Elizabeth II to be longest reigning British monarch

[sandyf]

Personally I believe the lady who has sacrificed her life and privacy to the benefit of the people, with no retirement date, is a role model others should consider following

Just an opposite opinion

Perhaps you could enlighten me. Of what benefit is she to the British people? I certainly can't think of a single way my life would have been any the poorer if she and her family didn't exist.

Or putting it differently, how are countries such as France and Germany worse off than us on account of their not having an hereditary head of state?

You cannot be enlightened, you have to be capable of seeing the worth in an intangible asset.

[emilymat]

OK, we get rid of the Royal family and replace it with a President. How much would that cost?. Presidential palace, huge staff, police protection etcetc.

I only raise this in the argument about how much it costs to keep the Royal family. I think it is about 50p per person, per year.

The principle of a monarch, against a president, is a completely separate issue.

[bermondburi]

Oxygen thieves the lot of them, the only reason I want QE2 to carry on is so that we don't get her crackpot son. Couldn't care less about any of them!

[AyG]

You cannot be enlightened, you have to be capable of seeing the worth in an intangible asset.

Oh, but I can. I like pandas, just not the British royals. To quote Hilary Mantel:

"Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment".

[simple1]

You cannot be enlightened, you have to be capable of seeing the worth in an intangible asset.

Oh, but I can. I like pandas, just not the British royals. To quote Hilary Mantel:

"Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment".

So she's a hypocrite as she has accepted the Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

[simple1]

You cannot be enlightened, you have to be capable of seeing the worth in an intangible asset.

Oh, but I can. I like pandas, just not the British royals. To quote Hilary Mantel:

"Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment".

So she's a hypocrite as she has accepted the Commander of the Order of the British Empire and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

[sandyf]

You cannot be enlightened, you have to be capable of seeing the worth in an intangible asset.

Oh, but I can. I like pandas, just not the British royals. To quote Hilary Mantel:

"Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment".

Obviously not, you refer to a physical entity.

[lungbing]

For what it's worth, I looked into what the Queen is doing this month and next. It's hardly a heavy workload. This month she's opening a railway in Scotland and visiting some soldiers - two engagements during the whole month. And for next month? It's another two: opening Surrey University vet's school and giving a reception for diplomats. If these two months are typical, then she currently only works 24 days a year. That's hardly sacrificing her life and privacy.

Source: http://www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/Royaldiary/Locationsandtimes.aspx

It's still more than you'll be doing when you're 90.