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Prince Philip has died

royal.uk

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Re: Prince Philip has died

#161

Post by sgt101 »

philistine wrote: post #98
zpeti wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting perspective I've heard is that she should have been more political in a few extreme cases. She is the head of state and her actual job should be to bring left and right together in the very controversial, almost unsolvable issues, and get them sorted out. She should really be like a couples therapist for political leaders. She never did this. She always stayed out of politics.

I argue that because she focused so hard on being seen positively that she hurt the monarchy in the long run. Her son has nowhere to go but down. She also forced the British Supreme Court to invent the idea that advice given to her can be unlawful, and did not stay out of politics as you said: she was laser-focused on making sure her privileges and money didn’t get touched by denying Queen’s consent. https://www.theg…

"She didn’t want to have to wear seatbelts on public roads passing through her property."

If this is your idea of a political issue then I strongly recommend the reading of newspapers and engagement with local institutions.

Also, I am of "the public" and I knew, due to reading Private Eye which had reported on all this repeatedly for the last 10 or more years.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#162

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

zpeti wrote: post #70
celticninja wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will only really get interesting after the Queen kicks the bucket. For most non monarchists she isn't a bad sort to be in charge. The rest of them are a shower of shites.

An interesting perspective I've heard is that she should have been more political in a few extreme cases. She is the head of state and her actual job should be to bring left and right together in the very controversial, almost unsolvable issues, and get them sorted out. She should really be like a couples therapist for political leaders. She never did this. She always stayed out of politics.

The Queen holds a weekly audience with the Prime Minister. It's unlikely they make chitchat about the weather.

The monarch also vets laws while they're being drafted and can make suggestions for changes if they affect their interests.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/08/royals-vette...

The Queen isn't just the head of the armed forces - they swear an oath of loyalty directly to the Monarch, not to the people or the country as a whole - she's also one of the richest people in the world, running an organisation with centuries of experience in internal diplomacy, impression management, and PR.

So it's a complete myth that the monarchy is apolitical. The monarchy is the centre around which the (antiquated) British political system revolves.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#163

Post by JoeAltmaier »

nindalf wrote: post #91
crossroadsguy wrote: post #32

Rest in peace! I have always felt strongly against monarchy. Especially against the British royal family, more so as I am an Indian. They never apologized for any of the massacres (Jallianwala is just one example) or pogroms committed at their behest and in their name. I do believe they are a disgusting symbol of colonialism, racism, subjugation. It is very disturbing that a good part of the world and an entire natio…

I think it’s interesting that you’d blame this family for the horrors of colonialism. They haven’t had a say in British policy for around 2 centuries. Although the monarch meets the Prime Minister every week, they cannot tell the PM what to do, unless it affects the royal family personally. The PM listens to what they have to say but charts their own course. If you’re looking for someone to blame, Churchill deserves…

Oh, did he say something about the atrocities then? In a very public role as the moral backbone of the nation? Did he apologize? I missed that.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#164

Post by evgen »

nindalf wrote: post #72
samizdis wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest that centuries of tradition have value, not least for the older generations of Brits, but especially for the tourist dollars drawn to the pageantry. Yes, it's a bit Disney, but it has a little more class and visitors seem to love it.

France got rid of their monarchy some time ago. They still get plenty of tourism. I can give plenty of other examples where the royal family was let go and tourism continued to flourish. The important thing is that all of the palaces and castles would still exist and become open to the public as museums. If anything, tourism would improve if people could visit Buckingham Palace like they visit the Palace at Versaille…

Maybe if you did a bit of basic research you would learn that the public _can_ visit Buckingham Palace and tour various rooms that were basically mini-museums containing parts of the royal collections. Last time I popped in was soon after watching Tim's Vermeer when I learned that the picture in question had been rotated into the collection on display.

It is absolutely amazing to see so many people who obviously have no skin in this particular game crawling out from under their rocks to share their strongly held beliefs about the royal family, as if the rest of us give a toss about your opinion...

Re: Prince Philip has died

#165

Post by jermaustin1 »

dalbasal wrote: post #74
spzb wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It hasn’t been a telegram for at least 20 years. She sends a birthday card these days.

Does this count as a technological regression?

I'm sure they have automated a lot of it, so maybe it has progressed in that less man hours are required per message, and on top of that, they are probably in color, with pictures, which is way more than you get with a telegram.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#166

Post by truthr »

nullsense wrote: post #17

I really wish we could just do away with all this royal family nonsense. You guys are somehow special because what? Useless social fiction from antiquity.

Getting special treatment just because of birth is so bulls#!t. The Royal family should be gotten rid of.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#167

Post by AndrewOMartin »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #53

Because Prince Charles is heir to the throne (and has been portrayed more negatively in the news media than any other living person), some in the HN community may be surprised to know that he wrote a book on philosophy . https://www.amazon.com/Harmony-New-Way-Looking-World/dp/0061... I found the book to be astonishingly good. It takes a design approach to Platonism and western esotericism. It goes deep into "sacred g…

Just in case anyone was skim reading a bit too quickly. This is written by Charles, not Philip.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#168

Post by sgt101 »

mattowen_uk wrote: post #95
zpeti wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting perspective I've heard is that she should have been more political in a few extreme cases. She is the head of state and her actual job should be to bring left and right together in the very controversial, almost unsolvable issues, and get them sorted out. She should really be like a couples therapist for political leaders. She never did this. She always stayed out of politics.

There's a reason for this, I'm a bit vague on the details, but when Parliament took control of the country from Charles II, one of the agreements was that the monarch would keep out of political affairs.

Well, it was Charles I, it was done with an Axe, and then there was a complicated tooing and froing for a long while until about 1918 when universal suffrage finally came in.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#169

Post by criddell »

Jenz wrote: post #9

More out of curiosity than judgement; why is this on HN?

It was upvoted often enough and quickly enough that the algorithm put it on the front page. Prince Philip is a public figure of some prominence, so I'm guessing the people who run the site (dang and maybe others?) let it be unless the comments turn to shit.

I, for one, am glad that it has lasted this long. I've learned a bunch of new things and added a book to my reading list.

Re: Prince Philip has died

#170

Post by sgt101 »

mFixman wrote: post #92
zpeti wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting perspective I've heard is that she should have been more political in a few extreme cases. She is the head of state and her actual job should be to bring left and right together in the very controversial, almost unsolvable issues, and get them sorted out. She should really be like a couples therapist for political leaders. She never did this. She always stayed out of politics.

Can you think of a single case where this is true? King George VI publicly praised Chamberlain for appeasing Hitler and apparently preventing another world war. I'd be wary of making _any_ public statement of that sort as a royal with that kind of precedent.

Also Edward VIII was pretty controversial as a political figure. I think that this may have framed The Queens engagement with public life.
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