HOW have I never seen or heard of this amazing and beautiful webcomic before? I’m blaming all of you! :mad:
It ain’t broke, don’t fix it. QE2 is pretty much the ideal figurehead leader in the way she conducts herself, Charles’ failings are minor, and William seems exemplary so far. If they change then my opinion might do too.
Getting rid of them then either giving the PM more power or having an elected President of some sort would also cost a hell of a lot of money in the short term, and probably not save much in the long term, if it saved any money at all. The Royals aren’t that stupid and they have lots of advisors who really aren’t stupid; if they do have to leave, they’ll find some way to keep a lot of the royal properties and income.
There are no practical reasons to get rid of them, in other words.
Philosophically, in some ways it would be nice to say ‘we are a country in which simply being born out of the right vagina doesn’t guarantee you money and power.’ But getting rid of the monarchy wouldn’t make that true - they’d still have money and power and so would all the other rich people. At least with the Royals in situ we can’t pretend to be more equal than we really are.
I also detest the thought of having yet another greasy rung for politicians to cling onto.
He’s kinda getting less objectionable as he gets older, too. By the time he gets to be King, he’ll be old enough that people will have mostly forgotten his infidelity - which is the only ‘bad’ thing he’s ever really done. I actually kinda like him - he seems like a slightly nerdy man with not much natural charm who has the audacity to have personal opinions on art and architecture.
If he makes a good speech after his mother dies then it’ll be a big old Georgian love-in.
I’m also not so sure William would go for it. He doesn’t seem to like the limelight much and he does seem to like his Dad. Hell, maybe Charles would even want to step aside, but that’d be creating an unwanted precedent and it’d be forcing William to be King earlier than necessary.
Remember that quote about asking the best leaders being those who don’t really want the job but can do it anyway? We seem to have lucked out and got three in a row. Four, counting Liz’s Dad, and his Nazi-appeasing brother showed that even with the figurehead status of monarch there are some people who aren’t really up to the job.
A ninny? I like that. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of a king he makes.
True, but keep in mind just how long the women in her family tend to live. True, her sister died in her 70s, but Princess Margaret also had a long history of smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Charles will probally be in his 80s when he becomes king; I doubt he’ll reign more that 10 yrs.
Ages at death:
Father (George VI) -56
Mother (Queen [Mother] Elizabeth) - 101
Paternal Grandfather (George V) - 70
Paternal Grandmother (Queen Mary) - 85
Maternal Grandfather (Earl of Strathmore) - 89
Maternal Grandmother (Countess of Strathmore) - 75
Her three aunts who lived to adulthood all died in their 60s or 70s, and her grandmothers died at 75 and 85. None of the late Queen Mother’s siblings lived past age 77.
(It’s entirely possible that the Queen might live to 100, but it’s possible and probably probable that she will not. Tabulating the ages of random relatives is probably meaningless.)
:eek: We’ve discovered the Howard Families!
Her Grandparents’ ages were either better than average or damn good for their time. Some of those deaths - her father’s and sister’s especially - seem also to be connected to smoking; she doesn’t smoke.
She’s not just old, but remarkably healthy. Expecting her to live another ten years is not betting against the odds.
And Chuck is already quite old and looks about the same age as his mother; he walks with a stick whereas she still doesn’t. A short reign does seem likely - very like Edward VII.
Woodrow Wilson Windsor? 
And also very much like Edward VII, Charles is seen as less-than-capable of filling his mother’s shoes. And Edward VII surprised everyone with how well he managed!
I’ve always thought the criticism of Charles is rather unfair. Unlike Edward VII, he is by no means a playboy and seems to work very hard. Some of his charity work, such as the Prince’s Trust, has been fantastic, and he really doesn’t get the credit I think he deserves. Sure, he gets himself embroiled in contoversy over things like his views on architecture, but at least he’s passionate. I imagine he’ll be a pretty good King.
I think you’ve already made up your own mind and are witnessing.
I agree. There have been some concerns over his less orthodox interests, mind - such as his advocacy of homeopathy - but he will have no power over healthcare and I’d rather he obsess over such tiny issues as these rather than attempt to stomp into the political arena on bigger issues.
I agree. And in less than four years, she’ll surpass Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning British monarch:
Hrmmm. That would be nice. The cost of maintaining the royals doesn’t seem to be particularly high considering the tourism they generate.
Very good observations.
They are popular and beloved mascots but they largely serve that role. They have about as much power as the Vice President of the United States, less actually. And noone come to America on vacation to catch a glimpse of the Vice President or where he lives.
A new American bio of HM: Elizabeth The Queen - The Life of a Modern Monarch - By Sally Bedell Smith - Book Review - The New York Times
What other countries have monarchies? Japan, Norway, and some others. It’s still fairly commonplace. I’ve read that most all American presidents have royal, “blue” blood.
I didn’t know that. Can you give us a link? I’ve seen him use a walking stick on country walks but that’s all.
There are 44 monarchies today, many of which are in the British Commonwealth. See the map here: Monarchy - Wikipedia
So does just about everybody else. The concept of monarchy has been around long enough that pretty much everybody is going to descend from some monarch somewhere.