When she passes
March 16, 2017 3:19 AM   Subscribe

Guardian long read: "It is such a long time since the death of a monarch that many national organisations won’t know what to do. The official advice, as it was last time, will be that business should continue as usual. This won’t necessarily happen. If the Queen dies during Royal Ascot, the meet will be scrapped. The Marylebone Cricket Club is said to hold insurance for a similar outcome if she passes away during a home test match at Lord’s. After the death of George VI in 1952, rugby and hockey fixtures were called off, while football matches went ahead. Fans sang Abide With Me and the national anthem before kick off. The National Theatre will close if the news breaks before 4pm, and stay open if not. All games, including golf, will be banned in the Royal Parks."

Additional:
* The Queen's page on her own website.
* Wikipedia page.
* Annus horribilis (1992).

Metro: "After the initial announcement that the Queen has died, the BBC will cancel scheduled comedy shows until after her funeral."

Numismatic News: "Although it couldn’t be confirmed at the time this article was being written, News Corp Australia reported on Jan. 19 that the British Royal Mint has already approved an image of Prince Charles in preparation for the passing of his mother."

In other British Royal Family news, the Queen is about to give Royal Assent to the Article 50 bill, the issue of commissioning "...a new royal yacht for Her Majesty The Queen" has recently been raised, and one of her grandchildren may or may not get engaged.
posted by Wordshore (68 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
Her Maj has been alive for so long that pretty much any speculation is valid because the eventuality has been overplanned and overthought by more than one generation of courtiers, hacks & politicians. I predict a broad celebratory valedictory swathe across Albion, tempered with dashes of gaffes, missteps and inanity.
posted by chavenet at 3:35 AM on March 16, 2017 [6 favorites]


When I was a young lad, I went to school in Bisham (as there was not a school in Hurley), which is in Berkshire. At certain periods, when there were official visits of state and other events of great pomp, they would draft in the local children, dress us in our best uniforms, and we'd be part of the ensemble along the long walk as the queen waited to receive the head of state in audience.
So there were two times when I got to see Her Majesty passing by. I remember thinking at the time that she looked much like my Great Aunt Pat, albeit in fancier clothing.

It's a queer thing to think that soon, that memory will seem like some inexplicable relic of antiquity to the students I teach (assuming, of course, that I ever find a college that hires me). And it's just as queer to think of how far and long I am from those abbey ruins and quarries and pubs of youth, and how it has now been a decade since I last set foot in Berkshire (or Britain for that matter).

Strange world this. Windsor Castle and the RAF museum were the two big places where we'd get field trips. I've often thought that the terminus of success would be huddling down, some faint Oxford boffin, in a nice cottage on the Thames, to work on translating my writings into other languages. Pity, that seems as vague and strange a dream as that Palace was during my childhood.

The world is turning. Not long now till just England and Wales, and, perhaps latter, devolution down to Northumbria and Wessex and Murcia, perhaps.

Sorry for the long post, wee bit nostalgic in these late hours.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 3:52 AM on March 16, 2017 [23 favorites]


This all seems like such a load of bollocks. I dread the day that this happens and we are subjected to days of this nonsense. A rich old lady has died, that's it. It's hardly a national tragedy (unlike leaving the EU, destroying the NHS, dismantling the union, etc).

I enjoyed the titbit about the OBIT lights not functioning after the Queen Mother's death because "somebody didn't press the button properly".
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:14 AM on March 16, 2017 [6 favorites]


A comment from a New Yorker:

Reading LeRoienJaune's comment and EndsOfInvention's comment one after the other is really striking.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:45 AM on March 16, 2017 [9 favorites]


Although it couldn’t be confirmed at the time this article was being written, News Corp Australia reported on Jan. 19 that the British Royal Mint has already approved an image of Prince Charles

That's because Newscorp is Murdoch crap that doesn't bother to confirm anything.

“The Royal Australian Mint has yet to engage in any discussion in anticipation of a future monarch and has no plans to do so at this time.”

That's because Australia will most certainly become a republic. I'm amused by the fact that when I put my wallet in my back pocket, the Queen is kissing my bottom. But Charles?

*shudder*
posted by adept256 at 5:07 AM on March 16, 2017


I dare say we're about the same age, LeRoienJaune. I grew up in a small town in North Devon, where Prince Philip was due to pass through in his motorcade one day. He wasn't actually stopping there you understand (and who can blame him), but merely passing through on the way to somewhere more interesting.

My classmates and I were bundled off to line the route and told to cheer and wave our little paper Union Jacks as Phil the Greek went by. We were all pretty pissed off about this, as we had no desire to stand there in the cold waiting for the delayed cars to show up. This would have been around 1972, we were mostly in our early teens, and none of us gave a fuck about the Royal Family at that age.

My fondest memory of the day is all of us cheering loudly at a tatty-assed old builder in a filthy dump truck who had to be let through the cordon and pass down our stretch of the road while we were waiting there. He had the presence of mind to give us all a dignified regal wave as he rumbled past.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:10 AM on March 16, 2017 [45 favorites]


I presume that the mods with a little box with a little blue light on it that has never flashed...so far. And that the only posts permitted will be about tea cups and kittens.
posted by rongorongo at 5:11 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


In the tradition of Jeremy Bentham, could we have her stuffed?

I'm not entirely kidding. She's remarkable for her single-minded dedication to the notion that the crown should be apolitical. That's right and proper, for as an unelected official she should not be influencing the trajectory of any government. She's made herself a passive symbol of government authority, and I'm not sure why death would make her incapable of continuing to perform that function.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:16 AM on March 16, 2017 [18 favorites]


Yet there's an invisible global information and intelligence network connecting her to all parts of her former realm. Wonder if Charles will ever have quite teh same impact and effect.
posted by infini at 5:24 AM on March 16, 2017


Given that one of the darker comments from the current US disaster is Liberals : "2017: welp, maybe the Pope and CIA can save us"

along those lines........I imagine.....

Lefties in the UK : "Can the Queen end Brexit by royal decree? Asking for a friend."
posted by lalochezia at 5:25 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


That's because Australia will most certainly become a republic

Now there's a thing. The Irish Free State took advantage of the confusion surrounding the 1936/37 abdication crisis to go ahead and sharply trim down the role of the British monarchy and all but declare a republic. Now that was a time of a lot more uncertainty but it was still a very new situation that a lot of people were unready for. An opportunity is an opportunity. Do you think Australia would try for the same?

To be honest, what with Brexit and a plausible Scottish exit from the United Kingdom, I'm predicting a lot of faintly desperate pleas for patriotism in the next few years. All that small-island-standing-alone blitz crap. A royal funeral would be exactly the kind of thing to get folks out waving union jacks, very good for the establishment.

Could it be a decent opportunity to reflect on how the UK and British society has changed since 1953? Absolutely! Will it be? Probably not until a few months after but there's probably very solemn thinkpieces being written as we speak.
posted by ocular shenanigans at 5:34 AM on March 16, 2017


Dear Lilibet, if you're reading this - please don't die before April 17. We have a non-refundable trip planned to London and need for stuff to be open. "Yeah, but history" won't work with an already-sullen 16-year-old.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:43 AM on March 16, 2017 [8 favorites]


Is the Guardian getting impatient? Could easily be another decade or more.
posted by Segundus at 6:15 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Seems to be something in the air. Here's a previously from this January about the National Post and Business Insider takes on what happens when QEII passes on.
posted by zamboni at 6:21 AM on March 16, 2017


I would just like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that imagining the death of the sovereign is an act of treason, in one of the oldest laws on the books.

Govern yourself accordingly.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:41 AM on March 16, 2017 [16 favorites]


I swear I've read about five of these think pieces in the last few months. Is this a sign of something?
posted by treblekicker at 6:49 AM on March 16, 2017


I've had a look at what Archbold Criminal Pleading Evidence and Practice has to say on treason in English law. The entire discussion on it in the several-thousand-page leading manual on English criminal law is as follows:

"Whilst several statutes providing for the prosecution and punishment of treason remain on the statute book (viz. the Treason Act 1351, the Treason Act 1695, ss.5 and 6, the Treason Act 1702, s.3, the Treason Act 1842, ss.2 and 3 (attempts to injure or alarm the sovereign) and the Treason Act 1848, ss.3, 6 and 7 (treason felony)), there have been no prosecutions for treason since that of William Joyce in 1945 (see Joyce v. DPP [1946] A.C. 347, HL), although there have been instances of terrorist activity which undoubtedly fell within the compass of treason but which have been prosecuted as offences of murder or under the terrorist legislation. As it seems unlikely in the extreme that there will in the forseeable future be any such prosecutions, the details of these offences have been omitted from this edition of this work. Readers wishing to refer to the law of treason should consult the 2009 and earlier editions."
posted by Major Clanger at 6:52 AM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


I swear I've read about five of these think pieces in the last few months. Is this a sign of something?

No, just people freaking out because she's old.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:02 AM on March 16, 2017


I assume she's just planning to outlive Charles to save the Crown from his rule.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:04 AM on March 16, 2017 [6 favorites]


I'm just sorry she got the title of UK's favorite grandmother stolen by Dick Cheney.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:04 AM on March 16, 2017


Is this a sign of something?

Well, she's 90 and her public duties have dropped off fairly dramatically but, in addition to that, following Brexit (well, during Brexit, really) theres inevitably been a huge amount of chat about sovereignty and what it means. Even (perhaps especially) monarchists aren't keen on Charles.

Not a national tragedy, perhaps, but certainly, an upheaval that the country hasn't seen the likes of in seventy odd years, that is likely to come reasonably close to the time that the UK leaves the EU.
posted by threetwentytwo at 7:10 AM on March 16, 2017


All the scenarios in the article assume she dies in private. I wonder how it works if she drops dead during the trooping of the colors or whatever.

Also, what's with the lead-lined coffin? I understand that people have been buried in same for hundreds of years, but I don't really get the purpose for royals.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 7:11 AM on March 16, 2017


I remember that when Diana died people found it pretty baffling that they cancelled football matches.
posted by DanCall at 7:14 AM on March 16, 2017


I understand that the constitutional scholars of MetaFilter have already provided a handy guide to the legal implications of the event under discussion.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 7:14 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Frankly, she should have taken the sensible dutch route years ago.
posted by Omon Ra at 7:27 AM on March 16, 2017


I could understand a lead-lined coffin for Thatcher, just to make doubly sure that she couldn't claw her way out.
posted by delfin at 7:34 AM on March 16, 2017 [10 favorites]


> No, just people freaking out because she's old.

That and once one journo files a hot take on an issue and it becomes a conversation starter, other publications want to pile on with their own hot takes.
posted by at by at 7:44 AM on March 16, 2017


She's 90 but still rides.

She may hang on for another decade, with or without a helmet.
posted by maudlin at 7:54 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Seems to be something in the air. Here's a previously from this January about the National Post and Business Insider takes on what happens when QEII passes on

Yeah, it's a thing. In part because the Queen is about to turn 91, in part because the mystique and reverence for the monarchy has diminished/changed, and I think in part because the relentless 24/7 media cycle now demands stories and countdown clocks and so forth, so this - a story about the preparations for something that hasn't happened in 60+ years and a large part of the population has no knowledge of - is now grist for the mill.

I do wonder how many people at the paper were sweating about putting this story out just in case it, by some fluke chance, coincided with the sudden need for Operation London Bridge and what they would do if that was the case (which I'm assuming is something they thought about because when I used to be involved with disaster response planning, everytime there was an exercise planned we were given a codeword to use/listen for so that we would know that the information being shared was real and not part of the exercise). And I'm also wondering if the palace has now changed the code phrases that will be used to start the notification processes, to ensure that someone with sharp ears who has read this story doesn't get a jump on the news.
posted by nubs at 7:56 AM on March 16, 2017


Didn't we just have an FPP like a month ago about this topic?

Not complaining, but I could have sworn I just read most of this.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:09 AM on March 16, 2017


Didn't we just have an FPP like a month ago about this topic?

Not complaining, but I could have sworn I just read most of this.


Yes, we did, but this is another good reminder that Metafilter should perhaps be preparing the obit thread. Perhaps we should have a committee of members struck to draft it, with representation across multiple time zones, so that if and when the unthinkable should happen, the small group responsible can be notified by secret coded messages that the time has come to collaborate on the final edits and make the post, only to discover that someone else put up a one line obit thread moments before and all that work gets deleted as a double.

We could call this group the Committee About British Anguish and Loss (CABAL), but that might be a poor name as not all the British will be Anguished or Lost, nor might those who are be all British. But it's a working title.
posted by nubs at 8:21 AM on March 16, 2017 [15 favorites]


Most commentators think that "compass or imagine" refers to intending or conspiring to bring about the death, not merely to contemplating it.

Blackstone says:
Let us next see, what is a compassing or imagining the death of the king, &c. These are synonymous terms; the word compass signifying the purpose or design of the mind or will, and not, as in common speech, the carrying such design to effect. And therefore an accidental stroke, which may mortally wound the sovereign, per infortunium, without any traiterous intent, is no treason: as was the case of sir Walter Tyrrel, who, by the command of king William Rufus, shooting at a hart, the arrow glanced against a tree, and killed the king upon the spot. But, as this compassing or imagination is an act of the mind, it cannot possibly fall under any judicial cognizance, unless it be demonstrated by some open, or overt, act. And yet the tyrant Dionysius is recorded to have executed a subject, barely for dreaming that he had killed him; which was held for a sufficient proof, that he had thought thereof in his waking hours. But such is not the temper of the English law; and therefore in this, and the three next species of treason, it is necessary that there appear an open or overt act of a more full and explicit nature, to convict the traitor upon.
posted by praemunire at 8:24 AM on March 16, 2017


The Queen was ill over Christmas, which started Twitter rumours she'd actually died, which prompted the Business Insider article as well as, presumably, this much better sourced piece.

My earliest memory of my grandfather is him telling me about *his* earliest memory, the death of Queen Victoria. The entire household wore mourning for six months: family, servants, estate and farm workers, even the horses. Can't see that happening now, but speculators might like to start buying black crepe wool futures.
posted by bebrogued at 8:30 AM on March 16, 2017 [6 favorites]


The entire household wore mourning for six months

I am imagining six months of Nicholas Witchell's simpering, fawning, bile-inducing "commentary" every time I turn on the TV, and am seriously considering a pre-emptive throwing of the TV into the canal in anticipation.
posted by Wordshore at 8:42 AM on March 16, 2017 [8 favorites]


@skeskali:
My favourite thing about that Guardian piece on planning for the Queen's death is the sentence "There may be corgis."
posted by Wordshore at 8:50 AM on March 16, 2017 [8 favorites]


I predict a broad celebratory valedictory swathe across Albion

I don't. And less now than ever. The Western world is currently a very unstable place; I think even people who would not expect to be saddened by the death of Elizabeth II will be shaken by the end of a 65-year reign. Whether she's an institution you like or an institution you loathe, she is an institution.

I understand the royal family is not popular on Metafilter, but I will be saddened regardless.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:51 AM on March 16, 2017 [13 favorites]


Me too, Wordshore, except it's about the inevitable outrage and fury when some poor bloody TV or radio producer doesn't vet every single line of every single TV show or song for something inappropriate. Or someone smiles on live TV or something.
posted by threetwentytwo at 8:52 AM on March 16, 2017


I can imagine that people will feel shocked when it happens but a decent fraction will pretty quickly become fed up with the performance of mourning by organisations. If I was Netflix (or one of many other companies) I would be thinking hard about how to boost customer signups during the mourning period without being seen to be marketing.
posted by biffa at 8:56 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I think even people who would not expect to be saddened by the death of Elizabeth II will be shaken by the end of a 65-year reign.

She is an institution, as you say. I don't expect to be mournful as such -- if anyone has had a good, long run in life, it's Brenda -- but I do expect to be sad in the way that I'm sad any longstanding part of the landscape disappears, like a decorative but obsolete post office.

I also expect to be annoyed at all the mandated-mournfulness and blanket coverage, but what can you do?
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:22 AM on March 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


> "Also, what's with the lead-lined coffin?"

British monarchs emit a strong gamma-ray burst once every 38 days (on average). While they are alive, they can direct it safely upward, but obviously they have no control over the direction post-mortem.
posted by kyrademon at 9:22 AM on March 16, 2017 [15 favorites]


It keeps saying "the national anthem" and it hit me that since le mort saisit le vif, that will become "God Save the King."
posted by graymouser at 9:27 AM on March 16, 2017


Whether she's an institution you like or an institution you loathe, she is an institution.

I understand the royal family is not popular on Metafilter, but I will be saddened regardless.


I am no fan of the royals, but the thought of her passing fills me with some disquiet. In part because I know I will be irritated by the public display of mourning and all the pomp and circumstance; but also in part because it does represent a large change in this institution that has been stable and a distant part of my government for as long as I have been aware. I snark, but I'm also appreciative of the planning going into this transition, because it is important. Institutions like this, however out-moded or problematic I may think them to be, are also a part of the stability I've enjoyed.
posted by nubs at 9:35 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


As long as the ceremonies don't conclude with "Behold the head of a traitor," she'll have done fine.
posted by praemunire at 10:04 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I would just like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that imagining the death of the sovereign is an act of treason, in one of the oldest laws on the books.

Govern yourself accordingly.
posted by Capt. Renault


As an American with a vivid imagination, I'm willing to imagine the death of a sovereign on behalf of any subjects who don't want to bump up against the law. MeMail me to inquire about my (reasonable!) rates. Offering a 30% discount on a post-imaginatory description of the imagined scene written in appropriately flowery language.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 10:15 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


“If you ever hear Haunted Dancehall (Nursery Remix) by Sabres of Paradise on daytime Radio 1, turn the TV on,” wrote Chris Price, a BBC radio producer, for the Huffington Post in 2011. “Something terrible has just happened.”

I'll say. That's rather creepy music at any time.
posted by dnash at 10:36 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've had a rough couple of years with the death of family members and all the sorting through of memorabilia and memories that always follows. The Queen has been of the few constants for my parents' generation, and her death will be a profound reminder that nowt's forever.

Card-carrying member of Republic, incidentally. But the world's in enough of a flux right now for me to hope she hangs on for a few more years.
posted by mushhushshu at 10:42 AM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


“If you ever hear Haunted Dancehall (Nursery Remix) by Sabres of Paradise on daytime Radio 1, turn the TV on,” wrote Chris Price, a BBC radio producer, for the Huffington Post in 2011. “Something terrible has just happened.”

God damn, that's almost as chilling as those nuclear attack warning alerts.
posted by briank at 10:44 AM on March 16, 2017


I'm endlessly fascinated by the mechanisms and plans for momentous events like this.

Here in Canada, the Queen is by and large very popular. But the only roles she plays here are appearing on our money and occasionally visiting.

Charles is definitely less so. I have a strong suspicion that Elizabeth's death will trigger a national discussion about shifting away from the Westminster model of our government. It will cause Canadians to think about something we almost never think about, and many will wonder "Why do we bother with this, again?"

The thing is, the history of attempts to revise any aspect of Canada's system of governance demonstrates that it is like pulling on a loose thread in a ball of yarn. Our unelected Senate, our first-past-the-post voting system, and everybody's favourite, Quebec's status within confederation, will all come into play. For that reason, likely nothing will come of it. It's just a question of how far the discussion will go. But it will be more than just a newspaper headline for us.

I should also note that I suspect the reaction would be very different if William were ascending.
posted by dry white toast at 11:17 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


A couple of months ago she & Phil came with Charlie and Camilla to the town where I live to visit Charlie's pet village project, Poundbury. They were there to unveil a statue of the Queen Mum and to open a pub named after Camilla (The Duchess of Cornwall) - real in touch with the people stuff.

I was at work and had to pop out to visit the bank and as I cycled back a police motorbike came towards me stopping traffic followed by The Queen in her nice black car. There was no crowd to acknowledge so she wasn't waving, just looking out of the window. I stopped my bike and was overcome by an urge to wave at her, which I did, but sadly I got no response.

I'm no Royalist and will find all these arrangements that are made to deal with her death tedious but I have to say that for that brief moment by the Top o'Town roundabout in Dorchester, it felt special to share a space with somebody who has met Churchill and Kennedy and countless others which felt kind of, well, historic.
posted by jontyjago at 11:23 AM on March 16, 2017 [7 favorites]


Most of the pomp & circumstance doesn't move me, but this bit gave me goosebumps:
The orb, the sceptre and the Imperial Crown will be fixed in place, soldiers will stand guard and then the doors opened to the multitude that will have formed outside and will now stream past the Queen for 23 hours a day. For George VI, 305,000 subjects came. The line was four miles long. The palace is expecting half a million for the Queen. There will be a wondrous queue – the ultimate British ritual undertaking, with canteens, police, portable toilets and strangers talking cautiously to one another – stretching down to Vauxhall Bridge and then over the river and back along the Albert Embankment.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:43 AM on March 16, 2017


I know that noblesse oblige is a fraught concept with a fraught history, but it’s at least interesting to consider the Queen’s long career being a rich public figure who has tried to use that wealth and fame to help people with the current fire sale going on in the US, where our “self-made” (ha) millionaires plunder our country for every dime and every natural resource while gleefully stomping on the poor and disenfranchised.

I’m not a particular fan of the Queen, and she’s made some very public mistakes. I can understand those who resent and dislike her and her role. But the contrast between her take on extraordinary privilege, and, say, Ivanka’s— it seems very stark lately.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 11:47 AM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


The thing is, the history of attempts to revise any aspect of Canada's system of governance demonstrates that it is like pulling on a loose thread in a ball of yarn

Yeah, we have a problem - we can't touch our Constitution without opening everything up. The more I've thought about the more I think it's a major problem moving forward; we have a document that is based on some 18th and 19th century principles of governance and society that we don't dare modify because it is a proverbial can of worms - which every politician and pundit will point at so that the conversation dies.

The other problem I see is that the Republic of Canada movement/idea isn't really a concrete proposal (at least, the last I checked) - there isn't a good, clear, well-articulated alternate vision for the public to grab onto. The idea gets floated, and everyone assumes that a republic means being just like the US, because that's what we are most familiar with, and that kills the discussion.

So, yeah, I expect the discussion will come up after the Queen passes, but I think it's all wheel spinning for a day or two at this point; then the media conversation will get distracted by the new coinage or passport or whatever else will need to change and the public will shrug about the difficulty of change and we move ever forward.
posted by nubs at 1:08 PM on March 16, 2017


DarlingBri: "I understand the royal family is not popular on Metafilter, but I will be saddened regardless."

Just to be clear, I intended "broad celebratory valedictory swathe across Albion" to mean mainly celebration of the woman and her life; it won't be a tragedy, at 90+, it will be a full stop to a very long and rich historic sentence. She will, I think, be celebrated more than mourned. (Which is not to say there won't be people celebrating her death, there are always some, but that wasn't my intention).
posted by chavenet at 3:22 PM on March 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


I really hope she gets a send off as good as this one.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:08 PM on March 16, 2017


You know what I hate the most about the idea of her dying? There's not a whole lot of female leadership out there (okay, so hers is mostly figureheading) and after she dies, it's man after man after man. We'll never see a British queen again in our lifetimes short of a King Ralph situation, maybe. Waaaah. That will make me sad, right there.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:03 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Nitpick: the article calls him King Charles III, but the sovereign chooses their own regnal name, and there's no particular reason to think he'll go with his given name - if nothing else, Charles is not a name associated with particularly successful forebears on the throne.

He may, like Victoria, Edward VII, and George VI, use another one of his given names. Arthur seems a bit unlikely, but Philip or George seems plausible.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:12 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Curious that Philip has absolutely no role in this, I don't even think he's mentioned in the article. An assumption that he'll predecease her, or simply the fact of his position as consort?
posted by tavegyl at 9:33 PM on March 16, 2017


What happens if she dies during Wimbledon?
posted by yellowcandy at 9:42 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I ended up down a QEII wikihole from this post, and learned Elizabeth was born by C-section*, which in 1926 meant that it was clear from that moment Elizabeth(-the-Queen-Mum-to-be) would have a small family. I also learned that Charles, in 1948, was the first heir to the throne since 1688 born without a government minister (typically the Home Secretary) in attendance.

*Which I can't believe I didn't know, given my interest in a) British royalty and b) C-sections!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:46 PM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


What happens if she dies during Wimbledon?
I think her opponent just gets a bye into the next round.
posted by comealongpole at 1:54 AM on March 17, 2017 [17 favorites]


I suspect the reaction would be very different if William were ascending

Imagine if Harry were ascending. #ThirstForTheKing
posted by crossoverman at 6:09 AM on March 17, 2017


comealongpole: "What happens if she dies during Wimbledon?I think her opponent just gets a bye into the next round."

Everyone has to immediately switch from playing lawn tennis to playing royal tennis
posted by chavenet at 9:04 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just to be clear, I intended "broad celebratory valedictory swathe across Albion" to mean mainly celebration of the woman and her life;

chavenet, my apologies for mis-understanding.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:10 AM on March 17, 2017


He may, like Victoria, Edward VII, and George VI, use another one of his given names. Arthur seems a bit unlikely, but Philip or George seems plausible.

I have to admit, I would have a fair bit of grudging admiration for him if he have the guts to go with Arthur.

Curious that Philip has absolutely no role in this, I don't even think he's mentioned in the article. An assumption that he'll predecease her, or simply the fact of his position as consort?

Most likely the later; he can be a Counsellor of State, but my understanding of that is that only the first four members of the line of succession and the consort can be so designated; and upon the Queen's death, he ceases to be consort. He'll keep his titles and all, but effectively his role and functions are entirely dependent on whoever is on the throne. As Elizabeth's consort, he has "place, pre-eminence, and precedence" next to her at all occassions and meetings, but if she passes first, it will be up to the next monarch to determine what, if any, roles he might have (Privy Council, etc). In terms of the matter of succession, he has no official role that I am aware of; I would find it interesting to see how the role of King Father might play out.
posted by nubs at 12:38 PM on March 17, 2017


I'm a little surprised by the distemper of this thread. I found the article fascinating, detailed, and well-written.

I am also finding the notion of having a King instead of The Queen very odd. Kings are things out of stories.
posted by nnethercote at 2:37 AM on March 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


That's because Australia will most certainly become a republic.

I wonder. Current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was the leader of the failed Republic movement in 1999, which you'd think would be relevant, but he's so scared of upsetting conservatives these days that I doubt he'll touch the topic with a 40-foot pole, even though it would easily have majority support.

Having said that, going from Elizabeth to Charles really will make a difference, I think. Seems like a lot of monarchy support is really tied to love and respect of Elizabeth herself more so than the institution she embodies.
posted by nnethercote at 2:43 AM on March 18, 2017


Curious that Philip has absolutely no role in this, I don't even think he's mentioned in the article.
You've heard of the Queen Mother, yes? Two words:

King. Father.

(sounds like he should be kicking arse on Game Of Thrones!)
posted by comealongpole at 8:19 PM on March 20, 2017


there's no particular reason to think he'll go with his given name

Indeed; I've heard it mooted that he may choose George and be George VII, especially given the associations of Charles I with beheading and Charles II with a debauched lifestyle.
posted by dhens at 8:29 PM on April 7, 2017


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