AIBU to think King Charles comes across as a really crap dad?

[mintleavesandthyme]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77yykl87yno

I mean really, this is just pathetic. No one is believing that KC couldn’t find a spare bed for his son. AIBU to think that as the parent KC needs to get a grip and grow up instead of just fuelling the drama?

Born only a couple of years after the war, I have lived through the greatest societal shift in history. My Grandparents were children in the last couple of decades of Victoria's reign, and they grew up with all the rigidity of the upper middle class of that era. Fathers simply had very little to do with children. Mothers too. Granny was basically raised by nannies and governesses. Then there was the appalling tragedy of WWI, when almost no family in the Empire emerged unscathed, with no lost boys to mourn. The stiff upper lip was the response to the millions of people wearing black throughout the war and its aftermath. My mother always said that her childhood was blighted by the hideous bloodbath that was Gallipoli. Her father had seen his beloved brother and his best mates killed in front of him as they had charged into the Turkish machine guns, and was seriously wounded himself. His mind was forever affected. My father's father was gassed on the Somme, his brother killed at Passchendaele. I know for the modern generation it is easy to dismiss that as ancient history, but my own father's parenting skills were badly affected by what his father went through and how he was mentally scarred, and by his own service in Italy and Japan in WWII.But it was also a societal thing. Men did not push prams, change nappies, have anything to do with babies or children, other than being the victim of the phrase "Wait until your father gets home!" My mother felt orphaned by her parents' experiences, and that explains a lot about why she was such a crap mum. Charles and my generation have seen the same changes. In my childhood, children never went to funerals. For the Queen, keeping them at Balmoral was the right thing to do. Philip, as a foreigner, had a different approach, though. I get tired of Charles being judged for his coldness.He has suffered for being born when he was and to whom he was. Life is very different, girls, from that of the immediate post-war generation.

@pollyglot- very interesting and appropriate points. Society has changed. KC was brought up in a different age m Philip's experience was different again. To measure it by 2026 standards is foolish and naive.
It's easy to rip KC apart, but as many pp have said, Harry isn't exactly a great son.

I think most sensible people don't give a shit. The rabid antis just look insane.

On the subject of the thread, Charles was probably not a great father, Diana certainly wasn't a great mother. Privileged as the two boys undoubtedly were in many ways, they grew up in a dysfunctional family and then lost their mother when they were far to young.

having just finished reading The Housekeepers Diary which is banned in the UK, it reads to me that KC is absolutely fine as a Father, although perhaps limited by his own childhood experiences.

And having said that, have any of us Parents been perfect in the role? Have we handled each situation in the best way possible or have we felt in hindsight we could have done something better or different for our off spring?

Why should KC be any different to the rest of us in his duties as a Father.

Granpa Markle saw doller signs when the marriage was announced and played the "poor me" csrd to the.media.
Charles could have at any time in the past 4 years had a private visit with his grandchildren and told the media to back off and leave the family alone but choses not too.
How quickly we forget that Diana was the subject of negative briefings that came directly from the Royal household that forced her to flee abroad into the arms of unsuitable people like Fayad

Charles could have at any time in the past 4 years had a private visit with his grandchildren and told the media to back off and leave the family alone

Do you think Britain is a medieval monarchy?

Charles can't 'tell' the media what to do! Weird concept.

I know. It's very strange how people think a Constitutional Monarchy works, never mind a free press! Can you imagine if KC tried to intervene with the press and control what they printed! 😱
Harry has no job and lots of money. He could have taken the children to visit at any time.

Yes on the one hand they think Charles can issue a decree and the press only say nice things about his son.

On the other he can just hop on a plane without the need for complex security arrangements, coordinating with the host nation, finding time in his diary and so on. Weird.

Of course he can
The Royal rota gets all the news/gossip. Cut off the access to persistent editors who post negative stories about his family.
The media was well aware of the Yorks links with Epstein but chose to keep quiet while QE was alive. As soon as she died it all came out and to protect 'the institution" he was thrown out
Strange how they were all called in when the royals were younger and when they were harassing the Princess of Wales when she first linked with William.
It's a symbiotic relationship where everyone benefits until the balance of power shifts

Surely that team is already there though? It’s not like they leave the palace empty?

They have to be organised, rotas and shifts.

So.... you think KC should forbid the printing of negative stories about the RF?
Seriously?

He absolutely could have had a private visit. The public don't see what happens at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Clarence House, Sandringham, Highgrove, Balmoral or the other places the King happens to own or visit.

We have no idea who he meets where other than family meet at Balmoral in summer and Christmas at Sandringham.

The issue is Harry. Harry wants a big hullabaloo and Charles really doesn't trust him.

Their last meeting was something like 20mins before KC left for Sandringham. There was nothing to stop KC inviting him to join him at Sandringham other than KC didn't want to.

I read it too, well as much as I could stomach.

Harry says Charles always, always called him "Darling boy".

Speaking of the time after Diana had died he said that he and William worried about their father working too hard on all his projects and patronages as they would often come down in the morning to find him in his office asleep with his head on his desk but that Charles always had dinner with he and William and wanted to hear all about their day, would always come up to tuck him into to bed, read to him and always made sure there was a nightlight on as Harry hated the dark. He would leave little notes on Harry's pillow telling him how much he loved him.

I'm this won't change your mind at all @LividSun but they are Harry's own words.

As for the nonsense about accommodation Harry isn't a child he's a 41 year old man, 41! He would know that staff would have to be arranged for his stay, he was given a deadline to respond, he let it pass. Either respond in time or make your own arrangements. That's just basic manners.

I thought we were all broke now, no money left for tax, for Royals and certainly not for sleeping in palaces

His household are the ones providing the negative postings
People have to look back over the years and see they're not a paticularly nice bunch of people

Makes no sense.

What is it about Sussex fans that their talking points are years if not decades out of date?

Today's a pretty important day for royals' relationship with the media. Anything to say about that?

Apparently hurty words are the ultimate assault! , get him armed protection now so his body guards can shoot anyone who boos him! 🙄

For gods sake!! He’s 41 ! Not a child , he’s had the best therapist that money could buy , his brother was only two years older! , many people lose their parents at a young age , none has the advantages that Harry multiple millionaire prince had!
why are you shilling so hard for a privileged , rich , white man???

No one is living there. Parts of it are undergoing renovation. The team will consist of security, cooks, cleaning staff, butlers etc. That staff won't be there as there's no one there till look after, they will be drafted in from other residences, that takes time and rotas need to be done.

How? He offered to let him stay at Buckingham Palace and Harry ignored the invitation.

Maybe “Granpa Markle” did see dollar signs, who knows? But hey, at least he didn’t drive his daughter to apparently wanting to commit suicide, yet it’s that side of the family who apparently tormented Meghan so much that she wanted to end her life that they want to reconnect with 🤔 most odd……. If “Granpa Markle” saw dollar signs, well let’s just say the apple didn’t fall far from the tree did it?

It's really appalling that anyone could be so negative about am individual who was clearly deeply affected by adverse childhood experiences. His entire childhood was lived with parents who hated each other's guts. He was packed off to boarding school at 8.

The ignorance about mental health is sickening and extremely disheartening in this day and age. Are you really suggesting that this individual should be expected to have got over himself by now, given his ethnicity and access to money? Is that how you imagine mental health treatment works?

The scathing tone and derisive remarks do not reflect well on you.

Many of us couldn't care less about PH after he told blatant lies (or allowed his toxic wife to) on the Oprah interview.