Should Queen Elizabeth II resign?

Tue Mar 05, 2013

Editor: The recent illness of Queen Elizabeth II has sparked off discussions whether the 86-year-old monarch should step down and allow her eldest son, Prince Charles, to take over.{{more}}

However, reports state that despite her brief hospitalization and the cancellation of a few appointments, the Queen was in good health and could continue her busy schedule.

The Queen’s mother died at 101, but her father passed away in his mid-fifties, and her sister Princess Margaret died at the age of 71.

Some feel that the Queen should stand aside and allow her eldest son, who is in his mid-sixties, rule for a while and pass the mantle over to young Prince William. It should be remembered that the Queen’s uncle, Edward VII, abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee, hence the reason why George VI, the Queen’s father, became King.

The sitting monarch is 86 and she will be 87 next month. She should take a leaf from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands who is only 75 and will abdicate her throne at the end of next month. Incidentally, Queen Beatrix’s mother, Queen Juliana, abdicated the throne in 1980 for her daughter to take over and be the monarch of the Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba, and St Martin. It should be noted also that Pope Benedict XVI, who is in his mid 80s, about the same age as Queen Elizabeth, became the first Pope in more than six hundred years to voluntarily resign.

Queen Elizabeth has been the Monarch since 1952 when her father died of cancer, and even if she is in perfect health, she ought to be tired of travelling from country to country within the Commonwealth and further afield to carry out her official duties.

Oscar Ramjeet