An elected UK head of state

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Nearly four in 10 young adults want elected UK head of state, poll finds

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... coronation

It's an interesting result. Perhaps we might dissect it.

Let us for a moment assume that the Royal Family has rejoined the British Aristocracy, from whence it sprang. They no longer have any part to play in British constitutional law.

I raise problem 1. The monarch is still going to be head of state for a dozen or two other nation states around the world, like Australia and Canada and New Zealand and Gibraltar and the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and quite likely Bermuda. Let me check. "His Majesty Charles the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Antigua and Barbuda and His other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth." And so on for Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saints Christopher and Nevis, Lucia, Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. God save the King.

Do these four in 10 young adults want an elected UK head of state while leaving the Royal Family in charge of all that, or are we looking at a major upheaval here?

I raise problem 2. What exactly is the monarch's job at the moment in Britain? He is Sovereign, and as such personally possesses sovereign immunity from prosecution for any offense real or imagined, actual or defensible, capital federal or trivial. He can never be prosecuted for littering, speeding or mass murder. He is immune.

He is Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces, Supreme Head of the Church of England, and doubtless other things as well.

So problem 2 is, do we cart all these responsibilities together to a new elected equivalent position in the British Constitution, or do we have lots of elected people doing different bits? Do we really want an elected Command-in-Chief, for example?

Then there's oaths of allegiance. These are made by individuals to the Sovereign as an individual, not as an office. Here, for example, is the oath made by every police officer in the country: "I... of... do solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the King in the office of constable" etc etc. The list of people who give the oath of allegiance on Wikipedia is very long and has a lot of important people on it, like all those police officers. And members of His Majesty's Armed Forces except Royal Naval officers. And all the Members of Parliament. And so on. Are these oaths going to lapse and have no replacement? Are we going to clutch our breasts every morning and salute the flag while announcing our allegiance instead? So far we've never looked quite that ridiculous but there's time still. As a subject of His Majesty I am deemed to have sworn the oath by reason of being His Majesty's loyal subject, and I have been lawfully obliged to swear it on demand since reaching my twelfth birthday (though this being Britain and everything being taken on trust, the demand has never been made). In less stable times the oath was demanded of all adult males on pain of fines and imprisonment. I'm not actually sure whether it was administered to any women.

[LarsMac]

Well, I am happy that such questions aren't relevant to the goings on in the good ol' US of A.
We have enough to figure out.

I think that the sooner the nations of Europe dispose of the monarchy, the better. While some of the monarchial characters in other nations have managed to fly under the radar for decades, it seems to me a most inefficient use of national funds to sustain such a family.

I suspect, however, that the British will be the last to surrender their monarchs to the march of time.

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I'm pretty sure keeping your Stratofortresses in the air costs a lot more than running our palaces with the lines of wastrel flunkies who administer them. I can't think of a single worthwhile use for a Stratofortress but I can think of a lot of reasons why the world would be a better place without them. The Royal Family, on the other hand, brings in more tourist money to the UK than they can stash into their oversized bolsters. If King Charles III were to liquidate all his assets he'd still be a Fortnums hamper short of £2bn.

[LarsMac]

Hmm, I confess that I didn't consider the tourism aspect.
Maybe, we could get people to pay for "Ride alongs" on the Stratofortress fleet.

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So. This is now Coronation Week.

In celebration of which, allow me to post a link to the definitive "Why do we need a Sovereign" anthem...





Thank you very much.

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After several minutes of deep thought, I have come to the conclusion that what the coronation ceremony most needs is the inclusion of Elton John and a piano.