Having a king is super cool!
- Thread starter Meanmoose
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Canadian here and I'm a little bitter about having a royal connection remaining here for two reasons.
A) They don't live here so we can't visit them very easily.
but more importantly:
B) We have to pay for it when they visit. And they can visit whenever for however long they want.
It cost [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/11/26/nl-royal-bill-1126.html] the Canadian taxpayer 2.5 million for the prince's visit in 2009. That's a lot of money that could have gone into education...
So as much as I like the royals, I don't appreciate paying for them. If they lived here in Canada, were a bigger part of our national identity; I wouldn't be nearly so negative about it.
A) They don't live here so we can't visit them very easily.
but more importantly:
B) We have to pay for it when they visit. And they can visit whenever for however long they want.
It cost [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/11/26/nl-royal-bill-1126.html] the Canadian taxpayer 2.5 million for the prince's visit in 2009. That's a lot of money that could have gone into education...
So as much as I like the royals, I don't appreciate paying for them. If they lived here in Canada, were a bigger part of our national identity; I wouldn't be nearly so negative about it.
She may be awesome but she is expensive you know.Ichapp said:
Yeah, that is nice. All the European countries with royalty only have them as a sort of cultural figurehead, which is fine in my books. It's a reminder of their heritage and there's nothing wrong with a little bit of that. And it's not like there haven't been good kings and queens. I guess I'm more against the whole passing the crown through bloodline than the office. I'm not against authoritarian governments on principle.Meanmoose said:
It must be hard being a king/queen in such a large country. I'm guessing they can't make a move without an army of security forces.ComprehensiveGoo said:I think over here ,in the UK, the monarchy is mainly a tourist attraction.. I don't think I've actually done anything significant during my life time (except the wedding) so I can't say it feels like there is much point but it can't be argued that they do produce a lot of tourist interest.. Can't say I'm to excited about the royal wedding though.. Only when I receive my invite
Our prevous king was loved for using public transportation on his way out into the forest to ski. People would see him and his dog on the tram, and love him for simply being among his people. I do think he brought a few descreet bodyguards with him though.
Well, as a Candadian, the Queen of England is technically my queen, despite having almost no real influence on my daily life. Due to that lack of influence, I really have no true issues with the royal party.
Not even in principle. I can sort of understand the desire to have someone raised, from birth, to perform these tasks. It may not be all that "fair", but if done right, a monarchy should really institute the most refined leaders.
Of course, it's not always done right is the problem. And when it isn't done right, we usually have to deal with them, so it's a real fingers-crossed scenario. Still, people have elected worse, and these people can also make things unfair.
Didn't Stephen Harper temporarily "shut down" parliament for a while, a year back? I remember my Social Studies teacher mentioning it. Though I'm not nearly involved enough with politics and the likes to be of any more info.
It's kind of a neat concept though, because I really like medieval stuff (I get bored once history dives into the industrial revolution), and there's little that's as iconic as a king.
Not even in principle. I can sort of understand the desire to have someone raised, from birth, to perform these tasks. It may not be all that "fair", but if done right, a monarchy should really institute the most refined leaders.
Of course, it's not always done right is the problem. And when it isn't done right, we usually have to deal with them, so it's a real fingers-crossed scenario. Still, people have elected worse, and these people can also make things unfair.
Didn't Stephen Harper temporarily "shut down" parliament for a while, a year back? I remember my Social Studies teacher mentioning it. Though I'm not nearly involved enough with politics and the likes to be of any more info.
It's kind of a neat concept though, because I really like medieval stuff (I get bored once history dives into the industrial revolution), and there's little that's as iconic as a king.
In England, it seems like the Queen (and possibly Prince William) are the only members of the Royal family who are really liked in any measure. Apart from being a tourist trap, opening stuff and giving speeches at Christmas, it's hard to argue their usefulness.
I guess with the Royal wedding coming up, it's tended to polarise people at the moment...
I guess with the Royal wedding coming up, it's tended to polarise people at the moment...
Well we had the Queen visit our town last Thursday and my god I was surprised at how many gormless idiots went all the way out there just to see an old lady open a new building, its like some people think that Royals are better than other people just because they are royal, I would have loved to be there shouting to the crowd that we should be Citizens and not Subjects but I got up late and ended up playing games XD
just to clarify I think the monarchy is a wast of time money and good resources and I don't car about a stupid wedding, holidays are meaningless when your unemployed
just to clarify I think the monarchy is a wast of time money and good resources and I don't car about a stupid wedding, holidays are meaningless when your unemployed
England, of course, has a Queen. But she's pretty much ornamental. She just looks all nice and regal, makes the country look a lot better than it actually is - I mean it's a nice place to live, it just happens to be quite crap.
Dane here!
Denmark has the oldest monarchy (of my knowledge.. that is what they taught us in school atleast) and i don't realy have a problem with them. They are there and it's fun to make fun of them and hear the good ol' speech on new years eve. That is actually one of the only important action that they have... a speech on new years eve...
What i am against on the other hand is the damned "Democratic" system here... I see it like this:
We (the people) vote for a group who has similar ideals as myself. They get a person into the assembly (don't know what it's english name is) and from there the group tries to get to be government and when they finally get to that point they do whatever they can to stay there... The problem is just that the politicians of our country is so incredibily narrow minded and can't look beyond the next 4 years where the next election is going to be. They are selfish and not at all helpful for the country.
But im getting off topic here :/
Like i said i have no problem whatsoever with our monarchy. They don't do anything, their fun to make fun off and they are never realy in the way so yeah...
Denmark has the oldest monarchy (of my knowledge.. that is what they taught us in school atleast) and i don't realy have a problem with them. They are there and it's fun to make fun of them and hear the good ol' speech on new years eve. That is actually one of the only important action that they have... a speech on new years eve...
What i am against on the other hand is the damned "Democratic" system here... I see it like this:
We (the people) vote for a group who has similar ideals as myself. They get a person into the assembly (don't know what it's english name is) and from there the group tries to get to be government and when they finally get to that point they do whatever they can to stay there... The problem is just that the politicians of our country is so incredibily narrow minded and can't look beyond the next 4 years where the next election is going to be. They are selfish and not at all helpful for the country.
But im getting off topic here :/
Like i said i have no problem whatsoever with our monarchy. They don't do anything, their fun to make fun off and they are never realy in the way so yeah...
I like to think that the cost of supporting the (British) monarchy (some fraction of 1p per tax £1 iirc) is more than made up for by the position of a head of state who is unconnected to political parties, has a long history of experience to draw upon, and who acts as one of the advisers to the PM. The tourism also helps.
The best things in life usually are.Ichapp said:
[/quote]I'd just like to have the option to opt out paying for them. I'm not rich like they are.
Money motivates this bitterness. The royals themselves are actually really good people.
we have 2 royal houses i suppose you could call them we have the queen of New Zealand who lives in London and the Maori king who has his fat useless arse sitting around somewhere last i heard of him was when he got invested when the Maori queen popped her clog's a couple of years ago
and i like the tradition of the queen of NZ she could o to exercise some of her power to stop the stupid evil politicians ruining the country with evil restricting stupid laws but you cant have everything
and its a good thing for england when you have royalty getting drunk at parties and the media all over them you can have the rest of the government doing interesting stuff while the media and by extention the public is distracted
and i like the tradition of the queen of NZ she could o to exercise some of her power to stop the stupid evil politicians ruining the country with evil restricting stupid laws but you cant have everything
and its a good thing for england when you have royalty getting drunk at parties and the media all over them you can have the rest of the government doing interesting stuff while the media and by extention the public is distracted
Truth be told I think that kind of attitude would do wanders for those currently on the UK throne.. I don't really know the last time they were seen in public which wasn't a huge public event however, of course, I'm not exactally on speaking terms with them just because I'm one of their subjectsMeanmoose said:It must be hard being a king/queen in such a large country. I'm guessing they can't make a move without an army of security forces.ComprehensiveGoo said:I think over here ,in the UK, the monarchy is mainly a tourist attraction.. I don't think I've actually done anything significant during my life time (except the wedding) so I can't say it feels like there is much point but it can't be argued that they do produce a lot of tourist interest.. Can't say I'm to excited about the royal wedding though.. Only when I receive my invite
Our prevous king was loved for using public transportation on his way out into the forest to ski. People would see him and his dog on the tram, and love him for simply being among his people. I do think he brought a few descreet bodyguards with him though.
I guess using the public transport systems would have brought your king closer to the people so I guess he'd have received a friendlier welcome, reducing the need for heavy security where as here the Queen has her golden carriage ;P Don't believe me? The Simpsons says it all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzh-TUbXJXA&feature=related