Queen Elizabeth served in the armed forces during World War 2 as a truck mechanic.
That's something that has always struck me as indicative of her character.
Queen Elizabeth II has died
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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#622One person should not receive so much attention. People die. We all die. Yes, I understand she was a fake Queen of a country, but so what? Why do we feel we need to worship these people, be it royalty or celebrities? They are just people, like you and me who happen to be famous. People are dying in Gaza too, maybe spare a tear for them.
>Yes, I understand she was a fake Queen of a country, but so what? She was a real queen, albeit with little power. What is a fake queen? >Why do we feel we need to worship these people, be it royalty or celebrities? Can you point to anybody worshipping her? Talking about a person or showing them respect is not worship. >People are dying in Gaza too, maybe spare a tear for them. Can people not do both?
A Queen, without power is a fake; it's just a title but with the inability to do anything because successive governments over time striped the Royal Family of any and all powers, and any that do remain can be vetoed by the Govt.
This media circus, is a form a worship.
Sure people can cry for a person such as the Queen, a person they do not know except for what they see on TV or in other forms of media. Personally I don't get it, I think Israel bombing Gaza killing children (just an example) is far more sad
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#623All: please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. Such reflexive comments are not on topic here. We want curious conversation. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . This story is on topic because it's a major historical event and history has always been on topic here. If it doesn't produce an intellectually curious respons…
> please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. I am kind of curious about what this means exactly. Is any criticism of the monarchy off limits? Is the purpose of this thread for people to air their positive thoughts about this lady? For example, I find non-British people that are genuinely sad about her passing to be pretty bizarre. It’s a fascinati…
I saw a few posts from people from former colonies who weren't so fond of her or her family.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#624Not 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.
This is basically where Howe’s 4th turning thesis comes from. The cycle repeats over the course of around 80 years more or less as the generations die off.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#625It'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...
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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#626I 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…
> We might still want the whole concept destroyed
I am not well versed about republic vs. monarchy apart from my limited experience, which might be more than many people, but not as valuable as someone that have studied that and can pitch in. Coming from BR, have lived in AU, NZ, and UK, and traveled a lot, I would take monarchy over a republic any day, extrapolating on that, and just looking at the current state of affairs of republic countries vs the ones coming from monarchy, which ones look in a better state, and makes you want to move to, live in and raise your family?
And mad props to UK for keeping --relatively to others-- really well so far.
Thank you and Rest in Peace.
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#627All: please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. Such reflexive comments are not on topic here. We want curious conversation. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . This story is on topic because it's a major historical event and history has always been on topic here. If it doesn't produce an intellectually curious respons…
> please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. I am kind of curious about what this means exactly. Is any criticism of the monarchy off limits? Is the purpose of this thread for people to air their positive thoughts about this lady? For example, I find non-British people that are genuinely sad about her passing to be pretty bizarre. It’s a fascinati…
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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#628It'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…
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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#629What points in history depended on her words or actions?
(Sincere question about her legacy; not questioning whether she was important.)
Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died
#630It'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…
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…
An upvote for you (if I could). I'm American but have lived in the UK for near 20 years. My great-whatever grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence so I'm hardly a royalist... So WTF am I doing living in the UK??? (the NHS etc...)
My general sense is that of respect for the Queen as a symbol. She did it right and wasn't a useless numpty like ... oh... all of the rest of them. Primarily nothing but B list celebrities. William and Kate seem fine enough, Harry and Meghan are .. irrelevant except to the nonces who have no actual lives, and let's not discuss Andrew...
Hopefully Charles will use the "soft power" he supposedly has to corral the professional sociopaths destroying this country (e.g. wind and solar power, given his supposed environmental leanings) but I don't know.... it very well may be all downhill from now. England (and by extension all of the UK) is destined to become a failed state.
Which is why I am looking hard at moving to Scotland (soon to be independent!) or even the EU to get the F out of here ASAP. It really is a transitional point.