Christopher, I was answering all those who see the queen as the very essence of England, it's also an attaque on a system that should have become a republic last century. How an earth can any right thinking individual accept that a certain person is born to rule a nation, she's no better than you or me, just another human being. she does a fantastic job, that I don't dispute, I simply find it ridiculous still having a monarchy in this day and age. vive la république !
@David - you said it in far less words than I did but we're thinking exactly along the same lines ;-)
I was actually thinking of Stephen Hawkin as I was typing my previous reply - you are referring to tourists that have a particular interest in visiting places like Cambridge/Oxford - but maybe these same people also went to see where the queen lives. Perhaps I don't get to meet enough intellectual people but still I have never had anyone say to me that they admire Stephen Hawkin once they discover that I am english - usually they make referrence to the Queen - or David Beckham.
Jean your father died with courage in his heart and everyone can
remeber that. My father died in a sad London hospital where the staff took away
his dignity and did not allow him a sweet passage to heaven.
My mother died in the same hospital because of staff making wrong
decisions and assumtions.
This lives with me for the rest of my life.
Jean perhaps we all think for ourselves?
I too have fond memories of being young and looking at the cows in kENT as we
pic nic ed in a field. I remeber morality and respect for others.
Britain has changed....the world has changed and maybe Jean Britain was not
so kind to me.
We all have dreams of yesterday....keep them close to your heart...
For they will stay a dream forever.
A notion, a token an image on a cup.
Sharon, I had my office in the department next to Stephen Hawkin's department. I often saw tourists standing outside saying that was where HE was. People toured Cambridge pointing out where somebody famous worked, lived, was their college and so on. No doubt Oxford has the same and a fair few other universities. British scientists ARE much admired, not as you say.
@David - true, there is so much more to take pride in other than the royal family and sport, but I have never once met a foreigner who has said 'we admire your scientists' and let's face it, there is very little passion to feel with philosophers/architects etc. Isn't having pride in something emotive and therefore that 'thing' whether it's a sport or an industry that represents your country (like the royal family) is more likely to draw the nation together precisely because it is on an international scale (though only if it's a good representation of course) Anyway, I'm off to watch the final at Queens - no pun intended!
@ Sharon Have you ever considered that the Royal family is of interest because we have been habituated to thinking of them as interesting. I seem to remember that the antics of the Grimaldi, rulers of that long running comic opera Monaco, were thought to be of interest but clearly the caravan has moved on. There is much to be interested in in the British isles. Fine artists of international repute, musicians ,writers, architects, philosophers, actors, world class scientists...... so much to celebrate. Athletes, football teams, tennis players are only of real interest to water cooler quarter backs. if you think I'm anti sport forget it. I used to be a 'jock' but now see sport from the perspective it deserves. Sport is an amusing diversion . No more.
@Christopher. What they have to do is bow out gracefully in an appropriately self effacing British way.
The real point is that the families of the royals all the way back to 1066 have other origins. If you like, William was a third generation Scandinavian settle in Normandy. Henceforth, and including the Tudors who seen historically the epitomy of Englishness, there has been no truly English royalty. Furthermore, and partly the attitude toward Albert, they were seen as borrowed from their countries of origin. Whatever name they use, in point of fact their full names and titles (even where defunct) are often used ceremonially. Apart from that, a republican 'movement' has existed in the UK since even before Cromwell and yet the monarchy are still there.
Apart from that, the Act of Union of 1707 was signed by the Scots elite without the will of the people and is in the modern sense unconstitutional, therefore its legality is questionable. Both Ireland and Wales were taken more or less by force, therefore the retention of Ulster with its concentration of the descendants of English protestant settlers and Wales per se are subject to close scrutiny as to whether they are justifiable. For myself, I support the indepence movement for Scotland through the referendum in two years and believe one of the first acts after leaving the Union should be revocal of all Scottish titles held by the royal family and confiscation of their lands in Scotland which they have never pruchased as you or I would be required to do.
I find it strange that some constantly feel the need to refer to the Royal family as German what a little Englander attitude I have an English friend whose mother is German and father Scottish but nobody suggests that she is German or Scottish I have English friends with German, French or Greek and even Scottish names but nobody suggests they are not English. If I suggested somebody of Indian descent born in the UK was not British there are those that would describe me as racist and yet the senior Royals all of whom bar Prince Phillip were born in the UK, going back to the Queens Grandmother, so what do they need to do to be considered British?
Yes....
Celebrating the Queen who seems like a perfectly pleasant lady but I am still trying
very hard to identify the true relevance of the role....Queen.
I have been informed that she attends hundreds of engagements involving social
activities. A certain abundance of all types of etiquate involved and remebering the
scripts of her radership in the earlier days.She does all this with great stamina and
is carries on through the years fortified with support and matured confidence.
Such a proliific role would be hard to reject and I feel would wear comfortably with a
great number of British female subjects.
I am merely analising the underlying need for such a representation in any country
as the role of parliament seems to be the commander in chief.
If you really look deeply at my point you will understand how I GOT TO THINKING
THIS WAY...especially if you are an accountant.
Capitol letters are not shouts but an expression of my bad command of my
typing.
@ Sharon. No problem. you can be English and Republican without the royalist flim flam. Celebrate Shakespeare, Milton, Samuel Palmer, Blake , Turner even Dante Gabriel Rosetti all English without any taint of Royalism. Celebrate Engishness.
Very easily Sharon, I'm proud of being English but would prefer it to be a republic ;-)
Yes ok, that was a slip-up Andrew, I should've said 'Englishhhh' so how do republicans celebrate being english I wonder? I consider myself European as I've lived in five other european countries and am in favour of a united europe but that doesn't mean that I am not proud to be English and that for me includes enjoying the royal pomp when it's on display. As Ian Hislop said, where (or why) else could one witness a barge trailing down the river thames with a group of Indian men wearing kilts and playing the bag-pipes other than the excuse of celebrating the Queen's jubilee :D
Brits - do you mean English Sharon, the Scottish, Welsh and (N) Irish are brits too ;-)
No problem celebrating being English, but they were celebrating the Queen, not the nation!
Well if the Scots can be proud to be Scottish, and the Welsh & Irish alike, why are the Brits so slated for their occassional display of national pride? Go back far enough in anyone's history, and I'm sure you'll find plenty of barbarians wherever you originate from!!!
yes Sarah, that's one viewpoint, there are others. On a matter of principle, I can't accept that somebody is born to rule over millions of others and no I won't even start on the origins of that particular family either. No system is perfect, I grant you that, I also accept that you prefer a monarchy whereas others of us prefer a republic. Some people believe in God, I do not, that's fine, we're all different and all entitled to air our views, or do you wish we return to feudal rule with an all powerful monarchy and church at the top...!
and appologies for Verseille error earlier as I dashed out the door, Versaille.
Yes, yes and yes again but take Catharine's hint of last night and perhaps we all ought to drop the whole topic which is now going round and round in ever decreasing monarchy vs republican circles with the occasional interjection about those who are not royalty but born to the ruling class, etc.