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SCOTTISH SEPARATISTS SAY they will keep Queen Elizabeth II if the country votes on Thursday to leave the United Kingdom, but some question how secure the monarchy would be post-independence.
Members of First Minister Alex Salmond’s separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) government have said that if independence wins it should be up to the people to decide whether to keep the queen.
The independence campaign’s chairman Dennis Canavan has even called for an early referendum on dumping the royals, calling hereditary monarchy an “affront to democracy and a complete anachronism”.
The queen’s 15 realms outside Britain – Australia, Canada and New Zealand included – have a viceroy and some experts suggest Scotland would likewise need a governor-general for permanent in-country representation and to avoid the queen directly receiving conflicting advice from her governments.
Queen Elizabeth was reported to tell a well-wisher on Sunday “I hope people will think very carefully about the future” after attending a church service near her Balmoral estate in Scotland.
Some newspapers suggest the 88-year-old monarch is “horrified” at the prospect of her kingdom breaking in two. Buckingham Palace has only spoken officially to stress her constitutional impartiality and view that it is a matter for the people of Scotland.
England and Scotland have shared the same monarch since 1603 – the Union of the Crowns in one person.
But the 1707 Acts of Union formed one new, united state, Great Britain, and it is this political union that the separatists seek to unpick – meaning that the “United Kingdom” would remain.
“On independence, Scotland will be a constitutional monarchy, continuing the Union of the Crowns,” says the Scottish government’s prospectus for independence.
“The position of Her Majesty the Queen as head of state will form an intrinsic part of the constitutional platform. But the left-of-centre New Statesman magazine has accused SNP chief Salmond of “counterfeit monarchism”.
“Although it has never officially been a republican organisation, there has always been a strong thread of anti-royalist sentiment running through its rank and file,” it has said.
Besides her constitutional ties, Queen Elizabeth’s links to Scotland are personal. The queen’s mother was from a Scottish noble family.
Currently the queen spends one week at the end of June at her official state residence in Scotland, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and her summer break in August and September at Balmoral, her personal estate in the Highlands.
Bob Morris, from the Constitution Unit of University College London, said she would need to name a governor-general for Scotland if “Yes” wins.
“If there is a direct relationship, she would be in danger of being given contradictory advice by the Scottish government on the one hand and the UK government on the other,” he told AFP.
Having a governor-general “gives a buffer, and it gives a permanent representation in the realm concerned,” he said.
Funding the monarchy
An independent Scotland could run into opposition in the Commonwealth as the SNP would push to remove, on “religious discrimination” grounds, the requirement for the sovereign to be an Anglican.
Commonwealth realm prime ministers agreed in 2011 not to change this arrangement — the monarch being the supreme governor of England’s state church.
Questions also remain over quite how a Scottish monarchy would be funded.
The separatist manifesto says Scotland will contribute to the monarchy’s expenses “as we already do through taxes”, but does not mention the Crown Estate at all.
The estate is a vast land and property portfolio owned by the sovereign.
Dating from a 1760 arrangement, the government funds the monarchy and all its functions in return for its profits.
The amount Queen Elizabeth receives is currently set at 15 percent of the profits – £40 million (€50 million) in the next financial year.
The total value of the Crown Estate in Scotland is £267 million, or three percent of the UK total.
In 2011, the SNP government wanted control over income from the Crown Estate in Scotland, but the British government refused.
Asked about the Crown Estate post-independence, a Yes Scotland campaign spokesman told AFP: “No idea.
“We’ve really got far more important things than the Crown Estate.”
- © AFP 2014.
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Free Palestine:)
Zionist s€um
@Jay Kay: Meerkats will rise up and free Palestine from the imperialist illegal us plantations!
@Jay Kay: Wow, look at all the nuts, lol. I just commented to see if comments would be shut down like all the other stories. Meerkats? There are some nut jobs here
The EU has been exposed to be nothing more than a spineless, willing tonto for the US/NATO war machine. All the guff down through the years about peace, democracy, the rule of law etc nothing but empty rhetoric.
The sole purpose of the EU commission was to override democratic governance and to stuff the commission with hand picked weak messenger boys and girls that are nothing but tools for US/NATO, completely under the influence of think tanks like the Atlantic council and God knows what others.
The EU was a beautiful child but it’s become a damned ugly adult devoid of true democratic governance and also devoid of any morality and dignity, the shocking disregard for the lives of Arabic peoples belies an inherent racism very much alive in Europe today as it was in the empire building days.
@moss cotter: Arabs are the most racist and misogynistic people in the world.
@moss cotter: Very well said. Time to re-evaluate our relationship with the EU. Maybe opt out of military spend among other things
@: So. It is still not ok to murder anyone.
Irish Government bowing to our EU and American masters once again. Leaky all mouth and no trousers. FFG OUT!!! FREE
@Daniel Gilroy: Leo is lovin life over in Brussels. Tailored suit, Opulent gatherings, best of everything. Give the guy a break. He had to go along with them if he wants to get ahead in those circles. Importantly, he looked great! I thought he really pulled off the PM look. It’s just war crimes. No need to go over the top and ask for a cessation. Big picture baby!
What a fascinating and rather impressive selection of considered comments of great intellectual depth we have on display here! Now I know why they’re closed on most stories…
@William Tallon: By pointing out that people are not staying on topic, you yourself stray from the topic of the article. At least it’s something worthwhile that they’re commenting on. Thousands of children blown up in two weeks. Dead
@Sean: Somewhat convoluted yet flawed reasoning on your part. Worthwhile subjects are worthy of worthwhile comments. Maybe you should read the content of some of those posts again? I’d hardly consider them worthy of the subject matter…
@William Tallon: Settle down with all this “convoluted yet flawed” business unless you can point to the flaws. Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. I don’t know what ones you find not “worthy”, that’s subjective. I just heard you complain because you don’t agree with something someone says while you were excusing censorship. If they said something incorrectly then argue that. We should confront inaccuracies and disprove them, not censor them. Group think can be deadly so shutting out ideas is never a good idea. There’s a reason freedom of expression is enshrined in our Constitution. Some of the stuff on here is terrible. I agree with you completely there. But let’s discourage censorship please. Have a good night/morning!
Tell the Israeli spokespersons that they are censored for spreading misinformation
Journal editing comments now too. Absolutely disgraceful!!!
It is disappointing to see Biden parroting Israeli propaganda. Questioning the death toll in Gaza, pathetic.
@Mike smith: Biden is right to ask questions. After all, Hamas claimed Israel blew up a hospital killing over 500 people, when in fact it was a Hamas rocket which landed in the car park of the hospital.
@: Why did the Israeli propaganda bloke claim it was a great Israeli success in a tweet? Was his account hacked? Plenty of evidence that it was Israel, specifically the warning attack and message to hospital management a few days before. Don’t believe anything the Israeli lying machine says.
@Mike smith: Agreed: it was disgusting. Doubters should see the Guardian article ‘How does Gaza’s health ministry calculate casualty figures?’.
@Mike smith: We can’t say for sure what happened in the hospital car park, but we can say for sure that the Israelis are lying about it. Check out the Channel 4 analysis on YouTube. It made three points. First, Doppler analysis shows that the missile approached from the East, not south west. Second, the recording of Hamas guys presented by Israelis was clearly doctored. Third, analysis of the impact crater again shows it came in opposite direction that Israelis claim. There are still unanswered questions but check out that video and see if you still believe Israelis claims.
The weakness and spineless hypocrisy of the EU is on full display today. It’s not the Russians or others these pathetic politicians need to worry about but the populations of EU countries. If you are bewildered about the rise of far right, left, nationilist or whatever BS term you are using this week for those that don’t agree with your crap. Just look to todays pathetic display of hot air and you will see the root cause.
I agree. Well said. You cannot be the same person who wrote the sh,te I read earlier. If there’s more than one of you on here without a profile then one of you is going to have to fix that s.,t. Get an avatar or something
@Sean: suk my dik
@Sean: No different person. I rarely comment and that was my first in days. The app accepts a name but doesn’t tag my comments with it.
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