James Viscount Severn

[RoachTheHorse]

He looks so so young standing vigil. That must be hard.

I agree, @spongedog

To be honest, if I passed James or Louise in the street , I wouldn’t recognise them. Nor Peter really.
They’re not really in the public eye the same as their cousins are.
In James case, his duty was to stand still for 15 minutes. To pay his respects to his gran.
His duty is now done, he’ll be a guest at the funeral and that’s it.
He will never be in a situation like this again unless another royal funeral happens. And even then it won’t be as big as the Queens.

Any normal 14 year old would be well capable of this, let alone one who has been trained and prepared. No idea why people are speaking as if he were 6 years old.

Spot on.

He is so small for 14 isn't he? I have a 13 and a 14 year old both average size boys and they are a lot bigger than him.

He’s fine he has to stand longer at chapel at school. At 14 I think most children would want to be there for their grandma

"Creepy", "sinister" 🙄

I never fail to shake my head at the relentless and competitive drive to find negativity in every possible situation, that is so prevalent on MN.

Neither William nor Harry were " pushed" by their grandfather, he offered to walk with them to support them 🙄

I agree, and actually having a set way to walk makes it easier. You just follow the instructions no need to worry about what to do next as you've already been told. By putting James and Louise in the middle it also meant they could just copy their cousins too, so no need to worry about forgetting what happens.

When I was in the brownies (age 9ish) I was chosen to carry the flag for the Remembrance Day parade in our town. I was alongside lots of other people who were much older than me carry their organisation's flags and it helped that I just had to follow and copy what they did - walking, dipping the flag for the silence, raising it again after, etc. This also involved standing still in silence (holding a flag) for an extended period of time whilst people laid wreaths on the memorial after the act of remembrance.

I disagree. Harry and William were manipulated in order to make the RF look good. It's not like Charles and Phillip could walked without her sons there to make them look good.

Apparently, it was Charles Spencer who pushed for both of his nephews to walk behind their mother's coffin - at 13 and 15 years old, so bracketing Viscount Severn (and yes; too young - but as others have said, this would have been the grandchildren's choice, and he and Lady Louise were reportedly very close to both of their grandparents), and Prince Philip walked with them to support the two boys. I seem to recall a lot of press quoting the palace officials on this at the time - and, frankly, given how he is known to have felt about their mother, perhaps knowing their Grandpa, at least, was there to support them helped...?

I'm a year older than Peter Phillips and have a son 3 years older than Viscount Severn - I'm not sure I would be comfortable with my 17 year old standing vigil... but I am in awe of the relationship they must have all had with their grandmother. As long as George isn't walking behind the coffin, as a senior royal, on Monday... because that, whilst unlikely, would truly be unforgivable/damaging to him. Edward and Sophie give every indication of raising children any parent would be proud to claim, royal status or not. Good for them.

I’m sure they were given the choice. If he’d not wanted to have done it no-one would have batted an eyelid as they could have described it as the ‘adult grandchildren’.

I think it’s more interesting that there hasn’t been a sniff of the Cambridge children. It feels like they have been very protected and I’m intrigued as to what they’ll do with the younger ones re the funeral. It will clearly be more formal than a normal funeral with the glare of the world’s media on them.

Gggggggg.....OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 😂

I concur. What a bloody stupid comment, saying it's creepy to march in formation. Good grief!

Have you quoted the wrong person? Can’t see how what you’ve said relates to anything I said.

Oh FFS, they are 9, 7, and 4 years old. Stop being so pedantic and ludicrous.

I think some of the posters who have a problem just aren't accustomed to services or to events in Churches. It's really common to walk in pairs, to match your gait, to be respectful, to turn in a certain direction, etc. The schools that the Royal grandchildren attend will have taught all of them how to behave in these situations. It will be second nature to them.
It's quite sad to see that people have no understanding of the customs around such events so assume everyone else is unprepared or awkward.

Another "well said" from me.

The Cambridge children not attending things attended by the grandfather and father is simply obvious security sensibilities.

The number of times they are all in the same buildings, when it’s publicly known, are going to be minimised as much as possible when the terror threat to events like that is high.

Had William and the Cambridge kids attended to watch the vigil then the line of succession in the worst case scenario would have become Archie, Lilibet, Sienna, August, and Lucas. With Earl Snowdon as regent.

I think 14 is more than old enough assuming he wanted to do it. A lot of you are fussing over nothing. I’d let my 11 year old do this if they wanted to.

He’s not too young. My Dad was working in the steel works at 14. He’s been brought up a Royal and will understand duty. He looked sad but not uncomfortable

Exactly, Philip always gets the blame for this and from everything I've read it was nothing to do with him. He offered to walk with them in support.

He's 14, not 4, he's perfectly capable of this?

I thought it was really lovely actually.

They are the type of made up medals the Queen gave to the members of the Royal Family. It's for things like attending the jubilee celebrations.

It is absurd a 14 year old has medals but not as absurd as an average child having an inherited title like viscount or prince.

This is not comparable to Harry and Williams torturous time at their mums.totally different.
he will have practised this.he will as a church goer have done this kind of thing many a time.
and I think a typical 14 would tell his parents he was doing the same as his cousins whether he felt he could or not!
that doesn’t mean he could or should do it.or whether it was too much being his gran.it would still have been bloody upsetting so him looking upset as a given.
man’s practice and training to do this is totally different to when the event actually happens and a much loved gran is actually gone.

At just 16 my son helped shoulder his grandmother' coffin out of the church - and he wasn't a big 16 year old. At 14, he'd have been well able for this and would have been upset to be the only grandchild who didn't. I think the Wessex children often get put in with the great grandchildren because of the age difference- it must be nice for them to be acknowledged as her grandchildren and of that generation with their cousins.

I do think that the live-stream and constant tv footage has robbed things like the vigal of some of their poignancy. Seeing it happen in real time, I think you notice things like how they marched in etc. One or two photos of the grandchildren holding vigil would have had a far greater emotional impact. Ditto the princes' vigal. I can see why the monarchy worried about letting cameras into the coronation for example. The whole mystique of ceremony and ritual (at which the british royal family excel) deflates a bit when you see exactly how it is done. But that genii is out of the bottle for good now. no way could this not have been televised.

Indeed. I have no doubt he chose to be there and will cherish the memory all his life.