God save the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth II has died
381–390 of 1001 posts
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#382Britain’s plan for when Queen Elizabeth II dies: POLITICO has obtained documents laying out Operation LONDON BRIDGE in granular detail https://www.politico.eu/article/queen-elizabeth-death-plan-b...
There can't be very many people alive who have been to a state funeral of this magnitude, let alone actually planned one. Is there another monarch alive with this many subjects?
The emperor of Japan has 125+ mil subjects.
States that recognize the British monarch as head of state: 67 mil (UK) + 38 mil (Canada) + 26 mil (Australia) + 5 mil (New Zealand) + others less than mil people = 136+ mil
So pretty close, but this appears to be a correct statement.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#383Time to end on a high? Shall we just abandon this whole monarchy thing and time to flip over to a republic and leave the much revered queen as the last ever monarch of the UK? Seems like Scotland is going to go independent, and if Scotland do Wales will only be a matter of time so may as well just can it now?
Yes! Let's push this as hard as possible. Monarchies are an affront to all Enlightenment ideals and belong in the history books.
As much as I love Enlightenment principles, I've learned with age that Reason is not enough for human society to flourish. People need something that goes beyond reason, or even explicitly against reason, to find meaning in their own existence.
A constitutional monarchy is an unreasonable construct, but its perseverance is a symbol of continuity and certainty in an existence that is so often chaotic and uncertain. It provides reassurance to many, and mutes the worst excesses of political turmoil. As long as it really stays out of the fray (and that's sadly not always been the case, with Elizabeth II, and it's likely her son will be even worse), then I don't have a problem with it. Like religion, I don't need it, you don't need it, but many do - and they might as well have it.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#384Not to mention that she was the last monarch to have any memory of WWII and served as an ambulance mechanic. Now that generation that remembered the horrors of fascism has mostly passed and we find ourselves in a period that seems to have many echos of the 1930s with a new rise of authoritarianism and fascism around the world.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#385THE QUEEN IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING... HIS MAGESTY KING Charles Philip Arthur George!! (formerly Prince of Wales) THIS IS THE WAY.. to announce a Monarch's death guys!!!
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#386I feel sad for the british empire, she was like the figure that represented the whole Great Britain. I think it’s the start of a Long way down. Brexit is a disaster, Prince Charles is not really a charming person, Scotland wants to leave Great Britain and join the EU, Northern Ireland is split as ever. God save the king.
> Scotland wants to leave Great Britain
I'm not sure that's geologically feasible
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#387Winston Churchill (1951–55) Anthony Eden (1955–57) Harold Macmillan (1957–63) Alec Douglas-Home (1963–64) Harold Wilson (1964–70) Edward Heath (1970–74) Harold Wilson (1974–76) James Callaghan (1976–79) Margaret Thatcher (1979–90) John Major (1990–97) Tony Blair (1997–07) Gordon Brown (2007–10) David Cameron (2010–16) Theresa May (2016–19) Boris Johnson (2019–22) Liz Truss (2022 (two days ago) - current) Quite the re…
I feel slightly bad for Liz Truss, since I imagine that one of the things she will be remembered is that the Queen died less than 48 hours into her government.
It's a great cover for her potential early mistakes.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#388"Her reign spanned 15 prime ministers starting with Winston Churchill, born in 1874, and including Ms Truss, born 101 years later in 1975."
Unbelievable the history she was a witness to.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#389I was born in the UK, in 1963. Because of my step-father's love of first-wave UK punk, the first thing I did on hearing this news was to play the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen". It is remarkable how much the Queen's standing has improved during the time since that song (1977). My (UK) family are (as far as I know) staunch republicans, but the last couple of decades have seen all of us soften our disgust with the m…
This is interesting especially with the whole thing surrounding Prince Andrew. You might expect a huge backlash against the royal family as an institution, and there has been some of that, but mostly: it's been relatively mild (against the royal family that is, not prince Andrew).
In the 90s (the only era I can remember) things were quite different too: there was the whole hubub about Camilla who was (IMO unfairly) extensively vilified in the media, had private telephone conversations with Charles were leaked. I'm not sure that would happen today; or if it did, it would get considerably less attention. Then there was the whole bruhaha about Andrew and Fergie, and let's not even start about Diana.
Maybe today Kim Kardashian or whatnot have taken the place for the "gossip inclined". Or maybe I just don't pay as much attention to these things as I did back in the day. But it seems like reporting is completely different.
As for punk: that's basically intended to offend innit? I'm not sure if you can really tell the general mood of the country from punk.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#390“Everybody hates the President, everybody loves the Queen”
- Jesus and Mary Chain