Has the Royal Family lost its magic ?

The only sign I can see of "magic", is that the males basically have their pick of potential brides, and even still all they can churn out is jug-eared baldies.

There has to be something unnatural going on.

Of course not. Overall Support: Recent polling (Ipsos, Savanta) shows roughly 27% to 32% of Britons favor replacing the monarchy with an elected head of state.

Age Divide: Among 18-to-34-year-olds, 45% support a republic compared to 33% who prefer the monarchy

they are an outdated institution. We are no longer forelock tugging subjects.
People say they bring tourists , France hasn’t had a monarchy for over 200 years - visitors flock to Versailles every year.

I am fascinated by the popularity of William and Kate.

It's undeniable that they are popular - every poll gives them a very high approval rating. But I have absolutely no idea why. It's almost like the less they do, the more popular they are.

Absolutely agree

Every aspect of our lives is affected by the fact that we have an unelected family costing half a billion a year as our ‘head of state’

Surely a post in this forum should be discussing the political aspects of the Royal family and whether the UK should continue as a monarchy where a sky fairy has appointed our head of state to the exclusion of all else.

If we want to discuss their taste in clothes, surely the dedicated RF forum is better ? (Imagine an MN emoji with crown here 😀)

I'll be the first to say Republic in this thread

The media have seen to that.

Personally, I think THEY have seen to that.

This is the problem. You say
‘I want ethics, good conduct and some rigorous due diligence on chosen companions and confidants going forward - just common sense and basic morality’

You will not get any of that with our current arrangement. None of it .
The little we do know was the result of the release of the Epstein files in America .
Were it not for that , we’d still be being lied to and Charles and William would be full swing into another rehabilitation attempt with Andrew .

Get rid .
Any Windsor could stand for election . But an apolitical role with no power and carefully audited accounts ? I doubt they’d be interested.

In general I don't have any strong feelings about the royal family (!) but time has moved on and the glamour has long since died. The media have seen to that.
The media saw to that by not kowtowing to them and keeping their secrets for them as much as they used to. It wasn't because they didn't behave appallingly, it was because they were showered with undue deference and the press would look the other way even more than they do now. They still get a bit of covering up, but the AMW debacle is a direct result of the culture of deference to ' preserve the magic of the Monarchy'. Harry's spoilt tantrumming is because he wants those days back.

I need to correct my figures. The core part of the Sovereign Grant (excluding Buckingham Palace renos) was £58million. It is more or less doubling to £99.9million in the next financial year.

Please don't let this thread be moved to the Royal family section, it's too toxic there and in Politics or Chat or wherever, people can speak more freely.

Yes, they have lost their magic because we have moved past the deferential age that QE2 ruled over. They are basically a dysfunctional family, always have been, going back to Tudor times!
How anyone can think they are wonderful is totally beyond me. The media keep them in the public eye and supposedly loved with a new dress for Kate, Anne being no nonsense, the cute Wales kids, Charles doing his thing with Camilla by his side.

But why? There are literally millions of people out there who volunteer and work their arses off for nothing, keeping charities going, fundraising, setting up youth clubs, helping the elderly and disabled... what makes this very over privileged family special? They are far from it. Don't let me start on the bad apples who have been frantically covered up until the Epstein files went nuclear.

They cleverly hide their wealth by scores of clever accountants, aides, servile secretaries, and they are where they are because of inherited unearned status, financial exemptions that the rest of us don't have, legal immunities that place them above the general public, the King is exempt from 160 laws we have to abide to FFS! And we pay them for this??? The Sovereign Grant has just doubled to £147million, it's a joke. A joke on us. They need the biggest slimming down ever.
Will it happen?
Probably not. I am jaded with them beyond belief. Because successive governments are pathetic and don't hold them to account so they ride roughshod over the general public.

There is an actual Royal Family section here, OP. Knock yourself out.
(HTH, HRH).

What magic? That all went pouf with the shambles that was Diana.

We have a king that was an adulterer, a brother whose moral judgement is non existent at best, a complete brat of a younger son who thinks he's a celeb and behaves like one and an over privileged heir to the throne who wants the income but not the publicity.

In general I don't have any strong feelings about the royal family (!) but time has moved on and the glamour has long since died. The media have seen to that.

The best response here for sure.

Watching and observing the fawning is mind boggling, depressing and often times pathetic.

Why do so many refuse to question how wrong this is, that they work so hard and give so much of that to prop up these bunch of absolute buffoons.

Charles' Side Piece.

Yes it's the overpraise for doing the most minimal of things that's ridiculous, and the excuses for some pretty rude behaviour towards the plebs.

@wheresmeaircon Fair enough.

I despair of the dross and corruption- leaving Andrew aside ( always best) I’ve been revolted by the cash in brown envelopes stuff etc. They really need to be whiter than white and try to at least avoid the appearance of appalling impropriety.

It still seems to me better than the alternative but I want ethics, good conduct and some rigorous due diligence on chosen companions and confidants going forward - just common sense and basic morality.

I’m not sure why Kate gets a standing ovation for turning up to watch Wimbledon.

I’d be slightly more interested in them had Harry stuck around as I quite like him.

Tbf I go to Wimbledon regularly and the crowd loves a clap, even pigeons get them! It’s not particularly indicative of anything.

I used to be a royalist, I thought they were great for tourism and I loved the pomp and circumstance. I felt they were a link to the history of our nation.

I'm now very much 'off with their heads' after watching the David Dimbleby documentary about their finances. I think it's an absolute disgrace how much money they syphon off and I think to a man and woman they are selfish. Apart from Anne.

Even the Queen who I really admired- she allowed basically an arranged marriage that was obviously going to make both Charles and Diana very unhappy indeed. The desperation to continue the monarchy at any cost seemed to come from her. I think she made a lot of sacrifices and put duty first but at what cost to others.

As for Andrew and his truly pointless family- they should all just back off and live normal lives.

I would keep Charles and Camilla as figureheads, but more in the European style. One palace, no money, no expensive coronation when William takes over.

Yes- the narrative that Harry’s behaviour is worse than Andrew’s is incomprehensible to me…..

Agree. And certain there is much more we don’t know

Magic? They never bloody had it. The lot of them are a lazy, waste of space.

I think maybe you should do your research using different demographics. Is it just a pop piece for the DM or is it collating comments for a women's magazine?

The Wimbledon crowds who have repeatedly given the Princess of Wales a standing ovation would suggest otherwise - at least in some strata of society.

Magic? Not since Elizabeth I, when most people were uneducated so abe to be mesmerised by jewels and talk of the divine right of kings.

What has largely gone is the mindless deference. My mother, not a stupid woman, nonetheless kowtowed to monarchy and resisted all arguments that the royals are there merely by accident of birth.

They are becoming less and less relevant and William will have to do a huge clean-up if they are to remain in any way relevant.

All that said, I'd rather have them than not. An elected president couldn't have delivered the speeches KCIII gave in the US earlier this year