AIBU to loathe the Royal Family

[InWinoVeritas]

The way the media is so gushing about everything Wills, Kate and Harry do, just been watching the evening news, there is a story about Wills and Kate doing a radio broadcast, makes me want to vomit..
And the issues about mental health - really? Do we need Royal 'endorsement' just to get more funding?

I suppose on balance if Wat Tyler WAS around nowadays everyone would say in a PA way 'charming!'

Loathe them?
Do you know them personally op?

But if we didn't have a royal family I would be worried that we would end up with Simon Cowell or even worse Tony Blair as president!

I'm waiting on the day that William finally is true to himself, admits his marriage is a sham and come so it if the closet. We can then have a proper fabulous royal wedding between him and Carlos.

I like them. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. Would I like their money and homes? Yep. Would I want the bile, vitriol, constant criticism and slagging they endure on a daily basis? To go through a very public state of grief after losing a mother at such a young age? To be called a workshy, sponging broodmare? To have every aspect of my physical appearance dissected in the press every day? How much my outfit cost? What happened to my hairline? Etc etc. Bloody hell. Would I fuck. I'll keep my lot thanks. Life is hard enough under the radar.

2bees, the role of an elected president would be likely to be purely ceremonial, with no political power, and possibly a comparatively small salary, so would not attract career politicians or Simon Cowell. The Irish president's salary is the highest grade civil servant salary, for instance. Nor do you need to be a politician to run for election.

Who's Carlos? doris

Carlos is the Cambridge's "gardener"

I think what they're doing is brilliant.

I watched the marathon thing on BBC the other night and the awareness their raising on MH issues is just amazing.

I think those 3 have really brought the RF out of the Stone Age and hope they continue to be on the scene supporting causes that affect us all in some way

I think the institution of the Monarchy should be ended after the Queen dies. I think Charles will be a really unpopular King.
As people, I don't have anything against them, and I certainly would not wish any ill on them.
Such financial privilege at our expense has no place in modern Britain.

I would be really interested in whether, if they do go, what everyone would have in their place. Would we have a first minister/president, do you think?

pink My deliveries were very much on par with what she had. I had my babies here in the US. The standard of maternity care here doesn't allow to go home until 48 hours after delivery for a vaginal birth with no complications. If you have significant tearing they will keep you in for at least another 24hrs.

I had a single ensuite room, a nursery to send my baby to and the right to a night nurse for a week once home for $50 a night.

I left the hospital quietly. I was extremely swollen and just not feeling great. Handling a million and one photographers taking pictures that went global? That is stressful.

I just can't bear the fawning & ridiculous amounts of praise the RF receive whenever they make the smallest gesture. Yes it is all very well their speaking out about mental illness etc, all very worthy…but given their huge privilege and the vast amounts of public money they receive, isn't that the very least they should be doing?

And this at a time of Government cuts of public services including mental health…it may actually do harm their speaking out, giving the impression that the 'establishment' is benevolent and cares about the mentally ill when the facts indicate the opposite. Maybe they are just covering the Government's a**e?

It is ridiculous to feel sorry for them and I don't, they are immensely privileged people. I feel sorry for people who are struggling with mental and other illness as well as unemployment, poverty etc with increasingly limited help.

I don't particularly respect them either; yes I'm sure they do some good but when you look at what they are given, do you honestly think they get a return on investment? I respect far more the people who work tirelessly for years supporting the underprivileged, impoverished, homeless, disabled etc without expecting (or receiving) reward or accolades.

I have nothing against them personally, I just feel that they represent everything that is worst about the UK: inequality and entrenched privilege. I can't see this going on much longer.

They've lost their mother Does no one even care about this? It's unusual. But we hear 'They're privileged!'. They'really not.

I don't understand this at all.

Loads of people lose their mother. My children lost their father when they were young. It's an awful life changing thing to go through, but William and Harry are still privileged. People lose parents all the time, and a lot of them have to go through a lot of financial hardship as a result on top of the emotional hardships.

I don't loathe the Royals. I quite like them.

This below I completely agree with

So the royals have added to this by throwing in a couple of common, albeit distressing, life events, and talked about their mental health problems following it. Fine, okay - no problem with that whatsoever.

But let's not pretend it scratches the surface on real mental health. Go beyond the anxiety, depression and stress and walk into a world where an unwashed individual will scream in the face of the Duchess of Cambridge because she's terrified of her because she can hear voices in her head telling her she's there to harm her. Or the homeless man who walks through town muttering to himself - only he's not. Or the woman who has lost all her teeth through multiple vomiting. I could go on and on and on.

I agree that what they are talking about does not even scratch the service of severe MH issues.

Want2be - I agree that it is a type of stress to be scrutinized so closely all the time, especially after giving birth. My point is that she is not speaking to other celebrity mums who face those sort of stresses - rather the RF PR machine trying to get her to reach out as just another new mum with the same worries as the rest of us - you know like - can I afford to go back to work and pay child care, can I afford to not work, will we be able to afford a holiday this year, what will happen if DP and I are both rostered to work Christmas, can we afford another child.....worrying about keeping a roof over your head etc is a whole different world to worrying how you look in the papers (even though you've have had your hair and make up professionally done and you ate wearing the best gear money can by). Its the hypocrisy which irks. There's no way Kate can speak to "normal" mums with any credibility.

If Kate finds it stressful to be scrutinized and photographed, she should stop prancing round in designer clothes all the time.

I think a lot of charities would struggle to get as much attention and funding without Royal patronage and they certainly wouldn't get it replaced by Govt. Things like Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme and The Prince's Trust have done fabulous things for young people.

I do think it the Monarchy will evolve into a smaller entity and I think Charles will begin that change so that William can take over a the "new firm" that will be much streamlined. Charles already vetoed more "duties" and being seen on the balcony for Eugenie and Beatrice which Andrew wanted.

I don't care, and simply feel ambivalent toward the royal family - they live in a different world to me, our worlds will never cross, I'm sure they have troubles like all of us, I'm sure the money and privilege helps to ameliorate those troubles.

why should I actually care about what they do day to day?

I like them. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't
No, they're damned because they are. Personally i'm not bothered if they "do or they don't" I just don't want them.

Wills looks very happy in this photo with his two special friends.

Coming from a Republican country about to elect a President from a pool of assholes, I have a much more relaxed view on the Monarchy 😁
Overall, I think having a Head of State that has been groomed to dignity, poise and thinking before they speak is quite the way to go, if they represent your country worldwide. Not every president is Trudeau.
I love the Queen, am a bit meh about Charles, and love Harry and Will.
I know as a French person I have no say about UK politics, but I hope the Monarchy keeps going. It gives also from an outsider's perspective a plus to Great Britain.

'I think a lot of charities would struggle to get as much attention and funding without royal patronage' - plenty of charities without Royal patronage seem to manage this OK, as do charities overseas in republics.

Also I know some charities founded/patronised by royals have done a lot of good….but that is down to the people who manage and work in, and contribute to them. The royals merely lend their names to the charities…all very well but does it really warrant all the fawning they receive, as though we should be pathetically grateful for every good thing they do? I am better off than many people in this country & so I give to charity, as many of us do without expecting fawning praise or accolades.

BeyondThePage - I wouldn't care what they actually do if it weren't that they were receiving vast sums of public money for it (whatever it is that they do). I don't feel that they provide any meaningful benefit in return, all they do is embody and underpin the entrenched wealth and privilege in this country and therefore, however well meaning some of them are they are part of the problem not the solution. There is less social mobility now than there was after WW2 which I think is shameful.

In my opinion they are the biggest benefit scroungers in the country, and the only ones being awarded vast INCREASES unlike everyone else.

Coming from a Republican country about to elect a President from a pool of assholes, I have a much more relaxed view on the Monarchy

Just supposing, hypothetically speaking Charles was one of those candidates, i wonder if he'd be viewed in the same way, I mean what great attributes would Charles bring to the table.

I disagree that people who do not believe in the concept of the monarchy are bitter or jealous and as was bizarrely suggested, unemployed

Maybe we think since it has been going on for centuries, this hereditary privilege no longer has any place in the 21st century.