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What is the point...
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
of the Royal Family? What do they actually do for this country apart from spending our hard earned money?
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Bolshevicks had the right idea I say.....
Some patriots would say the royal family is just as important to the Nation as say stone henge would be, due to the whole history of it.
Beng on the left wing I see little use of the royal family, though they are good for a few things:
1) Bank holidays
2) This point is much disputed, but the Royal family do generate income via tourism. OK so not every tourist comes to london to see buckingham palace or the guards or whatever, but a few do, and so they are helping our economy (maybe)
3) Something nice to put on our coins
4) A nice national anthem
errr cant think of more...
I dont really care, and I think its funny how a lot of people think the amount of money we spend on them is outrageous, but have no worries about the amount of money we spend on our "defence".
Dont set me off on that again
Theoretically the Queen could therefore prevent an extreme political party passing a bill through the House of Commons & House of Lords to dissolve them, creating a dictatorship, by refusing to sign it.
It's hardly likely to happen, but I suppose it's one use for her.
The Royal family also promote good relations with other nations.
I wouldn't like to be a member of the Royal Family... yes, I would perhaps enjoy their money but I don't think it would adequatley compensate for the oss of freedom, the inability to lounge about in bed all day and pull a sickie when you fancy it.
and they provide a lot of business for the newspapers especially queens hubby's strange verging on schizo comments
If the monarchy isn't abolished altogether and realistically it won't be seriously considered in our lifetime then it should at least be streamlined. Keep the major royal roles and cut anyone outside the direct family off the civil list. Give redundant palaces to the National Trust as a gift to the nation.
There are, just not British ones.
Yeah i saw that on a Channel 4 programme, with Tony Robinson. The guy was a bit of a fuckwit though. If I remember rightly we would have a Prince Jet if he were to be King.
but the problem with politics is voter apathy and well a lack of decent choices as its true that those who are best suited for power dont want it and those who aint suited want it!
id rather have a queen with hardly any real powers than have a president whose commander in chief of our armed forces and makes actual political decisions
I have a spookey feeling many will have read it or heard about it..
but its excellent.. briefly, she illustrates with remarkable brievity the situation where a republican gov get into power and decide in 3 pages to oust the queen from 'office'. they get rid of her and she and her family move to a regular, run down estate.. allthough i wasnt interested enough to finish, (hey i quite like the royal family!), you mite enjoy it.. and it would certainly brighten up the socialists amongst us,,,, naming no names of course!!
To reply to an earlier post the queen cannot withhold the royal assent. That prerogative power was removed centuries ago.
Realistically speaking that guy in Australia doesn't haver any claim to the throne because if he was the descendent of an illegitimate son born 500 years ago to the House of Tudor then his royal line was replaced by the House of Hanover hundreds of years ago.
Don't kill me, but give it three years and Fergie's daughters will be rather yummeh.
Does anyone here seriously think that if the Monarchy was abolished that Buck House would stop costing money to run?
Does anybody here seriously think that if the Monarchy was abolished that the President wouldn't be the first to take the Royal Train for his own?
Do you want the pissing contest for HEAD OF STATE every four years?
What is the problem with Monarchy? They cost little to operate, and there woyuldn't be many savings from abolition as the expensive stuff will still need to be maintained. They don't do any harm, they generate tourism, I fail to see why people always get so het-up about it all.
The democratic argument is meaningless, and the fact that the Queen is NOT democratically elected is actually a good thing, IMHO. She does not have the power to become despotic herself, but she can (in theory) prevent any government becoming despotic. A rather good safeguard, I think. Democracy is over-rated.
BUT, at the price of about 60p per person per year I think its far from the biggest problem this country faces.
And as Kermit rightly pointed out, do you fancy MORE elections to put into place some sort of head of state?
I don't really think that that is true anymore; any deference is purely ceremonial, and not serious.
Even the issue of "subject" seems to have gone, with the Government being big on "Citizenship".
To be fair I think they need some consolidation for being so interbred
- Buckingham Palace has 600 bedrooms. They should put the homeless in there... that way the palace would serve a useful purpose for a change. I don't see why an old couple would need such vast premises... most people their age make do with a terraced 3 bedroom house, or smaller.
- The British Royals should come down their pedestals and behave more like ordinary people, like the royals in the Continent are. I'm not aware of any other Prince or King who has a man servant to put toothpaste on his toothbrush every night, like our own Charles.
- Same would go with other extravagances such as not being allowed to turn your back on Brenda when leaving her presence... or the demands by several royals to be addressed by their full pompous titles "Your Royal Graciousness" and so on... These people truly believe they're demi-gods and superior to ordinary people.
- The Royals giving the Union Jack (which incredibly they own ) to the nation so no permission is needed from them to fly it wouldn't go amiss either.
And many other extravagances and excesses that make that family so absurdly out of touch, even for royals.
I think the Russians had the right idea, they really knew how to behave. They had a fountain once which was powered by serf's running up and down the hill with buckets. Now thats real royal behavior.
and look what happened to them though
*yawn*
Could say the same thing about those on the dole.
Indeed, for those republicans out there let me just say the two words which will remind you why we have a monarchy, and why it should stay so.
President Blair.