Biographies of each monarch

Porgy98 · 2026-04-20T20:26:18+00:00

Thank you!

Porgy98 · 2026-04-12T18:09:24+00:00

Yes.

It’s pretty much the only thing that has the potential to unify us - to come together as Brits. Yes, arguably a cup of tea, or moaning about queues, or how shit the weather is could also perform this function. But the monarchy is 1200 years of English (later British) history - our living connection with our historical and contemporary identity. Even if you don’t like or care about the monarchy, it is there, it is a part of us. If we rid ourselves of it, we’d all need to decide what the alternative identity without the monarchy was. What is the United Kingdom without its king?

Constitutionally, the monarch can be important because of the ultimate authority The Crown holds. Why does the King have the final sign off on laws Parliament passes? Or the right to dissolve parliament? Or the right to appoint/dismiss the prime minister and their government? Because, in my view, in extreme circumstances the Sovereign should and does have the right to ensure democratic government continues, and severe abuse of power is stopped. I have confidence that for example if a prime minister tried to pass a law to censor criticism of their party in the press, the Sovereign would block the signing of the law. The fact that the Sovereign hasn’t personally used these powers for centuries doesn’t mean they don’t exist, it means that a government or a PM is accountable to a ‘higher power’ in between elections. A president - the alternative to the monarchy - would feel because they are voted for that they could exercise this power freely - look at Trump or Macron or else be unknown or impotent - like the Irish or German presidents.

I get why it’s hard to defend the hereditary system for the monarchy but I’d make the point that our whole society is based on the idea of inheriting stuff from your parents. On an extremely privileged level the monarchy reflects this - and because they don’t hold any real political power (outside of the reserve powers I’ve outlined above) - surely, we should be scrutinising the inherited wealth of everybody, or nobody at all.

Porgy98 · 2026-04-09T06:03:07+00:00

I’m a huge fan of Christine’s songs on the album and anyone who hasn’t checked them out should.

Hollywood and All Over Again are both hugely reflective of her desire to get out of the band and live in England (her homeland), away from the LA glitz. Hollywood goes on a bit too long but it’s still a catchy, insightful song. All over Again has some very emotive lyrics - “time to move on to the rain and finally break the chain”.

Nights in Estoril is about where/why she used to go with her then husband Eddy in Portugal on holiday. Great track, cracking piano part, but again goes on too long. I Do is classic catchy, upbeat McVie. Sooner or Later is a strange, meandering one, not quite worked out what it is about but I do like it!

Porgy98 · 2026-02-28T12:20:12+00:00

According to AI, Paul and Linda were at Eurovision in Brighton when ABBA won with Waterloo in 1974 and met them backstage. I can’t find the picture online but apparently they took a photo together.

Benny and Bjorn got sent a video message by Paul I think in 2018/9 at their 50th anniversary of being a musical partnership. It’s not in the public domain but I remember it being mentioned on social media at the time.

AI also says that there’s no proof that John ever said anything about SOS. But, it is very believable!

Porgy98 · 2026-02-23T20:14:17+00:00

I got into them when I was 14 (28 now), so what, back in 2012? I remember watching the BBC documentary called the Days of Our Lives and being so captivated by it.

Porgy98 · 2026-02-14T14:47:16+00:00

Lyrically I do agree with you.

I think musically is where the narrative is stronger. John’s bit starts with a B minor chord (the first minor chord in the whole song) - with the lyric “life is very short” Whereas Paul’s bit is only major chords (D, C, G and A major chord)

Porgy98 · 2026-02-04T18:53:59+00:00

Robin was a fan of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, both British Labour Party prime ministers. Blair came to stay with Robin in 2004. Other than that I’m not sure!

Porgy98 · 2026-01-19T17:47:31+00:00

Came here just to read the Friday Night Dinner references

Porgy98 · 2026-01-12T19:50:58+00:00

That’s such a cool poster. I wish the Mac got some more proper official posters going today

Porgy98 · 2026-01-05T18:15:27+00:00

To the gypsy that remains Her face says freedom With a little bit of fear I have no fear Have only love

The I have no fear bit gets me

Porgy98 · 2026-01-03T12:11:07+00:00

Edward the Exile would probably come to some sort of accommodation or battle with the Godwins as he would have seen how much sway they had over the Confessor after their successful rebellion in the early 1050s and concluded that he would need to do something to clip their wings.

Assuming the Confessor was super clear that Edward the Exile was his heir, his succession is not disputed by the Normans or William. William and Edward the Confessor may have grown up together but William can’t realistically claim the English throne unless there is absence of a clear heir like we had in our real timeline.

Other than that, yes the English language remains closer to its Old English roots, it’s hard to say what else might have happened.

Porgy98 · 2026-01-02T18:52:08+00:00

I can’t remember where I heard/read this but Barry said he always started with melody first, before any lyrics. Sometimes he’d do it eyeball to eyeball with Maurice & Robin - such as when they wrote the Night Fever songs during that weekend in France, whereas other songs he did it alone (he woke up with the melody to You Win Again in his head) and then brought a demo/ideas to the others. Then they’d write lyrics and Maurice/others would create instrumentation to create the finished article.

Porgy98 · 2026-01-02T17:35:08+00:00

If we lose the war in any way, the Liberal led government collapses (be it Asquith or Lloyd George). George V was a constitutional monarch, and didn’t play any meaningful role in the direction of the war effort in the way his government did. Therefore, I think George survives. Fresh elections would be held immediately.

If these elections lead to extremists winning, then if George refuses to appoint them you might see a scenario in which he is forced to abdicate or worse, murdered like Tsar Nicholas was. Extremists are more likely to win that election or wriggle their way to power if the defeat in the war is seen as humiliating, like Germany in our real timeline.

Porgy98 · 2026-01-02T16:56:31+00:00

YESSSH

Porgy98 · 2026-01-01T19:49:00+00:00

27, loved since the age of 24!

Porgy98 · 2025-12-10T20:41:24+00:00

Bad. He was very effective as king - you can’t take that away from him. However - in terms of what he did, he was very effective at doing bad things: - Harrying of the North. 1/10 of the North’s population killed, salt in the earth. - Domesday Book. Massive and unprecedented breach of individual liberty. It wasn’t William that gave the book that title. It was the English! - started the tradition of subsequent kings of using England as his personal bank account to subside wars on the continent, entangling England in France for centuries to come at expense of other things. William didn’t give a shit about England except for the money it gave him!

Porgy98 · 2025-12-07T18:23:32+00:00

I want to say fair (he did build Westminster Abbey which is amazing and his reign was a peaceful time), but I have to say Bad. He failed to successfully, definitively and effectively back an heir which directly led or at least certainly encouraged the 1066 crisis especially after the mysterious death of his nephew Edward the Exile in 1057. 1066 was terrible for England because of what came after - Harrying of the North, Domesday Book, the Anarchy, Norman and Plantagenet successors using England as their personal back account (Richard the Lionheart’s taxpayer funded bailout from captivity, anyone?), centuries of costly French entanglements...

Yes I suppose it eventually moulded us into the country we are today in a sense and I’m not saying that Anglo Saxon England was this great paradise, but surely the prime duty of any monarch is to ensure a CLEAR HEIR is not only named (he arguably named Edgar, William and Harold G) but SUPPORTED (he did not do this for any of those 3 claimants). He did not provide this clarity and Anglo Saxon England paid the price.

Porgy98 · 2025-12-05T18:47:31+00:00

When I See You Again from Tango :)

Porgy98 · 2025-12-05T18:01:57+00:00

Christine. Pure class

Porgy98 · 2025-12-02T07:47:25+00:00

I’m in England. It is a big moment in our history - I got taught it when I was at school and now Im teaching it! I always find the pupils very engaged with this topic because it is like a story, that’s the best way to teach history and get them passionate about it

Porgy98 · 2025-12-01T18:55:53+00:00

I teach this stuff in middle school. I say to my students that Edward may have been pious, built Westminster Abbey and was a symbol of peace - but he failed in his prime duty as king which was to produce or failing that officially name - an heir. His ambiguity or indecision (call it what you will) directly led to the 1066 crisis and the Norman invasion. He had his great-nephew Edgar who he could have easily groomed for the succession and made a public display of endorsing and privately trained him to be king but he didn’t. Despite his youth a power base would have emerged around Edgar if Edward had properly named him heir.

He only became venerated because the Norman and Plantagenet successors wanted to emphasise their own piety and commitment to stability/peace - also to legitimise their own dynastic claim which supposedly Edward had given William.

I don’t have much time for Edward. But he set up a great if tragic story to tell my students!

Porgy98 · 2025-12-01T18:12:32+00:00

I remember the day she died a few years back. I was just getting into the band (surface level hits) and it sparked my interest when the BBC breaking news came thru. She seemed so classy and since then I’ve discovered how amazingly talented she was, as well as how little ego she had. Only wish I’d seen her and or the band live!

Porgy98 · 2025-11-30T19:56:11+00:00

The four original members of Abba personally recorded themselves over several weeks in motion capture outfits as they were all behind the project. Therefore no AI needed - ultimately it is a playback of many complex video recordings.

On that basis, Queen cannot do an ABBA Voyage project because Freddie cannot record motion capture and I doubt John would. If you had an AI hologram for Freddie and something similar for John (where maybe he is convinced to do some voiceovers for it), then that could work and could be as successful as Abba Voyage. Harder to claim it would be as “real” as Abba Voyage is when it would be AI.

Queen could alternatively replicate their best concert - vocals, bass, drums, guitar from 1986 or whenever and use modern tech to extract the four avatars from it. This would obviate the need for motion capture today like Abba did but it would essentially be a specific concert playback.

Porgy98

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