To think the royal family are a bloody embarrassment

[MariaAngustias]

Just that - why are we paying for this bunch when we could be spending the money on essential services? Let the Queen continue then after her just get rid of the whole bloody lot of them. We have and alleged paedo, a whinging multi millionaire in his 30's moaning constantly, an allegedly corrupt heir to the throne meeting dodgy russians for money....... just go, enough. Seriously - this is all Jeremy Kyle for poshos.

I think most of us can manage without the need to worship at anyone's get so I should think it would be fine. Newspapers don't solely rely on the RF for tittle tattle. Plenty of celebs provide that.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

Every time someone brings up 'tourism' as a justification for the continued existence of unelected HoS, I just point to France. They did away with the parasites hundreds of years ago, and people still flock to see the palaces and so on.

Absolutely. France is one of the most visited places by international tourists. Americans always want to visit France ahead of the UK.

None of that is power.

What an absolutely bizarre comment. Of course it’s power.

@TheKeatingFive

None of that is power.

What an absolutely bizarre comment. Of course it’s power.

It isn’t. The monarch has no ability to change anything, despite nominally being required to give permission. The prorogueing incident illustrated this perfectly. The Queen was requested (instructed) by the government to give her permission for an illegal act. She did as she was told.

Or of you want to play this ridiculous game, why bestow all these extra rights on these deeply ordinary people? Why fire such riches at them?

I mean like I say, the PR team are just delighted with people like you. Talk about making their job easy. 😆

@Spiindoctor

I get the criticisms but if you take away the Royals are we to worship at the feet of the Kardashians, Beckhams, etc Whose photos will people buy a newspaper to look at? Royals have problems and skeletons like most families. I would think if it is seriously slimmed down, which will probably happen, many Royals will skip very happily into anonymity. Who, unless there was money in it hich is why the Ks and Bs do it, would want all this attention? The scrutiny of the media now makes life pretty miserable I should think. The Ks and Bs probably have security to keep everyone away and choose what the media knows. The Royals have to be out and seen, they don't have that option. I can't understand people's anger and envy. Imagine having your whole life picked apart, or how you'd feel if a close relative had their wole life picked apart, as in the Crown. I hope for their sakes they just step right back.

We really don’t have to worship at the feet of anyone. Besides, surely those in awe of the Royals are more likely to be beholden to the likes of Kardashians and Beckhams. Some people just like the idea of some people being ‘better’ than them. The media, of course, feed this activity because it sells magazine and newspapers. Bread and circuses, eh?

@TheKeatingFive

I mean like I say, the PR team are just delighted with people like you. Talk about making their job easy. 😆

My understanding of the British monarchy and how it works owes nothing to the palace PR team. Since you’ve now resorted to personal attacks instead of addressing the argument, there’s not a great deal of point in continuing this.

My understanding of the British monarchy and how it works owes nothing to the palace PR team.

Your denial that they have soft power owes a huge amount. People aren’t generally that cognisant of their susceptibility to PR that’s kinda the point.

Also I note no answer to my reframed question.

Also I note no answer to my reframed question.

Because it’s pointless. I don’t engage with people who insult me. It really is as simple as that.

Because it’s pointless. I don’t engage with people who insult me. It really is as simple as that.

Handy that

😂 😂 😂

None of that is power

Of course it is, but just suppose it isn't.
what's the use of them then. .......Pointless, irrelevant and costly. Not to mention undemocratic. As many have pointed out, the tourism thing should be discounted as nonsense and certainly not a strong enough argument for keeping them.

@Spiindoctor

I get the criticisms but if you take away the Royals are we to worship at the feet of the Kardashians, Beckhams, etc Whose photos will people buy a newspaper to look at? Royals have problems and skeletons like most families. I would think if it is seriously slimmed down, which will probably happen, many Royals will skip very happily into anonymity. Who, unless there was money in it hich is why the Ks and Bs do it, would want all this attention? The scrutiny of the media now makes life pretty miserable I should think. The Ks and Bs probably have security to keep everyone away and choose what the media knows. The Royals have to be out and seen, they don't have that option. I can't understand people's anger and envy. Imagine having your whole life picked apart, or how you'd feel if a close relative had their wole life picked apart, as in the Crown. I hope for their sakes they just step right back.

I’ve been lurking rather than posting on this thread as I’m not British, I’m a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, not a subject, but this post is the one out of all the batshit ones that’s tempted me to post.

I mean, seriously. Keep the royal family so you have pics in newspapers to gawk at. What utter insanity to think this is a reason to have an unelected, undemocratic head of state, with a bloated extended family who have untold unearned wealth, privilege and entitlement, who demand subservience from their subjects, who live at the tax payers expense, who value mediocrity over meritocracy every single time.

All for some pics to gawk at.

Jesus wept.

The Royals have to be out and seen, they don't have that option. I can't understand people's anger and envy

I can certainly understand people's anger. It's the sheer injustice of them, especially at a time when people are struggling to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads. Envy doesn't come into it.

Their lives now are pretty miserable?. Absolutely not, it must be a wonderful life, that's why they'll hang on desperately by tooth and nail to preserve it.....and why shouldn't they be under scrutiny, they take millions off the taxpayer.

We're living in times when the likes of Andrew and whatever anyone else has been up to to, no longer gets brushed under the carpet......as the queen is now desperately trying to do.

Times they are achanging.

How many tourists actually see any of the royal family? Hardly any I would think so that “they bring in tourists “ is nonsense. Tourists come to see historic buildings, museums, galleries, go shopping. Far more people visit Versailles than Buckingham Palace.

@Spiindoctor

I get the criticisms but if you take away the Royals are we to worship at the feet of the Kardashians, Beckhams, etc Whose photos will people buy a newspaper to look at? Royals have problems and skeletons like most families. I would think if it is seriously slimmed down, which will probably happen, many Royals will skip very happily into anonymity. Who, unless there was money in it hich is why the Ks and Bs do it, would want all this attention? The scrutiny of the media now makes life pretty miserable I should think. The Ks and Bs probably have security to keep everyone away and choose what the media knows. The Royals have to be out and seen, they don't have that option. I can't understand people's anger and envy. Imagine having your whole life picked apart, or how you'd feel if a close relative had their wole life picked apart, as in the Crown. I hope for their sakes they just step right back.

The anger is very simple: the RF is the biggest bunch of benefits cheats the UK has ever seen. They are funded BY BRITISH TAXPAYERS to the tune of MILLIONS and do fuck all of useful and much that is damaging, on the premise that we the plebs are all stupid to question whether in fact something has changed since medieval times when monarchy was pretty much the only available form of government, and when a monarch had to actively defend the country and risked death on a daily basis. Instead these fuckers live for ever, reproducing in large numbers to secure their positions, being openly racist, occupying obscene amounts of land and helicopters, shooting the wildlife whenever they feel like it, shagging sex trafficked girls, consorting with pedos and arms traffickers, inventing envoy roles they are dangerously bad at, lecturing us on how to raise children while going home to a team of lackeys and nannies, and travelling the globe at our expense while expecting us to bow and curtsey and call them ridiculous titles, because they are so very very special and absolutely deserve it all.

Why are you NOT angry about that?

I mean, seriously. Keep the royal family so you have pics in newspapers to gawk at.

I honestly believe this is a big part of it for many.

Absolutely bizarre.

@sammylady37 Welcome to the latest mumsnet RF discussion, aka Batshit Central. If you are a republican you will get sprayed with it liberally.

Glad you stopped lurking. Perspective from a country whose president is not a national embarrassment would be most welcome.

YANBU. They are out dated, and think their above everyone else like Prince Andrew for example he's clearly a pedofile and they can't even get to him to hand him his papers!

We don't need a royal family for tourism, people come to see the history and the palace not a bunch of stuck up snobs. Time we got rid of them.

Great post.

That was about churchoflatter

Prince Andrew for example he's clearly a pedofile

He’s not a paedophile. He’s alleged to have had sex with a trafficked woman. And the American judge considers that, despite his efforts to avoid it, the papers have been served.

Corrections Corner:

Epstein's pad is in the "US Virgins" as the stamp-collectors have it, (but philately will get you nowhere.)

Got him mixed up, for some reason, with Branson, another fine upstanding pillar of society.

How can anyone come on here and defend "prince" Andrew. I bet the stuff we know about him is just the tip of a huge iceberg.

The Royals have to be out and seen

But they don't. A quick glance at the Court Circular will show you many blank days and even weeks in-between exhausting engagements like a morning or afternoon telephone call.

No-one ever wonders where they are.