Shame on Andrew and his demands

[cyclingmad]

At a time when the Queen has lost her partner, he is making demands about uniform. Its the last thing she provablg cares about.

Well he hasn't returned to public duty yet not has his named been cleared so where does he get off demanding to be promoted up to Admiral and wear the uniform.

Why does it matter? Seriously, it's a private funeral behind closed doors (as much as possible). They can wear what they like just as you can if you attend a funeral.

PA sounds like a spoilt child who can’t wear his dressing up superman costume to the supermarket.

This story came from the Daily Mail. End of discussion and reality.

@Onlinedilema

Why does it matter? Seriously, it's a private funeral behind closed doors (as much as possible). They can wear what they like just as you can if you attend a funeral.

To some extent you can, but for reasons sometimes personal and various it's not that unusual to see an instruction along the lines of "no uniforms" given to mourners planning on attending funeral services for those that were in a line of work where uniform was worn as part of the day job (not just military, also other lines of work).

So these German relatives, will they just be flying in today and flying home on Sunday, and avoiding all the quarantine because of that? It sounds like it's within the rules to attend a funeral, with the various negative tests before departure (and possibly on arrival/day 2, depending if they come today or tomorrow?), and they can leave sooner that the 5 or 10 days, so as long as they stay away from the others, and isolate wherever overnight, must be fine.

the press made such a big deal about how it was possible for Harry, explaining in depth, when really it would have been possible regardless as attending the funeral was always possible even in isolation.

I guess Harry might want to have more of a chance of mixing after the 5 days though. Wonder when he plans to leave?

@FlattestWhite

So these German relatives, will they just be flying in today and flying home on Sunday, and avoiding all the quarantine because of that? It sounds like it's within the rules to attend a funeral, with the various negative tests before departure (and possibly on arrival/day 2, depending if they come today or tomorrow?), and they can leave sooner that the 5 or 10 days, so as long as they stay away from the others, and isolate wherever overnight, must be fine. the press made such a big deal about how it was possible for Harry, explaining in depth, when really it would have been possible regardless as attending the funeral was always possible even in isolation.

I guess Harry might want to have more of a chance of mixing after the 5 days though. Wonder when he plans to leave?

They’re already here and in quarantine apparently.

I agree clearly an Andrew issue, but there will be plenty of military presence and I think it’s nice that the family are there in their personal capacities rather than military . Frankly with only 30 it would have been somewhat over the top .

The German relatives have been here since Sunday quarantining, Germany is not in the red list so they are at a private location

@FlattestWhite

will they just be flying in today and flying home on Sunday, and avoiding all the quarantine because of that? It sounds like it's within the rules to attend a funeral,

Yep, correct, this whole topic got a glancing blow on another thread since it seems the media can't read the rules properly.

It was always perfectly possible within the rules available for the general public for H (or anybody) to fly in to the UK , go to funeral, then fly straight back out.

There are no minimum stay length length, all that is required is that the individual self isolates during the time not travelling to/from either airport or the funeral, and if an individual is in the UK on day 2, and 8 they do a mandatory test (also day 5 for test and release)

Given all the claims about a major family fall out I found it vaguely interesting that H chose not to do a minimum stay, and it looks like he's opted perhaps for Test and Release.

The German relations have apparently been in the UK since Saturday.

The RF aren't stupid they know they have to follow the same rules as everyone else or it becomes a PR disaster are people will call for their heads.

The Guest list for the funeral must have been sorted weeks ago .

Well I'm disappointed. Nothing entertains me more than seeing the royals in their Ruritanian display of medals and braid, lots of it.

@Lockdownbear

The German relations have apparently been in the UK since Saturday.

The RF aren't stupid they know they have to follow the same rules as everyone else or it becomes a PR disaster are people will call for their heads.

The Guest list for the funeral must have been sorted weeks ago .

I think they’ll have had a basic plan the whole way through the pandemic for the guest lists for each of the senior royals, but in particular for the Queen and Philip. So each time it changed they’ll have had basic tweaks, with just the finalised list to be sorted in the event of it being needed.

It’s not about publicly keeping to the rules , imagine if the Queen caught Covid from one of the people who had flown in . I know they are vaccinated but it doesn’t give 100% protection . The focus is as much on keeping her safe as sticking to the rules

That too obviously they have done do much to protect both the Queen and Philip.

But the RF have always taken the view they should follow the same rules as everyone else, Inc ration books during the war. Fabric was still rationed when HMQ got married she collected coupons for her wedding dress.

Publicly playing to the rules also has a huge part in it.

They got the public mood very wrong when Diana died and it caught them off guard.

People have had a horrific year and so many people have had to miss funerals of loved ones, or make horrible decisions about who could and couldn’t attend. Making the wrong decisions would be a PR disaster that would take years to come back from.

oh interesting that they German relatives are already here. I wonder if it was decided either Friday or Saturday (or potentially in advance as a possibility) that they might be invited, and then they just flew over immediately - or if there are more relatives that are here but then didn't get included in the end, as it must have depended slightly on how many politicians, spouses of grandchildren, etc decided to come.

Shame that the private secretaries and people like that who worked closely with him and knew him well only get to be in the procession but not the service itself, but not much can be done with this sort of limit, other than booting out grandchildren's spouses.

And yes, I think protecting the Queen is also an important consideration, not just being seen to follow the rules. I honestly wouldn't have minded if this were treated as a special case really, as it is honestly a different situation than most people's funerals (and then I think those could have been treated differently too, with a much bigger limit, as long as social distancing in the main was held to, apart from comforting the main mourners).

Justlycra is probably right the guest list will have been tweaked every time there has been covid rule changes.

With the top list and who gets a space if someone drops out like Boris refused his space so someone else would have been invited.

I don’t think Boris dropping out was anything like as gallant as he made out.

I think that will very much have been advisors saying “And of course you would much rather a family member went instead of you, wouldn’t you?” and him agreeing.

There is no-one on that that that really could have been bumped for him to go. Prince Michael of Kent is already basically missing from the list because of lack of spaces.

The RF aren't stupid they know they have to follow the same rules as everyone else or it becomes a PR disaster are people will call for their heads.

Llloooollll

I honestly wouldn't have minded if this were treated as a special case really, as it is honestly a different situation than most people's funerals

A lot of people would have minded though. It would have been a PR disaster. Look at the number of complaints about the BBC channels dedicating coverage for a day; a lot of people would have been absolutely furious and it would have made the RF look out of touch and massively insensitive.

It would also have had an impact on how people behave. How many people have used Dominic Cummings’ antics in a “well if they can do it so can I” way since that clusterfuck happened?! It would have been exactly the same this time.

I agree @longwayoff. Seeing the royals weighed down by the coils of gilded braid indicating how many brave battles they have led, is always good for a laugh. The more ridiculous the better .

On the other hand, lots of people seem distracted by shiny things - some even influenced to believe all the carefully crafted mystique and the pomp and circumstance can’t exist without it ( I realise this funeral is not about pomp).
So I choose to think that the plain suit is an indication of how the family is viewed by most people now and this indicates a significant change, whether we or they fully realise it now.

oh absolutely, I agree that they couldn't have broken the rules without public outcry. I wasn't keen on the BBC stopping broadcasting or anything either. But personally I wouldn't have minded, because I think given the fact that we do have a royal family and they are expected to have this public funeral and all of that, then things are different whether we like it or not or whether we think it should be like that or not. So I have some sympathy with the idea that they could have been given an exemption. But I know that it would never fly with the general public, and wouldn't have been done for that reason. I also think that funerals could always have been done differently, for everyone.

@JustLyra I know what you mean it would have been frowned upon if Boris had accepted.
What I mean is they must have had numbers 1-30, inc Boris and probably Meghan and a reserve list so if numbers 1-30 drop out then they could fill the spaces.

@BlackCatShadow

I feel if it was just the Andrew problem, he'd get told by The Queen and that would be the end of it. I don't know if the Harry problem is stemming from harry himself or whether The Royal Family are nervous about a PR disaster. They must be very aware that seeing the boys walking behind a coffin will remind people of Diana's funeral. The RF are very keen to avoid it looking like they are ostracizing Harry. It's a shame that Philip's funeral has been over-shadowed by all this drama, but I think no uniforms and having the boys walking apart is the best solution.

@BlackCatShadow - I read somewhere that the order of the HRH children and grandchildren William Peter and Harry is by age and not to keep W&H apart - I know the media are spouting this this but it sounds so ridiculous - what are they going to do kick each other in the shins as they are walking behind the coffin?

I don't think there's any drama. When there's a funeral like this, families come together. It's something whipped up by the media for clickbait.

Every funeral for our families, we've just done what's best for us.

I'd think it's age as well. Eldest in the middle next youngest on his right, youngest on the left.

Seriously do they think William and Harry are going to start a punch up at a funeral with half the nation watching them?