I grew up in and live in the UK, and have personally never understood why we have a monarchy in 2022 as it is blatantly anti-democratic and anti-meritocratic. Yet speaking to family and friends as well as folks from other countries, I am often taken aback by her popularity and airing my opinions often feels a bit controversial.
Where do you stand?
The executive power in Australia is held by the Governor General who "represents" the Queen, but is limited by the constitution in what powers can be exercised. The Monarch of Australia essentially has no power in Australia. The Governor General can largely only do what he/she is told by parliament or resign. The "crisis" part here was that the Governor General found a grey area, the current Prime Minister could not form a majority in the lower house and so the Governor General appointed the opposition leader as the Prime Minister who immediately asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament. It was dubious that the Governor General could actually do this, and it has since been codified in law that he/she cannot.
The Governor General did discuss the matter with the Queen, but largely she had no part in this decision. In fact the released correspondence between the Queen and Governor General shows the Queen declined to make a decision.
Analogous to any non-executive head of state I would think. However, the time of a non-resident monarch has passed - they should be of and reside in the country they're head of state of.
The queen has been effectively stripped of all personal discretion when it comes to the use of her reserve powers.
She has no real choice when it comes to who is appointed prime minister or which bills are made into law.
The voters and elected officials make those decisions, and her only real job is give a royal stamp of approval.
There are many people in the world who currently have some form of legal privilege by virtue of bloodline. For example, many indigenous people.
I don't want to get into a tit-for-tat about this. For me, at worst The Queen seems benign at best a proud symbol of a great nation.
I can't speak for anybody else, but I can answer your question in seven words:
I usually don't think of the Queen.
I'm not her subject, since I'm a New Yorker and some of my English ancestors fought to throw off the tyranny of Britain. Some of my ancestors are French, and I think most of us know what the French think of monarchy; they created a technological solution to the sociopolitical problem of a burdensome ruling class.
As for Britain maintaining its half-assed monarchy: it's not like the Queen has any real authority, is it? Sure, she can open and dissolve Parliament, and gives her assent to laws passed by the Lords and Commons, but isn't the royal assent essentially a rubber stamp?
It seems to be Parliament and the Prime Minister calling the shots, and even the PM doesn't dare annoy Parliament too much. I wouldn't say that the British system is less democratic than the one we have in the US, where unelected billionaires all but buy Senators with impunity, and a few senators can force Congress to ignore the will of the people. If anything, I'd say that the UK is more republican than the US.
Besides, the monarchy seems to be good for tourism and the occasional scandal. We can't let the Kardiashians have all the fun, can we?
Now, let's talk about meritocracy. I know the word has positive connotations, especially here on HN, but we seemed to have forgotten that the word "meritocracy" was coined by Michael Dunlop Young in his dystopian satire, The Rise of the Meritocracy. Alas, too many people have misread it as they've misread 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, and Snow Crash, so that like these better-known books The Rise of the Meritocracy is treated as an instruction manual instead of a warning -- when it is read at all.
We have made great progress in society but I fear we are in danger of shooting ourselves in the foot. The long life of a Queen who is committed to serve others, and not just her own wishes, sits well with me
To be fair though I am not British, I'm Irish. So my perspective on that family is not the same as someone who was born and raised in the UK.
Also, it would be awesome if one of them studied forensic accounting and looked into all areas of Her Majesty's government.
The true power in both the US and the UK is the 'Deep State' or the 'Establishment' or the 'Oligarchy' or whatever you want to call it. (The rich and powerful behind the scenes.)
Sure, we think we elect the President. But who really selects who are the final two candidates that we are allowed to vote for?
