# Death of the Queen/President **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 24, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747 "2015-08-24T18:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/61 "2015-08-25T21:44:53Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Read more: [http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-happens-when-queen-elizabeth-ii-dies-2015-3#ixzz3jreq5jeN](http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-happens-when-queen-elizabeth-ii-dies-2015-3#ixzz3jreq5jeN) > > Whatever happens formally, the shock on the day of the Queen’s passing will see Britain effectively cease to function. The French will invade! ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/62 "2015-08-25T22:29:17Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > I may be mistaken but I understood that on a Demise of the Crown flags are _not_ on half mast because the Sovereign cannot die? Yes, on the grounds that ‘the King is dead, long live the King’. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/63 "2015-08-25T22:34:21Z")
The notes and coins get periodically redesigned anyway as fraudsters catch up with the designs. The old coins continued to circulate for many decades after the late King’s demise. You could still find Victorian ones occasionally into the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/64 "2015-08-25T22:49:11Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > The notes and coins get periodically redesigned anyway as fraudsters catch up with the designs. The Clydesdale Bank have started issuing plastic fivers, and I think the other issuers are moving that way too. Changing an element of the design of a note seems fairly trivial in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/65 "2015-08-25T23:42:36Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > It’s really quite remarkable how long Charles has been waiting. King Felipe VI of Spain and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands are both two decades younger than him. They each ascended the throne at 46. Charles will be 67 in November and nada. Juan Carlos I of Spain is only a decade older than Prince Charles, and he’s already had his reign and abdicated. And if that’s still not bad enough he had to represent his mother at the Willem-Alexander’s inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/66 "2015-08-25T23:59:49Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > The notes and coins get periodically redesigned anyway as fraudsters catch up with the designs. > The old coins continued to circulate for many decades after the late King’s demise. You could still find Victorian ones occasionally into the 1960s. A couple of times, though years ago, I found myself in possession King George V quarters, and he died in January 1936. They were very worn. The heads side of each was little more than bare metal. I wonder how they escaped recall by the Bank of Canada. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/67 "2015-08-26T01:43:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I have to hand it to the Brits; that’s some fine speechifying there. Far more powerful and moving than anything us mere Colonials have ever strung together. Is that sarcasm? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/68 "2015-08-26T04:20:15Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > The notes and coins get periodically redesigned anyway as fraudsters catch up with the designs. > The old coins continued to circulate for many decades after the late King’s demise. You could still find Victorian ones occasionally into the 1960s. And Canada just redid all its banknotes… ---
**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:** [August 26, 2015, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/69 "2015-08-26T05:49:46Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Read the article for details. Of course money will remain in circulation, but all of the portraits on new money need to change. Commonwealth wide, its a lot of bills and coinage going through a redesign. But that’s not such a big deal. Canada redesigns its coins and currency on a regular basis. Since Her Majesty ascended to the throne in 1952, Canada has had four different images of her on our coins, and five different images of her on banknotes. Doing a new image for the coins and the one banknote that has her picture would be part of the regular redevelopment of the coins and currency, and part of the regular updating that has always occurred. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/70 "2015-08-26T13:10:39Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Is that sarcasm? Nope. Dead serious. That’s powerful use of language. Rather over-the-top frilly by modern standards, but that just demonstrates how tweet-like American English has become. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/71 "2015-08-26T17:55:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nope. Dead serious. That’s powerful use of language. Rather over-the-top frilly by modern standards, but that just demonstrates how tweet-like American English has become. Owning a copy of the Declaration of Independence I would say you guys have some flair as well 🙂 Bear in mind that Proclamations such as that are a standard format and haven’t been altered substantially in centuries. When the Queen sends messages to Parliament many of them are pretty much unchanged from Tudor times. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/72 "2015-08-27T00:17:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I have to hand it to the Brits; that’s some fine speechifying there. Far more powerful and moving than anything us mere Colonials have ever strung together. It’s all the extra capital letters. They’ve been keeping them from us. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/73 "2015-08-27T00:19:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nope. Dead serious. That’s powerful use of language. Rather over-the-top frilly by modern standards, but that just demonstrates how tweet-like American English has become. That’s the first time in years I’ve read a use of the word “gentlemen” that wasn’t either obsequious or sleazy. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/74 "2015-08-27T02:45:21Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Owning a copy of the Declaration of Independence I would say you guys have some flair as well 🙂 Thank you. It was exactly what I had in mind. It sounds so florid when one first reads it in fourth grade, but it’s practically Hemingway to me now. > [@Sunspace](#): > > That’s the first time in years I’ve read a use of the word “gentlemen” that wasn’t either obsequious or sleazy. What do people snap at male students acting up in the back of the classroom? Or co-workers standing the doorway, or the middle of the corridor? Or male patrons who are studiously ignoring last call? In short, what do people do when they don’t know every person’s middle name? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/75 "2015-08-27T03:16:33Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Not just the British. She’s the only monarch i’ve ever known here in Canada. I keep meaning to write my MP to propose a bill be introduced that upon Elizabeth’s death or abdication, Canada will become a republic. Maybe after the upcoming election. ---
**Author:** ![escaped](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@escaped](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/escaped)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/76 "2015-08-27T04:20:20Z")
depends how the president died. ---
**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:** [August 27, 2015, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/77 "2015-08-27T05:43:48Z")
Don’t forget to write to your MNA, **Bryan**. And the premiers of the other nine provinces. Needs unanimity to abolish the monarchy in Canada. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy, as the Cub would say. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/78 "2015-08-27T07:02:42Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Don’t forget to write to your MNA, **Bryan**. And the premiers of the other nine provinces. Needs unanimity to abolish the monarchy in Canada. > > Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy, as the Cub would say. > > 😉 In other words, Bryan, see s. 41 (a) of the Charter. A simple law won’t do it to get rid of the Monarch; you’ll need to amend the Constitution with the assent of all ten provinces and Parliament. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/79 "2015-08-27T11:06:16Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I keep meaning to write my MP to propose a bill be introduced that upon Elizabeth’s death or abdication, Canada will become a republic. > > Maybe after the upcoming election. Nice symbolism to have the empire bookended by Elizabeths, but what will you call the Mounties, and will they still get to wear those nifty dress uniforms? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747/80 "2015-08-27T15:15:44Z")
Since “royal” has come and gone several times as a slang synonym for bitchin’, far out, neato, cool, groovy (?), awesome, etc., it seems to me that the RCMP can leave its name unchanged and it would work just as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-of-the-queen-president/728747.md?page=5)