TomFRohwer wrote:
George W.Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard in May 1968.

I.e. one of the safest places to be. And in Bush's case, a very odd one. As you like quoting from wikipedia -

In applying for pilot training, Bush took a standardized test on which he had a low score, in the 25th percentile. In addition, Bush had two arrests for college pranks and four traffic offenses before applying for pilot training. In 2004, former and current military pilots said it was uncommon for an applicant to be accepted into pilot school with such a record

So one of the worst candidates was accepted for a highly competed-for role that would allow him to avoid combat while still claiming to have served in the military...

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Goodness -- you can't escape mention of the royal wedding nowadays.  I wonder -- why are the members of the British Royal family so beloved?

What I see:
...  Conspicuous consumption,
...  They don't really have jobs,
...  Special treatments, reminding us that they are better than the rest of us,
...  Unimaginably wealthy,
...  Haven't really earned anything in generations.

So, why are they beloved?

A multitude of reasons, that varies from person to person, and even for the same person from day to day.

Some mix of

- pride (generally the royals have given sensible service)
- fear of change/fear of alternatives (if we ended up with a  Donald Trump we have the self esteem building option of saying "At least we didn't CHOSE him!"
- confidence in the limits the system provides (royals only have power if the will of the people is unclear, such as a hung parliament, in which case tradition virtually demands rational and even handed arbitration by the royal)
- respect, current Queens stamina if nothing else is amazing
- superiority (no desire to end up with a Hollywood democracy)
- like leaving the grubby work to professional politicians, and the noble head of state role to "clean royals"

Looknsee Photography wrote:
Goodness -- you can't escape mention of the royal wedding nowadays.  I wonder -- why are the members of the British Royal family so beloved?

What I see:
...  Conspicuous consumption,
...  They don't really have jobs,
...  Special treatments, reminding us that they are better than the rest of us,
...  Unimaginably wealthy,
...  Haven't really earned anything in generations.

So, why are they beloved?

Natural Means wrote:
A multitude of reasons, that varies from person to person, and even for the same person from day to day.

Some mix of

- pride (generally the royals have given sensible service)
- fear of change/fear of alternatives (if we ended up with a  Donald Trump we have the self esteem building option of saying "At least we didn't CHOSE him!"
- confidence in the limits the system provides (royals only have power if the will of the people is unclear, such as a hung parliament, in which case tradition virtually demands rational and even handed arbitration by the royal)
- respect, current Queens stamina if nothing else is amazing
- superiority (no desire to end up with a Hollywood democracy)
- like leaving the grubby work to professional politicians, and the noble head of state role to "clean royals"

I would add "excellent PR".

rfordphotos wrote:
I will leave it to a British citizen to explain for certain (...)

Subject.
Britains are subjects. Not citizens. ;-P

MarkGerrardPhotography wrote:
Wish we could just get rid of them.

The age old argument here is that they bring in tourist $ and that's why we are supposed to keep "giving"

I'm sure tourists would rather come to see historic buildings and towns/cities than a chance glimpse of some "untouchable" from a distance

If Ihad my way they would all be told that they pay their own way or go the way of the dodo.

They are not even rulers any more just figureheads

Her Majesty's income is derived from the Crown Properties, an arrangement that has existed since 1760. Her son's income comes from the Duchy of Cornwall. So the income from these properties is how they pay their way.

Teila K Day Photography wrote:

That's ridiculous.

Scores of people have flown multiple missions on multiple tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and places in Africa where they barely escaped with their lives and don't get accolades.  Further, many of those men and women are doing it while the husband or wife at home are on a shoe-string budget as opposed to being on the tax payers meal wagon.   You're not special just because you flew whirly birds in the military.  Some of us were lucky enough to have well established businesses before being commissioned into the military or flying for the government, but most servicemen/women around the world aren't so lucky.

Thousands of sailors, soldiers and airmen come from military lineages; that's common- so please don't make it out to be that Harry, his brother and uncle being in the military (which is expected of many Royals anyhow) is a big deal.  It isn't as much as it's expected.

Had Harry had been married with 4 kids, did 5 combat deployments (several nearly back to back), and or was sent out on a near suicide mission like some other helicopter pilots were, then I might be inclined to wave a lit match...

Cadet Bone-Spurs?

We love them because when we look at the heads of state from other countries they generally fare rather well.

Looknsee Photography wrote:
I once was in the presence of the Queen.  She came on a tour of Silicon Valley while I was working there in one of the big companies.  Our Founding Father walked her through our site, and the entourage crossed the courtyard.  We were there, and many folks applauded & smiled.  She gave us a regal wave.  There were snipers on the roof of each building bordering the courtyard.  I also remember that they drove down from San Francisco, on I-280 (which was definitely the scenic route).  They closed the entire interstate for her drive down & back.

Very impressive.  She was short & dumpy & very, very regal.

(That site no longer exists -- Apple bought it & turned the entire site into their mothership building).

How old?

60+ and short and dumpy is ok.

As a 20 something in her army uniform (She was an army mechanic in WW2) she was better than 90% of the models on here!

https://goo.gl/images/VHksRY

Dea and the Beast wrote:

Was. As you say.


Where is it romanticized?
Last beheading in Britain was late 18th century to my knowledge...

Last one in Saudi in 2003...

My Understanding is that there were 130 executions in Saudi last year ( 2017 ) mostly by beheadings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_p … udi_Arabia

And to put an interesting spin on this entire conversation - there are some genealogists who claim that Queen Elizabeth is descended from the Prophet Mohammed

https://www.history.com/news/is-queen-e … t-muhammad