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Original poster

To think Prince Charles will be our last Monarch

341 replies

Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 09:49

Given that it could be another thirty years before Prince Charles dies, I was wondering if he will be our last Monarch.

I think that a lot will have changed by the time Prince William is due to accede the throne and that the Monarchy will have been abolished by then.

OP posts:
lyralalala · 29/08/2019 11:18

More than one person has commented on the likelihood of Prince Charles dying before the Queen.

Is this really likely?

In his family men tend not to live as long as the women. His father is the exception so far - Charles is red faced and his fingers are red an podgy. He doesn't look healthy, certainly in comparison with his father. His love of rich food and wine is well known.

His grandfathers died at 62 and 56. Compared to 84 and 101 for his grandmothers.

The eldest of his gr-grandfathers made 89, the rest all died late 60's with the exception of George V who hit 70. I think the chances of him living another 30 years is very slim.

BertrandRussell · 29/08/2019 11:19

It’s odd to me how people have “respect” for the Queen. I only respect people who actually do things to make themselves worthy of respect.

Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 11:21

But I think - and hope - that the Prince Andrew scandal will damage the monarchy so badly that it will end soon

Well - I would also like to think that.

But the RF have a habit of coming up smelling of roses after repeated scandals.

Everyone said that PC would never be able to marry Camilla. But he did.

Everyone said that Camilla would never be Queen.

But she will be.

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Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 11:23

His grandfathers died at 62 and 56. Compared to 84 and 101 for his grandmothers

But his grandfathers died of lung cancer due to smoking/arteriosclerosis due to smoking.

The grandmothers did not smoke and neither does PC.

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Samosaurus · 29/08/2019 11:24

I have always been quite ambivalent about the RF, but after yesterday, and realising that the queen is actually pointless in any kind of political sense (she didn't really have any choice but to acquiesce to the mad PM), I am now a firm republican. I can see a lot of other people now realising that it it ridiculous to have a 'head of state' who does not actually have any real power. I wouldn't have even thought about it so much if BoJo hadn't pulled this stunt, so not only is he intent on ruining the country, he has given people pause to think about the usefulness of even having a queen/king. So I think you are right OP, Charles may well be our last monarch.

BertrandRussell · 29/08/2019 11:24

The Andy Scandal will just vanish away like all the others.

Sebw · 29/08/2019 11:24

I think Charles looks older than the Queen. He's really aged recently.

GrouchoMrx · 29/08/2019 11:29

The monarchy is absolutely useless at protecting our democracy.

(Protecting its paedophile sons it's quite good at though...)

lyralalala · 29/08/2019 11:30

The grandmothers did not smoke and neither does PC.

That doesn't mean he's healthy - look at his hands. The men do not live as long because they have unhealthier lifestyles - Charles may not smoke, but he certainly appears less healthy than both his parents when they were his age.

Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 11:35

Bertrand you're right about the Andy scandal dying away, as all the others have done.

In fact the RF are remarkably good at getting rid of unwanted scandals.

I think it's harder now that we have social media though.

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AutumnCrow · 29/08/2019 11:37

The Queen Mother smoked but 'sparingly', apparently.

I agree that yesterday's events, which saw the monarch embroiled in the proroguing of parliament, has made the monarch look like a powerless yet at the same time dangerous puppet of a mad autocrat and his ghastly bunch of sycophants.

Which is not a good look. Johnson has destabilised the monarchy. Probably deliberately.

timshelthechoice · 29/08/2019 11:41

Sick of paying for all the hangers on to swan about in the lap of luxury.

LaMarschallin · 29/08/2019 11:43

I think it's harder now that we have social media though.

I'm another who thinks that has made a difference.

Bluegrass · 29/08/2019 11:44

It is objectively ludicrous for a developed nation in the 21st Century to cling onto to a system that requires the eldest child of each generation of a single family to be groomed from birth to assume the role of Head of State. I mean...people on here get disgruntled enough about children having a religion imposed on them, ears pierced, circumcision...this is a child’s entire life being fixed for them.

And the rest of us, not born to that family, are expected to bow and call them Sir or Ma’am based entirely on who their parents are?

It’s crazy, and the only excuse for hanging on to it is nostalgia and a reluctance to change. We can vest the rights of the ”Crown” into an individual if we must (for defined periods based on merit), but to elevate a family to an exalted position of responsibility like that, surely it belongs to the story books along with chieftains, or knights in shining armour!

pfrench · 29/08/2019 11:44

I think maybe we just have the direct line. So, William and then George. No one else is a prince or a princess (or any sort of given random title of duchess or whatever), no one else has civil list money or a royal engagement type role. They just have to work like lots of other toffs. Just a few more super posh nice-but-dim art history graduates working in galleries in Chelsea, or attending Sandhurst.

Drabarni · 29/08/2019 11:44

Nah, they'll always be a monarchy. Throughout history they have been subjected to over rule, now is no different.

CallmeAngelina · 29/08/2019 11:45

This too shall pass. There have been many other tricky periods in the RF's past that people thought they wouldn't recover from (1992, for instance, and Diana's death, not to mention the Abdication Crisis in the 1930s), but they always have done.
I can't remember which one of them said this, many decades ago "When we go, we will go quietly." SO, if they're not wanted by the country (and I think there is over-whelming support for them still, nationwide, if not on MN), they will be quite happy to retire gracefully.

GabsAlot · 29/08/2019 11:46

Yeah because having a president looks really great fun

Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 11:47

Okay. So let's say the Queen dies in the next five years.

PC will almost certainly be around in five years. He will then be 77.

I reckon he'll last till he's over 80. That is still nearly fifteen years away.

A lot can and will happen politically and in every other way in fifteen years.

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Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 11:49

They will be quite happy to retire gracefully

And they'll be well able to afford to do so, too.

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Dapplegrey · 29/08/2019 11:52

Don’t be silly, of course they’d have a trial. I’m not a monster.

So they’d have a ‘trial’ but still face life imprisonment. Very Stalinist.
What ‘crime’ would they be tried for?

Oldraver · 29/08/2019 12:01

I would be happy for the whole lot to be disbanded now but think at least PC will be crowned if The Queen doesn't outlive him. I doubt William will be King in the way Queen Elizabeth is.

And yes OP...Kate's children look oh so cute now but in 30 years will move into 'hangers on territory'. Andrew and Edward were at least born to a reining Monarch

Original poster
Jemima232 · 29/08/2019 12:05

By the time Prince William is crowned his children will be heading towards middle-age.

OP posts:
HMArsey · 29/08/2019 12:05

I suspect what will happen is that this latest crisis will mean that in 20 years time we will have a written Constitution and a decorative Monarchy as in, say, Denmark

Aren't the RF pretty much just decorative already?

BertrandRussell · 29/08/2019 12:05

I don’t think W&K’s children are particularly cute either. They’re just children.....