User:Art Hansel/sandbox

The comic theatrical genre the harlequinade was also popular. Its most famous performer, Joseph Grimaldi, best known for developing the modern day white-face clown, made his stage debut at Drury Lane in 1780.

Paris has the Louvre, the most visited museum on the planet (thanks largely to having the Mona Lisa).

It also has the reputation of being the city of love that draws in couples all over the world.

It is also much more accessible being on the continent and not on an island (a large reason why Disneyland (Paris) is located there).

Given these factors (among others), for London to match Paris is impressive. The Royal Family is a huge reason for this parity.

Shakespeare, The Beatles, James Bond, Harry Potter, Beckham (Premier League in general, as the most watched sports league on the planet)...The Royal Family PLC. is every bit as much of a selling point as the rest, in fact it’s the bedrock of Britain’s soft power status. There’s a reason why the RF featured so prominently in the Olympic Games opening ceremony (via the Queen jumping out of a plane with Bond)...that skit was as popular as Mr Bean.

The money the RF generates is unquantifiable, and tourism is only a small slice of that. Every single head of state, foreign dignitary, business leader etc. the first person they want to meet when they come to England is the Queen (now King). The Royal Seal of Approval exists for a reason. A business having a Royal Warrant status exists for a reason. The RF has a gravitas that is a goldmine to the UK economy and the general status of the UK (as a soft power) worldwide.

The UK has (by pure chance) fallen on a system that is as ideal as it gets. A powerless head of state (bar formalities of accepting the new PM, opening Parliament and reading a speech written by the ruling party), one who is non partisan (meaning the vast majority of the country can get behind, as opposed to a partisan elected head of state whom roughly only half the populous support, the rest despise), one who doesn’t get involved in politics but, is a figurehead, who can do feel good stuff (Christmas speeches, parades, Knight people, hand out trophies at sports events, open stuff, host foreign dignitaries/CEO of blue chip companies etc.) while the elected leader (the PM) gets to do all the actual dirty stuff of daily politics and takes all the hits.

The idea of ditching The Royal Family PLC, a goldmine to brand Britain, is right out of the same school as the KLF burning a million quid.

xxxxxx

France had an absolutist monarchy (Louis XIV, “I am the state”). Of course you get rid of such a tyrannical system.

Britain has ever had that (even tho Charles I tried to import it from Europe, which caused the English Civil War, and his assassination). The English Bill of Rights 1689 (supremacy of Parliament over the crown) firmly established England & Wales (subsequently UK) as a constitutional monarchy (more accurately a Roy rep)

Britain’s status as a constitutional monarchy is also the prime reason the Industrial Revolution (ie. the creation of the modern world) originated in Britain, not France, accessible via the rule of law (contracts, free trade. etc.).

Britain also created the adversarial court system and the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” (the French do not have this system, they have the reverse)

France has also been through multiple republics (the last after Vichy France (when France capitulated to the Nazis) when it was run by fascists). Britain has been extremely stable.