The Queen's Workload

[sp1814]

The Queen will not be attending part of installation ceremony for knights of the Order of the Bath at Westminster Abbey because of the steep steps she would have to negotiate:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/10818951/Queen-drops-out-of-ceremonial-role-over-concerns-about-steep-steps.html

In the story above, there's the following passage:

"Buckingham Palace announced two years ago that the Queen was giving up long-haul travel as a concession to her age, but otherwise the Palace has repeatedly insisted the Queen is not scaling back her workload."

I'm no royalist and neither am I an anti-royalist. To me, the royal family are a bit like McVities Digestives. I don't find them particularly exciting, but I really wouldn't be happy to see them go.

But I'm thinking...why should an 88 year old woman carry on with duties that she performed when she was a 44 year old woman?

It might be her choice, but at the end of the day, if it were your grandmother, wouldn't you say, "No Liz...enough. Put your feet up, and watch the races."

[anneasquith]

choux...................I hope you were standing up when you wrote that reply about Elizabeth,,,,,,,:) :)

[choux]

anne, I still miss the National Anthem at the end of transmission on the BBC.

[jno]

actually, it's not strictly true that she was born to the role, as her father wasn't king at the time; but she's worked on it since she was very young.

[choux]

Indeed and that is another reason she would never abdicate.

[Prudie]

Of course you're right jno, one forgets. I wonder how it would have turned out had her uncle not met Wallis-Simpson.

[emmie]

he might have fallen by the wayside at any rate, he did seem rather weak willed and easily led, and another philanderer, they didn't think he was suitable material either, and the rest is history,

[naomi24]

I don't forget Uncle Edward. The Queen wasn't 'born to rule', but she was unexpectedly landed with it which can't have been easy, and I admire her for her unswerving steadfastness and loyalty.

I think her finest moment was when she met up with James Bond and jumped out of that plane over the Olympic stadium. Great stuff! What a gal! ;o)

[sp1814]

I can't see her ever abdicating, because of the whole King Edward / Mrs Simpson crisis. From what I understand (from a couple of documentaries I've seen), she blames her own father's early death on the pressures of office, and George became king because Edward took up with what I understand was 'a floozie'.

So the 'A' word is never mentioned.

But even without abdicating, I think she deserves a good old rest.

Charles could do the foreign tours, and William could do all the boring hospital visits and Royal Variety shows (which have been awful since the early 80s), leaving the Queen to do the occasional investiture.

Sitting down if needs be.

Maggie Smith was allowed to sit down throughout the last series of Downton (because of the cancer treatment), so there's precedent.

[Old_Geezer]

Not that anything a royal family does actually counts as work. But an 88 year old ought not have much in the way of obligations, nor have had any for years.

[Brenden]

I agree with you Mikey, she is Charles wife (and mistress before they married), but if she was not acceptable to the Royal family first time round what makes her so acceptable now imo she will never be regarded as Queen

[mikey4444]

Brenden...adultery is hardly unknown in the Royal Family. But I am interested in why YOU think that Charles on the throne and Camilla as Queen is your "worse nightmare for the monarchy " What difference does it make ?

[Brenden]

Adultery may be acceptable to some mikey but not all. With her track record (and try as they might all the PR in the world will not be able to erase it) I think she will be regarded as another Anne Boleyn. Charles should quietly sit in his garden and talk to the flowers and leave William and Kate to rule. Now mikey what about an answer to acceptability in the royal family.

[mikey4444]

Acceptability in the Royal Family ?

Again I must point out that adultery is nothing new to the Royals. Betty has 4 kids and 3 of them have been divorced, so its almost certain that adultery had a part to play. Edward VII, her not-so distant ancestor, was a renown adulterer. In fact, he celebrated adultery most enthusiastically but he didn't make such a bad king by all accounts.

If it didn't make much difference in 1901 , I just can't see that it makes any difference these days.

[Brenden]

It does when it destroys marriages and there are children involved.

[mikey4444]

So why didn't it make a difference for Ann and Andy, but not Chas ?

I am the child of a broken home and I know what its like, but I still can't see why Betty can't just abdicate and let Charles take over ? She will have to do when she dies, and he will still be an adulterer then, just as he is now. So what is the difference ? Who cares more like ?

If we had a Republic, we wouldn't be having these problems Brenden !

[Brenden]

And we would not be making absolute millions with the tourist trade that the family bring to these shores amongst other things.

[Brenden]

p.s. mikey. It made a difference with Princess Margaret and Townsend and also Edward had to abdicate because of Mrs Simpson. And Charles was heir to the throne, Anne and Andrew were not.

[mushroom25]

//If we had a Republic, we wouldn't be having these problems Brenden ! //

image is still important, even if the leader is elected from the common masses - witness the furore created by monica Lewinsky.

unless, that is, you'd be happy to have a sleazebag like Berlusconi as you head of state?

[AliceTickband]

Brenden.........without a monarch tourists would still come and spend their dosh

[jno]

they might, Alice, but quite possibly not as much

http://www.brandfinance.com/knowledge_centre/stories/how-we-valued-the-monarchy-as-a-brand-uk-tourism-contribution

Presumably places like Windsor Palace would still make as much money if they became Windsor People's Palace; but I suspect it would affect the country's brand none the less. Who's going to go home to Duluth and tell friends they saw President Blair's home?.