To find Prince William a bit smug

[strawberriesandpecans]

I'm sure he means well, it's just that he seems to be lecturing everyone on the environment while he travels by helicopter a lot and has a mansion. Also I just find them quite twee and irritating, particularly at the moment when so many people are struggling. AIBU?

It would be a real shame if people can't respect the work he has done with men's mental health charities and the environment, purely because of who he is.

I think we need to get past the illusion that what the RF does in any way approximates what most of us would recognise as 'work'. The (admirable) people who actually do 'work' in men's mental health and the environment are people who people who've trained, who do research in PSTD, who volunteer, fundraise, staff MH helplines and drop-in centres, who work as counsellors, who research climate change, pollution, habitat, litter-pick etc etc.

The RF may have the best intentions, or a desire to look useful, but it's frankly ridiculous to think that a bit of reading for a speech, or looking looking into a microscope at Imperial, as Katherine Cambridge did recently, is 'work'.

What they have to say about the environment or miscarriage/ stillbirth is only reported because of their position, not because they have anything whatsoever of value to say. Why would they? They only know what a little bit of layperson's reading will tell them. You might as well have Joe Bloggs who works for Homebase delivering a speech on the environment. If someone had passed him précis of a few articles, he'd be just as informed. That's a flaw in the UK class system, that a bland, not particularly well-informed speech will get the charity/cause some momentary publicity because of who it's delivered by. But they're not 'working' for or with the charity, they're just mannequins for a cause.

Again, they probably can't would you really want to be counselled over your miscarriage by Katherine Cambridge, all blow-dry and Emilia Wickstead, and the paps banging on the window? or have Prince Charles as a befriender via Help the Aged, showing up with his security entourage and being fascinated by your panic button because he's never seen one before? but again, that points up the madness of both the system and the fact that the RF are thought to 'do a lot of good work for charity', when they really don't. They don't. They show up, cut ribbons and make bland, forgettable speeches.

Soupcon
There is nothing that you say that I could argue with - ok, William has a Geography degree so probably understands more about global warming that the likes of me, but is not an expert.

But if the various members of the RF had no positive impact on the charities they support, why would the charities be so keen to have royal patrons? Even if their patronage purely draws attention through the press, surely that can only be a good thing?

As long as we have a royal family (who I support ), surely it is better to use them productively?

The thing is though, there is a sort of need for something/someone to attach those wierd patriotic feelings too. In the US they tend to get fastened on to the flag and the president. In some ways this makes more sense - since the president is elected you would assume in some ways they'd earned their position and were more deserving of admiration. But the arguements against that are:

1. too much deference can get in the way of democacy. If people arent allowed to criticise their leaders during times of crisis or to mock them too much it isnt healthy (and I know that US presidents do get criticised or mocked but a large proportion of people get very angry about it)
2. Trump.

You might as well have Joe Bloggs who works for Homebase delivering a speech on the environment. The national newspapers and TV news wouldn't feature Joe Bloggs

The national newspapers and TV news wouldn't feature Joe Bloggs

The only reason they feature Wills is ‘blood’

Which in the 21st century seems a bizarre reason for someone to be given a mouthpiece for something they have no actual expertise in

@ajandjjmum

Soupcon There is nothing that you say that I could argue with - ok, William has a Geography degree so probably understands more about global warming that the likes of me, but is not an expert.

But if the various members of the RF had no positive impact on the charities they support, why would the charities be so keen to have royal patrons? Even if their patronage purely draws attention through the press, surely that can only be a good thing?

As long as we have a royal family (who I support ), surely it is better to use them productively?

I think that charities are desperately competing for shrinking funding and public attention, and that having a royal patron is probably a box-ticking exercise that may give you some 'official' credibility in an increasingly crowded field .

Though I suspect it's probably to an extent because to get a royal patron, you have to be

(a)fairly established already, so it's a sign of having arrived, and might encourage someone who doesn't want to donate to a new, financially shaky charity with little track record

(b) it's also a sign you're a fundamentally uncontroversial and 'unpolitical' 'good cause' -- helping prevent miscarriages and stillbirths, or highlighting the extinction of animal species, rather than, say, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, which highlights the extent to which British arms exports prop up oppressive regimes.

I suppose there's also the issue that most royals (with the striking exception of Prince Andrew, who I imagine must have stood down as a charity patron? and the Sussexes, who ruled themselves out of it all) are comparatively stable public figures with an excellent machine to suppress negative stories, and their profile is likely to remain high but dignified -- they're a lot less of a risk for a charity than a currently high-profile reality TV star who might be gone tomorrow, or be papped sorting coke and snogging their Strictly Come Dancing partner?

@TheKeatingFive

The national newspapers and TV news wouldn't feature Joe Bloggs

The only reason they feature Wills is ‘blood’

Which in the 21st century seems a bizarre reason for someone to be given a mouthpiece for something they have no actual expertise in

Yes, exactly. Joe Bloggs is just as informed as Prince William, and the only reason PW gets the publicity is because of his bloodline, which is frankly depressing and Kennel Club-y in 2020.

And while I hadn't realised PW had a geography degree, can I point out that people were falling over themselves on another current thread to excuse someone midway through an English degree for not knowing George Eliot and TS Eliot were different people 'because they might not have studied either of them'? If PW managed to avoid modules on climate change in his degree, apparently it's OK for him to know nothing about it, other than what his secretary has printed out off the internet and fact-checked.

In which case we're back to Joe Bloggs with a bloodline.

@TheKeatingFive

The national newspapers and TV news wouldn't feature Joe Bloggs

The only reason they feature Wills is ‘blood’

Which in the 21st century seems a bizarre reason for someone to be given a mouthpiece for something they have no actual expertise in

William highlights causes. He's not there to show off his expertise.

Complete personal opinion:

I used to like Wills and Kate, not so much anymore. I don't think they have come out of the Harry and Meghan saga very well, despite the "Ohh how wonderful Duchess Kate, sun shines out of her arse headlines".

If rumour is to be believed things kicked off between W&H because H found out about his affair and went nuclear, hence them moving out of K Palace. Complete rumour though, but a rumour that is sticking around. Could you imagine if it came out that the Son of one of the most famous adulterers in the world had cheated on Perfect Kate??! Good lord!! No wonder he looks smug because if it is true, he has well and truly got away with it!

Anyhoo. I must be one of the only people in the world with a degree of sympathy for Harry. He looks half the man he used to be. I don't blame Meghan though. I truly think that he saw his Mum in her. Free spirit, wanting to change the institution etc but it just hasn't worked out how he wanted it too and I don't think he ever expected the level of vitirol aimed at her. I'm not a fan of her, by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't be surprised if he came back alone.

But..... Just my opinion!!

He's not there to show off his expertise

So why is he giving speeches? Why doesn’t he welcome everyone and hand over to the expert? Why would he have automatic dibs on that job in the first place because of the vagina he emerged from?

It makes absolutely no sense. A ridiculous remnant of a bygone age.

@TheKeatingFive

He's not there to show off his expertise

So why is he giving speeches? Why doesn’t he welcome everyone and hand over to the expert? Why would he have automatic dibs on that job in the first place because of the vagina he emerged from?

It makes absolutely no sense. A ridiculous remnant of a bygone age.

He is there to highlight the work of experts

He is there to highlight the work of experts

So why is he the only one talking?

How many experts did he reference?

What qualifications does he have to ‘highlight the work of experts’ (beyond the very impressive geography degree?

So many questions 🤯

The Royals are an anachronism in this day and age. Who cares what any of them are like?

@TheKeatingFive

He is there to highlight the work of experts

So why is he the only one talking?

How many experts did he reference?

What qualifications does he have to ‘highlight the work of experts’ (beyond the very impressive geography degree?

So many questions 🤯

I'm sure you would do a far better job.

I'm sure you would do a far better job.

Now now, play the ball, not the player.

I’m a pretty decent public speaker, so yes, I probably would do at least as good job. But having no particular expertise on the matter, I wouldn’t expect anyone to listen to me.

It’s just very odd that popping out of the designated vagina changes all that.

It’s just very odd that popping out of the designated vagina changes all that. Have you not got to grips with the idea that life is unfair yet? All sorts of non expert privileged people pop up all the time highlighting causes and ideas. Getting rid of the monarchy will never change that.

I'd much rather have been born into the Duke of Westminster's family!

Have you not got to grips with the idea that life is unfair yet? All sorts of non expert privileged people pop up all the time highlighting causes and ideas. Getting rid of the monarchy will never change that.

Of course life’s not fair. That doesn’t mean we should blindly accept shoring up power and privilege at the very highest levels, as we’re asked to do with the royals.

I do wonder at the psychology of people happy to kowtow to this deeply average family. I find it very odd.

I think there's a difference between acceptance - and understanding that they may be benefits to a situation - and kowtowing.

Okay then, acceptance without much inner questioning.

I understand not everyone is up for revolution.

Apart from a special dungeon which is covered with pictures of Prince William where I practise my deep curtseys, I'm not really a kowtower.

MrsWarleggan If rumour is to be believed things kicked off between W&H because H found out about his affair and went nuclear, hence them moving out of K Palace. Complete rumour though, but a rumour that is sticking around. Could you imagine if it came out that the Son of one of the most famous adulterers in the world had cheated on Perfect Kate??! Good lord!! No wonder he looks smug because if it is true, he has well and truly got away with it!

Anyhoo. I must be one of the only people in the world with a degree of sympathy for Harry. He looks half the man he used to be.

Harry quite rightly had a reputation as a cheat and for treating his girlfriends terribly. He really put himself around in a way that wouldn't have been possible for him other than due to his royal name, and had a history of getting into trouble and poor and impulsive decision-making.

I wouldn't necessarily be prescribing him as the great white hope for moral values in the RF! I suspect he's under a tight leash just now; that might not always be the case.

I agree that the RF is an anachronism in this day and age and wish they would just quietly retire to enjoy their wealth and privilege, without this facade of public duty. How many people actually attend most of the events in the royal diary of visits, and how many of those are schoolchildren compelled to trot along?

Its the fact that a lot of them are thick and scandal-prone, in fact most of them are thick, yet there they are, pontificating on matters of law and morals to people who include many who are far more intelligent and better qualified than them. If we didn't have anachronisms like the RF, the people who actually deserve it might get more publicity!

@TheKeatingFive

Okay then, acceptance without much inner questioning.

I understand not everyone is up for revolution.

Sign me up for the revolution, please.

Or at least the abolition of the monarchy and an elected head of state who gets a house, a car, security and some support staff, and whose salary (as is the Irish President's) is pegged to the top of the civil servant scale. Only ceremonial power, so no career politicians are interested, modest salary ditto, finite term.

And you actually get a say in who your HoS is every four years, rather than having to deal with the fact that you get who you get, whether that's a silent, dutiful type who'd visibly prefer to be at the races but has kept up the dignity of the institution for decades by keeping schtum and wearing tiaras, or her uncle, a Nazi sympathiser.

Because being a supporter of a hereditary monarchy means you're ok with the possibility of the Nazi as well as the dutiful drudge, because it comes down to blood, not suitability.

TheKeatingFive
He is there to highlight the work of experts

So why is he the only one talking?

How many experts did he reference?

What qualifications does he have to ‘highlight the work of experts’ (beyond the very impressive geography degree?

So many questions 🤯
I'm sure you would do a far better job.

Indeed, Derxa.

I do wonder at the psychology of people happy to kowtow to this deeply average family. I find it very odd

thekeatingfive You’ve just told another poster to play the ball not the player but you’re attacking the royal family. Surely that’s playing the ball.

I understand not everyone is up for revolution

What form will your revolution take? From your comments I think you’d throughly enjoy giving orders to the firing squad!