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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think Harry and Meghan are taking the piss?

999 replies

ohymygodbethenny · 25/06/2019 11:03

How are people not more outraged? And no, tourists do not visit the UK specifically because of the royal family.

"This year, 320,000 people were recorded as homeless in Britain"

OP posts:
Haworthia · 25/06/2019 11:33

I wonder how much was spent on doing up the Cambridge’s apartment at Kensington Palace recently? And how much was spent on Anmer Hall when it was gifted to them after the birth of George (or thereabouts)?

I’m not saying it isn’t an outrageous use of public money - it is. But it’s funny that Meghan gets roasted for her fancy new pad and clothes budget, when Kate seems to get off scot free.

VladmirsPoutine · 25/06/2019 11:34

Kate and William made do with Ikea!! Can't believe the audacity of Meghan and Harry! Actually was waiting for a thread like this. Just like clockwork.

Bandara · 25/06/2019 11:34

Why do we have a royal family at all? We agree for one family

Bluerussian · 25/06/2019 11:34

I haven't noticed any more tax being deducted from my pension to finance Frogmore renovation. Doesn't Frogmore belong to the country? Anyway, I think you are being unreasonable. It will make no difference to you and if the house was sold and the money distributed to the poor and homeless, it would soon be used up with little to show for it - a drop in the ocean.

VladmirsPoutine · 25/06/2019 11:34

Kate seems to get off scot free.

Kate isn't half black, unfortunately.

lyralalala · 25/06/2019 11:34

BBC also says the house belongs to Harry and Meghan - The 19th Century property was given to them by the Queen and the renovation paid for out of the Sovereign Grant.

I’d put my had on that being just badly worded. It’ll be like the rest of the properties ‘given’ to the royals and just given for their use for their lifetime.

Or with the likes of Bagshot and Royal Lodge that Edward and Andrew live in - given to them to lease from the Crown Estate.

BarryBarryTaylor · 25/06/2019 11:35

Kate and Wills cost more.

And people do visit London and surrounding areas to go and visit Buckingham palace, Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace, of course they do.

I can’t get to wound up about it, it’s not going to change is it?

Bandara · 25/06/2019 11:35

Why do we have a royal family at all? We agree for one family to rule over us forever and we give them millions of free money and multiple mansions and palaces for ONE family, when thousands of people are starving. How stupid are we? We are like sheep

ComtesseDeSpair · 25/06/2019 11:37

People are homeless in this country. People are in poverty.

The two are entirely separate. People are homeless and using food banks because of deliberate political decisions to dismantle the welfare state - not because we’re spending money to renovate a royal palace. It’s a diversion tactic to focus on a pair of increasingly less popular royals, particularly when, and others have pointed out, the property in question is owned by the state and not them; and has been funded from the Queen’s “allowance”, as it were. Am not a royalist, but equally there are plenty of other things I disagree with receiving state funding.

PineappleFwitters · 25/06/2019 11:37

So if it came out of the £67m sovereign grant then it wasn't an additional cost to the tax payer, was it? Complain about the entire £67m then OP, not just the amount that went to the Sussexes! Where did the other £64.5m go?

adaline · 25/06/2019 11:37

If the money came from the sovereign grant - then surely if it wasn't spent on Harry and Meghan, it would have been spent on another member of the Royal family? It's not like if they didn't spend it, it would have gone to renovate council houses in Rotherham.

I'm not entirely sure why they're being singled out for spending that money? Kate and William spent more on their renovations - around 4 million I believe.

lyralalala · 25/06/2019 11:38

Aside from where the money comes from, I'm confused as to how it cost so much? It did sound like it needed a lot of work (rewire, gas supply etc) but I've seen people knock up a luxury home from scratch for a quarter of that!

Part of the extra cost will be because it’s a listed building.

AngeloMysterioso · 25/06/2019 11:38

Dear god is it ever going to be possible to have a thread about these two without someone shrieking RACISM

PineappleFwitters · 25/06/2019 11:38

Agree @ComtesseDeSpair, it's austerity measures that have led to a reliance on food banks. Not Harry and Meghan doing up their house. I don't know why people can't see that.

IHateUncleJamie · 25/06/2019 11:39

As the Houses of Parliament refurb is costing taxpayers £4 billion and Kate/William spent more than Meghan and Harry then yes, YABU.

araiwa · 25/06/2019 11:40

Both harry and williams wedding were both global news and generated far more interest in the uk worldwide than anythingelse.

For a couple of quid a year, im all for it

President Boris Envy

Redglitter · 25/06/2019 11:40

It's an obscene amount you spend on them. They can well afford to pay that kind of money themselves. It's a disgrace its come from public money

I like those 2 less & less the more I hear

PineappleFwitters · 25/06/2019 11:40

Probably because it's curious that Meghan is always singled out for spending money when the rest of the royal family spend as much, if not more @AngeloMysterioso!

ChesterDrawsDoesntExist · 25/06/2019 11:40

Well said @MyOpinionIsValid

Bandara · 25/06/2019 11:41

Does nobody else think it is ridiculous - that the Royal family own dozens of huge mansions and palaces and live rent free and dont have to work and take millions of the tax payers money, when there are loads of homeless people. It is very stupid in this day and age.

Yogurtcoveredricecake · 25/06/2019 11:41

It's all optics though. I think they've made a few poor choices in behaviour that means the press are a bit more willing to stick the knife in. They've chosen to champion environmental causes, Harry jets halfway across the world to speak about it and then gets straight back on a plane home. They've chosen women's charity, yet Meghan has a maternity wardrobe worth the same as my house! They either need to dial it down a notch or get a better PR team.

Theknacktoflying · 25/06/2019 11:43

@AngeloMysterioso .... it just seems strange that the level and tone of reporting just seems very vindictive ....

Bluestitch · 25/06/2019 11:44

They do need better PR. I'm a republican but if you are going to have a monarchy then the direct heirs (William and his kids) will cost money. I don't think Harry (or any other more minor royals) should be costing the same.

ChesterDrawsDoesntExist · 25/06/2019 11:44

@AryaStarkWolf the royal family are the largest landowners in Britain, and, in very simple terms, the profits from the lands are turned over to the treasury. It was a deal made way back when the royal family was broke. They turned the profits over to the UK and they get a proportion back. It's obviously a lot more complicated than that but that's the gist of it.

Bandara · 25/06/2019 11:44

Does anyone else think : "why do we let people tell me that they are better than me, that they are worth more than me, that they deserve to live in palaces and not work while other people can struggle and be homeless" . Wake up and see that the Royal family exists to benefit themselves, they do not exist to benefit you