to wonder why the whole country has gone completely bloody Royalist?

[Hullygully]

Erect the scaffold.

Up the Republicans.

We are ADULTS we don't need a feudalistic Divine Right of Kings addled parasitical bunch of halfwits to live off our taxes.

Queen Vic's mum was Princess Victoria Saxe-Coburg (them again. Victoria and Albert's (Albert was her first cousin) children are therefore three quarters German.

I love a jam sandwich, me.

Being alive when a reigning Monarch celebrates 60 years on the throne is a highly unusual event and an excellent excuse for a party regardless of whether you'd prefer an election for the pointless position of head of state (IMVHO).

Absolutely agree with separation of church and state but thats a much bigger issue than the monarch.

DashingRedhead Ah yes 1066 and all that

Takes me back......

all official royal palaces are currently open to the public - unoccupied ones through Historic Royal Palaces, occupied ones through Royal Household

So you can't be British if your heritage is foreign. What does that make all the first generation British people living in the UK today?

"I would not, for example, expect that a president or similar would have a state funeral for his mother, or a massive wedding for his granddaughter." fair point. Probably nets off in cost terms of 4 yearly elections I would guess (but don;t know)

I give up.

And getting a republic is one thing. Then we'd all be arguing about what the head of state could get away with. At least the queen didn't force us to stand outside in the cold with no hats on when her mum died (I'm thinking of North Korea in case anyone's confused).

Kew, I think that most presidents serve a longer term than four years.

Please Hully don't give up. You haven't actually answered the question. Are they British or not?

Psammead depends what sort of 'republic' you live in, I suppose.

Loveis, why do you keep making comparisons with places like Syria and North Korea? We are hardly going to morph into one of those countries overnight with a republic. There are some shit republics, yes, there are also very good ones with much more in common with the UK. Like Hully's favourite place, Germany.

Bavaria. That's my fave bit. Ludwig's Palaces. A man after my own heart.

yy, they have German heritage, but their heritage also goes back in British history. I cannot see that having in part non-British heritage makes them less "quintessentially British".

However you wish to define that.

And the Romantische Strasse to get there.

'Are they British?' - this is a huge and very complex debate, which involves defining what British actually means in the first place. My opinion is that anyone who considers themselves British, is so.

No chance on earth that a presidential election could cost as much as all that wedding malarkey last year. Not unless the candidates were handing out individual diamonds to every member of the populace as a bribe.

Because we're going on about republics like they're our salvation. Some of the countries which are now republics used to have monarchies and a very nice way of life, thank you very much.

I know I've said this before, but I can't get my head around how our country would benefit for the greater good under an elected head of state. We already have an elected parliament and the RF has no control over us. Yes, it would make some republicans feel better and they would think it were fairer, but that's about it.

If you're going to argue that the royal family aren't really British, doesn't that mean that you also don't think that any other second, third, fourth etc generation immigrants are really British either?

Last time I checked most people thought that sort of thinking was a bit racist...

But I am a racist. Hadn't you noticed?

Some people love being deferential. They just love to bow and scrape to 'their betters'.

It's why Downton Abbey is such a hit. I can just picture the royalists on a Sunday evening. Popping up from their couches everytime the upstairs people come on screen, curtsying like mad, sitting back down, poised ready to leap to their feet again.

FYI if there's going to be a Revolution followed by The Terror, can I be there to see Julian Fellowes brought to Le Guillotine. I'll take up knitting and everything!

Why though? Does the existence of the hierarchy make them feel secure? Do they feel "looked after" and that they have a place?

Anyone can be "British" as afar as I am concerned.

What I don't like is the airbrushing, namechanging and pretence.

I think we should have a Wat Tyler jubilee.