# Britons; what are you expecting when Charles becomes King? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 2, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061 "2022-01-02T02:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/61 "2022-01-02T18:12:08Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And yet, he isn’t king. He’s waited his entire life and he sits idle, trying to look busy. As I understand it, he’s already stepping in for his mother all the time to do ceremonial duties like knighting and presenting other honors. He’s done it for an Australian award: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HThWcm4d-CM/maxresdefault.jpg "The Order of Australia - Objectivity 247") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HThWcm4d-CM&t=31s) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/62 "2022-01-02T18:15:31Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > The failure of the plebiscite was because the Republican Movement wanted a directly elected President which split the progressive movement in half. It is highly unlikely the direct election model would have succeeded. The parliamentary appointed republic would have succeeded if the ARM had thrown their weight behind it. Which illustrates the point I’m making: opting for a republic is the easy question. The hard question is what type of republic you want. The Aussie Republican Movement could not agree on the answer to that question, so Liz is still Queen of Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/63 "2022-01-02T19:40:41Z")
What I wonder is (and I’m pretty sure I’ve asked this question before, even here), when the Duke of Cambridge will succeed to the throne, whether he’ll be known in French as _William V_ or _Guillaume V_. Traditionally, monarchs’ names tended to be translated, and indeed King William IV is known in French as _Guillaume IV_, but it’s less common today (witness for example Kings Juan Carlos and Felipe, not John Charles and Philip). And Cambridge is typically called William, even in French. But (whether or not I like this state of fact), as a French-speaking subject of King William V in one of his realms where French is an official language, I also feel that his regnal name should have a French version. Not a big deal all told, but I find it an interesting question. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/64 "2022-01-02T19:42:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If Diana was still alive, would she have some official title as the mother of an heir to the throne? Would she have had a title when William became King? No and no. She once made a comment about being called the ‘King Mother’ She had to have it explained that this isn’t how Royal titles work. > [@flurb](#): > > Thank God for Chuck’s kids — can you imagine the shit show if Charles became King and Andrew were heir apparent? He wouldn’t be heir apparent. If Charles had no children, and ascended to the throne, his brother would be heir presumptive. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/65 "2022-01-02T20:05:40Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Fight this 'Merican’s total ignorance. Who are some Canadian heroes? [https://coinscatalog.net/images/small/28/dollar-common-loon-loonie-2018-p-proof-canada-r-46677.jpg](https://coinscatalog.net/images/small/28/dollar-common-loon-loonie-2018-p-proof-canada-r-46677.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/66 "2022-01-02T20:16:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And William is 39 now, so if Charles ascends to the throne this year, and reigns twenty years, William would be about sixty when he ascends. At that point, Prince George will be 28. Since the Act of Settlement and the enthronement of the Hannovers, the only ones to make it to the throne before their 40th birthday have been George III, aged 22; Victoria, aged 18; and E2, aged 25 (and George IV’s stint as Regent started after he was already in his mid 40s). With modern life expectancies it should be assumed that absent some accident or sudden fatal malady, or the UK adopting the Dutch practice of making retirement the norm, any future monarchs of the UK will at best ascend to the throne well into middle age, with perhaps a regency if the old monarch becomes too disabled for even the bare minimum of duties. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/67 "2022-01-02T20:29:19Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > About the same in Canada. Four courts will change their names from “Court of Queen’s Bench” to “Court of King’s Bench”. Other government references to the Queen will change to the King. Postage stamps will change. Lawyers who are designated as Queen’s Counsel will become King’s Counsel (“QC” =\> “KC”). For a well-maintained institution, it would only take one change of a text field in a database from “Queen” to “King” and some more for pronouns. But who am I fooling, in reality it will be a big hassle for everyone involved that’ll cost ten thousands of dollars/pounds and a lot of paper work. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/68 "2022-01-02T20:35:19Z")
Start here; Frederick Banting Terry Fox Ken Taylor ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/69 "2022-01-02T20:50:37Z")
Nope. The statutes for each of the courts have provisions that say during the reign of a Queen, it’s the Queen’s Bench, and during the reign of a King, it’s the King’s Bench. As well, pleadings filed in one name don’t need to be changed. Should be seamless. QC’s will have to have their letterhead updated. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/70 "2022-01-02T20:56:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > QC’s will have to have their letterhead updated. Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. The best case scenario would be that the database entries were changed from “Queen” to “King” and “Her” to “His” and automatically, all the letterheads of all offices would be correct again. But it never works that way. Just a bit of IT guy geekery or frustration from my part, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/71 "2022-01-02T21:04:42Z")
I’m not expecting much change, but then we really don’t know. In theory, the Governor General can withold royal assent from any bill Parliament in Canada passes. Then the Sovereign can annul the bill in 2 years. This has not happened in our lifetimes, but then we have had only this Queen for our lifetime, (unless you are in your 80’s or older), and she has been extremely hands-off. No guarantees that Charles will feel the same way. Yes, the formal witholding of Royal assent would trigger a constitutional crisis. But that might not stop Charles, as he is kind of a flake and has hinted at being a more activist monarch. There’s a reason Elizabeth doesn’t want him to be King. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/72 "2022-01-02T21:12:03Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > With modern life expectancies it should be assumed that absent some accident or sudden fatal malady, or the UK adopting the Dutch practice of making retirement the norm, any future monarchs of the UK will at best ascend to the throne well into middle age, with perhaps a regency if the old monarch becomes too disabled for even the bare minimum of duties. Yeah, that’s also causing the current drive to ‘thin out’ the herd of royals. You used to be able to count on general infant mortality or the Plague of the Decade to keep their numbers in check. (And wars helped, back when kings and such actually showed up on battlefields.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/73 "2022-01-02T21:16:04Z")
A considerably shorter reign that Queen Elizabeth’s. Whoops. I’m not British. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/74 "2022-01-02T21:27:10Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The best case scenario would be that the database entries were changed from “Queen” to “King” and “Her” to “His” and automatically, all the letterheads of all offices would be correct again. But it never works that way. Just a bit of IT guy geekery or frustration from my part, respectively. It would be an opportune time to replace all the pronouns with gender-neutral ones. No more “His Majesty’s This” and “Her Majesty’s That”. It will always and forever be “Their Royal Highness” and “Their Majesty’s Whatever”. Long Live TRH King Charles! OTOH, as it is, it’s convenient that the gendered pronouns “His” and “Her” both start with H, so at least all the HRH and HMx don’t have to change. ETA: It make sense too. Monarchs have long referred to themselves in the first person plural, so why not do likewise in the second and third persons? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/75 "2022-01-02T21:35:40Z")
Have you considered the possibility of a non-binary monarch who uses “they / them” pronouns? Not the case for Charles or William, but too early to call the monarch after that. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/76 "2022-01-02T21:39:45Z")
Easy: change the name of the text field from “pronoun” to “preferred pronoun”, and let the monarch decide which pronoun to fill in. ETA: this is rather tongue in cheek. In reality, it would be catastrophe programming-wise, because you had to change the reference to the “pronoun” field in every single application that addresses that field. No programmer would do that. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/77 "2022-01-02T21:48:27Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I predict Charles ascends Whilst he draws breathe, or the improbability that the UK Republican Movement gains power, this has been true for 73 years. > [@elbows](#): > > he’ll endow and protect some pet projects, then pass to William Whilst he draws breathe, this has been false for 73 years > [@elbows](#): > > As for former empires, I suspect most will seize the opportunity to drop the British Monarch as the money image. What are these “former empires” of which you speak? When dealing in Constitutional matters, precision of language is rather more important than a “nice to have”. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/78 "2022-01-02T21:52:44Z")
To which Ken Taylor are you referring? Wiki shows multiple ones. ---
**Author:** ![Slight\_Off\_Hand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Slight\_Off\_Hand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slight_Off_Hand)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/79 "2022-01-02T22:02:33Z")
Probably [Kenneth D. Taylor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_D._Taylor). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061/80 "2022-01-02T22:02:34Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > What I wonder is (and I’m pretty sure I’ve asked this question before, even here), when the Duke of Cambridge will succeed to the throne, whether he’ll be known in French as _William V_ or _Guillaume V_ . I don’t have easy access to the French versions of the federal statutes from 1900 onwards, but the French version of the constitutional statutes passed during the reign of Edward VII are cited to Édouard VII: > [@](#): > > 1. _Acte de l’Alberta_, 1905, 4-5 Édouard VII, c. 3 (Canada) > > 2. _Acte de la Saskatchewan_, 1905, 4-5 Édouard VII, c. 42 (Canada) > > 3. _Acte de l’Amérique du Nord britannique, 1907_, 7 Édouard VII, c. 11 (R.-U.) > **[LOIS CONSTITUTIONNELLES DE 1867 à 1982](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/fra/const/page-14.html)** > > Lois codifiées Règlements codifiés,,LOIS CONSTITUTIONNELLES DE 1867 à 1982,LOIS CONSTITUTIONNELLES DE 1867 à 1982 The two Georges are cited to “George” not “Georges”, and the Queen is cited to “Elizabeth”, not “Élisabeth”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britons-what-are-you-expecting-when-charles-becomes-king/957061.md?page=5)