He recently said that he wants to be reincarnated as a virus so that he can reduce the population but why?
I suspect a sinister motive because here in Canada there is endless room...
Not a fan.
Prince Philip has died
451–460 of 553 posts
Re: Prince Philip has died
#452Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meghan Markle talked about this: "In the car ride over, however, the importance of the meeting sunk in as Harry asked Meghan, "Do you know how to curtsy?" She told Oprah: "I thought genuinely that that was what happens outside. I thought that was part of the fanfare. I didn't think that's what happens inside. I said, 'But it's your grandmother.' He goes, 'It's the queen.' That was really the first moment that the pen…
>their wealth and privilege may make up for it. These Royals cant spent their wealth like billionaires either. So wealth certainly isn't a thing to be worth considering. And I mean if that is all the stuff we could tell and see, imagine all the other things we dont. In a modern world, most people, even in the high middle class wouldn't want to trade what they have to what is considered to be privilege as Royal.
> cant spend their wealth like billioaires
What would they spend it on? Fancy houses? Private transport around the world? Lavish vacations? They get all of those things for free already.
I suppose it wouldn't do for Prince Charles to buy a 200' yacht. But other than that, I'm not sure how much he, or any other royal, is suffering for not being able to spend their wealth like the rest of the 0.1%.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#453Earlier quoted context omitted.
True. The royal family aren't just our rulers, they're our prisoners. Can you imagine being a high-ranking member of the British royal family? Your life isn't your own - you can't pursue the career of your choosing, you have an enormous amount of obligations and you have all the usual downsides of fame, and this is all by accident of birth, not something that you chose. The job might have its perks but I'm still glad…
Meghan Markle talked about this: "In the car ride over, however, the importance of the meeting sunk in as Harry asked Meghan, "Do you know how to curtsy?" She told Oprah: "I thought genuinely that that was what happens outside. I thought that was part of the fanfare. I didn't think that's what happens inside. I said, 'But it's your grandmother.' He goes, 'It's the queen.' That was really the first moment that the pen…
Nobody forces them to treat their own family that way. It is a choice they've made for themselves.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#454Earlier quoted context omitted.
The raft may have been purely quick thinking, and it may have been influenced by a knowledge of history. Thomas Cochrane was a celebrated Royal Navy captain during the Napoleonic wars. Here's Cochrane from his autobiography [0]: "Before they had fairly renewed the chase night was rapidly setting in, and when quite dark, we lowered a ballasted cask overboard with a lantern, to induce them to believe that we had altere…
The Brits storied history at sea must give them access to tons of tactics to pull from.
British Naval History is fascinating - in a lot of ways the reform of the navy into a modern (for it's day) naval force has interesting lessons about people management and harnessing technological developments as a force multiplier.
Things like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_sheathing gave the navy a marked advantage against it's peers.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#455Re: Prince Philip has died
#456Weird to see all the non-pro Royal family comments censored on here. Why? What has the royal family got to do with Hacker News and why does it matter if people on here are pro or anti Philip?
Most of those comments are / were vitriolic. Basically attacking Prince Philip because of status rather than any legitimate criticism of him as a person. I'd guess this is why - it's not facebook.
Broadly speaking, the HN readership supports entrepreneurship, novel ideas and transparency; as a result, it tends to be critical of inherited wealth, entrenched institutions and arbitrary and opaque power. The royal family in England embodies all of the latter.[0]
Of course there are exceptions! Most people are empathetic and few openly celebrate the death of a 99-year-old. But I think it's fair to say that a large percent of the community here has reason to not be overly sentimental about the passing of Prince Philip.
0. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-que...
"The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian."
Re: Prince Philip has died
#457Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
By no means am I defending colonialism, least of all the British Empire in India. I’m an Indian, FWIW. I see two main obstacles to this apology. 1. Teaching kids history. Currently British kids learn all about Henry VIII’s wives ... and then it’s straight to the World Wars. It’s hard to tell a nation of 70 million people to reckon with their past when they know nothing about it. 2. Philip himself was quite old. He gr…
The Empire was never great, and the best you can say about it is they weren't always as terrible as the Belgians in the Congo.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#458Now seems as good a moment as any to raise a proposal for the UK's adoption of constitutional necro-monarchy. We ought to declare, as a matter of principle and beyond all dispute, that Queen Elizabeth is alive and well, if unfortunately unavailable at the moment. Keep her on the money; politely decline to comment on any foolish concern for her health and certainly cut off and disparage any efforts from the more recen…
This is such a bizarre idea, I love it. It reminds me of how Lenin still holds court and receives visitors at his Tomb on the Red Square.
I'm not sure that this is an accurate description of the situation.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#459Earlier 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.
"her actual job should be to bring left and right together in the very controversial, almost unsolvable issues, and get them sorted out."
No, definitely not 'bring together'. It's 'stay above'.
Even 'mediating' is 'interference'.
Re: Prince Philip has died
#460He was funnier than most comedians.