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Queen Elizabeth II has died

bbc.com

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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#411

Post by charles_f »

lostlogin wrote: post #260
g42gregory wrote: post #177

I really feel that Charles should at least consider passing on the Crown to his son William. William and Kate are immensely popular. It would be a good thing for Great Britain, British people as well as for the Royal Family. Charles and Camilla are the opposite in terms of respect and popularity to William and Kate, as far as I understand. If Charles does that, he would write himself into the annals of British histor…

It’s almost as though there could be a better system, one where ability could be judged and debated and voted on.

It's already the case though.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#412

Post by kurupt213 »

blibble wrote: post #345
orobinson wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same. I think it’s because it really represents the end of an era. The 20th and early 21st century ushered in unprecedented improvements to quality of life in Britain but it has felt of late that that has peaked and the country is facing a serious decline: Brexit, the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the aftermath of covid, the possible break up of the union, rising costs of living, recessio…

during her lifetime the British Empire went from its zenith to its end leaving a trade bloc (Brexit) is hardly notable by comparison

To be fair, deals Churchill made with Roosevelt during Lend Lease ushered in the end. She inherited that situation from her dad.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#413

Post by jesuscript »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #370
BoxOfRain wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The words 'God save the King' in the national anthem are going to feel very alien for a while I think, I feel a genuine sense of loss with the Queen's death. I think it comes from a place of national identity in general rather than royalism specifically, royalist or republican it can't be denied that Queen Elizabeth played a significant role in how the UK sees itself and to an extent how the rest of the world sees us…

Honestly even the phrase from the article "In a statement, His Majesty the King said" struck me as unfamiliar.

In most of our lifetimes we will also utter “The King and Queen of England” since Charles is already 76. British seem to treasure this tradition, where as we Americans definitely got rid of a Jefferson stature somewhere recently.

struck me as unfamiliar.

Nope, it’s been quite familiar to even someone several hundred years ago.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#414

Post by citilife »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #198

I 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…

Not to dive into politics particularly; but there are advantages and disadvantages to every form of government. What are the particular disadvantages your family dislikes? Is it the principal of it or something in particular?

One clear advantage of monarchs that I can see, are that they have an incentive to grow and expand their tax base. That typically means long-term planning (but doesn't ensure it, which is a disadvantage the UK parliamentary system seems to mitigate).

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#416

Post by oceanplexian »

dijit wrote: post #332
Emma_Goldman wrote: post #240

I realise she has just died and it's unbecoming to do anything but laud the person, but this is just moral obsequiousness. She claims fealty by right of blood, reigned as the crown of an extraordinarily cruel empire, and frequently interceded in the democratic government of Britain to protect her private interests.

> reigned as the crown of an extraordinarily cruel empire Queen Elizabeth presided over its dismantlement. No famines occurred during her reign and no rebellions violently suppressed. The Empire was cruel, but it's unfair to wash her with the cloth of empire.

She was a good person, and has my respect but she was also a symbol of a deeply flawed system of governance.

There are lots of notable figures that have died recently (Gorbachev alone may have saved the world as we know it), that don’t get the same, almost pathological level of admiration. It’s not normal to break down crying because a person you never met died at age 97.. that’s hundreds of years of indoctrination, social, and religious manipulation at work.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#417

Post by maptime »

g42gregory wrote: post #177

I really feel that Charles should at least consider passing on the Crown to his son William. William and Kate are immensely popular. It would be a good thing for Great Britain, British people as well as for the Royal Family. Charles and Camilla are the opposite in terms of respect and popularity to William and Kate, as far as I understand. If Charles does that, he would write himself into the annals of British histor…

William has a very young family, pushing him into becoming the monarch would be incredibly detrimental to their lives as a family. The queen was very against abdication in any form

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#418

Post by sofixa »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #384

Not 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.

> Not to mention that she was the last monarch to have any memory of WWII

That's probably not true. There's the Dalai Lama and Simeon II of Bulgaria, who were minors but at least Simeon surely remembers (his father died in suspicious circumstances, he had an unconstitutional regency, and then he was dethroned, expelled and spent his life in exile).

> 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

It's honestly infuriating that with the wealth of information available at everyone's fingertips so many people are so easily making the same mistakes as a century earlier.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#419

Post by linker3000 »

UncleSlacky wrote: post #357
antonymy wrote: post #200

Wikipedia wasted no time updating King Charles' page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_King_of_the_United_Ki...

I think he's said that he's going to style himself "King George VII" as he didn't approve of Charles II.

Nope, Charles III it is:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59135132

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#420

Post by OscarCunningham »

g42gregory wrote: post #177

I really feel that Charles should at least consider passing on the Crown to his son William. William and Kate are immensely popular. It would be a good thing for Great Britain, British people as well as for the Royal Family. Charles and Camilla are the opposite in terms of respect and popularity to William and Kate, as far as I understand. If Charles does that, he would write himself into the annals of British histor…

It wouldn't leave any safety margin though. The line of succession after William is a disaster.
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