On borrowed time - the royals

The tourist thing again....

I`m with you NanKate.
The Royals bring in tourists from all over the world,without them alot of business`s would go under.
The Royals are our history.

I've just been chatting to some of my Australian relatives on the phone and they said no-one they know agrees with what Meghan and Harry have done and want the Monarchy to continue.
Surprising really, as most people in that area are not from British origin.

I have no objection to the monarchy in its present form. They are pretty harmless and I enjoy the theatrical element of it all. If they started throwing their weight about in an unpleasant way I suspect they would soon go.

Meghan was required to curtsey when she met her grandmother-in-law-to-be. She practised outside in the garden. I am not surprised that she was a bit gobsmacked by this!

I agree with NanKate.

The RF are respected and admired by many people the world and until recently had not adopted the “victim” brigade.

LLTQ ??????????

Thank you for that interesting link Lisagran. It would be interesting to know what public opinion is outside the social media echo chamber that many people inhabit. My own feeling is that we will get an unelected Head of State foisted upon us after the present monarch expires, and he will be Charles III. The political will to change this doesn’t seem to be there.

No member of the public have to bow or curtsy to a member of the royal family, some choose to do so, others do not.n

Monarchy secretive
Philip Murphy Professor

Wrote article in 2015 explains monarchy more secretive than MI5

A measured and duly sensitive policy of opening up royal papers from the current reign would be in everyone’s interests. It would allow the monarchy to become the object of serious historical investigation rather than simply gossip and scandal. Isn’t it time we stopped learning our royal history from The Sun? What have they got to hide?

Ben Mackentire wrote similarly in 2016

That's why seven rules of public office from the Nolan report and one of them Accountability secretive NellG RF don't live up to any of these seven rules of public office.

Other countries seem to be able to manage a low key , purely ceremonial monarchy rather better than we do. I'm thinking Holland, Norway, Sweden. Let's just cut out all the blessed bowing and scraping and call it a (well paid) job. Not quite like any other, I know, but as I say, other models are available.

Why skip over Charles ? His age ? He had an affair ?

Lisagran
“I continue to live in the naive hope that people might look at both sides of a discussion........smile. Also, I’m well past caring what people might think of me or say to me on GN. I do have a life!”
Well said Lisagran!

Maybe stop the curtsying, bowing and scraping for a start. Never heard of such nonsense. Straight from the 16 th century.

Lisagran

Quite an interesting, balanced opinion piece in the Guardian by Jonathan Freedland

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/12/meghan-harry-monarchy-end-republicans-royals

Spot on.

nanna8

Is it a good reason to keep an anachronism just because we can’t think of an alternative ,though? We are in the 21 st century now and all that king and queen privileges stuff doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s rubbish.

Agreed Nanna8.

suziewoozie

Russia is a banana republic with no meaningful democracy.

I believe the challenge was to name a disastrous President who had become an elected head of state in the wake of a dissolved monarchy. No one mentioned meaningful democracy.

Can anyone name one of those?

Thinking about it France and the US do apply - so Trump and Macron count. French Revolution and American war of Independence? Moot, but both were elected as the result of getting rid of a monarchy, regardless of time passed.

This is where it loses credibility Grany, and all the logical things that came before it get lost too.

The monarchy is corrupt using public office for private gain, secretive, more secretive than MI5, unaccountable exempted themselves from freedom of information laws, above the law Andrew FBI?

If it's so secret, you can't possibly know. Sigh.

I find the argument that we might end up with someone like Trump/Putin/Blair quite scary, actually. It’s as though we can’t trust the electorate to vote for someone capable of doing the job of HoS so we should just rely on a posh family to do it for us, and be grateful for it.

The Freedland piece is spot on – thanks for posting Lisagran. The existence of a hereditary HoS is so engrained in our society that I can’t see it going in my lifetime. There have been discontented minor royals since time began and we can all see how the latest round has just resulted in more entrenched views. I think the best I can hope for is a hereditary HoS that has a proper job for 50 years or so before they take to the throne, and then wave nicely and greet foreign dignitaries for a few years before handing on to the next one. Instead of what we’ve got now, where the name of the child of the HoS’s second son’s daughter is deemed worthy of news headlines and analysis.

The tourism defence is entirely wrong, BTW, they bring in about half a billion a year but inbound tourism is worth about £28bn a year so they are a drop in the ocean. For comparison, inbound tourism to France, famously republican, is worth about 44 billion Euros a year.

I also have a wry smile when people say they support the monarchy, which is by nature hereditary, but wish we could skip over Charles and go straight to William. Oh, the irony.....

Sorry - proportional representation

PR?

suziewoozie

Lisagran

Quite an interesting, balanced opinion piece in the Guardian by Jonathan Freedland

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/12/meghan-harry-monarchy-end-republicans-royals

Do you have a death wish ? ????

I continue to live in the naive hope that people might look at both sides of a discussion......... Also, I’m well past caring what people might think of me or say to me on GN. I do have a life!

Mollygo

Elegran, that’s right. Money and power. Without mentioning any president’s names, if you look them up, they all have money and power. Who will have the most say in who stands for election? Those with money or the rest of us?

Like now probably - unless we’re members of a political party, we have no say in who stands as an MP and if we live in a safe seat and are of a different party, our votes are worthless. Which brings us back to PR as an instrument of democracy

Republic is calling on people to vote for ministers to talk discuss debate getting rid of the monarchy The people signing are steadily going up. I believe this is something that should be debated and soon.

Also Charles won't let the people who own their own houses on the Duchy buy the land that their house sits on dispite other landlords have to do so by law. Republic want housing minister to make Charles comply too.

Time we got rid of this outdated institution monarchy.

And to have a properly written down constitution that people can read and know what this country stands for.

The monarchy is corrupt using public office for private gain, secretive, more secretive than MI5, unaccountable exempted themselves from freedom of information laws, above the law Andrew FBI?

Seriously I think he’s spot on. Which is why I think the focus should be the HofL
It’s a pity that some posters probably won’t read your link because of what’s they think of the Guardian. (The writer btw is a regular commentator and a first class political analyst.)

Leaving aside the rest of the Royal Family, I am an unashamed admirer of Her Majesty and the stability she brings to the constitution. The armed forces swear allegiance to her and if you ask any veteran they will tell you they do not just consider this to be for the term of their service. I’m not sure that the strength of this allegiance would apply if we had a President. To paraphrase Forest Gump, Life under presidential rule is like a box chocolates - you never know what you’re going to get. Her majesty keeps her finger firmly on the pulse and is a safety valve, if you like. I would like to see the monarchy skip a generation and go to William as next in line but it ain’t going to happen.