Does the monarchy make Britain look silly.

[SlowwHand]

Why pay the way for a family of figureheads ?
Look at them. Chart their exploits.
Diana was symbolic of the problem, and was only a monarch-in-law.

I have to provide a counter-weight, John.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by JohnT


Of course you should keep the monarchy - why dispose of your traditions so easily? Why get rid of yet another reason for people to come to England and spend money? (We sure don't do it for the low taxes!) Why remove the only English family the rest of the world gives a crap about? Why cancel our favorite soap?

Think about it: Had it not been for Diana's death, the most noteworthy thing to happen to England in the nineties was either John Major being forced out or the Spice Girls breaking up.

Please, for your own well-being, don't do away with the monarchy. You wouldn't be England without it.

You only want us to keep it, so you can remind us of your removal of it

[Boris Godunov]

What doesn't make Britain look silly?

Bah, the monarchy is fine, and certainly a tourist draw. It helps make Britain unique, distinguishing it from much of the rest of Europe. We like it, it gives the tabloids something to do.

Keep it!

[JohnT]

Hell, if you get rid of the monarchy, you might as well tear down Buckingham Palace, raze Westminister Chapel, and blow up that stupid clock while you're at it.

[Az]

I thought about it a lot, and came to the stunning conclusion:

Yes. It is silly, and makes you look silly. HOWEVER, you know what's REALLY silly? to have a President in a Parliamentary Republic. A monarch in a constitutional monarchy is a guy whos ancestors had lots of influence and importance, but who's now totally redundant. A president in a Parliamentary Republic hasn't got even that, a useless ****ing position of power ( not a correct statement, since he actually has no real power ), doesn't even bring tourists.

Yep. We have one of those.

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by JohnT
Hell, if you get rid of the monarchy, you might as well tear down Buckingham Palace, raze Westminister Chapel, and blow up that stupid clock while you're at it.

Buck house is crap anyway, take the paintings out and put them in a decent building.

The clock can stay though

[MikeH]

From a brief survey of this thread, the Brits want to get rid of the monarchy and the Yanks want us to keep them. Solution - send them all to America!

[TheStinger]

Prince Phillip would have a wail of time insulting the yanks

[lightblue]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
What doesn't make Britain look silly?

Bah, the monarchy is fine, and certainly a tourist draw. It helps make Britain unique, distinguishing it from much of the rest of Europe. We like it, it gives the tabloids something to do.

Keep it!

Other monarchies:

Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Belgium

Other Hereditary rulers:

Luxembourg
Monaco

I am sure I forgot a few, but Britain isn't special in that respect, it is just that they are rather more tabloid friendly than most of the others (although there's some trouble in the Dutch monarchy now, most of them have proper jobs and degrees and stuff), bar possibly the Monagaskan (sp.?).

[MikeH]

Sweden and Spain have kings.

[TheStinger]

Monaco really is a joke

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by lightblue


Other monarchies:

Netherlands
Denmark
Norway
Belgium

Other Hereditary rulers:

Luxembourg
Monaco

I am sure I forgot a few, but Britain isn't special in that respect, it is just that they are rather more tabloid friendly than most of the others (although there's some trouble in the Dutch monarchy now, most of them have proper jobs and degrees and stuff), bar possibly the Monagaskan (sp.?).

I said much of the rest of Europe. And those other monarchies aren't nearly has high-profile as Britain's. People associate Britain with traditional monarchy moreso than any other country. When one thinks monarchy, one thinks of Britain. Our tabloids aren't likely to run sordid tales of the Danish monarchy, after all.

[MikeH]

If we did ship them to the US you could market and promote them a lot more professionally than we can.

[TheStinger]

They would make Charles have his ears done for a start

[MikeH]

They could probably make an animatronic Queen Mum with a dancing troop of "Gawd bless the Queen Mum" cockneys to go with her.