Posted by Dominion HQ on May 3, 2012, 11:02 pm, in reply to "Angus Reid Survey"
Board Administrator
1) Naturally the happy couple of William and Kate, newly-inducted into full Royal duties, top the popularity charts; they have been incessantly in the news and the tabloids/social media; they are attractive, animated, modest, sensible - and they have shown themselves hard-working members of the Royal Family, accessible and open. It is no surprise that they lead the polls. Their first Canadian visit as a couple was wildly successful and remains, naturally, in memory in the same way as they have embedded themselves in the affections of Canadians, and indeed the entire world.
2) Those who wish them well - their poll numbers are those which any other public figures would be jealous - will want for William and Kate to enjoy what our Queen and Prince Philip did not - a decade or more of relative privacy in which to raise their children and live a little more "normal" family life than will be possible when they become King and Queen. So any suggestion of skipping over Charles is unfair to his son, daughter in law and future grandchildren.
3) In any event, the route to the reign of William V lies through his father's becoming Monarch. There is no realistic need nor way to "skip" a generation and install William as King on his Grandmother's death. Apart
from how distasteful this would be to William and Harry, it would open a constitutional can of worms as very likely each Realm (the Commonwealth countries which share our Monarch) would have to give its assent, some probably through legislation - which is particularly problematic in a federal state such as Canada where the need for provincial consent to any change in what the Constitution calls "the office of Queen" could lead to michief-making, intolerable delay and constitutional uncertainty.
4) Whatever people's view of Charles and Camilla - and it is true they are not of an age nor temperament to be exalted by the media nor be seen as figures of adulation, nor do they seek to be - they do their duty. The Prince has an astonishing mind and many of his issues are thoroughly
contemporary (built architecture, relations with the Islamic world, conservation and sustainability in development, etc).
Charles and Camilla have found happiness in a second marriage, as is true of so many in our own families and circle of friends. And, again like situations amongst our friends and family, there is very often much to be regretted in the break-up of previous marriages. It would be hypocritical to accept that there is both good and the bad of marital break-up in our own circles but condemn it in the Royal Family.
Of note: it is evident that William and Harry enjoy a great relationship with both their father and step-mother; and that The Queen recently honoured Camilla with the Royal Victorian Order. If The Queen and Charles' children
can accept the situation, then so should we. We do not necessarily have to "like" an individual member of the Royal Family in order to understand the advantages of our constitutional monarchy to Canada's stable democracy, just
as we do not necessarily "like" each member of our own family, yet we still understand the value of family life to a stable society.
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