The Queen is Dead -- Long Live the Queen

So the media is invested in Seperate But Equal. Though London is a better place to hangout than Minneapolis, black or white. .

 

Yeah, I’ll be the asshole here.

The same twitter crowd that throws a fit whenever a woman in an air conditioned cubicle makes less money than a man working in an oil derrick is crying their FUPAs out over a queen who lived 96 years in really nice public housing.

 

Late to the conversation, but Elizabeth's father, George VI, was a good king. Despite not preparing for the role (he never expected his brother, Edward VIII, to step down) and despite being a naturally timid person with a lifelong stutter (dramatized in the King's Speech by the great Colin Firth) who shied away from attention before he was thrust into his role, he provided inspirational leadership in WW2 -- staying in London during the Blitz and sharing in the hardships with the commoners and visiting the troops in France -- and subsequently overseeing the mostly (but not entirely) peaceful transition of the British Empire -- and its colonies and possessions -- into a Commonwealth of voluntarily affiliated independent nations. Obviously he wasn't responsible for policy as a ceremonial head of state. But even in a largely ceremonial role, the decisions he made and the way he went about things helped shepherd a smoother process. He acquitted himself well during turbulent times.

 

Trump is going to appoint JFK Jr as his Ambassador to Great Britain and representative at the funeral

 

No one can stop what's coming.

 

Meanwhile, over at No. 10

 

I deliberately didn't make reservations or buy train tickets before the TV picks were made. My game was Round 2, so I believe TV picked their games just after the 4th of July. To some degree, some of those issues are moot anyway in that clubs don't sell single-game tickets for the whole season at once like American franchises, or at least Villa doesn't. My game ticket was one of the last of the things I had to buy before I left, six days before my flight. The TV thing probably worked in my favor, anyway, as the match got moved up to the lunchtime kickoff on Saturday, which meant I knew I could leave Birmingham on Sunday morning and get three days in the capital instead of two. I even considered going the other direction and trying to get a ticket for Nottingham Forest the following day, but given that it was their first Premier League game in 20-plus years that seemed like an impossible ticket.

 

my vote

 

How did Wednesday Addams wind up third in line to the throne?

 

Two days since she died and it's still all royals, all the time. Have they interviewed Lord Grantham yet? Or George Brett?

 

Unlike a lot of people, I actually think Charles will be a good king, or, at least, that he will do his level best to be one. I have thought for a while that it would've been nice, and certainly more effective and impacting, if Charles could have taken on his new role, say, 10 or 15 years ago. First off, he actually has wanted to be king for a long time, and he has always taken his royal jobs seriously and had a good work ethic. He has always been known to have been a tireless workhorse in completing his royal assignments and commitments each year, while William, by contrast, and in opposition to his generally good, popular image, has been known to have a lazy streak and an aversion to work.

Charles also is likely to be more opinionated and more of an activist than Queen Elizabeth II ever was because he actually has long had causes and issues that he openly supported and believed in and wanted and tried to forward. As he has already said in the first speech he gave as king on Friday, he probably will not be able to be as active in those causes as he once was because his role has changed, but his opinions will still carry weight -- perhaps more, even, than they have in the past, just because he is now king.

Charles, more forward-thinking than perhaps a lot of people ever gave him credit for, has been hurt by his seeming aged-ness because he has had to wait so long to take over as king -- sometimes much to his frustration and dislike, I think. But he has long pushed things like climate-change issues and organic farming, way before (like, back in the late '60s and '70s) they ever became the fashionable and politically correct hot topics that they are now. He and his image have also been hurt, of course, by his long-running love affair with Camilla, and all the problems, blame and bad public perceptions he still carries from his marriage and divorce with Princess Diana. And, especially with her death, there isn't much he will ever be able to do about that.

But he is known to be a gentle soul, and a bit of an emotional man, particularly with regard to his sons. I have no doubt that he loves them both, and misses Prince Harry a lot, and that the chances of their family issues being resolved will be better now than they were previously. I believe these issues might even be among the first that the new king will try to broach, and I'd credit and admire him for that if it happens. And if Harry and Meghan are willing to give even an inch about anything regarding their struggles, I believe that it will.

He made a good first speech, and, considering it was just a day after the queen's passing, it said a lot about him and how he hopes to reign.

King Charles and his first speech - Search