yorkshirelad
Master Black Belt
What does this have to do with the Queen being ignored?
Left Out of D-Day Events, Queen Elizabeth Is Fuming
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What does this have to do with the Queen being ignored?
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yorkshirelad
Master Black Belt
You obviously know nothing about Britain. The Queen has been a pivotal political figure in Britain for over fifty years and is loved by the population as a whole. She is a truly great leader, who served in WW2 as a military truck driver/mechanic and an ambulance driver during the London blitz.
On the whole, she is revered for her work ethic and love she has expressed to both her people and country. Britain would be the worse for losing her.
yorkshirelad
Master Black Belt
Yes the French. Barack Obama has nothing to do with this mess. This is all Sarkozy. My point was, what does Britain's love for Obama have to do with the Queen being disrespected by Sarkozy?
I personally think Obama should go as a mark of respect to those who lost or risked their life for freedom in Normandy. I also think on this occasion, Sarkozy is a pillock.
CuongNhuka
Senior Master
I like that you argue with me, not the guy who orginally stated what I quoted, or against what I was agreeing with. Which, by the way, is that a Government figure who was put in place by BIRTHRIGHT is nothing I care about. If I was the Pres. I'd have invited her to be polite, but I wouldn't care about her. The PM is (or should be) the real head of the British Government. I also have this irrational hatred of the House of Lords.
Lets also forget that the only person we're talking about getting screwed over is the Queen of England. Were Rep.s from any of these Countrys present: Poland, Australia, New Zealand, French Morroco, Newfoundland, Nepal, South Africa, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Denmark, Belguim, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, Tannu Tuva, Mongolia, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Hondorus, Nicaragua, China, The Philippine Commonwealth, Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Ethiopia, Iraq, Bolivia, Columbia, IRAN, Liberia, Peru, Italy (after Mussolini was arrested North Italy was German Occupied, and South joined the Allies), Romania, Bulgaria, San Marino, Albania, Bahawalpur, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Suadi Arabia, Argentina, or Chile? Nope.
Now, I know that only the US, UK, France, Canada, and Norway actually partcipated, but many of the other countrys created additional fronts for the Germans/Italians that made it so there were less troops to actually fight against. Not to mention, They also divided German attention allowing us to actually win the War. If not, then D-Day was a classic example of a well prepared invasion against a heavily fortified beach head, and nothing more.
I don't doubt any of this.
That doesn't mean that selecting a person for this job by lineage, modified by gender and birth order (and religion if you're Roman Catholic), makes any sense. Britain would be the worse for losing lots of people who worked for its betterment. It's great that luck put a good person in this job who rose to the challenges. That doesn't change the silliness of selecting children at birth to govern countries (even if most of what they do is pro forma).
Considering the royal family is probably one of the most disfunctional families in the UK I doubt it could be called luck lol! for all the money and so called priveleges they have there's few who would change places with them.
Well inviting the Queen would have meant that all the Commonwealth countries would have also be represented by her as she is head of the Commonwealth, Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the UK and only represents the UK. The Commonwealth troops contributed greatly to the D Day landings.
Archangel M
Senior Master
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As one of the few surviving VIP's of WWII she should have been invited..Our President should have used some persuasive power to see that she was.
Talk about ungrateful. How many Brits died liberating that country???
Talk about ungrateful. How many Brits died liberating that country???
I think the problem may be that the French government prefers to forget about that, the old thing about having to be grateful makes you hate the person you are grateful to. Obama's people may have not factored that in as it's something that isn't easy to believe at first glance.
It would give the president some goodwill around the world if he persuaded the French not to be their churlish selves and invite the Queen. I'm pretty sure she's not upset on her behalf, it will be for all the British and Commonwealth troops she will represent she's be angry for. Brown represents the government, the Queen represents the people.
That would have been (will be?) a good diplomatic thing to do.
Twice!
Maybe it's because they're our (bad) neighbours but it is not for nothing that The French have the reputation they do. Mind you, the French people that I've actually known reckon that they catch a bad rep from the behaviour of the Parisians :shrug:.
However, de Gaulle made a lasting negative impression all on his own when hiding under our wing. Care to guess how many 'Free' French took part in the D-Day landings or what they achieved? I know of one battalion of commando's, who insisted on landing first on the beaches (to spite the English with them in my opinion) and paid the price.
I do know that in the South of France they are very much grateful for the help of the Allies. On August 15th ( when they were liberated) every year in Port Grimaud, Saint Tropez and other places along the bay of St Tropez they hold an open air memorial service where the national anthems are played and flags are flown of America and Great Britain. It's quite moving actually, the Legion D'Etranger usually represent France, there's usually World War 2 re-enactment (?) enthuisiasts there dressed as American and British soldies complete with genuine vehicles such as jeeps etc. There's usually a fly past by the French Air Force as well if theres no forest fires and the airways needed for the fire planes.
There was a lot of resistance fighters in that area and many were caught, tortured and killed by the Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie. Feelings, as they do in small tight knit communities still run deep.
But, if you ask these people, they will tell you they aren't really French, they are Provencal and very proud of it.
There was a lot of resistance fighters in that area and many were caught, tortured and killed by the Butcher of Lyon, Klaus Barbie. Feelings, as they do in small tight knit communities still run deep.
But, if you ask these people, they will tell you they aren't really French, they are Provencal and very proud of it.
Klaus Barbie, there's a chilling name from the past 
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- Thread Starter
- #34
Great way of putting it and an outstanding turn of phrase.
jim777
Master Black Belt
Obama should be embarrassed, and this should be fixed; it's a disgrace that the Queen wasn't invited. That said, it isn't Obama's country, and it isn't up to his staff to make the guest lists. He deserves some criticism nonetheless, but the French should step up here.
CuongNhuka
Senior Master
Norway is part of the Commonwealth?:erg:
Also, If I was the PM of Canada, and I was invited to something because the Queen of England was, and she suppossedly represents me, I'd be a little PO'd. Infact, in that scenario, Canada would be invading England.
I couldn't quite untangle what you were trying to say there, Cuong. What Tez said is quite true and I fail to see how that gets turned into somehow being an insult to the Premier of Canada?
Norway is part of the Commonwealth?:erg:
Also, If I was the PM of Canada, and I was invited to something because the Queen of England was, and she suppossedly represents me, I'd be a little PO'd. Infact, in that scenario, Canada would be invading England.
Norway? where did that come from?
She isn't the Queen of England, her title is 'Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'
As well as being the Queen and head of state in the UK is also the Queen of the following countries
Antigua & Barbuda
Australia
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
CANADA
Grenada ( did you realise that the Queen is the head of state there when America invaded it?)
Jamaica
New Zealand
PNG
St Kitts & Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent & Grenadines
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
She is also Head of the Commonwealth
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/142227/members/
The Prime Minister of Canada would be in the same position as Gordon Brown he would represent his government, his ( and our) Queen would represent the people of Canada so there could hardly be any invasion could there?
CuongNhuka
Senior Master
She said that because the Queen represents the people of all the countrys in the Commonwealth, she can be present at function to represent the people of the Commonwealth. I was trying to explain that the leaders of those countrys might be a little PO'd because someone else could be present instead, who is not even a citizen.
They participated in D-Day as well. They weren't invited either. No one is crying about that.
She's a political figure who became the Head of State on the grounds of birthright. I don't care. You have to understand, I believe in Democracy. Non-Democracy (like an inherited position) is evil to me.
Yah, but how much power does she actually have in any of those countrys? How much power does she have in England? Symbolic, compared to some real authority.
Yes, I'm aware. The invasion thing was me trying to explain that you'd be pretty PO'd if you (as head of state) weren't present at some international function, because there was someone there who could represent you instead, even though that person is not even really a citizen. Oh, and there could be an invasion, it's just it would be called a Coup, a revolution, or a Civil War.
mook jong man
Senior Master
I could be wrong but I think the Queen has the power to sack the Australian government if she wants to .
I think the way it works is that the Governor General in Australia tells the Queen that the government is crap and the Queen says yeah no worries get rid of em or something like that anyway.
I think the way it works is that the Governor General in Australia tells the Queen that the government is crap and the Queen says yeah no worries get rid of em or something like that anyway.
