This weekend, millions of people across the UK will take to the streets to celebrate the 70 year reign, or Platinum Jubilee, of Queen Elizabeth over a four-day bank holiday.
The queen is reported to be in good health, but at 96 years of age, she is undeniably frail and suffers from “episodic mobility issues” which have left her unable to perform most public duties.
Preparations have been made for when Prince Charles steps in to become king. But for now, as long as Elizabeth is alive, she remains Britain’s most powerful monarch.
So why not abdicate the throng and take a long-deserved break and rest?
It’s simply “cruel to hold somebody to a promise they made when they were 21 to keep serving and never to give up when they’re 96 and nobody expected her to live that long,” London Editor Denis Staunton told In the News.
If she stepped down voluntarily now, it would send a strong message to people of Britain about the country they live in, he added.
“Lately Britain’s view of itself and the reality about itself are at odds. And part of that is a myth that Queen embodies. She’s a kind of a living link with the ‘greatest generation’ — the generation that fought in the second World War, that rebuilt the country afterwards, that built the NHS.
If the queen abdicates it would be “an act of sanity, an act of the rational, in a country where policy is more often than not these days losing touch with reality”, said Staunton.
Today, on In the News, should the Queen use her Platinum Jubilee as an opportunity to announce her retirement?
In The News is presented by Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope and produced by Declan Conlon, Jennifer Ryan and Suzanne Brennan.
