Why are monarchies still a thing in Europe?
The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
0.0 • 0 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2020
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
Monarchies might seem out of date on a continent that prides itself on its democratic values, but nearly a third of Europeans still live in countries that have them. This week the drama in the British royal family finally convinced Katy to lift her ban on the topic. She and Dominic are joined by Bob Morris — constitutional expert at UCL and co-editor of a forthcoming book comparing European monarchies — to talk about why the royals are still a thing in the 21st century. Plus, flight-shaming, Federer-shaming, and Hungary's quest for a baby boom.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi Katie. |
| 0:17.4 | Hi. |
| 0:18.0 | We're doing a normal episode this week. |
| 0:19.6 | I feel like we haven't done one of these for ages. |
| 0:21.3 | How do you do the whole talking thing again? I don't know, but I do know that I'm hiding under a blanket |
| 0:26.6 | with lots of pillows around me for the sake of the sand. So yeah, you should be very grateful, Katie, |
| 0:32.0 | because I'm living in an apartment again with very high ceilings and no furniture. That's nice to know because I'm also coming to you from like a pile of cushions. |
| 0:39.1 | But mine's in somewhere more boring than yours. |
| 0:41.3 | I'm in London. |
| 0:42.2 | But you're in Berlin. |
| 0:43.2 | Yeah, I am. |
| 0:44.4 | I'm in Berlin for the first time since I became German. |
| 0:48.4 | So we're going to tell people about that then? |
| 0:50.3 | Yeah, I became German. |
| 0:52.2 | I'm still British as well, but there's this law, a basic law, whereby people who are descendants of Germans who were murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War or had their citizenship revoked, they can claim citizenship. So I did that. |
| 1:10.7 | Wow. |
| 1:11.4 | What did it feel like picking up your German passport? |
| 1:13.5 | Yeah, I'm kind of okay with it. |
| 1:14.8 | For practical reasons, it's really nice, |
| 1:17.1 | still having a European passport, |
| 1:18.6 | despite being essentially British. |
| 1:20.9 | It does feel a little bit opportunistic. |
... |
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