Why do you think the Royal Family 'do it'? Is it just duty?

[cakeorwine]

I know that the Queen performed her role because of a strong sense of duty.

But you have 1 life. And their lives are dictated from birth.
Charles knew what would happen.
William can see it.
It's George at some point.

A life mapped out for them from birth. To be the Head of a Constitutional Monarchy.

Why do you think they do it and also lead their family into it?

If you believe in a RF then you have to accept their lives are different, no point wringing your hands about it.

In India street children live alone and scavenge rubbish to sell, globally loads of kids work.

I don't believe they think have drawn the short straw in the main. I think they find purpose by using the role to do things like charitable work and trying to be a force for good. The constitutional monarchy is centuries old and I'm really not sure the alternatives are any better.

What this period of mourning has brought home to me is that the schedule for Charles in particular is pretty brutal and public with very little opportunity for grieving in private.

However rich they are, it's not a life I would want. Aside from the way things are mapped out years in advance, everyone has an opinion of them, based most of the time on the crap the media feeds us, and their every move is scrutinised.

I really don't blame Harry and Meghan for not wanting that life, but certain quarters of the media and public seem intent on giving them a hard time for their choice. Feels as though stepping down from royal duties is only acceptable to some if you withdraw from public life completely.

It is refreshing to read a post where someone really appreciates what the monarchy does. Rather than all the venom directed at the hard working members of the royal family, I think it should be directed at all the overpaid celebrities who are just out for themselves.

They don't 'have' to do it.

It's a choice.

Edward VII made a different choice.

Harry made a different choice.

They stay because they want the power.

They lead an incredibly privileged life,in umpteen beautiful homes, with no need to ever get public transport between them, have amazing experiences, travel the world in great comfort…in return for not saying anything important and opening libraries and schools.

it’s better than working for a living.

There is a tendency to "feel sorry" for the RF but I don't think it's sincere. Their job is not that hard given the privilege they live in. I'd do it if I were born into it.

I wonder what an 'off the record' William or Charles would say about why they do it?

It was Edward VIII who abdicated.

@ZenNudist - well your insight into the sincerity of the feelings of others must be quite something.

it’s better than working for a living.

The Queen was working 2 days before she died.

Agree with some pp. Yes they are privileged, but that comes with masses of duty and responsibility and history and restrictions. It is the same to a smaller extent of those families that are land rich but cash poor. They don't want to be the generation that loses it all on 'their' watch.

The marks of respect from all over the world should make people realise in how much high esteem The Queen was held worldwide.

It’s an extremely cushy job that brings with it enormous wealth. Who would turn that down?

Look at the amount of media attention that came when Harry decided to step back. Even before the interviews etc they media was totally aghast at him taking a step back and not wanting to do it anymore. And he isn't immediately in-line, being the 'spare.'

Can you honestly not imagine how big a deal it would be if Charles or William stood up and said they were going to abdicate from their role??

In our country the royal family is a huge part of the system. Any changes would be a massive thing.

Whilst they may not look forward to taking their place as king or queen, it is something they are brought up knowing it is their duty. The historical background and the importance of that role within their family will be taught from day one.

Duty in the main I think. I definitely would’ve want it.

Don’t forget that the family’s personal wealth is great. They would be able to live a typically upper class life with multiple homes, not having to work for a living even if they chose not to do their duty within the RF.

Me.
I wouldn't want to do all that travelling and talking to important / less important people.
I wouldn't want the press to be following my every move waiting for me to slip up.
I wouldn't want to 'date' someone under the spotlight of the press.
I wouldn't want to have to do deals with the press showing my children at specific events in return for privacy the rest of the time.
I wouldn't want my parent's death and my mourning to have to be done under the spotlight of media from across the world.
I wouldn't want any family arguments known and dissected all over the internet.
I certainly wouldn't want to feel obliged to be working 2 days before my death at age 96.

The thing is these families would already have a life of luxury, little financial worries regarding the energy prices, access to lovely homes here and abroad, money to travel, the family businesses, etc.

It's not like they'd be scrimping and saving to put food on the table.

There are thousands of families around the uk in very privileged positions. They'd simply be one of those, without the pomp and duties, and mass intrusion of privacy of being royalty.

So duty must come into it.

Just like thousands who have king standing family businesses and there is a sense of duty for the children, at least one of them, to take over that business in the future. It's a sense of duty drilled into people from the very start.

Who wouldn't want to do it?
Me! I can't think of a time I'd want that for myself or my family personally.

I think it's cruel to "educate" each child
With that sense of duty and obligation, to remove choices - gilded cage springs to mind

It's also very hard to escape - you are used to a life of privilege with no training for normal life

Yup. Part of the reason the Queen was so popular — as well as being successful at simply never saying anything for many decades — is that her facial expression and body language suggested she was motivated by duty and that her life was one of duty and work, rather than immense privilege and wealth.

I don't want to be duty bound to spend time with people/events that I have no interest in and talking to thousands of people who would bore me to tears at any age, never mind well into my 90s. No thanks.

There have been endless TV interviews with members of the public, recounting the times they met the Queen. Lots of them have excitedly reported about how fascinated the Queen was to hear all that they had to tell her, apparently without thinking that she may just have been being diplomatic.

Even if somebody is telling her the most ordinary, everyday thing that she's heard 10,000 times before, she can hardly do a Judge Rinder and just shout "Boooooooooorrrrring!!!!", can she

They are very richly rewarded for the 'work' they do.
Everything is planned for them, a lot of time they just have to turn up.
I'm not anti royalist and appreciate all the Queen has done over the year but I wouldn't say it's been a great hardship.

The thing is The Crown and their faith or so aligned and intwined.

I know it's hard to believe in this century as faith has slipped out of "fashion" but they really do see it as their birth right by God to be the sovereign. So when they speak of "duty" it's not just duty to the people but to God himself. I know, people think it's "crazy" but it is what it is, and they are a very religious family.

More modern monarchs obviously understand the wealth and privilege that comes with the role, and hence the "don't complain, don't explain" rule of thumb. They know nothing they can say will be seen as "hardship" compare to millions of people living very difficult lives in the UK. So they don't, and it's a wise move.

They’re bred in captivity and each heir to the throne has it drummed into them that they must do their duty til death and the individual monarch mustn’t be the one to drop the ball.

being the Duke of Westminster or Marquis of Blandford would be brilliant. Big houses, no one whining that you go in private jets, plenty of money you never had to earn and no tabloid articles or need to tell your parents by tv interview or book that you think they could do better.

Being a senior royal would be crap. The Wessexes and Prince Anne seem to have trod the line between duty and charity and a comfortable private life pretty well. Hopefully Charlotte and Louis will marry nice people and live happy private lives. I bet the King currently longs for nothing more than a good sob in his greenhouse.

It's an easy life filled with the best of everything and full of grovelling sycophants who make you think yes, I do deserve this. I certainly wouldn't call what they do 'working' and it's so insulting and downright cruel to call the people they meet 'boring' - I guarantee they're infinitely more fascinating than any royal.

To the earlier point about overpaid celebrities - we freely choose to buy Dua Lipa's new album or go and see Chris Hemsworth's latest film, they're rich because there is an audience genuinely wanting and spending money on their output. The royal family are there not because of talent or desirability but because of entitlement, we don't have a choice and we should.

That's not to say I don't believe a certain amount of soft power has been generated but it was exclusively from the queen, nothing before or after: the Commonwealth tour when she was young, charming and very beautiful was the stroke of genius that provided it. However, none of the other members have those temporary attributes mean as it sounds - Charles is old and cranky and was never handsome, middle-aged and dull Kate and William had a catastrophic tour recently, they had a chance with Meghan who is beautiful and married into it but she and her husband left under a cloud of propaganda and the least said about the rest of them the better.

I think that being conditioned from infancy in the belief are fundamentally different to ordinary people plays a part.

We all have an innate sense of being somehow different, and not quite fitting in. Magnify that with servants, courtiers, bowing, crowds of people (the ones at the front are often batshit), and the insecurity of never being sure if people like you as much as they like your title and connections.

They’re all massively fucked up psychologically.

And presumably they know enough history to understand how precarious it is. when William and Harry were put out to walk behind their mother’s coffin, they were doing what royal families have always done in dangerous times - put the cute children out in front to calm the crowd. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. But it’s their best shot.

They live in a world where their children and grandchildren could be exiled at best, tortured and murdered at worst. Keeping the ship afloat is literally life and death.

It also takes a certain type of person to marry in and then subject their own children to this.

“Duty” is just a good spin for the public. The Queen and her father were reading the post war mood of the country. It will be interesting to see how Charles and William will present it, in a modern world.

They’re all massively fucked up psychologically.

How do you know the queen was?

They live in a world where their children and grandchildren could be exiled at best, tortured and murdered at worst.

You think if the country removed them as head of state, we'd exile, torture or murder them?

That's not to say I don't believe a certain amount of soft power has been generated but it was exclusively from the queen.

People underestimate just how much Charles did when he was Prince of Wales, and not just in this country. He's not the Queen but you only have to listen to the dignitaries from countries on the news talking about him and he's held in huge respect and high regard. That could never be replicated by someone being elected for 4 years. His job has been learning and networking across all sorts of interests. No elected person could have acquired that breadth of knowledge.
William seems to have played at his role so far but maybe now he's PoW he'll step up a bit to gain confidence to speak out on important matters.

@Alltheprettyseahorses - what charming opinions you have of the royals.