How Much Longer Will There Be A Monarchy In The UK?

Question

Do you believe that the monarchy will survive for another thousand years or do you believe that its days are numbered?

If you think that its days are numbered then why do you believe this? Is it because you consider it to be an outdated institution or do you think that there are other reasons why it will not survive?

Answer 1

The trend is mostly one way.  Many monarchies have become republics.  Few republics have become monarchies.

You can get away with having several eejit presidents (without naming any country in particular), before the hoi-polloi will start screaming for a monarchy.  But it only takes one bampot monarch before the republican activists begin stirring it.

Answer 2

They must continue to exist indefinately for the sake of the British press. The tabloids would collapse without that endless source of tawdry and disturbing rumors and pictures of their goings on. My God man, they're the most interesting thing about England!

Answer 3

Forever,Long live the queen,and her sucessor,Prince Charles!

Answer 4

We have the Royal family,the US has Bush,which would you prefer?

Answer 5

I see no reason for it not to survive as long as it adapts to changes in society. The alternative is a republic and they are by no means the better way as the USA blatantly proves

Answer 6

15 minutes, 32 seconds

Answer 7

3 days 12 hours and 18 mins

Answer 8

if i had my way about 1 hour 22 minutes and 10-9-8-7- seconds

Answer 9

The monarchy will survive as long as the British people want it to. Can you really imagine the UK with Tony Blair or Gordon Brown as president? Can you really imagine all those tourists will want to come to London without all the Royal connections? Changing of the Guard etc. If you cannot imagine this then you are answering your own question. London without the Royal family is just another tatty city.

Answer 10

yea we should give them back to the germans

Answer 11

Since none of us are prophets, there is no way of telling. it will survive as long as the country supports it.

I think it will continue for some time, because it would tear the country apart to dethrone the monarch. The monarchy has proved itself adaptable, and that is why it has such a long track record.

Answer 12

I don't bother too much about the theory of it: I look at the practical effects of different constitutions.

There are obvious exceptions, but worldwide there is a clear pattern. Countries with constitutional monarchies tend to be more stable and better able to cope with challenges; countries with elected presidents have more regime failures, revolutions and general mayhem, while autocracies (absolute monarchies or dictatorships) while they can be stable for a while do not do very well for their people.

Spain is a case in point. In the 1930s they kicked out the King and went for a republic. The second republic was a fiasco, and there was a revolution, a civil war and years of dictatorship. With constitutional monarchy restored, the country saw off an attempted pronunciamiento by the army quite easily, and the place is coping well with severe political stress at the moment.

How many republics have they had in France? And the USA isn't exactly a model of political wellbeing either. Do we really want politics like either of those places?

I can't easily analyse the reasons - I'm not much into the theory. But I suspect that it might be because (for instance) dear Gordon can't aspire to the top job - it's permanently taken. Blair might fancy himself as Queen and even swipe her aeroplane to take his family on holiday (Conrad Black is going to jail for something very similar) but he'll never take over; Brown might get up and deliver a mini Queen's speech, but try as he might, he'll never turn himself into even a mini-queen. We already have a real one.

In a word, a constitutional monarchy takes some of the stuffing out of pompous politicians. And that can't be bad.

So will the monarchy go on being around? I hope so.