To The New Royal Family:

[soda72]

i just went back and editerd out my previous posts....i'm being a dick.....i think it's "that time of month" or something.

 sorry guys

It's natural to be a dick when people pee down your back and then tell you it's raining.. 

Britain and America will always be separated by a common language...

[Plawranc]

We have said that for ages Soda, its clear that WE who have the University that is the Authority on the language we apparently both speak are RIGHT

 
 

[jimson]

Just a question and not to be a jerk, but can you Brits tell me the point of the Monarchy?

They don't really have any governing power anymore do they?

Is it just a ceremonial type thing?

Where does all their wealth come from? Are they taxpayer supported?

I don't much care, they seem to enjoy it. Hell if the British want to support that tradition, it's their country.

I'm just wondering what's the point of keeping a designation of "royalty" in a country with a non monarchy government?

[Plawranc]

The Crown is like the USA's Presidential Eagle. You cannot have it without the Ceremonial Crew to back it up. The President is almost identical to the Queen/King of England. All the work is done by subordinates. But all major decisions on any front can be either made, or altered by the Monarch.

[jimson]

So the Queen has the power to over rule what ever comes out of Parliament?

I thought the Prime minister was the chief executive.

Guess I don't understand how a constitutional monarchy works.

[Lusche]

The President is almost identical to the Queen/King of England. All the work is done by subordinates. But all major decisions on any front can be either made, or altered by the Monarch.

Absolutely not.

In fact, this hasn't been true for a few hundred years now.

[Muzzy]

You know, given the fact that one of the biggest draws of American television is a stupid football game, you guys should really mellow out and just enjoy a good party when you see one.

[Motherland]

The Crown is like the USA's Presidential Eagle. You cannot have it without the Ceremonial Crew to back it up. The President is almost identical to the Queen/King of England. All the work is done by subordinates. But all major decisions on any front can be either made, or altered by the Monarch.

Oh, this is nonsense. The Monarchy is just a tourist attraction, the only body with any political power in Britain is the House of Commons... the House of Lords even is pretty much just a ceremonial thing anymore.

So the Queen has the power to over rule what ever comes out of Parliament?

I thought the Prime minister was the chief executive.

Guess I don't understand how a constitutional monarchy works.

The Queen is the official Head of State for Britain and the Commonwealth, but even serving in that capacity... I mean, she doesn't act as Head of State.
David Cameron goes to meetings of international leaders, not Elizabeth II.

[CAP1]

Oh, this is nonsense. The Monarchy is just a tourist attraction, the only body with any political power in Britain is the House of Commons... the House of Lords even is pretty much just a ceremonial thing anymore.
The Queen is the official Head of State for Britain and the Commonwealth, but even serving in that capacity... I mean, she doesn't act as Head of State.
David Cameron goes to meetings of international leaders, not Elizabeth II.

must.....show....self control...................... ......

[Plawranc]

Oh, this is nonsense. The Monarchy is just a tourist attraction, the only body with any political power in Britain is the House of Commons... the House of Lords even is pretty much just a ceremonial thing anymore.
The Queen is the official Head of State for Britain and the Commonwealth, but even serving in that capacity... I mean, she doesn't act as Head of State.
David Cameron goes to meetings of international leaders, not Elizabeth II.

She is head of state.

And while she does not excercise the rights to do what I listed.

By various acts of parliment during Charles Era, she still retains the right to do so.

And does Barrack Obama do any different? As far as Im aware for almost EVERY SINGLE foreign dignitary or summit. Its Hillary, not himself. That they meet. Barrack only turns up for the big stuff. And while thats in an official standing. His role at home is Ceremonial.

Every major political decision MUST BE signed by HRH The Queen Elizabeth II. She rarely excercises the right of power she is given, and it is just a formality to have on the "perks" list. But she CAN do so.

[grizz441]

must.....show....self control...................... ......

Lol who cares CAP, let it go, it doesn't matter.

[Motherland]

Every major political decision MUST BE signed by HRH The Queen Elizabeth II. She rarely excercises the right of power she is given, and it is just a formality to have on the "perks" list. But she CAN do so.

And it would be a political quagmire and a blight on Britain's reputation as a modern democratic country if she did so.
Like I said, even the House of Lords, which legally has just as much power as the House of Commons, is by modern convention expected to simply tip its hat to Britain's elected body. It's a ceremonial thing.

And does Barrack Obama do any different? As far as Im aware for almost EVERY SINGLE foreign dignitary or summit. Its Hillary, not himself. That they meet. Barrack only turns up for the big stuff. And while thats in an official standing. His role at home is Ceremonial.

The President doesn't go to every summit because he has a host of duties domestically, not because he wouldn't have anything to do at the summit, not because he would be out of place there. The Monarchy doesn't effectively do anything.

The President does have a lot of powers which he exercises on a regular basis. He's the commander in chief of the military (not just ceremonially), has not only the right legally but politically to veto bills, appoints non-elected members to government, as well as other things...
These are things that he not only has the right to do, but the President actually does. It's why the presidential election here is so important, as opposed to in other countries like Germany etc. where the president doesn't really have any power except for dissolving Parliament.

[Plawranc]

The Monarchy is Britains image. Its the badge. Disbanding the Monarchy, would be akin to destroying the Statue of Liberty.

[cactuskooler]

I thought it was interesting to see traditions and practices from a country whose history goes back much further than mine. The ladies hats were hilarious though. One more resembled a Reindeer than a woman.

I didn't know there would be a flyover. That was an awesome surprise!

[jdbecks]

Just a question and not to be a jerk, but can you Brits tell me the point of the Monarchy?

They don't really have any governing power anymore do they?

Is it just a ceremonial type thing?

Where does all their wealth come from? Are they taxpayer supported?

I don't much care, they seem to enjoy it. Hell if the British want to support that tradition, it's their country.

I'm just wondering what's the point of keeping a designation of "royalty" in a country with a non monarchy government?

Naa, they do not really have any power no more..its more tradition than anything..The Queen is the commander and Chief of the armed forces who I swore my alleigence too...but she never issues any rules and regulations, but she will sign them off when the top brass make the decisions. The army regualtions are called the Queens regulations, but she never makes them

The tax payer pays them, I heard somewhere that it cost each person about 48p per year how true it is, I don't know but when Prince William becomes King, he will get 10 Million GBP a year nice eh

I guess the biggest reason why we continue to have a high profile royal family is to generator extra income and politcal reasons maybe, like the state visits they do. I think they said about 2 Billion people would have watched the royal wedding. And then you have all the tourism generated from people coming to see the sights etc etc.


In short,
King Charles the 1st tried to get rid of parliment as he wanted to be in full control of the country, as only parliment could introduce new laws etc at the time we were at war with Scotland and King Charles wanted more money to fund the war etc. Eventually civil war broke out and the Parlimentarians beat the royalists, shortley afterwards King Charles tried to start another civil war but lost again, this time it did not end well for him and he was the first and I think the only king to this day to have been excuted.  If you look on the clock above horse gaurds there is a black mark at 2 o clock, this is to commemorate the time that King Charles was exectued.

England is full of history and traditions and its good to remember them, When I was in the Army we continued traditions that have been carried on for years and when you look at each Regiments capbadge, they all have a history as to why the capbadge is that design.

For instance the the Royal Gloucestershire and berkshire regiement wore two capbages on their berret, one at the front and one at the rear because during a battle they were completely surrounded and were fighting back to back, 750 men against 10,000 chinese.

"The regiment was unique in the British Army in that it was permitted to wear the United States Distinguished Unit Citation, which it inherited from the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment which was awarded for their defence of Gloster Hill during the Battle of the Imjin River in April 1951 during the Korean War".