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.

Oh... Property income. Of course. Takes a lot of hard work to earn that!

Of course they are funded by the taxpayer! Really? How much do they get and from whom?

not sure why I'm asking as I really don;t much care but I like to get my facts right

No one is entitled to be privileged that's the.whole thing. And yes I do feel.disgusted by the amount of money and wealth they have. Sure they are perfectly nice people and all but the inequality of their position vs most of the population is wrong imo.
I am not jealous that is a lazy rebuttal. I would like.not to have to worry about money but I would.hate to be royal it surely has its downsides.

As some posters do not rate the charitable work of the Royal family, it's not surprising that there is a misapprehension that the rhinos were "first". Well before that was the charity they founded one strand of which is indeed conservation, but which is also concerned with young people.; plus of course the Princes have continued work with AIDS charities, Centrepoint and several others.

Having seen the phone hacking scandals, the long lenses and other journalistic scams, it's not surprising that Kate had to take a nigh-on invisible role in the family firm. No-one, unless they worked there too at the time, knows how much she did whether good bad or indifferent.

And by the time Diana was her age, yes as noted above she was more active charitably, but also she's been married for about a decade and her children were school age, not 7 months.

I didn't say they earned it

Thats not how money works in this country. When my mum dies I inherit her caravan - I didn't earn it but after inheritance tax I'm allowed to keep it - I don't have to donate it to the state!

Diana's estate had inheritance tax of I think around £7m (from memory) paid on it.

There are way wealthier people who don't earn far more money than William and Kate is you want to start a revolution

They're posh - they're rich - they have a nanny - they probably don't have much of a clue how the other half 99.99 percent live.

They are the ROYAL FAMILY, is this really a surprise? They are the definition of posh and rich, what do you expect?

I'm not a royalist, not at all and don't spend much time thinking about them, but no one asks to be put in this position and I don't think it's easy. There are plenty of posh, rich, overprivileged, clueless people out there enjoying their wealth. The difference with Royals is they have a job to do, a demanding job and constant public and media analysis, scrutiny and criticism. Considering all that I think Wills and Kate are actually doing quite well at making an effort to understand and spend time with normal people, contribute patronage and help to charities, live in the modern world, etc. while aiming to allow themselves a bit of privacy too.

Of course Kate doesn't know what it's like for a normal services spouse – though as he really was flying a helicopter, it's reasonable to suppose she knows what it's like to worry, deal with unexpected callouts and other issues. But she was probably begged to contribute to the book to raise its profile and sales. That is what she does have the power to do, and is her role.

People want the Royals to do "Royal duties" and are thrilled when they do – whether that's being patron of a charity, turning up to a hospital, officiating at bestowing honours, meeting other heads of state etc etc.

William is reported as having 2 As and a C at A-Level. Oddly enough that's exactly what I've got though I also got an A in General Studies
Kate apparently got 2 As and a B.

Well, the civil list...?

"He didn't ask to be born into that family and whilst I'm no royalist I think there are probably far nastier characters knocking about. He's served his country in the armed forces and now for the rest of his life will have to do royal engagements."

Barn Of course he didn't ask to, it's what he does with his position that matters. It was another thread about Prince Charles that set me thinking about it. I think PC has tried really hard to use his profile well ans is very supportive of British causes. In comparison I think William and Kate repeatedly miss the mark ever so slightly.

I suppose it is that subtle difference between Charles and William I am thinking of.

I thought William and Harry's royal duties are effectively sub-contracted by Prince Charles and are therefore paid by the DUchy of Cornwall. Have I got that wrong?

Am sure they are perfectly nice nothing against either personally. But feel the whole concept of royalty in this day and age is embarrassing and ridiculously antiquated I would axe it tomorrow. Madness to be born into a position as if anyone would say your parents were teachers you must be one too with no choice in the matter. Feel rather sorry for Charles spent his entire life in waiting.

I think they are useless

Sorry not sure if my point has been lost a bit:

They are a massive tourist attraction in themselves (because they iz royal and load innit) and the money tourist spend on visitng the capital feeds into the economy indirectly through

travel
hotels
food outlets
other attractions

I mean they are trying they opened up the palace and gardens

Honestly, our relationships with several middle eastern powers that, at present, practically underwrite our economy have been dependent on the Royal family.

This country would very likely be hundreds of billions of pounds worse off without them, so I am frankly unconvinced by people who are "disgusted" at their wealth, consider them parasites etc.

Of course he is an over-privileged posh boy, he is a prince.

If you are going to have a royal family, you can't complain when they behave like a royal family.

If you don't want a bunch of people acting like over-privileged royals, then stop having over-privileged royals.

He didn't do his job in the RAF like everybody else. I am sorry, he just didn't! How many other blokes or women were given the time off to go to watch the Olympics? How many are given time off to turn up the opening of an envelope? They get their leave and that's that!

I bet when Kate was taken into hospital with hyperemesis, William didn't have to use his leave, unlike DH who has to use leave every single time I have an appointment or operation that he needs to escort me too.

Do you think when William went to the Falklands they sent him a Ford Fiesta to put his luggage in and drive himself down to Brize Norton then have to piss arse around sending paper work back from the Falklands? Do you think when he was at Brize, he was pointed in the direction of fecking Subway for a meal before he got on the plane? Did he heck as like!

Do you think if Kate was diagnosed with cancer he would be told he wouldn't be allowed to drive her to her daily radiotherapy appointments, that he'd have to go to work and someone from welfare would have to do it? Would he fuck!

thinking getting rid of the monarchy doesn't seem to have done the French tourism industry any harm, has it?

I couldnt care less about the royal family. But this post is well thought out and I understand perfectly why these 2 will be seen as leeches. Well, theyre all leeches as far as Im concerned but these 2 and Prince Andrew are the most obvious.

Thank heaven for noble prince William and his tireless work for food outlets!

To everyone accusing me of jealousy, I can hardly be bothered to respond. If you want to ban more than 99% of the population from ever making any negative or non-comittal remark about the Royals, I suppose it works.

Agree with Dino.

The press made it really difficult for her when she went out to work. if Kate had a proper job the country would be up in arms because she was taking a job away from someone else who 'needed the money'.

She most definitely does not need the money. I would also imagine supporting a future king in her marriage and rearing another future king would keep anyone busy.

And to everyone saying they are lovely people with a happy marriage; I'm sure they are and i'm truly glad for them but that's not the question i'm asking.

Are baby kings harder work than normal babies?

It amuses me because without the good will of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, courted by Prince Charles, the UK would be a second/third world country already, as everything from BAE systems, to our fuel supplies, to every industry we have left, to our import/export capability would be dead in the water.

Yet some people here seem thoroughly convinced that their 50k household income minus tax credits gives them a right to feel more contributive than the Royal family. Not so, I'm afraid.