Queen Elizabeth II under medical supervision (Queen has died - 9/8 11:33am)

[AlistarWills]

If King George had been half as nice as Queen Elizabeth II we might not have had the American Revolution. I still cannot imagine that the British people like supporting this family to the tune of a billion dollar enterprise.

You mentioned the billion dollar enterprise. I wonder if all the countries and territories that are under the crown, contribute to it financially somehow.

 

[Padreruf]

You mentioned the billion dollar enterprise. I wonder if all the countries and territories that are under the crown, contribute to it financially somehow.

I don't know...I think this is all "separate" in some fiscal/accounting way.

 

[CoachJeff]

My favorite anecdote about the royals is when Elizabeth's grandfather was nearing death his doctor euthanized him in order to let the respectable newspaper report his death instead of the less respectable evening tabloids.

 

[Go Bama]

There’s an excellent article in The New Yorker which I can’t link. Oddly enough, it’s because of a quote from the Queen talking about the Mets. Evidently, she hated the Mets and loved the Cardinals. She never swore unless talking about the Mets!

The article is titled “The Queen I Knew.” It’s a very light read which shows a fun side of the Queen that I never knew existed.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

It’s surprising, but the British public consistently supports the monarchy over 2:1. I have to believe a lot of that is the way Queen Elizabeth handled things. After the swell of emotion brought on by her death passes, I’m not at all sure Charles can engender that level of support. We’ll see.

I’ve read that the Queen’s two favorites were Andrew and Harry. Their fates will be interesting.

It’s pretty clear that Charles will cut out Harry and Meagan. Which I understand. They clearly wanted to do the fun private stuff without being inconvenienced with the public aspects of being a working royal. Have their cake and eat it too. Plus, they did the one thing The Firm absolutely doesn’t allow under any circumstances….they talked about in-family conduct publicly. And compounded that by making money off telling the story.

Given the fact that they’ve aired dirty laundry on tabloid TV, and more is expected soon (Harry’s upcoming book), I don’t think that will ever, ever, ever be forgotten or forgiven.

They’ll become effectively like we treat scandalized distant relatives: We don’t deny that we’re related, but don’t talk about it either. We don’t see them socially, they’re not invited to anything, and are welcome only at funerals. Unless we’re specifically asked, it’s like they don’t exist at all. And even on the rare occasion of being specifically asked, the answer is, “I don’t know….I haven’t seen them in a long time.”

Andrew is another question. His situation is 100% self-inflicted, and nobody anywhere has any sympathy for him. In addition to actively participating in sex-trafficking of underage girls, he‘s not very bright, and has pimped out his own position and contacts for business gain.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Charles removes him from The Firm altogether. He certainly wouldn’t pay off civil judgements for him — as the Queen did a couple of years ago.

There are parallels between this and The Godfather II. After Don Corleone’s widow (Fredo, Sonny and Michael’s mother) died, Michael took vengeance on the first-born Fredo for the attempt on his — Michael’s — life.

At the reception after her funeral, Michael kissed Fredo full on the lips — the fabled kiss of death — and had one of the great lines in movie history, “I know it was you, Fredo….you broke my heart.”