On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 3:04 PM, John Edwards <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 2:30 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> That whole idea made my head spin? Since when does the monarchy answer >> to the commonwealth? When these "reforms" were proposed, was there an >> option to vote for disposing of the monarchy altogether in the spirit >> of fairness? > > The monarchy doesn't answer to the Commonwealth, but it has been recognized > in the UK since 1701 that Parliament governs succession to the throne. > What that means is that each Commonwealth country that has the Queen as head > of state does so through laws in their own country, since the UK Parliament > no longer legislates for any of these countries. So, they each independently > recognize the Queen as Queen of <fill in the blank>, so Queen Elizabeth is > not only Queen of England, she is also Queen of Canada, Queen of Australia, > Queen of New Zealand, etc. > What that means is that any change in the royal succession rules requires > laws to be passed not only in the UK, but in each of the 16 countries > involved, in order to ensure that the succession remains the same > throughout. Otherwise, you could potentially have Australia and Canada > recognizing different people as the rightful monarch, particularly if > William and Kate's first child is a girl, or if said person were to marry a > Catholic. > The question of abolition is a matter for each individual country. There are > far more than 16 countries in the Commonwealth, and most have abandoned the > monarchy. Australia had a referendum on the subject 12 years ago, which > failed. The eventual death of Queen Elizabeth may cause some re-examination > of the topic, but as of now it appears to be a non-starter in most places.
Thanks for the explanation. It would have made the original story less ludicrous looking if it had been included. I still think the idea of reforming a monarchy or its succession to make it fairer is ridiculous. If you're choosing a leader by birth status and belonging to a royal family, then all attempts at reform must come up short. But with an actual succession coming up in the foreseeable future it makes sense for the Commonwealth countries to all get on the same page. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
