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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Abolishing the Monarcy.

880 replies

Helendee · 17/02/2021 12:45

Good or bad idea and reasons for your opinion?
I don’t feel strongly either way but I am curious about what aspects of becoming a Republic are more beneficial than the UK’s stable current system.

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 17/02/2021 14:48

Sure Harry has a couple of spare bedrooms for his Papa and wife.

NeedToKnow101 · 17/02/2021 14:50

@Benfoldslanded

I have been watching the highly accurate portrayal of the family 'The Windsors'. Just imagine what the schemer Camilla will do once Charles is on the throne. Very worrying.

😂😂

NoZoomAtTheInn · 17/02/2021 14:51

Get rid! Complete anachronism

tara66 · 17/02/2021 15:00

I believe they need to be ''respected'' which apart from the Queen I find hard to do. Some of them are actually worse than your average Joe regarding doing the ''wrong thing'' and one just gets tired of it.

FFSAllTheGoodOnesArereadyTaken · 17/02/2021 15:07

I'd vote no. If we replace them it would be with someone who is voted in and compared to lots of other countries with a president I think the queen does a good job, there are some awful presidents in lots of countries.
After Brexit, and Boris, I don't really trust the British public to pick a good one

Chickenkatsu · 17/02/2021 15:07

Prince Andrew could make a lot of money doing adverts for Pizza Express

unmarkedbythat · 17/02/2021 15:09

I would be delighted to abolish it. The very idea that someone is born to superior status is offensive.

Mintjulia · 17/02/2021 15:10

Given the variety of more extreme politics we have seen in the last 10 years, I'd counter that the last thing the U.K. needs at the moment is a constitutional change.

I'd look carefully at it in five years once the economy, Brexit etc has stabilised.

Andante57 · 17/02/2021 15:13

@wewillmeetagain

Are people actually stupid enough to believe that the crown is not fiction? Yes it's loosely based on facts but mostly its total fictionHmm
I think unfortunately a lot of people think the Crown is an accurate historical account. Have a look on some of the threads on here.
Andante57 · 17/02/2021 15:14

I would be delighted to abolish it. The very idea that someone is born to superior status is offensive

Unmarkedbythat would you abolish titles and families who love in stately homes?

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 17/02/2021 15:29

I might be being a bit dim but if the monarchy were to be abolished don't all the playing cards have to be recalled and new ones re-issued? Wouldn't the cost of this be prohibitive? Confused

WoolieLiberal · 17/02/2021 15:30

Some of the world’s most stable and progressive countries are monarchies...

Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Denmark
Belgium
Spain
Canada
Australia
New Zealand

Some of its less stable and progressive are republics...

North Korea
Myanmar
Iran etc etc

josieorange · 17/02/2021 15:31

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles
Yes, let's not do it then. It would also create a problem for Knaves. And what about stamps? too much bother

ginnybag · 17/02/2021 15:31

Keep - for now - of for no other reason than if Brexit was a shitstorm of piss-poor deal and rewritten laws, removing the Monarchy would make it seem like a storm in a teacup.

The presence of the Royal Family is woven into every part of our constitution and laws. We would be completely starting from scratch on everything. You can't abolish the Queen overnight and 'just keep' Parliament with a different title, because Parliament only has power in conjunction with the involvement of the House of Lords and the Courts.

But, if you remove and abolish the Monarchy, then you remove and abolish the House of Lords (and potentially immediately, depending on how the Letters Patent are ultimately viewed; the Queen is the start-point for all titles and the legitimacy of them.) You definitely have no 'new' Lords, either created or Hereditary - noble titles don't just 'pass down' automatically; the Patent has to be reconfirmed each time by the current Monarch - which sounds like its not an issue until it becomes a lot of power concentrated in an ever-smaller and aging body.

You need a whole new Constitution to get away from that issue.

The Courts also suddenly have major issues. If we unpick such huge sections of our legal framework, then massive, massive amounts of the rest of UK law and legal precedent is called into question. Is a law signed into power (and any judgements made under it) valid when the people who signed it in have been made abeyant? It's certainly a cause for a lack of clarity.

The armed forces, the Treasury, the Courts - all would need overhauls to their regulations and procedures.

Bear in mind, too - it isn't just us. The Queen is head of the Commonwealth - and the head of the Church of England.

Then, you'd have the fights over who owns what/whose liable for what/public/private/in trust etc - they'd be horrendous.

That's without the optics and the intangibles. The Queen is a figure of continuity and stability. Much of that goes with her death, definitely, but the continuing nature of the monarchy has an influence. Watch what happens to the FTSE around reports of her being unwell, or even Prince Phillip. Her death will impact the value of the pound. The country simply, at the current time, and probably for at least the next generation, can't take a shit storm of uncertainty of that magnitude. Even then, its the work of decades to transition away.

This is not to say it shouldn't be something to look at in the future, or that time for it (certainly in its current form) isn't over, but its not so simple as people would like it to be, and it isn't as easy as saying 'get rid of them all'.

It may well become academic. Charles is very clearly in favour of a much trimmed down take on it all. He's a large proponent of the 'Royal Family' being the immediate line of succession only and really then only the first few on the list. With the Queen's death, that will become him, William, and William's three children. He definitely intends to cut out the more extended family in the form of Andrew, Edward and the rest.

Even Harry leaving, I highly doubt he resisted it - he may even have encouraged the idea - and there's already a fair bit of speculation that Harry hasn't already formally abdicated his place in the line of succession only because William's kids are so young and Charles is already a relatively old man. Should something happen to William, then there's a very real risk of a time where George is still a minor on his grandfather's death. In that event, he needs a Regent, which Harry can't be if he abdicates.

I also suspect that Charles will 'retire' at some point, as the modern Danish Royals do, and that by the time we're moving to the William to George transition, the monarchy will be a very much different institution in any case. It may be that they know which way its going, and that they'll start to move to a more modern 'set up' on the death of the Queen without any need to 'abolish'.

3rdNamechange · 17/02/2021 15:33

Abolish , how can one person 'rule' us ?
To people who mention tourism - rubbish , France hasn't had a monarchy for over 200 years and Versailles has plenty of visitors.
Open up the palaces as visitor attractions.

Give the money to the homeless , the foodbanks.
It's obscene the money they cost when people have nowhere to live or enough food.

Hrpuffnstuff1 · 17/02/2021 15:39

It's not affecting any here anyway, people just want to destroy the monarch because of envy. The queen has done far more for the countries traditions/standing than the grumbling arse wipes that think ridding of us of the sovereign head will make life fair again.

Personally I feel the idea of the Queen, Parliament, tied up together constitutionally is a great if not the greatest form of governance in the world.
Morally they represent traditional family values and mores. Unfortunately they have fallen short and reflect society, which is also full of amoral, unaccountable handout grabbing fuckwits.

LongDistanceClaret · 17/02/2021 15:40

Personally I’m conflicted. It’s hard to be pro-democracy and then try to justify this set-up.

But, I like the Queen. I think things will change when she goes. I think it should be massively scaled back as a first step to doing anything.

VladmirsPoutine · 17/02/2021 15:47

Why are people quoting the crown? Its FICTION!

Of course it was - whatever really happened I would bet my house on was much much worse. That family is ghoulish.

atotalshambles · 17/02/2021 15:52

I don’t mind a symbolic monarchy with the monarch living a life of service. I think the queen is amazing and think Prince Charles and Prince William are pretty ok. I think Prince Charles learned from marrying princess diana and has become a better person. I think they would have been friends had she lived. I think the royal family need to be slimmed down and they need to live a more simple job and those not in the very direct line of ascent need to get a proper job!

rawalpindithelabrador · 17/02/2021 15:57

Get rid. Fucking embarrassingly archaic and dated. Sick of paying for it. Hereditary titles have no place in the 21st century.

SleepingStandingUp · 17/02/2021 15:59

Tbf most of them do work these days. Both Andrews girls had jobs (regardless of how they got them). Anne's two work. Edwards two are on school but he and his wife do a lot of work for the Queen.

I'm assuming Royal patronage is a financial advantage to the charities? If the RF were abolished or cut to only say top 5 direct in line what happens to all those charities?

SleepingStandingUp · 17/02/2021 16:02

@rawalpindithelabrador

Get rid. Fucking embarrassingly archaic and dated. Sick of paying for it. Hereditary titles have no place in the 21st century.
If you're sick of paying for it can I suggest that for £1.24 a year you might want to get some perspective?
Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/02/2021 16:07

Another committed republican here. It's honestly not about the money since a President could easily cost just as much, and not even about individuals because even the most loathsome ones come and go - but for me the concept of an unelected head of state, to say nothing of everything that goes with it, is impossible

rawalpindithelabrador · 17/02/2021 16:07

If you're sick of paying for it can I suggest that for £1.24 a year you might want to get some perspective

Excuse me? My perspective is that I'd rather give a quid to a homeless person than that scrounging lot. You don't agree. So what? I didn't insult you for it.

It's a throwback to a feudalistic society we no longer live in, I find that a disgrace. And look at the lot of them! A nonce like Andrew, a drunk like Margaret, a nitwitted brat like Harry, seriously people support that crap? Phillip and all his racist comments. Good grief. How embarrassing.

VladmirsPoutine · 17/02/2021 16:12

Tbf most of them do work these days

Cutting ribbons at opening ceremonies, shaking hands with NHS workers or polishing art pieces in NY doesn't sound like 'work' in my view but each to their own.