Prince Philip has just died

[Bushboy]

They’re false. You guys can keep them. Not needed, not wanted. An embarrassment.
The idolisation is as weird as they are.
Look, they’re not wearing any clothes! ?

 

[RichardC]

If you don't have anything nice to say, it's generally best not to say anything at all.

 

[ralf-11]

When the Queen dies, what happens then?
Who’s next? King Charles? Ha, what a joke... The guy is a weirdo.

Camilla is next.

 

[PakkyT]

You patently did not take any notice of my previous comments regarding the Duke of Edinburgh Award program.

You mean the program put together by John Hunt, and in Australia by Sir Adrien Curlewis, is self funded in Australia, and whose largest benefactors and sponsors are NOT the royal family? Oh wait, I see, his name is on it. Ah!

Great Britain abolished it well before the USA, and didn't tear their country apart doing so. Some in your country apparently still believe that slavery exists there ...

Yes, we are a rather special country for sure. Hard to find anything really that we can mostly agree on. Heck even math and scientific facts are now regarded as debatable or mere opinions if they don't agree with some person or group's views.

 

[AmritR]

If you don't have anything nice to say, it's generally best not to say anything at all.

seriously? In this context? ?

43. "You look like you're ready for bed."
To the president of Nigeria - who was in traditional national dress - in 2003.



edit:

 

[AmritR]

Going by some of the extremely rich friends that I have had over the years, I wouldn't want to end up like any of them. Those guys have serious personal issues!
As for that sunny place, I came from such a place called Suriname. Many Dutch people have been moving there to retire. But the drugs barons have also cottoned on to that paradise. When I hear how some of my former school mates have engulfed themselves with wealth from questionable sources (some made it into politics with a cousin of mine even getting the defense minister's job...) I do wonder where I would have ended up if I had not left for Europe.

Tennisclub in Moengo. Top right, blonde, my mother (now 82 and who also enjoyed the Prince Philip quotes)

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[Stanga]

I remember that Moengo had a farm with cows that were absolutely massive. And their milk was highly prized.
Was your mother a teacher by any chance? She looks familiar.

 

[AmritR]

I remember that Moengo had a farm with cows that were absolutely massive. And their milk was highly prized.
Was your mother a teacher by any chance? She looks familiar.

Not at the time. She did become a french teacher later in life. My parents were rather fanatic tennis players, its even how they have met in the first place. So a lot of their life in Suriname revolved around the tennis club.
My father worked for Suralco during the sixties. At some point they had a three month leave in Europe, and my father visited the Paris airshow in ‘69, which at the time was also a kind of tech show. Being an engineer, he was shocked how fast tech was progressing, and he felt he was missing out. About a year later they went back.

 

[Bushboy]

No offence intended Richard.
Just telling it like I see it.
No Union Jack flag waving here... not for this little boy.

 

[John King]

No offence intended Richard.
Just telling it like I see it.
No Union Jack flag waving here... not for this little boy.

None taken here.

Like Kirby, I see that there is no safer head of state than one who:

• lives on the other side of the world,
• keeps the reserve powers out of the hands of our feckless politicians (of all flavours!),
• AND who we can ignore without there being blood in the gutters ...

An "absentee landlord" is great!

HOWEVER, this thread was intended as a small tribute to a life well lived, not some kind of cheer squad for the monarchy. Please keep that in mind.

​

​

 

[AmritR]

They’re false. You guys can keep them. Not needed, not wanted. An embarrassment.
The idolisation is as weird as they are.
Look, they’re not wearing any clothes! ?

Replacing a monarchy with a president of sorts doesn’t necessarily improve matters.
So they spend a lot of money on Charles visiting. If some career politician had visited New Zeeland hardly anyone would have cared and noticed.
The German president Steinmeier visited New Zealand in 2017. (looked it up). Remember him?

 

[RichardC]

No offence intended Richard.
Just telling it like I see it.
No Union Jack flag waving here... not for this little boy.

No offence taken. It must be strange to have a monarchy on the other side of the world.

 

[ralf-11]

Was he really the Queen's cousin?

 

[John King]

Was he really the Queen's cousin?

Not within the accepted table of consanguinity, no.

About as closely related as any member of any royal family west of Istanbul, which is to say - not very.

 

[OldRex]

Was he really the Queen's cousin?

His Mother was a great-grand-daughter of Queen Victoria.

 

[pdk42]

Since we have strayed into politics of a kind, here's my 2c worth:

- I'm a Brit with working-class heritage and with left-leaning tendencies (social democrat - but probably considered a communist by the Americans ).

- I've been a republican all my life (in the sense of not monarchist - I'm not talking US political positions here !). My reasons are mainly because I just hate the fawning way that the royals are treated by our media and the fact that they do still have some political influence (even if very little) by virtue of birthright.

- I do nonetheless have a respect for Queen Elizabeth (and Phillip) because they have executed their roles with dignity, duty, and dedication. I wouldn't envy their lives from the perspective of how they are treated by the media.

- The same cannot be said of their children and their spouses who, with some exceptions, have mostly trashed the reputation of the family. Similar arguments could be levied at the wider "royal list" who have pursued a mostly hedonistic lifestyle at the expense of the state or the crown's assets and given very little back.

- We (my family) had a wonderful experience with the queen. My daughter when she was about 6 did a painting for the queen whilst visiting one of our friends. For a bit of fun, our friend put the painting in an envelope addressed to "The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London" along with a brief explanation of my daughter's motivation and her address. Amazingly, 2 weeks later we got a letter from the queen. The painting had made its way to her and she had dictated a response to her lady in waiting! She'd enclosed some information about her own family when they were young too. I was quite amazed that she'd done that!

- As head of state, the royal family in truth probably don't cost the UK government much. I suspect a president would be both more expensive, and of course potentially subject to fickle political whims. So, I'm not saying that a royal family is necessarily a bad thing constitutionally - but it still sticks in my throat that someone can get the position via inherited privilege.

- So, it's a balanced and nuanced position, but I'd still prefer to see us let the royal family pass into history - it's a complete anachronism in the modern world. What to replace it with is quite a different question and I do sometimes think "better the devil you know". The turmoil we've been through with Brexit and the ongoing fall-out with our union (England, Scotland, Wales, NI) is still to play out - and that's ignoring the economic and cultural impacts of dealing with what should be our friends and neighbours. A political head of state could enable even more extreme political moves.

- I do accept though that our political/constitutional weaknesses are more to do with our terrible voting system (which seriously under-represents the majority of the population), and the loopholes in our parliamentary and legal system which gives too much power to the government in power. We also need to fix the hereditary nature of our upper house (House of Lords).

- Maybe there is a continuing role for the monarchy if we got all this done - but I'd like to see it more like the Dutch or Swedish system where they play a much diminished role.

- Independent of all this, we need to fix our media. The way the royal family is treated is only one part of the problem. The whole ownership structure and the interests the media serve are antithetical to a modern democracy.

 

[demiro]

@pdk42 That post makes a lot of sense. I do wonder about the last bit though. Do we need to fix the media, or ourselves? The media is mostly profit-driven. If no one consumes the worst of it the worst of it will largely cease to exist. I say that in the US despite the fact that major media companies look more and more like arms of the government, spreading lies that foment insurrection. I think education is our silver bullet, not more media regulation to protect the poorly educated. Of course racism here is also an underlying issue. I don't really know how to get at that one. But we need to at least elect leaders who don't amplify it, so back to education, I guess.

 

[ralf-11]

His Mother was a great-grand-daughter of Queen Victoria.

That makes him some sort of cousin. I'm not going to calculate an inbreeding coefficient but it may explain Bonny Prince Chuck.

 

[demiro]

That makes him some sort of cousin. I'm not going to calculate an inbreeding coefficient but it may explain Bonny Prince Chuck.

If the discussion is around the level of inbreeding I think a significant line has already been crossed.

 

[Mountain_Man_79]

Sounds like the relationship would’ve perhaps been a 4th cousin? At that point, they share about the same level of genetics that you or I share with a golden retriever, so no, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this explains “Chuck“.