To think Prince William and his wife are lacking appreciation of their position

[fideline]

and good fortune?

He just seems a bit of an over-privileged posh boy?

I know everyone says he has lovely manners, but we can expect a bit more than that, surely?

They have just hired a 'forrin' nanny a) after making an enormous PR fuss about not having one b) at a time of high UK unemployment.

The list of god-parents for their baby was a bit multi-barrelled and No foreign royals, as is traditional, but Not the slightest whiff of any demographic diversity either.

There seem to be a LOT of luxury holidays going on with these two.

The uni course he is doing has been especially designed for him and seems designed to prepare him for inheriting the enormous (private) Duchy of Cornwall. Not exactly public-spirited?

In the much-hyped first post-baby interview, he was keen to promote a charity saving Kenyan Rhinos. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but the line between animals he shoots for fun and animals he wants to save is unclear and anyhow a charity for under-privileged (UK?) children would have been the nice, publicity-shrewd thing to do, maybe?

For a couple with a great deal of expensive PR expertise at their disposal they seem to be slightly missing the mark a bit too often.

Role models for young girls could be worse. ......

I would do it in a heart beat.

lots of foreign travel, bowing and scraping, everyone smiling at me and laughing at my jokes, the smell of fresh paint everywhere, job for life, loads of holidays, good booze and food, nice palaces, kids futures secure.

oh and apparently I am the reason foreigners come to see out historical buildings and castles!

God they work hard don't they?

Without the Royal family we'd have to have a President as Head of State - shall we give the job to David Cameron?

Head of state does not have to mean head of government. In many countries it's a purely ceremonial role with no political power.

The head of state thing is a red herring. The queen doesn't actually do anything to run the country so a replacement need not have any real power and need not cost much.

Yes and in some countries it's Vladimir Putin or Yoweri Museveni

Yes but realistically, it would cost a fortune and people would wish we had the royals back. Politicians are far more hated than the royals are.

"Role models for young girls could be worse. ......"

How??

I really hope, whatever she is, she isn't a role model to young girls.

Well I dislike the royal family far more than I do politicians.

In those countries the head of state wields political power.

An example of where the head of state is purely ceremonial is Ireland: we've chosen some pretty decent presidents over the last 25 years.

The old 'attracts tourism and finances from that ' statement .
That is just a pathetic attempt to justify a disgraceful and outdated process .
I don't care if the whole gang produces a cartoon version of themselves and sell it to cbeebies ;attracting millions to flock to our shores like a grosely inflated version of the balamory frenzy ! We live in a democracy and no one asked me if I either wanted to apply for the job or vote for them .

We are hardly the only democracy to have a monarchy!

How do you think a referendum on abolishing the monarchy would go?

Speaking of cbeebies - another thing about them that pushed my eyebrows up a bit- W & K have apparently copyrighted their own names and images.

Their public image is micromanaged to an incredible degree. Their PR team know EXACTLY what they are doing. William and Kate are never ever allowed to say or do anything remotely interesting, let alone challenging or controversial.

Anyone who has convinced themselves that these two are thick or uninformed or unintelligent is mistaken too. They both managed to obtain a respectable clutch of A levels, (albeit what you'd expect given their immensely priviledged schooling) they went to an excellent university, and both came out with good degrees.

Don't forget what happened to William's mother. She was crucified by the media - her philanthropic and charitable activities were used to simultaneously turn her into an impossible sickly 'Saint Diana' figure and to brand her an unstable hysteric. It's hardly surprising her son and his wife are now following the Eurobland Royalty model to the letter.

How do you think a referendum on abolishing the monarchy would go?

I suspect a lot of people would say keep them because they are royal and better than us.

So they view themselves as a commercial brand

link here

It doesn't mean their PR team are wise Lapsed

"because they are royal and better than us."

Seriously back?

This is like monarchist bingo. Now we get the 'David Cameron/Tony Blair/choose a politician you hate' argument to try to suggest an unelected eightysomething year old is a better idea.

You get that a president isn't the same as the prime minister, right? That you would vote for a person from a list of candidates, not a political party? That someone perfectly admirable might be the result?

Mary Robinson, president of Ireland from 1990-97, was an astonishing president, a lawyer, academic and non-party politician who revitalised the presidency, did a huge amount of good work in Anglo-Irish relations, decriminalising homosexuality and sorting out the anachronistic contraception laws, sticking her neck out about human rights, and when she left office, became UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Why wouldn't the UK have the gumption to elect an equally good Head of State?

I couldn't imagine going to my nan and asking her permission to take my DC on a plane together.

This is what the prince had to do, get permission to travel with his own son.

They are never going to be normal, so stop trying to be.

I'm outta this , my opinions would see me beheaded for treason !
I am proud to have raised kids who question what they see , unlike pretty much the whole of their schoolmates who flag waved and face painted along with their parents .

I'm no royalist - I take no interest in what they're up to. On the day of Diana's funeral I drove to the Cotswolds and thought 'fantastic, no traffic!' If she'd been wearing a seatbelt she would've survived the car crash that killed her - but thought she was above it all silly moo.
That doesn't stop me having respect for the hard work that members of the Royal family do, particularly for charities. Think of 'useless' Charles setting up the Prince's Trust that has helped so many. And as others have said - imagine having a referendum on abolishing Queenie!

fideline 'I' don't think they are better than us. But yes there are people who do and are proud to be subjects.

Some very ignorant and angry people out there tonight, goodnight !!

I don't believe wisdom is a currency that PR teams deal in. They do smart

I think the Royals learned some hard lessons from the public's responses to Diana's death and Charles's marriage to Camilla. Their only chance of survival is to be boring as hell for the forseeable.

Just to say, while I agree that Mary Robinson was GREAT, she did much of that work as a lawyer and senator before she was elected President.

She didn't have scope to sort out contraception laws/decriminalise homosexuality under the provisions of the office of president, beyond signing bills into law/referring them to the Supreme Court to test their constitutionality.