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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be mildly astonished that DD (15) knows so little about the Royal Family

48 replies

5Foot5 · 28/04/2011 13:18

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised since we are not exactly ardent royalists ourselves and, in normal times, they are not a topic of conversation that crop up very often in our house. I have certainly never tried to explain to her who they all are and how they are related.

But I suppose I had assumed that this was a bit of general knowledge that she would just pick up as she went along. However, it became apparent that she has only a very sketchy idea who all the members of the Queen's immediate family are and last night I found her Googling them on her lap top because she said she wanted to mug up a bit before Friday.

A quick quiz revealed the shallows of her knowledge, e.g.:

  • she would never be able to pick out Princes Andrew or Edward in a line up
  • she can't really tell you what the royal line is back before our present Queen
  • she though the famous horse-riding granddaughter of the Queen might be Pippa Funnel!!

Is this typical for a modern teenager do you think?

OP posts:
coolascucumber · 28/04/2011 13:20

Maybe her brain is full of useful information

onagar · 28/04/2011 13:23

Don't know about typical for today's teenagers, but I'm a lot older and I don't know any of those things either.

I suppose it depends if you count it as current affairs like knowing who the PM is (some don't seem to) or the same as knowing which popstar is pregnant.

BertieBasset · 28/04/2011 13:26

My Dniece thought Queensland was in the US. She's 15 and pretty clued up usually. It think things that don't interest them just sort of float past tbh

usualsuspect · 28/04/2011 13:30

My teenage ds has no interest in the present Royal family so I would be surprised if he knew who half of them were

Chil1234 · 28/04/2011 13:30

YANBU to be astonished. I think current affairs is very low down the priority lists for young people. Back when I was a kid, when TV channels extended to merely '3', video hadn't been invented, and there were no alternative options for home entertainment unless you owned a Stylophone, the whole family watched the evening news together. And even though we hated it, something permeated

Original poster
5Foot5 · 28/04/2011 13:31

Well I was rather surprised at the second item on the list because she is doing history GCSE and the syllabus mostly seems to be in the 20th century. Indeed, some of the things she is studying for "history" were current affairs when I was her age! So I did think she might be able to trace the line at least as far back as Victoria!

OP posts:
Champersonice · 28/04/2011 13:36

YABU - how can you be surprised when, as you say yourself, your are neither ardent supporters nor does the topic crop up very often in your house - ? The fact that you are mildly astonished surprises me.

Original poster
5Foot5 · 28/04/2011 13:37

To be fair, she is not really all that in to the celebrity culture anyway so I guess she views the Royal Family in the same light. She does know who the PM is though, and the one before and the one before that so she is not totally clueless about current affairs.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 28/04/2011 13:37

Do you have a daily newspaper or watch the news on the television. At 15 she should be a bit more clued up on these things really. These are things you learn by watching the television or reading current affairs, and not necessarily learnt at school.

Original poster
5Foot5 · 28/04/2011 13:40

Champersonice But she seems to know about all manner of other weird shit stuff we rarely talk about so I just assumed she might have picked it up from somewhere Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
5Foot5 · 28/04/2011 13:42

squeakytoy DH is a news junkie so she has grown up with newspapers and rolling news. I guess she just filters things out when they don't interest her.

OP posts:
Francagoestohollywood · 28/04/2011 13:44

As long as she is clued up on current affairs that actually matter...

nepenthe3 · 28/04/2011 13:47

I might not be able to distinguish between Ed and Andy in a line up these days, they all seem to morph into one strange equine carbon copy of one another.
I agree with the sentiment that she is filling her brain with more useful stuff.

meditrina · 28/04/2011 13:56

I'd be somewhat concerned at not knowing the basics about the Head of State (function and role in government, current incumbent, other notable incumbents).

And though mildly surprised at someone knowing nothing of the family saga that goes with it, I'd agree that's not essential.

My KS1 DD learned about this in school - when they were doing "all about me" the Queen and her descendants were used as an example of a family tree, then the class all drew and described their own. I think she could answer the questions in OP - but I'll check after school.

Ephiny · 28/04/2011 13:59

I have no idea what Edward or Andrew look like (not sure I even knew there was a Prince Edward, have heard of Andrew though don't know who he is or how he's related to the queen.). I know Zara Phillips is the horse-riding relative, but someone with no interest in equestrian stuff probably wouldn't. Certainly could not trace the 'line' back to Queen Victoria (most of my Royal knowledge is about the Stuarts and Tudors as that's what we did at school!).

So no I don't think it's that unusual or problematic, I think these days only people who follow Royal stuff as a hobby know these things. It's like celebrity culture really (which I am also very ignorant of).

anonacfr · 28/04/2011 14:04

I wouldn't worry about it.
If you want to worry I give you my 24 year old SIL who got 4 A* at her A levels and is a Masters student- she didn't know what Communism was- this was 2 years ago. Hmm

Glitterandglue · 28/04/2011 14:19

I'm in my twenties and don't know any of those things. However, while it may be current affairs in the sense that it is affairs that are currently happening...I only consider it to be slightly more important than the lives of celebrities. And only because the royal family are sort of figureheads for the state.

I don't think I need to know any more than I do about them. When any of the royal family do something politically relevant then I read about/watch that, but following back their lineage or being able to recognise them in a crowd - quite frankly, I've got a limited amount of brain-space available and I'd rather use it to remember who John Prescott or Vince Cable are because I think their actions are rather more directly relevant to me and the country. Others may disagree...

cantspel · 28/04/2011 14:27

mine wouldn't have know but a few weeks ago we saw the film the Kings Speech which opened up a discussion on the royal family past and present and the act of succession

Champersonice · 28/04/2011 14:54

Ephiny, are you for real??

GrendelsMum · 28/04/2011 14:59

I can never remember which number any of the Georges or Edwards are. Or who came before Victoria. It goes George, George, George, someone, Victoria, Edward, George, Elizabeth doesn't it? I think it the blank might have been William IV.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 28/04/2011 15:04

I knew more about the 'line' at 8 than I do now Blush

I think it's the norm for people in the UK, not just teenagers tbh.

The Kings Speech did actually help me remember a few of them [cgrin]

hogsback · 28/04/2011 15:12

I'm aware of who Prince Andrew is due to the debacle about about his role as special trade envoy. Not a clue who Prince Edward is or the other questions. I'm sure that there are hundreds of princes and princesses that I've never heard of.

I'm obviously aware of the role of the queen as head of state but I don't really think that knowledge of the rest of her family is current affairs - it's just celebrity 'news'.

As others have said, your DD probably only bothers to memorise information that is useful and important.

redexpat · 28/04/2011 15:14

Nothing massively important has happened in the last 15 years in the royal family. Prince Edward got married, but that was a while back and certainly not on the same scale as tomorrow's gig. So she hasn't has so much opportunity to pick it up as kids of the 80s like me.

I've also studied 20th century history, but that is largely politics, not royals (apart from the last russian Tsar).

I like that your DD was googling it to find out!

Insomnia11 · 28/04/2011 15:15

Charles and Di were married when I was 6 and Fergie & Andrew got married when I was 8 or 9 so I'd definitely have known who they were and Prince Edward at that age.

If you hadn't had a big royal wedding in your lifetime though perhaps you wouldn't.

It's hard to remember what I didn't know though 20 years ago - I've certainly learnt a lot since then!

justhalfwaythere · 28/04/2011 15:18

My 14 year old son asked a a few weeks did I know of anyone really famous who had died (what!!??)

So I said Diana - coz it was big news all over the world

'Who's Diana?' was the response.