To wonder why Blair and Brown weren't invited to the wedding

[springydaffs]

Seems a bit of an obvious snub

Maybe it's because they made the Queen get rid of the Royal Yacht?

Blair is clearly an arse, so that'll be why he was NFI, but not so sure about Brown...

would you want them at your wedding, really?

Well, they let George Osbourne in, and he's just as bad as Blair on the execrable front, surely?

Or maybe because Cherie famously annoyed the Queen by refusing to curtsy to her?

Neither of them bring to mind the good times, do they? They are hasbeens. Cherie was always a bit of a nightmare, (from their pov) not curtseying etc, so they made an excuse about Knights of the Garter or whatever.

It's been talked about quite a lot in other threads.

It's because they're not Knights of the Garter. (All living ex-PMs at the time of The Charles-Diana wedding did hold a Royal Order of some sort; and it was a State occasion with different protocol, and it was in the bigger venue of St Pauls).

I suspect they have not been invested into a Royal Order because they have not yet retired from public life - Blair is an envoy and Brown still an MP.

there was an article in the Telegraph suggesting that Prince William hates Tony Blair due to the way Blair spoke to him after his mother's death and made political capital out of her death. So he didn't want him there, (fair enough to not invite someone who was rude to you a couple of days after your mum died to your wedding in my view) and they couldn't invite Brown and not Blair, so neither got an invite. Which is a little unfair on the Browns....

Think it had something to do with the fact they have not been granted the Order of the Garter. That is how I understand it. Also, didn't Blair upset the Queen in his memoirs AND didn't Cherie say she wouldn't curtsey for the Queen?? Something like that anyway...

Wow. Cherie Blaire has actually done something that I admire her for.

Neither of them where wanted at the wedding, Willima and kate didn't want them there otherwise they would have invited them both.

I am sure if either of them had said - oh well I really want Tony and gorden to come to the wedding they would have got an invite - but obviously that didn't happen

Crumpet, yeah Blair is an arse and Brown, well he just f-d up our economy so not surprised they weren't welcome!

no one has to curtsey for the queen - cherie made a song and dance about it thought

I hate both Blair and Brown. I detest them.

Nevertheless, they should have been invited to the wedding.

The monarchy has to be above politics. It just has to be - otherwise it doesn't work.

Really, ivy? I didn't realise that.

Sorry, didn#t realise it had been talked about on other threads. Can anybody point me in the direction of a few?

Whatever the reasons, still think it can#t have been anything other than a blatant snub but can't quite get my head around it if so. I understand that they follow protocol when it suits them but to not invite a long-serving PM, regardless whether his wife did or didn't curtsey to the queen, just seems outrageous. Can['t work out at all why Brown wasn't invited either. As for the garter thing, it's them who hands out the garter thing, so not sure why they didn't. Also, William will hardly have told people he doesn't like Blair because of the way Blair spoke to him following his mother's death. Blair was very complimentary about Diana in the aftermath of her death and was instrumental in encouraging the queen to make some changes to accepted protocol in order to assuage 'the people' - all very complimentary/honouring towards Diana I would've thought. That can't be the reason can it??

The Telegraph thinks it's because William never forgave Blair for what happened after Diana's death, see here blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100085107/has-prince-william-personally-excluded-tony-blair-from-the-royal-wedding/

and if Blair wasn't invited then they couldn't invite Brown and so they came up with the Knights of the Garter excuse. I was quite young when Diana died but I always thought that Blair's intervention (suggesting the Queen return to London, fly the flag at half mast, make a public speech) actually helped turn around public anger at the royals. But William obviously doesn't see it like that.

MrsDen - Blair was rather "look at me, look at me" after Diana's death, and did really milk it. That sort of thing could piss you off if it was your mother, that's not even considering just how insensitive Blair might have been in private conversations with William...

I am not a fan of Blair or Brown, but I do think it was wrong to snub Blair, the knights of the garter thing sounds like bullshit. I vetoed a couple of loathed family "friends" at my own wedding, but not sure William should have got away with it. One of the papers said it was Camilla who vetoed Blair because of the ban on foxhunting.

I don't have a lot of symathy with the Browns either - he was not an elected PM and so why shouldn't he have to mop up after Blair and his mistakes - he didn't need to take the job he could have closed parliment and had an election then when Blair stepped down, his choice not to.

MrsDen, you are right that TB stepped in and did a good job of gettinbg the Queen to do the right thing in all the hoo-haa after Diana died. Two things - the death happened very suddenly & caught the Queen on the hop, obviously - she hadn't had time to think about what to do. Secondly, William was 14, and obviously a confused, angry and desperately sad young man. (Charles misjudged it too, making the boys go to church on that Sunday morning afterwards, rather than letting them grieve in private.)

Anyway, if william is angry at Blair it seems to me to be a legacy of how that 14yo felt at the time.

Of course one has to curtsey to the Queen - if a British citizen anyway. She is the head of state.

I think there are a few reasons the ex PMs didn't get an invite. Was definitely a snub too, imo.

Really...? I would have thought it was glaringly obvious

It's because the Royals are tories - obvious snub, and absolute disgrace