# Queen Elizabeth II at the polling place **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 8, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717 "2010-05-08T02:46:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/1 "2010-05-08T02:46:34Z")
Q. Hold my corgis, please. A. Certainly, ma’am. A. Fill out this card, please? Q. (signed) Elizabeth R. A. Last name, please? Q. I am your queen, you silly twit. A. I’m sorry, Your Majesty, you are not allowed to vote. Q. What? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/2 "2010-05-08T03:12:43Z")
Wrong forum? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/3 "2010-05-08T03:16:12Z")
Frank. I"ve moved this to MPSIMS from GQ. Get some sleep. **samclem** MOderator, GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/4 "2010-05-08T03:18:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Frank. I"ve moved this to MPSIMS from GQ. > > Get some sleep. > > samclem MOderator, GQ. No, you haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/5 "2010-05-08T03:19:01Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Q. Hold my corgis, please. > A. Certainly, ma’am. > A. Fill out this card, please? > Q. (signed) Elizabeth R. > A. Last name, please? > Q. I am your queen, you silly twit. > A. I’m sorry, Your Majesty, you are not allowed to vote. > Q. What? Why not? Well, for a start she has to be politically neutral; she is a third of parliament after all. As with many things in Britain it’s constitutional convention; as surpreme soverign she _could_ vote - no one can stop her (this is actually reasonably new; until recently she was technically a member of the House of Lords due to the Royal Dukedoms - and thus would not have been permitted to vote). But if she were that determined… she could just dissolve parliament and run things herself. For about five minutes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/6 "2010-05-08T03:20:12Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Frank. I"ve moved this to MPSIMS from GQ. > > Get some sleep. > > **samclem** MOderator, GQ. This looks to me like a factual question - “Why can’t the Queen vote?” - that happens to be phrased curiously. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/7 "2010-05-08T03:33:59Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Frank. I"ve moved this to MPSIMS from GQ. > > Get some sleep. > > **samclem** MOderator, GQ. Why can’t the Queen vote? I’ll make a note that even an OP in General Questions is no longer allowed to contain attempted humour. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/8 "2010-05-08T03:38:32Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Well, for a start she has to be politically neutral; she is a third of parliament after all. > > As with many things in Britain it’s constitutional convention; as surpreme soverign she _could_ vote - no one can stop her (this is actually reasonably new; until recently she was technically a member of the House of Lords due to the Royal Dukedoms - and thus would not have been permitted to vote). OK, I’m confused. The other two thirds of parliament are hardly neutral. I understand that in her position as head of state she has to _pretend_ to be neutral; I do not understand why she cannot vote. A member of the House of Lords can’t vote? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/9 "2010-05-08T03:47:51Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > OK, I’m confused. The other two thirds of parliament are hardly neutral. I understand that in her position as head of state she has to _pretend_ to be neutral; I do not understand why she cannot vote. She has to be **seen** to be neutral. Voting would suggest otherwise. > [@Frank](#): > > A member of the House of Lords can’t vote? Why not? Separation of government English style 😃 The houses of commons are supposed to full of commoners representing commoners. Lords don’t get representation in the houses of commons, but then they can do plenty as part of their role in the upper chamber. Note that hereditrary peers who are no longer permitted to sit in the House of Lords are allowed to vote. As an aside, just in case you don’t know: In a criminal trial, a jury is supposed to be made up of your peers. Thus Lords, if they choose to, can be tried by the House of Lords. Not happened at all recently though… Jeffery Archer went to a normal court, ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/10 "2010-05-08T03:52:41Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Frank. I"ve moved this to MPSIMS from GQ. > > Get some sleep. > > **samclem** MOderator, GQ. > [@Angry Lurker](#): > > This looks to me like a factual question - “Why can’t the Queen vote?” - that happens to be phrased curiously. > [@Frank](#): > > Why can’t the Queen vote? > > I’ll make a note that even an OP in General Questions is no longer allowed to contain attempted humour. GQ is still available for intelligible OP’s. The fact that **Angry Lurker** figured it out on his own is proof of _something_. I haven’t decided just _what_. Fortunately, you can still get factual answers in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/11 "2010-05-08T03:57:28Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > GQ is still available for intelligible OP’s. The fact that **Angry Lurker** figured it out on his own is proof of _something_. I haven’t decided just _what_. It may, in fact, be proof that you are the one in need of sleep. I see no way, shape, or form in which this is an MPSIMS thread. Regardless, I’ll drop the discussion, and lower my expectations of the intelligence of those posters who inhabit GQ. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/12 "2010-05-08T04:34:54Z")
It’s not the posters… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/13 "2010-05-08T06:14:12Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > GQ is still available for intelligible OP’s. The fact that **Angry Lurker** figured it out on his own is proof of _something_. I haven’t decided just _what_. > > Fortunately, you can still get factual answers in MPSIMS. But the only person to give a factual answer so far is me, and that’s only because I saw the thread before it was moved… Keeping the thread in GQ makes it more likely that knowledgeable folk will make contributions to it, quite possibly leading to some interesting stuff - the British constituion i sfascinating and I only know the basics… each thread ior post is kinda which is what this forum is about. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/14 "2010-05-08T12:57:15Z")
I’d move it back, but it’s gone so far astray at this point that even retitled it would be a bit of a mess for those with factual answers. If you want to start a new GQ thread with the question presented as a question, I can move over those posts in this thread that address that question. **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/15 "2010-05-08T13:16:37Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I’d move it back, but it’s gone so far astray at this point that even retitled it would be a bit of a mess for those with factual answers. > > If you want to start a new GQ thread with the question presented as a question, I can move over those posts in this thread that address that question. > > **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator I’ve started a new thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562452). I don’t know if it’s worth moving over the few posts that are on track, but if you feel like it . . . I’d appreciate it if you close this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/16 "2010-05-08T14:04:09Z")
**Frank** , I was among those reporting it, and I did so because I thought, honestly, you’d just put it in the wrong forum, that it was intended as a light-hearted, humorous piece on (a hypothetical doofy) Queen Elizabeth trying to vote, not that it was a joking way of saying, “What? The Queen’s constitutionally barred from voting? Why?” Sorry about that. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/17 "2010-05-08T14:22:59Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > As an aside, just in case you don’t know: In a criminal trial, a jury is supposed to be made up of your peers. Thus Lords, if they choose to, can be tried by the House of Lords. Not happened at all recently though… Jeffery Archer went to a normal court, Nope - a peer’s r[ight to trial by the House of Lords](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_functions_of_the_House_of_Lords#Trials) was abolished in 1948: > [@](#): > > **Trials** > Formerly, the House of Lords constituted a court in certain trials, including trials of peers of the realm and impeachment cases. Such trials, however, do not occur any longer; trials for peers of the realm in the House were abolished in 1948, and impeachment has not occurred since 1806. > … > The last trial of a peer in the House of Lords was in 1935, when Lord de Clifford was tried for motor manslaughter. In 1948, the Criminal Justice Act abolished the use of special courts for trials of peers. Now, peers are tried by regular juries. For an interesting fictional account of a trial by the Lords, see _Clouds of Witnesses_ by Dorothy L. Sayers, in which Lord Peter’s elder brother, the Duke of Denver, is put on trial for the murder of a house-guest. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queen-elizabeth-ii-at-the-polling-place/538717/18 "2010-05-08T14:26:30Z")
Closed at the request of the OP.