History innit. Power retained by using it or the threat of or bribing enough support. It's got more subtle over the centuries that's all.
You would never have guessed. Apart from the fact that the royals bring millions of pounds into this country by tourism alone send a royal along on an overseas trade mission and the mere presence of say Will and Kate and more deals are struck. It isn't a job the Queen asked for or for that matter neither did Charles, Anne Andrew and Edward. But I believe the Queen is beyond reproach, and has done her duty and more during the past 70 years she must be utterly heartbroken that all the good work she has done has been pulled apart by two of her family Andrew and Harry. Yes there have been errors of judgement made by all and no doubt the British gutter press will be there to pounce on the next error of judgement.
if Charles had a coronary then William would become king as he's next in the line of succession. Luckily non sweaty Andrew is only down in 8th so it would take a pretty unfortunate set of circumstances for him to get anywhere near the top job.
Yes really. Why do you think she has regular meetings with the PM ? Why has she met practically every world head of state in the last 70 years? She represents our country in a non political way which presents the world with a far more balanced view of Britain than see-sawing politicians.
This is often quoted as a justification for the monarchy but I've never seen any actual evidence that it's based on reality, after all France attracts as many tourists as the UK and they dealt with their royals over 200 years ago
I saw an interesting documentary on that. It ended up with an American bar singer becoming king. Can’t remember the name of it…
The French have the benefit of the Alps, a large electricity pylon and eurodisney… they don’t need a monarchy!
In answer to your 2 questions, custom, tradition and protocol. In reply to your summary , I agree to an extent but that representation has been watered down significantly during the course of her reign.
A lot came here ....Aspall cider company in Suffolk are ex french aristocrats .....Glad they didn't get guillotined ...it's a very nice cider .
I don't want to get bogged down in an interminable argument but I don't think that you have any idea what conversations take place in those meetings. I don't either but I don't think they just talk about the weather. An international stateswoman like the Queen has a lifetime of diplomatic experience which will be of enormous benefit to anyone who cares to listen. If your objection to a powerless monarchy is based solely on the fact that the taxpayer subsidises it, then I think that is a bit shallow. I'll leave it at that because this is a thread about funny pictures and we are both seriously off topic in that respect!