was Government dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chasm.