I'm not sure whether to stick my head above the parapet here or not ... dare I say ..
The days of the charming lady Queen Elizabeth II with the natural inborn grace are gone.
Nowadays they just launder their dirty linen in public and it's tarnished that charisma and mystique of the blue-blooded noblity.
Some of them are dubious rather than upstanding or appealing characters. And Harry, I do belive he's on a solo mission to destroy their reputation..
It's true, they might help tourism with the razzamataz and bunting but it's our own rapidly diminishing culture, castles and palaces that draw the crowds, not them.
Buckingham Palce would still be there ... the French have maintained their beautiful architectural history such as the Louvre, Palace of Versailles. We could do the same.

But I do like Princess Anne ... and the Wessexes, the recently made Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

Vegemite Kid wrote:

Well that's fair enough, Maybe one day you will have your wish, it doesn't bother me if we have a commonwealth or not ... In the meantime, you have no say what the Royals do and who gets appointed what title ...
Happy you like history Veg, we are still making it ....

Oh I wasn't claiming to have any say in what the Royals do or who get appointed what title - was just giving my opinion on it

Yes history is still being made around the world - of course today is tomorrow's history.

Incidentally countries can and have become republics, ie have no constitional link to monarchy, and still remain in the Commonwealth.
Not sure Australia will do so in my lifetime though.

Make it happen Veggie .... you seem to have very strong feelings about not wanting Australia to have any part of the Royal Family ... but that's not going to be achieved - and there is no reason why it shouldn't be achieved - by repeatedley posting about it on Buzz.

It's your fellow country people you need to rally.

Personally it makes me sad to think that might happen one day, I've always had a soft spot for Australia and I have many Australian (born) relatives who are supporters of the RF and don't see it as a negative, but there you are ... the world is ever changing and sometimes we must change with it.

Anyway this topic was about Prince Edward becoming The Duke of Edinburgh .... a good call on King Charles' part and what our dear Queen wanted ... kept promises are rather special I think ... and Edward will be a great DofE especially with regards to the work associted with it for young people.

Buckingham Palce would still be there ... the French have maintained their beautiful architectural history such as the Louvre, Palace of Versailles. We could do the same.

yes exactly.

and as it is, tourists dont go in to Buckingham Place anyway - unlike historical only sites like Versailles in France, Forbidden city in China etc - places which historically housed royalty and now have tourists go into them.

Vienna wrote: I'm not neutral with regard to our RF, i know firmly where i stand and how i feel about them.
They cost us roughly the same as a bar of KitKat, but all you ever hear is the same old whine...the Taxpayer....the taxpayer....the taxpayer..

Rant over..

whine is such a loaded negative word.

People's objections may be about cost - mine isn't, it is just an objection to a system where accidents of birth lead to inherited position and priviledge

You can call that a whine if you like- I call it a rational view point.

Of course people can disagree with me and that is rational too, I dont call it whining just because others have different view to me.

Make it happen Veggie .... you seem to have very strong feelings about not wanting Australia to have any part of the Royal Family ... but that's not going to be achieved - and there is no reason why it shouldn't be achieved - by repeatedley posting about it on Buzz.

It's your fellow country people you need to rally.

Personally it makes me sad to think that might happen one day, I've always had a soft spot for Australia and I have many Australian (born) relatives who are supporters of the RF and don't see it as a negative, but there you are ... the world is ever changing and sometimes we must change with it.

Australians aren't one homogenous mass, they don't all have same opinions as me.

of course repeatedly posting on Buzz isnt going to change anything and actually I dont feel strongly enough about this to rally anyone or do anything about it.
I don't even feel strongly enough to start threads on it - I just give my opinion when the topic comes up

If there were another referendum, that is how I would vote - I suspect the majority would too, last referendum was decades ago and narrowly in favour of staying - so we did.

Issue has stayed on backburner since and most people here are probably too apathetic or not bothered by it to create change - so status quo remains by default.
and there are just more pressing issues to focus on and spend money on (referendums cost millions after all)

I think that will be the case for my lifetime.

Even Anthony Albanese, our prime minister who is openly in favour of republican model, is not actively pursuing it and made it very clear during the campaign that his first priority for constitutional change was Indigenous recognition.
I agree with him.

In the meantime Edward and Sophie get a title - which again, I don't feel strongly about, it is just meaningless to me.

munch wrote: I'm not sure whether to stick my head above the parapet here or not ... dare I say ..
The days of the charming lady Queen Elizabeth II with the natural inborn grace are gone.
Nowadays they just launder their dirty linen in public and it's tarnished that charisma and mystique of the blue-blooded noblity.
Some of them are dubious rather than upstanding or appealing characters. And Harry, I do belive he's on a solo mission to destroy their reputation..
It's true, they might help tourism with the razzamataz and bunting but it's our own rapidly diminishing culture, castles and palaces that draw the crowds, not them.



Buckingham Palce would still be there ... the French have maintained their beautiful architectural history such as the Louvre, Palace of Versailles. We could do the same.

But I do like Princess Anne ... and the Wessexes, the recently made Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

I would rather have a monarchy that wasn't placed on a pedestal - a more modern monarchy more accessible to the public , and i think this is what younger people would like to see as well.

We've moved on from mystique , and change is in the air, more so when William eventually takes over.
I would hope we will not look to France as an example - and they certainly have their own problems now as well.

Visitors come to see our great history, architecture, but they also come because we have a royal family, the processions, and pomp that go with having a monarchy.

So yes for me the monarchy should remain, and should continue our tradition as we have for a thousand years.

Vegemite Kid wrote:
of course repeatedly posting on Buzz isnt going to change anything and actually I dont feel strongly enough about this to rally anyone or do anything about it.
I don't even feel strongly enough to start threads on it - I just give my opinion when the topic comes up

I can understand and appreciate that sentiment .. you're an Australian and why on earth would you want a monarch from a foreign country as your head of state. Empty title or not ( with limited or no power) .. it's not something that is going to appeal in this day and age.

Vienna wrote: I would rather have a monarchy that wasn't placed on a pedestal - a more modern monarchy more accessible to the public , and i think this is what younger people would like to see as well.

I think Harry has effectively, and somewhat brutally, taken an axe to the pedestal. They have enough dirty linen hanging in public now to start a charity shop.
Are younger people bothered about Charles? He's a dry dusty old man ... it's a shame Wills & Kate, along with their endearing little tribe of kiddies couldn't have gone on.

Visitors come to see our great history, architecture, but they also come because we have a royal family, the processions, and pomp that go with having a monarchy.

Hmm .. wouldn't the Beefeater Guards still do the Ceremony of the Keys at The Tower of London?
The modern royal family is run very much along business lines now .. and all that pomp might well continue.
It struck me during the Queen's Jubilee last year when they had a holographic image of her waving to the crowd from inside her Coronation carriage that not only did she look very beautiful ,as the image was of her as she she looked as a young Queen 26 years old, ..... but the actual flesh and blood royals were not now irreplacable.

So yes for me the monarchy should remain, and should continue our tradition as we have for a thousand years.

They started out as 'bully boys' with the biggest army , nothing more ... but yes, a great many people still like them, like the history .. and I love castles and towers and pagaentry too ... so I do hope the royal family don't implode and destroy themselves.
I love the Plantagenets and the War of the Roses best, then the Tudors and Stuarts .. when Kings strutted around with swords at their hip, and lobbed off the odd head or two and were arrogant upstarts. .. not that I'm suggesting Charles decapitates Harry to boost popularity!

I suppose the test for me in our modern world is, would you vote fr them if they stood at your local council or parliamentary elections and what party do you think they would represent.

As for being "mostly harmless" they did bring down one of our very popular Prime Ministers in a very unsavory manner, certainly aided by a cohort of very unsavory sycophants.