Has the Royal Family lost its magic ?

[PhilipWilliam]

Has the Royal Family changed for the better or worse over the last 20 years?
I’m curious what everyone thinks.
Do you think the Royal Family is still as respected as it once was, or has public opinion changed too much?
Has social media made them seem more relatable, or has it just created more division and scrutiny?
I’d love to hear different perspectives from people who’ve watched the Royal Family evolve over the years.

Yes it's the overpraise for doing the most minimal of things that's ridiculous, and the excuses for some pretty rude behaviour towards the plebs.

Charles' Side Piece.

The best response here for sure.

Watching and observing the fawning is mind boggling, depressing and often times pathetic.

Why do so many refuse to question how wrong this is, that they work so hard and give so much of that to prop up these bunch of absolute buffoons.

What magic? That all went pouf with the shambles that was Diana.

We have a king that was an adulterer, a brother whose moral judgement is non existent at best, a complete brat of a younger son who thinks he's a celeb and behaves like one and an over privileged heir to the throne who wants the income but not the publicity.

In general I don't have any strong feelings about the royal family (!) but time has moved on and the glamour has long since died. The media have seen to that.

There is an actual Royal Family section here, OP. Knock yourself out.
(HTH, HRH).

Please don't let this thread be moved to the Royal family section, it's too toxic there and in Politics or Chat or wherever, people can speak more freely.

Yes, they have lost their magic because we have moved past the deferential age that QE2 ruled over. They are basically a dysfunctional family, always have been, going back to Tudor times!
How anyone can think they are wonderful is totally beyond me. The media keep them in the public eye and supposedly loved with a new dress for Kate, Anne being no nonsense, the cute Wales kids, Charles doing his thing with Camilla by his side.

But why? There are literally millions of people out there who volunteer and work their arses off for nothing, keeping charities going, fundraising, setting up youth clubs, helping the elderly and disabled... what makes this very over privileged family special? They are far from it. Don't let me start on the bad apples who have been frantically covered up until the Epstein files went nuclear.

They cleverly hide their wealth by scores of clever accountants, aides, servile secretaries, and they are where they are because of inherited unearned status, financial exemptions that the rest of us don't have, legal immunities that place them above the general public, the King is exempt from 160 laws we have to abide to FFS! And we pay them for this??? The Sovereign Grant has just doubled to £147million, it's a joke. A joke on us. They need the biggest slimming down ever.
Will it happen?
Probably not. I am jaded with them beyond belief. Because successive governments are pathetic and don't hold them to account so they ride roughshod over the general public.

I need to correct my figures. The core part of the Sovereign Grant (excluding Buckingham Palace renos) was £58million. It is more or less doubling to £99.9million in the next financial year.

In general I don't have any strong feelings about the royal family (!) but time has moved on and the glamour has long since died. The media have seen to that.
The media saw to that by not kowtowing to them and keeping their secrets for them as much as they used to. It wasn't because they didn't behave appallingly, it was because they were showered with undue deference and the press would look the other way even more than they do now. They still get a bit of covering up, but the AMW debacle is a direct result of the culture of deference to ' preserve the magic of the Monarchy'. Harry's spoilt tantrumming is because he wants those days back.

This is the problem. You say
‘I want ethics, good conduct and some rigorous due diligence on chosen companions and confidants going forward - just common sense and basic morality’

You will not get any of that with our current arrangement. None of it .
The little we do know was the result of the release of the Epstein files in America .
Were it not for that , we’d still be being lied to and Charles and William would be full swing into another rehabilitation attempt with Andrew .

Get rid .
Any Windsor could stand for election . But an apolitical role with no power and carefully audited accounts ? I doubt they’d be interested.

The media have seen to that.

Personally, I think THEY have seen to that.

Surely a post in this forum should be discussing the political aspects of the Royal family and whether the UK should continue as a monarchy where a sky fairy has appointed our head of state to the exclusion of all else.

If we want to discuss their taste in clothes, surely the dedicated RF forum is better ? (Imagine an MN emoji with crown here 😀)

I'll be the first to say Republic in this thread

Absolutely agree

Every aspect of our lives is affected by the fact that we have an unelected family costing half a billion a year as our ‘head of state’

I am fascinated by the popularity of William and Kate.

It's undeniable that they are popular - every poll gives them a very high approval rating. But I have absolutely no idea why. It's almost like the less they do, the more popular they are.

Of course not. Overall Support: Recent polling (Ipsos, Savanta) shows roughly 27% to 32% of Britons favor replacing the monarchy with an elected head of state.

Age Divide: Among 18-to-34-year-olds, 45% support a republic compared to 33% who prefer the monarchy

they are an outdated institution. We are no longer forelock tugging subjects.
People say they bring tourists , France hasn’t had a monarchy for over 200 years - visitors flock to Versailles every year.

The only sign I can see of "magic", is that the males basically have their pick of potential brides, and even still all they can churn out is jug-eared baldies.

There has to be something unnatural going on.

I don’t believe the polls .
Look at how the question is weighted .

I do believe they are popular with older people .
I don’t believe they are popular at all with anyone under 50 . Hence the current rush to Instagram by palace PR . Nope . You are 20 years out of date and we have celebrities thanks - I though you lot were ‘magic’ and above all that ?

I'm an 'older person' and they are not popular with me! But, yes, if you look at the pap walks on Christmas Day it is a lot of more elderly people, and Americans!

I don't believe the polls either.

I think it will be great when William ascends. The sooner the better HRH KC3 should retire and go and live with Camilla quietly somewhere to allow him to rest. Andrew needs to stay out of the view of the public as does Harry and Megan give them royal lodge and don’t allow them to come out! The princess royal and Sophie and Edward remain public facing

Why will it be great?

I don’t know how they do these polls. I wouldn’t say any of them are popular with normal people. Most people I know are ambivalent at best.

Is there much difference in their writing style?

Im sorry @simpsonthecat I was over generalising - I don’t really believe any polls either to be honest .
I know there are many older people who have been lifelong critics and others who had the scales fall from their eyes and who own it. Much respect to both groups .

You are making me think now . Why do I accept the line that older people support the royals when I know we’ve never been asked and polls are easily manipulated ?

Yes the thin crowds are mainly made up of the elderly that’s true but those are v low numbers and are likely outliers.

So I don’t believe any poll. Stop wasting our time with PR ( polls can be pr too).

Don't be sorry! I am probably in the latter group. And my DCs are in the demographic of non support for a royal family. I've trained them well haha

As for polls, when I see the number of people polled that barely reaches four figures I discount it. Also you have to actively sign up and be a member of their panel for YouGov polls and who has more time to think about doing that? Yes, our older generation.

Well OP I hope this Bill succeeds - any lingering vestige of medieval ‘magic’ will be burned away when proper light is shine on it .
Interestingly not one Tory mp has joined this plan…

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sian-berry-king-royals-foi-transparency-b2999963.html

I must correct myself . I’ve just read that David Davis (Cons) is also supporting the bill