"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
RIP - Elizabeth the Great.
I think I'm right in saying only one other monarch of any of the Home Nations has been called that - Alfred of Wessex (871-899).
King Charles will be ok. Many realms will go, but I think it will go nowhere for now.
The emotion ( and yes, over emotion) of the next weeks will see that.
I think a lot of people will now be surprised how quiet he becomes on issues he may have spoken about before, and how much her follows her blueprint as a tribute to her. And everyone knows William and Kate are coming.
Or you may be surprised.
The line between what he does quietly and what he does publicly may change, but in which direction is not clear.
He's as barking as f***, as many who live in or near his big collection of real-life dolls' houses in Poundbury can confirm.
He has also been correct on some issues well before they became popular, e.g. the environment.
And whilst Poundbury can be criticised, he was right in saying that there are big problems with the built environment as well. We can build better than we do.
He's a human being and I'm sure he is right about some things. He is also barking. And he's as gullible as f***. See what he says about the ratio between the radii of planetary orbits in his book "Harmony":
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
He'll go for George, after the best Chancellor of this millenium.
King Gordon?
Now isn't the time, but Charles won't be a patch on his mother.
I predict he will have a shorter reign.
I suspect he will reign for as long as he can. He won't want William to be King while his children are young if he can avoid it.
But I suspect 'as long as he can' won't be more than about seven years, for health reasons or by virtue of doing something silly.
He's 73. I can easily see him setting a retirement date, in contrast to his mother.
And I would say, having unlike his mother made no pledge of lifelong service, he would be wrong to try.
That fundamentally misunderstands the institution.
He may try to re-write that institution, of course, but that's what it would take. They are not elected politicians. They are chosen by God, anointed by his representatives.
Personally I think it's pretty ludicrous but that doesn't alter the fact.
That's your interpretation, it isnt fact. Even popes chosen by God retire. The history of our own monarchy is far more messy than your interpretation.
Popes don't usually retire. There's a whole story about how Benedict did so because it was the only way to change the guard, and clear out what had become massive corruption in the Vatican. No idea how true it is.
He went because of his handling of child abuse claims. Even his strongest supporters couldn’t defend his past decisions as he climbed the greasy pole to the top.
Either he went, or the Catholic Church shrivelled.
The interesting thing I always found about The Queen was that, strange as it might sound, she was supremely aware of the fact that she was The Queen.
It's difficult to explain but the protocol, the functions, the ceremonial, she was always acutely aware that she was the centre of it and made no concession to any modern mores. Not to say that she couldn't speak to dukes or dustmen but she was aware that she was Queen and all that that represented.
I am not 100% sure that Charles will have the same attitude given his exposure to a far greater time first as not King and second to a broader section of society before he became king. Those who think he will be unfit to rule are unaware of the nature of the royal family today (as opposed to, say, in 1135).
I find myself interestingly unshocked and even full of optimism at Charles' reign.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
BBC probably had that ready to go, as the PM’s statement, and didn’t yet have its replacement from the new PM - who had to deliver it in person outside No.10.
She is certainly having a baptism by fire and adapting to the role quickly
Thank goodness it was not Johnson
Thought Truss was terrible. Cold.
Johnno would have been better at this by a mile.
"Abolish them! We've had enough!" says LibDem Liz and photos of her being the last non-royal household person to touch the Queen pictures are doing good business on Facebook.
"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
RIP - Elizabeth the Great.
I think I'm right in saying only one other monarch of any of the Home Nations has been called that - Alfred of Wessex (871-899).
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
The Colombian lady who cleans our office has also just expressed her shock and sadness
Well, this isn't a great speech by Truss, if I'm honest. Too many clichés and inaccuracies.
But it's being well delivered and she looks appropriately sad and dignified.
Thank you God that you didn't take Her Majesty 72 hours ago.
Did her duty to the very end. RIP HM The Queen. You were bloody brilliant.
She wasn't entirely to be honest and much will come out in the wash. But that's one for another day.
She served indefatigably and tirelessly. Brilliant? No.
Knew more about national history than you do, and wtf is this about stuff coming out in the wash? I think you are confusing idioms, dirty linen in public, possibly? And this is crap anyway. There is no scandal and if there were, not a chance of its emerging or being believed.
“I'm hearing fixed tariffs will have the same per pound unit rate reduction as variable tariffs (ie, roughly 30% off). So it looks like, unless you fixed at over the new October price cap level, your fix will be cheaper than moving to variable. (More to check on this.)”
This can’t be right, surely?
My mum fixed last August for 2 years at a very cheap rate (compared to the current cap) - If Martin is right, she’ll get an extra ~30% off her (already very cheap) per kWh unit cost.
Either Martin is wrong, or, more alarmingly, he’s right - and the policy is utterly absurd.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
She was arguably the most famous person in the world.
“I'm hearing fixed tariffs will have the same per pound unit rate reduction as variable tariffs (ie, roughly 30% off). So it looks like, unless you fixed at over the new October price cap level, your fix will be cheaper than moving to variable. (More to check on this.)”
This can’t be right, surely?
My mum fixed last August for 2 years at a very cheap rate (compared to the current cap) - If Martin is right, she’ll get an extra ~30% off her already very cheap per kWh unit cost.
Either Martin is wrong, or, more alarmingly, he’s right - and the policy is utterly absurd.
I am far more upset by this than I think I expected to be.
I don't feel proud to be British. Feeling pride in something that I had no choice or influence over seems rather daft.
But I do feel both extremely lucky and honoured that I am from these shores and that for all my life The Queen was the figurehead of what we were supposed to stand for, even when we fell short of the ideals as individuals or as a nation.
So Rest in Peace Your Majesty and even though you never knew me, thankyou for making me feel honoured.
She is certainly having a baptism by fire and adapting to the role quickly
Thank goodness it was not Johnson
Thought Truss was terrible. Cold.
Johnno would have been better at this by a mile.
"Abolish them! We've had enough!" says LibDem Liz and photos of her being the last non-royal household person to touch the Queen pictures are doing good business on Facebook.
The queen’s death brings a moment of reckoning for Britain.
LONDON — The death of Queen Elizabeth II, which Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday, is a watershed moment for Britain, at once incomparable and incalculable.
It marks both the loss of a revered monarch — the only one most Britons have ever known — and the end of a figure who served as a living link to the glories of World War II Britain, presided over its fitful adjustment to a post-colonial, post-imperial era and saw it through its bitter divorce from the European Union.
There is no analogous public figure who will have been mourned as deeply in Britain — Winston Churchill might come closest — or whose death could provoke a greater reckoning with the identity and future of the country. Elizabeth’s extraordinary longevity lent her an air of permanence that makes her death, even at an advanced age, somehow shocking.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
It’s the biggest news story of this century so far. Only 9/11 is close - ironically, the 21st anniversary of which is on Sunday.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
She was arguably the most famous person in the world.
The interesting thing I always found about The Queen was that, strange as it might sound, she was supremely aware of the fact that she was The Queen.
It's difficult to explain but the protocol, the functions, the ceremonial, she was always acutely aware that she was the centre of it and made no concession to any modern mores. Not to say that she couldn't speak to dukes or dustmen but she was aware that she was Queen and all that that represented.
I am not 100% sure that Charles will have the same attitude given his exposure to a far greater time first as not King and second to a broader section of society before he became king. Those who think he will be unfit to rule are unaware of the nature of the royal family today (as opposed to, say, in 1135).
I find myself interestingly unshocked and even full of optimism at Charles' reign.
The conviction of royal exceptionalism lives on, in Andrew. I agree I think Charles doesn't have it, and a good thing too.
She is certainly having a baptism by fire and adapting to the role quickly
Thank goodness it was not Johnson
Thought Truss was terrible. Cold.
Johnno would have been better at this by a mile.
"Abolish them! We've had enough!" says LibDem Liz and photos of her being the last non-royal household person to touch the Queen pictures are doing good business on Facebook.
Not sure this plays out well for her.
Perhaps Truss judged that an effusive, gushing tribute would look foolish in the light of her past. And she would be correct.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
She was arguably the most famous person in the world.
She was about the only person with enough presence and prestige to control Donald Trump for a few hours.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
It’s the biggest news story of this century so far. Only 9/11 is close - ironically, the 21st anniversary of which is on Saturday.
The interesting thing I always found about The Queen was that, strange as it might sound, she was supremely aware of the fact that she was The Queen.
It's difficult to explain but the protocol, the functions, the ceremonial, she was always acutely aware that she was the centre of it and made no concession to any modern mores. Not to say that she couldn't speak to dukes or dustmen but she was aware that she was Queen and all that that represented.
I am not 100% sure that Charles will have the same attitude given his exposure to a far greater time first as not King and second to a broader section of society before he became king. Those who think he will be unfit to rule are unaware of the nature of the royal family today (as opposed to, say, in 1135).
I find myself interestingly unshocked and even full of optimism at Charles' reign.
Me too. Edward VIII came to the throne as an old man (and a dirty old fornicator) and was a very popular Monarch. I think Charles will be fine.
Events happen in politics and I doubt anyone expected an event of this magnitude to suddenly raise Truss's profile throughout the country and not only to the funeral but the coronation which will take place in her time in office
I assume William becomes the Prince of Wales with an investiture to take place at Caernarfon Castle
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
It’s the biggest news story of this century so far. Only 9/11 is close - ironically, the 21st anniversary of which is on Saturday.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
It’s the biggest news story of this century so far. Only 9/11 is close.
I suspect 9/11 pips it, for being entirely unexpected for starters.
Otherwise, I guess you’re right.
For me, I feel a wrenching away of childhood memories, not of course that I knew her, but of the relentless iconography - the stamps, the notes, the photo on the ministry wall - that make up the backdrop of youth and are thereby emotionally charged.
My wife has just described Truss's contribution as "robotic, without any sense of feeling or nuance - the content was passable, but delivered as if reading a script that meant little to her". I agreed.
Good. She is reading it as part of her job, not as a film audition. Anything, anything but the ghastly theatrics of Blair over Di.
btw she said HMQ was the embodiment of Great Britain. Awks in the circs.
She is certainly having a baptism by fire and adapting to the role quickly
Thank goodness it was not Johnson
Thought Truss was terrible. Cold.
Johnno would have been better at this by a mile.
"Abolish them! We've had enough!" says LibDem Liz and photos of her being the last non-royal household person to touch the Queen pictures are doing good business on Facebook.
Not sure this plays out well for her.
Perhaps Truss judged that an effusive, gushing tribute would look foolish in the light of her past. And she would be correct.
And she had to give her statement on camera, unlike all the other tributes we're hearing now. She kept it short, and "the rock on which modern Britain was built" absolutely hit the right note.
Events happen in politics and I doubt anyone expected an event of this magnitude to suddenly raise Truss's profile throughout the country and not only to the funeral but the coronation which will take place in her time in office
I assume William becomes the Prince of Wales with an investiture to take place at Caernarfon Castle
Will be interesting to see if they go for Caernarfon or Cardiff for the investiture.
Caernarfon is more spectacular and historic, but Cardiff is much more definitely the capital now than it was in 1969.
The interesting thing I always found about The Queen was that, strange as it might sound, she was supremely aware of the fact that she was The Queen.
It's difficult to explain but the protocol, the functions, the ceremonial, she was always acutely aware that she was the centre of it and made no concession to any modern mores. Not to say that she couldn't speak to dukes or dustmen but she was aware that she was Queen and all that that represented.
I am not 100% sure that Charles will have the same attitude given his exposure to a far greater time first as not King and second to a broader section of society before he became king. Those who think he will be unfit to rule are unaware of the nature of the royal family today (as opposed to, say, in 1135).
I find myself interestingly unshocked and even full of optimism at Charles' reign.
Me too. Edward VIII came to the throne as an old man (and a dirty old fornicator) and was a very popular Monarch. I think Charles will be fine.
She is certainly having a baptism by fire and adapting to the role quickly
Thank goodness it was not Johnson
Thought Truss was terrible. Cold.
Johnno would have been better at this by a mile.
"Abolish them! We've had enough!" says LibDem Liz and photos of her being the last non-royal household person to touch the Queen pictures are doing good business on Facebook.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
A seminal moment indeed. Good to hear you escaped the sun.
I’m still on the remote Portuguese coast. I just checked in to a new hotel. The old Portuguese lady who owns the place looked at me, with sad, pale-faced shock, and said “your queen is dead!
It is a world history moment.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
How are they going to blame this on Brexit?
It's difficult to work that out yet, but a side effect of Brexit AND the Queen's passing almost certainly has been Leon's fate at the hands of the laughing German he planned to assault earlier.
RIP Her Majesty the Queen after a lifetime of service to our nation. One of our greatest monarchs. Thoughts and prayers too with the royal family and our new King Charles IIIrd
My wife has just described Truss's contribution as "robotic, without any sense of feeling or nuance - the content was passable, but delivered as if reading a script that meant little to her". I agreed.
Good. She is reading it as part of her job, not as a film audition. Anything, anything but the ghastly theatrics of Blair over Di.
btw she said HMQ was the embodiment of Great Britain. Awks in the circs.
Truss called the new monarch "Charles III".
Yes, I have been telling people here for years that nothing else was possible.
I have a variant of Cassandra syndrome: all my predictions are entirely correct unless I have money on them.
Events happen in politics and I doubt anyone expected an event of this magnitude to suddenly raise Truss's profile throughout the country and not only to the funeral but the coronation which will take place in her time in office
I assume William becomes the Prince of Wales with an investiture to take place at Caernarfon Castle
I am not sure this is the black swan you are looking for.
Truss defeating Putin might be just the ticket mind.
"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."
RIP - Elizabeth the Great.
Elizabeth the Dutiful? It was what her life was all about.
Events happen in politics and I doubt anyone expected an event of this magnitude to suddenly raise Truss's profile throughout the country and not only to the funeral but the coronation which will take place in her time in office
I assume William becomes the Prince of Wales with an investiture to take place at Caernarfon Castle
I am not sure this is the black swan you are looking for.
Truss defeating Putin might be just the ticket mind.
Utter desperation. Raising her profile WTF remember this the next time PB Tories waver
RIP Her Majesty the Queen after a lifetime of service to our nation. One of our greatest monarchs. Thoughts and prayers too with the royal family and our new King Charles IIIrd
"King Charles IIIrd" gets you an immediate pass to the Tower, young fella.
RIP Her Majesty the Queen after a lifetime of service to our nation. One of our greatest monarchs. Thoughts and prayers too with the royal family and our new King Charles IIIrd
Well done HY. The right tone and comment for the moment.
RIP Her Majesty the Queen after a lifetime of service to our nation. One of our greatest monarchs. Thoughts and prayers too with the royal family and our new King Charles IIIrd
Charles III ffs
I hope his first regnal act as fidei defensor will be to affirm his great forebear's statement as to the physical homosexuality of Our Lord.
Mrs Capitano has just pointed out I'm going to have to intone "O Lord, save the King" at our next rehearsal for Choral Evensong. That is going to take some getting used to.
It is officially King Charles III, according to ?Clarence House?
I'm unsurprised. The Queen named him Charles knowing the precedents. Why would he change it?
And as I haven't said it yet: RIP HMQ. I'm trying to do other things to avoid thinking about it.
Another dumb PB shibboleth bites the dust. The ludicrous idea he’d be King George or some other bollocks, which we were assured of by the royal watchers on here, has been blown apart.
I don’t think William automatically becomes Prince of Wales, does he?
I assume the title is currently in abeyance.
It has to be recreated.
All Charles' other titles now fall. Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Carrick and Earl of Merioneth all now cease to exist and can be awarded to others by a new creation.
My Queen anecdote (apart from seeing the top of her hat at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party).
Newcastle Races. The bar - floor swimming with beer and fag ends. The Boys Brigade standing about with a length of plastic chain link fence lying on the floor. When the Queen arrived the boys picked up the fence and took a step back to form a narrow passage for the Queen through the throng to the box. Later, when I was carrying drinks from the bar I got a tap on my shoulder “Step back please, the Queen would like to pass”
And she did, right in front of me, on her way to inspect the horses. Amazing blue eyes.
Mrs Capitano has just pointed out I'm going to have to intone "O Lord, save the King" at our next rehearsal for Choral Evensong. That is going to take some getting used to.
Comments
(Yes I know she never reigned in Scotland).
fuck off phatty.
But I wonder if it will stick.
Johnson has used it, apparently.
Even the NY Times has cleared their front web page.
It's difficult to explain but the protocol, the functions, the ceremonial, she was always acutely aware that she was the centre of it and made no concession to any modern mores. Not to say that she couldn't speak to dukes or dustmen but she was aware that she was Queen and all that that represented.
I am not 100% sure that Charles will have the same attitude given his exposure to a far greater time first as not King and second to a broader section of society before he became king. Those who think he will be unfit to rule are unaware of the nature of the royal family today (as opposed to, say, in 1135).
I find myself interestingly unshocked and even full of optimism at Charles' reign.
Not sure this plays out well for her.
Anyway, Martin Lewis just emailed;
“I'm hearing fixed tariffs will have the same per pound unit rate reduction as variable tariffs (ie, roughly 30% off). So it looks like, unless you fixed at over the new October price cap level, your fix will be cheaper than moving to variable. (More to check on this.)”
This can’t be right, surely?
My mum fixed last August for 2 years at a very cheap rate (compared to the current cap) - If Martin is right, she’ll get an extra ~30% off her (already very cheap) per kWh unit cost.
Either Martin is wrong, or, more alarmingly, he’s right - and the policy is utterly absurd.
I don't feel proud to be British. Feeling pride in something that I had no choice or influence over seems rather daft.
But I do feel both extremely lucky and honoured that I am from these shores and that for all my life The Queen was the figurehead of what we were supposed to stand for, even when we fell short of the ideals as individuals or as a nation.
So Rest in Peace Your Majesty and even though you never knew me, thankyou for making me feel honoured.
LONDON — The death of Queen Elizabeth II, which Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday, is a watershed moment for Britain, at once incomparable and incalculable.
It marks both the loss of a revered monarch — the only one most Britons have ever known — and the end of a figure who served as a living link to the glories of World War II Britain, presided over its fitful adjustment to a post-colonial, post-imperial era and saw it through its bitter divorce from the European Union.
There is no analogous public figure who will have been mourned as deeply in Britain — Winston Churchill might come closest — or whose death could provoke a greater reckoning with the identity and future of the country. Elizabeth’s extraordinary longevity lent her an air of permanence that makes her death, even at an advanced age, somehow shocking.
NY Times
It could have been Johnson, Corbyn and Trump.
And TBF, this is probably the way she would have wanted it. At her beloved Balmoral, able to carry out at least some duties right to the end.
Let's remember that as well.
So credit to him for that .
I’m on holiday at the start of October.
I assume William becomes the Prince of Wales with an investiture to take place at Caernarfon Castle
Otherwise, I guess you’re right.
For me, I feel a wrenching away of childhood memories, not of course that I knew her, but of the relentless iconography - the stamps, the notes, the photo on the ministry wall - that make up the backdrop of youth and are thereby emotionally charged.
Caernarfon is more spectacular and historic, but Cardiff is much more definitely the capital now than it was in 1969.
FFS
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/world/europe/queen-elizabeth-dead.html
Keir gets the tone spot on. PM material is either leader
I have a variant of Cassandra syndrome: all my predictions are entirely correct unless I have money on them.
Truss defeating Putin might be just the ticket mind.
I assume the title is currently in abeyance.
On the day the government announces £150bn is going to be spent - adding six and a half percent onto the national debt IN ONE DAY……
It’s story number 14 on the BBC news site.
I hope his first regnal act as fidei defensor will be to affirm his great forebear's statement as to the physical homosexuality of Our Lord.
All Charles' other titles now fall. Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Carrick and Earl of Merioneth all now cease to exist and can be awarded to others by a new creation.
It was suggested he was concerned people might think he would be too meddlesome anyway.
Newcastle Races. The bar - floor swimming with beer and fag ends. The Boys Brigade standing about with a length of plastic chain link fence lying on the floor. When the Queen arrived the boys picked up the fence and took a step back to form a narrow passage for the Queen through the throng to the box. Later, when I was carrying drinks from the bar I got a tap on my shoulder “Step back please, the Queen would like to pass”
And she did, right in front of me, on her way to inspect the horses. Amazing blue eyes.
As well you mentioned it.
Absolutely nobody around even though it's stopped raining for the first time today.