Jubilee celebrations: Your questions

Your questions were answered by former Buckingham Palace spokesperson Dickie Arbiter, and Michael Jacobs of the Fabian Society in a live forum.

  Click here to watch the forum.  

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Organisers of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations are reporting an increase in interest since the death of the Queen Mother.

Village parties report a boom in enthusiasm, while the trust co-ordinating the national events predicts the celebrations will be a huge success.

	In our three-part series, writers assessed the Royal Family's future Historian Andrew Roberts on why the Monarchy has never been so popular Author Hilary Wainwright says republicanism will return Economist Michael Jacobs on why modernisation is still important

Lord Sterling, chairman of the Golden Jubilee Weekend Trust, said: "Undoubtedly the funeral of the Queen Mother, and what she represented to the country, has heightened people's interest."

It is widely believed that the mood of Britain towards the monarchy underwent a change in the week leading up to the Queen Mother's funeral.

An estimated 200,000 members of the public queued to file past the Queen Mother's lying-in-state at Westminster Hall, and thousands lined the route of her funeral procession.

Your questions were answered by former Buckingham Palace spokesperson Dickie Arbiter, and Michael Jacobs of the Fabian Society in a live forum.

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Highlights of the interview

Newshost:
Email from Manchester UK: Has there really been increased support for the monarchy since the Queen Mother died or is it just media hype?

Dr Michael Barker, emailing from Finland says: About 200,000 people visited the Queen Mother lying in state, representing about 1 in 35 of the population of Greater London. Does this really constitute an upsurge in support?

Dickie Arbiter:
I think support has always been there because if you look at an opinion poll that was published at the end of January, 71% were in favour of retaining the monarchy. If we're talking about the popular support of the monarch - I think she's always been popular - yes, there is a wave of sympathy following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, at the end of March and the death of Princess Margaret in February. That sympathy probably is contributing perhaps to people going to be coming out over the next few months to support the Queen.

But there always has been support. But I think the sort of hype at the beginning of the year that it was going to be a flop was just a sort of silly season story when nothing is happening - because who is thinking about what they're going to be doing five months hence at the beginning of the year? The answer is not many people. Now the weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer - yes, people are going to come out.

Newshost:
Michael Jacobs do you share the view of Dr Barker from Finland who seems rather dubious about people reading too much into the fact that a lot of people did turn out to the funeral of the Queen Mother?

Michael Jacobs:
I share that view to some extent. I think it was an historic occasion which you see once in a lifetime. A Royal funeral with a full panoply of the pomp and circumstance that our royalty does so well. So it doesn't surprise me that lots of people came out to look and to pay their respects. She was a well loved person by many people.

One can never tell exactly what people are saying. The newspapers will tell you what public opinion thinks. One of the things we should be very cautious about is our belief in what newspapers tell us we are thinking. We don't know what people are thinking. What we do have from opinion poll evidence is that the popularity of the monarchy and of the individual members of the Royal Family goes up and down.

After Diana's death, there was a great - whatever the reverse is of a surge - in popularity - that is people felt that the Royal Family was behaving coldly towards Diana and there was a lot of feeling that they weren't getting it right. If you remember Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, made that electrifying speech inside Westminster Abbey which got applause, basically condemning the Royal Family for their treatment of Diana. Everybody said - this is a turning point in history. Well it wasn't, history didn't turn and the Royal Family has gradually crept up in popularity. There's been a little surge now with the Queen Mother's death. I don't think we should see too much into these individual events. I think we need to look at the longer view.

Dickie Arbiter:
Angela Howe, Brighton UK: I think that support for the Royal Family is still strong amongst the older generation - aged 50 and above. But me and my friends in our 20s have very little affection or experience of the Royal Family. Surely support will die out over the next 40 years. Can the trend be reversed?

Dickie Arbiter:
I think looking ahead 40 years, it's a bit of crystal ball gazing and I don't think we're in the business of crystal ball gazing. But I was listening to some children speaking on Radio Bristol during the course of the day who are busy making flags, eagerly excited about seeing the Queen in their area and I think that is symptomatic of up and down the country.

Yes, there is an age group who perhaps think well - yes, the monarchy is there, it's stability, it's continuity - if we see the Queen, terrific, if we don't then it's not going to be the end of life. But there is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of excitement up and down the country where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are going to be visiting starting this week with the kick-off of the nationwide tour.

Newshost:
We've a number of emails on the issue of republicanism. David Eubanks, emailing from the United States says: Being British in the USA, I can say firsthand that a president does not enhance democracy. Why do republicans think the Queen is such a stumbling block for democratic rule?

Michael Jacobs:
I think the republican movement in this country doesn't look to America as an example at all. America has a republican president who is part of the government and there are very few people in Britain who think that we should change our system of government completely so that we have an executive president on the American or the French line.

The argument for republicanism - and I'm half a republican myself in that I actually believe that getting rid of the monarchy is the least important part of the republican agenda. The real republican agenda says that we have to get out of the feudal system in which we are subjects of the Queen - of the monarch - rather than citizens of a democracy. And that we need to separate out the monarchy, which is a hereditary principle - which is not appropriate for any kind of democratic government - from the democratic constitution.

What we therefore want is a democratic constitution, written down, which guarantees our rights and freedoms as citizens - as other countries do - and we want a completely democratic system and then if you have a head of state, then that's a completely separate thing outside the democratic constitution. My own view is that the monarchy will probably be appropriate for Britain, given our history and so on. But I don't want that monarchy to be part of our democratic constitution - I want to change the prerogative powers and so on. That seems to be the essence of a republican agenda and it is the agenda that every other country in Europe and nearly all around the world has followed - even those which have retained the Queen as a head of state, they've separated her out from the constitution and that's what I'd like to see in Britain.

Newshost:
Anthony Sutton, Reading, UK: What's the relevance of the Queen visiting a mosque during the Jubilee celebrations?

Is that a significant event do you think in the celebrations?

Michael Jacobs:
Yes, I think it is. I think it is very important that if the Queen is to retain trust and in a sense the consent of the people then she has to represent and visit and be in touch with all the people and there are many Muslims living in this country and it's entirely appropriate for her to visit a mosque.

Dickie Arbiter:
Absolutely, I agree with that. She's going to St Paul's Cathedral for a thanksgiving service, she's going to other churches around the country and a mosque is just another faith in this country and she is acknowledging that.

Newshost:
Yvonne, Denmark: How does the Queen feel about the Jubilee?

Dickie Arbiter:
As far as the Queen is concerned, she's been there doing the job for 50 years, it's not a job she volunteered for, it's a job that she was landed with following the abdication of her uncle in 1936, Edward VIII. So it's an opportunity for her to go around the country to thank people for their support and acknowledge that they have supported her.

There are a lot of places she's going to that she has been to before - some she hasn't been to before, it is a large country when you're expecting one person to cover it. And when we talk country we talk about the United Kingdom rather than just one country, England - this is England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. So a lot of territory to cover over the next three months or so and this is her way of saying thanks for having me for 50 years.

Newshost:
D. Roman, Michigan, USA asks: What role will the minor royals in the Jubilee celebrations?

Are we going to see virtually the whole of the Royal Family out and about?

Dickie Arbiter:
Well everybody is going to be out and about in support but at the end of the day this is all about the Queen's Golden Jubilee and people will want to see her and this is why the focus of attention - the main thrust of the celebrations - will be around Buckingham Palace over that long Bank Holiday weekend - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th and that's where the main activity will be with concerts inside the grounds of Buckingham Palace, screens outside so people can join in. Carnival atmosphere in the Mall, the lighting of the beacon from the Queen Victoria Memorial that will trigger off beacons right round the United Kingdom and of course the procession to St Paul's Cathedral on the 4th for the Thanksgiving Service. So the focus of attention will be there but it is also going round the country and being supported by the rest of the family.

Newshost:
Howard Porter, Belfast: Do you think it is likely that the Queen will step down after the Jubilee and let Charles take the throne?

Michael Jacobs:
I think this is unlikely. It think it's slightly more likely than it was in the past because I think there have clearly been discussions between representatives of the Queen and representatives of Prince Charles about what role he should play and we've heard that he is going to be a sort of shadow king - he's going to take on more functions.

But my understanding of the Queen is that she regards this as job that you have for life, that is part of its traditional aspect and that she will not abdicate. There will be a problem with this which is that Prince Charles could be very old before he accedes to the throne and it is likely then to create a very short period of rule for him. But I think that is the way the Queen feels about the job.

Dickie Arbiter:
You've got to look at it from three points here. Firstly, she got the job because her uncle abdicated. Secondly, when she turned 21, she was on a visit to South Africa with the King and Queen, George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and on 21st birthday she made that declaration which included - all the days of my life. In 1952 after the death of her father, on the 6th February, her first Christmas message when she looked ahead to the Coronation six months later in which she asked people to pray that she may be able to do the job for the whole of her life and a part of the Coronation oath comprises it is just that. So it is a job for life.

As we heard, when the Prince of Wales comes to the throne, assuming that the Queen lives the same length of time as her mother, at 101, the Prince of Wales will be 78, William will be 45 and there could well be a rethink. But at the moment, there is no question - the Queen will not abdicate. The Prince of Wales is heir to the throne and in order for any shift sideways, it does take an Act of Parliament and it would take a very brave government to enact that.