British Royal Family Current Events 7: January 2014-April 2015

[Zonk]

Welcome to British Royal Family current events part 7.

The previous British Royal Family Current Events 6, can be found here http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...vents-6-april-2013-december-2013-a-34893.html

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[Lumutqueen]

Angela Merkel to make State Visit to UK - Feb 2014.

Not confirmed at the minute, apparently reported on SkyNews.

Royal Central ‏@RoyalCentral 6m
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is to make a State Visit to the UK in February, Sky News reports.

 

[cepe]

Royal Central has retracted for the time being as no other news outlet has mentioned it other than Sky.

My question, if it is true, is how can it be a State Visit when she isn't the Head of State?

 

[Lumutqueen]

That might be a problem with the annoucement.

Found the original tweet;

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 40m
Sky sources: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make a state visit to the UK in February

 

[Skippyboo]

Plus there is usually only 2 incoming state visits a year. One in spring -Ireland - and the other in the fall.

It may be about the wildlife poaching conference with world leaders in London in February. Since presidents are usually figureheads in European countries, the would want to deal more with PMs.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Well as cepe said, a state visit would be for an incoming head of state and Angela Merkel is not. She could be combining the Poaching conference with a UK visit.

 

[Skippyboo]

Angela Merkel to make State Visit to UK - Feb 2014.

It would more like a summit visit or like when the G8 or G20 get together. If there are going to be a lot of world leaders, the queen could host a reception like she did before the Olympics.

 

[Lumutqueen]

What I meant was Angela could attend the poaching conference, then stick around to visit the UK afterwards. I didn't mean she would be accompanied by other heads of state.

 

[cepe]

I think Lumutqueen is right. This is from the Sunday Times on 12th January

START
PRINCE WILLIAM will step onto the world stage next month in front of up to 60 heads of state at a global summit highlighting the plight of endangered species.

The Duke of Cambridge, who is expected to make a keynote speech, has long been a backer of wildlife charities. He will support David Cameron and William Hague, who have organised the London summit in response to the growing threat to three iconic animals: the tiger, elephant and rhino.

END

 

[corazon]

william and catherine will attend?

 

[Iluvbertie]

William will attend the summit as he is speaking - Kate - who knows.

 

[cepe]

I have put the information about William speaking at the Conference in his current events thread.

 

[Lumutqueen]

I think i've missed something;


Jamie McFadden ‏@JamieMcFadden_ 15m
Charles will accompany Queen to Normandy in June for D-Day anniversary, which will also be her last foreign trip.

 

[tommy100]

The Sunday Times is reporting that Charles will accompany HM to Normandy and will in fact stand in for HM at some of the days events. The Sunday Times is talking about the Queen and Charles now effectively 'job sharing' the role of sovereign.
To me it all makes sense, it hasn't been said but I wonder if the Duke of Edinburgh will stay at home and so Charles may be taking his place at the Queen's side. He will also be able to stand in for the Queen, i remember the 60th anniversary at Normandy and there was a lot of travelling around and standing up for most of the day. I'd imagine a similar set of events would be very tiring for the Queen now so Charles can maybe do some of the travelling of the day.

As for it being her last overseas trip I think its been said for sometime now that her overseas travel would be cut back, it started with long haul flights such as not travelling to CHOGM when Charles stood in for her. Its been said that each overseas event is now being looked as on a case by case basis and Normandy and D-Day are important events that she would not want to miss if she could help it - look what happened at the 65th anniversary when she was not invited. She hasn't traveled overseas for a state visit since Ireland and I think at her age its fair enough for her to stay at home and let people come to her.

It should also be pointed out that it might not be planned to be her last overseas visit, the BBC article about these events cast some doubt on it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25798969
But I think at the Queen's age and the lack of overseas visits of late its not unlikley that this could be her last overseas visit.

 

[Nico]

French echo to the Visit of the Queen and the POW in june :

Elizabeth II et le Prince Charles seront en Normandie pour le D-Day

 

[TortillaChips]

I might have read it wrong but I'm sure I read something this morning that implied it would be her last trip to France, not necessarily last foreign trip.

 

[Nico]

I might have read it wrong but I'm sure I read something this morning that implied it would be her last trip to France, not necessarily last foreign trip.

I do think it's very likely that this trip will be the last official one to France. Normally the Hollande administration should invite the Queen to a state Visit, as France was the "guest" in 2008 with Sarkozy. Well as you may know the situation of the Presidency in France is , well, quite complicated and i don't think a full state visit with all the republican protocol will be seen as, let's say, appropriate for now.
To invite the Queen, and other head of states, for the Dday is maybe seen as the best solution to be polite with our friends from UK without having some headaches protocol wise.

 

[cepe]

HM Queen and Prince of Wales working together

As the Queen, through age, does less engagements there is a move towards Prince Charles taking on more. This has been discussed across a range of threads.

Today the Sunday Times published a YouGov poll which covers this. Sunday Times is subscription only but here is the Express "rewrite"

Prince Charles should take over Queen's roles, according to poll | Royal | News | Daily Express

If a new thread isnt appropriate, the perhaps Mods could move to most appropriate thread.

 

[Rudolph]

Outside of travel there isn't much Charles can do.

The Queen and Prince of Wales's job share will not be a regency - Telegraph

But there are some royal functions – the core constitutional functions – that cannot be delegated or shared. Only the Queen can give the Royal Assent to legislation. Only the Queen can appoint a prime minister. Only the Queen can exercise the functions, first identified by Bagehot, of being consulted, advising and warning, at weekly meetings with the prime minister. Some of these functions are mainly symbolic, except in emergency situations, but not all of them are. The Queen still retains a residual discretion which only she can employ.
In addition, the Queen retains the important function of appointing and dismissing governors-general in the 15 other realms of which she is Head of State. It is often forgotten that the Queen is not only Queen of the United Kingdom, but also Queen of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and of various small states in the West Indies and South East Asia.

 

[Skippyboo]

Investitures are something that is being shared right now. Charles and Anne have been doing them for awhile and now William has been added to the rotation.

 

[cepe]

I think the important message in the article is that there has been a swing towards the majority wanting Charles to be King, rather than William.

 

[wbenson]

"In those monarchies, most of the functions of the Queen are undertaken by a governor-general, but the Queen has a genuine discretion in appointing a governor-general, and also in responding to a request from a prime minister in one of these states to dismiss one. That, too, is a function that cannot be delegated. "

In Canada, at least, appointment of a governor general is only reserved for the Queen by convention. If she were to be indisposed when it came time for a new governor general to be appointed, the letters patent delegating powers to the governor general allow the old one to appoint the new one.

One of the delegated powers is "us[ing] Our Great Seal of Canada for sealing all things whatsoever that may be passed under Our Great Seal of Canada." It also says that the governor general is appointed "by Commission under Our Great Seal of Canada." In any case, the letters patent are themselves sealed with the Great Seal of Canada, so they could be amended locally to allow the governor general to perform any function not delegated.

Dismissal is a little less certain, but it does allow the chief justice of the Supreme Court to exercise all powers in the event of the "incapacity" of the governor general, which is an expansive word and probably not reviewable in court.

"Indeed, the concept of regency does not apply to the other 15 monarchies. "

It does apply in New Zealand.

 

[branchg]

By convention, The Queen does not exercise her right to appoint or dismiss a Governor-General without being advised by the Government of her Realm. She is Queen, but constitutionally these nations exercise their own political will in appointing the Governor-General as head of state.

 

[mslewis]

I think the important message in the article is that there has been a swing towards the majority wanting Charles to be King, rather than William.

What does it matter what the "majority" want? Charles is in line to be King and he will be King. People don't get to vote on this.

 

[Rudolph]

True it isn't a popularity contest and anyway, a 53 percent majority isn't very large.

What I don't understand is for all of Charles supposed PR wizardry, Camilla's numbers for people wanting her to take the title Queen are 17 percent. Brutal if you ask me. 9 years of marriage and less than 1/5 of people want her as Queen.

People on here have been commenting on the younger royals not having Charles knack for PR but surely one of the biggest PR failures in the last 16 years has been this idiotic notion of Camilla being the Princess Consort, an idea floated by Charles himself.

Maybe William & Kate and Harry should retain their own PR if this is an example of what Charles can do

 

[cdngirl]

Annnnnd back to our regular schedule program

 

[tommy100]

I'd take any figures for Camilla being Queen with a pinch of salt. to me its like asking who likes paying taxes, nobody says yes but actually how many people go out and refuse to pay them?
I'm sure before their engagement was announced poll after poll said they should not marry but did the country rise up against them?No
How many of those people who say no to Camilla being Queen would actually go out and do something about it? Probably very very few.

In terms of the Queen and Prince Charles working together more I think we are likely to see Charles taking on the longer distance travel from HM leaving her free to stay in the UK and see to constitutional matters with perhaps a few significant trips to Europe for special events.
I wonder though if we will see more joint engagements like those the Queen and Camilla have been on.
In fact when you think about it there have many changes towards a closer working together for some time now with the joint PR office actually being relatively minor.

 

[Dman]

World leaders come to London to tackle illegal wildlife trade: 12-13 February
"Poaching for the trade has reached unprecedented levels and it’s estimated the trade is worth an incredible £6 billion per year, making it the fifth largest international crime. It’s time for governments to take serious action to stop the trafficking.

Prime Minister David Cameron, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will be leading the UK government efforts. WWF-UK’s President HRH The Prince of Wales, along with his son, HRH The Duke Of Cambridge, will both be in attendance."

World leaders come to London to tackle illegal wildlife trade - WWF UK

 

[hkittybaby]

Peter Hunt ‏@BBCPeterHunt
On 17th Feb, the Queen and Kate will host a reception at Buckingham Palace for the dramatic arts. Guests will include actors and directors.

British Royals ‏@britishroyals
Feb 17: Queen & Kate will host a reception for the @royalacademy at Buckingham Palace to mark 6 decades of HM as patron...

British Royals ‏@britishroyals
Previously mentioned attendees/performers to meet the Queen & Kate on Feb 17 are Helen Mirren, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Rickman, etc...

 

[Dman]

I'm looking forward to Her Majesty and Her Royal Highness hosting this event.