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Queen Elizabeth is ill — 73 Comments

  1. “On Tuesday, the queen spent the day at her summer residence in Scotland appointing Truss. The 96-year-old queen oversaw an entire day’s worth of activities, involving the symbolic transfer of power to Truss.”

    Has Joseph Robinette Biden ever overseen an entire day’s worth of activities since becoming President?

  2. I am not a monarchist; and often wonder at the value of one. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see a “public servant” who served with such dignity and devotion to duty over the course of a lifetime. If she ever ‘put a foot wrong’ it was not apparent.

    Would that our Heads of State had all measured up to her standard over the years.

    God bless, Elizabeth Regina.

    Martin, I doubt that Charles can do much harm in a mostly ceremonial role. Besides, I am frankly suspicious of some of the nuttiness attached to him. Once, when Diana was alive, I was in a position to observe the press treatment of the two over a period of a few days. They adored her, of course, and treated him with contempt. I put as much stock in press coverage of Charles as I do in their coverage of Trump. I know that the RAF crew that flew with him respected his diligence, and his willingness to take instruction and advice from the professionals.

  3. I have deep respect for Queen Elizabeth II for what I understand to be a lifetime of duty and reverence for position performed with beauty and dignity. God bless her and family during this time of suffering.

  4. She is a wonderful person, who has given her life in service to God and to her fellow man.

  5. Oldflyer, I agree with you in large part especially on Elisabeth and not necessarily believing the press.
    While his role is mostly ceremonial, He will have more control over one of the largest fortunes in the world. I don’t doubt that he worked well within his roles in the military as I believe that he intended to be influential as King. He is unfortunately well aligned with the climate über alles contingent of rich people in the world with whom I have great disagreement.

  6. Buckingham Palace’s announcement that Queen Elizabeth II is under “medical supervision” is “grave news,” according to a royal biographer. “We knew that this was extremely serious when the palace released a statement that doctors were ‘concerned,’” Robert Hardman, author of “Queen of Our Times,” tells Page Six exclusively. Hardman explains that the famously stoic monarch, 96, “dislikes any discussions about her health,” so the news signals how serious her condition must be. “She would previously only authorize statements in response to a specific condition — something like a hospital admission or a COVID diagnosis, as happened earlier this year,” he adds. “To be told, suddenly, that she was ‘under medical supervision,’ followed by family members flying to her bedside, is grave news indeed.”

    https://pagesix.com/2022/09/08/palace-signaling-queen-elizabeth-ii-is-in-grave-condition/

    The Queen and Prince Philip had been married for over 73 years when he died in April 2021– sadly, it is not unusual for a widow or widower to die within a year or two after the death of the spouse.

    God save the Queen.

  7. I also agree with Oldflyer – not a fan of the monarchy but I admire QE2 for the grace and dignity with which she has comported herself over seven decades.

  8. Have just now read at Legal Insurrection that the Queen has passed away. RIP Elizabeth, you lived your life well.

  9. Elizabeth lived her entire life in obedience to God and her duty to her nation. May God receive her, and comfort her family and her nation.

  10. The end of the reign of a Fantastic Queen, honor and dignity and now may her son Charles step up and emulate her in all of the best ways. This will not be and easy winter in the British Isles. Perhaps all the royal funeral and crowning the new king will use up a few news cycles and let things calm down all around the world.

  11. The king never dies. Henry, Edward, or George may die; but the king survives them all. For immediately upon the decease of the reigning prince in his natural capacity, his kingship or imperial dignity, by act of law, without any interregnum or interval, is vested at once in his heir; who, is, eo instanti, king to all intents and purposes….


  12. I was really hoping she would out live her son Charles.
    He is destructive enough as a Prince.”

    almost everyone did.

  13. I can’t find any official confirmation of it, but the rumor is circulating elsewhere on the Net that the Queen of Cackle (i.e., the VP) will represent the United States at Elizabeth II’s funeral. If it turns out to be true, may we at least hope she’ll keep her feet out of her mouth?

  14. If it is not too early, some speculation about the future, actually now the present:

    1. It may be more than a brief interregnum. Though Charles is 73 his mother was 96 when she passed and his father made it to only two months short of his 100th birthday. He could reign for twenty or more years.

    2. The optics might not be as bad as people fear. My understanding is that his consort has largely repaired her image as the “other woman” vs. Diana and is at least respected by the British if not loved.

    3. I share Martin’s concern about Charles’ propensity for the climate agenda. But this may conflict with current British politics. The royals though supposedly not partisan generally align with the Tories and the new PM wants to reverse some of the climate insanity by allowing fracking. We’ll see how this plays out.

    Still getting used to “King Charles III”.

  15. “may we at least hope she’ll [Kamala] keep her feet out of her mouth?”

    I hope to acquire the fortunes of Gates, Bezos and Musk and have about as good a chance.

  16. The King will have no active authority over British policy. As a figurehead, his job is to be the ceremonial leader and agree to whatever the current government wants to do.

    I was very encouraged to read that Liz Truss will be reversing the insane anti-energy policies and enabling fracking and North Sea drilling.

  17. I agree, we will never see the like of Queen Elizabeth again.

    She served her country and it’s people in an exemplary fashion, and was the stable anchor that the country needed. May she rest in peace.

    But now, just when old Blighty is facing multiple and very serious problems, when it needs a unifying Royal figure, and extremely competent and steady-handed leadership at the helm–an experienced, and clear-sighted leadership team capable of making hard and bold decisions–they get chuckles the new King, and the new PM, who appears to be a lightweight.

    England is in for a boat load of woe.

  18. I too regarded Queen Elizabeth with the greatest of respect.

    Charles is likely to reign over the UK’s continued demise.

  19. Right-O, Geoffrey.
    Anybody foolish enough to bet that Charles III won’t rule over Great Britain’s continued decline?

  20. Kate, that is certainly how it is *supposed* to be. A big reason Elizabeth was held in such high regard was that she kept herself above politics. Will Charles have the same reticence? A lot of climatistas think they are saving the world. Not predicting, just speculating.

  21. FOAF, I can’t remember the precise circumstances, but Prince Charles was told quite recently by political leaders that he needs to keep his mouth shut. He is a figurehead.

  22. For instance, in religious circles, many people here in the US, in the Episcopal Church, said for years that they hoped Queen Elizabeth would intervene in the decline of the church. Despite her position as Defender of the Faith and Head of the Church of England, in practical effect, even there, she was a figurehead with no genuine authority.

    Charles will endorse what Liz Truss tells him to, until the next Prime Minister, and then he’ll endorse that one.

  23. May not be “Charles III”, could be “George VII”. But he has lots of names to choose from.

    Most of the last few British kings did not use their given name for their regnal name.

    Other than “George” most of the names have had some jerkass king who ruined it (Edward VII, Richard III*, John, James II).

    *Richard II should really count as IV.

  24. According to news reports, he is Charles III.

    One of his names is Arthur. Wouldn’t that have been fun?

  25. On Elizabeth, she was on the job on Tuesday, and gone peacefully today. It would be hard to imagine a more gentle passage for a remarkable woman. And sentimentalists saw the double rainbow over Windsor castle this afternoon as her joining Phillip.

  26. Frederick,

    Regarding British King names, it seems to me the name George is also not to be revered. But I appear to belong to a shrinking minority in this country who believes our rights stem from God, and any man or woman who tries to usurp those rights is a tyrant.

    Hmmmm… “Tyrant.” Where else have I seen that word…?

    “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

  27. It is true that we will most likely never see the likes of her again in our lifetime.

    For being perhaps the most privileged woman in the world, she spent her life in service.

    May she rest in peace besides her beloved “rock” Prince Philip.

  28. God bless Elizabeth. May she rest in peace. As many others have written here, she was devoted to her nation and God and performed her duties admirably and unselfishly.

    My hope for her son is that he work with the British people to engineer a way to painlessly and positively remove hereditary monarchism from the United Kingdom. Charles would impress me greatly if he was to abdicate the throne while working with the free citizens of the United Kingdom to reform their system to make all British citizens free and equal. And if he were to do that I think his mother would be proud!

  29. Like Oldflyer, I’m not a royalist. However, when the Queen does her duty well, As Elizabeth did, she is a symbol around which all her subjects can unite. I well remember the Brits and Aussies who passed through Subic Bay during my time there. They always began the first drink of the evening with a toast to the Queen. And they all joined in with gusto. She was a Queen well loved.

    So, on this day, let us all raise our glasses to honor the long and dignified reign of Elizzabeth II. May she RIP.

  30. My hope for her son is that he work with the British people to engineer a way to painlessly and positively remove hereditary monarchism from the United Kingdom.

    He’s not interested in your taste preferences.

  31. Most of the last few British kings did not use their given name for their regnal name.

    All of them used one of their given names. (The new king has four). What they did was to select from among the given names that they had one used previously for a king. Charles had two choices, his grandfather one, his great uncle two. The family used a different name for his grandfather, great uncle, and great-great grandfather in mundane life, not him.

  32. Despite her position as Defender of the Faith and Head of the Church of England, in practical effect, even there, she was a figurehead with no genuine authority.

    The statutory law and administrative regulations conferred the choice of bishops on the ministry. This is one area, among others, where the politicians encroached too much.

    I think as a general rule in mainline protestantism, the seminary faculty stink the worst, followed by the functionaries in national offices, followed by the bishops and their chanceries, followed by the parish clergy. It tends to drive away the people who take the faith seriously. They’re left with people who want social clubs and singalongs.

  33. Regarding British King names, it seems to me the name George is also not to be revered.

    No clue what you have against the new king’s grandfather and great-grandfather.

  34. I was very encouraged to read that Liz Truss will be reversing the insane anti-energy policies and enabling fracking and North Sea drilling.

    She has a proposal to slap on price controls. We’re all reliving the 1970s.

  35. For instance, in religious circles, many people here in the US, in the Episcopal Church, said for years that they hoped Queen Elizabeth would intervene in the decline of the church.

    I’ve known a few continuing Anglicans, I’m familiar with David Mills’ oeuvre, and I was once an active Episcopal parishioner. I’ve never heard any such sentiment uttered in person or in print.

  36. AD, I saw it frequently in conservative Episcopalian blog comments. It was a foolish hope; she had no authority.

  37. AD, I saw it frequently in conservative Episcopalian blog comments. It was a foolish hope; she had no authority.

    Where? Touchstone? Chris Johnson’s?

  38. Chris Johnson’s, Stand Firm, etc. It wasn’t a majority opinion, but it came up regularly. People didn’t understand the British monarch’s position in either church or state.

  39. Rufus T. Firely, I think the British public in general (there are exceptions) LIKE having the monarchy as the symbol of nationhood. The outpouring of sentiment for royal marriages and funerals and, next year, a coronation, indicate they don’t particularly want to be a republic.

  40. Chris Johnson’s, Stand Firm, etc. It wasn’t a majority opinion, but it came up regularly. People didn’t understand the British monarch’s position in either church or state.

    I absolutely never saw a reference to this at Chris Johnson’s.

  41. Rufus T. Firely, I think the British public in general (there are exceptions) LIKE having the monarchy as the symbol of nationhood..

    The survey research has indicated as much. Of course, public opinion can be brittle and people associated with the royal family have been working assiduously to reduce public goodwill. Among them would be Prince Andrew and Meghan Markle. Two of the 2d tier in laws have also taken to the divorce courts for whatever reason and one of the Queen’s granddaughters abruptly married a man with a ba*tard child sired just a couple of years previously.

    Whatever the public thinks, segments of the chatterati despise the royal family and the comboxes of certain newspapers are dominated by the country’s republican minority. So, you see things like contrived press campaigns against benign figures like the York sisters. As for Charles, he’s not a troublesome figure, all things considered; he failed at being married to a very difficult woman. Even if he’d just separated from his wife and avoided public notice, he might still be regarded with contempt simply because high school never ends for some people.

  42. As someone whose bloodline is not an iota of European blood, and whose parents are immigrants from the East, I can’t much relate to the loss of such a figurehead. I could never muster much personal interest in the Royal Family. What I can emphasize with is the loss of a beloved grandparent, parent and mentor to the immediate family members.

    RIP Queen Elizabeth

    “England is in for a boat load of woe.”

    It has been in a boat load of woe for sometime. All the residents seem to care about is soccer/football, drinking pints of beer, being either an actor or beautician, the NHS and watching some telly.

  43. To flop onto Twitter and see people using Elizabeth II’s death as an opportunity to wank on about the evils of colonialism is to witness two of the things killing modern society.

    1. The simple ignorance of it. This Queen was the one who helped oversee the END of colonialism.

    2. The naked display of isolation and alienation. The arrogance and plain meanness is something that only comes from NEVER encountering a peer with even a slightly different opinion.

    Mike

  44. I can’t much relate to the loss of such a figurehead.

    Japan, Cambodia, and the Malay states have monarchs. Korea, VietNam, Laos, and Burma all have pretenders. So does China, while we’re at it, though he’s not advancing any claims.

  45. @ Art: Still can’t relate. Parents weren’t raised with royalty as figureheads in their home country.

  46. The Netflix show, “House of Cards,” starring Kevin Spacey, was based on the BBC “House of Cards,” a brilliant conspiratorial political thriller.

    The middle series of the trilogy was titled “To Play the King” in which the Queen has died in the 1990s and a character based on Prince Charles becomes the King.

    The King is an idealistic liberal who, with his gay white guy and BIPOC gal advisors, sets about trying to leverage his royalty to oppose the conservative tide led by Francis Urquhart, the Machiavellian protagonist who had become Prime Minister in the first series.

    Of course, the British monarch is not supposed to be playing politics — God save Queen Elizabeth! — but the story (this is the BBC) plays in favor of the King who is being tragically thwarted by the evil Urquhart.

    His initials aren’t FU by accident.

    Yet even as a leftist in those days I found it hard not to take pleasure at the King’s setbacks.

    Anyway. I never had the heart to watch the American “House of Cards” but I will recommend the BBC “House of Cards” trilogy without qualification. Ian Richardson is amazing as FU and Michael Kitchen, as the King, is one of those solid figures of British television.

    It’s a good time to take a look back at “To Play the King.”

  47. The west is in trouble england which gave us the magna carta has become orwells airship one. As it attempts to erase every aspect of their heritage circa 1984

    Elizabeths passing is emblematic of that

    Rip Queen elizabeth

  48. My life mission hasn’t been as well-defined as Queen Elizabeth’s. I’ve done my best and made many mistakes.

    But if I were to die with her integrity, I would count myself quite blessed indeed.

  49. It has been in a boat load of woe for sometime. All the residents seem to care about is soccer/football, drinking pints of beer, being either an actor or beautician, the NHS and watching some telly.

    You manufacture asinine caricatures of people, and fancy those caricatures are real.

  50. I thought it was crazy when my mother and sister got up in the night to watch the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
    Have never been a big fan of British royalty.
    And yet I felt that this Queen was probably a good and decent person and probably better than her offspring, though we are all sinners.
    And yet, like others probably, I thought of her passing today as potentially a kind of omen or symbol of the collapse of the old Western Civilization system .

  51. Here’s a taste of the “To Play the King”:

    –“To Play the King – Strong Leadership”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s-JaRCnOo4

    Ian Richardson, as Prime Minister Francis Urquhart, is so wonderful. He also played the traitor in “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” one of the all-time great spy series.

    Another fun aspect of “To Play the King” is that FU takes on a brainy, skinny, blonde female advisor, clearly modeled on Ann Coulter.

    My Brit friend tells me Richardson was playing against type in “House of Cards” and “Tinker, Tailor.” Usually on Brit TV he played a likable fellow.

    If so, in HOC and TTSS one can see Richardson stretching his dramatic muscles with relish.

  52. [UK] has been in a boat load of woe for sometime. All the residents seem to care about is soccer/football, drinking pints of beer, being either an actor or beautician, the NHS and watching some telly.

    –GRA

    Yet the Brits put themselves together to put the boot into the EU/progressive/elite backside and free themselves with Brexit.

    One can argue that BoJo & Co. botched the transition, but I don’t score these people as down for the count.

  53. “Yet the Brits put themselves together to put the boot into the EU/progressive/elite backside and free themselves with Brexit.”

    Britain’s future might be very well tied up in the 2024 election. They need a President who will strike a free trade deal that doesn’t bend Brits over a barrel to benefit the oligarchs of Wall Street.

    Mike

  54. [The Brits] need [an American] President who will strike a free trade deal that doesn’t bend Brits over a barrel to benefit the oligarchs of Wall Street.

    MBunge:

    Agreed.

    Peter Zeihan argues that Brexit Brits who come to Washington for a trade deal will be treated as badly as FDR treated the Brits in Lend-Lease during WW II. Churchill was fighting for survival and couldn’t be picky. The British Empire was over.

    I can certainly see Biden or any other Democrat POTUS doing the same today. I’m not sure what happened with Trump and Brexit. I would like to think a Republican President would be more welcoming.

  55. I’m sad about the Queen’s passing, though it doesn’t strike me as much personally as did Gorbachev’s death that we discussed the other day. I’ll put up the St. George Cross with a black ribbon tomorrow. (Ironically, the day after that is the anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie.)

  56. “…he’s not a troublesome figure, all things considered;…”

    Indeed. Let’s NOT consider, especially, that entirely understandable propensity to readily accept rather significant “gifts” from [potentially] grateful sheikhdoms…(and others?)…

    (OTOH, it could be merely a “Royals” sort of thing…entirely incomprehensible to the hoi polloi.)

    That, together with the seeming impossibility of HRH keeping his royal gab shut would also seem to be a “Royal Prerogative”; though his mother did seem to master the art. Guess Charles didn’t inherit that particular gene…
    (OTOH, might that be the reason why she fell head over heels for that Greek scion, irrepressible as he was….?)

    Even as we speak the—speaking of “irrepressible”—Brit Bookies are weighing the odds on whether HRH will truly be able to keep it zipped (and for how long)….

    And yet, and yet, these are the cards that have been dealt. And so…
    God Bless ERII and Long Live the King (but please, PLEASE, try to suppress those, um, vocal URGES…)

  57. It was smart of the royals to write “Kingdom” into the very name of the country. It makes it harder to get rid of them.

    I wonder if it was seeing clips of her new Prime Minister as a teenager wanting to abolish the monarchy that finished off the old queen. Liz Truss was a veritable Greta Thunberg know-it-all in her day.

    But the queen was the best of a rotten family and did her job well for 70 years. She gave Britain, and the rest of the world a feeling of (an illusion of?) stability and security that will be missed.

  58. @ Art: There’s some truth to what I say.
    @ Huxley: Sure, but most likely the people I’ve mentioned aren’t the people who voted for Brexit. Just. look at the age demographics that voted to Remain vs Leave. Huge difference.

  59. But the queen was the best of a rotten family and did her job well for 70 years.

    Her brother-in-law was rotten, though inspiring to his children and weirdly attractive to women-in-general. Her sister ended her life as an appalling ruin. Three of her children married dubious characters. One of her children has been appropriately disgraced. One of her grandchildren has fallen under the spell of someone who is Trouble. It’s a scuffed up family with members who have demonstrated bad judgment ad seriatim. Not seeing how the family is rotten.

  60. I thought it was crazy when my mother and sister got up in the night to watch the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

    You grow up in Honolulu?

  61. As to the “greatness” of Great Britain. Tucker Carlson said it well last night. At one time this small island country had an empire with some two billion people. And it was a well-run empire. Today the empire is gone, and Great Britain is a banking center and refugee camp. Quite a fall.

    I was in a couple of British colonies before they became independent. They were much better off than they are today. The Brits maintained law and order and allowed commerce to proceed without too much interference. Yes, they used the colonies as raw material sources for their manufactured goods, which were generally first class. It was a win, win relationship.

    They gave up their empire because the world demanded it, and they were too weakened by WWI and II to resist. Their story is an object lesson for us all. Nations rise, reach a peak of power, then decline – mostly due to poor leadership and a citizenry who no longae have the desire to work hard and choose their leaders wisely.

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