Are the Royal Family relevant or should we become a republic ?

Question

I can't see that there is any benefit to them and that we will never be seen or act as a meritocracy whilst such wealth and status is hereditary and protected by the constitution. They do not add to tourism - no tourist expects tea and biccies at The Palace or an execution at the Tower but they still come anyway. France and Italy haven't had a monarchy for years and they get millions of tourists. What do you think and why ?

Answer 1

The idea that some people are genetically entitled to rule over other people is preposterous. This kind of institution is incompatible with the development of a free, fair society.

Answer 2

Well you have the best of both worlds. The house of commons is elected by the people the house of lords are the land owners, but you have to have land owners that have farms and such or you can not sustain a country. You have the Royal family which is coached from birth on diplomatic affairs and affairs of the state and they usually spank there own so that is better than having checks and balances, because look what is going on with the U.S. we lost our system, because all the legislature, the Judaical system, and the president are all rich and corrupt I would rather have some family values thrown in the mix to stabilize the whole situation. We do not have a say so and look what is going on. Our country has been sold out we have to make up war overseas just to keep our people employed it's horrible.

Answer 3

The Queen, as separate from the Royal Family is very important.
1. She is Head of State.
2. She is Head of Parliament
3. She is Head of the Armed Services
4. She is Head of the Judiciary
5. She is Head of the Church of England.
As a consequence, whilst she does not weald power in her own right, but she does deny power to others. For example, if parliament and the politicians were head of the judiciary, parliament could make the judiciary give political decisions rather than impartial decisions. The Armed Services could remove parliament and have a military junta. If the Church of England was in the ascendent then we could have a theocracy, such as Iran or the Vatican City.
These and other complexing factors, too numerous to mention, are not taught in school under the title of History, nor hardly mentioned in the press.
Consequently, people do not see the Queen for the important role she plays in the governance of the state, but only her occasional social 'Faux Pas' that she in 'criticised ' in the press.
Princes Charles and William as the Next in Line to the Throne by primagenture are valuable to the country. However, the lesser princes and princesses should be allowed to go their own way.
Refer to Walter Bagehot the Victorian Constitutionalist.
HEAVEN FORBID!!!! that Tony Blair should ever be able to say that he is head of the Armed Services or the Judiciary.

Answer 4

Royal families have ruled a lot longer than our current democratic governments. Surely it is right to pay tribute to your countries history and traditions.
When you are born into Royalty it has not been a choice. You cant say no thanks I don't fancy the responsibility. All you can do is play your role well or badly.
Politicians however do have a choice. They choose the publicity, and power. To be a successfully politician you have to appeal to the majority on a range of opposing issues. You have to be a convincing liar. A politician cannot do what he thinks is right, only what the majority of public agree on. Perhaps you can see why very little appears to get done in Government.
I personally don't think it would be the right thing to get rid of the monarchy at this time. What would the newspapers have to report on ? Now Kate has said bye bye who will William be matched with ?

Answer 5

Keep things as they are, the Royals now pay Tax and also bring in millions from Travellers and the Nicknack's they buy most of which are Made In England!.
We don`t ever want to be like the U.S.A. look on Google what the Government did on 911, Pearl Harbour, and the 2 Kennedy's.
Thousands of people have lost their life because of the way the Country is run internally, Internationally millions upon millions have lost their life because of the way a Country is run.

Answer 6

The amount of money the Royals, our royal heritage brings to this country is vast, and far outweighs what the royals get back. Just go to London, stand in front of Buckingham Palace - the place is heaving with tourists who would not be there if it were not for our rich history, which goes hand in hand with our royality.

I think, though I'm generalising here, most countries would be proud to have the tradition and monarchy we have.

Answer 7

Geeze. I think even some of you British folks are kind of mis informed. As I did a little bit more research on the Royal families they have a lot of income personal income from farming, argricultural and others revenues. You all need to look the web site of your Royal people and see what they really do. I think you are all so negative against them it's beyond from me.
I am a European-American decendent and I feel that the Royals do a lot of good things. If you the tax payers do not want to pay anymore, than put a petition into request. Take one of your Lords from the upper house and put into a Bill! That's how its done in a democratic system.

Answer 8

The Royal Family are important to the History and future of this little land.
I hope that they can become more relevant with the next generation - William, Zara and others.
Inspiring us to be patriotic and achieve all that we can as individuals.
I think what is more damaging to tourism and the perception of this Country isn't the Royals but the huge % of the population that has turned into beer swilling, violent, inconsiderate, rude, ignorant, materialistic, uneducated, pathetic excuses for human beings.
(I am ashamed to be associated with this aspect of UK.)

Answer 9

If the royal family intends to thrust a Queen Camilla entity into my life experience, on my newspapers front pages and on my telly, I shall feel extremely angry. I for one do not want the intrusion as a Queen of someone with a reputation like hers. Her image-repairers have so far been well-unsuccessful. Her bloke is same. (Must try harder, PR team. You have a long way to go yet.) Meanwhile, they'd be nicely occupied balling wool together in an old folks home, or something useful like that. R-e PUBlican? Me? RePUB-LIC-AN? How very much dare you! How very-very-much DARE you!!! OO-oo-oo-ooh.

Answer 10

I agree with Gr8tdanel - they have been here for thousands of years and are part of our heritage and are the most powerful Royal family in the world. While people diss them they should also remember the good works they do - charity, ambassadors for Britain and much more. I love all the tradition that goes with it - the State Coaches, the Trooping of the Colour etc.etc.- it is our history. They add some colour to the otherwise corrupt country we now live in. We have lost much of our 'Britishness' in becoming part of Europe - please let us hang on to the one thing that is truly ours - our Royal Family.

Answer 11

They would be constitutionally hard to replace as they are the executive branch even if their power is mostly used with the consent of Parliment. They do fascinate us Americans, though. Of course most of us would rather the England of Victoria and Edward VII. The empire was cool!