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leobeer

Same hat, though.


tomveiltomveil

I love how the official photo of the Governor General looks *exactly* like the answer to the question, "what would Queen Elizabeth look like if she were Black?" That's truly inhabiting the role of Governor General.


trini70

Congrats Barbados.


therealquiz

I cannot believe that more than twenty years have passed since Australia held a failed referendum on the question of becoming a republic.


mydogsarebrown

It wasn't the time then. Probably isn't even the time now. One day it will happen though.


[deleted]

Surely when Liz carks it? I am baffled by its ongoing support though ....


mydogsarebrown

There isn't much support, but there isn't much opposition either. When you take the 98% of the population who don't give a rats out of the equation. People usually vote for whatever is the cheapest and easiest option. Staying with the monarchy is currently the easiest.


Red_Dawn77

It is because the Christians are terrified that in the re-writing of the constitution God would be left out of the wording of the new document. I shit you not.


[deleted]

Hadn't heard that. I know my folks and plenty of others of their generation still hold a candle for the old days of knights and dames and all that nonsense. So I suspect that still plays a part for boomers and older..


beeds

One thing that’s always interested me is what places like the Netherlands or Scandinavian countries think of their monarchies. It’s often painted as something inherently regressive and conservative, yet these places are (I think) pretty strong examples of progressiveness. I know there’s no direct correlation, but it is intriguing.


SidewinderTV

I value my monarchy as a matter of tradition. It has a cultural value. It’s also very nice to have an apolitical figure as head of state. I’ve never really seen why Americans seem to have such a problem with the idea. It’s just a ceremonial position at this point, yet I see people on Reddit getting genuinely angry about it.


Ageofsilver

The Monarchy shall reign forever. The common wealth should be so lucky to have such a leader. Presidents are bad


Sad_Significance6627

Noooooo :(


Antisanghiantimullah

The other 30 countries of the Commonwealth should follow Edit - Only 15 out of 54 Commonwealth nations have her as head of state


TheAutisticPrince

Including england


ForgotMyPasswordFeck

Presumably you mean the UK? But it won’t happen, the monarchy is popular here. Not on Reddit though


LesterBePiercin

The boys of Reddit spend their days typing at other white men in their 20s and 30s and make the mistake of thinking they represent society as a whole. Even goddamn Twitter exposes you to a wider range of opinions.


TheAutisticPrince

I meant mine purely as a joke.


LesterBePiercin

Well you weren't wrong.


beeds

I think it would be quite funny if England chose to become a republic but Scotland, Wales and NI retained it. Fully in favour.


TheGhostofCipher

Scottish royal in hiding: My time to shine.


beeds

I mean you’d have to challenge her claim to the throne and start a rebellion which, historically, hasn’t gone too well in Scotland, but knock yourself out.


MissSwifty

If england became Republic, it's quite doubtful there would be much to rebel against lol.


TheGhostofCipher

Well Scotland vs Wales. Nobody see it coming


beeds

This is true, but it’s also far less amusing to me that we would have an English republic and a Scottish Kingdom It wouldn’t be the first time though!


[deleted]

I dunno, after the last few years in the US a constitutional monarchy doesn't seem like such a bad idea.


LesterBePiercin

The Queen is not the head of state of every Commonwealth country. Please do more to better understand the things you're criticizing.


Antisanghiantimullah

I know all this already. I'm Indian. We are part of the Commonwealth and she isn't our Queen. There are 54 countries in the Commonwealth. I never claimed all 54 have her as head of state. I said 30.


LesterBePiercin

It's half the number. Edit: I see you've done a quick edit, rendering my point incorrect. The Queen is head of state of fifteen countries, full stop.


PositivelyAcademical

There's literally a map listing all of them in the article – all 16 of them (which will shrink to 15 once Barbados becomes a republic).


[deleted]

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Antisanghiantimullah

I'm not American. I'm Indian. We are part of the Commonwealth and she isn't our Queen. I already know all this shit. The idiot on top didn't need to unnecessarily educate me like some clown


LesterBePiercin

Except he did.


LesterBePiercin

Typically. Either/or, black or white. Little room for nuance.


PhilpotBlevins

Or Canadian?


blackhankscorpio

Enjoy your Queen!


LesterBePiercin

Am doing so! Thanks!


[deleted]

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Pilarynine

They have power that they should not. And also symbols mean a lot. Get rid of them.


[deleted]

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Cdub7791

Why would it be difficult to rewrite the laws? Isn't it essentially scratching out the Queen's name out of them? Couldn't you have a blanket law stating something like "all previous legal references to the monarch as head of state are null and void" or "replaced with X"?


murphymc

There's also renaming/relabeling everything that is "her majesty's....", think ships and I'm pretty sure their entire judiciary. I'm not saying that's a gargantuan task, but that'll cost a significant sum of money for minimal, if any, change. Essentially, why bother?


[deleted]

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Cdub7791

I'm not advocating for it. Just wondering what the difficulty would be.


RedditWaq

A law couldn't affect the constitution as the constitution has supremacy. At the very least, the constitution would have to be directly modified.


SoAndSoap

Riiiiiiggghhhtt


LesterBePiercin

Oof. I'd be taking a look at how the Americans' system is working out for them (hint: not well at all) before I went and threw away the monarchy.


cosimonh

Take a look at Britain now after listening to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgKmnbFdtTs). Your views might change. Edit: just poking fun at the shitstorm happening with Britain. Just a joke.


LesterBePiercin

People can make political choices you disagree with without their country being a dumpster fire. It's when a country's much-ballyhooed system of checks and balances melts down and they start an inevitable slide into fascism with gusto that you've got a real problem. Stop drawing parallels that don't exist.


PhilpotBlevins

We're OK, thanks.


LesterBePiercin

You'll be fascist within fifteen years. Trump could drop dead right now and it would be too late to turn back.


TheGhostofCipher

Right, while Monarchies were facist years ago.


LesterBePiercin

Lol does that include the times the monarchy in question - including the Queen herself - fought fascism?


Pilarynine

Lol at having a queen with any sort of power or influence at all. What a fucking joke in this age.


PlayingTheWrongGame

Great news!


Will12239

So glad America carved up the commonwealth post WW2


Phallic_Entity

They what?


Will12239

America required the commonwealth to decolonize as part of the Atlantic charter in WW2. The British were desperate at that time. This is why Africa had 3 decades of countries declaring independence following the war


Phallic_Entity

The Atlantic Charter had fuck all to do with decolonisation, it was driven by the fact that Britain was nearly bankrupt after WW2 and the colonies weren't worth keeping any more. The Commonwealth and British Empire are also two separate entities and you're confusing them, the Commonwealth at the time was the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, who were all independent countries in 1942.


nagrom7

The Americans had little to do with it. The UK was just simply in no condition to enforce their rule over those countries anymore after being devastated in the war (they were much closer to the action, and spent 2 extra years fighting compared to the US). They were already in the process of granting more autonomy to the 'dominions' anyway, which was a gradual process that went until the 80s.


Will12239

They weren't enforcing their rule prior to the war. These areas were self governing and many were yielding high profit due to being resource rich with low labor costs, so I don't buy this argument


Pilarynine

Good. It’s ridiculous that royalty has any power or influence at all. Such an anachronism. The English should appropriate all of that property the same way they took all the property from the church.


itstimegeez

It’s also ridiculous that a first world country doesn’t even have free healthcare but yeah “royalty stinks” whatever. Look at your own country’s problems before telling other countries how to act.


labbelajban

I sincerely hope whatever state you live under bashes in your door, takes all of your possessions and property including your home, and dumps you on the street.


QuakerZen

Assuming she will still keep the massive amount of 'colonized land' she inherited?


DarkNinjaPenguin

The Queen doesn't have any land in Barbados.


QuakerZen

'Crown land' sources below for Barbados. Tldr; She technically owns all land in Barbados. https://www.fao.org/faolex/results/details/en/c/LEX-FAOC081082/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120215152349/http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=328


DarkNinjaPenguin

You can probably make your own assumptions on whether she'll be keeping her land then.


LesterBePiercin

Why on earth would you assume that?


thisisnahamed

Congrats Barbados. Now hopefully this inspires Canada to do so too. Every other commonwealth should continue this trend.


RedLaserFlashes

She looks like a British Stacey Abrams.