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Queen Elizabeth II has died

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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#191
post #36

RIP. As a Canadian I've always liked that we technically had the Queen as our head of state. I wonder how attitudes will change now that her 70 year reign.

I have an idea that's only half insane. Bear with me. Let's assume we want to get rid of the monarch as Canada's head-of-state. Canada will not be able to feasibly do so because it opens up too many difficult questions about re-structuring our government. Ergo, we will probably just coast on the status-quo. But we could use the desire for everything to stay the same to our advantage by declaring the Queen Elizabeth II the Eternal Monarch even in death.

The Monarch of Canada is a ceremonial position. The Monarch's representative (the Governor General) is appointed by the Prime Minister and has no real power (see: the King-Bing Affair for legal precedent), and therefore could technically be done by anyone from anywhere (even beyond the grave). Politically speaking, absolutely nothing would have to change. The Monarch's effective power in our political system would go from basically zero to literally zero, thus eliminating an avenue for potential abuse of power that we risk by keeping a living Monarch as head-of-state. We could achieve this without having to re-open difficult constitutional questions. Traditionalist Canadian institutions with "Royal" in their names (Mounted Police, Army, Airforce, etc) would not have to change their names or branding. Heck, we wouldn't even have to change the designs on our money. Literally nothing would change except closing a loop-hole (albeit a very low-risk one) for potential power abuse in our political system.

The only down side is that smug know-it-alls can say "actually Canada is not a democracy, it's a Constitutional Necrocracy"

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#192

Winston 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…

Truss was two days ago.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#193
could this influence some of the last remaining royalties around the world? I don't think charles or his son will ever be well respected. Elizabeth was faithful to her role, very conservative, oversaw the end of the british empire, probably the last recognized monarch worldwide. Without her, the royalties of saudi arabia are somewhat without peers , which may delegitimize them in the eyes of their citizens.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#194
Queen Elizabeth shepherded Britain through one of the longest periods of peace, and stability in our history. I hope King Charles will continue that tradition.

I always remember this letter she wrote in a old copy of Burke's Peerage, on why she was banning the use of foreign titles.

"As chaste women ought not to cast their eyes on any other than their own husbands, so neither ought subjects to cast their eyes upon any other prince than him whom God hath set over them. I would not have my sheep branded with another man's mark; I would not have them follow the whistle of a strange shepherd." -Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022

God save the Queen. And protect us all from strange shepherds.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#195
post #121

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…

It's understandable, she's been a constant vague presence for a lot of British people. It feels like a minor part of our personal history died. I definitely feel saddened, even if I don't have a connection with royalty.

Not just British people. Canadians, for instance, still have a role for the head of the commonwealth...

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#196

If I remember correctly, the plan is that UK TV channels cancel all entertainment programs for the next ten days, so I look forward to more people going outside for the end of summer.

This is the first time we’ve had the TV on watching something whilst it is actually being broadcast though airwaves for months.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#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 monarchy as Elizabeth represented it. We might still want the whole concept destroyed, but there is nothing close to the vehemence of Johnny Rotten (Lydon)'s lyrics from that song.

Nevertheless, that is how a bunch of people felt in 1977, and as our memories become even more gilded and rose goggled now that she has died, it may be worth remembering those feelings too:

God save the queen / The fascist regime / They made you a moron / A potential H bomb / God save the queen / She's not a human being / and There's no future / And England's dreaming

These days, I think even us staunch republicans/anti-monarchists would begrudgingly admit that "She could have been worse" and that she actually was a human being.

Maybe Charles will have the guts to end it all, but it doesn't seem likely.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#199
post #36

RIP. As a Canadian I've always liked that we technically had the Queen as our head of state. I wonder how attitudes will change now that her 70 year reign.

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