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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think The Queen should retire?

411 replies

ThinWomansBrain · 14/11/2021 21:09

I am not a monarchist - but given that we have a Royal Family....
Given her age, understandably failing health, and the recent widowhood, is it be reasonable to think the Queen should step down and retire gracefully?
OK, maybe stay in post until the Jubillee next year, but then hand over.

OP posts:
HalfCakeHalfBiscuit · 14/11/2021 21:55

It is utterly preposterous that in this day and age the head of state of this country is chosen by accident of birth. Hopefully Charles will be so hopeless that it will spell the end of this ridiculous institution

JayAlfredPrufrock · 14/11/2021 21:55

She will never abdicate because of the effect the previous abdication had on her father.

user1471505494 · 14/11/2021 21:55

What is the point of a vote when it is up to the Queen what happens. She has a strong sense of duty and service to our country. I find all this discussion about her health upsetting. We don’t have a right to know the details of her health

Eleganz · 14/11/2021 21:56

Charles can step up and take on any duty on behalf of his mother including an official regency if one is required. She is 95, has recently lost her husband and is unwell. Sadly I think we may be in for some bad news at some point soon, making her abdicate now seems utterly pointless.

The only reason for her to abdicate would be a constitutional crisis such as the one her uncle created (the circumstances of which are clearly not an issue now).

NotExactlyOptimistic · 14/11/2021 21:57

We're not being told everything - and rightly so. She's not public property she is an old lady with a family who loves her. IF she is nearing the end of her life she deserves privacy just like anyone else. I think she's amazing.

Kite22 · 14/11/2021 21:57

YANBU to think that is what you would do, if you were her.
I would have stepped back HUGELY about 20 odd years ago if I were her, however , as others have pointed out we are led to believe she believes it is her duty to be Queen until the day she dies.
I think what those close to her have probably been trying to convince her for years is finding a route where she feels she is completing her role but where she is persuaded to have a better balance of time relaxing privately against the time she spends working, and working in the public eye.
I suspect she is the only one that needs convincing of this though. Lets not forget 2 of her children are past retirement age themselves.

Cocomarine · 14/11/2021 22:02

@RustyBear

On her 21st birthday, she broadcast a speech from the royal family's tour of South Africa "But through the inventions of science ....I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple. I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong." Apart from the fact that it's now the Commonwealth, not the Empire, I think she will stick to that.
Not seeing the line that said, “and it order to do so, will stay Queen until I die” - she could continue to serve the Empire / Commonwealth without being Head of State, if she do choose. I still think the average person’s understanding of the Queen’s sense of duty comes from The Crown 🤷🏻‍♀️ I think she’s more like my XMIL - lovely, but her motives for insisting on continuing to play a part in the family business into her 80s (and when I say play a part, frankly she got under everyone’s feet, but hey - we loved her) are more to do with her personal desires. She wanted something to do, she wanted to feel needed still, she enjoyed it. Duty, not so much.
HeartsAndClubs · 14/11/2021 22:04

How many more of these awful threads.

Seriously get a life.

Do people really think that it’s ok to speculate on whether someone has died/is dying.

Newsflash. We’re all dying. And at 95 I think it’s safe to say that she will die soon. Quell surprise. Most of us in fact won’t live that long so it’s hardly going to be a shock when it happens is it? But meanwhile why on earth do people think it’s appropriate to guess when/if it will happen?

Cocomarine · 14/11/2021 22:06

@JayAlfredPrufrock

She will never abdicate because of the effect the previous abdication had on her father.
That doesn’t even make sense. The absolute last person you could say would be unsuspecting and unprepared to be King would be Charles 🤣

I expect I’m right in saying that no British Monarch (or historically, since for ever in the history of the British Isles in all its forms and names) has had so much notice that they will be King!

Takemetothe90s · 14/11/2021 22:07

@TerraNovaTwo

I don't think she has very long left to live.
Bollocks. She was riding horse’s a few months ago, I think her health, for her age, is amazing. I’m no royalist and she is 95 but I don’t think she’s at deaths door yet.
nocoolnamesleft · 14/11/2021 22:07

She's not going to abdicate. But there is precedent for a prince regent, during the incapacitation of a monarch. Think of during the reign of George III.

Takemetothe90s · 14/11/2021 22:08

@HeartsAndClubs

How many more of these awful threads.

Seriously get a life.

Do people really think that it’s ok to speculate on whether someone has died/is dying.

Newsflash. We’re all dying. And at 95 I think it’s safe to say that she will die soon. Quell surprise. Most of us in fact won’t live that long so it’s hardly going to be a shock when it happens is it? But meanwhile why on earth do people think it’s appropriate to guess when/if it will happen?

Lots of people live long past 95. Especially people who have the best medical care imaginable and have also never done a real days work.
Cocomarine · 14/11/2021 22:10

@Takemetothe90s “and have also never done a real days work.”

Bloody hell, you’re brave 🤣

🍿

IreneSmith · 14/11/2021 22:12

As long as it goes to Prince William and no one else. But tbh, i doubt anyone can do a better job than the queen.

521Jeanie · 14/11/2021 22:15

YABU - it simply doesn't work like that. You may not be a monarchist but let's assume the Queen believes in it as she's lived it so long. We also know she has a religious faith and indeed is Defender of THE Faith in this country. She believes that God chose her to be queen and it is her god-given duty to lead the county until her last breath.
You don't give it up. You are the monarch until you die, and then that very second, your heir becomes monarch. You can't be an ex-monarch.
The only ex-monarch is/was the Duke of Windsor whose unprecedented decision caused no end of shame, upset and worry to her parents and grandparents and changed the course of a little girl's life (her own).
You can step back from official duties and even paperwork but you can't stop being Queen.

EnidFrighten · 14/11/2021 22:17

There is precedent for elderly monarchs handing over the reins (reigns?) among other European royal families.

My grandmother lived to 97, in her last five years or so there were several times when she seemed very weak, including heart problems, but she'd bounce back and be fine again. Old people get UTIs etc and can be very ill then recover completely.

LittleDandelionClock · 14/11/2021 22:17

I think she should take a back seat as she is quite clearly poorly. Sad

I will be devastated when our lovely Queen dies...

And as a pp said, I fear tis won't be too long now. I feel like crying just thinking about it.

She may as well abdicate after next year's 70th anniversary jubilee. She has already broken the 'longest reign' record.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 14/11/2021 22:20

@521Jeanie

YABU - it simply doesn't work like that. You may not be a monarchist but let's assume the Queen believes in it as she's lived it so long. We also know she has a religious faith and indeed is Defender of THE Faith in this country. She believes that God chose her to be queen and it is her god-given duty to lead the county until her last breath. You don't give it up. You are the monarch until you die, and then that very second, your heir becomes monarch. You can't be an ex-monarch. The only ex-monarch is/was the Duke of Windsor whose unprecedented decision caused no end of shame, upset and worry to her parents and grandparents and changed the course of a little girl's life (her own). You can step back from official duties and even paperwork but you can't stop being Queen.
Yes, spot on. It's astonishing how few people seem to get this. It's archaic but that's the system we have.

Also, never done a real day's work in her life? On Remembrance Sunday? The Queen joined the ATS at the end of WW2 when she was 18 and trained as a mechanic. That's before we even get into the endless tours and visits she's done in the years since.

HalfCakeHalfBiscuit · 14/11/2021 22:23

@IreneSmith

As long as it goes to Prince William and no one else. But tbh, i doubt anyone can do a better job than the queen.
Yawn. Why should we get King Baldy and Queen Boring.

Much better to have King Randy Andy. Or maybe Harry and the Megster

SerendipitousEmma · 14/11/2021 22:26

Did anyone else think that Charles looked really sad at the Remembrance ceremony today?

SerendipitousEmma · 14/11/2021 22:27

@HalfCakeHalfBiscuit That's a horrible thing to say!

Cocomarine · 14/11/2021 22:27

@SerendipitousEmma

Did anyone else think that Charles looked really sad at the Remembrance ceremony today?
Yeah. Which is weird because Remembrance Sunday is second only to Xmas for laughs.
PingedPotato · 14/11/2021 22:27

@SerendipitousEmma

Did anyone else think that Charles looked really sad at the Remembrance ceremony today?
Yes but it was the remembrance ceremony so I wasn't expecting him to be grinning.
DuchessOfDisaster · 14/11/2021 22:28

Terrible comments in the Daily Mail about the Queen, Boris Johnson allegedly lying his head off, Charles should make a statement and make Boris shut his trap, the queen is already dead and nobody will tell us, the 'sprained back' in quotes to whip up a frenzy - it is simply appalling.

MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry · 14/11/2021 22:29

She may as well abdicate after next year's 70th anniversary jubilee. She has already broken the 'longest reign' record

No, she won’t. She won’t ever abdicate.