I just wanted to take a minute to say that I am so very sorry for the loss of your Queen Elizabeth II today. I am not going to pretend that I knew more than what came across the news in American pop culture. But I know enough to know that your loss is profound and deep. I know that many of you individually, as well as your country as a whole are in a state of mourning and grief. I have no profound words. Just know I am here for you and want to lend my support while you go through this. And I know many of your American allies feel the same. Wishing all the best for you. Truly!
It’s an odd feeling/atmosphere , I’m not a massive fan of the royals , but , I’m no republican either. It’s just that she was always there to be relied on to say the right thing and be a steadying presence , and I don’t know anyone (even my parents) who remember it any other way. The coming weeks will be interesting to watch the full pomp and pageantry kick in for the state funeral and then the coronation of the new king (still feels weird to say that).
It’s definitely is an odd feeling/atmosphere, whilst I am in favour of abolishing the monarchy, on a personal level she's been a constant presence in public life, and has been a calm oasis of decorum in some very troubling times. I think as a country we will miss her presence greatly. Plus James bond is going to feel quite strange, "on HIS majesty's secret service" just doesn't sound right.
As above, I'm not a royalist by any means - yet after hearing the news last night, I had an empty feeling, as if it was a personal loss. Not something I felt after Phillip passed, nor QEQM. I didn't expect it to hit home like it has. The next few months will certainly be an adjustment.
Even though I am a republican (in the sense that I am not in favour of the monarchy, nothing to do with the US political party), it does feel strange. Much like when I was 17 and for the first time in my life we had a Labour government. I think there will be more republicans with King Charles on the throne...
My favourite queen fact is that she was born before the invention of sliced bread, Imagine your first Prime Minister being Winston Churchill and your last Prime Minister being Liz Truss.... From "we shall fight them on the beaches" to "we import two thirds of our cheeses"
Queen Elizabeth II has to be the person in history who has met the most significant people in her lifetime. It does hit hard in a strange way, like a big changing moment in the march of time. Having lost 3 grandparents last summer, it did bring back those feelings to surface.
It will be lots of little things as well: a different face on money and stamps, a different name on passports and cornflakes... I see a US professor has already causes a stir by condemning Elizabeth for her role as head of state during the days of Empire and exploitation. I expect a lot more reflection on that in the coming weeks.
I saw that, is Jeff bezo's the most unaware man in the world by sharing that, and then being surprised the US professor called him out too.
On a more logical reflection I can't condone a Monarchy as a system of government. But i do think she was as good a head of state that any nation ever could wish for. Tireless duty and dedication. Seldom put a foot wrong publicly. Dead_Pool has its spot on when he said she was an Oasis of Decorum. In these times of coarsening manners and fast media narratives that change from one day to the next, it was nice to have a centre of unchanging stability. When I think of Nigel Farage wrapping himself in the Union Jack and those cringe inducing speeches in the EU parliament or Boris flying the British flag, but fragrantly ignoring protocols and rules which he belonged to lesser mortals, I suspect we may have to suffer many more squalid figures traversing the media landscape, before we truly begin to miss what actual self restraint and dignified service to the nation looks like. Yes she was a bit stiff upper lip. But Queen Bess II had dignity in spades, She was there so long that "God save the King" feels an alien phrase. Lets hope Charles III is equal to the task.
She was an effective figurehead for the nation because no-one ever knew her opinion on anything. It didn't matter if industry was nationalised or being sold off, setting up the welfare state or dismantling it through neglect, whether the government was sending troops to brutalise Catholics in Northern Ireland or negotiating peace, whether the government was supporting military dictatorship in Chile or going to war with an Argentine military dictatorship in the Falklands, supporting apartheid in South Africa or supporting Nelson Mandela's government... She did her duty regardless. I feel rather sorry for the royals. I'm not sure the obscene wealth makes up for the fact they're born into the most restricted social role our class system has to offer. Abdication only passes it along to another family member. I wouldn't want it for my children.
3 things that make me feel like a foreigner in my own country are not drinking alcohol, not supporting any sort of sport ball team or player (be that ball round, egg shaped, small and red, small and furry and yellow, etc) AND the widespread reaction to anything to do with the Royal Family. It just leaves me cold. Disgusts me in fact. I just don't seem to have the "deference to my betters gene" that seems so endemic in the UK. The idea of considering someone "Royal", "high", "majestic" or worthy of being put on some sort of pedestal above me, purely based on who their parents were, rather than some innate quality or great work is just ridiculous. Saw a picture the other day of Prin...sorry...due deference...King Charles...where someone was literally kissing his hand like a subservient puppy and the headline spoke of his ability with "ordinary" people. Ordinary people!?! We're all ordinary people! Charles included. How dare someone assume they are "extraordinary" while I am "ordinary" just by chance of birth. Especially someone like Prince Andrew who I can say, by many factors, is categorically not a better human than I am. To me the idea of hereditary monarchy as a method of human governance is/was one of the worst ideas humans ever had and should have been relegated to history centuries ago. This is not Narnia or Middle Earth. We have no need for Kings and Queens. Charles (or William when it's his go) should just put their hands up and say "Shall we call this the end? It's a stupid anachronism isn't it? I'll just pop off to peddle my homeopathic nonsense and shoot grouse. Just leave me somewhere to live and all the other stuff we own reverts to state ownership and can be turned into museums...toodle pip!".
Well said. It's not a good start for a progressive monarchy that a woman was arrested in Edinburgh for holding up a rude sign and shouting for a republic. Even weirder that Republicans in the US are fawning over all the pomp and nonsense. I mean, the clue of the party's line on monarchy is in the name. Still, I think a goat marching in regalia is probably apt for the direction the country is going in.
I love goats. You know where you are with a goat. They live by a simple flow-chart life....eat it? -> nut it? -> climb it? -> repeat
