Harry and Meghan (15)

[Froq]

No harm in having it ready for the next event/announcement...

It sounds awful and I am by no means wishing her gone, but I don't think the Queen will last all that long after PP passes away. Just a gut feeling.

I am not enamoured of the RF at the moment but I also don't really fancy any of the other choices. Anything elected would make some one open to Bribery. And in a weird way, the fact that someone becomes Head of State by the random fact of who they are born to is, in some ways, the ultimate in democracy - it's a pure accident of birth. Simultaneously, it's also massively undemocratic as they can't be voted out, so I just don't know.

I do know that I don't like the Queen interceeding when matters are in the interests of the RF, but failing to do so when it's in the best interests of the country. I think the past year gas highlighted that and I do question her judgement, whilst respecting her overall.

I just don’t think HM believes PA did anything wrong. A mothers love and all that. He’s probably convinced her it’s all a big mistake.
Agree actually that she won’t live much longer than Philip. She depends on him emotionally very much.

I don't know. I have read that they speak every day on the phone but since Philip is living at Wood Farm now, the Queen is presumably not able to get that much support from him. I think she would carry on.
Agree about Andrew though. Supposedly he has always been her favoured child.

She will not abdicate. She declared in 1952 that her whole life, be it long or short, would be dedicated to service. If her health declines significantly, then she may continue to pass on certain duties to Charles, but she will never officially abdicate.
But have you ever seen a nearly-94 year-old walking without a stick?

Shows you what a privileged lifestyle can do for your health and fitness. Given that she's probably unusual among the extremely wealthy in having a very comfortable lifestyle but without a drugs habit

Or maybe she DOES have a drugs habit and that's what keeps her going at 93?

I’ll have what she’s having.

It's those red boxes keeping her brain ticking over!

Did anyone see the documentary with David Attenborough and the Queen? It was so funny.

They went past a sundial. David Attenborough said something like “and here is the sundial nicely placed in the shade” and the queen laughed and said “yes it is good, isn’t it?” And obviously addressing some courtier “Had we thought of that? Maybe we could move it?”

Love the royal we usage as an order. I try it on my kid and DH but sadly it doesn’t always work.

The loss of PP will be a terrible blow when it comes, but I don't think it will be the end of HMQ. It wasn't for her mother, or for Queen Victoria. She is sustained by her sense of duty and her Christian faith.

She won't abdicate either, but she will increasingly rely on PC and PW to do the hands on stuff as her representatives.

I am not enamoured of the RF at the moment but I also don't really fancy any of the other choices. Anything elected would make some one open to Bribery. And in a weird way, the fact that someone becomes Head of State by the random fact of who they are born to is, in some ways, the ultimate in democracy - it's a pure accident of birth. Simultaneously, it's also massively undemocratic as they can't be voted out, so I just don't know.

In Canada the Queen is our head os state, but she is represented by our Governor General at the federal level and Lieutenant Governors, provincially. These are appointed positions. In general, I think it works and I imagine it might continue in a similar fashion if we, as a country, ever chose to sever connections to the Crown.

I still don't understand how Harry and Meghan feel hard done by the royal family. In their brief 18 months as a royal couple, which included having a baby and some leave, they both seemed free to do some passion projects, ie Invictus and the Hubb. Meghan didn't really do much aged care opening in bleak places. Their South African trip was going well until they released the law suit and used the trip to complain about their lives.
I can understand how they hated negative press coverage, but actually being a working royal didn't look that constraining.

I agree.

Maybe it was to do with stuff going on behind the scenes?
Personally I suspect it was always their plan from the get-go to split their time between the UK and the US/Canada, and I think they got told off by the RF for doing certain things or were constrained for doing things their way, and they got pissed off. They wanted autonomy and control as well as the prestige and protection of the royal family.

It wasn't for her mother, or for Queen Victoria. She is sustained by her sense of duty and her Christian faith.

Queen Victoria retired from public view for years and years after Albert died.

Queen Victoria retired from public view for years and years after Albert died.

That's true, she did, but crucially she didn't die.

www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2019061874293/kate-middleton-didnt-curtsy-queen-letizia-order-garter/ For someone who's not a Royalist, I've read write quite a bit about European Royals today, following up the Spanish royals. They do seem glamorous but curtsying protocol sounds complicated! (Maybe not suitable for the pub crawl). I agree the head of state thing is tricky, and I like the idea of the random democracy of the accident of royal birth. Maybe we could widen it to a lottery of the whole country to choose the next head of the state?

Sorry to go off-topic but I just found out that Charles II had 12(!) illegitimate children.
What a hound dog. Did he have time to rule? Or even put pants on...

The RF has come a long way.

SunsetBoulevard3 I think your point that everything is about self promotion and making lots of money had some truth. I was just looking at my cousin's insta-stories (she's uni age) and in RL she's very down to earth but I'm always amazed at how many selfies her and her friends take before they go out. It's very different to when I was that age. Fair play to her, she's beautiful and will have a lot of memories (although it can haunt some young people). Maybe there's a generational thing to the public reaction, where millennials have grown up with posing for cameras being normal and watching influencers sell things, while for older generations, this isn't normal and will jar when they see it in younger royals?

Prince William is descended from one (maybe two actually) of Charles II's children, but then so might half the UK. Twelve or so is the number we know about. There were likely many more. He was not called the Merry Monarch for nothing.

The Duke of Gloucester is also descended from Charles II.

"Did anyone see the documentary with David Attenborough and the Queen?"

What was it called?

@7Worfs the Merry Monarch! One way to cope with your dad being beheaded and celebrate getting your throne back. I imagine Twitter etc would've had a lot to say about it if it's been around at the time!

There was a monarch who had his own sex chair. (That we know about it; for all we know the Queen could have one in the royal dungeon.) Was that Charles ll?