It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all…
Queen Elizabeth II has died
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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#552Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#553This would make for a good read and understanding of how the royalty works.
On the topic, I think what Queen Elizabeth has done despite of the challenges within her sovereignty is being a living example on how to rule and govern, without negatively interfering with how the affairs and progress of the state needs to be carried out.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#554As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…
I do not approve of concepts like a ruling family, and favor mobility- but I have slowly come to appreciate the value of being groomed for a responsibility your entire life. I am not sure such dedicated & devout public servants come about naturally.
Nothing arises "naturally"; It's the education and access to vast support resources that creates exceptional people, and if you want more of those, you should want to ensure that the greatest number of people have access to enough resources that anyone can have a chance to make the most of their inborn advantages (whatever they may be) regardless of the circumstances of their birth.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#555As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…
She wasn't doing it from the kindness of her heart. This was her job, she was obscenely rich off of taxpayer money and she could retire any second she wanted to. You make it sound like she was sentenced to sign paperwork for her entire life, when the reality is she consciously chose to do so every day and in exchange she and her family was granted an immense wealth. It's not even remotely something that would warrant complaint. I'm not saying this to be snarky, just pointing out that although maybe parts of her job was boring, stressful, and unfulfilling, this is what she signed up for. And her "compensation" was unimaginable amount of money and power in the form of interpersonal relations.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#556Fun facts: - She ruled for 30% of the time since the American Revolution - She oversaw the largest reduction of landholdings of any empire in the history of the world. Notable because it was also one of the most peaceful transitions in history -- Australia, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, etc. - She oversaw the loss of Sterling the world reserve currency and the rise of another (the USD, EU).
> She oversaw the largest reduction of landholdings of any empire in the history of the world. Notably, without loosing their royal power over those landholdings.
She didn't lose her royal power when handing over those landholdings, nor did she loose it (militarily) to prevent those reductions in the first place.
Seems like she handled it well.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#557As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…
I do not approve of concepts like a ruling family, and favor mobility- but I have slowly come to appreciate the value of being groomed for a responsibility your entire life. I am not sure such dedicated & devout public servants come about naturally.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#558Interestingly the details of the planned operation London Bridge https://www.politico.eu/article/queen-elizabeth-death-plan-b... were posted today on some British news site before her death, when all others confirmed her stable health. Some insiders obviously were in the know earlier today.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#559Quoted post unavailable.
We've banned this account for repeatedly posting flamebait and unsubstantive comments. That's not allowed here. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . (Edit: actually I took a second look and your account history doesn't seem to be as I describe…
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#560It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all…
meanwhile, Irish Twitter and TikTok have been absolutely ablaze with celebration...