Pro/Anti-Monarchy

he can refuse to be King, but Parliament has to accept the heir.

You can become king without the big party (i think that happened to King Edward..i think it was him) Parliament refused to accept him cause of his yankie girlfriend.

Originally posted by infinite
he can refuse to be King, but Parliament has to accept the heir.

You can become king without the big party (i think that happened to King Edward..i think it was him) Parliament refused to accept him cause of his yankie girlfriend.

That story of King Edward XIII is very interesting he was basically forced to abdicate, If you have time to read up on it even if you don't like the royals it makes great reading, espionage, treason etc.

Anyway heres my view on our royal family...

The Royal family have alot more power even today than they let on they protect the commonwealths interests at all levels, I will get onto this later!

The Royal Family do a great deal of good for the world. This is their public face.

Amongst other things The Prince of wales has his own trust set up to help under priveledged young people. See link.

www.princes-trust.org.uk...

The Late Princess of Wales did an awful lot of work for the good of mankind.
see link:

www.dianacelebration.com...

The Queen, Her official title in the UK is "Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith" This official title is important, The Queen is an excellent ambassador for the UK and visits many leaders of Foreign countries.

See this website for a brief explanation to her head of state status in the commonwealth:

www.cbc.ca...

Now its the behind the scenes stuff thats interesting

Now if you read the following website it is cleverly disquising the extent of power the Queen holds, through the Privvy Council.

www.royal.gov.uk...

"The Privy Council retains some limited, formal functions.

For example, the Privy Council is concerned with the affairs of Chartered Bodies, the 400 or so institutions, charities and companies who are incorporated by Royal Charter.

The Privy Council also has an important part to play regarding certain UK statutory regulatory bodies covering a number of professions (mainly in the healthcare field) and in the world of higher education."

They call this limited, to be the one theoretically in charge of all these institutions, institutions containing the most powerful people in the commonwealth! this hardly classed as limited power!

See the link to find out all of the institutions the Queens Privvy council has control of:

www.privy-council.org.uk...

on the whole I think you will agree they are some very powerful institutions that stretch the globe!

The Privvy council also is involved in the appointment of high sheriffs, very powerful guys who chooose their successors and are not voted in.

"The office of High Sheriff has its roots in Saxon times and is the oldest continuous secular office under the Crown.

The High Sheriff is the Keeper of The Queen's Peace in a County and executes judgements of the High Court through an Under Sheriff. Office is held for one year during which the High Sheriff is responsible for the well-being of Her Majesty's Judges in the county, and other public duties."

Taken from: www.priory.lancs.ac.uk...

Don't forget the Queen doesn't come to decisions on her own she has an army of advisors, from fashion to MI6. She is just the only one who can officialy give an order.

I see the Monarchy as being a safety net, should something go pearshaped there are people in the inner workings of the UK who have the power to avert catastrophy. i.e in the future a political party goes mad, want's to do something crazy, the Monarchy has the power to stop them.

God save the Queen.

BTW I'm pro Monarchy



[edit on 29/1/07 by Jimmy1880]

add on from above...

The Royal family even has its own part of the police called S014, MI5 and MI6 work very closly with the Royals and Windsor the town of residence of the queen, has complete Infantry and cavelry regiments to protect it. In my opinion the Royal family has a tighter security net than the UK parliment.

If the Royal family were just a money spinning tourist attraction as many people say why would it be so closely and comprehensivly guarded.

The Queen when she takes her Oath, swears to keep the UK and the commonwealth secure, Every british soldier swears his allegiance to the Queen, not the government.

Thats why I beleive that the Royal family is secretly working behind the scenes to protect the UK and the commonwealth



[edit on 29/1/07 by Jimmy1880]

I can't really be arsed with them but from a political perspective the monarch does provide a useful non-political ambasdador role which would be hard to replace.
Admittedly Most of them aren't very good at it but E2 is still held with a reat deal of regard and respect in many country's as a neutral but powerful symbol of Unity in a way that Blair isn't.
You could probably get away with sending the queen to many country's without offending the locals. I'm not sure the same could be said of Tony.