Shouldn't full time royals work a 5-day week?

[ohprettybaby]

I think it is high time that working royals were not measured by the number of engagements they do (as they can do several in one day so that is misleading).

In general, why can't full time working royals work a 5-day week with holidays and bank holidays similar to that of much of the UK population?

Obviously some engagements are not carried out during the daytime but they would get time off in lieu for evening engagements.

Not all if their work is restricted to engagements but, during their set hours, if not fulfilling an engagement, they would be undertaking research or working on their own charitable works.

Different rules would apply for royals carrying out engagements after their State Retirement age. (You can't expect them to do 5 days at 9 -5.30).
Set a different amount of hours per day or per week for part time royals, again with pro rated holiday entitlement.
Surely this would ensure they were more in tune with the population?

I assume you'll be working until at least 93 years old, like the queen has? I don't envy them one bit, it's a life sentence imo

Much easier to guillotine the lot

@scottishgirl85 that is entirely the Queen’s choice though. I’m not saying you can’t admire her energy and commitment - but I certainly wouldn’t have any sympathy for her doing when it’s her choice.

I assume you'll be working until at least 93 years old, like the queen has?

If my 'work' involved being chauffeured from place to place in a limousine to be fawned over and given the best of whatever there was to offer, being waited on hand and foot, never having to do any housework, having my choice of mansions to live in and having the wealth to buy anything I wanted, I would be happy to 'work' for the rest of my life.

@JamieVardysHavingAParty

"In principle yes, but in practical terms, could we let our legislature finish with bloody Brexit first, before we overhaul and replace our monarchy?"
Surely we are capable of multi-tasking.

I imagine if you gave them time off in lieu for all the evening and weekend engagements they attend, and some sort of credit for the work they did before the age of 18 and after 65, they'd probably have to work less than they currently do under your proposal, not more.

I also imagine they do quite a lot of "behind the scenes" work with their charities and prep work for engagements.

If someone works five days a week with the legal minimum of annual leave then they will work around 230 days. A sizable number of people work a four day week and have more generous annual leave entitlements.

In 2019, the Queen worked on around 110 days, attending around 270 engagements. This work generally involves making small talk with strangers. I for one would find that incredibly stressful.

Then add in the non-public work the Queen does. Signing off legislation, audiences with the Prime Minister, receiving foreign dignitaries (all Ambassadors and High Commissioners must present their credentials to the Court of St James's), portrait sittings (she's quite sought after as a model).

I bet that you won't be working that hard when you're 93.

She reminds me a bit of my MIL.
Everyone would say how wonderful she was, still working in the family business at 72, in every day.
Reality, everything she did had to be checked as her attention to detail had sadly slipped. The admin assistant had her hours increased because she couldn’t get her work done because MIL was constantly chatting to her!
It worked for them as a family - she’d worked long and hard and although she was now in the way and actually costing the business money (drawing a salary, creating re-work, extra admin hours paid for someone to chat to her) no-one begrudged it. She built the business up in the first place.
She was bored at home, had close friends, and frankly loved the attention of other friends saying how wonderful she was for still working.
There was a huge sigh of relief when she did decide to retire.

I’m no monarchist, but she deserves all the money thrown at her for being in the same room as Trump and BoJo.

The RF is fine as it is. Why we feel the need to make everyone live a fucking boring 9-5 existence I do not know.

Princess Anne has engagements every bloody day! I couldn't do what they do.

@PianoTuner567

"Yeah, they don’t just do the engagements, they prep for them first plus there must be a fair amount of paperwork and shit that comes with being a patron of a charity"
Do the royals actually do this work though or do their staff?

@TellMeWhoTheVilliansAre

"Nurses, doctors, shop keepers, hairdressers, policemen, firemen, priests, vicars, call centre staff, local councillors, MPs.. In fact EVERYONE should work 9-5 Monday to Friday.
Surely there's not much need for anyone to do anything outside of those hours."
and
@FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones

"OK fine they work 9-5 and aren't obligated to travel or attend official engagements in the evening or entertain dignitaries after hours."

I did say that some royal engagements are carried out in the evenings so they could get home off in lieu for them. RTFT.

@Fere

"Do you mean they need accountability?"
Yes. I guess that's what I mean only I'm more long-winded.

More simply, we need to abolish the monarchy

Yes, this, thank you so much. No more needs to be said, really.

I assume you mean from the age of 16 if the are not in further education? So they get to have a childhood without intrusion? I am definitely not a royalist but they are expected to perform from a very young age at official engagements and "work" beyond retirement, I definitely would prefer a 9-5 as I would imagine some of them would prefer it to the constant expectations placed on certain members of the royal family. There are obviously some royals that get alot of privilege with very little input.

@Scottishgirl85

"I assume you'll be working until at least 93 years old, like the queen has? I don't envy them one bit, it's a life sentence imo"
I agree and I don't envy the Queen either. I think she has done a magnificent job and is an absolute shining example to everyone.

I did say that:
"Different rules would apply for royals carrying out engagements after their State Retirement age. (You can't expect them to do 5 days at 9 -5.30).
Set a different amount of hours per day or per week for part time royals, again with pro rated holiday entitlement."

So, that would apply to The Queen, her royal cousins, Prince Charles, Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Anne.

I'm pretty sure Princess Beatrice and Eugenie don't put in a full week's work but should do if they are classed as working royals.

Do we actually know, apart from number of engagements, how much time the royals work?

Because if they are like us, what’s the point of them?

The more they do and say the more the veneer slips.

Surely we are capable of multi-tasking.

Thus far, no. There are only so many parliamentary hours a year. Here's a snapshot of what Johnson's proroguing of parliament delayed.
metro.co.uk/2019/09/11/laws-wont-passed-parliament-suspended-10723549/

Quote:

Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament effectively killed off any bills that were currently making their way through.

That included legislation to protect women who had been abused and a law to bring in no-fault divorce.

Judges in Scotland ruled on Wednesday that the decision to suspend Parliament was ‘unlawful’.

But in the currentBrexitmess, it is unclear what will happen to the 12 bills scheduled to become law that have already been stopped in their tracks.

Prorogation marks the end of the parliamentary session and many bills still making their way through end up being binned.

Hours isn't the only way of measuring work. Plus there is prep time and necessary decompression time. It's tiring interacting/smiling and nodding/making small talk etc etc all the time.

I agree and I don't envy the Queen either. I think she has done a magnificent job and is an absolute shining example to everyone.

Her job is to keep the Monacy going. it’s becoming more and more irrelevant and fractured as the days goes by. Her children aren’t shining beacons of respectability, once she’s dies what are we left with? Hardly a great legacy.

I don't envy them one bit, it's a life sentence imo

This x1000. Would anyone here like their child to have the kind of life a royal child has. Never allowed freedom to have normal friendships, and normal birthday parties, or days out in the local playground, or swimming pool.

I remember Harry who I think was 12 at his mother's funeral.. 12. Walking behind her coffin with millions watching him. Thousands upon thousands lining the streets, TV cameras, an absolute circus, and at age 12 he had to do the "official" thing of walking behind her, without anyone putting their arm around him, hugging him, protecting him from the crowds of gawkers. Keeping the "stiff upper lip".

He was 12.

Would anyone here honestly swap their life for that one?

TellMeWhoTheVilliansAre, I couldn't agree more. I remember vividly Harry – and William – at that funeral and how horribly lost, young and alone they looked.

@Ellisandra
"that is entirely the Queen’s choice though. I’m not saying you can’t admire her energy and commitment - but I certainly wouldn’t have any sympathy for her doing when it’s her choice."
It isn't really a choice for the Queen though is it? Traditionally you do serve the country until your death. She doesn't have a choice.

I have both great admiration for and sympathy with her. Maybe if we had different rules for working royals there wouldn't have been all the drama the Queen's children have brought to her. (I'm thinking Sophie and the Sheikh, Fergie, Andrew and now H&M).

@ohprettybaby of course she has a choice!
Which prior monarch in a tradition of “not retiring” ever reached 93? Zero, I think. Unprecedented. She only has to say she is stepping down from public duties and that would be that. You really think there’d be a negative public reaction to that? No - just lots of “isn’t she amazing not to have stepped down before?”.

Beatrice and Eugenie do not got any money from the crown. Prince Andrew does currently. What they get comes from him.