AIBU in thinking that King Charles' passing will devastate Britain?

[monrymeadows73]

If you remember back when Queen Elizabeth II died, how upset most British people were and how it caused some social insecurity as many British people saw her as a sense of strength and a rock due to her continuity and longevity, but with her gone, they weren't sure how Britain would fare. Hence, the large crowds of mourners and a lot of upset.

King Charles III - though not as admired as Queen Elizabeth was - also has longevity and a sense of continuity in a different way: not as monarch since he's only been in the role for three years, but as a royal figure, i.e. he has been in the spotlight since the 1940s and conducting royal duties since the 1960s. When he dies, will Britain finally feel as though the older generation of royals - who for so long have provided reassurance and comfort to the British people - have gone?

Will this lead to a lot of soul-searching about where next Britain must go and perhaps cause social tensions due to the insecurity of identity? Who will the British look to to guide the nation from then on? Who will be their new rock?

To be fair to them, I'd love the opportunity to do two months work a year, live in a castle, have wads of cash and no money worries, have staff on hand to cater to my every whim and a fleet of nannies to bring up my kids too.

Joking aside, I really hope when Charles dies, there's some public consultation on the monarchy and we can work towards getting rid of them.

The turkeys aren't going to vote for Christmas. Move along now, nothing to see here.

Charles coronation is a stark comparison to Elizabeths from what I have seen.

My late DM remember 1953 and could remember bits for the grandkids right the way up to 2013 when she was lost to dementia.

I really can't remember what I was doing (has to go and check) 6th June 2023. (And rather symboically, I can remember where I was when I learned Diana was dead).

No of course not.The royal family are a useless shower of piss takers who are a huge embarassment to this country.

On the contrary. They are a perfect advert for this country. No other country in the world has achieved the wealth of the UK and retained a monarchy.

Why do you think our public schools are so attractive to foreign oligarchs ? It won't be the cooking or the weather.

The big difference between Liz and Charlie's coronation was numbers,
apart from that it was the same

For QE2 they built wooden tiered seating for the 8,000 guests. Of course they couldn't do that because of health and safety so there were only 2,000 at Charlie's

Adulterous pompous benefit scrounger - I know people who lost work & jobs because of his ignorant statements about modern architecture.

It's sad when people die, but his death won't "devastate" me.

I think it's entirely possible to be against the Monarchy and/or a republican without any personal animosity to the poor folk who carry the burden - unasked - on our behalf.

Just come back from the local supermarket and gone past the play park that has been taken over by the street drinkers and drug users so no parents take their kids on it. Kate would faint with shock if she saw it but she and Billy will never live like common people

There won’t be a ‘public consultation’ after KC3 dies. It’s what republicans hoped would happen after QE2 died whereas all that happened was a seamless transition into the reign of KC3. That’s how it works in this country.

The only way to get rid of the Monarchy is through a referendum on whether to abolish it or not. That will only happen if the Government of the day are open to it, like with the Brexit referendum. (Maybe there will be if there’s enough public pressure, but it’s by no means certain.)

If there is a referendum, I do think there is a chance now of a majority of the population voting to abolish the Monarchy now, after the scandals surrounding Andrew.

If it happens, I hope we don't end up with the likes of President Farage or President Johnson. There would hopefully be some kind of proper consultation on what role the future Head of State would have.

To answer the OP, I definitely won’t be mouth KC3 when he dies.

I personally don't know how I'll function.

The only way to get rid of the Monarchy is through a referendum on whether to abolish it or not.

If the UK never has another referendum it won't be too soon.

Alternatively, when Charles meets his mum, William could quietly say to whoever he has to say it to "You know what chaps, I don't really think it's appropriate for me to be King in 20xx. And I've had a chat with the kids, and they feel the same. Maybe we should just drop the monarchy ?"

I mean if that were to happen then it would either be respect for his wishes, or King Harry

Didn't she recently say something about us all having compassion for addicts.

Of course we should, but I very much doubt she's ever been affected by the consequences of addiction, such as her local play area being a no go zone for her kids. Compassion for the people causing this can understandably wear a bit thin.

Off topic now but I really think, given the number of properties at their disposal, that their current forever home could have been one where public access wasn't affected. There must be some!

Well, it wouldn’t devestated me but I’m not a royalist. If you are, I guess there might be some of the usual overblown drama.🤷‍♀️

The only way to get rid of them would be for the government to not want them, and increasingly introduce measures to scrutinise the monarchy more and finance them less. Even then I imagine we'd just end up with a smaller monarchy.

As it is, governments have been in hock to these people for decades, so nothing much will change anytime soon.

I think any French readers might raise an eyebrow at your rather unimaginative assessment.

I think even Monarchists would not argue about scrutinising them more and slimming down not only the personnel but the cost of them. That is the alternative (for now) to the current model. The only problem is that the only people who dont want to do this are the Royals. And the only people who can make them is Parliament, and they dont even want to talk about them, never mind tell them they will be getting less money and to cut their cloth accordingly. If they want exemptions from legislation they should have to give their reasons and have it publicly debated in Parliament. Again, reasonable but again, they dont want to do it and will not be made to do it. William wants less scrutiny not more. He won't change a thing. He sure as hell wont be moving towards abolition of the Monarchy! The only way he will change anything is if the alternative is abolition. William and Kate are all talk. When you look at their actions its all ' Do as I say so I dont have to' and all the sycophants tell them how amazing they are when they come up with some obvious bland statements about something they know nothing about.

The honours system keeps the politicians (and judges and police and anyone who might normally raise an alarm) sweet so don't count on any of them changing anything. A future knighthood or place in the House of Lords means gravy train will keep on chugging as it elevates them above the rest of the plebs. everyone wants to be special.

I was chuffed for David Beckham to get his knighthood as his family were proud, but sad he thought he needed it and chased it so hard when he has accomplished so much more just as a footballer than anyone in the current royal family ever will.

Your first paragraph hits the nail on the head.

There'll be nothing done until a government with a pair of balls takes on the monarchy.

William will be worse than any of them. And I wish he'd f**k off pretending to be one of the plebs. At least own who you are. I'd imagine he's as bad as Harry but he's still being managed by the men in grey.

What's unimaginative about my assessment of the UK monarchy in 2025?

The Andrew business showed that the government are less than interested in doing anything. They took their lead from the King! It was a previous government of the UK who decided the sovereign grant was a brilliant idea. For decades the government have allowed the monarchy to tweak laws so they don't apply to them. And so on and so forth.

We're not France in 1789.

It was a previous government of the UK who decided the sovereign grant was a brilliant idea. For decades the government have allowed the monarchy to tweak laws so they don't apply to them. And so on and so forth.

As far as I can see we have the sovereign grant and the monarch still gets to tweak laws before they are laid before parliament.

You could say it is the worst of both worlds.

The only really serious change to the monarchy I can recall was under John Major, when the Queen volunteered to pay (some) tax. You know,. Like we all volunteer to pay tax.

When you look at their actions its all ' Do as I say so I dont have to' and all the sycophants tell them how amazing they are when they come up with some obvious bland statements about something they know nothing about.

William's really just like Harry, only he has the PR people and managers guiding him. Outside the monarchy framework, he would be doing similar things.

I agree with this though not sure I would categorise them as 'poor folk'.

I may not have been entirely sincere. It seemed appropriate on a thread about royalty.

I agree W will probably be worse. Whatever anyone says about his father (and I am no particular fan), nobody has ever called KC lazy. He is one of the harder working Royals (admittedly only by Royal standards which is a low bar) but he is educated, took the trouble to learn Welsh, and ensures he is appropriately prepared for public and State events.

None of this applies to W who we are told can't name an author and 'prefers an oral briefing'. I think it is a problem if our future Head of State has no intellectual curiosity. We also know that he & K do the bare minimum and always have done.

Whatever Harry is like he has left the RF, we are no longer paying for him so it is up to him what he does. At least H is protecting his own children and keeping them out of the public eye, unlike W&K's children who are trotted out in public at every opportunity to help the RF's image. I personally find it borderline abusive that these children are forced into taking on this public role regardless of any wishes or ambitions of our own....we wouldn't accept this for our children yet the RF and their supporters force it on these. H's treatment is a taster for them of the treatment they would get if they ever chose to step away.