To think if Kate & Wills want to live at Middleton Manor...

[PeriodMath]

They should foot the £6000 a day bill for security and the £900 an hour helicopter circling overhead?

Shouldn't they be staying in a royal palace - isn't that the point of them? Big safe estates away from prying eyes?

[noddyholder]

Don't worry about them they don't about you.

[liquidstate]

Actually have met the Middletons and they are all very nice not up themselves at all. Party pieces has rapidly expanded and is very busy so I imagine there is an increase in income to cover the cost of the new house, the old house was worth loads as well. The extra police at Bucklebury is not a problem at all and not that much over what usually is here when they visit, the only difference is I guess there has to be enough to cover shifts and breaks etc so it looks like there is more on duty. I expect the helicopter and extra police will stand down as the press interest does. Note the emergency parking restrictions on the road outside their house are only for three weeks.

I occasionally work at the palaces and I know that security do move around (eg when the queen goes to Balmoral) so it is likely these are mainly palace policemen.

The works at Kensington mean its not a really good place at the moment. Noise and dust everywhere and it is peak tourist season so I fully understand why they have moved to Bucklebury. Their house near Sandringham is also a building site I understand.

ps - I am in no way posh/rich or a Royalist, I just wanted to clarify a few things!

[deepfriedsage]

Are you Kate's PR?

[grovel]

I would be interested to know who the Republicans would like to see stand to be our Head of State. Genuine question because I think our arrangements are dotty but can never get excited by the alternative. We have a monarch with an 80% approval rating. I simply can't imagine that kind of concensus behind any elected individual.

[liquidstate]

deepfriedsage - hardly!

I just moved to that part of Berkshire when I married 3 years ago and my husbands family know a lot of local people. I just get so annoyed when people start on at them for trying to be royal. The Daily Fail is particularly good at this. If people feel that way, fine - it is a free country after all. But lets have some proof before we start censuring people...

[MortifiedAdams]

The fact of the matter is that if my newborn was at serious, world-scale, risk as a target for extremists / nutters / chancers, I would want him.protected by the law. I also wouldnt expect to be holed up in a prison (no matter how many tiaras and thrones it contained), for the next 18 years.

The child did not ask to be born. It is a target, like it or not. And therefore it deserves protection.

[McNewPants2013]

Liquidgate are you ok to discuss this.

[liquidstate]

mc Newpants - Thanks. I think so - I'm not involved in security or anything!

And Mortified has raised a very good point. You have to also consider the repercussions of if anything did happen to William, Kate and the baby. Would be a bit weird if Harry became King after showing off his nob last year!

[DontmindifIdo]

Deepfriedsage - yes, Rushdie did know what he was doing, and Tony Blair probably could assume that the Iraq war would mean he would need personal security for the rest of his life, and there's lots of people who've taken the decision to do things that put them in the line of sight of terrorists and criminals - but decisions about the level of security they get shouldn't be down to what they can afford to pay.

Plus, what annoys me by some of the less rational republicians on here don't seem to get is that William really doesn't have a choice to do anything differently to stop him being a target of extremists - even if he gave up the HRH and his claim to the throne (and money from his Dad), does anyone really think William, Kate and their new baby would stop being terrorist targets? Zara Philips has never had a title, is far away from the throne, hasn't had any direct state funding for her lifestyle (although her mother does, so you could argue Zara had tax funding her lifestyle throughout her childhood), yet she has had bodyguards and security costs throughout her life, and will continue to do so. Her child will also 'cost' the state with security needs.

[DontmindifIdo]

Liquid - I can't help thinking it would be fabulous to have Harry as King. Very entertaining.

[FrillyMilly]

Zara Phillips does not have protection officers.

[DontmindifIdo]

Frilly - she might not now, but she has in the past, I guess it depends on the threat at the time.

[motherinferior]

Oh for heavens' sake, they are not helpless pawns of the arch-manipulating media; if they really wanted a go at renouncing wealth and privilege they could. They don't. They appear to be really quite happy being rich and privileged. So please stop making them out to be victims.

[olidusUrsus]

Yy motherinferior

[Twirlyhot]

So, if they gave away their money and titles the press would suddenly leave them alone?

[crypes]

I feel abit sorry for Kate , she seems abit adrift at the moment, honestly what thirty year old married woman with a baby would go immediately and stay with mum and dad? William seemed abit bossy and savvy outside the hospital, I cringed when he took the baby straight off her for the reporters to see. Pippa looks more and more like Mrs Simpson every time I see her in the paper. She's getting abit too polished looking and media savvy too.

[Bue]

crypes I think you're reading quite a lot into their appearance outside the hospital! William clearly still takes the lead in terms of media, he has infinitely more experience than she does - in fact I think it shows that she is still somewhat nervous with reporters. Quite frankly I expect she was grateful and relieved that she could take a back seat!

I also think it's lovely that Kate is close enough to her parents that she wants to go and stay with them. I mean it's not like they don't have the space. Possibly not everyone's choice, but Kate and William don't exactly have a normal living situation and this is probably the best option for them.

[Morloth]

Security guards get paid, pilots get paid, choppers get maintained etc.

As long as they are using British labour etc then it is actually a good thing they are spending money.

Keeps it moving around...

[Karmakoala]

Seriously I don't understand this way of thinking in the slightest, I'm NOT a royalist but this really annoys me.

He is a tiny newborn baby, he had no choice in the fact that he was born into the monarchy. There are people out there who would do him serious harm if they got the chance.

He has no choice in the fact that he is future king, he could abdicate when he is older if he doesn't want the responsibility, but right now he is future king.

Kate, like many new mothers wants her own mum around her following the birth, just because she has given birth to the future monarch, does that strip her of her right to privacy and choice. Or should she just suck it up and do what everyone else wants her to.

Even if the UK became a republic state overnight, the monarchy would still need protection, possibly even more so. I can't get my head around the attitudes of people who think this way.

[Moln]

the middleton's gaff is nice isn't it?! Managed to get those mower line things on their lawns too

[DonDrapersAltrEgoBigglesDraper]

God.

Whinge, whinge, whinge, whinge, whinge.

It's like it's a national sport. Nothing like a happy event to bring the whingers and criticisers out in their droves to throw massive old wet blankets over everything.

Can't imagine too many other countries react in such a default way as this to an allegedly happy national event.

[marriedinwhiteagain]

So, what have we had:
Marriage between two lovely young people
Baby born on Monday and shared with us on Monday pm and all day Tuesday.
Kate's mum and dad went in first (that was fantastic the mums parents got the first look)
Williams dad and sm went in next
They went home for the night and then to the mum's family which is stable, kind, loving and dignified.

What exactly is there to complain about? This young couple have behaved with absolute dignity in spite of having every second debated and discussed and pulled apart. They are a lovely couple in the bosom of a lovely home - just let them be that and perhaps cast a thought that had Diana had such a lovely supportive home then history might have turned a little differently.

They bring in far more income than they draw and at a very very special time are not even needing or asking to be cut a little slack - simply to live a public life in a private way for a few weeks.

[northernlurker]

It's just nasty to object to a first time mum wanting to spend time with her mum. I'm sure they would all be more relaxed without a ton of security in the shrubbery but tbh I don't think anybody will have asked them. The state chooses which assets to protect.

Zara may not have security atm but I suspect after she gives birth the police will be keeping an eye on her for a bit - a baby is such a target for nutters. Though doubtless Mike Tindall could 'tackle' them

[jamdonut]

If the monarchy was abolished tomorrow,and we had an elected president,who presumably would have family, would we still be griping about security????
I think a president costs more in the long run,because they actually make decisions which may or may not be to everyone's liking. And each time a presidency changes, presumably much money is spent on making sure the new president's family is protected, and that must involve costs each time.
The royal "family" are just figureheads for Britain. They may try to use some influence, but at the end of the day they don't make decisions that affect us directly.
I much prefer the history and continuity of our monarchy than the circus that becomes presidential elections (particularly thinking America and France here) and their subsequent tenures.

The "family" has become much narrower in recent years,as the older generations of it die off,anyway,the line is much more restricted.