Queen Elizabeth II Is Reportedly Retiring Within 18 Months So Prince Charles Can Assume Power

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by Space_Time, Nov 27, 2019.

  1. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, I'd be perfectly happy if our unwanted puritans crossed the Atlantic again if you'll have them.
     
  2. BigSteve

    BigSteve Banned

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2019
    Messages:
    725
    Likes Received:
    550
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Gender:
    Male
    I had no idea a monarch could retire. I thought they had to die...
     
  3. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    A monarch can withdraw from public duties as HM is doing and let the Prince Regent take over but abdication is the only true way to fully retire (in Britain anyway).
    Due to the scandal and constitutional crisis of her uncle's abdication the Queen has made it clear that she would never follow that path.
     
    Sallyally likes this.
  4. HonestJoe

    HonestJoe Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2010
    Messages:
    14,839
    Likes Received:
    4,815
    Trophy Points:
    113
    The primary source for this seems to be the Daily Express, a National Enquirer level publication (I won't call it a newspaper) obsessed with the royal family, exactly because they can make up trash like this in the full knowledge they won't be challenged.

    The story is based on an anonymous source and gets some basic facts mixed up, mainly the fact that if the Queen retires from official duties but doesn't abdicate, Charles wouldn't become King. It got all you talking and made some people some small advertising profits so I guess it's nobody will care.
     
  5. Richard Franks

    Richard Franks Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2019
    Messages:
    4,626
    Likes Received:
    1,474
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    If that is true, Prince Charles will do excellent as the King of England
     
  6. aenigma

    aenigma Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2015
    Messages:
    950
    Likes Received:
    305
    Trophy Points:
    63
    I wonder what title wil she hold if she abdicates ?
    in belgium we now have 2 kings & 2 queens after the former king abdicated for his son a few years ago
     
  7. Space_Time

    Space_Time Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    12,422
    Likes Received:
    1,965
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Here's more:

     
  8. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Edward VIII took the title of Duke of Windsor after he abdicated.
    If the Queen were to follow suit she might become the Duchess of Windsor I guess.
    She won't though.
     
  9. Wrathful_Buddha

    Wrathful_Buddha Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 10, 2008
    Messages:
    5,581
    Likes Received:
    1,370
    Trophy Points:
    113
    The whole useless Royal family should step down. Or hang themselves so they can reunite with Jimmy Saville in hell.
     
  10. HumbledPi

    HumbledPi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2018
    Messages:
    3,515
    Likes Received:
    2,020
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I'm with you. Give each of the royals in the lineage generous pensions then distribute the wealth of the realm between the UK and those 53 commonwealth countries. Put some good use to all those generations of wealth accumulation and establish a solid democratic republic.

    Trivia question: Did you know that the British royals don't have a surname? The name 'Windsor' was designated by King George V in 1917 and retained as a surname. King George took the name from Windsor Castle, one of the royal properties.
     
    roorooroo likes this.
  11. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yipee, I can't wait to get my hands on my 79p.
    I might buy a car with it.
     
  12. Diablo

    Diablo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2016
    Messages:
    2,772
    Likes Received:
    2,310
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    zer0lis and HumbledPi like this.
  13. HumbledPi

    HumbledPi Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2018
    Messages:
    3,515
    Likes Received:
    2,020
    Trophy Points:
    113
    There's so much about the royal family that I've learned only through the Netflix series 'The Crown'. I never considered the royal family very interesting, to say the least. One thing that really surprised me was the episode in which it's revealed that Prince Philip's mother was alive and living as a nun in Athens, Greece until 1967 when there was a coup in Greece. Despite Prince Philip's objections, she was brought to live at Buckingham Palace and died two years later. She had been committed to a mental institution when Philip was a teenager, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

    Her story would make a wonderful movie I think.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2019
    zer0lis and Tim15856 like this.
  14. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Best soap opera ever.
     
    HumbledPi and Diablo like this.
  15. Diablo

    Diablo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2016
    Messages:
    2,772
    Likes Received:
    2,310
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    It's going to run and run. We just had Andrew, now wait and see what happens with Harry and his wife.......
     
  16. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Well worth 79p a year.
     
  17. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 9, 2013
    Messages:
    41,184
    Likes Received:
    16,180
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I've never yet heard anyone saying that anyone should respect the "Office" of the Prime Minister, like some say we should respect the "Office" of the President. The Royals are the ones the Brits say are infallible, which is why they have no real power

    Deucedly clever these Brits
     
  18. Montegriffo

    Montegriffo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2017
    Messages:
    10,673
    Likes Received:
    8,941
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    That's why we respect them. HM never gets involved in the running of government outside of a ceremonial role.
    We don't even know the Queen's opinion on most matters. When HM was said to have ''purred'' when she heard that Scotland had voted to remain in the Union it caused quite a stink.
    Charles has been more outspoken on issues such as architecture and the environment. When he described the proposed extension to the National Gallery as ''monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend" he was severely criticised for his intervention.
    If he made such statements as King his popularity would be damaged and he knows it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2019
  19. Enuf Istoomuch

    Enuf Istoomuch Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2018
    Messages:
    663
    Likes Received:
    524
    Trophy Points:
    93
    As I read it the finances of the British royal family are a very small burden on the taxpayers. They earn millions off of lands owned for centuries. Profits from commercial farming, rents and that sort of thing. There are stock investments and some members of the extended royal family work and earn a living as well. Income from the various lands owned is taxed at 25%..Funds that do come from the taxpayers are used to pay public expenses, such as official travel and security, maintenance of certain buildings. Even so some of the income from land is used to for some public expenses. Many of the great works of art, jewelry and buildings are owned not by the royals but by the nation.

    The Queen isn't anywhere close to being the wealthiest person over there. There are several hundred private citizens who are wealthier.

    At least from this great distance it appears that if what the British continue to desire is a ceremonial monarchy at the head of their government and military, they are at least getting a good buy on their taxes. The commercial industry alone that spins news stories and souvineers and gossip rags must provide a living for tens of thousands.
     
    zer0lis likes this.
  20. Poohbear

    Poohbear Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2018
    Messages:
    7,695
    Likes Received:
    2,310
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I used to think that too.
    Not sure what the effect of the Royal family is on the UK economy but it appears to be a net plus.
    A bigger plus is the fact that many nations that overthrew their monarchies suffered for generations
    as their nation convulsed with civil strife and war (think France, Germany, Russia, Spain etc..)

    And by "something useful" I hope you aren't thinking of adding to the nations welfare state?
     
  21. bigfella

    bigfella Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2016
    Messages:
    7,503
    Likes Received:
    8,671
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It is called abdication and yes, they can. The Japanese Emperor abdicated last year (I think) due to advanced age & ill health. I think the Dutch Queen abdicated a few years back in favour of her son. Most famously the King of England abdicated in 1936, putting his brother, the father of the current Queen, on the throne. I'm sure there are more examples.

    Personally I hope she does resign just to irritate overly precious monarchists, who don't like Charles. They support a system of inherited power, so they can suck it up.
     
  22. Tim15856

    Tim15856 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2016
    Messages:
    7,792
    Likes Received:
    4,229
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    But, I don't recall the head of the British empire ever being called an emperor and it was an empire when they ruled such places as India.
     
  23. HoundofHades

    HoundofHades Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2019
    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    16
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Gender:
    Male
    What I don't get, nor ever will, is why anyone with more than half a brain would care about this kind of monarchical drivel.
     
  24. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 9, 2013
    Messages:
    41,184
    Likes Received:
    16,180
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I can recall Victoria being referred to as the Empress of India+ somewhat regularly but you're right in that most European Kings weren't called Emperors.

    King and Emperor both have their own oddities. The Roman title was actually "Princeps" or "First Man", and this reflected that he was NOT a king, since having kings was the main reason the Romans overthrew the Etruscans. The Roman Ruler was not strictly hereditary either and the fluidity of their succession protocols was one thing that many thought weakened them, particularly toward the end, but it was the way they liked it.
     
    Sallyally and Tim15856 like this.
  25. Tim15856

    Tim15856 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2016
    Messages:
    7,792
    Likes Received:
    4,229
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    They usually had multiple titles, Imperator being another one for the emperor.
     

Share This Page