I know this is a tactless thing to post but what would happen politically if the Queen died tonight?..

[BertrandRussell]

She is 93- the possibility’s there...

Oh now that would make life interesting.
For one thing there would be a lot of speculation about how 'convenient' it is for the Brexiteer crooks. Some of them might, of course, try to blame it on either Corbyn or Bercow.
If the likes of Aaron Banks thought it would be advantageous for her not to be around any more (perhaps because her dying would enable them to get up to further tricks while the rest of the establishment are at least pretending to cry) I wouldn't put it past them to arrange to have the stairs at Buck House greased or whatever.

You know in past times, speculating on the monarch’s death could be considered treason.

Off to the tower with the lot of you!

@Genevieva

I’ve just introduced my 10 yo to Pratchett as we’re reading the discworld for bedtime stories. We’re halfway through Equal Rites now and she is loving it. It’s been a long time since I read one of his books and had forgotten how delicious his descriptive writing is.

Clever as Dominic Cummings is, I'm not sure he can quite manage to get the Queen bumped off to distract the public's gaze away from Boris and his buffoonery.

flouncyfanny that is the routine. Op is asking how it would go while we're in the middle of brexit. Just talking about London Bridge and tapping your nose doesn't answer the question.

street party!

It's not at all unreasonable to at least wonder about how much longer 93-year-old will last. Whether you're a fan of the institution of monarchy - or Liz Windsor as a human being - or not.
I've thought for a while that there might be some discussion of whether or not to do away with the monarchy when she goes. But that was before the current political clusterfuck.

I notice that the person accusing me of laughing at the queen's death hasn't bothered to reappear. Hey ho.

Apparently parliament is sovereign.

So what role does our Sovereign have now? The layers have been peeled away a bit since the vote in 2016, and people are beginning to understand that the Queen has no role whatsoever apart from the ceremonial now.

Charles will absolutely love that.

Mind you, what would happen if Boris Johnson up and dies? If he has another go at his girlfriend and she boots him headfirst down the stairs or something...

Are you trying to get banned :o
What if he slipped on the queen's greasy stairs and Prince Andrew was in the background sipping tea. The corgi would get the blame. As he does when a royal breaks wind.

I hope the BBC is prepared more than last time. It was just wall to wall solemn music. My friend and I had planned to go to the pictures the day after and we seriously discussed whether it would be right to go. We went, and felt it was justified because the newsreel showed footage of the Queen arriving at Heathrow and being met by Churchill.' Nimrod' in background.

They've had 70 years. I suspect theyll be OK.

Well, I'll be asking if Bert had inside knowledge if I wake up to the national anthem tomorrow. I'm sure we could organise a Mumsnet outing to the tower.

I predict a lot of speeches about fresh starts and reconciliation but not a lot of action.

Parliament is supreme, but right now parliament doesn't know what it wants.

@StealthPolarBear

Sorry.

My bad.

I read your post out of context!!! Didn't realise it was a continuation of something else.

Apologies...

Strange thread. Why do you think a change in monarch would have constitutional consequences? The institution of the monarchy would be totally unchanged.

There would be a big funeral. We'd have a King Charles.

the second she dies, Charles is king, whether crowned or not. He gets to see the PM, gets to prorogue parliament, gets to make the king's speech.

I did find the supreme court decision interesting in how it rendered the queen's constitutional role even more irrelevant. If she was any other similar head of state, she would presumably have asked her own lawyers for counsel on whether Boris J had the right to ask her to dissolve parliament. But her role was simply to do what he "advised". As I understand it the decision of the SC didn't just overrule Boris J but it said that the queen had never in fact dissolved parliament as she was badly advised. I found that interesting.

She’s a figurehead with no political power. When she dies Charles will replace her as the figurehead. All that will change is the signature on official documents.

Queenie and her husband are doing ok. Husband is older and still walking and talking at the same time + carriage driving with his granddaughter. Driving is something I won't comment on lol.

Her Maj is still upright, with all her choppers and looks radiant too at 93. Amazing to see how well she looks at her age.

But inevitably the time will come.

Then there will be CHARLES. omg, sorry now. But I have no time for him whatsoever. I reckon he has his underpants ironed by his valet, and can fly off the handle if the newspapers are not ironed to perfection every morning.

Just joking, but I wouldn't be surprised just the same lol.

Prince Charles will be a perfectly good King.
I admire the way he has stuck to his principles and has got things done, and in some ways he has been an original thinker.

Doesn’t a general election happen when the monarch dies? Not sure how how long after the death it has to be called though

I don't think there has to be a general election after the monarch dies. They are two entirely different branches of government.

I was also wondering what happens if a PM dies whilst in office. Is there a caretaker PM appointed asap?