Why should I/we give a rat's ear...

[Ransom]

That's not really an apples to apples comparison, is it?
The royal family's role is mostly ceremonial, isn't it?

Sure. But aren't there ceremonial aspects to your own system that are still important? The State of the Union Address, for example, is pretty much ceremonial - as I understand it, there's no constitutional reason the President couldn't just submit a report - and yet it's considered important enough to have the Prez address a joint meeting of both houses of Congress.

Ditto public swearing-in ceremonies, the conventions at which the various political parties officially nominate their presidential candidates, Inauguration Day, and so forth. All that ceremonial pomp is part of your political process. A royal family is part of ours.

And besides all that, Canada is a sovereign nation?!

Sure. We pass our own laws, elect our own officials, no longer go to war just because England does, and since 1982 can amend our own constitution without permission of the British parliament. The Queen doesn't tell us what to do. For that matter, she doesn't tell the British parliament what to do, either. She's a ceremonial monarch with some very rarely used reserve powers.

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

That's not really an apples to apples comparison, is it?
The royal family's role is mostly ceremonial, isn't it?

Sure. But aren't there ceremonial aspects to your own system that are still important? The State of the Union Address, for example, is pretty much ceremonial - as I understand it, there's no constitutional reason the President couldn't just submit a report - and yet it's considered important enough to have the Prez address a joint meeting of both houses of Congress.

Ditto public swearing-in ceremonies, the conventions at which the various political parties officially nominate their presidential candidates, Inauguration Day, and so forth. All that ceremonial pomp is part of your political process. A royal family is part of ours.

And besides all that, Canada is a sovereign nation?!

Sure. We pass our own laws, elect our own officials, no longer go to war just because England does, and since 1982 can amend our own constitution without permission of the British parliament. The Queen doesn't tell us what to do. For that matter, she doesn't tell the British parliament what to do, either. She's a ceremonial monarch with some very rarely used reserve powers.

There are ceremonial aspects to every system, political or otherwise, I guess.
It's just difficult for us/me to understand the hoopla and extreme extravagance that is he royal family when for all practical purposes they make no difference....have no substance.
That's a long way from a state of he union address that is defeated in TV ratings by Andy Griffith re runs on cable. 


But the Brits mock us Americans regularly as well.....

 

[Biker]

How not to look at her?

Wow!! Kate is classy beautiful! 

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

The royal baby will pump $380 million into the British economy.
If Obama could get just the kid to move to Detroit....