What is a Monarchy for?

[palindromicbob]

I am not a Royalist but nor am I a Republican. Always enjoyed this video though.

[video=youtube;bhyYgnhhKFw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhyYgnhhKFw[/video]

 

[Liverbirdie]

I'm no great royalist, but I am glad that we still have a royal family, and not neccessarily for the financial reasons. Why is everything justified around money, these days? It is one of the things that still makes Britain different.

World war 1 virtually wiped out monarchies off the face of Europe, with the Hohenzollerns (Germany), Hapsburgs (Austro-Hungary) and Romanovs (Russia) amongst others who never ruled again, come post-war Europe. The Italian royal family had to elope to Switzerland during the second world war and lots of others have fell by the wayside. There are still some royal families in Europe, but I don't think they have the same profile as ours.

I'm glad they don't have the powers they did before Charles 1, and they are mainly a figurehead nowadays. I'd rather have a King/Queen rather than a president, also.

 

[woody69]

IMPO!!!! She should have abdicated around the time the Queen Mother died and let her son have a share of the role before he is also too old.

Lizzy is obviously going for Victoria's record so she can be the longest ever reigning monarch. A few more years and she'll step down I reckon. Be funny if she does literally 1 day later and admits she only stayed on to break the record so she could be in the Guiness book of records and get to meet Roy Castles replacement.

 

[coolhand]

2 Things:

Pomp and Ceremony - things like Royal Weddings and Royal Births generate huge interested round the world that in turn encourages people to come see for themselves.

Tradition and History - every country needs a shared tradition and history to bind the majority of people together. We're lucky our is real and embodied in the Monarchy rather than made up and centered round fictional/dubious characters.

BTW If you asked the question about some of the "modern" European Royal Families the answer would be not a lot.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

I'm a big fan of the monarchy. I like that we still have a link to our history and you only have to see the smiles on people's faces when any of them pay a visit to somewhere in the UK or overseas to see how much they mean to people.

The video above is one I was going to post too about the increased revenue we as a nation get from money from their land than the cost of maintaining the family's living expenses etc. At the end of the day, if the monarchy was to be overthrown, they'd be well within their rights to claim back some (all?) of their land and use the profits from it to live. They're not a burden on any of us tax-wise.

I also quite like that a lot of more serious parliamentary decisions get passed by the Queen first. Sure, she's never going to veto anything but it's a nice deterrent which keeps the crazies from both sides at bay.

Mostly, it's the history thing though. The Monarchy is a symbol of our nation across The Globe. It's the one thing that the rest of the world seemingly thinks is positive about us. If you take away the Royals, we'd just be another country, with a rubbish economy and pants weather.

 

[CallawayKid]

If we didin't have them we'd be just like the French...I think that's arguement enough don't you...?!

CK

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I think it acts as a conscience for the country and a visible link to and reminder of the values that have formed the way the UK is. So no matter what befalls us and what changes - the existence of the monarchy acts (subconsciously perhaps) as a calming, stabilising and moderating control on the country.

 

[Yerman]

The monarchy (from Wikidpedia)
A human zoo, where society takes revenge on a dysfunctional family giving them pampered but meaningless lives in revenge for their ancestry of despots, adulterers, murderers and generally power-mad not very nice people.