Political analyst brands Queen Elizabeth II's duties 'colossal waste of time'

Marina Purkiss questioned why the British public pays too much attention to the royals and the news of Queen Elizabeth II's COVID-19 diagnosis.

The political commentator wondered why the British monarch's diagnosis should make the front page in newspapers during an appearance on Monday's episode on "Jeremy Vine." She argued that there are far more pressing matters that deserve people's attention.

"Why are we so obsessed with the Royal Family in this country? We're on the brink of war in Russia and this is what's on our front pages plus these light duties that she's supposedly going to be doing,"
she said, referring to Sunday's announcement that Her Majesty will continue to do "light duties" while she isolates at Windsor Castle.

"Her light duties involve her working on her red boxes, right? This is very light work... I mean, I don't know what her heavy work is, but light work, this is her sat at her desk, reading through her Government papers, telegrams, letters, etc." she explained before she suggested that Queen Elizabeth II should just rest up and not perform any work at all.

"Which I just find to be the most colossal waste of time anyway, given that she's got no powers that are beyond ceremonial. So I think she should probably just put her feet up," she said.

However, TalkRADIO presenter James Max disagreed with Purkiss and told her that she clearly does not like the monarchy. He accused her of being "a little dismissive" of what Queen Elizabeth II does and of her influence on people.

He explained that having the royal's COVID-19 diagnosis front page news has a wider meaning in terms of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, especially to the elderly. Buckingham Palace in a statement revealed that the 95-year old British monarch is only experiencing mild cold-like symptoms after she had two shots of the jab and a booster. Later in the discussion, Purkiss said that Queen Elizabeth II is "irrelevant" to so many people in the U.K. to which Max argued that she is one of the most influential people in the world.