Were you all engaged in being British?

Introduce yourselves...
61

Good thing you live in France then, innit, a republic where no one believes they are born to rule. Oh, hang on, isn't there a tiny elite which wants to keep all power to itself?

You might be interested in this article which I think is very telling and shows that human nature pushes some to elitism, and once there, will not let go (be they 'royal' or enarques).

http://www.come4news.com/une-nouvelle-revolution-francaise-avec-francois-hollande-574992

This in particular:

Deux France au bord du divorce
Un clivage important est en train de diviser le pays.
Le fossé se creuse et les "avantages acquis" concédés à une part de la société ne sont plus acceptés par ceux que Sarkozy a appelé les "vrais travailleurs".
C'était gonflé mais tellement vrai.
D'un côté, il y a ceux qui rejettent l'immobilisme, la dictature de la pensée unique, le corporatisme des élites toutes puissantes, et qui assument chaque jour leurs responsabilités et leurs propres erreurs, et qui ne rechignent pas à entreprendre même si ça doit mal se terminer.
Des gens actifs et audacieux. Pas des humanistes à la manière de l'Abbé Pierre ou de Mère Theresa, mais des passionnés en rébellion contre le politiquement correct.
De l'autre côté, beaucoup défendent l'héritage familial ou celui de l'histoire d'antan, un idéal d'uniformisation de la société, le culte du statut et des privilèges, et qui n'ont de cesse d' exploiter toutes les failles du système pour servir leurs intérêts égoïstes.
Des deux côtés, il y a des gens valables et des opportunistes. Mais, actuellement, il y a deux France difficilement réconciliables. À ceci, comme si ça ne suffisait pas, se rajoute le dégoût profond du parisianisme et de ses élites politico médiatiques.
Nous avons donc une France au bord de la Faillite, une haute et petite élite privilégiée et méprisée qui bloque tout effort de réforme. Un chef d'état qualifié de "mou" dont les humoristes se gaussent en assurant que c'est sa femme qui le mène par le bout du nez.
Si ça ressemble pas à la fin de l' ancien régime...
62

Tourism - France is a republic yet has more foreign visitors than the UK, people still visit Verseille regardless of the absence of royalty...! No it's more a question of believing that someone is born to rule over millions of "subjects" or not and I for one no longer live in the Middle Ages! Vive la république !

63

The 'new generation' royalty do not appear to be that interested and let's say that William and Kate fail to reproduce and the Harry creature does nothing at all as he mostly appears to, well that leaves Mrs Phillip's lot in line and they are 'commoners' (which must be something like the Wombles) I believe. Why not scrap the lot now, open Buck House to tourists for exhorbitant entrance fees and make some money back. As a gesture of goodwill a royal could be asked to be president for the first five years until the transition was complete and an election be held. What could be easier?

64

@Shirley. Indeed Shirley let's make it history. What precisely is it about the Royal Family that attracts tourists? Most of the time they are nowhere to be seen. As for cohesion I suppose the wave of hysterical silliness that swept the nation after that Paris car crash might have been cohesion but too me was just nonsense fomented by the Red Top press.

65

Ah. Like the founders of Australia we left "For our country's good". Nothing I enjoy more than doffing my cap to the local squire.

66

I'll happily stand and watch from the republican benches

67

Hahahaha, thanks Lokocki, we Republicans could sit on the terraces watching them at it!

68

Yes, regicidal dictator who persecuted and cruelly executed Scots Catholics by the thousands for their belief, 'conquered Ireland and Scotland' and made them fiefdoms of England, but supposedly a republican for all of that. Nice guy!

69

Oh yes, Cromwell was one of those, wasn't he. The English didn't care for him either in the end. We like being romantic but wrong.

70

a few times yes Sarah, 20 times might be pushing it, but I'll restrain myself from now on. Until the next time someone wants to tell me how great it is being English and having the "English" monarchy...!

71

thanks for the precisions Brian, I'll never remember the full family name though! bring on those european passports...!

I too think Scotland should go for it and in doing so it could provoke some serious questioning of what the UK/britain etc means/is, there again perhaps I'm expecting too much again!

72

So what, I am a republican by nature and wish for a federal Europe with no monarchy or aristocracy whatsoever, so I really do not mind how often those things are repeated on this or any other thread.

73

Right, but he's said it about 20 times on this thread. It's got a bit old, and so what anyway.

74

But they always say the old ones are the best ;-D

75

Not a joke Sarah, simply fact, now pick up a book about the history of the 'British' royal family and acquaint yourself with reality please. Andrew is more or less right.

76

Your joke is past its sell-by date, Andrew.

77

Your precious Queen is known as Windsor but is by marriage Mountbatten, the family name originally adopted by the Battenebergs owing to rising anti-German sentiments during WW1, but it should really be Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Philip's actual name. He was born in Greece to a Danish-German family who held the Greek monarchy for some unknown reason and abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles, converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism and became a British citizen. Her maiden name was Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha which is purely German. They use the name Windsor for convenience.

Her heir is a dimwit who was a year behind me as an undergraduate and in the same department. How we rejoiced when he changed to the far easier history after his first year. His first marriage, affairs and so on are a disgraceful example to the public he preaches to about morals.

I am a Scot, lived in Wales for five years too and am not a fan of the Old Etonian hegemony who try to make the entire 'United (?) Kingdom' into a little England with their ways and rules, etc, plus the imposition of their royal family. I hope Scotland takes independence in two years, chooses to stay in Europe and revive close ties with France and Scandinavia and lets England sail on to the oblivion it is heading for. If Britain, wherever that is, is better off without me then good but I shall not keep my opinion to myself as here. I have a point of view and if we wish to use the English 'fairplay' am entitled to it and shall say my truth as I see it.

78

yes, long live Mrs saxe cobourg gotha windsor !

79

I am with Sarah Hague all the way on this - shame on you decrying Britain, the Monarchy, the British way of life (which still exists despite all the stuff you read in the tabloids) all the things my father died for in WW2.

I don't have nostalgia for an Empire - but fond memories of my childhood in deepest Somerset, for little villages with thatched cottages, for the WI, for the British 'stiff upper lip', for -mostly- our sense of what is right, for our morality, courage in the face of adversity, honesty, and respect for others.

From some of the posts on here Britain is better off without you.......

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

80

yep, good old Mrs Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha...!