Current Watching

[Amor de Cosmos]

The first episode of series one?

(the short answer is yes.)

[WOM]

A'ight.

[Hot Pepsi]

HP, is this your german guy? Ernest of Hanover, brother in law to Philip. British Prince and duke and whatnot until deprived of his titles in 1917.

That must be him.

Interesting that his grandson recently got married to a Russian woman against his father’s wishes and there was a kerfuffle about if he needed permission from Elizabeth and if this will jeopardize claims to some inheritence. Good for him.

[Lang Spoon]

I thought St Andrews was really good. It sounds nice, anyway.

It does well in world rankings (all 4 or 5 (depends if counting Dundee) “Ancient” Scots Unis tend to be in the world top 200, St Andrews Embra and Glasgow often high up the top 100) but is definitely a port of call for chinless eejits who even Oxbridge can’t countenance letting in through family connections or whatever. Especially since the advent of free tuition where Scots/EU (but not rUK, for reasons I forget) students pay no fees, Scots Unis are more than happy to have an abundance of fee paying English and non EU international students to swell the numbers. St Andrews (and Embra to a slightly lesser extent) has existed as a clearing house for English poshoes forever but.

[Hot Pepsi]

I thought St Andrews was really good. It sounds nice, anyway.

It does well in world rankings (all 4 or 5 (depends if counting Dundee) “Ancient” Scots Unis tend to be in the world top 200, St Andrews Embra and Glasgow often high up the top 100) but is definitely a port of call for chinless eejits who even Oxbridge can’t countenance letting in through family connections or whatever. Especially since the advent of free tuition where Scots/EU (but not rUK, for reasons I forget) students pay no fees, Scots Unis are more than happy to have an abundance of fee paying English and non EU international students to swell the numbers. St Andrews (and Embra to a slightly lesser extent) has existed as a clearing house for English poshoes forever but.

In my experience, lots of those not-so-bright - and some fairly bright - poshos come to the US, because college is, at least potentially, a lot more fun here. When I was there, Boston U had tons of them. GW is known for that too. The ones that made ostentatious displays of conspicuous wealth were known by everyone else as Eurotrash. Not all of them were from Europe.

[Lang Spoon]

Hang on, you can drink at 18 in all Europe. Right away there’s the lack of fake ID and drinking games bollocks.

[Hot Pepsi]

True. But if you have enough money and connections, you can get around that, especially if one is an attractive woman. And the Eurotrash tend to be into stuff that isn’t generally provided at pubs anyway like coke.

A large part of the drinking and drugs at American universities happens outside of licensed establishments anyway.

[Lang Spoon]

Scotland, man. Even fucking St Andrews is ten minutes from Dundee and under an hour from Embra. Metropolitan drogas. When more than ten Scots congregate, you will find a bit of smoke at least. Probably more likely sniff now smoking ain’t as cool.

[Hot Pepsi]

Watching Collateral on the BBC. A police procedural overlaid with a thoughtful refugee/trafficking storyline written by David Hare. And the excellent Carey Mulligan is the lead detective. Worth a watch.

This hasn’t arrived here yet but it will. I’ve seen previews. Sounds good. I really like Carey Mulligan.

[KGR]

Mum is back.

Lesley Manville is splendid in it.

The Pauline character is Andrea Leadsom.

The son is bloody annoying though.

[Hot Pepsi]

Another Queen related question.

Margaret wasn’t allowed to marry a divorced Guy because the COE wouldn’t allow it and that would look bad because the Queen is the nominal head of the COE going back to Henry the VIII and Elizabeth I.

But that seems backwards. If she is the head of th COE, then why can’t she tell the Archbishops to go themselves and make her own rules on divorce? If she needs some theological cover, it wouldn’t be hard to find a Biblical scholar who’d do that for her.

After all, wasn’t this the whole point of Henry VIII plunging his country into crisis and generations of violence?

And the bishops really have nothing to bitch about. If they want all of the advantages of being an official National Church while also being free from Rome, then they need to accept the authority of the sovereign or, better yet, the will of the people, or better yet, fuck off completely and take their chances with religious freedom like everyone else.

So why is the Head of the Church, appointed by God Himself supposedly, not allowed to make any important decisions about it? Can she fire the Archbishops of Canterbury and York?

[Lang Spoon]

She has barely any real power. The Prime Minister would have more say on the next Archbishop of Canterbury than Her Majesty. The Power of the Crown mostly rests with an executive treated as a sovereign expression of the Crown’s power operating through Westminster mostly through convention. Written constitutions and defined limits of power obviously being a sign of lesser breeds beyond the law.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah, but this is about the Church, which is also only hanging onto its special status by tradition and the powerful millinery lobby. If she wanted to defy the church, and parliament let her, couldn’t she? What could the bishops do about it?

Maybe she just didn’t want to because she really believed that God didn’t like divorced people. FFS.


Also - and this probably easier to answer...
The wives of all the Windsor kings have, as far as I can dig up, been known as Queen (or officially Queen Consort.) QE2’s mom was Queen Elizabeth before George VI’s death made her Queen Mother or Dowager Queen. George IV’s wife was Queen Mary, (or was that Edward’s?). There was an Alexandra in there too somewhere.

Anyway, if that’s the case, then why did they always say that Diana could never have be called Queen - They did say that right? Will Camilla be Queen? And what about Kate?

And why then was Victoria’s husband Prince Albert not King Albert and why isn’t Philip called King Philip?

The 17th century Queen Mary, of William & fame, was a special situation, as I recall, and Elizabeth I, of course, didn’t get married. Otherwise, I can’t think of any other Queens of England since the Saxon days. Is that right?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Queen Anne (who everyone forgets), and Queen (Bloody) Mary, also technically Lady Jane Grey (nine days Queen before Mary, but never crowned.)

[Amor de Cosmos]

I think the reason Kate, Diana and Camilla, can't be called Queen is because they were born with no title (ie: they're "commoners.")

And why then was Victoria’s husband Prince Albert not King Albert and why isn’t Philip called King Philip?

Because a King trumps a Queen, and if the monarch is a Queen he cannot have a superior title to her.

[Hot Pepsi]

Queen Anne (who everyone forgets), and Queen (Bloody) Mary, also technically Lady Jane Grey (nine days Queen before Mary, but never crowned.)

Oh right. How could I forget those?

Queen Anne is best known, I think, for Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s ship. Also the title of a catchy tune by Flogging Molly.

[Hot Pepsi]

I think the reason Kate, Diana and Camilla, can't be called Queen is because they were born with no title (ie: they're "commoners.")

I see. Apparently this isn’t the case in Scandinavia.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I think it might change in the UK when Camilla or Kate actually move into the master bedroom at Buck House

[Hot Pepsi]

I’m not sure what it would take to get rid of the whole nonsensity. Might have to get ugly.

[ursus arctos]

Much too important to the tourist trade and the "brand", even more so post-Brexit.

The Scandinavian monarchies evolved at different rates. Denmark still didn't allow "commoners" to use royal titles (or their children to succeed to the monarchy) in 1971. Sweden crossed that bridge much earlier. Norway still uses absolute primogeniture and hasn't been ruled by a Queen since the early 15th century.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I’m not sure what it would take to get rid of the whole nonsensity. Might have to get ugly.

Tried that five hundred years ago. It was ugly enough and didn't last long.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I see. Apparently this isn’t the case in Scandinavia.

Pftt. Bicycle monarchies init.

[Hot Pepsi]

Much too important to the tourist trade and the "brand", even more so post-Brexit.

The Scandinavian monarchies evolved at different rates. Denmark still didn't allow "commoners" to use royal titles (or their children to succeed to the monarchy) in 1971. Sweden crossed that bridge much earlier. Norway still uses absolute primogeniture and hasn't been ruled by a Queen since the early 15th century.

Queen Sonja was a “commoner” and yet is called Queen or Queen Consort.

But their first kid was a daughter and yet she’s behind her brother in line. Because they didn’t switch to Absolute Primogeniture until 1990. His daughter is in line to be the first Queen in her own right in over 500 years.

[Hot Pepsi]

It would be better for the tourist trade if they got rid of it all. That way all the royal houses could be money-making museums. And a lot of people would be excited to visit the new Republic of Britain and all the new skyscrapers in London necessitated by rising sea levels, and the new capitol in Manchester.

[Lang Spoon]

Yeah. The terrible boxy classical shit hole that is Buck House could still have all the cheesy pageantry like Prague Castle does, but exist as a museum/art gallery/President’s Official Big Gaff.