What or how has the Queen affected your life?

[ivykaty44]

Just wondering what or how the Queen has affected your life? Just curious

queen hasn’t affected my life either negatively or positively, so was wondering if this was generally the case or not?

im not against the monarchy and struggling to get excited about the jubilee, so was looking for other view points and experiences

@francesfrankenfurter they were home videos on a cine camera, they didn’t have a film crew. Just like any family taking videos of themselves

Monarchy engenders, supports and justifies the existence of an aristocracy. Without monarchy, exalted position in the social hierarchy and extreme wealth acquired solely through inheritance loses its raison d’être.

AyeUpMeDuck’s brother may well have been less resentful of (possibly even inspired by) self made wealth and privilege.

It's been declared a bank holiday, but many people will still be working.
She lives in the biggest council house in the land, yet she has homeless people literally on her doorstep.
She's dripping in wealth while her subjects can barely afford daily living costs.
Her kids consist of adulterers and paedophiles and her late husband was a nasty racist oaf.
Yet people fawn over them, why?
It's like a rich persons edition of the Jeremy Vile show!

In what way do people think the Queen should have affected them? She's an apolitical Head of State whose purpose is to be a figurehead or focus. The rest of the Royal family, apart from the direct heirs, are irrelevant really.

People saying they think the monarchy should disappear after the Queen need to think really carefully about what might replace it. A president? What would their role be? A president would still cost money and would need official residences etc. Having no president would put too much power in the hands of the PM. Its not as simple as just having no monarch. The monarch does provide a constant stability.

I never understand the British horror regarding elected heads of state. I'm Irish & we have a president elected every seven years who fulfils exactly the same constitutional function as the Queen. It's pretty cheap (just one official residence for example) and we get to hear Not A Word about their children and grandchildren. Our current president was actually the MP for my home constituency at one point and I still couldn't tell you a thing about his kids, except that I think he does have some? They just don't feature in the media at all, which is good for them and good for the rest of us. Then at the end of their term the president potters off back into relative obscurity (or a job at the UN if you're Mary Robinson). It's a really good system actually, which works in plenty of other countries too. Whereas Brits behave as if the monarchy holds up the sky or something.

There are lots of different models for presidents though and no guarantee that the UK would adopt the Irish model if it ceased to be a monarchy. That's why people need to be clear what the alternative would be before saying they don't want a monarchy anymore. Brexit should be held up as the classic example of not having a clue what the replacement would be!

Here for the bank hold and that's it

She and her family have cost me about £800 total since I became eligible to pay U.K. tax. I would quite like that money back for some home repairs, frankly. Or to have a nice holiday.

source: Statista

I think what the monarchy symbolises more than anything is the unfairness of society.
With a democratically elected head of state you always run the risk of ending up with a numpty like trump or bojo, but at least you get the opportunity to kick them out at the end of their term.

I feel nothing but contempt towards the all royal family which I suspect is reciprocated to us mere mortals.
In private I bet they think they are above everyone else but have to pretend to care in public.
They come across so stiff, cold and awkward when they are trying to fit in with normal folk.
This stupid jubilee book costing £12million is just another kick in the teeth to struggling families.

Don't mind the Queen personally, but certainly not a fan of the Monarchy, and I think it's days are numbered, at least in its current form, when the Queen goes.
Hasn't done anything to improve my life.

Won't be doing anything Jubilee related.

The institution of monarchy is irrelevant to me. I hope there’s a referendum on the royal family.

No impact whatsoever.

Well, yes - but her perception of what The Queen Would Do was based upon what they chose to portray. So no physical affection. No verbal affection. No expressions of pleasure, pride or enthusiasm. No sorrow or distress. No emotions whatsoever, other than rage behind closed doors at failures to keep up the public image.

We 'weren't that kind of family'.

The Royal Family haven’t had a direct impact on me although I do like the Queen and I think she’s very dignified and a complete contrast to the chaos of our Prime Minister and MPs.

I don’t begrudge them their wealth. It’s not like they’re free to go out on a whim and spend money as they please is it? I wouldn’t want to swap places with any member of the Royal Family irrespective of how much money I’d have. They haven’t had the choice in their life and career like the majority of us have.

As others have said, the alternative to a monarchy could be much worse. If we look at the political ‘leaders’ this country has had it doesn’t seem that there are better alternatives waiting in the wings.

I never give them a thought to be honest.
I have so much going on in my life, it's just a case of "head down and get on with it". Everything else - including Royalty is just part of the distant background.
I tend to view inspirational people as those who have overcome major hurdles.

I’m late 60s and queen has had no impact on my life. If people want to celebrate her jubilee, that’s fine. I’m beside myself with indifference to it all.

They've just spent 12 million getting Andrew out of his sticky situation!

^This.... lost the tiny bit of respect for her when she fawned over Boris & she stood by Andrew but had the boot stuck in for Harry and Meghan.... so as uncaring and racist as her husband.

My Nan was born on her Birthday (21st April 1926) so I always feel a bit of a 'bond' with her but not sure why. Unfortunatly my wonderful Nan passed away 5 years ago. Other than that I have no wish to meet her (Majesty) but do wish her well.

Well I guess she has always been a constant for my whole life and I get a sense of continuity from that. The presence of the royal family is entwined to some extent with people's concept of Britain/Britishness and it would be strange to be without it
It will be a shock to my sense of continuity when she goes.

Also, I compare having a queen to having a president. There is something to be said for a steady dignified hand dealing with state functions that while by no means perfect doesn't descend to the political extremism ( CF Trump, Le Pen etc).
I'd so much rather have the Queen than a Donald Trump, however I did admire the likes of Angela Merkel, so I dunno. With the current state of British politics, I think we'd be more likely to have the former rather than the latter and I think the Queen is preferable.

An Irish poster has told us how their Presidential system works - the President is not party political (?) , is elected and their term is limited, there is only one official residence etc. This is a separate role to the Teoseach (equivalent to Prime Minister). People vote for someone they can respect to be Head of State and if they turn out to have a very dodgy son, just as an example, they can be removed, or at least not elected next time round.

You don't have to hear about their children or extended family all the time too, as I don't think there is a role for them.

I think the Irish have it spot on! Sounds cheaper and better all round. My vote would go to David Attenborough.

TAOISEACH excuse my spelling

How do you pronounce that?

Even o/s the queen has been a presence as part of the commonwealth

I haven’t always welcomed the idea of the royal family but now it’s getting towards the end of her reign I do think the role and position she has is something positive after all