Saturday, October 29, 2011

Question of the day

Now that the rules for succeeding to the British throne have been changed to let birth order take precedence over gender (that is, girls will now precede their younger brothers instead of being pushed to the back of the pack), I am dying to know one thing that wasn’t mentioned in any of the news stories:

Is the decision retroactive? What I mean is, does it affect the living, or only the future-born?

Specifically, what I’m getting at is this. If something horrible should happen to Prince Charles, Prince William, and Prince Harry (I mean besides being related to the Duchess of Cornwall), will the next monarch be Prince Andrew or Princess Anne? Has the Princess Royal, Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise Windsor-Mountbatten Phillips Laurence, vaulted from tenth in line to fourth? If so, would that mean her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips, have also leapfrogged ahead of not only Andrew but also the Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice? Or was all this trouble gone to for the sole benefit of the offspring, if and when there are any, of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the recently wed William and Kate? Most importantly, should Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, produce a documentary film about it? And if he does, would anyone except his wife, the former Sophie Rhys-Jones, care?

I am undoubtedly one of millions hundreds probably around a dozen people on this planet who will not be able to sleep until these questions are answered.

Daphne, Elizabeth, Ian, other Ian, Y.P. et al, I’m counting on you to clear up the mystery.

(Photo by AgĂȘncia Brasil and used under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil)

11 comments:

  1. I think the answer to that question is just a simple 'no'. But I'm not sure. So you can just ignore my answer ;-)

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  2. How (and maybe why) do you keep track of all that Brit stuff from down there in Georgia?

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  3. To be honest, that hadn't even occurred to me. The only difference it makes to mt day to day life is whose head is on the stamps and bank notes, but I shall investigate!

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  4. Just done some reading on this and it isn't clear. According to one report;

    "Any new law is not expected to be retrospective - the Princess Royal would still be placed below her two younger brothers, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex." (my italics)

    However, assuming your theoretical scenario came to pass, Andrew would be next on the throne which in turn would ultimately in a Queen Beatrice or Eugenie.

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  5. Carolina, a simple 'no' is never that simple.

    Jan, I don't keep track of it; it keeps track of me. Also, to anyone in California, "down" doesn't refer to Georgia, it refers to the Baja, mapwise.

    Shooting Parrots (Ian), "not expected to be" does not sound like a definitive answer.

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  6. The scenario you paint is too awful for words. It is like a scene from some Hollywood blockbuster: "Death of the Royals". Such hypothetical questions belong in the realms of Braguian fantasy. Here in the real world Princess Anne shall never be Queen. The legislation is not retrospective. Should all the royal family die in a Tea Party or Taliban attack, I myself would prefer to be ruled by King Barack the First!

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  7. ...Besdies Princess Anne is too sexy to be Queen!

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  8. Yorkshire Pudding, you cannot begin to imagine the things that inhabit the realms of my fantasies, and I'm certainly not about to tell you in this forum what they are. For your information, though, and just for your own peace of mind, Princess Anne was never among them.

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  9. Dear Mr Brague,
    One requires a new butler and one finds senior Americans of the male persuasion quite malleable. Please apply in writing and state which personal services you will be prepared to offer. One shall be waiting.
    Yours,
    Anne
    xxx

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  10. To: HRH Princess Anne
    #10 Windsor Castle
    Windsor

    Re: Butler position

    One appreciates being appreciated and desired but one must decline one's kind offer as one is already taken and spoken for.

    In other words, one must keep looking, toots.

    Yr none too obdt almost svt,
    R. W. Plague (rhymes with Brague)

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

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