The Royals

[Indecisive12]

I was bought Finding Freedom for Xmas and have just finished it.

It’s an utterly bizarre read highlighting to me the difference in British and American culture as it is written for the American audience.

Anyway after reading it I just can’t see how sustainable the Royal Family are. The Queen won’t have long left to reign. There’s loads of hate against Camilla in the world,even though I quite like her, so I can’t see Charles as King being a success. Then William and Kate are losing popularity because of the fallout and that’s basically all there is.

I quite liked the royals but I’m feeling a bit meh about them and wonder if they’ve run their course. Their behaviour of fleeing to nicer palaces in lockdowns hasn’t bought them any favours in my book either.

YABU - they will carry on as they have
YANBU - Charles reign will see significant changes and their role diminished further

@Samcro

I also note that Megan and Harry left weeks after her name was removed from her child's birth certificate - something about which she was apparently quite upset (referring to it as making her "nameless" on her own child's birth cert). Why was her name removed? On whose orders? is that true?

It’s been in the news this week. It was changed about a month after Archies birth to say HRH The Duchess of Sussex. Prior to that it orginallu said Rachel Meghan HRH The Duchess of Sussex.

Meghan and Harry released a statement saying it was on Buckingham Palaces orders that they changed it.

Buckingham Palace are saying absolutely not it came from the Sussexes team as that was how Meghan was stylising herself, as The Duchess of Sussex not Meghan.

It was apparently to match her passport name.

[quote MusicalTrifleMonkey]@GreyDoggo they cost less that £500million year and some years bring in over £1.5 billion.

I have worked for a charity that had a royal visit, the financial boost afterwards was incredible. They are financially worth it and it’s the history, subterfuge and mystery that creates that. We have some tourists because of our royal family, traipsing around Buckingham would lose its appeal after a decade if there was no royal family living amongst its walls.[/quote]
Nonsense. Versailles seems to do ok for tourists and no royal family has lived there for centuries. I was there a couple of years back, the day before NYE and had to queue for several hours to get in.

@Fieldofyellowflowers

And in terms of Finding Freedom, that is heavily biased towards Meghan, a lot of evidence to suggest she was involved in writing it. Several times, sections of it have been torn apart and blasted as being untrue, even by people not even close to the royal family.

I did like Meghan when she first marry Harry. But then, when she tried to outshine the queen and Kate, and tried to demand English people's love and support instead of earning it like Kate had to and then through a toys out of the pram when she didn't get her own way, I lost all respect for her.

What rubbish! Pray tell, how exactly did Meghan try to outshine the Queen, Kate, and demand English people's love and support?

@C130 You just have to look at how much work Kate put in with the British public compared to Meghan. Kate spent about 18 months building up a relationship. And it was obvious that Meghan was competing with Kate. Followed by her complaining that Kate was getting preferential treatment. Kate is a future queen. What did she expect?

William worked as an air ambulance pilot before taking on royal duties full time.

Amazing how the royals have managed to persuade the nation they "work" full time.

A check of the Court Circular and the vast gaps between 'engagements' it reveals is enough to persuade anyone that this simply isn't the case.

I have worked for a charity that had a royal visit, the financial boost afterwards was incredible

Do you have figures to support that? Because research has found there is no correlation between royal patronages and charitable income.

At least Meghan deserves a lot of respect for not accepting to be reduced to some kind of Stepford wife, smiling and waving, wearing the right shoes but have no identity and no voice.

She could have done a lot of good.

Well done on Harry and her to claim their identity and not stick with a couple of hours of "work" a month pretending they are not one of the most privileged family.

Kate spent about 18 months building up a relationship.

it was more like several years and she lived in, i think, Kensington Palace when they "broke up" and was using the gym and everything and was dubbed Waity Katy IIRC.

Frankly i think she's a bit insipid - just right for the RF. But i also think she and the rest of the family are irrelevant. And i agree with PP that it's great that William spoke out about racism this week. Pity he was so stumm when it was his SIL being targetted...

I think all the current spare children will grow up to get jobs and all the silly hangers on (the Duke and duchess of Kent, anyone!?) will be quietly pensioned off. It will be discretely done but, in the end, the RF will be cheaper, smaller and drabber than it's ever been.

A combination of time, familial distance and circumstance will probably see to this. The Dukes of Kent and Gloucester and Princess Alexandra are grandchildren of a sovereign; in their youth they would have been the subject of press interest in the way Eugenie and Beatrice (and in a different way, Zara) are now. The Duke of Kent has been a duke since he was seven years old; they all grew up close to the Crown with royal duties expected of them. Of course now, the sovereign of whom they are grandchildren has been dead for 85 years; it’s no wonder they seem like bit-part players. Their children were not thrust into the spotlight early on and have never been expected to carry out royal duties. Kent is 85 and Gloucester is 76; even with the family’s typical longevity to consider, this generation will likely be gone in 10-15 years. Kent’s eldest son is 58 - he’s hardly going to be thrust into the spotlight when his father dies.

While I’m sure they’ll continue to have privileged lifestyles (just as non-titled rich people do), there’s pretty much zero chance of that generation being actively involved in royal life. There’s very little majesty in being three generations down from a long-dead monarch. The pretty one (Amelia?) gets a few column inches because of the combination of who she is and how she looks, but none of them will have or need a public role.

Harry god a B and D in his A-levels after the finest education money can buy (including allegations of cheating to help him through the coursework). And people seriously think he set up an international sporting event by himself?

[quote Fieldofyellowflowers]@C130 You just have to look at how much work Kate put in with the British public compared to Meghan. Kate spent about 18 months building up a relationship. And it was obvious that Meghan was competing with Kate. Followed by her complaining that Kate was getting preferential treatment. Kate is a future queen. What did she expect?[/quote]
You still have not explained how Meghan tried to outshine the Queen or Kate. Also how did she demand English people love and support her? As for Kate and her work for the British public. Depends how you define work really.

Kate fits the royal family 'mould' perfectly, smile and nod politely like a robot or step Ford wife god forbid she should have a personality like Meghan.

@lollipoprainbow

Kate fits the royal family 'mould' perfectly, smile and nod politely like a robot or step Ford wife god forbid she should have a personality like Meghan.

Genuine question. What personality does Meghan have? What have we seen of her that indicates an appealing and vibrant personality?

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer I'll never forget seeing Meghan dressed in some ghastly get up with pale tights and shoes for the royal garden party, she looked so out of her comfort zone. Good on them for escaping that pantomime !!

Oh that garden party was awful. I think Meghans passion for girls and women’s rights would have been really positive for the commonwealth. She was an amazing public speaker and seemed more down to earth than the others. I was a bit annoyed by her Outfit designs for the women’s charity to get women back to work, it yet again showed how out of touch the royals were when the items designed outpriced 95% (complete guesstimate) of women. I did feel that she was completely unaware of her own privilege though, she’s from a middle class background, privately educated and went to a top university but liked to pretend she’d only got to where she is through hard work and struggles (not disputing any struggles she may have had due to race).

*Garden party outfit

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer 'Well done on Harry and her to claim their identity and not stick with a couple of hours of "work" a month pretending they are not one of the most privileged family.'

Harry and Meghan do not acknowledge their privilege. Meghan is a privately educated upper-middle class American. Harry is a prince. They are privileged. Neither have any idea of working class struggles and the struggles of working class women of colour in particular. Their 'identities' they have remained true to, are a colonial prince, and an influencer who fully subscribes to neo-liberal 'brand' culture, wherein everything has a dollar sign attached to it.

It's no good talking about racial equality if you're not going to talk about wealth redistribution. And live it. This is not feminism. This is not commitment to racial justice.

I refuse to listen to self-styled humanitarians who live in a multi-millionaire dollar mansion. It is offensive.

Oh, and I also don't listen to a self-styled influencer who not long ago, wrote a glowing appraisal of Ivanka Trump on her blog. I mean, really?!

I refuse to listen to self-styled humanitarians who live in a multi-millionaire dollar mansion. It is offensive.

There is no better summary of this pair.

You could say the same for Kate and William.

@Chookie89 you have hit the nail exactly on the head. Excellent post, you've written what I've tried (and failed) to verbalise many times.
How and why on earth Meghan thinks she 'speaks the language' of any women, let alone women of colour across the globe is just embarrassing.

Ohhh ohhh, another thinly veiled hate Meghan thread!!

It's so hypocritical.

Meghan has just as much life experience as the next person, and has proven so, and has been on the receiving end of too many racist attacks to have a very clear understanding of "real life" and the working life of a coloured woman.

Yes, she lives in a mansion now, good for her. Why should they claim a council house in Hackney? They could chose to disappear and enjoy their privilege, they are choosing to to more than that

Being privileged because you worked really hard to earn that privilege makes you a role model as far as I am concerned. And refusing a life of luxury in exchange for becoming a trophy wife, wave and smile deserves all my respect. Meghan's parents have been in the press enough time to show that they were never part of the "privileged" class.

But women who do too well always attract haters. Amal Clooney is a better example! You'd think her career choices would have have stopped the jealousy and bitterness, but no.

You’re basing your views on the finding freedom book?! - I hear her sister has a book coming out too..... I feel bad for Harry tho, his military honours are being stripped from him - he was so proud of those.