Having a king is super cool!

[Irony's Acolyte]

Monarchy? Ha! We in America don't have one! And you Europeans like to call us backwards...

I don't mind a ceremonial monarchy in the sense that they're only really there because of tradition and culture. That's fine, you can keep 'em. But I don't like the idea of a political dynasty running off a bloodline. I don't believe people should be born into a job. They should have to prove themselves. Sure it can be a rather efficent way of power changing hands (although not always, many a war has been started due to a dispute in who's next in line for the throne), but I really don't like the idea that some simplton gets to rule the country just because his daddy did. You want to rule a nation? Ya gotta work for it.

I don't think anyone in western world dissagrees with you =P I can't name a single monarchy where the king/queen is still in charge...

Yeah, that is nice. All the European countries with royalty only have them as a sort of cultural figurehead, which is fine in my books. It's a reminder of their heritage and there's nothing wrong with a little bit of that. And it's not like there haven't been good kings and queens. I guess I'm more against the whole passing the crown through bloodline than the office. I'm not against authoritarian governments on principle.

 

[Meanmoose]

I think over here ,in the UK, the monarchy is mainly a tourist attraction.. I don't think I've actually done anything significant during my life time (except the wedding) so I can't say it feels like there is much point but it can't be argued that they do produce a lot of tourist interest.. Can't say I'm to excited about the royal wedding though.. Only when I receive my invite

It must be hard being a king/queen in such a large country. I'm guessing they can't make a move without an army of security forces.

Our prevous king was loved for using public transportation on his way out into the forest to ski. People would see him and his dog on the tram, and love him for simply being among his people. I do think he brought a few descreet bodyguards with him though.

 

[Cavouku]

Well, as a Candadian, the Queen of England is technically my queen, despite having almost no real influence on my daily life. Due to that lack of influence, I really have no true issues with the royal party.

Not even in principle. I can sort of understand the desire to have someone raised, from birth, to perform these tasks. It may not be all that "fair", but if done right, a monarchy should really institute the most refined leaders.

Of course, it's not always done right is the problem. And when it isn't done right, we usually have to deal with them, so it's a real fingers-crossed scenario. Still, people have elected worse, and these people can also make things unfair.

Didn't Stephen Harper temporarily "shut down" parliament for a while, a year back? I remember my Social Studies teacher mentioning it. Though I'm not nearly involved enough with politics and the likes to be of any more info.

It's kind of a neat concept though, because I really like medieval stuff (I get bored once history dives into the industrial revolution), and there's little that's as iconic as a king.

 

[jigilojoe]

I like our Brit monarchy, they bring in bank holidays.

They exist purely out of national pride, and I think that Britishness is a brilliant thing, so I'm pro monarchy.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

In England, it seems like the Queen (and possibly Prince William) are the only members of the Royal family who are really liked in any measure. Apart from being a tourist trap, opening stuff and giving speeches at Christmas, it's hard to argue their usefulness.

I guess with the Royal wedding coming up, it's tended to polarise people at the moment...

 

[Ked]

Well we had the Queen visit our town last Thursday and my god I was surprised at how many gormless idiots went all the way out there just to see an old lady open a new building, its like some people think that Royals are better than other people just because they are royal, I would have loved to be there shouting to the crowd that we should be Citizens and not Subjects but I got up late and ended up playing games XD

just to clarify I think the monarchy is a wast of time money and good resources and I don't car about a stupid wedding, holidays are meaningless when your unemployed

 

[reg42]

Swaziland has the most powerful king in the world.

 

[Agayek]

The allmighty dollar has been having a tough time lately. just saying =P That's another topic entierly though. I allways imagined the burgerking as the king of the states. ^^

Said dollar still controls our government just fine, regardless of how poorly it's doing economically. It's not exactly hard to buy any of our politicians.

 

[Cheesus333]

England, of course, has a Queen. But she's pretty much ornamental. She just looks all nice and regal, makes the country look a lot better than it actually is - I mean it's a nice place to live, it just happens to be quite crap.

 

[Yoh3333]

Dane here!

Denmark has the oldest monarchy (of my knowledge.. that is what they taught us in school atleast) and i don't realy have a problem with them. They are there and it's fun to make fun of them and hear the good ol' speech on new years eve. That is actually one of the only important action that they have... a speech on new years eve...

What i am against on the other hand is the damned "Democratic" system here... I see it like this:

We (the people) vote for a group who has similar ideals as myself. They get a person into the assembly (don't know what it's english name is) and from there the group tries to get to be government and when they finally get to that point they do whatever they can to stay there... The problem is just that the politicians of our country is so incredibily narrow minded and can't look beyond the next 4 years where the next election is going to be. They are selfish and not at all helpful for the country.

But im getting off topic here :/
Like i said i have no problem whatsoever with our monarchy. They don't do anything, their fun to make fun off and they are never realy in the way so yeah...

 

[Eat Uranium]

I like to think that the cost of supporting the (British) monarchy (some fraction of 1p per tax £1 iirc) is more than made up for by the position of a head of state who is unconnected to political parties, has a long history of experience to draw upon, and who acts as one of the advisers to the PM. The tourism also helps.

 

[Ichapp]

snip
She may be awesome but she is expensive you know.

The best things in life usually are.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

snip

She may be awesome but she is expensive you know.

The best things in life usually are. [/quote]

I'd just like to have the option to opt out paying for them. I'm not rich like they are.

Money motivates this bitterness. The royals themselves are actually really good people.

 

[Kaymish]

we have 2 royal houses i suppose you could call them we have the queen of New Zealand who lives in London and the Maori king who has his fat useless arse sitting around somewhere last i heard of him was when he got invested when the Maori queen popped her clog's a couple of years ago

and i like the tradition of the queen of NZ she could o to exercise some of her power to stop the stupid evil politicians ruining the country with evil restricting stupid laws but you cant have everything

and its a good thing for england when you have royalty getting drunk at parties and the media all over them you can have the rest of the government doing interesting stuff while the media and by extention the public is distracted

 

[MissDK]

Danish here. I don't mind the Danish queen at all (I'm related to har, so that would be stupid). I

 

[ComprehensiveGoo]

I think over here ,in the UK, the monarchy is mainly a tourist attraction.. I don't think I've actually done anything significant during my life time (except the wedding) so I can't say it feels like there is much point but it can't be argued that they do produce a lot of tourist interest.. Can't say I'm to excited about the royal wedding though.. Only when I receive my invite

It must be hard being a king/queen in such a large country. I'm guessing they can't make a move without an army of security forces.

Our prevous king was loved for using public transportation on his way out into the forest to ski. People would see him and his dog on the tram, and love him for simply being among his people. I do think he brought a few descreet bodyguards with him though.

Truth be told I think that kind of attitude would do wanders for those currently on the UK throne.. I don't really know the last time they were seen in public which wasn't a huge public event however, of course, I'm not exactally on speaking terms with them just because I'm one of their subjects I guess using the public transport systems would have brought your king closer to the people so I guess he'd have received a friendlier welcome, reducing the need for heavy security where as here the Queen has her golden carriage ;P Don't believe me? The Simpsons says it all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzh-TUbXJXA&feature=related

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Get rid of the monarchy I say, fed up of the taxes I pay going to someone who lives a life of absolute luxury that I can't afford, especially when other people are losing their jobs and public services are being scrap or cut back. Don't think the lack of a ruling monarch would greatly effect the tourist industry here britain, I mean it not like tourist are going to just stop visiting Buckingham Palace.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

In Norway we have a royal family. A king, queen and a crown prince. naturally they have no real power whatsoever, because that would be silly. But then what's the point? The whole thing is really quite strange right? I've allways liked the fact that we have a royal family but ive also had a tough time explaining why. It all dawned on me during the ski world championship the other day. It was back in Norway at last after over a decade. No other sporting event (except the winter Olympics) comes even close to being such a big deal. Our king was at the center of it all. Every winner of an event is personally congratulated by the king and his family after it's conclusion on the royal part of the stands. It's ritual that all the athletes seems to love. Maybe it makes them feel like knights or something.

The king is like a living, breathing historical artifact. A living piece of our past. And I think that's pretty awesome. Besides, what would we do with our royal palace, without a king to but in it?

Does your country have a king? what are your thoughts on royalty?

Shouldn't this be in R&P section?

A king by it's very nature is poltical.

 

[Dudeman325]

Seems some of my fellow Americans on here are unaware that we did, at one point, have an emperor...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton

 

[loc978]

Seems some of my fellow Americans on here are unaware that we did, at one point, have an emperor...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton

oh, no... we haven't forgotten Norton. We just don't recognize his authority... because I am the only Emperor the United States has ever had!

Also, having a king is super cool... if you're playing checkers. Personally, I don't want another person to be king. That's my job... because: