News Queen Elizabeth II has died

[Orion☆]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch and second longest-reigning monarch in history, has passed away today at 96. May she rest in peace.

Mixed feelings about the British royal family aside, this is a huge loss for human history. As the BBC article very well noted, she reigned for 70 years and her reign spanned 18 Prime Ministers - the first being born in 1894 and the last being born in 1975, 101 years later. She may not have always been on the right side of history for most of us, but she was still part of it. To say that it will be a strange time until we get used to her absence is a massive understatement.

Your thoughts on this?

 

[Starlight]

It's... a lot to take in right now in all honesty.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

She was the world's longest reigning monarch and she lived a long-fulfilling life, all the way to 96. I know that death isn't something to look forward to, but bet it feels good to literally die a queen. I wouldn't mind going out like that.

RIP.

 

[pkmin3033]

This is not a good year for the United Kingdom.

 

[Corrin]

My mother told me so I thought it was fake news at first, since people do this sort of thing.

I don't really pay attention the royals, but it is a huge shock. Along with that, the UK is going through a lot right now.

 

[Starlight]

Some of the things I'm seeing on Discord about this are making me extremely uncomfortable ngl.

The monarchy is controversial, and feeling nothing, or even being happy on a personal level about today's news, is a perfectly valid response.

I get it. I'm not a monarchist either.

However, The Queen was also looked up to by millions of people. Some of them might be on those servers and could be grieving right now.

Hating the monarchy, or saying you aren't sad to see her go is one thing. Gloatingly celebrating and calling for the death of a fellow human being is quite another.

If someone was calling for the death of JK Rowling or Elon Musk, I'd be saying the same thing, despite how I feel about them. Would memes like that be allowed? I sure hope not.

 

[Midnight Umbreon]

It's insane to me that their national anthem changes tommorow.

Honestly, I've never cared much about royalty, but it's a damn shame she didn't live 4 more years, just to hit that 100 mark.

 

[Her]

Objectively good news

 

[Palamon]

Why are so many people making jokes about her death, I'm genuinely curious. All I've been seeing since she died is meme after meme and I do not understand the humor. Did she do something bad when she reigned England?

 

[Corrin]

Why are so many people making jokes about her death, I'm genuinely curious. All I've been seeing since she died is meme after meme and I do not understand the humor. Did she do something bad when she reigned England?

Many are either from, or have family from, countries that suffered under British colonial rule and the rest of us empathize with them. The royal family's wealth is from stolen artifacts & riches from other countries.
The US and Canada were even part of the British Empire. The US fought a war for their independence.

This is why people are happy, at least.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Kinda sad tbh. She seemed nice and I was rooting for her to get to 100 and I was kinda expecting her to do so. I just kinda didn't expect it : (

 

[Hyzenthlay]

So ends an era. I had a feeling she would not hold on much longer after losing Philip, I can't imagine the void she must have felt. At least they are together now at rest. What a shame her final years were during a global pandemic and multiple humanitarian crises. Rest In Peace Queen Elizabeth. It's hard to believe.

The memes and jokes are so crass and undignified that I have to stay off all media, including Discord, because there is no escaping it, and it's making me uncomfortable. I'm no royalist and I never payed much attention to them, so I am not educated enough to form an opinion one way or another. I have no strong feelings toward the queen. But the way people are behaving, jumping on the bandwagon of hate to rejoice in the death of a 96 year old widowed great grandmother, is a little beyond me. How does her death benefit the world? Am I missing some terrible crime she has committed? I'm genuinely at a loss with what atrocious thing she has done. I can't ever bring myself to celebrate someone's death good or bad, so I just can't relate to the reactions I'm seeing. I understand being against the monarchy and what the Royal Family stands for, it's the hate directed specifically towards Philip and the Queen at the buildup to their deaths I am failing to grasp. There is no dignity in debasing a dead old woman.

 

[Megan]

I have mixed feelings about her death. I understand that especially the British people really saw in her someone to look up to and a sort of status symbol of sorts. Especially in a time where there's crisis after crisis and especially in a country that is ruled by people who really seem to hate their populace and just drag them even deeper into the mud.

 

[Nah]

Keep in mind that I'm not talking about Elizabeth II specifically, as I'm not really all that familiar with her and I've never bothered keeping up with the British royal family much. I'm just saying this because this sort of thing has come up before and will certainly come up again in the future, but:

There are and always have been some incredibly awful people in the world, ones that we really would've and would be better off without. If you were a sack of shit in life, that doesn't change when you die, nor should it be a shield to use against valid criticism of the person. In these cases, it's not really disrespectful or morally inferior to think that their death was a good thing. We think that literally all life is precious and sacred, but honestly I think that truly understanding that life is precious requires accepting that some people must die in order for humanity to live truly happy lives.

And whatever kind of person the late Queen was, as the head of the family (especially since, for the vast majority of people alive today, she is the only British monarch they've ever known), it is extremely difficult to separate her from whatever any individual might feel about British royalty and the British Empire or just even the UK.

 

[Commander Saturn]

I loved my Queen. The news of her death was and is devastating to me.
This is as far as I am willing to speak upon the matter.

 

[Her]

scolds be like

aside from protecting paedophiles, what has she done, you animals? what crime has she done? aside from giving safe haven to the paedophiles, she was just a nice lady. it doesn't matter that she personally used her geass power to make journalists shoot themselves in the back of the head. she was just an old lady, you sickos! she was responsible for all the good things she did, and is blameless for all the bad things she did! she definitely did not have the only popular member of the family murdered in a tunnel because she was pregnant with a brown child. she was my grandmother. she was your grandmother. she was mrs. windsor, not the reigning queen of the empire that hollowed out the world for centuries. she wasn't even an imperialist, she just had personal investments in making sure none of the colonies ever gained independence. she lived for her dogs, you monsters. they don't have a mother now. how dare you criticise her. you should be ashamed.

like get outta here lmfao

 

[tigertron]

British person here: On a human level, she has my sympathies. It's sad for her family that their mother, grandmother, etc , has passed away. However, my concern is her death is being used by the government and MSM as a distraction from the cost-of-living crisis. The entire MSM has stopped talking about everything else.

It's also very strange going on shopping sites and seeing her face all over them...

I have my own opinion about the monarchy and what they really represent (my views are not positive), so I'll say no more on that.

 

[Corrin]

Another thing I was thinking: Now that Charles is king, will he have namesakes? Like the biggest hospital here is called the Queen Elizabeth II, or QEII for short.

 

[tigertron]

Another thing I was thinking: Now that Charles is king, will he have namesakes? Like the biggest hospital here is called the Queen Elizabeth II, or QEII for short.

The names of institutions will change and the Queen's cipher on insignia and effigy on the currency will be replaced with King Charles.

King Charles' face will appear on coins and banknotes in the UK and throughout the commonwealth. Our stamps will also have his face on and the royal insignia on our post boxes will change.

 

[Orion☆]

Aaaaand in connection with these news, what I feared would happen after the Queen's death is happening.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/12/anti-monarchy-protester-charged-with-a-breach-of-the-peace-edinburgh-queen-death-king

The police have apparently been given power to arrest dissenters to Charles's coronation and pro-republic activists during the funeral procession. I do think the 10 days of mourning before the funeral are a little excessive and ridiculous already, but this is alarming too, on top of everything else mentioned in this thread. I do fear dissent towards the monarchy will be cracked down on even harder than when the Queen was alive, especially considering Charles seems to be rather unpopular with the people, and this gives me proof that it's not unfounded.