The age of those flocking to see the cortege of the Queen and to the lying in state.

Do you want me to say yes so that you can say "well that will never happen" Anniebach, like you have so many times before?

Well, that's not going to happen

The constitutional arguments against democracy are going to have to be a bit more complex than that, I'm afraid.

volver

I believe you live in France Joeanne?

Have you tried starting a campaign to replace the President with a descendant of Marie-Antoinette? Because that is what you are saying would be better than an elected President.

Ha ha - I might try the same here in Spain volver....oh wait Franco beat me to it!

So a non political president

Children too like the feeling of togetherness.

Charles is currently King of 18 countries. 4 should be a walk in the park.

A President of 4 countries !

Do you feel that way when you vote for an MP Joseanne? I'm so disappointed to read you refer to yourself as "the likes of me". Do you want the other folks to choose for you because you don't feel you're up to it? That's not the case, I'm sure.

What I am saying volver is that it wouldnt be the right thing for the likes of me. Gosh, the responsibility of getting it wrong, the anxiety of choosing, the soul searching, the misjudging a person, the putting the wrong interpretation on things.

But then I lack the inclination for too much change. I live where the wind takes me, and am happy enough to let others do the choosing, without blame or complaining. Just how I am.

Charles will do fine, especially now seeing how accessible he is making himself and listening to real people. And then William who is even more switched on. I think they really do care.

I believe you live in France Joeanne?

Have you tried starting a campaign to replace the President with a descendant of Marie-Antoinette? Because that is what you are saying would be better than an elected President.

I will never understand why people try to say that democracy is not a good thing and we best not have it because we might get it wrong. I will never understand that.

You don't get any choice in the matter.
But sometimes too much choice in the matter is where it all goes wrong.
Of course I understand that choice empowers us, and gives us freedom and autonomy as individuals, and makes for a better society. But which of us, really and honestly, feels competent and knowledgeable enough to choose from between say 56 different candidates for H of S? I think there's far too much room for us to get it wrong, then with that would come all the discontent, the blaming, the regrets, the recriminations and the strife until we move onto the next one.

"We've been watching him all his life and know him to be a good man."
Well, it doesn't make any difference if he is a good man or a complete psychopath, does it? You don't get any choice in the matter.

Actually I don't disagree with anything henetha says. I just think its a sad state of affairs that we think getting a 73-year old to take on such responsibilities is a sensible way to run the country.

We could indeed do worse. That's hardly a glowing recommendation for head of state for the next few years though, is it?

Hear hear Henetha

At least we know the character, - in as much as anyone can know a public figure - of Charles. We've been watching him all his life and know him to be a good man. Howls of protest here I imagine from Diana fans, but there truly were mistakes on both sides, and it was their personal life. As a head of state , we surely know that King Charles loves this country and its people deeply and truly cares about the environment and current problems of all kinds . He has spent his life supporting many important issues, that is undeniable. Being human, he has faults and can be a little impatient at times, hence the foundation pens incidents. They would have annoyed me too though.
We could do so much worse. We have a good man, let's support him in what cannot be an easy life to live.

Elegran

Charles hasn't taken it on as a career move to get him exposure in the number one job - he is already signed up for that, whether it was what he would have chosen or not. Nor does he have any need for the financial advantages which no doubt go with the job.

Anyone who puts himself forward as a Presidential candidate has one eye at least on doing so out of a desire for power and glory. That desire for power may be for the best of motives, but it is still self-selection for the driver's seat.

Neither route, to the throne or to the President's seat, automatically contains any guarantee that the incumbent is the perfect fit for the job. An elected president is as likely as a hereditary monarch to have hidden faults. They may even be more carefully hidden if revealing them could affect election.

The monarchy is by its very nature something of a lottery and undoubtedly in QE11 we hit the jackpot. However, it cannot be denied that throughout history we have had the misfortune to endure far more of the bad, brutal, irresponsible or just plain useless ones also.

Charles hasn't taken it on as a career move to get him exposure in the number one job - he is already signed up for that, whether it was what he would have chosen or not. Nor does he have any need for the financial advantages which no doubt go with the job.

Anyone who puts himself forward as a Presidential candidate has one eye at least on doing so out of a desire for power and glory. That desire for power may be for the best of motives, but it is still self-selection for the driver's seat.

Neither route, to the throne or to the President's seat, automatically contains any guarantee that the incumbent is the perfect fit for the job. An elected president is as likely as a hereditary monarch to have hidden faults. They may even be more carefully hidden if revealing them could affect election.

I dont think I would be too pleased if I was at a public ceremony in expensive clothes and I had a pen leaking all over my hands (and then had to shake hands with people outside). I know that a leaky pen always annoys me.

I can recall when Princess Anne opened a new extension of a building I was working in and the nearest loo was completely refurbished in green marble at considerable expense in case she needed to use it (she didnt) So surely some functionary could at least check the pens and provide back ups.

And do you think that's a good way to run a society Aveline? Serious question. That a person gets told when they are a child what their role in life is to be, and doesn't get any say in the matter? And saints preserve them if they don't do it the way we think they should do it.

I hope that some of these younger people who are flocking to see the Lying in State see the ridiculousness of that.

He didn't choose to. He was born into it and has been in training for 74 years!

I suspect that anyone who was keen to take it on is very unlikely to be the perfect candidate.

Well Charles has taken it on.

"Certainly more than a chap who shouts at officials about pen trays." A chap in his seventies who has spent several days travelling around the country, used his swollen fingers to shake hands with many (do we know how many?) of the public while listening to them repeating the same things about his newly deceased mother, and made several speeches, all this with the prospect of a very public funeral in front of him, is entitled to be a bit tetchy at whoever only had to set up a suitable signing station and couldn't even get that right.

I am not sure that Chris Packham would be even remotely interested in the position of President - but I suspect that anyone who was keen to take iton is very unlikely to be the perfect candidate

So don't vote for him then Joseanne.

At least you'd be given the choice.

Germanshepherdsmum

That’s not what I said volver, and you know it. He would doubtless be the first to say he couldn’t cope with being HoS. And you know that.

Correct GsM. Chris Packham caused havoc in our neck of the woods where a huge river restoration project became postponed due to his campaigning about the protecting of one particular bird. Hundreds of thousands of EU money was nearly lost at the time due to the delay, when the whole project was actually designed by environmental experts and engineers reconnect the river to its historic floodplain and to return the valley to a more natural condition.

The sister project in Normandy went ahead like clockwork with no objection from France's H of S who had more sense.

A good H of S would need to be someone who doesn't get fixated on one area, and who can see the wider picture.

Germanshepherdsmum

That’s not what I said volver, and you know it. He would doubtless be the first to say he couldn’t cope with being HoS. And you know that.

Well we don't know what the job would entail, do we?

You specifically said "not the best with people" and I immediately thought of the documentary shown recently about the walk he used to do as a youth, where he was spectacularly good with people.

I doubt he'd want the job. But a person who has overcome personal issues, had a variety of jobs and has a strong sense or what's right and what's wrong, seems to me like a very good representative of the British people. Certainly more than a chap who shouts at officials about pen trays.