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Brits and the Royal Family

crdean1

crdean1

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 14, 2005
674
4
Texas
Just curious, how do Brits feel about the Royal Family?

Are they an inspiration? Are they of not much importance? Are they highly regarded outside of their normal circles?

I am doing some research on them for school, and the question crossed my mind.

Thanks.
 
There was recent thread that addressed this question.
FWIW, I am 100% English and am equivocal about the need to have a monarchy. Personally, I think it should be retained as part of our heritage, but I doubt I could argue from any real analytical position. Instinctively I prefer to have a King/Queen, rather than some elected, possibly corrupt man/woman off the street. But that is just me. If you want any more detailed thoughts, input or whatever, PM me and I can drone on forever that my be ammunition for your project!
Good luck.
 
crdean1 said:
Just curious, how do Brits feel about the Royal Family?

Are they an inspiration? Are they of not much importance? Are they highly regarded outside of their normal circles?

I am doing some research on them for school, and the question crossed my mind.

Thanks.
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The UK likes to destroy itself. If anything is popular, or anything the UK is good at, it will do its best to destroy it, leaving itself worse-off.

Anyway:

The royal family is still important to mainly the old people ( 60+ I would say ). The young don't really care as much.

The core of the royal family is still regarded ( but this varies from person to person ), the fringes aren't, too much and viewed as baggage( i.e., Prince Andrew etc ). The core I mean Queen, Charles ( he's a like / hate figure ) and Di's two kids and Di, if she was still around.

The royal family is important for the UK economy, draws in a lot of tourism, unfortunately, they can't find their way outside of London to visit the rest of the country, and still claim they've visited the UK.

The royal family brings in more money due to tourism then it actually spent on them - but despite this ( people don't get this point ), some want to see the royal family disbanded. There is another thread in the political forum.. so I'll go no further.
 
edesignuk said:
I couldn't really care less, I don't love them or hate them, they're just sort of there.
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hahaha TRUE THAT... i totally agree... although one thing i don't like is that they're immune to every law in this country... which means the queen could go on a massacre and break every single law, and she wouldn't be guilty or even be prosecuted, i think that sucks!
 
fuzzn said:
although one thing i don't like is that they're immune to every law in this country...
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The Crown vs The Crown – could be an interesting case! :p

I think it's just the reigning monarch that has immunity – rank and file royals don't have that level of protection, as far as I'm aware. Wasn't Princess Anne prosecuted a couple of years back for something along the lines of failing to keep her dogs under control?
 
Jaffa Cake said:
The Crown vs The Crown – could be an interesting case! :p

I think it's just the reigning monarch that has immunity – rank and file royals don't have that level of protection, as far as I'm aware. Wasn't Princess Anne prosecuted a couple of years back for something along the lines of failing to keep her dogs under control?
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hmm i alwayz thought that it was the whole family but then again i'm 18, i don't really know much about it! i think i agree with you that it is just the reigning monarch.. thanx for clearing that up for me! :) *does a little dance now that he has more knowledge* :p
 
Stella said:
The royal family is important for the UK economy, draws in a lot of tourism, unfortunately, they can't find their way outside of London to visit the rest of the country, and still claim they've visited the UK.
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I disagree. It's the history that brings the tourists, not the royals. If we were to become a republic tomorrow, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Stonehenge etc. wouldn't instantly crumble into dust. The sooner the House of Saxe-Coburg-Battenberg are sent packing back to the Rhineland the better.
 
fuzzn said:
hmm i alwayz thought that it was the whole family but then again i'm 18, i don't really know much about it!
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To be fair though, I reckon it would take a brave soul to take a senior royal through the courts. It wouldn't do your chances of a knighthood in later life any good, that's for sure... :D
 
dynamicv said:
I disagree.
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I'm with you on that one. As I mentioned in the thread UKnjb linked to earlier, France, The United States, China and Italy all pull in more tourists than the UK – and those nations are all republics.

We as a nation have a lot more to offer than a royal residence or two.
 
dynamicv said:
I disagree. It's the history that brings the tourists, not the royals. If we were to become a republic tomorrow, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Stonehenge etc. wouldn't instantly crumble into dust. The sooner the House of Saxe-Coburg-Battenberg are sent packing back to the Rhineland the better.
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Haha, well put! In my opinion they're a complete waste of space.
 
When I was a little girl (I guess I was about 7 when Diana and Charles married) I had the Royal Family coloring books and watched the wedding and it all seemed like such a Fairy Tale.

Visititing the UK as an adult, I did all the usual tourist Royal Family spots and it did seem like living history.

If they bring in more money than is spent on them, I hope they keep them - it's something unique and valuable. If they're costing Brits money and they're more trouble than they're worth, lose 'em.


OOPS, sorry. I just noticed you asked Brits :eek:
 
Well as a colonist of her Majesty's royal empire I can say that the Royal family are pretty much just media fodder here. Particularly in magazines, which I suppose are the equivalents of the British tabloids as both of these report useless gossip.
 
Don't mean anything to me. I don't feel any sense of pride in them and it would be interesting to see what they do actually bring into the country from tourism - as opposed to the buildings they reside in.

After all, it would be much easier to show Buckingham Palace off year round, than only for the month of August while the Queen's in Balmoral.

I'm more bothered about politicians being able to justify their use of 'Royal privileges' like the Royal flight and not paying for them (a la Tony and his holidays)
 
In your opinion, do they contribute more to society than is spent on them. How much is family money vs. Tax money?

My wife always had a certain fascination with Diana. I have felt that she was trying to turn the tables from an "entitlement" Monarchy to more of a philanthropic Monarchy. Wouldn't one think that this is what they would have to focus on to succeed the next couple of generations.
 
ANother Brit here, I personally don't have any time for them and apart from my mom, don't know anyone else who does.

Saying that though, the streets are always full of people waving and cheering whenever there's a Royal occasion :confused:
 
Couldn't really care a less about them, they are just there. What exactly do they do anyway apart from do silly waves, fly round the world and walk corgi's? :D
 
I think that while they don't provide anything tangible, I think they're worth keeping. They only cost each citizen around 50p per year to keep around, they bring in lots of tourism, and they're a massive symbol and figurehead of Britain. You may not believe that, but when people think of Britain, most people will instantly think of several things. Some of these things include Buckingham Palace, the Queen, Prince Charles, William, and Henry.

Yes, Buckingham Palace would still be there if there was no Royal family. However, outsiders wouldn't feel the same way about it. Lots of countries still have a royal family, and most of us don't even know which ones do, and which do not. Japan still has an emperor or something. I didn't know that until several years ago when I started making lots of close Japanese friends. Denmark does as well, and I only know this because the prince married a "commoner" Australian girl (Mary) that he met while attending the Sydney Olympics. Anyway, my point is that they're all useless. Nobody even knows who these Royals are.

The British Royal family is different from other Royal families, and you really should keep them. I know how British citizens feel about them. I lived in London myself. But they do bring a lot to the UK.

Stella said:
The core of the royal family is still regarded ( but this varies from person to person ), the fringes aren't, too much and viewed as baggage( i.e., Prince Andrew etc ). The core I mean Queen, Charles ( he's a like / hate figure ) and Di's two kids and Di, if she was still around.

The royal family is important for the UK economy, draws in a lot of tourism, unfortunately, they can't find their way outside of London to visit the rest of the country, and still claim they've visited the UK.

The royal family brings in more money due to tourism then it actually spent on them - but despite this ( people don't get this point ), some want to see the royal family disbanded.
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Agree with all of it.
 
Abstract

The problem is the so-called Royal Prerogative. This allows the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to bypass Parliament and introduce whatever laws they like in the name of the Queen. They were talking about using it earlier this year when the House of Lords staged a rare rebellion and was refusing to rubberstamp the introduction of compulsory ID cards linked to a centralised database on every person in the country (i.e. a big bad expensive idea)

Whilst the Royal Prerogative exists, the UK Government is not bound by the law, since it can change the law as it sees fit with no checks or balances. It can also send British troops into battle abroad without Parliament having a say. In the 21st century, this country should be governed in the name of the people, and be accountable to the people. Having the Royal Family gives politicians the capability to abuse their positions on a grand scale.
 
I used to hate them in my reckless years. But now, I tend not to think about Prince Harry pissing my [parents] taxmoney on drugs, or silly helicopter flights. But I don't see what's wrong with them against Lords and other folk. Just people born into a privileged life.

Incidentally, my grandma is related to the Duke of Bedfordshire (or was, I don't know any of the details). And apparently is a direct link to some obscure Royal. So, if only 400 royal people are killed off I WILL BE KING! maybe. :)
 
Good article in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1757955,00.html

Basically argues that most people like the Queen personally, and for her devotion to duty, but after she has gone, we should not consider passing the monarchy on to any of the current family members, for various reasons.

My own view is that we need a head of state, but that the current system reeks of snobbery and privilege, and underpins the class system in the UK. We've gone someway to removing hereditary peerages, but this is the biggest of them all, so it makes no sense to retain the monarchy.

I'd much prefer a presidential system along the lines of the Irish one. However, the British tabloid media is absolutely gaga about the Royals, and I am sure would oppose any change, merely because stories about them sell papers. The Daily Express still carries front page stories about the death of Diana at least twice a week, for chrissakes.

The overwrought and sentimental public attitude towards William, Harry and Diana (including in the US, btw) illustrates how far we have to go before we can expect a rational debate about the role of the monarchy in the constitutional affairs of this country.

I don't expect to see much change in my lifetime. We shall remain, I'm afraid, a nation of bowers and scrapers.
 
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