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Has the British Royal Family become irrelevant?

Results so far:

Yes
60% 246 votes Total: 411 votes
No
40% 165 votes
Yes

The British Royalty is irrelevant to so many people in so many ways. They are part of history and should be consigned to it.

Let's look at some popular royalist mythology:

Tourists visit Britain because of the British Royalty:

No they do not. They generally visit Buckingham Palace to view the outside of the building and the ceremonial traditions that are part of our history, such as the Changing of the Guard. How many tourists ever glimpse the Queen or even a minor member of royalty whilst visiting the UK?

Would the Changing of the Guard or any other ceremony be unduly affected if the Queen were replaced by a new, elected, head of state? Such as a President? It is strange how negative our cousins in the US are over this one considering they kicked our Royalty out centuries ago!

Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle contain a wealth of treasures, works of art and antiques, yet only a tiny area of each is open to the public. There are royal properties throughout the UK and most should be fully opened to all who have an interest in our history, as long as they pay a fee to enter. How much would that raise in extra tourist revenue? These amazing properties and their contents actually belong to the people of the UK, not a dysfunctional and over-privileged aristocratic family whose bloodlines are more Germanic than British. The Queen holds these treasure filled palaces as Sovereign on behalf of the nation and they are not her personal homes! Yet, she treats them like it.

The Royal Family does a lot for charity:

Not really. The Prince's Trust was set up as a cynical PR stunt to give an unpopular, gawky youth a suitable image for the public. OK, it does some people some good, but it was the British Establishment that created the charity in his name. If you consider the amount of free time this particular member of our royalty has on his hands you realize he actually does very little for any charitable cause. In fact they all do very little. Period.

Their fabulous wealth is partly the result of royalty having paid no tax until very recently. Now the Queen and Charles pay a little in tax, but only voluntarily. They also benefit from taxpayers through the Civil List, although this is insignificant compared to the income and capital gains they enjoy from their ownership and stewardship of enormous swathes of Britain. Charles has not been slow to capitalize on his unique position by turning large areas of agricultural land into housing estates, despite his so-called green credentials. All for familial profit. And remember, he inherited these lands with his title, the Duchy of Cornwall.

If the Royals really wanted to help charity they could easily give up some of this property and pass on part of their immense wealth. Remember, that their money has been purloined from the people over centuries, with land seizures and the like largely at the whim of inbred psychopathic monarchs.

The Queen is the head of our Constitution and independent of government:

OK. So we change our constitution. It is plain wrong for a Head of State to be selected purely by genetic accident. The EU is chipping away at our independence and constitutional rights already, so it would seem like a good time to review the whole thing. And the remaining members of the Commonwealth are considering ditching royalty too.

They are a figurehead for the British/English to rally round:

I would feel very sad for my brethren if this were the case. Do we really need relics from an antiquated feudal system to pull us together? Prince Charles is flaky: he talks to flowers and cannot even put toothpaste on his own toothbrush. He needs a manservant for that. And the Queen's Christmas Day Speech, which families used to gather round their TV's to view, last year had just one in ten of the UK population interested enough to bother tuning in. This pompous speech is largely treated as a joke. Which frankly, it is. Along with the whole concept of royalty in this day and age.

No, they are out of touch and irrelevant. Most of us don't give a moment's thought to them.

Sources:
http:// www.timesonline.co.u k/tol/news/uk/articl e435706.ece
http://ww w.thedukeofyork.org/ output/Page4974.asp

Learn more about this author, Will Patching.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.

No

The British Royal Family are very relevant to society. The Queen herself should be honoured more than she has ever been especially at this age of her life. I wonder how many of us could put everthing else in our lives in a second place position to become the Queen of her Dominion.

Her reign as our Queen is more powerful than we realize. We are very short sighted when we think about royality and the contribution that is made to the world at large. The Queen's position means leadership in everyway.

She is their dedicated to her position and role as the monarch of the greatest country in the world and represents in some respects all countries in the world. She iswilling to go where ever she is asked to go.

She represents the true meaning of living a life to the fullest. The Queen represents commitment to all that is wise and wonderful. The Queen has been very obedient to her faith and to her country and to her family. She is our leader in every respect. She doesn't have to be involved in Parliament that is what the elected officials are there to do the job for her. She sets the pace in the world and the stardard high above everyone else in order that we have an image to follow and live up to. It may seem that she is not adhered to and that possibly is true but still in all she doesn't waver from her ideals and goals in leading her people.

Her family of a very dutiful, respectful husband represents the worlds standard for what a husband should be in relation to his wife and still keep his own identity as Prince Philip does so well. The Queen's children are no different in their lives than any one else's family they have their short comings and failings and successes as much as anyone does. They are well bred and educated and quite personable. Charactistics that we can all strive to attain.

The Queen follows a protocal in society that gives us the road to travel when in doubt about what decisions are to be made. The Queen stands for commitement in all that she does. Life long commitement. Committment in her marriage, her children, her kingdon and her position as Queen of the Dominion and any other country can learn from her years of wisdom and dedication to her role in life.

The Queen was a very young girl when she became a Monarch and it was not an easy road to travel for her but she has made it her personal committment and life's work without waffling. How many of us can say we have made that kind of dedication to the life we have. More than half the world is divorced or had three or more jobs and have given up on life's dreams and aspirations.

Not Queen Elizabeth she is still hanging in their as the kids say. She is not giving up until death doth she part. She is a great lady and her husband is as good as it gets and she should be revered and honoured for her dedication to the world from fashion to manners to strength in the face of tradgedy and all that she stands for in our lives is a role model to follow and know that she has led up well.

Personally I feel blessed that I have lived in an era when we have had such a gracious monarch to lead the way. May we all be thankful and say "God Bless the Queen", we should love her because she is really great and has lived for all of us. The Queen deserves our respect and honour and bows.

Learn more about this author, Aria Quill.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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