# Why don't Elizabeth and Charles get along? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678 "2013-01-09T22:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/41 "2013-01-10T23:13:46Z")
Her knowledge isn’t only confined to British affairs. She apparently keeps on on politics throughout the Commonwealth. And she has six decades of experience in British politics which I assume gives her some leverage in her dealings with her ministers. I imagine it must be a little intimidating when she offers her opinion and begins with “I remember a time Winston Churchill and I discussed this issue…” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/42 "2013-01-11T00:19:57Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > As the book pointed out, however, if the Russians were to actually establish a constitutional monarchy they could ask anyone they wanted to become czar. Hmm…the Greek Royal Family are out a kingdom, _and_ Orthodox. > [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > They seem to get on very well to me. I think on balance he will be an excellent king indeed. But I can understand why some may not want a chap who is in on record as wanting to be a tampon, who talks to his plants, sends odd letters to civil servants that have had to be specially exempted from freedom of information laws, and has big ears from being in charge of what is still a reasonably important country. Only one of those is actually worrying to me (the odd letters). > [@fumster](#): > > Ooh, say more. I’m all ears. I see what you did there. > [@Zakalwe](#): > > As I understand it, his being King of Canada would be pretty much symbolic these days. 😉 It’s cute that you think Canada is important. Actually, it is for geographic reasons, as a fossil fuel source next to the Arctic. You win, Zakalwe, this time. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/43 "2013-01-11T00:27:05Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Hmm…the Greek Royal Family are out a kingdom, _and_ Orthodox. And [Prince Philip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh) is one of them, which means Charles is too. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/44 "2013-01-11T02:36:27Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > When she was on the throne, the nearest relations were all Catholics … so Parliament then passed an “Act of Succession”. All those nasty Catholics got skipped. That’s why we have descendants of German monarchs on the throne, rather than desendants of British Stewarts. > > ). Ah but the descendants of the _Stuarts_ are on the throne. Sophia of Hanover was a descendant of James I/VI daughter Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/45 "2013-01-11T02:38:46Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Ah but the descendants of the _Stuarts_ are on the throne. :mad: Try telling that to [Prince Michael of Albany](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Michael_of_Albany)! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/46 "2013-01-11T03:17:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And [Prince Philip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh) is one of them, which means Charles is too. Not what I meant. Philip Mountbatten is Anglican now, and gave up his Greek and Danish titles. I was thinking of the exiles who live in New York and London but call themselves “Prince So-and-so of Greece.” And I think we’ve mentioned before that Michel Roger Lafosse (“Prince Michael of Albany”) is a _pretend_ Pretender. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/47 "2013-01-11T03:20:44Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Not what I meant. Philip Mountbatten is Anglican now, and gave up his Greek and Danish titles. I was thinking of the exiles who live in New York and London but call themselves “Prince So-and-so of Greece.” . . . I think there might be some in Greenwich Village, but they don’t spell “Greece” that way. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/48 "2013-01-11T04:24:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s not quite the same thing. Mary Tudor got to be Queen because she forced her way onto the throne and people liked her. Here, we’re saying Charles can’t not be King simply because people _don’t_ like him. That plus the fact it’s not really the 16th Century any more. The sort of shenanigans that went on back when the UK was a hereditary dictatorship aren’t possible because the real power lies with the democratic institutions. Those institutions (PM and parliament) are only going to boot an unpopular hereditary figurehead in favour of a different one if it becomes a big political issue and there’s votes in it. That isn’t the case now and I can’t imagine it becoming so. The monarchy is a sideshow and isn’t the subject of present politics. For every voter that would change their vote to see Chuckie skipped there are others who would be appalled at the idea of the PM and parliament taking positive steps to change the usual order of things. I don’t think any major party would want to be seen to be touching the issue with a bargepole. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/49 "2013-01-11T04:24:56Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If [TVTropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BritishPoliticalSystem) is any guide: Wow, great source. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/50 "2013-01-11T04:32:50Z")
Sarcasm noted. Seriously, have you seen TVTropes’s useful notes? They’re really detailed in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/51 "2013-01-11T04:41:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Wow, great source. Astonishingly so. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/52 "2013-01-11T16:21:38Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > That plus the fact it’s not really the 16th Century any more. The sort of shenanigans that went on back when the UK was a hereditary dictatorship aren’t possible because the real power lies with the democratic institutions. > > Those institutions (PM and parliament) are only going to boot an unpopular hereditary figurehead in favour of a different one if it becomes a big political issue and there’s votes in it. That isn’t the case now and I can’t imagine it becoming so. The monarchy is a sideshow and isn’t the subject of present politics. For every voter that would change their vote to see Chuckie skipped there are others who would be appalled at the idea of the PM and parliament taking positive steps to change the usual order of things. I don’t think any major party would want to be seen to be touching the issue with a bargepole. Especially since the monarch isn’t just the head of state of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/53 "2013-01-11T16:59:18Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Occasionally I read on the Intertubes, stated as an everybody-knows thing, that Queen Elizabeth II does not want Prince Charles ever to be King, that she is determined to outlive him if she can and would cut him out of the line-of-succession if she could, let the crown pass straight to Prince William. Is that true? Where have you read this? So far as I can tell there’s absolutely no reason to believe that any word of this is true. In fact, from what I know, the queen is very much _opposed_ to anyone being skipped or for doing anything to try to get around the rules. She never forgave her uncle for abdicating and putting the unexpected burden of kingship on her father. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/54 "2013-01-11T17:05:43Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Where have you read this? Other messageboards, in posts by self-ID’d Brits. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/55 "2013-01-11T17:17:35Z")
I think it would be a nice gesture for Charles to abdicate, in favor of a restoration of the House of Sturat! Those Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Germans have been a royal pain! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/56 "2013-01-11T17:20:27Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Other messageboards, in posts by self-ID’d Brits. I would guess that it’s more wishful thinking than anything else. Charles is unpopular among certain segments of people and so they like to imagine that he’s similarly unpopular with his mother. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/57 "2013-01-11T17:45:23Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think it would be a nice gesture for Charles to abdicate, in favor of a restoration of the House of Sturat! Those Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Germans have been a royal pain! Yeah! No more damn Germans! Let’s have the Stuart heir on the throne: [Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz,_Duke_of_Bavaria) A True Scotsman! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/58 "2013-01-11T21:46:19Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I think it would be a nice gesture for Charles to abdicate, in favor of a restoration of the House of Sturat! Those Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Germans have been a royal pain! I believe that both Charles and the mother of his children descended from the Stuarts, and were more English in any case than the senior male-line Stuart (a Bavarian). Now, you wanna restore English kings of England, descended from old atheling families, that might mean something. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/59 "2013-01-11T22:40:55Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I believe that both Charles and the mother of his children descended from the Stuarts Indeed, to be eligible for the throne you must be a non-Catholic descendant of Sophia, the granddaughter of James VI and I, the first Stuart king of England. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678/60 "2013-01-11T23:03:22Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Now, you wanna restore English kings of England, descended from old atheling families, that might mean something. Actually, I think I read once that the House of Windsor **is** descended from the Athelings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-elizabeth-and-charles-get-along/646678.md?page=4)