# If there is monarchy in UK, and people dislike it why don't they protest against it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261 "2012-10-29T21:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/101 "2012-11-03T20:19:00Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I could well believe it, as you live in East London, which has a huge immigrant population, (mostly from the M.E. and the Indian sub continent.) > > Which takes me back to my earlier point… My family’s from rural Cheshire, and have pretty much the same attitude. Your experiences are not the universal British standard. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/102 "2012-11-03T20:21:41Z")
Since Canada has the Queen as a Head of State, any decisions the UK made in regards to the monarchy would naturally effect them (as well as Australia, New Zealand and a [number of others](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm) that are a vestige of Empire), if we got rid of the monarchy what would happen to the Commonwealth? That’s a large reason most people want to keep it, or at least do not oppose it/are apathetic - changing to a republic would be a costly and complicated process. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/103 "2012-11-03T20:32:36Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Would that be like the "White British " Glasgow Celtic supporters who chant "Up the I.R.A. at football matches, and who fly the Irish Tricolour during Orangeman parades ? > > My family come from Glasgow. I think it’s safe to conclude that such people (who aren’t all that numerous - I speak as a Glasgow Celtic fan myself, if my username doesn’t already make that clear) are opposed to the monarchy and feel no particular reluctance to say so. In GQ terms, though, I’m not sure why you raised the issue. I suppose the answer is that yes, these people are white British republicans expressing their views. The point, really, is your initial contention that it would be dangerous to express anti-monarchist views. Although I’m not particularly republican (I don’t care much one way or the other) I’d have no fears expressing republican views unless I was surrounded by a bunch of Rangers fans or Orangemen. If the contention truly is that those who come to this country should not express views about the way it is governed, then the only answer I can give that’s even close to GQ-appropriate is that a big part of British culture is the right to criticise our leaders and our culture, including the monarch, and those immigrants who do so are assimilating perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/104 "2012-11-03T20:35:27Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Since Canada has the Queen as a Head of State, any decisions the UK made in regards to the monarchy would naturally effect them (as well as Australia, New Zealand and a [number of others](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_realm) that are a vestige of Empire), if we got rid of the monarchy what would happen to the Commonwealth? That’s a large reason most people want to keep it, or at least do not oppose it/are apathetic - changing to a republic would be a costly and complicated process. Well, there’s what, 48 or so countries in the Commonwealth? Only 15 have the Queen as head of state. So I imagine that it would continue if anyone wanted it to. But I think your general point is good. Abolishing the monarchy would be a whole lot of hassle and it really isn’t high on anyone’s list of priorities, even those who might feel that doing so would be a good idea in principle. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/105 "2012-11-03T20:36:27Z")
I refer you to my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/106 "2012-11-03T20:37:07Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I refer you to my previous post. You refer who to which previous post? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/107 "2012-11-03T20:48:08Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Well, there’s what, 48 or so countries in the Commonwealth? Only 15 have the Queen as head of state. So I imagine that it would continue if anyone wanted it to. Oh, I meant the Commonwealth realm specifically, i.e. those nations which have Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, as opposed to the [Commonwealth of Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations) which just to confuse people includes every Commonwealth realm but is distinct from it. What I meant in bringing up the Commonwealth is that you’d have to organise a new Head of State not just for the UK but for Canada, Australia etc. if you abolished the monarchy. I doubt they’d be over keen on just sharing a president or some other such republican arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/108 "2012-11-03T21:08:23Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > You refer who to which previous post? Whoops, sorry mate, you slipped in when I was replying to **DR Drake**. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/109 "2012-11-03T21:10:22Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Whoops, sorry mate, you slipped in when I was replying to **DR Drake**. I see. NP, it happens. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/110 "2012-11-03T22:05:31Z")
> [@lust4life](#): > > bizarre post, you live in canada (according to your profile), but lecture me about life in the u.k. > [@lust4life](#): > > you got caught out. > > Suck it up. **moderator note** **lust4life**. Attack posts, but quit attacking the posters. Change your tone. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/111 "2012-11-03T22:07:07Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > What I meant in bringing up the Commonwealth is that you’d have to organise a new Head of State not just for the UK but for Canada, Australia etc. if you abolished the monarchy. I doubt they’d be over keen on just sharing a president or some other such republican arrangement. IIRC, Canada and Australia have very explicit provisions in law saying that the British Parliament has no authority whatsoever over their constitutional arrangements. A republican arrangement in the UK (UR, I guess) wouldn’t have any effect. (The President of Great Britain and Northern Ireland would, on the other hand, possibly be the King or Queen of Tuvalu unless Tuvalu made changes. The constitution says that the sovereign is “any person exercising the whole or the relevant part of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom” unless the Parliament of Tuvalu says otherwise, which is probably there so a regent would also be the regent of Tuvalu.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/112 "2012-11-03T22:15:34Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Canada and Australia have very explicit provisions in law saying that the British Parliament has no authority whatsoever over their constitutional arrangements. It would be up to them to arrange to their satisfaction, not anybody else. The monarchy is sovereign over the realms, but parliament is [sovereign](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_sovereignty_in_the_United_Kingdom) over the monarchy…talk about your chicken and egg. You could end up with the bizarre situation where the UK has no monarchy but the rest of the realms do. A real head-scratcher anyway you look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/113 "2012-11-03T22:42:45Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > **moderator note** > > **lust4life**. > > Attack posts, but quit attacking the posters. Change your tone. > > **samclem** , moderator I was not attacking the posters but was putting their "information"into perspective. People posing as honest brokers sometimes aren’t. This leads to the enquirer being given misleading information. Someone from a particular group with its own agenda not being totally honest is not what GQ is about. Nor is someone trying to give the impression that they are familiar on a day to day basis with ordinary life in a particular country, when they are in fact living in another country several thousand miles away,is not conducive to fighting ignorance. It is in fact, False Flag posting, which unfortunately is not uncommon on mbs. I would also draw your attention to the fact that trying to goad someone into Pitting them is also against S.D. rules . How do I know this ? When I was first on these boards and ignorant of the S.D. culture I commited the same offence myself. And got told off about it. Not complaining, I was guilty as charged and accepted my bollocking without resentment. But I have yet to see the poster who has commited the same offence getting even a slap on the wrist for doing it, let alone anything else. Personally I would have thought misrepresnting yourself on this board was also against the rules. If you wish to start laying down the law, then you should be doing it equally to all concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/114 "2012-11-03T23:09:10Z")
I am British and have regularly, and monotonously some of my friends and family might say, criticised the royal family in both private and public settings (as an example, at the time we were supposed to be observing a silence for the parasite Diana, I made a point of mowing my lawn while singing along to my Walkman). As far as I can recall, I have never been lynched. Some people here love them, some people here despise them, I think the majority couldn’t care less. In the modern world they’re an embarrassing anachronism, IMHO. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/115 "2012-11-03T23:16:51Z")
**Lust4Life** , before you start an ATMB thread on **samclem** ’s moderation, I invite you to visit me in the [Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=671010). ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/116 "2012-11-03T23:38:21Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The monarchy is sovereign over the realms, but parliament is [sovereign](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_sovereignty_in_the_United_Kingdom) over the monarchy…talk about your chicken and egg. You could end up with the bizarre situation where the UK has no monarchy but the rest of the realms do. A real head-scratcher anyway you look at it. The British Parliament is only sovereign over the British monarchy, not that of Canada, Australia, or anywhere else. Abolishing the throne of Britain would not affect the throne of Canada, regardless of whether the same individual was both monarchs. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/117 "2012-11-03T23:46:05Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > The British Parliament is only sovereign over the British monarchy, not that of Canada, Australia, or anywhere else. Abolishing the throne of Britain would not affect the throne of Canada, regardless of whether the same individual was both monarchs. Hence why you could end up with the monarchy continuing in the realms, but being abolished in the mother country. Such a situation would be… quite unusual to say the least, if the citizens of the UK had got so fed up with the monarchy that parliament abolished (which, to be honest, I can’t ever see happening in my lifetime) it it’s hard to see why Canada, Australia etc would want to keep it. Even so, they’d likely have to re-jig the idea of governor generals with no UK-based monarch. You’d also have all the Royal infrastructure in the UK disassembled which could have a knock-on effect. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/118 "2012-11-04T00:06:09Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I was not attacking the posters but was putting their "information"into perspective. > > People posing as honest brokers sometimes aren’t. > > This leads to the enquirer being given misleading information. > > Someone from a particular group with its own agenda not being totally honest is not what GQ is about. > > Nor is someone trying to give the impression that they are familiar on a day to day basis with ordinary life in a particular country, when they are in fact living in another country several thousand miles away,is not > conducive to fighting ignorance. > > It is in fact, False Flag posting, which unfortunately is not uncommon on mbs. > > I would also draw your attention to the fact that trying to goad someone into Pitting them is also against S.D. rules . > > How do I know this ? > > When I was first on these boards and ignorant of the S.D. culture I commited the same offence myself. > > And got told off about it. > > Not complaining, I was guilty as charged and accepted my bollocking without resentment. > > But I have yet to see the poster who has commited the same offence getting even a slap on the wrist for doing it, let alone anything else. > > Personally I would have thought misrepresnting yourself on this board was also against the rules. > > If you wish to start laying down the law, then you should be doing it equally to all concerned. Comments on moderation belong in ATMB. If you have problems with a post, report it. Sometimes moderators might agree with your report, sometimes not. But that’s how you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/119 "2012-11-04T09:54:20Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > I am British and have regularly, and monotonously some of my friends and family might say, criticised the royal family in both private and public settings (as an example, at the time we were supposed to be observing a silence for the parasite Diana, I made a point of mowing my lawn while singing along to my Walkman). As far as I can recall, I have never been lynched. Same. Outside of the orange order and old firm matches in Glasgow, I’d say that expressing republican views isn’t going to earn you any hassle from most of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-is-monarchy-in-uk-and-people-dislike-it-why-dont-they-protest-against-it/639261/120 "2012-11-04T15:45:22Z")
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