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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:
Vapeyvapevape · 15/11/2021 06:51

*Justheretoaskaquestion91

The comments re speculation over the death of a 95 year old are ridiculous*

I do think there’s a chance she has died

Oh the irony

Justheretoaskaquestion91 · 15/11/2021 06:56

@Vapeyvapevape

It’s not irony. You haven’t understood my comment - maybe I wasn’t clear. There are comments on this thread attacking people for speculating. I’m saying that’s silly snd it’s completely reasonable to speculate. Which I then go ahead to do.

Vapeyvapevape · 15/11/2021 06:59

Yes sorry just reread your post.

FatOaf · 15/11/2021 07:05

and a pope resigned/retired a few years ago, which was a first I think.

No, Pope Benedict IX resigned three times (twice in 1045 and again in 1048). Celestine V resigned in 1294. He issued the edict allowing popes to resign or retire. Mind you, he then spent the rest of his life imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII. Gregory XII resigned in 1415 to end the Western Schism. I don't think the right was used again until Benedict XVI in 2013.

I don't think the Queen will allow Prince Charles to be appointed as a regent. In the event that she loses mental capacity I imagine this decision will be made on her behalf by the Privy Council, but she shows no sign of losing capacity. Increasing physical infirmity will mean he has to stand in for her at more engagements but she won't allow him to make final decisions that she feels are the duty/privilege of an announced monarch.

FatOaf · 15/11/2021 07:06

annointed, not announced

Hodl · 15/11/2021 07:09

I think they'll announce it in the next few days. I thought when PP died that HM wouldn't last the year.

(Quite prepared to look silly when HM is still here at 102!)

depremesnil · 15/11/2021 07:18

Her death will cause huge changes in everyone’s lives.

Not sure about that...

SoupDragon · 15/11/2021 07:26

The comments re speculation over the death of a 95 year old are ridiculous.

And the comments speculating that she is dead are disgusting.

coodawoodashooda · 15/11/2021 07:29

@SoupDragon

The comments re speculation over the death of a 95 year old are ridiculous.

And the comments speculating that she is dead are disgusting.

Perhaps so. I wouldn't normally say such a thing but i have a definite sense it is true.
Beachbreak2411 · 15/11/2021 07:30

I think she has either died or is expected to imminently, the Royals faces yesterday were particularly drawn and sad. But she will never abdicate.. she’s always said she would never.. it’s her duty and her Uncle abdicated caused such chaos she wouldn’t go down the same path as him.

andyoldlabour · 15/11/2021 07:37

Justheretoaskaquestion91

"This isn’t great Granny Susan from across the road; it’s the Queen! Her death will cause huge changes in everyone’s lives."

Really?
We will have a day off for her state funeral, which she rightly deserves and then it will be business as usual.
The day after and there will be no ripples on the water.

Ellmau · 15/11/2021 07:41

@romatheroamer

I agree with pps that the family members did look particularly strained and tearful at the ceremony so wondering if they know something about her health that hasn't been announced yet.
Or maybe it's the first time they've all seen each other since Prince Philip's funeral.
VeryLittleOwl · 15/11/2021 07:42

@1forAll74

she has probably bought all her Christmas presents now, and wrapped them all up, and decorated all the rooms at Windsor, Stop writing her off,, she likes Christmas.. I did read,that she was riding a pony a couple of weeks ago, and not her usual larger horse,
She's only ridden Fell ponies for years now.
Hodl · 15/11/2021 07:57

I would say that although the 1936 abdication was huge, it was a different time then. The RF was still held in almost universal deference, anointed by God, etc.
I don't think the same applies today.
A lot of young people couldn't care less about the RF and can't relate to them.

I don't think HM's retirement / scaling back would be a huge surprise to anyone.

DuchessOfDisaster · 15/11/2021 07:59

@Twilight7777

I believe she has died too, and they didn’t want to upstage the remembrance parade today.
You seriously think that Buckingham Palace would gaslight the whole world to that extent?
Spudlet · 15/11/2021 08:00

Prince Philip served in WW2 (with great distinction), and this was the first Remembrance Sunday since he died. It’s not a massive surprise that this has brought feelings of grief back to the surface for his family, and not necessarily a sign that the Queen is on her way out. I mean she’s 95, clearly she doesn’t have decades left, but she isn’t dead yet and I really can’t see the news being hushed up 🤷‍♀️

Original poster
ThinWomansBrain · 15/11/2021 08:03

@FatOaf - thanks; didn't know the details, just recall the shock horror when it happened, then it all progressing in a relatively civilised manner.

I wouldn't place too much significance on RF looking sad at Remembrance sunday events - kind of how I expected them to look.

OP posts:
Homeofthe · 15/11/2021 08:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Platax · 15/11/2021 08:04

And the comments speculating that she is dead are disgusting.

Perhaps so. I wouldn't normally say such a thing but i have a definite sense it is true.

Really? Do you have some sort of spiritual hotline to the Palace?

Gooseysgirl · 15/11/2021 08:06

YANBU but she won't ever retire.

Deadposhtory · 15/11/2021 08:06

Well I don't believe the sprained back nonsense. I think they are hiding something

Platax · 15/11/2021 08:08

Isn't there something where if the queen dies on a Sunday they don't announce it till 8am on the Monday?

Seems highly unlikely. Notoriously Lord Dawson hastened George V's death with an overdose so that it could be announced in the morning papers, it being deemed unseemly to give the evening papers first dibs. If it was the custom to hold back news of a monarch's death, he wouldn't have felt the need to do that.

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 15/11/2021 08:09

@Twilight7777

I believe she has died too, and they didn’t want to upstage the remembrance parade today.
What a load of shite
lollipoprainbow · 15/11/2021 08:09

Her mother lived until she was 101. Do we have any reason to suppose the Queen’s overall health is any worse than her mother’s was?

Her mother wasn't the queen though was she! Didn't have to do much apart from drink a few glasses of drambuie.

PingedPotato · 15/11/2021 08:09

I hope her family don't see this