Why doesn't Britain get rid of its monarchy?

Hearing about the news that females are now equal to males in succeeding to the British throne, my initial reaction was "it's about time." Why shouldn't a first born girl be in line for Queen'ness, just as a first born boy is in line for King'ness?

Almost immediately, though, my second reaction was "it's absurd that Britain and the Commonwealth still have this monarchy thing."

Yet when I did a Google search on monarchy why, I was surprised to find that most of the top search results were sites defending the monarchy. It took me some scrolling to come to the first Republicanism-leaning result, "Why the monarchy must go."

It's kind of creepy to find myself agreeing with Republicanism, but the word has a very different meaning in Britain than in the United States. This isn't a political party. It's a movement to ditch the monarchy.

Which makes perfect sense from an American perspective. I wonder if British citizens know how weird it seems from a U.S.A. point of view to spend tons of money on palaces and such to keep a royal family in the style they've become hereditarily accustomed to.

Of course, I readily admit that our political system must appear equally strange to Britons. We've got a dysfunctional Congress, including a thoroughly undemocratic Senate where majority rule doesn't exist any more.

I can't understand why Britain clings to the monarchy.

I guess it has to do with tradition. Maybe having a King and Queen reminds people of the old days when Britain ruled the seas, along with much of the world's land mass. The royal pomp and ceremony also looks cool, albeit disconcertingly undemocratic to these American eyes.

Plus, Britain doesn't have anything equivalent to our Hollywood. It looks to me like the royal family fulfills the role that movie stars do in the United States: people to gossip about, whose every move is photographed and clothing choices talked about.

Fine. The monarchy still seems deeply weird to me.

(Here's an editorial in the Guardian that casts some light on how Britons view the monarchy, but I'm still pretty much in the dark on this. OK, the present day royal family arrangement, and a requirement that monarchs be Protestant, goes back to the 1600's. That's a long time. But now always is a good time to change ridiculous social policies.)

Comments

[George Howe]

Republicans are in the minority here, pretty much all of the British people support the monarchy. We keep the monarchy for a number of reasons.. Firstly, what harm do they do? None. They have no political power, and raise money through visitors to the palaces. This money the royal family uses to fund themselves, and multiple charities. The Royals work closely with charities, the Queen at a charity fundraiser? Watch the money roll in!

Another role of the royal family of course is tradition, and of course the tourism cash that they generate as globally people fly to the UK to see her and the palaces ect..

There is a final important role among many others too. If the next Hitler were elected Prime Minister, notice how it's the Royal Mail, Royal Army, Royal Airforce, Royal Navy, and that the fire service and police bear the crown. If a madman were in charge, the Queen could initiate a coup, and in a day halt anything bad happening. Whereas in the US, all you have to rely on is civilians carrying guns, thus watch caps ensue. So please don't have a go at the royal family until you actually understand what they do..
They are not dictators, those medals you see them wear are not self awarded like Gaddafi, they were won in actual combat, the Queen's husband Prince Philip was a naval Captain in WWII fighting real Germans, not imaginary enemies like Kim Jong Il makes up (or did). Same with Princes William and Harry, both of whom are active military pilots.

Also, how useful an advisor is a woman who has lived through WWII and met every British Prime Minister since Neville Chamerlain and every US President since Truman. The US presidents have all phoned the queen at some point for advice..

If you want to discuss this further, please email me at [email protected]

So THAT'S why we keep the Queen..

[William Stuart]

Argh. I'm English, and I absolutely hate the Monarchy, I find it unbelievable like you that the we have a somewhat democratically impounding monarchy, in fact the UK is one place below the USA in terms of democracy ratings simply because of the Royal Family (whether that means without it the UK would be higher, I don't know). I am embarrassed that we have a Monarchy, and hate that it seems to be THE defining feature about England to foreign people. The benefits seem to be that we get increased tourism from them, but France has a very similar climate (in Paris at least) and somewhat similar architecture, yet gets more tourists than the UK (and it doesn't even speak the worlds widest spoken language, if that counts for anything!). Uhh, it pisses me off.

[Mary]

I'm Canadian and we still have to pay taxes to support them even though we've been our own country for over one hundred years. Britain would be way better off as a democracy.

[Mo]

The queen from English is a joke. It looks like you are in Disneyland watching a parade she wears a stupid crown and wave's her stupid hand like she is twistin a light bulb. She still think's she became queen by DIVINE RIGHT WHAT A FUCKING MORAN THE QUEEN IS. IT TELL'S THE WORDL SHE IS NOT WELL EDUCATED. ALL MAMALS ON EARTH SHARE THE SAME GENES INCLUDING ANIMALS. SHE IS A FUCKING MORAN. I HEARD A TAPE WHERE SHE WAS TALKING TO THE EVIL QUEEN MOTHER. THEY BOTH SOUND LIKE LITTLE SPOIL ROTTEN CUNTS RICH 12 YEAR CUNTS SPOIL FROM THE DAY THEY WERE BORN. I watch her speech when she become queen is so fucking comical. WE WERE LAUGHING SO HARD SHE REALLY REALLY BELIEVES SHE IS CHOSEN BY GOD AND IS HER DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE ALL THE COMMONERS AND SHE ABOVE EVERY ELSE. STIPID CUNT.