I'm curious as to what aspies in the UK and around the world, think about the pomp, mass hysteria and typical British eccentrity surrounding this event.

For those oblivious to it all (is there any?) here's the BBC's webpages

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17500000

She in my view is a symbol and nothing more or less.

good entertainment

That is undoubtably true. She has no special powers, and no say in what goes on anywhere except within the bounds of her own family.

And yet she, her family and the museums that they live in pull in millions of visitors (and more importantly their wallets) from around the globe every year.

The royal family is a remarkably profitable gimmick that costs less than £1 per annum per head of a tiny island.

And yet on a cold wet day over a million cheering people dress up in red, white and blue and line a river bank to catch a glimpse of her going past in a gold painted boat. Meanwhile millions more people dress similarily and hold street parties just to commemorate her sitting on the throne for sixty years.

And then there are millions more emulating this in their own backyards from Canada to New Zealand and billions more like Skyblue watching it all on TV.

As a studier of humans for many years now, I am fascinated by this phenomenon.

I cant help feeling that by trivialising and eliminating Royals we are missing some basic need of human nature.

I really hate all of it, would get rid of them all, nationalism and flag waving disgusts me, but even the daily mail  online put the number of people looking at the boats in the rain yesterday was only 'tens of thousands', not a million.

'god save the queen, 'coz tourists are money!'

BTW - RE the cost of the monarchy - the Palace estimates a total of £40m per year; a new report from the pressure group Republic estimates an annual cost of £202m, a figure which makes the British monarchy ‘one of the most expensive, wasteful and financially irresponsible institutions in the world‘.

http://www.republic.org.uk/valueformoneymyth.pdf

This post was last modified: 06-04-2012 06:52 PM by smnmy.

I prefer to get my figures from the Guardian, a reputable anti-monarchist newspaper and they stated over a million lined the riverbanks with 20,000 people taking part on the river.

I think you saw a typo or got your figures mixed up.

Nice legs though! You can tell a man created that picture.

Of course the monarchy are going to try to minimise the figure just as Republic are going to try to maximise the figure.

No doubt the true cost lies somewhere in between.

However taking Republic's figure of £90 million annual cost of the French president - a country of similar size and population - I don't see much saving to be made by abolishing the monarchy.

And of course the Republic figures have taken no account of the millions spent by visiting tourists wanting to see the Family every year.

I am not really interested in the pro's and cons debate, they do seem quite harmless, I am more interested in why.

Is it as Skyblue said, just entertainment?

This post was last modified: 06-04-2012 08:13 PM by heterodox.

I am not from the UK, but from what I know about it so far.... Its making a lot of people.... angry, odd, bitter, and all the above...

But a lot of people are having a good time with it

Now on to the Olympics

I think it is "quite civilized" to have a family whose job is to take care of charity work and the like (social contract type stuff)- to have SOME people that do not have to deal with elections etc., (above the fray right?) I read that most people do not mind the cost associated as it is mostly "good press" for their country... plus all the c"estates must be good for keeping up open spaces, not to mention fancy parties! (like someone said - good for tourism!)

I think God Bless her, she may be Queen, but her days are decided for her and have been since she was 26.  Some people will just opt out and NOT do it.(take on the family business for example)  I think she has behaved nicely enough and her people could be proud of her.  (I mean what do I have here in the US, the Bush family/dynsasty??!)

I really despise the monarchy and the institution associated with it.

Sure, but if we filled them with sawdust and put them in a glass cabinet we could still have the tourism revenue without the associated maintenance costs.

Moreover, its the principle of the thing. There is an unelected, heriditary head of state. How is that compatible with democracy let alone life in the 21st Century?

The flotilla thing cost £12M by itself! But we'll never have accurate figures for what they cost, because they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
They are a lot more than a symbol. It's not just that they are unelected and own half the country, they legitimise the class system, and the mythology of the british empire and grateful deferential commonwealth, AND the idea that rich posh people are the best people to run the country, no matter how corrupt and/or stupid they are.

This post was last modified: 06-05-2012 11:10 AM by smnmy.

Some interesting ideas - a guilded cage indeed.

There can't be many people who would be prepared to have their daily itinery dictated to them.
Today you are planting a tree in the morning, opening a new library in the afternoon and entertaining the Bush's in the evening or whatever other despot the elected government of the day is trying to impress. And all the while she is expected to smile, wave and be nice to everybody she meets, urgh! shudders!

Following this line of thought I wonder if this avalanche of cheering red, white and blue is the public's way of thanking her for fulfilling such a thankless role for so many years.

Interesting but I suspect there is more to it than that.