The European Kingdoms

[Flaming Eyes]

Hi, I would like to ask to the Europeans, if they do not care: Why are Kings, or Mornach in alot of their countrys, and Presidents at the same time, or Prime Minister, and what is the rol of the Kings/Monarchs?

 

[sharp_spike]

there is only president in turkey.there is no king or mornach

 

[Lost-Lamb]

They just prance around being above the law and do nobody no good

 

[Lhorkan]

They're just there as decoration.

 

[Penguin]

Yeah, the swedish king has no real power at all. He acts like more of a PR-dude for Sweden, visiting other royal families and stuff like that.

 

[Ilex]

He acts like more of a PR-dude for Sweden,

He hasn't been doing so well in it lately.

 

[Rando]

While I am not qualified in this area, the way I understand it is (looking at England here) the queen deals with ceremonies and, as penguin put it, public relations. Also, it probably has something to do with tradition but, I don't know about that for sure. This way the prime minister/parliament have more time to deal with more pressing issues such as making laws and going to war.

I personally believe that this kind of system should be adopted in all areas of the world (especially America). That way Bush can focus more on the war in Iraq and have someone else (like Barbara Streisand or some other ****ty icon like her) greet all of the teachers of the year*.

*My US history teacher won this award and actually said this kind of thing to president Bush while shaking his hand. Also, I would like to point out that this topic is about European leaders so, if you would like to argue about what is best for the US make another topic or something.

 

[Boris]

Just to do with the way most of the countries in Europe gained democracy. Either the monarch gradually had power took away from him and it was a slow process of going from a total monarch to a democracy or some crazed despot took over and kept the king to give himself some form of right to rule.
IMO constitutional monarchies are the best form of government. It keeps all of the theoretical power out of the hands of the real leader and gives us a constant rallying point throughout all changes of government. Though the monarch has no power in practice if something went wrong and a total nut case took over the government we could quickly shift to saying the monarch is the true ruler and get rid of them.

 

[Sir Prince]

I like the monarchs. They make good little decorations! I say, keep them.

 

[sheek]

there is only president in turkey.there is no king or mornach Very Happy

It's the same in France. We had such an awful king we cut his head off. There are still some people who call themselves nobles (the Count of Paris for example is the descendant of the last king Louis-Phillippe) but they have no priveleges. A few have kept their money and influence but most are ordinary people now.

By the way we are also unique because we have a President... but we also have a Prime Minister (normally a Prime Minister is only when you have a king). So there are two heads of the state in France. The President chooses the prime minister from the Assembly but he must be from the majority party. The prime minister then chooses the ministers.

This is why we so often have a president who is on the Right heading a government on the Left (or the other way).

 

[Can O Soup]

So the Royalty is like a collection of knick-nacks?

 

[pzler]

in the netherlands democracy was founded by a king!

the queen has a small role in the country. there is a law that states that the prime minister is responsible for everything she sais so that way the minister can keep her under controle.
many people like the monarchy. it's a bit like a flag. something that symbolises your country and gives a feeling of being part of something bigger.

i don't care about the monarchy that much but it's nice all the same. i say let them stay. it's a part of history!

the queen has some political power because she names the person who will lead the negotiations when forming a cabinet.
i'm not sure if americans are formilliar with this system so i will explain.
in the netherlands there are many partys and you need more than one party to get a majority. so when you have had an election parties need to work together to get a majority. these parties will supply the ministers. we call these ministers the cabinet.

after that the queen's role is performing ceremonies and state visites

 

[sheek]

Do you still have Counts, Dukes and Barons in the Netherlands? Do the nobility still get special advantages (like England)?

 

[pzler]

they still exist but have no special rights. most of them are ordinary people with no money these days. but there are still some with old money. (i know many of them because of my education) in the netherlands you can't get a new title as well exept for inhereting one. so they are slowly dying out

 

[sheek]

So the Royalty is like a collection of knick-nacks?

I know one of the reasons the English have kept them is that they bring in the tourists and make stories for the magazines. The English have always been very pragmatic when money can be made.

 

[Sir Prince]

So the Royalty is like a collection of knick-nacks?

I know one of the reasons the English have kept them is that they bring in the tourists and make stories for the magazines. The English have always been very pragmatic when money can be made.

Exactly my point! Even though I feel no connection to the "mother country". (CANADA RULES!)

 

[Flaming Eyes]

Sometimes, in the third world countries of America, we think that the Europeans have Monarchs only to say us:

"Hey, look at us, we are sooo rich, that we can support Monarchs!"






Edit: I corrected America, I wrote Americe.

 

[Sir Saladin]

Sometimes, in the third world countries of Americe, we think that the Europeans have Monarchs only to say us:

That's just about the only reason, it's just national pride. "Hey look at us we have wacky royalty that does weird and embarrassing things. And they don't even have the responsibilty of governing."

 

[Laurence of Arabia]

If it wasn't for the fact that the queen gets us tourists, id want to get rid of the monarchy. Inherting titles is crap. Money though....that's a different matter.

 

[Gabriel]

I don't like Prince Charles...nor his son Harry, either. Who would dress up as a Nazi? Where do they (not just the immediate royal family - the whole lot of earls and duchesses) get all that money from? Taxpayers? If so then it might be a good idea for me to...relieve him of his 'duty'. Maybe I can overthrow them and become King. And no, the idea of an Iraqi King of England is not absurd - after all, the Windsors were imposters.

Mwahahahah.