MtheGM: Someone calls me 'a royalist above. To clarify, I am not doctrinairely so: rather a 'let·it·be·for·fear·of·something·worse'-ist, a 'don't·fix·if·not·bust'-ist..... The present incumbent sets a fine dignified example imo; and after years of perhaps too laid-back a refusal to commit publicly to much, recently in Olympic Opening revealed a hitherto much unexpected aspect of personality.... Re expense: do presidency-upkeeps not cost the public purse as much as any monarchy? Are presidents immune from immoralities & sex scandals ~~ like Clinton & that present Eyetie incumbent? Oh, come on again. There have been some dire members of our royalty, to be sure, like our present Gracious Lady's horrible late sister Margaret, snobbish & vain, whose best friends were required to call her Ma'am at all times...

My dad was a member of Coats Mission (as an ordinary Coldstream Guardsman) until 1942 when he went off to Africa and Italy to fight Rommel. This was a company of Guards who were in close attendance on the royal family at all times with instructions in the event of a German invasion to remove them "willing or not" from danger, transport them over to the west of England and then eventually to Canada if things got hopeless. He always had a lot of time for the young Elizabeth, who he said was respectful and considerate towards the guards, and would crack jokes with them and generally treat them as human beings. He loathed Margaret with an absolute passion. She treated them with contempt and sometimes, when they were on post, she would walk up and down in front of their posts 30 or 40 times, just to make them "present arms", which they had to do every time a royal passed them.

He said one of the prize "stakes" in their card schools was to be one of those assigned to Margaret in the event that the royals were "forcibly removed"....everyone wanted to be one of those troops, so they could take the opportunity to "kick the shit out of the little bitch" as he put it!!!