The knives are out for the royal family

[justasking111]

It may be deserved in some cases, however it would seem the gloves are off as far as the media are concerned. They have lived high on the hog for centuries so what is new?

Am scratching my head here is it shoot the royal family season or a smoke and mirrors exercise designed to distract us from something more important??

I would hate to be in the PR business with the RF just now.

I actually believe the Queen takes her job as Monarch so seriously, she'll make every concerted effort to stay alive long enough for Charles to pre-decease her.

Diana supposedly said she did not believe Charles would ever be king.

Whoever behind the scenes might think a royal wedding would save them is bonkers.

No one likes the the man, he's already got a bad reputation, nothing will save him frome this.
Marrying cringing fergie again will not wipe out the image of a shivering very young girl rushing after epstein with sun glasses whilst inside Andy waves off more girls.

If Andrew didn’t condone the behaviour why did he continue his association with Epstein?
Everyone knew what he was up to. The locals in USVI knew what was going on on his island. Poor old Andy had no idea even after he’d done his stinky plea deal?
Sorry love. We know you’re thick. But even you’re not that stupid.

Royals have been targeted by terrorists in the past, civil war and killed by opposing families.
maybe, this distraction will incite a riot and the monarchy overthrown again.
People can't stand them, they are a laughing stock and there are more commoners than ever. It used to be Ladies and princes, not actresses and wc done good.

The company H&M fly privately with have compulsory carbon footprint offset in place

Greenwashed horseshit. You cannot really just offset your carbon output like that, it’s the modern equivalent of indulgences. Do they even know (or care) where that money is going? Or whether that carbon offset will actually be used in a productive manner?

And yes, expect to see Fergie and Andrew back together to distract, distract, distract

Exactly big boil.

His only possible excuse is to say he actually has a disability and its been hidden from us which would mean he cannot comprehend things. Eg he wouldn't understand epstein being charged, the young girls, and so on... There is no way out of this.

There just isn't.

I’m on the Republican side and would like to see the royal family gently dethroned and no longer paid from the public purse.

However the recent debacle with Boris talking about not reforming Parliament has made me think perhaps we do need some additional layer of government that can step in if the PM/Cabinet oversteps the mark. Not sure a monarch is the right solution but right now I’m just grateful that layer is there.

@Winterlife so because she was unknown in north America it doesn’t count? Minor or not, she was established and earning! For those of us who know of her before she married Harry her activities are well known.

Meghan was established and successful before she met Harry in terms of charity, humanitarian projects and earnings, she has tried to continue this and been vilified.

She was a successful actress in a minor cable tv show. She had zero presence in North America, though. No one knew about any "charity" or "humanitarian" projects.

I don't think Kate and William are any better. They just have far better people working for them who only release details about holidays etc after the event and with the minimum of fuss.

IcedPurple

it's a public forum, I am free to reply when I chose!

"some" attacks might be factual, the attacks against both women accusing them of using surrogate just bonkers, some are just very funny - the one accusing Meghan, photographed very young in front of Buckingham Palace, to have STALKING Harry ever since! is a good one.

making up what someone you have never met and don't know anything about, is thinking, believing and doing is just pathetic.

Goodness knows what else is going to come out about Andy. Goodness knows.

@MangoFeverDream oh ok then....you have your opinion and I have mine (based on facts, research and bothering to look into these things)

I personally think PH will give it all up once the Queen has gone and go off and live with M as a private citizen.

I’m not a MM basher, tbh have thought she gets a hard time up until now, but really ANYBODY preaching about the environment and then taking 4 trips in a private jet is going to have eyebrows raising. She didn’t have to guest edit Vogue (she was asked to contribute and then she asked if she could edit the whole thing). PH didn’t have to be interviewed for an article. M didn’t have to go to Wimbledon and clear all the seats around her. It’s all very cringe.

Lots of very rich people take private jets most people don’t care, but they aren’t lecturing us on how to live at the same time.

I like Meghan, she is the only person to walk into the royal family to know what paying your bills mean!

Princess Ann kids have been raised in a different way and know about making their own way, but they still come from an uber-priviledge background.

The rest are just a complete waste of space frankly.

I personally think PH will give it all up once the Queen has gone and go off and live with M as a private citizen.

I hope so, but I'd say it's highly unlikely.

really ANYBODY preaching about the environment and then taking 4 trips in a private jet is going to have eyebrows raising.

For any celebrity to take up the enviroment as their 'pet' cause is very very silly imo. Leo Di Caprio gets the same stick for preaching about the environment and using private jets and yachts. Pretty much any celebrity is going to have a very high carbon footprint, even if they don't use private jets, so it's a very dumb move to draw attention to it by lecturing others on green moving. It's almost as though they're begging to be called massive hypocrites.

@SeriouslyEnoughAlreadyRantOver I think whilst Princess Anne’s children are very privileged, I do quite like them. I’m in similar social circles to Zara and whilst I don’t know her personally, a close friend does and apparently she’s lovely and very grateful for all she has. It’s a totally different scale to the likes of Prince Andrew, PW, PH etc.

She didn’t have to guest edit Vogue

no, she didn't, but that's exactly why I like her. Why shouldn't she have stepped up and try to do more?
She is a human being, with opinion and personality. She doesn't have to pretend to be a trophy wife, smile and wave and pretend she doesn't have 2 thoughts in her pretty head.

It's ok to be her - she is not remotely in line to become Queen anyway.

Of course that won't make her popular, but women who must be seen but not heard belong to another era.

malibuloving
I like them too!
I was just saying that Meghan comes from not much, they come from a lot more. They are still making their own way with what they have been given.

Why we have a royal family in 2019 is beyond my understanding! I can't even explain it to my kids.

@Heartofgoldheadofcabbage so because she was unknown in north America it doesn’t count?*
That's not what I posted.

Minor or not, she was established and earning! For those of us who know of her before she married Harry her activities are well known.

She was earning, but she was hardly "established". Her Suits salary was US$50,000 per episode. That's a great salary vis a vis the ordinary person, but hardly stellar in television world, She didn't garner press (an indicia, in North America, of how well "established" a "celebrity" is). She was not well known in North America until she started dating PH.

Am scratching my head here is it shoot the royal family season or a smoke and mirrors exercise designed to distract us from something more important??

Yes and no.

There's a few things going on here.

1. Andrew has been hanging out with the wrong people and actually there should be a lot MORE questions about that.

2. The B Word. And the piss poor crap going on with that.

3. Boris Johnson (and Nigel Farage) and trying to position themselves as for the people v parliament - and because of the Queen's role constitutionally more widely as the people v the elite. This is related to the B Word, but is about the power of these politicians more.

4. The 'Culture War'. If you aren't familiar with it, then you should be. Basically politicians are trying to polarise the population for their own political ends and ambitions. On the one side you have the Trump Style American Leaning Libertarians who want mass deregulation and privatisation. On the other you have socialist leaning and liberal leaning types. The idea is to make you choice a side. You then have a mindset where you don't question your own side, you just follow blindly whilst also demonising the other side as 'the enemy'. It fundamentally works against the interests of the people, but works for those who hold power. Its classic divide and conquer.

This is where Harry and Megan fit in. They are very much on the 'Democrat' (as in the US party) / 'Liberal' side of the fence. They are being attacked as they are figure heads for this - they represent a certain type of identity politics - which the right wing media and politicians are currently on the other side of.

5. Positioning for where the monarchy goes from here in the next 5 - 10 years. We are very much in the Queen's final years and that will mark a weak point for the monarchy full stop. This makes it a target for all republicans whatever political persuasion there is. There WILL be a slow tide of this building over the next couple of years.

6. Charles is also likely to get more shit in the next couple of years, because of his environmental creditials. William might be seen as more 'plyable' and therefore preferable by politicians. He is also a target for republicans, so whilst Harry and Megan are the easy targets right now... he'll be in the cross hairs soon enough (Again more culture war stuff).

Perfect storm and all to do with general political turmoil.

The Monarchy always gets put under this type of pressure in times of political turmoil. Look back at history

I personally think Andrew is getting off lightly. I was looking forward to him being extradited to the USA to testify in the Epstein case.

Seriously though none of the news outlets or tabloids are even looking into his association with a child sex trafficking ring, surely nobody is above scrutiny.

women who must be seen but not heard belong to another era.

You mean, rather like the idea that you come into massive privilege, have people curtseying to you, and get a posh title simply by being born or marrying someone? And that all such titles can only be passed through the male, not the female, line?

smile and wave and pretend she doesn't have 2 thoughts in her pretty head.

That's what royalty - the archaic, unfeminist institution Meghan enthusiastically chose to marry into - is all about though. They are supposed to smile, wave and represent the crown. They're not there to offer their inane and usually unionformed opinions. That's why people respect the queen. None of us has a clue what she thinks about... well, anything. And that's how it should be.

I don’t understand why people seem surprised that MM has an actual personality & views of her own, unlike most of the other women she had a proper adult life before she had any connection with the royal family

I don't think Andrew can be extradited to the US.

I am 50/50 on whether anything more will come out. There are many powerful men involved with Epstein. There are also conspiracy theories about his trafficking being linked to intelligence agencies. Obviously I don't know if that's true, and I don't tend to believe in conspiracy theories, but as a source of blackmail and hence, control, it is a good theory.

The people who flew into that green conference the other week made me chuckle. We know a pilot of one of these planes he flies all sorts everywhere every day. We also know two crew members on these mega yachts, they see the excess every day. How any of them have the gall to lecture us on plastics leaves me wondering if they know what goes in what bin when recycling, it is their staff standing in the rain sorting their trash out.