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Original poster

Shame the female royals didn't walk too

294 replies

redsunshinedasiy · 19/09/2022 14:10

Kudos to Anne who went against tradition and stood up front with her brothers and walked (and also to all the grandchildren who did the vigil) but it's a shame to see all the other females in the funeral stay crawling slowly in a car while all the men walked, just seems so old fashioned (particularly when Anne has gone against it and she is the eldest female!!)

OP posts:
cookiefudgemum · 20/09/2022 19:47

My son was in the Gun Carriage Crew. There were 136 sailors, 15 were women. That’s ~11%. In the forces currently the percentage of women is 11%. The Captain who led the Gun Crew is a woman. Pretty spot on representation from the forces in this Crew.

Also to the person who said the forces weren’t representative of her country - the Queen was their Commander in Chief. Their boss. They were saying good bye to their boss. And they did it with pride, honour and dignity. They did their duty.

Ilovegardens · 20/09/2022 19:51

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Ilovegardens · 20/09/2022 19:53

@Attictroll The Queen was commander in chief of the military, of course they were heavily involved - she was their boss. They fight for Queen/King and country fgs!

threatmatrix · 20/09/2022 19:58

People will always find something to pick on won’t they.

nannykatherine · 20/09/2022 20:03

It’s quite a long walk tbh
and who would look after George and charlotte.
man’s why should they
they walked into the abbey behind the coffin

nannykatherine · 20/09/2022 20:05

Simplelobsterhat · 20/09/2022 09:16

I meant at Westminster (I missed the start of St georges). I was talking about processing behind the coffin in the cathedral - they didn't do that did they? I thought they walked in with their husbands earlier and were seated? Maybe I misunderstood but I'm sure the order of service online listed the people walking behind the coffin and it didn't include them?

They did
they waited at the door of the Abbey (not cathedral )
and followed the coffin
even the children
and Meghan

nannykatherine · 20/09/2022 20:06

NotEnoughTime · 20/09/2022 15:58

Only the pall bearers were all Male, for obvious reasons.

BorgQueen

What were the obvious reasons please as I can't think of any?

Bloody heavy lead lined coffin

Iliveonahill · 20/09/2022 20:19

NotEnoughTime · 20/09/2022 17:10

Thank you @35965a .

I wondered if it might be that.

They would definitely have been able to find strong women (who would be more than able to carry/lift the coffin) if they had wanted to of similar height so (in my opinion) it was a real shame that they didn't.

Perhaps not in the part of the military. Perhaps the women chose not too.

if women want to join the military I’m sure you will be very welcome.

bit like saying there are no female bin people - we can if we want and that is how it should be equality of opportunity.

Nanalisa60 · 20/09/2022 20:28

What in them heels 👠 are you mad, princess Anne was in her military walking shoes that are part of her Military uniform, not in her Jimmy choos .

BorgQueen · 20/09/2022 20:32

8 Female Grenadier Guards, all 6ft tall and able to lift and carry a 30-40 stone , wider than normal, coffin.
Aye right 🙄
Meanwhile, in the real world….

notimagain · 20/09/2022 20:40

@Lycanthropology

But the military isn't all about fighting: there are doctors, nurses, communications experts, logistics personnel, engineers, pilots, technicians, vets, cooks, navigators, military police etc.

Not "all about" but for most branches fighting was, probably still is, tucked away in the job spec.

It may have changed but once upon a time the thinking was that if it came to a crunch a lot of those roles (not the medics) you would be expected to fight, with whatever you had to hand....

That's one of the reasons why initial training in the UK military for most everybody involves (or certainly involved) some basic weapons training...

Fanakerpan · 20/09/2022 20:40

Well said.

Simplelobsterhat · 20/09/2022 20:40

nannykatherine · 20/09/2022 20:05

They did
they waited at the door of the Abbey (not cathedral )
and followed the coffin
even the children
and Meghan

Show quote history

Sorry, i failed to quote but that was in response to someone saying Beatrice and Eugenie walked behind the coffin in the Abbey. As far as i saw, and according to the order of service, they didn't.

You are right that meghan, kate, George and Charlotte did but it looked like 5 of the actual grandchildren didn't and I had been commenting how wrong that seemed - that grandchildren in law and great grandchildren seemed to be treated as closer mourners than actual grandchildren. Even on this thread in laws like Sophie and Kate get mentioned more than zara, Beatrice, Eugene and Louise- I felt like they were a bit sidelined. I'm sure they are used to that, being from a family with such hierarchy, but seems off to me.

NotEnoughTime · 20/09/2022 20:48

iliveonahill

I'm way too old now unfortunately 😆 However, I did work in a very similar male dominated environment for most of my working life.

BorgQueen

I never said they all had to be female or six feet tall!

Fanakerpan · 20/09/2022 20:49

Princess Anne has NEVER been in the military, she has HORARY titles given by her mother H M Q.
She, Anne appears to love getting into a uniform at any given minute, its a pity she didn't join the military when young, she could then justify being dressed up like some Ruritanian minor royalty as an admiral.

Surtsey · 20/09/2022 20:54

Fanakerpan · 20/09/2022 20:49

Princess Anne has NEVER been in the military, she has HORARY titles given by her mother H M Q.
She, Anne appears to love getting into a uniform at any given minute, its a pity she didn't join the military when young, she could then justify being dressed up like some Ruritanian minor royalty as an admiral.

She didn't join the military because she was too busy being one of the best three-day-eventers in the world - and competing in the Olympic Games. Oh yes, and becoming BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1971.

Beatendownmum · 20/09/2022 21:01

@cookiefudgemum amazing you must be so so proud! What an honour! My sister is RN too

Scottsy100 · 20/09/2022 21:05

Does it really bloody matter

bellac11 · 20/09/2022 21:07

NotEnoughTime · 20/09/2022 20:48

iliveonahill

I'm way too old now unfortunately 😆 However, I did work in a very similar male dominated environment for most of my working life.

BorgQueen

I never said they all had to be female or six feet tall!

8 Officers all needing to be the same height (ish) and the taller the better, more impact.

CPL593H · 20/09/2022 21:17

Worrying the bones of why there weren't 8/10 fit and strapping women (and they would really, really need to be fit and strapping as well as about 6 foot, realistically) from the Brigade of Guards carrying this incredibly heavy coffin repeatedly, including lifts and flights of steps, detracts from the many roles women did play yesterday and during the last week.

It is not the same as fighting for equal pay, it really isn't. It is not important.

Iliveonahill · 20/09/2022 21:23

CPL593H · 20/09/2022 21:17

Worrying the bones of why there weren't 8/10 fit and strapping women (and they would really, really need to be fit and strapping as well as about 6 foot, realistically) from the Brigade of Guards carrying this incredibly heavy coffin repeatedly, including lifts and flights of steps, detracts from the many roles women did play yesterday and during the last week.

It is not the same as fighting for equal pay, it really isn't. It is not important.

Exactly. It’s not important. We should be praising the women that were there, not knocking the ones that were not.

they were all fantastic the men and women, the children, the young adults, the family, the non family. Let’s just stop over analysing it and move on.

Dinoteeth · 20/09/2022 21:27

@CPL593H Thank-you

Sometimes it's nice just to accept females are generally smaller than males. Trying to say male and female are the same is what got us into the nonsense that males can dawn a pink t-shirt and call themselves women.

CPL593H · 20/09/2022 21:35

Dinoteeth · 20/09/2022 21:27

@CPL593H Thank-you

Sometimes it's nice just to accept females are generally smaller than males. Trying to say male and female are the same is what got us into the nonsense that males can dawn a pink t-shirt and call themselves women.

Exactly this. All the (valid) arguments about people who have been through male puberty in women's sport fall apart if on the other hand we don't accept there are more men than women able to carry a 300kg coffin up steps in a matched bearer party.

Vodkaskirts · 20/09/2022 21:48

Wasn't Princess Anne awarded Princess Royal Garter etc as possible successor if Charles didn't make it.

Or Kings successors and eldest grandchild walked
Apparently the Queen had made every decision for her funeral

So it was her decision

Last female monarch most of us will see.

Are folk looking for any reason to criticise

Dotcomma · 20/09/2022 22:14

It was the Queen's funeral, I'm sure she didn't plan it to suit what everyone else might take issue with. I'm sure the general theme running through everything yesterday was respect.