Anyone else confused by the emotion over Queen Elizabeth's passing?

The BBQ Pit
321

As to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, she handled all her duties with grace and poise, and was able to carve out some semblance of a private life while living nearly every moment in the public spotlight. I don’t think many people here (or around the world) understand how difficult that was. There are journalists whose entire career is based on observing her.

Can you imagine living like that? With every minor fashion choice of broach, pin or hat being analyzed for days? Of your children, and grandchildren and great grandchildren being constantly surveilled by media conglomerates who have a financial stake in everything you or they do, every private thought uttered aloud, every quick question muttered under your breath. I think most of us would tire of it very quickly, and eventually some of us would turn to self harm. Or at least public acting out. She never did. That’s how strong she was. She never gave in, not an inch, while living in a bare spotlight most of us could stand for minutes at best.

It is fair to say she was raised from birth for this, and yet, for 96 years she endured it. She’s earned her rest. More than earned it. And whatever you may feel about the actions of the British government during her reign, any anger at her is misplaced. She was a captive in a gilded cage her entire life. Every moment. Every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month, of every year. For 96 years.

3,029,529,600 (more or less) seconds of living a life not your own; a title, a brand if you will, and existing inside a gilded cage. That was the life of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. Born on April 21, 1926, monarch of 14 independent nations, including the United Kingdom, who reigned from February 6, 1952 until her death on September 8, 2022. Thank you, for your service. Requiescat in Pace.

God save The King.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

322

As I said previously, the general consensus from legions of powerful people who have met her and have interacted beyond just pleasantaries seems to be that she is not some dumb figurehead who spouts banalaties.

I see no reason to doubt their impressions. It is a shame that we don’t get to hear the details of those conversations but that comes with the territory.

323

From my reading, there’s considerable debate about whether the monarchy is overall a boost to the U.K. economy. That Channel 4 News “FactCheck” mentions the Queen “only” received £32.1m in 2011 from taxpayers, apparently a reference to the sovereign grant (which is now at £86m plus). That doesn’t include other large expenses, like maintenance and upkeep of palaces. And a large chunk of the money supposedly brought to the Treasury via the monarchy relates to tourism, and depends on the assumption that tourists won’t come to the U.K. and visit sites like the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace unless there’s a royal somewhere in the picture.

I suppose that businesses like Cartier, Elizabeth Arden and Coca-Cola might see a minute drop-off in sales if their products no longer carried the Royal Seal of Approval. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

324

To be fair, my father’s modest clothing company had a royal warrant, and it was integral to him landing significant sales in Japan, the USA and the middle east. Foreigners love that stuff. It’s not what it does for coca cola, it’s what it can do for small artisan businesses across the UK.

325

I think people feeling emotion for, in this instance, Elizabeth, is the same phenomenon that we see with respect to other kinds of celebrities. In some sense, I see this as one of the many defects or malfunctions in the human mind. And it’s a demonstration of the fact that evolution is merely about what happens to survive; it’s not a progression towards a goal, or towards perfection.

We see people becoming emotional for something like this, but then showing no sympathy or empathy for people around the world, or even in their own neighborhoods or their own social circles, who are suffering much worse.

It affirms my belief that being a good person is a constant struggle, and that feeling emotions shouldn’t be the end of the story. We should examine why we feel certain emotions in some situations and not in other situations, and we should make rational choices regarding how to deal with them.

326

Not sure what emotion it evokes, but here’s the latest monarchy tidbit, courtesy of the N.Y. Post:

“According to journalist Mark Steyn, the late Queen Elizabeth II always carried a toilet seat cover in the famous handbag she took with her everywhere.”

Brings new meaning to the term “royal flush”.

327

I was listening to the news this morning and they were describing a part of the procession and the reporter said something about the Crown Jewels and my mind immediately went to testicles.

Stupid juvenile brain.

328

You forget that her own father-in-law was nearly sentenced to death, merely for being part of the Greek royal family when they were deposed. Princess Alice, Phillip’s Mother, who lived at Buckingham Palace with them, had to run for her life no less than three times as the Greek royal family’s popularity waxed and waned. “Burning it all down” as you so glibly describe it might well have meant the lives of her children.

329

I think it’s fair to say that there’s been a lot of discussion on this point in the 200 posts subsequent to the one you quoted, and LHOD may not want to revisit it.

330

Perhaps. I admit I haven’t gotten all the way through them yet. But I did search a few key words, including “Greece” and it didn’t seem to have come up at all. It seemed that the discussion revolved entirely around the UK constitution and the rights of the monarch. I’ll keep reading though.

331

Christ almighty. Your fantasy about the British government–that they’d murder the children of a prominent political dissident–is as bleak as it is stupid. You’re absolutely in no position to lecture me.

332

For general interest, I’ve coincidentally just come across this article here on modern Kenyan attitudes to British Empire and the Queen’s passing:

333

To follow up on this, because it’s funny:

Realising that holding a minute’s silence was an invitation for Celtic fans to disrupt the solemnity with foul oaths and curses, the Scottish Football Association decided that there would instead be a minute’s applause. The clever wheeze being that chants of “Fuck the Crown” etc. would be drowned in the general noise and thus in fact be co-opted into a display of reverence.

The whistle to signify the start of the applause is blown. And the fans unveil a banner reading:

“Clap your hands if you hate the Queen”

334

Sounds EXACTLY like the government you’ve been describing.

Look, my family’s from Northern Ireland. I’m not here to support colonialism. I just think you’ve been desperately unfair to Elizabeth Windsor. And if you think that the terrifying experiences that literally drove his mother insane for a while weren’t in her husband’s (and therefore her) calculations about how to do her job, then you just lack empathy.

335

Fuck off, Trucelt.

336

Prince William flew search-and-rescue missions off the coast of Wales, and on at least one occasion pulled Russian sailors off a sinking freighter. That’s enough to impress me, even if he had been plain Bill Snooks from Croydon.

337

Read an article in the paper over The Weeknd, in which they suggested Chucky would need to tone down his personal agenda as king, observing that all of his remarks would be - at the very least - heavily reviewed by others.

Just seemed to reinforce my impression of them as figureheads.

338

No, come on, that’s silly. At no point did anyone think “maybe the British people will murder some children”.

339

Well, not British royal children. Kenyan children, 100%.

340

I didn’t think that was quite what @TruCelt was saying. I thought his point was that QE could have internalized the idea, perhaps unconsciously, that notions of deposing or dissolving the monarchy could result in serious danger for the royal family.