To think the British royal family has had its day?

[Ladybugpolkadot]

I had a lot of respect for the Queen, may she rest in peace… But now she has passed away I just feel like the UK Royal family/ establishment should just be abolished.

The younger generations are not the same standard as Queen Elizabeth was. There’s so many rumours and so much scandal in recent times. And what have these people really done in order to justify leeching of UK tax payer money to fund their privileged lifestyles?…

Am I the only one who thinks the members of the Royal family should give up their royal roles and get real jobs and earn their own living like anyone else in the country?

But places like France, have consistently drawn more tourists, including Americans, than the UK, and they have no monarchy but they still come for the palaces, the history.

I never thought I’d say this OP, but I sort of agree. The Queen had something. A sparkle. An almost God like status in how she was perceived and cherished (although having known someone that worked very closely for her for years, they always said how kind and gracious she was). She represented for me, and perhaps many others, a link to the past. To Queen Victoria, King George. A great age for Britain (I appreciate it wasn’t all great but hopefully someone will see what I mean!) The strong and stoic Kings and Queens that had come before her.

King Charles III just doesn’t appear to have that same ‘sparkle’. It feels like the light has dimmed a bit.

No matter where you were in the world (within reason), if you said ‘The Queen’, everyone knew who you were talking about. There was only one ‘The Queen’. The Royal family is beginning to remind me of a very trashy soap opera. That is by and large thanks to MSM - as others have pointed out, scandal in the RF existed long before many of us were even born. Now though we have it on a live 24/7 feed. They don’t seem so regal and other worldly anymore.

Our monarchy is probably the most famous monarchy in the world. No one is really aware of other European monarchies. An American friend said recently how the Royal Family is inextricably linked in the USA with the culture of the UK.
Harry and Meghan have focused attention on the Royal Family and put it in the world spotlight for the 21st century. Note they are not relinquishing their titles but they are cross their children won't be Prince and Princess. The Royal Family is more high profile now than ever before.
The Harry and Meghan drama has given the Royal Family a huge sympathy vote at home.
I just don't get how some MN posters are so supportive of Harry and Meghan and they don't mind that they have made a reputed £88 million from this documentary series without offering half the dosh to charity.
Look at MN. If you believed the MN hype about politics, the Tories would never be elected again. There was so much hatred for Boris Johnson before the last election and yet Boris swept the country in terms of votes. There are times I would love to believe the MN perspective but I'm afraid MN doesn't represent the views of the country as a whole.
I am sure there are some posters who would like to see a five yearly vote for a Head of State but it won't happen. The Monarchy has survived so much worse than this. There was a big political movement post war to get rid of the monarchy post war. I can remember Willie Hamilton and his campaign. It never went anywhere.
I think I am right in saying that younger people are more likely to be republican but as they age, they become supporters of the monarchy. I don't know why this is. Probably the same reasons that a lot of young lefties end up voting Tory later in life.The BBC organised a massive national vote on the abolition of the monarchy thirty ? Years ago. A significant majority voted for keeping the RF.

It’s weird to keep this one family in a gilded cage because we CBA making a different system work

I thought the same after Diana died, but they kept their head down, and it passed. I remember the queen being hated in the UK after Diana died. It took years, but she regained her popularity and as a PP said, a 'god like status'. The same may happen for William. I'm not sure Charles will ever be as popular, and time isn't on his side, he may not have enough years left to weather this storm.

I thought the queen just seemed miserable all the time. I don't get this fondness people had for her. The Younger royals appear dysfunctional. Probably because of the depressed state of their mother and other factors. If they all disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't notice ( apart from hearing the weeping of Americans)!

As a history student, I fight shy of wanting to create vaccuums of power. Especially in fraught political circumstances. Nobody good ever gets power. Certainly not that level.

So I'd much rather let it steadily reform itself.

Those who say Vive la Revolution tend to ignore the immense body count and trauma. Steady reform isn't dramatic enough for them.

Do people really think subjecting the country to more upheaval (possibly bigger than anything we’ve already had to experience) would benefit us? As if we haven’t got enough to deal with already.

This is just like Brexit all over again. People suddenly have an idea that we’d be better off without the EU (or without the monarchy) and don’t consider what that actually means in practice.

All the posters blindly calling for abolishment of the monarchy just because they’re not keen on some of the family members please do some research first.

Other countries learn about their former monarchies in school, for goodness' sakes. It isn't like VHS or cassette tapes. Versailles is still bringing in the dough despite a lack of french king.

They are all really very horrible to each other. Why are they lionised? I didn't care before, but the layers of scandal and shake are simply too grotesque these days. I thought William and Kate at least had a grip. Yet there are accusations and rumours about William's affair all over Twitter. They need to be abolished.

You find other people's opinions, that don't align with your own, pathetic?

What an embarrassing thing to admit to.

If the majority of posters on here supported you OP, there would be far more traffic on this thread.
I do think that this kind of, set it straight, revenge documentaries will end up being regarded in the same light as 'squidgygate' reporting from the nineties, Netflix is also media but on a huge scale. They can afford legal bills. Will this series be followed by other famous family revenge docs. Will some of the Trump family members want to set the record straight? Former USA presidents families want to set the record straight etc.
There must be hundreds of thousands of MILS and DILS who would like their version of the truth out there. Most would never do it because of the hurt it would cause their wider family. As Michelle Obama said'When they go low, we go high'. It is no secret that the Obamas dislike Hilary Clinton and her supporters. Would they make a set it straight documentary? No, they are too sensible.

Saying what you don't like is very easy but ultimately not helpful.
You need to make an argument for a viable alternative.
Look at Brexit. People were happy to vote to leave the EU without there being any clarity about what the impact would be or the cost to the country. I for one do not want any further constitutional chaos. We simply can't afford it snd I don't think people really want it.

The Queen was not universally revered and adored through her life. There have been crises and scandals for ever. I remember thinking the RF and especially the Queen and Prince Philip would never regain respect or popularity after the revelations made by Diana or the fall out after her death. But as this thread shows she did.

I think it would be better to support the RF in making changes rather throw the baby out with the bath water and "get rid".

Tell me you don't know the true impact of a royal family without telling me you don't know the true impact of a royal family...

So sick of threads like this where people don't know the implications of what they are talking about

I dont think the country is in the right place for constitutional reform. It needs to be the whole system when it happens from do we keep first past the post, how will our second chamber work, do we have a directly elected head of state, what powers will they have, what about the judiciary. I look at the current government and wouldnt trust them to do it in a way that wasnt corrupt from the word go. And when we are all a bit stressed and cold i'm not sure we wouldnt vote for quick fixes not a proper long term system.

Isn’t it a bit patronising to think these countries somehow need to have our monarch as their head of state and couldn’t manage without them?

I don't think any of the commonwealth countries need us, but right now 14 of them have the king as their head of state.

Each one of them is entitled to decide on a new constitutional system, and to elect or appoint their head of state as they are fit. And good luck to them! Having a foreign head of state must be very strange.

If the UK decides to go down the route of constitutional reform, we're presumably not going to be funding the royal family in any form. And I'd hope that nobody would expect any other country to pick up that bill.

And that would mean we'd be forcing 14 countries into rapid constitutional reform with potentially little time for them to debate and decide on what would be the best constitutional model for their respective countries. Potentially at a time when countries can ill-afford the upheaval and massive costs.

To me, that would be an act of hostility from the UK.

I'm no royalist. But until some republican lobby group can outline a constitutional model that would be better for the UK and how to deal with the implications, consequences and costs of reform, the existing constitutional monarchy is going to look like the least worst option.

Yes, exactly this.

I agree but the alternatives are equally unpalatable. That's not to say that do nothing is the right course of action but christ help us if we end it with people like Boris Johnson in charge.

@SnoozyLucy7

The difference between France and England is that no one can remember the French Monarchy. Their draw is the historic palaces minus the royal family. It is completely different to the draw to English which is historic palaces plus a monarchy. Entirely different set up. It could well be the present monarchy that enables us to hold our own against countries like France etc. We lose that, we belnd in with the other European countries that no longer have one

My view, for what it's worth...

It is no longer appropriate to have other humans 'above us'. We have found that celebrities, politicians, rich people, royal people are just no better than us, and in many cases worse. Their position has allowed them to behave in a worse manner, yet be lauded and protected and hidden.

Those days are going.

Therefore the cognitive dissonance required to blindly look up to them and retain the idea that 'we are all underneath them' is failing - even in this very thread.

The question now is - what next? I much prefer that question.

It is embarrassing to think that we 'ruled' other places. We were awful and entitled. To me, this is why we need to sit back now. We are not 'better than.'

In a funny way, I think that Harry and Meghan are helping bring it all down, and it needs to be brought down. It is not appropriate to cowtow to people 'above us' who in reality behave badly. It's a giant fake that we need to wake up from.

But HOW are we going to manage it and what's next? Those are better questions. Maybe we will answer them before a huge and calamitous climate type event changes the world and force us to answer them.

Precottdanni - why do we need to be better than - especially when we are NOT better than?? Why uphold a fake? Which everyone can see??

But we could end up with someone like Boris Johnson in charge - but he'd just be born into it rather than us voting for him - which I think is even worse.

God what a horrible thread! Funny how they still get queues of people lining the streets to meet them when they go on visits, so not everyone can feel the same way as posters on here. I think Kate and William are lovely- she does a lot of work with young children, so she's not just there to look good. I bet a lot of people that moan about them enjoyed watching the royal weddings and took part in the street parties so I'm sure they're not really causing your life too much upset

Well done. Republican bingo all in one post. You’d have got bonus points for “bowing and scraping” and “cap doffing”.