I don't mind admitting that the death of Queen Elizabeth II has left me with mixed feelings of the monarchy.

I have always been anti-monarchy (not particularly strong enough to advocate any type of revolution) but I just had trouble understanding how someone could become the head state, and be afforded all the wealth and privilege that comes along with it, through nothing more than a sheer accident of birth. I have always believed that leaders should be chosen by the people they lead. Not appointed through hereditary means.

I fully accept why commonwealth countries will now be thinking again about who they want as their head of state. To have a head of state through an accident of birth is bad enough, but to have that person not even a citizen of your own country would anger me to be honest. If I were Canadian, Australian or any of the other 14(?) countries which have the British monarch as their head of state, my feelings towards the monarchy would be a lot stronger. It makes no sense to me how the monarch of one country can also be the head of state of another.

However, when it comes to the UK, I always assumed that after the death of the Queen, more people would support the UK becoming a republic, but I think it has swung the other way. It certainly has with me. To an extent.

Firstly, it's clear that the monarchy is pretty much our bigggest 'brand' around the world. The monarchy IS Britiain. There are many Queens around the world, but there is/was only one 'The Queen'. When people say 'The Queen', everyone instantly knows you're talking about the British one. It will be the same with King Charles. The world seems to have a fascination with the British monarchy in a way it doesn't have with any other. Can anyone name more than four or five other monarchs around the world? I'd have trouble. And as for their spouses and children, I'd have no clue. So purely from the point of view of keeping the UK relevent in the world, it does that job very well.

You've also got to ask youself the question - "Well, someone's got to be in charge". Presidents and Prime Ministers are often thrown into the job with little to no experience of actually running a country. It's not as easy as it looks. Just ask Boris Johnson. As Tony Blair once said, it's ironic that you start your premiership with no experience and have to try to make the best of it, but as soon as you've been in the job for a while, and have the experience necessary, that's when they'll get rid of you. Kings and Queens on the other hand, spend their entire lives being trained for the job. They know that one day they will be the head of state, and by the time that happens, they are fully trained for the role and understand perfectly what it entails.

Then you've got to look at the alternative - a republic. While the monarch has a duty to stay out of politics (quite right too, they are unelected after all) having someone above politics does go some way to keeping the whole system in check. The fact that the pime minister is obliged to meet with the monarch every week (aassuming that will continue, which I don't see why it wouldn't) helps to keep the prime minister in check and remind him/her that even they are accountable to someone. Republics don't have that. Of course, there are many successful republics around the world. It's not as if the whole system would fall apart without a monarch there to keep things in check, but it's just strangely nice to know that there is a head of state who is above all of the politics.

I'm immensely proud of the way the death of The Queen was handled by the UK. Of course, it was many years in the making, but still, it went like clockwork and showed the very best that Britain has to offer. We do this sort of thing in a way no other country comes close. As the archbishop alluded to during the service, to have people WILLINGLY queueing for 24 hours to have the chance to see the Queens coffin for just a few brief moments is the stuff dictators of other countries can only dream of.

This time last month, if I was handed a piece of paper and asked to put a cross next to either "Abolish the monarchy" or 'Keep the monarchy", I would have ticked to abolish it without a second though. But now, my pen would hover for quite some time, and I don't really know which I would tick now.

Jerry Atrick wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 11:50 am Thankfully that is done with now.

The media coverage has been nauseating, even when avoiding 99% of it

Normal life may resume

Betcha Charles doesn't get a fraction of the grief when he pops his clogs in ten years time

I think after 70 years on the throne, having a week or so worths of news coverage on her death was perfecly appropriate and most people would have expected nothing less.