Dutch Queen may abdicate - televised announcement due in an hour - Polidicks

[QUOTE=The mouse;39390747]Elizabeth II should abdicate...[/QUOTE] I fear for the day when Charles becomes a monarch.

[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;39391848][img]http://puu.sh/1U1Dl[/img] Pfft, don't act like FP is capable of proper discussion, threads where there are too many contrasting opinions (such as the one in the example above) always go the same way with a shit throwing contest. Look down my nose at monarchy haters? haven't I already established I'm not going to agree with them anyway? Are you seriously associating the posh stigma society gives to royalty with me as though is obviously reflected in my attitude just because I defend it? I'll listen to any anti-monarchy argument and its points if I'm having a debate, only as my post stated I expect people to be bigoted. You get Liberals who think the Monarchy don't have any right to appreciate the luxuries of being part of a wealthy family and instead they should break their backs working to earn a living like a stereotypical working class citizen, its just jealousy, those same people who believe this shit would be choosing to live work-less lives of luxury any day of the week if they were born into it. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("FP can handle itself just fine without people throwing preemptive fits to derail a subject" - daijitsu))[/highlight][/QUOTE] I'm feeling less and less comfortable about rating your first post in the thread Agree. [editline]28th January 2013[/editline] I'm going to go back and change it.

[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;39390868]She's trying to best Victoria's record.[/QUOTE] She only needs like two and a half years. She's really fucking close to it.

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;39394636]She only needs like two and a half years. She's really fucking close to it.[/QUOTE] I know, I had a look at Wikipedia to fact-check. Apparently she only recently beat George III for second place.

[QUOTE=Zotobom;39391311]I'm Dutch,and the queen/king has absolutely NO power here. And she indeed kicked the bucket,and I don't care at all.[/QUOTE] Kings and Queens aren't really around to lead the country anymore, they're usually there because of tourism While technically in the UK the queen IS in charge of the country, she conveniently lets a load of old men in suits do the work for her, so she waves at people and they throw money at her Hell, the Royal Family over here costs a couple billion a year to have, yet brings in about 20x that in tourism

Ultimately there's not much difference between a King/Queen and a President. I'm glad the Dutch still have royalty. I'm not sure why, exactly. I guess I just like tradition.

[QUOTE=V12US;39398822]Ultimately there's not much difference between a King/Queen and a President. I'm glad the Dutch still have royalty. I'm not sure why, exactly. I guess I just like tradition.[/QUOTE] I don't know. I'm Belgian, our royal family can't even speak my mother's tongue properly without reading it off a sheet of paper. They don't feel like MY king, queen and princes. The King also voices his political opinions a lot, AKA "Silly Flemish people, stop being racist and start working with the Walloons more" despite having absolutely no idea what the Flemish issues are. Anything they can do, is already being done by ministers. We could just dump them all and rename our prime minister president and absolutely nothing will have to change to the structure of the country. Instead, our royal family has the right to "consult, warn and encourage" which essentially means backroom politics that are unchecked. Dotations disappearing into slush funds. A prince who breaks laws for no reason and just pays the fine, a prince who meets foreign ambassadors without the consent of the government and jeopardizes international relations. And don't get me started on the whole concept of "Every Belgian is equal, there are no social classes" in the constitution being followed by "except these guys" Seriously I just wished they would all collectively abdicate

Somewhere, a 65-year old prince, is pointing to the Dutch soon-to-be-ex-Queen, and telling his mother: "Look, that's the way you could ALSO do it!" [QUOTE=deltasquid;39399390]I don't know. I'm Belgian, our royal family can't even speak my mother's tongue properly without reading it off a sheet of paper. They don't feel like MY king, queen and princes. The King also voices his political opinions a lot, AKA "Silly Flemish people, stop being racist and start working with the Walloons more" despite having absolutely no idea what the Flemish issues are. Anything they can do, is already being done by ministers. We could just dump them all and rename our prime minister president and absolutely nothing will have to change to the structure of the country. Instead, our royal family has the right to "consult, warn and encourage" which essentially means backroom politics that are unchecked. Dotations disappearing into slush funds. A prince who breaks laws for no reason and just pays the fine, a prince who meets foreign ambassadors without the consent of the government and jeopardizes international relations. And don't get me started on the whole concept of "Every Belgian is equal, there are no social classes" in the constitution being followed by "except these guys" Seriously I just wished they would all collectively abdicate[/QUOTE] Just rejoin the Netherlands. You Flemish people are part of the Dutch family. 80-years-war nevar 4get

I wonder how much prestige and piety she has built up to be added to her score.

[QUOTE=KoningWilders;39399982]Just rejoin the Netherlands. You Flemish people are part of the Dutch family. 80-years-war nevar 4get[/QUOTE] Please take us back, but leave the Hollandse Rekenkunde out of it this time Funnily enough Wallonia was also on our side there. Walloon is closer to Flemish than French, come to think of it.

[QUOTE=deltasquid;39400309]Please take us back, but leave the Hollandse Rekenkunde out of it this time Funnily enough Wallonia was also on our side there. Walloon is closer to Flemish than French, come to think of it.[/QUOTE] Sure. Now to tax the shit out of those stupid Belgians with their inferiority complex towards the superior people from Holland.

[QUOTE=KoningWilders;39401236]Sure. Now to tax the shit out of those stupid Belgians with their inferiority complex towards the superior people from Holland.[/QUOTE] On second thought, maybe we can work something out with Monaco. Their Prince even has the same name as our king!

[QUOTE=Sir M;39395840]Kings and Queens aren't really around to lead the country anymore, they're usually there because of tourism While technically in the UK the queen IS in charge of the country, she conveniently lets a load of old men in suits do the work for her, so she waves at people and they throw money at her Hell, the Royal Family over here costs a couple billion a year to have, yet brings in about 20x that in tourism[/QUOTE] Fuck CPG grey for real. British eat what he says without questions. Your living monarchy is not the only reason you have tourism please. Look at the ''stinking french'' castles that nobody are supposed to care about because they are not inhabited by living kings and queens, yeah they best the U.K ones even without little monarchs in them.

[QUOTE=deltasquid;39399390]I don't know. I'm Belgian, our royal family can't even speak my mother's tongue properly without reading it off a sheet of paper. They don't feel like MY king, queen and princes. The King also voices his political opinions a lot, AKA "Silly Flemish people, stop being racist and start working with the Walloons more" despite having absolutely no idea what the Flemish issues are. Anything they can do, is already being done by ministers. We could just dump them all and rename our prime minister president and absolutely nothing will have to change to the structure of the country. Instead, our royal family has the right to "consult, warn and encourage" which essentially means backroom politics that are unchecked. Dotations disappearing into slush funds. A prince who breaks laws for no reason and just pays the fine, a prince who meets foreign ambassadors without the consent of the government and jeopardizes international relations. And don't get me started on the whole concept of "Every Belgian is equal, there are no social classes" in the constitution being followed by "except these guys" Seriously I just wished they would all collectively abdicate[/QUOTE] The ironic part is that the Belgian monarchy is a populist one so they really should listen to their people.

IMO our whole royal family can fuck right off. with the tax payers money that we spend on our royal family we house & feed the homeless & hungry people of our country. And dont get me started about how much we could improve our educational system with the money saved.

[QUOTE=Zeemlapje;39405323]IMO our whole royal family can fuck right off. with the tax payers money that we spend on our royal family we house & feed the homeless & hungry people of our country. And dont get me started about how much we could improve our educational system with the money saved.[/QUOTE] Stop talking about things you don't know anything about yet have such a strong opinion on.

[QUOTE=deltasquid;39399390]I don't know. I'm Belgian, our royal family can't even speak my mother's tongue properly without reading it off a sheet of paper. They don't feel like MY king, queen and princes. The King also voices his political opinions a lot, AKA "Silly Flemish people, stop being racist and start working with the Walloons more" despite having absolutely no idea what the Flemish issues are. [/QUOTE] To be fair isn't this because of the nature of Belgium. Although everything else you mention does suck, you seem to have the one royal family in Europe that doesn't just sit quiety and earn money.

[QUOTE=Jsm;39406227]To be fair isn't this because of the nature of Belgium. Although everything else you mention does suck, you seem to have the one royal family in Europe that doesn't just sit quiety and earn money.[/QUOTE] Sweden's monarch is pretty cool imo, he actually does alot by comparison to many modern monarchs. The king of Sweden is a car collecter, and an honarary head of the world scouting foundation.

[QUOTE=The mouse;39406343]Sweden's monarch is pretty cool imo, he actually does alot by comparison to many modern monarchs. The king of Sweden is a car collecter, and an honarary head of the world scouting foundation.[/QUOTE] He's pretty much the only intimidating looking monarch left too. [editline]23:27[/editline] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/King_Carl_XVI_Gustaf_at_National_Day_2009_Cropped.png/450px-King_Carl_XVI_Gustaf_at_National_Day_2009_Cropped.png[/img] Jesus! [editline]29th January 2013[/editline] That stare!

[QUOTE=The mouse;39390747]Elizabeth II should abdicate...[/QUOTE] Given how old and attached to the throne she is she'll never abdicate. To be honest I don't see why she should either. The monarch has absolutely no power in the UK and is pretty much just a cultural presence. Just let her have her throne until she passes away, it's not like there's any actual reason for her to leave it.

[QUOTE=Zeemlapje;39405323]IMO our whole royal family can fuck right off. with the tax payers money that we spend on our royal family we house & feed the homeless & hungry people of our country. And dont get me started about how much we could improve our educational system with the money saved.[/QUOTE] I think you're overestimating the cost of a royal family, I seriously doubt you'd save that much money.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;39406515]Given how old and attached to the throne she is she'll never abdicate. To be honest I don't see why she should either. The monarch has absolutely no power in the UK and is pretty much just a cultural presence. Just let her have her throne until she passes away, it's not like there's any actual reason for her to leave it.[/QUOTE] I say she waits til she knows she may pass on and give it to William at the last minute, just so Charles can't claim it.

I sometimes wish the US had a Monarchy, but I'm pretty content with the cool presidents we've had over the years.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;39406515]Given how old and attached to the throne she is she'll never abdicate. To be honest I don't see why she should either. The monarch has absolutely no power in the UK and is pretty much just a cultural presence. Just let her have her throne until she passes away, it's not like there's any actual reason for her to leave it.[/QUOTE] Technically a nice little loophole against a authoritarian parliament/government as well. It's worth remembering all our police and armed forces (except for the Navy, except they do, just differently) swear an oath of fealty to the Crown, not the Government...

[QUOTE=Jsm;39406227]To be fair isn't this because of the nature of Belgium. Although everything else you mention does suck, you seem to have the one royal family in Europe that doesn't just sit quiety and earn money.[/QUOTE] Yeah well, they can't style themselves "King of the Belgians" and only support the Walloon side of the argument every time.

[QUOTE=deltasquid;39413280]Yeah well, they can't style themselves "King of the Belgians" and only support the Walloon side of the argument every time.[/QUOTE] Indeed, that is a pretty poor thing for someone who is claiming to be a monarch for all of the people of a country. [QUOTE=KoningWilders;39399982]Somewhere, a 65-year old prince, is pointing to the Dutch soon-to-be-ex-Queen, and telling his mother: "Look, that's the way you could ALSO do it!" [/QUOTE] Assuming you mean the (nearly) 65 year old prince I think you are thinking of. [t]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8430203183_b4c83a7eca_c.jpg[/t]