r/europe May 20 '25

Map Next 100 years - any monarchies left in Europe? What do you think?

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u/hedgehog_dragon May 20 '25

I'm not quite sure I understand anti-monarchists, whereas... well, at this point I think I am a monarchist.

It's nice having a figurehead that's removed from politics, and I'm a fan of decorum and ceremony.

It lends tradition and history to a country, good for national identity, and often adds ceremony to government which IMO helps keep things a little 'sane' - peaceful transitions of power and such.

All this depends on the monarch not being an idiot of course, which we're kind of gambling on but honestly I think it's less of a gamble than any elected figurehead lol.

In my particular case as a commonwealth country (Canada), it also provides a commonality with some of our allies.

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u/wooIIyMAMMOTH Estonia May 20 '25

People getting a position of (soft) power and money from the state just because they were born into X family. What do you mean you don’t understand anti-monarchists?

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u/hedgehog_dragon May 20 '25

The argument rings hollow to me, hence I don't understand the position. Royal power is restricted by law and, as far as I can tell, they typically do no harm with that power.

Meanwhile, plenty of capitalist and political families inherit soft power and money without restrictions and we can see the shit they get up to.

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u/wooIIyMAMMOTH Estonia May 21 '25

The very important difference, and I’m sure you actually understand this, is that people simply born into a wealthy family do not have statutory guarantees of power and are not subsidised by the taxpayers. Like the monarchy.

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u/based_and_upvoted Norte May 21 '25

The difference is that those families' ancestor that gave them the weal, were able to do so out of something other than being born into it.

Old money is real, but it's no justification for a monarchy

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u/Mediocre-Database332 May 21 '25

There's actually a bit of a problem with that, in that if you don't remove them in a more bloody revolution then they just retain all their land and wealth under the legal system. So you have to really want it to properly benefit.

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u/hedgehog_dragon May 21 '25

I can vibe with hating both old and new money, but saying like people who's ancestors gained it more recently justify anything makes no sense to me.