r/todayilearned • u/Rd28T • 12d ago
TIL that every Australian is entitled to a portrait of the reigning monarch - paid for by the government. After the Queen died, there was a rush to get the last portraits of her before the Charles stock came in.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/australians-swamp-mps-trying-to-snag-the-last-of-the-free-portraits-of-the-queen/sxibm6cc5575
u/checkonetwo 12d ago
Australian citizens can also request a national flag too. I thought that my friend was having me on until I contacted my local member and asked for my flag. They came back with "What size?" and I said the biggest you have.
Now I own an Aussie flag that is about 2 1/2 metres wide. It's so bloody big I don't know what to do with it.
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u/BitchImRobinSparkles 12d ago
Cape, obviously.
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u/checkonetwo 12d ago
If I wore it like a cape I'd look like Princess Diana at her wedding :)
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u/Large_Yams 12d ago
Don't act like you'd be the first Aussie to wear the flag as a cape. That's like one of your biggest tropes.
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u/garlicrooted 12d ago
Don't act like you'd be the first Aussie to wear the flag as a cape. That's like one of your biggest tropes.
at least wear underwear too
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u/SlickWilly49 12d ago
Or like Pauline Hanson in every photo of her
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u/MissMenace101 11d ago
I saw a pic of poorlean draped semi naked over a car a few years back
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u/averbisaword 11d ago
Hmmmm.
My house came with a flagpole that we’ve never used.
Not sure if I can stand raising and lowering something every day.
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u/wanderingzigzag 11d ago
Get a pirate flag instead, then the weathered affect will just add to the aesthetic
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u/FormalMango 11d ago
We bought a house that had a flagpole… we hadn’t even started moving furniture in when my husband ran his 2004 Bulldogs premiership flag up the pole.
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u/RubyChooseday 11d ago
Sussan Ley wasn't so casual about my request for a flag back in 2018.
Email stated:"In terms of flags, as they cost a significant amount the number of flags each MP distributes and the reasoning for doing so is subject to independent scrutiny. To assist with this, there is an additional request form that needs to be filled in that is available in my office."
The portrait was $10 to post and she didn't want to waste taxpayer's money. 🤔
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u/Mikes005 11d ago
Shit, really? My citizenship ceremony is coming up, I wonder if I can get a advance on my flag.
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u/eirinnske_relaunched 11d ago
I was in Duttons electorate when I requested Australian and Aboriginal flags and they wanted to know why I wanted it and wouldn’t provide one without just cause.
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u/InspectorQueasy93 12d ago
Canada has the same deal. I didn't believe when I first heard I could get free portraits of the royal family, so I went ahead and tried it out. I called the number posted online and about 2 weeks later, I received my portrait of the Queen.
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u/Ask_Who_Owes_Me_Gold 12d ago
What size is it? Is it a little desk photo or is it a decent size for hanging on a wall?
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u/felixfelix 12d ago edited 12d ago
Looks like it's 14 x 17. You can still order the old portraits through the Monarchist league. Or download them and print them yourself.
The Canadian government has not yet received official portraits of HM King Charles.
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u/FractalParadigm 12d ago
The Canadian government has not yet received official portraits of HRH King Charles.
Because, as far as I'm aware, they'll only use pictures of the monarch that were taken during a visit to Canada. So it might take a while until we have our official portraits available...
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u/felixfelix 12d ago
Well the most recent official portrait of the Queen just has her standing in front of a red background. However she is "WEARING HER CANADIAN INSIGNIA, AS SOVEREIGN OF THE ORDER OF CANADA AND THE ORDER OF MILITARY MERIT"
So maybe they just need the King to find some time to pose with these particular decorations.
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u/FractalParadigm 12d ago edited 12d ago
Good catch, upon further reading that 'last portrait' was taken at Windsor Castle in 2019. The last time I had a set of portraits they were from the visit/photos taken in 2005, where the Queen and Phil are both clearly seen in front of Canadian flags. Heritage Canada also specifically mentions they've asked for a Canadian portrait of the King, so I suppose it doesn't specifically have to be taken in Canada, it just has to be Canadian.
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u/OhNoTokyo 12d ago
HM King Charles. His Royal Highness is a title for Princes. He's now "His Majesty", for better or worse.
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u/ceribus_peribus 12d ago
In undergrad there was a co-op program with alternating work/study semesters that would often end up with students living in different cities every four months.
Knew some guys who ordered another portrait every time they moved into a new place. You weren't fully moved in until the Queen arrived.
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u/paddyo 12d ago
When I was living in Toronto, at one point I moved into an apartment share, where when I went for the viewing one of the housemates got excited to find I was British, and showed me the picture of Lizzie on the back of the front door. I just sort of went 'oh nice', because, y'know, I wasn't that fussed.
It was only after I moved in that I found out the reason for the Lizzie picture on the door. One of the housemates, who tbf was a raging arsehole, absolutely hated the Queen and royals, the only things he hated more in life than Lizzie Deux were doing his own washing up, flushing the toilet properly, his housemates in general, and more specifically the lesbian housemate that he kept angrily hitting on when drunk. So while the others in the apartment were generally ambivalent and didn't care one way or the other about being a monarchy or republic, they had voted on getting and putting up the picture of the Queen as a very Canadian, and therefore passive-aggressive, fuck you to their hostile co-habiter.
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u/Key-Pickle5609 12d ago
I’ve lived in Canada all my 41 years of life and never heard of this
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u/ceribus_peribus 12d ago
I bet you haven't requested your flag yet either.
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u/Key-Pickle5609 12d ago
I really should get on that. I can have my very own flag when I’m 141 years old!
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u/ceribus_peribus 12d ago
Meanwhile, once you turn 100 you can get birthday greetings from the King.
(Turning 90 only gets you a message from the Governor General.)
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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 12d ago
I like how it says more than 100 years. So.... 101? or 4298398234 years?
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u/Nazamroth 12d ago
Can you ask for any Queen, in any outfit and situation, at any age, or is it restricted?
I guess I could tolerate a painting of Freddie Mercury riding a cyberdinosaur and shooting lasers out of his eyes while singing.
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u/sour_cereal 12d ago
Can you ask for any Queen, in any outfit and situation, at any age
This better not awaken anything in me
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u/smallbluetext 12d ago
We can also request to have one of the Canadian flags that was retired from parliament. Waiting list is 99+ years lol
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u/rjhelms 12d ago
You gotta pay shipping now that the Monarchist League handles them, instead of the government directly.
One of the best uses I saw for these was at a campus radio station in Quebec - they had a window between the studio and the hallway that they wanted to put blinds up in, so their budget solution was use free portraits of the Queen and Prince Phillip.
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u/SquirrelMoney8389 12d ago
Aw man I didn't know this. I missed out on my Liz portrait all these years?
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u/Rd28T 12d ago
You can get one of old jug ears instead now lol
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u/SpunkinShrek 12d ago
A face only a mother could love and two cousins could produce.
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u/Successful-Quote8204 12d ago
Hey! Jug ears are the defining trait on my mothers side of the family. I have big, protruding ears like someone left both pantry doors wide open. You insulted my entire family.
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u/FindOneInEveryCar 12d ago
You snooze you lose. You had 70 years to get one!
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u/SquirrelMoney8389 12d ago
I always thought there was more time. #TakenTooYoung
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u/OhNoTokyo 12d ago
Snatched in the prime of her life, she was only still in her first century. Those are the saddest stories.
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u/Joelredditsjoel 12d ago
If it was anything like Canada, where we have the same thing, there was likely a 99 year wait period.
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u/bucky24 12d ago
It's not a 99 year wait period.
You can order a picture of the King, a copy of the Charter, and a copy of the Bill of Rights. You'll get them in a month or two.
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u/PorkfatWilly 12d ago
Back in the early oughts every Aussie voted in a national plebiscite whether they wanted universal rabbit fencing or a lifetime’s supply of queen mum glamour shots
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u/OofOwwMyBones120 12d ago
I can’t tell if this is how you speak, or if this is a poem?
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u/semsr 12d ago
In case anyone else was confused, ought and shot rhyme in some American accents.
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u/soik90 12d ago
Particularly in the Western US where we have the cot-caught merger.
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u/blazetronic 12d ago
Rofl I didn’t know this had a wiki
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u/personalcheesecake 12d ago
there's a lot of terminology wiki out there seen some for other parts of the country and i was called out by one of them. color me shocked. lol
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u/Skrattybones 12d ago
How do they sound in non American accents? I'm guessing 'ought' is pronounced like 'out'?
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u/delrio_gw 12d ago
For me, ought rhymes with short
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u/jimicus 12d ago
Which was more popular?
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u/CallMeMrButtPirate 12d ago edited 12d ago
Is Australia a monarchy or republic?
Edit: The amount of you that can't see this is a sarcastic response and want to give me a civics lesson is too damn high.
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u/repugnantmarkr 12d ago
Constitutional monarchy. King Charles III still reigns over them. (In theory)
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u/Algebrace 12d ago
Yah, we have the Governer General who theoretically acts in place of the King, but he's appointed by the Prime Minister.
Our latest one was incredibly dodgy in granting Scott Morrison (then PM) secret ministerial roles which allowed him to circumvent the limitations of powers on the government.
Like, the reason we have a Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers (instead of just 1 dude) is because the PM has powers and the CMs have powers of their own. Their powers are deliberately kept separate. It's so we don't have a dictator in charge.
But Scotty decided he needed special powers, got the GG to grant them secretly and then used them to fuck over his CMs and work behind their backs.
At no point in this was the Queen involved except to 'confirm' the GG by, and I'm assuming here, giving a nod to the piece of paper with his name on it or something.
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u/recycled_ideas 12d ago
Our latest one was incredibly dodgy in granting Scott Morrison (then PM) secret ministerial roles which allowed him to circumvent the limitations of powers on the government.
There are two options for how the GG should behave.
The first option is as a rubber stamp for whatever the government of the day asks them to do.
The second is as an independent political force acting based on their own values.
I don't know about you, but I'd prefer my unelected officials with no required qualifications to be rubber stamps for the government of the day. They also have no qualifications, but at least they're elected by and accountable to the electorate.
What Morrison did was dodgy as fuck, but I'm not at all convinced that the GG should have refused him. I don't want President and I sure as he'll don't want an appointed one.
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u/Algebrace 12d ago
Oh definitely, I agree. The dodgy part was that he agreed to keep it a secret.
I used it to teach my kids the difference between unethical and illegal.
What Morrison did wasn't illegal since he didn't break any laws, or do anything against the constitution with his actions... but they were sure as hell unethical given he broke the division of power in government for his own benefit, the thing put in place to ensure one branch of government didn't gain enough power to become a dictatorship and harm our democracy.
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u/Kandiru 1 12d ago
Yeah that's a good point. If the GG should approve everything the government asks, but publicly explain what he's asking for, then it's a but like sudo logging everything into the adminlog.
Wile asking for super-secret powers and is more like logging in as root directly, and generally a bad thing to do.
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u/GetOffMyDigitalLawn 12d ago
It's actually kinda hilarious in Canada's case. Most politicians are super pro-monarchy, half of the reason is Canada's weird left-leaning nationalism that's by and large based off of the long standing national insecurity of being nearly identical to the US. The other half is heavily based off the fact that the pomp and ceremony makes them feel special.
Support for the monarchy is way higher among Canadian politicians than it is among the people.
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u/mooseman780 12d ago
The conversation goes like this:
People agree that the constitutional monarchy isn't bringing much value to their lives > politicians also agree > alternatives proposed > alternatives (ew a republic) look worse > kick the can down the road for another generation.
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u/fizzlefist 12d ago
Basically, it doesn't actually cause problems being technically under the monarch. But getting rid of them would be a whole lot of constitutional rejiggering and take a TON of work and cost, for no real benefit aside from sanding the Crown off the paperwork.
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u/Apollbro 12d ago
It's a great day for Canada and therefore the world.
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u/fantasmoofrcc 12d ago
Insert mixed metaphors of TPB, Letterkenny, Terrence & Phillip and Bob & Doug Mackenize. Maybe MacLean and MacLean as well.
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u/REDGOESFASTAH 12d ago
RULE BRITANNIA, BRITTANIA RULE THE WAVES AND BRITONS NEVER NEVER SHALL BE
S'CUSE ME MATE
*PERPLEXED GRUNTS OF CONFUSION OVER THE ODD VOICES COMING FROM THE COLONIES DOWN UNDER THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
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u/CedarWolf 12d ago
"He's a wanker but as long as he keeps wearing the fancy stuff and stays far away from us, I guess we're okay with that."
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u/Comrade_Bread 12d ago
Mate thousands of us only recently learnt we have a constitution, let’s not ask such complex questions
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u/ObeseVegetable 12d ago
I’ve seen a good number of videos of aussies believing that it also includes the American first amendment.
And the same incorrect version the dumber Americans believe it to be at that.
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u/_Sausage_fingers 12d ago
To be fair, the Australian Constitution is pretty light on the whole rights thing, so its a little more forgivable that most don't know much about it.
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u/gera_moises 12d ago
And you voted old lady over bunny rapier fights, why exactly?
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u/airospade 12d ago
Surprised no one’s mentioned the movie rabbit proof fence.
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u/magicarnival 12d ago
I had to read this comment to realize they were talking about a fence/barrier to keep rabbits out. I thought they wanted fencing (sword fighting) against rabbits to be some kind of universal right or sport.
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u/MonstrousVoices 12d ago
I remember watching that movie at 17 and the reality completely set in of how colonization all over the world affected indigenous people. You never heard this about Australia in schools. But if you read about any colonization you see the systematic processes of replacement every time. Everyone should definitely watch it
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u/SunshineCorgiss 12d ago
I'm sorry can you explain universal rabbit fencing to me??
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u/OldJimmy 12d ago
It's a fence that blocks the universal rabbit from entering Australian air space. Like a shield.
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u/asdeadasacrabseyes 12d ago
Common mistake. It actually is only meant to protect Australian hare space, which also goes underground a bit.
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u/Show-Me-Your-Moves 12d ago
Watership Down Under?
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u/PhiteKnight 12d ago
where do you think rabbits go when we can't find them on this side of the planet?
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u/MaskedBandit77 12d ago
I think universal in this context means government funded, like in universal healthcare. I'm not positive that's a valid definition of universal, but I'm pretty sure that's what they meant.
So presumably, the government would have given rabbit fencing to anyone who wants it.
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u/PrecipitousPlatypus 11d ago
The rabbit proof fence was a large, well, fence we made across specific parts of the country, which at the time was the longest in the world. It was intended to keep the rabbits (and other pests/vermin) from crossing it. Note that rabbits here are invasive and are regularly poisoned.
It wasn't very effective long term.
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u/Quizzelbuck 12d ago
Oooh, what a delightfully specific-in-Australia but vague-in-America thing to say.
What is rabbit fencing? Do the rabbits carry little swords? or is this another Emu war?
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u/OkAirline495 12d ago edited 12d ago
Rabbits are an invasive species in aus because they destroy crops and the ecosystem. But they bred so fast that back in the day the only way to stop them was to build a MASSIVE fence basically bisecting Australia.
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 12d ago
I remember they used to have one hanging up in the governor's office in Prisoner Cell Block H.
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u/swimmingbox 12d ago
Canadians can, too!
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u/crystalGwolf 12d ago
Ironically, the British can't lol
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u/landlordlou 12d ago
We get to watch their football on TV at 3pm and they can’t either.
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u/destuctir 12d ago
In the interwar period it was actually a law that you had to hang a portrait of the king in any family home, then came the point people starting burning the portraits en masse during the general strike of 1926, shortly after which the law was removed.
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u/crystalGwolf 12d ago
Oh yeah, saw that episode of Peaky Blinders
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u/destuctir 12d ago
Though that scene was based on the 1926 general strike, that show was set in 1919
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u/seakingsoyuz 12d ago edited 9d ago
it was actually a law
Do you have a source for it being a law, rather than just a common custom?
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u/Swotboy2000 12d ago
Why would Canadians want a portrait of the Australian monarch?
/s
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u/ottawadeveloper 12d ago
For those curious, you can order it here in Canada https://store.monarchist.ca/en/products
It costs $20 for the shipping.
You can also download a free digital copy of the photo here https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/royal-portraits/order-download-portraits.html which is suitable for printing.
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u/CricketStar9191 12d ago
lol charles would have to find a cure for cancer and even then idk if he'll be as popular as Queen Elizabeth
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u/princhester 11d ago
He'll be super popular if he can just hang in there for 40-50 years and everyone gets used to him.
[I know]
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u/cams_myth 12d ago
It's weird to think how quickly having a photo of the queen in almost all public buildings, schools, hell even people's houses went from normal to archaic in Australia. Telephone exchange buildings used to have her initials on them, postboxes too. Money and stamps all had her portrait. You'd see her image probably hundreds of times in an average day. Looking back now it's like something from North Korea but it only really started to be phased out around the 80s and nobody thinks twice about it.
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u/GenghisCharm 12d ago
I am from the UK, where it is uncommon to have the King's/Queen's portrait anywhere, however what surprised me most is common it is in other countries to do so with their head of state or even local governors. In India, China, Thailand, all over Africa and South America, even in the United States I have seen public offices (and private) with the their respective presidents/heads of state framed on the wall.
I have never seen that in the UK, so much so that it seems a bit cultish when seeing it elsewhere (which is rich coming from an monarchy I know).
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u/KimJongUnusual 12d ago
It's interesting you mention that, cause here in the US I can't remember the last time I've seen a framed picture of a sitting president. Maybe it was a different time and place.
I'm much more accustomed to flags. I see some foreign country with their flag hanging off their buildings (a rare occurrence) and I go "ah, that's good. Like home."
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u/BitchImRobinSparkles 12d ago
Go to any Federal building and you'll see one. I was recently doing some bidness at the SSA in Minneapolis and they had one up.
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u/Astatine_209 12d ago
Yeah, they usually have some small portrait somewhere. Honestly, IMO it's pretty subtle and tasteful.
As opposed to, say, Thailand, which has massive monuments everywhere to their King.
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u/BitchImRobinSparkles 12d ago
They're not usually bigger than a letter-size sheet of paper, in my limited experience.
I'm trying to remember if they had one up the last time I went to the post office.
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u/BenjRSmith 12d ago
government and military buildings at least make sense, since its a head of state and commander in chief. The ROTC office at school has a bunch of them. POTUS and the heads of the military branches.
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u/Squidward-07 12d ago
It’s a federal custom… back in HS our jrotc had a wall dedicated to the chain of command for the USMC, had to stare at Ws, Chaneys and Rumsfelds mugs for 2 years.
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u/pjepja 12d ago
When I was in school I actually saw the progression of the portrait removal. We had 3 presidents over my time at the school. First president had photos everywhere, second in like half of the classrooms and the third like 2 in the whole school. Probably has to do with the fact they were progressively bigger douchebags.
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u/MyArmIsInALoom 12d ago
At least we can still reliably have her gazing down upon us in the dunnies of a bowls club.
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u/RevRagnarok 12d ago
Interesting - many US gov't buildings will have some chain-of-command portraits. Like the DMV would have a governor, etc.
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u/GostBoster 12d ago
What other freebies other countries might have?
I recall one brazilian senator commenting on little known rights, some of not much consequence, but there is a budget alloted to them anyway, and one of these being a citizen can write to their senator and request a copy of the Constitution, and if they fail to do so, you can write another senator.
Two letters and four months letter, a copy of the Constitution is in my mailbox. My taxreals at work.
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u/RandomChurn 12d ago
I'm just a Yank but I'd take a pic of the Queen any day. Esp those WW2 ones in her uniform. She was a beauty and everything England to me.
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u/TheDreamingDragon1 12d ago
Yes that is a nice card. But do you have her rookie card?
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u/AlwaysWithTheJokes 12d ago
"Paid by the government"
So, you still pay for it
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u/zizoum 12d ago
Yeah, but I pay less than 1% of the price from my taxes, and the rest is paid by all the other chumps who also paid taxes and didn't claim their Lizzie portrait.
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u/VerifiedStalin 12d ago
Imagine being such a loser that you don't even claim your Lizzie portrait.
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u/officiallyaninja 12d ago
Nah, they actually use your taxes specifically to cover the portrait costs.
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u/Rd28T 12d ago
Really?!?
The government doesn’t have a money tree?
They have to collect taxes from us?!!!
Fuck - lucky you let us all know.
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u/Doright36 12d ago
Technically they do. It's just the more leaves the pick off it, the lower the value of every leaf.
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u/C_G96 12d ago
The British government always say there’s no magic money tree, but always find a way to siphon money to their mates.
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u/RedHarry70 12d ago
Same in Canada but they have changed form sending a picture in the mail to giving you a link to an image file. Although the Monarchist League of Canada still provides a printed picture, dont know if there is a cost or not.
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u/Phoenix_Can 12d ago
In Canada, a high res portrait is available for free download.
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/royal-portraits/order-download-portraits.html
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u/Correct-Award8182 12d ago
Canada has internet? /s
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u/Phoenix_Can 12d ago edited 12d ago
Until the polar bears chew thru the cables then it's
Snowshoe-net
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u/McKoijion 12d ago
There’s a black and white divide between the former British colonies that absolutely despise the monarchy and those that still like them…
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u/CurrentIndependent42 12d ago
Not really a black and white divide. Some don’t care and some have a mix.
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u/Emperor_Mao 1 12d ago
How so?
I would say Australians are just mixed within the country itself, but majority of people just don't care.
They don't love or hate the English monarch, and barely register that one exists still.
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u/DarkNinjaPenguin 12d ago
The funny thing is when you look at things objectively, there aren't all that many former colonies that have a gripe with the UK, nor the royal family. Most separated from the Empire amicably, and several actually fought against independence. There's a reason the Commonwealth is still a thing.
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u/1668553684 12d ago edited 12d ago
The weirdest part to me is that America seems to be one of the former colonies who really likes the monarchy, despite being one of the colonies that has been separated from the monarchy the longest and had one of the bloodiest independence struggles.
My home country has only been apart of the monarchy since the 60s, but the opinions on the royal family are quite colorful. I think it has to do with America, Canada, Australia, etc. being populated by mostly descendants of the colonizers, while some other countries are mostly populated by the people who inhabited the lands before the colonizers came. Nothing to back that up except a broad generalization, though...
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u/turdferguson3891 12d ago
I think for the US it's just the "fairy tale" aspect of it. People fantasize about castles and Princesses and shit like that. Royal weddings and royal babies and royal scandals are big in the tabloids. But it's not like any normal American is going to have a portrait of King Charles on the wall.
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u/[deleted] 12d ago
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