# King of the Belgians to abdicate. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676 "2013-07-05T00:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/21 "2013-07-05T15:26:58Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > He’s a meddling, obsessive twit, with a number of strange bees in his bonnet. Is he a meddling, obsessive twit in any particular way? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/22 "2013-07-05T15:40:24Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Charles would be, even now, the oldest person to be crowned King of England/Great Britain. By my calculation he has a couple of months still to go. William IV, born August 21, 1765, became king on June 26, 1830, just five days less than two months short of this 65th birthday. Prince Charles was born on November 14, 1948 and will hit William’s age at accession on September 19. I think we should do something to commemorate the day. Maybe we could have a thread where Commonwealthers post all the reasons they think Prince Charles is a ninny. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/23 "2013-07-05T15:49:09Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Maybe we could have a thread where Commonwealthers post all the reasons they think Prince Charles is a ninny. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/24 "2013-07-05T16:13:43Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Is there a particular reason that Charles is so unpopular with some Britons? I’m not British but I despise people who lobby, as he does, for homeopathy. Homeopathy is just distilled water. He’s supposedly an educated man but he’s such an idiot on many subjects. [Link.](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gemma-hurley/prince-charles-and-the-ho_b_2883153.html) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/25 "2013-07-05T16:35:49Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I’m not British but I despise people who lobby, as he does, for homeopathy. Homeopathy is just distilled water. He’s supposedly an educated man but he’s such an idiot on many subjects. > > [Link.](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gemma-hurley/prince-charles-and-the-ho_b_2883153.html) Not always! …sometimes its milk sugar. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/26 "2013-07-05T16:51:35Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I’m not British but I despise people who lobby, as he does, for homeopathy. Homeopathy is just distilled water. He’s supposedly an educated man but he’s such an idiot on many subjects. > > [Link.](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gemma-hurley/prince-charles-and-the-ho_b_2883153.html) Yeah, that’s goofy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/27 "2013-07-05T19:09:47Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I’m not British but I despise people who lobby, as he does, for homeopathy. Homeopathy is just distilled water. He’s supposedly an educated man but he’s such an idiot on many subjects. That ought to disqualify one from any public office at all, elective or hereditary. If you don’t have the critical thinking skills necessary to see through homeopathy, you don’t have what it takes to do… much of anything, really. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/28 "2013-07-05T21:09:36Z")
In S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire series, we eventually learn the fate of Charles in Great Britain. Suffice it to say that he ends of being called Mad King Charles. At first he did good work, when his mother dies the first year. But then he marries AGAIN and the ambitious bitch feeds his paranoia and he goes nuts. Ends up being murdered by Queen Halgerda(his third wife) and William succeeds to the throne. William, in his own lifetime, becomes known as William the Great. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/29 "2013-07-05T22:50:00Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > …There are suggestions that Elizabeth feels the same way about Charles, and entertains the same hope, as with Victoria vis-a-vis Edward. Possibly a better chance for Elizabeth, of her hope coming true… I don’t think Her Majesty’s necessarily hopes to outlive her son, but whatever she thinks of him abdication is utter anathema to her. She will never do it. It literally goes against everything she was raised to believe. She’ll just gradually turn over more duties to Charles et al, and cede more power until eventually Charles (or William if Charles predeceases his mother) get’s named Prince Regent by Parliament like the future George IV did. > [@Baker](#): > > …At first he did good work, when his mother dies the first year. But then he marries AGAIN and the ambitious bitch feeds his paranoia and he goes nuts. Ends up being murdered by Queen Halgerda(his third wife) and William succeeds to the throne… Wasn’t Camilla that ambitious bitch (then she died and he married the Icelandic woman)? > [@Nava](#): > > The Pope. In legal terms, the Vatican States are an elective monarchy, they just happen to get their very own title. Yep, I was wondering if anyone would catch that. Hey what’s your opinion of Juan Carlos? Is he really getting unpopular enough that he might abdicate? Would Felipe VI do any better keeping the monarchy popular, or do you think Spain would become a republic in short order? ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/30 "2013-07-06T04:39:30Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > In S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire series, we eventually learn the fate of Charles in Great Britain. Suffice it to say that he ends of being called Mad King Charles. > > At first he did good work, when his mother dies the first year. But then he marries AGAIN and the ambitious bitch feeds his paranoia and he goes nuts. Ends up being murdered by Queen Halgerda(his third wife) and William succeeds to the throne. > > William, in his own lifetime, becomes known as William the Great. If I remember rightly: in the book, the last straw for Charles’s subjects is when he makes wearing smocks, and engaging in Morris dancing, compulsory. That does it – he’s got to go. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/31 "2013-07-06T04:47:00Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Yep, I was wondering if anyone would catch that. Hey what’s your opinion of Juan Carlos? Is he really getting unpopular enough that he might abdicate? Would Felipe VI do any better keeping the monarchy popular, or do you think Spain would become a republic in short order? He should abdicate simply due to age; even business owners get themselves some pastures before his age! He’s what, 75? Popularity shouldn’t really enter into it, really, he should retire simply because he’s OOOOOOOOLD. At this rate the boy will access when he’s of retirement age himself 😛 (at least if Daddy lives at long as his own parents did) - and I can call him “the boy” because we’re the same age. I don’t know whether Felipe and Letizia would do a better job at “keeping the monarchy popular” than Juan Carlos _and Sofia_ (who wouldn’t be doing any less of a role as the Queen Mother than as the Queen Consort, and who beats the whole rest of the family hands down for popularity), but in Spain for many people it isn’t so much a matter of monarchy being popular as of republic being unpopular. Many people don’t really give a shit, but if pressed a lot will say that parliamentary monarchy is “the worst type of government we’ve had, except for every other one.” A look at our current politicians is enough to make the Urdangarines and Corinas look… not good because that’s impossible but less bad than having the politicians rule with nobody to occasionally say “woooo, easy there!” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/32 "2013-07-06T16:34:40Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > If I remember rightly: in the book, the last straw for Charles’s subjects is when he makes wearing smocks, and engaging in Morris dancing, compulsory. That does it – he’s got to go. Also, Queen Halgerda wanted William and Harry set aside in favor of her kids. Plus Charles wouldn’t call a Parliament, keeping the “Emergency Regulation” in effect so he could really _rule_. But he did finally put his foot down and refuse to favor his younger kids, and that’s what got him murdered by the Queen. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/33 "2013-07-07T04:49:24Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Also, Queen Halgerda wanted William and Harry set aside in favor of her kids. Plus Charles wouldn’t call a Parliament, keeping the “Emergency Regulation” in effect so he could really _rule_. But he did finally put his foot down and refuse to favor his younger kids, and that’s what got him murdered by the Queen. At the risk of thread-diverting into a “Dies The Fire” symposium – my mind goes to a bit of associated trivia. The “Iceland Connection” which Halgerda is part of, includes the Special Icelandic Detachments (SIDs): heavily-armed Icelandic thugs who do the King and Queen’s bidding. At one point, the conversation is manipulated to have one of the English patriots referring to these guys as “vicious SIDs”. One of the cutesy, contrived allusions or “homages” of which the author is, IMO regrettably, fond. On the whole, I like Stirling’s work; but he can at times be highly groan-worthy. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/34 "2013-07-07T13:22:03Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Elizabeth the Heiress of York abdicated, in effect, in favor of her husband King Henry VII. > > ? In favour of her father’s enemy whom her mother decided she should marry so they could get rid of mad old Uncle Dick…but besides that it was truly voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/35 "2013-07-07T13:47:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Is he a meddling, obsessive twit in any particular way? 🙂 In an aristocratic way, with good manners and breeding? Just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/36 "2013-07-08T13:55:34Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > you don’t have what it takes to do… much of anything, really. Happily, that’s pretty much the job description of modern European monarchs, so we should be alright. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/37 "2013-07-08T14:44:59Z")
More details on the abdication [here.](http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/) Basically he’s old and tired, his relatives are being investigated for being jerks and he wants to retire. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/38 "2013-07-08T18:24:59Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > It suddenly struck him that he was king of the _Belgians_! 😛 Ah, yes, the Waffle King. I’ve seen his restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676/39 "2013-07-08T18:37:33Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Ah, yes, the Waffle King. I’ve seen his restaurants. Have you considered a career in diplomacy, Doctor? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/king-of-the-belgians-to-abdicate/662676.md?page=1)