Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has died

It must have been very difficult at times when she had to be nice to obnoxious people. Idi Amin, Gerry Adams, etc.

 

Never complain, never explain. The perfect role for head of state. The absolute right and wealth transfer is my personal issue. Not to mention that not every heir is sane.

 

We haven't had a properly mad one since the one who lost the colonies. I mean, how do you lose something as big as America?

 

Well, "America" was not really that big then. Around 430,000 square miles. About the size of Spain and France. And a population of around 2.5 million people (about twice the population of London).



Most of the continent at that time was actually owned by other nations.

The UK kept Canada, that was many times larger than the Colonies (over 4 million square miles, or around ten times the size of the 13 Colonies).

France owned pretty much everything west of the colonies to the Rocky Mountains.

Spain owned the rest, including places like Florida and Texas.

Russia owned Alaska, and more scattered colonies reaching as far down as California and out to Hawaii.

 

Well, it wasn’t that big until Jefferson bought a huge hunk of it from Napoleon at a yard sale.

 

Bloody pedants ruining my punchline.

 

It might have been better to ask where her family originated:

 

Makes it seem even more likely that Meghan was telling the truth about experiencing racism at the palace now.

 

It must have come as a shock to an octogenarian who had spent her life in the highest white British social circles to have to "retire" because she was publically rude to a black woman.
I suspect she was trying to sound interested in the guest's background...cue British empire etc etc. but went about it in the most clumsy way possible. ISTM the whole Royal entourage needs some training in race relations. And a retirement age far younger than 80 something.
The whole thing really undoes in one blow the positive work both the late Queen and present family have done to avoid such confrontations. And Ms. Hussey, after a lifetime of highest social acceptability, will only be remembered for one thing...one faux pas of public social unacceptability.
I feel quite sorry for her. It isn't her fault she was born and lived and was highly approved of in a racist bubble.

 

I used to wonder how Philip got away with some of the comments he made. He used to hide them behind what was called his sense of humour.
And of course Boris J. did the same thing, and the electorate skipped over it with barely a flinch.
It is still the case that if you pretend you are being funny, and you hold enough power to influence lives, you can actually be an outspoken racist. But you have to be more powerful than a lady in waiting.

 

To be fair to the old bigot she was played like a djembe by the lady dressed from head to toe in African garb with a recording device in her pocket refusing to say where in Africa she was from.
A pox on both their palaces.

 

What does any of this have to with the death of Queen Elizabeth? Totally off-topic.

 

Not really.
There were periodic stories of casual racism in Royal circles while she was alive. She herself always handled all people with respect and faultless politeness. But after her death there are more public accounts of racism which MAY have always been there. And they may be indicative of latent racism in the highest social circles, which of course speaks to the supposed equality of opportunity the country takes pride in.
One of the veils across THEM and US may have been revealed, either an accepted racism or an ignorance about what racism looks like.
And of course what went on in her own family while she was still alive.

 

The Queen's dead?
When did that happen?
I'm surprised it wasn't in the papers.

 

The thread is about her death and has nothing to do with racism, that is a totally separate topic.

 

You are technically right but this thread contains a lot of members with an interest in the Royal family. Brits like myself plus members of the Commonwealth and others.
Posting this latest example of racism in the palace here is a good way of getting a decent response rather than a new thread getting missed amongst the hundreds of threads a week that get created on this site.

 

I am not ‘technically’ right, I am right. According to the rules: If you don't want to discuss the topic, stay out of the thread.

Racists in the royal family is totally off-topic, it’s disrupting the thread. The point of forums is that if there is a new topic, you start a new thread rather than disrupt a thread with totally off-topic material. If members started posting off-topic material on threads just to get decent views, there would be chaos. This thread is about the queens death, not about racism. So the queen was obviously a royal, so anything to do with royals is fair game on this thread, that’s ridiculous.

 

Disrupt a thread?
This thread was as dead as Her Majesty herself before it veered a tiny bit off topic.
It's nice to have someone who's been here a whole 6 months to tell us where we are going wrong though.
Thanks.

 

If the thread was dead, that’s more reason not to revive it with totally off-topic subject matter.
You don’t have to be on a forum for years to understand how things work. I used to be a moderator on another forum for 6 years so I do understand how things generally work. Thanks. Anyways, I won’t be responding again.

 

I'm currently a moderator on a UK forum. We understand that you have to cut a bit of slack every now and then if you want to have some interesting conversations.
C'est la difference n'est-ce pas?

 

Be sure to let your members know they can go off-topic on threads cause it shows so much respect for the members.

 

They all know it already because that's how you often end up with the most interesting or fun conversations.
I'd drop you a link but it's against the rules here.
None of this conversation is about a dead monarch though so I'm surprised you are still in it.

 

How much can you say about the specific death of someone without sidestepping into what her reign was like and now she is gone, how the next royal period will look like.
IOW during her reign certain attitudes and protocols were in place. The Queen did a good job of "modernising" the monarchy but she too had to struggle with some modern attitudes...ie the death of Diana and how modern Britain saw her.
The essential question is how inherent racism still exists within Royal circles.
The press will always jump on such perceived breaches of current attitudes since there has always been a considerable anti Royal opinion in the UK, which, if enacted, would be a profound constitutional change.
So could the death of Elizabeth be the catalyst for the abolition of the monarchy?
So the discussion about the real attitudes within Royal circles is very much about her death and how that death may reveal the institution of the monarchy.

 

In a previous post I was quite critical of Ms. Hussey.
A week later and I am beginning to change my mind.
It seems as if the young lady in question has a history of anti Royal sentiment, and has publically delayed in replying to Ms. Hussey's suggestion for a meeting to repair any misunderstanding.
I have a suspicion that Ms. Fulani is taking a situation not of her making and using it foe her own ends. An opportunist. Her reference to the events being "abusive" is IMO extremist and some of her comments have been stretching her "outrage" to the believable limit.
Personally I would have had more respect if she had reached out to an 83 year old lady and explained her "outrage". It just looks like she is celebrating what she feels is a race/class public victory in the long history of white privilege.
Kudos to Ms. Hussey for her efforts in diplomacy, which speak of real class .

 

I'd go further and say she set her up.
She was dressed in full African dress with a recording device ready to refuse to answer ''where are you from''.
Anyone's 83 year old granny could have fallen for that.
The transcript sounds appalling but when you delve a little deeper...
I hate racists as much as the next man but I hate race baiters even more.
Publicity stunt for her charity is about as charitable as I'm going to be.