The Queen of England is coming here

Drop by and talk about anything you want. This is where all cheese-related discussions should go
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brc64
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The Queen of England is coming here

Postby brc64 » 02 May 2007, 09:11

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17728208/

Of course, I'm flying out of town on Friday, and I don't go to the Kentucky Derby anyway, but still, that's kind of cool. Apparently there's some huge list of rules and guidelines to follow when meeting her. It overheard my coworkers talking about it. It sounded complicated.

I don't think anybody is going to follow them.
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Postby emma » 02 May 2007, 09:30

I saw the queen once! It was at the opening of parliament; it was pretty cool!
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Postby Allen! » 02 May 2007, 10:39

I haven't seen the queen since I was a lot younger. I remember her driving by, and my mom and I watched her from the sidewalk in front of the Red Robin's downtown. ^-^
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Postby Alja-Markir » 02 May 2007, 10:55

Not being born in the Commonwealth, and despite having lived in various sundry places and nations that speak English, I've never understood the concept of the Queen, or the crown even.

Okay, so a certain genetic family, due to their history of familial relation to historical monarchs of England, basically are entitled to live luxurious and fanciful lives free of almost every restriction of behavior most normal people have to obey. In exchange, they play the part of "Royalty" and act proper and respectable most of the time.

People love this family, are intrigued by them and celebrate them. They hold events and celebrations in their honor and comment on them in the course of their daily lives.

I still don't get it though. Why, aside from historical custom, are these people so special? What did they do, or do they continue to do, that excuses their opulent lifestyles? Other millionaires at least have the poor excuse that they 'earned' their lifestyles by succeeding in a Capitalist system, but what of the royal family?

It just doesn't add up to me. Forgive me if that seems rude, as I'm more confused and curious than anything. Can any Commonwealth folks shed some light on the matter for me?

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Postby Graham » 02 May 2007, 11:36

Alja-Markir wrote:Can any Commonwealth folks shed some light on the matter for me?

It's tradition.
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Postby zombine » 02 May 2007, 13:12

The concept of a royal family was important during feudal times, as a strong central ruler was able to best control a government. Think Stalin, Hitler or in more recent times Saddam Hussein. A strong ruler, or more importantly, as central figure, can bring the people to frenzy, keep them in check, and lead them to be more open to government action.

I believe the English royal family became a powerless figure head after the glorious revolution, after James the 2nd was "asked" to step down. At this point parliament became the true English government.

The king still held a power. He could influence. Now, imagine today that The queen told America that Iraq was a bad idea, and we should pull out. No one in America would care. Maybe no one in england would care. But the power of the nobility 80 years ago led to the ideas of the formation of Israel. The King of England said he THOUGHT a homeland for the Jewish people was a good idea, and there were mass Jewish migrations to the Palestine area.
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Postby Alja-Markir » 02 May 2007, 13:25

Graham wrote:It's tradition.


Well put.

Further discourse though. Is there any fear that the tradtion will be abandoned as time goes on? Lots of old-fashioned things are falling to the way-side as modern culture continues to change at an insanely rapid pace. Would losing the tradition of the royal family even be considered a bad thing?

I'm most curious to hear how our fellow forumites who are from the UK itself feel about the Queen and such. Interesting stuff for me.

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Edit - To Zombine, when I said I didn't understand the concept of the Queen or the Crown, I really shoulda said the Modern Queen and Modern Crown. I know why we used to have kings and such, of course.
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Postby emma » 03 May 2007, 20:26

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Postby Fumbles » 04 May 2007, 01:17

Graham wrote:
Alja-Markir wrote:Can any Commonwealth folks shed some light on the matter for me?

It's tradition.


yeah basically she has no effect on our political and legal system
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Postby Alja-Markir » 04 May 2007, 09:37

Yeah, as I said, I get all that.

What I don't get is the "Why" of people putting up with them. I mean, yea, it's not Canada that is paying for the lifestyle of the Royal Family, but England does. Lots of money too. And I'm certain that when the Queen visits, the Canadian and American governments front part of her bill as a polite gesture, paying for certain of her expenses, lodging perhaps, organizational fees, things like that.

But why? Why do UK folks let their tax money go to the royal family? Why do other countries treat theses non-diplomats like diplomats? Tradition is all well and good, but let's be reasonable. People are wasting resources on a bunch of useless living icons of something that no longer exists.

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Postby Lord Chrusher » 04 May 2007, 12:54

Queen Elizabeth the Second is the head of state of the United Kingdom (and Canada as well as fourteen other Commonwealth Realms). When she visits other countries she is entitled having the red carpet rolled, bands, fancy dinners and lodgings just as the President of the United States is. The cost of the monarchy is roughly 37 million pounds a year which is greatly exceeded by the income from royal estates pay and the taxes the Queen pays (180+ million pounds). Much of the costs would still exist with out a monarchy as a head of state would still do foreign travel and buildings such Windsor Castle would still need to be maintained.
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Postby xahldera » 04 May 2007, 12:59

Alja-Markir wrote:But why? Why do UK folks let their tax money go to the royal family?


It's better than letting Blair become a president. Then he would have carte blanche to claim much more in expenses, probably...:P
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Postby Lord Chrusher » 04 May 2007, 13:35

See my post. The British Royal family pays for its self. Unlike the US and its billion dollar presidential elections. The White House, Camp David,flying around in Air Force One, the pensions and benefits for former presidents are not cheep either. (They still are spending over a million dollars on Clinton not to mention his security costs).
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Postby Alja-Markir » 04 May 2007, 14:00

Aye, I agree. England needs some work with people like Blair, but America is probably the political shithole of the developed world, at the moment. Not in that the elections are unfair or corrupt, that's universal, but in the fact that I've seen firsthand that Americans just ignore their government and cotinue with their daily lives despite anything that happens.

A War? Outrage! A few protests! Angry letters to local newspaper editors from old ladies! Then they go and RE-ELECT the same damn representatives they already had. Hell, most of them don't even VOTE. They're so apathetic that the government in power is decided by less than a third of the eligible voters.

Living in America has always been a weird experience for me, no matter what time period I was there.

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Postby Melendwyr » 04 May 2007, 15:39

Graham wrote:It's tradition.


Tra-DI-shun! Tradition! (nuh nuh nyah nuh Nuh nyah nuh) Tra-DI-shun!
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Postby Melendwyr » 04 May 2007, 15:44

Alja-Markir wrote:Hell, most of them don't even VOTE. They're so apathetic that the government in power is decided by less than a third of the eligible voters.


Americans know perfectly well that it doesn't matter who they vote for.

Either it's actually different in other parts of the world, or the rest of the world hasn't caught on yet - or a combination of both. But there's really no point in voting in the US. Any intelligent person's judgment is countered by the judgments of ten morons.

Idiocracy wasn't different in kind from our current condition, just in degree. See also Beggars and Choosers by Nancy Kress.
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Postby Master Gunner » 04 May 2007, 17:15

Something that many people seem to overlook, is that the Monarchy does have absolute Veto power over the UK government, but it hasn't being exercised in a long time (over 50 years at least). As for the decline of the Monarchy, that may very well depend on how long Queen Elizabeth lives. According to some lines of thought, if Prince Charles were to take the throne in the next few years, he could very well single-handedly take down the Monarchy (then again, the last time I really talked about this was back when he got married again). However, if the Queen manages to live for another, say, 15 years, Charles won't be able to do much before he passes on the crown, allowing the Monarchy to survive.
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Postby Fumbles » 04 May 2007, 18:16

I really don't mind the queen but chrales gives me the shits
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Postby emma » 04 May 2007, 20:14

Has anyone seen The Queen? It was very good.
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Postby Lavos » 04 May 2007, 21:38

I've seen god before.
i dont know what's happening anymore
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Postby Anachronism » 05 May 2007, 00:11

Lavos wrote:I've seen god before.

I see...you must have misread his directions because heck's a little further down.

As for the Queen, I hadn't seen her but the monarchy, all its history, tradition, and grandeur have always fascinated me to the point that I have, say, journeyman heraldry skills. I was going to make an effort to see her in DC but I fell ill.

On American Politics - People seem to have it so good here that most have become complacent which is better (but arguably more dangerous) than being in a sucky country and being complacent with complaining about how bad it is. Refer to this memorable (for me) interview from the Daily Show: Zbigniew Brzezinski

P.S. On the subject of fake news, TheOnion.com's new videos ftw!
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Postby Allen! » 05 May 2007, 00:13

Anachronism wrote:
Lavos wrote:I've seen god before.

I see...you must have misread his directions because heck's a little further down.

As for the Queen, I hadn't seen her but the monarchy, all its history, tradition, and grandeur have always fascinated me to the point that I have, say, journeyman heraldry skills. I was going to make an effort to see her in DC but I fell ill.

On American Politics - People seem to have it so good here that most have become complacent which is better (but arguably more dangerous) than being in a sucky country and being complacent with complaining about how bad it is. Refer to this memorable (for me) interview from the Daily Show: Brzezinski[/url]

P.S. On the subject of fake news, TheOnion.com's new videos ftw!


Needs more monarchy incest.

Also, TheOnion's awesome 'Sarcasm' news got me HOWLING.

Edit: It's here.
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Postby -Geoff- » 05 May 2007, 00:18

---
Last edited by -Geoff- on 05 May 2007, 00:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby -Geoff- » 05 May 2007, 00:18

Lavos wrote:I've seen god before.


on?
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Postby Allen! » 05 May 2007, 00:19

-Geoff- wrote:
Lavos wrote:I've seen god before.


on?


CNN.
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