Because The British Royal Family

[Stuart Galbraith]

13 minutes ago, TrustMe said:

I think MP's have to swear allegiance as well.

 

I read an article on my phone the other day which ran a pole about the monarchy. In it the younger you are the more likely that they want an elected head of state.

It was wanted by roughly 40% of under 30's.

With 20% under 30's saying they want a king.

With 40% under 30's being undecided.

 

 

 

To Plutus probably.

The thing everyone needs to remember, and never do, the Royal Family has NEVER had massive support, except perhaps during WW2. In WW1 they even had to change their name, for fairly obvious reasons....

And its not even a new thing. I remember hearing that George III was loathed by the public. Interestingly its only when the poor bugger went mad, they all came out in sympathy and respect for him. Before that he was known as farmer George, which isnt a million miles away from the kind of things said about Charles III as Prince of Wales (as well as unjustified aspersions on his sanity).

To get rid of the monarchy, there has to be massive support for some kind of construct to replace him. And ultimately, there is no agreement. So as always, the monarchy endures, less because it is popular, but because its the least worst option. Probably the same in most European countries that still have monarchs.

Nobody I suspect likes the thought of a President Johnson or President Blair. And doubtless they would both crawl out the Skirting board to pretend to be a monarch for a while.

[Murph]

11 hours ago, Colin said:

Better than bowing to the Kardishians 😁

NO KIDDING!!!

[R011]

17 hours ago, Murph said:

But don't you all have to do that anyway since you are subjects of the Crown or something like that?  Just curious.

I'm not even sure if they sing the national anthem in schools any more, and AFAIK there were never any other oaths of pledges of allegiance.

[Murph]

I guess I was under the impression that subjects of the Crown had to do some sort of oath or such to the current King or Queen, but I guess that is just the nobility and the clergy.  

[DB]

5 hours ago, R011 said:

I'm not even sure if they sing the national anthem in schools any more, and AFAIK there were never any other oaths of pledges of allegiance.

I don't recall there ever being a regular singing of the national anthem in school, certainly not at normal assemblies and there's definitely no equivalent to the pledge of allegiance, except for new assimilated citizens.

It's played when the King is present, and at various other formal occasions, but it's not required at public events and about the only thing is you're supposed to stand when it's being played.

By the way, my passport says I'm a British Citizen, not a Subject, and has done so since at least 1994, which is the earliest one I can find easily.

[R011]

4 minutes ago, DB said:

I don't recall there ever being a regular singing of the national anthem in school, certainly not at normal assemblies and there's definitely no equivalent to the pledge of allegiance, except for new assimilated citizens.

It's played when the King is present, and at various other formal occasions, but it's not required at public events and about the only thing is you're supposed to stand when it's being played.

By the way, my passport says I'm a British Citizen, not a Subject, and has done so since at least 1994, which is the earliest one I can find easily.

We did in my school in Canada back in the sixties - "O Canada" and "God Save the Queen". 

I'm fairly sure it's ben citizen of the United Kinngdom since 1948 when it was decided that all the Commonwealth countries would have separate citizenships.  Even then, for  a couple of decades afterward, British subjects (i.e. those from places which shared EiiR as Head of State) had some citizenship privleges here -  I don't know about Britain.

 

[R011]

16 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

No, the assumption is we are loyal subjects, but we never have to do anything strange like swearing allegiance or anything. You only do that when you join the armed forces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_(United_Kingdom)

The Tl:dr version for those of Sam who don't want to wade through the Wikipedia article is that where an American would give an oath of office or loyalty, a citizen of one of Charles III realms would give an oath to him, his heirs and successors according to law.

Edited May 1, 2023 by R011

[Sardaukar]

I am personally against too much use of oaths and national anthems, since it kind of IMHO dilutes their meaning. One example is singing national anthem before whatever sports event.

OTOH, I cannot even make an official oath, since not belonging to any religion, thus it was replaced in my case (and similar) with solemn declaration. 

[Ivanhoe]

4 hours ago, Sardaukar said:

I am personally against too much use of oaths and national anthems, since it kind of IMHO dilutes their meaning. One example is singing national anthem before whatever sports event.

I've always felt that obligatory displays of patriotism are kinda retarded. IMHO, teach the history properly, patriotism will happen naturally.

Except for Norway, of course, as detailed by John Cleese.

[Stuart Galbraith]

I cant say I recall having sung the national anthem at school. I assume we probably did, but if we did, it would have been rare and on mercifully few occasions. Now if it was Zadok the Priest I couldnt have minded, but perhaps not up to a school choir in fairness.

No union jacks hung up in school. None on the flagpole outside. Not even a flagpole. And at least as far as Junior school, the headmaster was a former Hong Kong policeman who fawned over Lady Di when she came visiting. We didnt and dont go in for flashy displays of patriotism, and I rather like that. We just save it for a damn good piss up or bunfight when there is a Royal Wedding, coronation or Jubilee.

Outsiders think we British are incredibly gingoistic and patriotic. In my experience at least, its very, very understated, particularly compared ot the French or Americans.

[TrustMe]

I agree, unless were in some sort of competition being sport or war as a nation we are not very patriotic.

EDIT Hey Stuart, I remember at midnight watching BBC1 in the early 1980's ( only 3 TV channels back then) they used to sing god save the queen before the channel shut down for the night.

Do you remember that? 

Edited May 2, 2023 by TrustMe

[Murph]

10 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

I cant say I recall having sung the national anthem at school. I assume we probably did, but if we did, it would have been rare and on mercifully few occasions. Now if it was Zadok the Priest I couldnt have minded, but perhaps not up to a school choir in fairness.

No union jacks hung up in school. None on the flagpole outside. Not even a flagpole. And at least as far as Junior school, the headmaster was a former Hong Kong policeman who fawned over Lady Di when she came visiting. We didnt and dont go in for flashy displays of patriotism, and I rather like that. We just save it for a damn good piss up or bunfight when there is a Royal Wedding, coronation or Jubilee.

Outsiders think we British are incredibly gingoistic and patriotic. In my experience at least, its very, very understated, particularly compared ot the French or Americans.

Stuart, the British are understated in every way compared to those of Sam, and the French!  The British made understatement a fashion trend.....

[DB]

6 hours ago, TrustMe said:

I agree, unless were in some sort of competition being sport or war as a nation we are not very patriotic.

EDIT Hey Stuart, I remember at midnight watching BBC1 in the early 1980's ( only 3 TV channels back then) they used to sing god save the queen before the channel shut down for the night.

Do you remember that? 

Yes. The BBC used to play the anthem at closedown. Whether they do it when they switch to the 24 hour BBC News (or whatever they do now), I don't know. My TV hasn't been on in several years.

[Stuart Galbraith]

14 hours ago, TrustMe said:

I agree, unless were in some sort of competition being sport or war as a nation we are not very patriotic.

EDIT Hey Stuart, I remember at midnight watching BBC1 in the early 1980's ( only 3 TV channels back then) they used to sing god save the queen before the channel shut down for the night.

Do you remember that? 

I dunno mate, I never was allowed to be let up that late.

 

[Colin]

We sang the national anthem in Primary school everyday, The TV channels played it as they shut down at night.

For our Cadet program we currently do:

Colours (raising the flags) - O'Canada (National anthem)

Sunset (Lowering the flags) - God Save the King (Royal anthem)

[R011]

1 hour ago, Colin said:

We sang the national anthem in Primary school everyday, The TV channels played it as they shut down at night.

For our Cadet program we currently do:

Colours (raising the flags) - O'Canada (National anthem)

Sunset (Lowering the flags) - God Save the King (Royal anthem)

And American channels played the Star Spangled Banner until they went 24/7.

[Harold Jones]

We said the pledge of allegiance every day in Elementary school but I don't remember saying it in middle school or high school. Of course all the sporting events had the national anthem played. Thanks to frequent visits to Ontario to see my mom's family I heard the Canadian anthem a fair amount. Especially when we visited in the winter when hockey was on TV. I thought the Canadian anthem was cooler than ours.

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

[Der Zeitgeist]

@Stuart GalbraithSo who's that guy with his hands in his pockets and will we see Penny Mordaunt behead him with that big-ass sword? 😅

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

[Sardaukar]

Whole show makes me miss Old Liz and Phil the Greek (both that I have met and liked).

Now it's tosser, tosser and red-head wanker... 

[TrustMe]

 

 

 

 

[DB]

Bearing in mind that if that crowd had the collective intelligence to find a polling station, they'd vote for the Scottish National Party, which is so much better at governing Scotland than Westminster would be that they've got exactly the same public servant strike issues, and a financial scandal that's so blatant that their leader bailed the day before her husband got arrested.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

I thought it was an excellent coronation. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a matter of fact. I can only interpret the relatively lack of commentary is that everyone else was stunned too.

 

[sunday]

3 hours ago, DB said:

Bearing in mind that if that crowd had the collective intelligence to find a polling station, they'd vote for the Scottish National Party, which is so much better at governing Scotland than Westminster would be that they've got exactly the same public servant strike issues, and a financial scandal that's so blatant that their leader bailed the day before her husband got arrested.

 

Nationalism does not foster rationality, and vice versa.