She may have been England's longest-serving Monarch. Loyal Subjects would know, and truly they ought to occupy this thread. Meanwhile she did some WWII work and still until recently drove on wrong side of road. Ten days of celebration/mourning follow. New king has some large shoes to fill.
If you’re going to have a monarch, she is the standard you would want to meet. I like the other Liz too.
+1 on the comments. She is the last of a generation and sadly there are no replacements for the standards of Honor, Discipline, Integrity and Decency that were represented by that generation
Not my country. Not my choice. We have trouble enough with our own leaders without having to add other people's worries to the load. Whenever people are caterwauling about this or that drama with the Royals, I usually say that we fought a war for independence so that we could say that we really don't give a rats....and for the most part we have the right to 'really don't.' However (comma!) I'm reminded of the historical accounts of FDR's passing. Like him or loathe him, or if you're like me...BOTH, there were voting age people who knew no other President when P32 kicked off while (wink-wink!!) "getting a portrait done" with his GF in Jawga. The US had undergone a tumultuous period of economic upheaval, a dalliance with outright communism, and the preparation for, and fighting in a for-real, two ocean, all out, TOTAL World War. The two overriding emotions at the time were being more than a little unsettled about what the future would look like, and wondering who the actual hell Harry Truman was! But...that's it. That's all we got. One, 12 year span. Liz went from Princess to Queen WHILE people in America were finding out just exactly WHO Harry S Truman was, and she remained there long enough for most people to forget again. Almost every person living in the UK (and other parts of the realm) lived in a nation where the Queen was doing her bit for their entire living memory, but probably more important they also pretty much knew who her replacement would be.....for most of their lives. Meanwhile we've been gyrating wildly about from the "jerk of the quadrennial" contests that consume so much of the oxygen in our nation. I'm still glad we don't have Liz or Chuck's picture on our money, but there's much to be said for the stability and continuity of their system... IF you get lucky enough to have a Queen like HM Queen Elizabeth II, that is. We'll see how the King does. Like his Mom, he's starting out with what promises to be a good PM. GOD save the King!
AIUI, the folks over there who do more of the actual governing do get replaced something like as frequently as ours do, and not without some gyrations of their own.
Still, her husband drove on the American side... He also sometimes drove his car in a compromise between the British way up and the Australian way up.
In MY opinion, supporting any monarchy, no matter how good or bad they might be says that you believe in fairy tales where you can be born into a life of very high privilege and status, no election required . Not that it doesn't happen with rich people elsewhere in other circumstances [/opinion] Mike
Prince Philip Helped Sink Enemy Ships During World War II (businessinsider.com) Prince Philip, who died at the age of 99, was a decorated WWII combat veteran. He earned a valor award for lighting up enemy ships in a nighttime battle, helping the British achieve victory. He is also credited with helping save his ship from an enemy bomber in a battle two years later Prince Philip's war heroics come to light after 60 years | UK news | The Guardian "A remarkable act of heroism by Prince Philip that saved scores of lives during the Second World War has been revealed after 60 years by a grateful fellow veteran. Harry Hargreaves, now 85, has spoken for the first time of how quick thinking by the future Duke of Edinburgh, then a first lieutenant in the Royal Navy, foiled a Luftwaffe bomber which looked certain to destroy their ship during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943."
I wouldn't go so far as to say "loyal". Or "Subject" - we've been upgraded to "Citizens" for quite a while now. I have to admit that when I woke up to the news (the announcement was made at 3:30am Sydney time), my first thought was annoyance. I have a load of meetings in Canberra this week. Most of them were scheduled to take place in Parliament, but now the Parliament building has been closed "out of respect", so we've had to find different venues. One of the people I was meeting also has to go to London for the funeral. I don't mind him having to go - that's part his job - but it is a bit annoying. But the closing things "out of respect" is stupid. But putting my own minor inconvenience aside... All the UK radio stations that I normally listen to online are only playing sad music. Everything in Britain is cancelled. As an example, Blackpool Illuminations is a massive tourist attraction at this time of year: it's a big light show along the waterfront. People travel from all over Britain to see it. It tends to be poorer people, who save up to go, and book a hotel. It's cancelled this week "out of respect". So because one billionaire died in a palace, all those poor people's money goes up in smoke. Cool. And the football (of the "soccer" flavour) has been cancelled for the weekend. All the pubs people would go to to watch the football - the same pubs that have seen their energy bills increase tenfold this year and that are now facing bankruptcy having just about survived covid - will lose their income for the weekend. This could be the last straw that finally breaks some of them. Again, out of respect for the dead billionaire. And there's much more. It's all very well for people to mourn. It is not OK to force people to "mourn", and that's what's happening in Britain. It's like North Korea. Here in Australia, no-one cares much. There've been a few special programmes on TV, but other stuff is on too if you don't want to watch those special tributes (this is not the case in Britain). And there's the Parliament being closed thing. And flags at half mast. And Google.com.au is black and white because .... I don't know. But that's about as far as it goes. You can mourn, but you don't have to. Which is fine.
Choosing the singular "country" here is inappropriate, which demonstrates the complexities related to @bisco 's post. There are 14 countries that have the Queen as head of state. In general, as far as Britain is concerned, I do not care one way or the other. If they feel the need to subsidise some rich people, that's up to them. There are advantages and disadvantages to a constitutional monarchy, but they're all pretty minor. My view has been changed a little bit over the last 36 hours, because of all the stupid forced mourning I've moaned about above: I'm definitely leaning further from the monarchy now. But for Australia.... Having a head of state who lives in a country 10,000 miles away isn't really appropriate. There might have been an argument for it when the majority of the population was of British descent. But now it isn't. Australia needs to grow up and become a republic. I don't know what @Mendel Leisk thinks about such things (and @Tideland Prius - is he Canadian?): perhaps their view of what should happen in Canada is different. But I think things might change now in Australia. People couldn't really be bothered to change under Queen Elizabeth II. But now that she's gone, I suspect there may be the impetus for change. Keeping the constitution roughly as it is, with a President who's just a ceremonial head of state (like in Germany) with no executive power would probably be the best option. Unfortunately, since Steve Irwin died, it'll be hard to find a good candidate for President.
there's a lot of anglophiles in the us, and a lot of monarchy lovers (they would have made trump king) there's always a ton of monarchy coverage in our media (british, no other) and of course, all the monarchy movies were big hits on netflix. there's been a constant health watch since the queen first showed signs of illness. wall to wall coverage on last nights national news, and i'm sure it will continue through the funeral and coronation. but there's another side as well. people all over the world who feel she was complicit with imperialism, as well as her and charles possible involvement in dianas death
In Kentucky, The Queen and Her Husband were frequent visitors due to our Horse Industry. Sometimes official and often unofficial visitors. They were always welcomed whenever they visited. They were highly respected and were always perfect visitors. Our state covered both the Queens Death and her Husband's Death because of their wonderful legacy and also the local impacts they made when they visited. The Queens Husband was a war hero and she was a wonderful example of a human being herself. The Queens charitable and humanitarian work speak for themselves. People could find no better examples of simple people who live with Duty, Honor, Respect and Integrity contributing to their country without complaint. Our state will miss them.
Other people were too. I'm not belittling what he did, but his efforts in the war don't make her stand out. Honestly, when you're worth about half a billion US Dollars*, there's a lot of space for charitable and humanitarian work. And if my duties were sitting through an hour a week of a meeting with the Prime Minister; visiting places; and occasionally opening a supermarket, all for tens of millions of pounds a year, I'd do it without complaint too. And if my wife and I split our time between five of our palaces and a couple of castles, travelling occasionally to Kentucky to watch our multi-million-dollar racehorses, I think people would struggle to describe us as "simple people". Look, she was perfectly OK. She just wasn't better than the rest of us. To claim she was devalues us all. --- EDIT: * - I'm being very, very conservative there.
