Is anyone else thinking the optics are off: royals in a golden coach whilst the UK is in a cost of living crisis?

[MsPinkMarshmallow]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11456933/Prince-Princess-Wales-greet-South-African-president.html

People are struggling to heat their homes, feed their kids and pay their mortgages but the royals are in the Mall in a golden carriage and giving state banquets.

Can't we just get rid of the lot of them?

The optics have always been off.

State visits are carried out at the request of the Government.

I normally defend them.

But right now just cant be arsed.

Seeing Kate grining inanely in every photo, when the country is in such dire straits.

Just cant even, right now.

So what? Your point is?

It looks like they are divorced from the country.

I assume all these royal things are just about getting some publicity for our country, to drum up a little business and tourism. Just like businesses do when they put their annoying adverts on TV right in the middle of films.

It’s a state visit.

It’s a State Visit. Blame Rishi, he’s the one who controls the royals schedule.
And the gold carriage is hundreds of years old. Would you rather they buy a new carriage in dull grey or beige?

Oh for goodness sake. It's a state occasion. They don't normally ride around in gold coaches. I'd rather see things like that being used than gathering cobwebs.
I presume it's to make Cyril Ramaphosa feel special in order to boost trade relations between our countries.

And as for Kate 'grinning inanely' - she's being pleasant and welcoming. What would you have her do?

You do know that the Royal Family don't actually own these coaches, don't you? They are glorified civil servants undertaking important diplomatic work on behalf of the Government. And history shows that the pomp and circumstance of a State Visit have always been important in "oiling the wheels", which is why the Government wants them to continue.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the state of the economy or the personal financial circumstances of members of the public.

iT’s a StAtE oCcAsIoN. Yeah, and? Perhaps we could have a state occasion without gold coaches and royal families – not just in a cost-of-living crisis but all the time, you know?

Of course you can just get rid of them. How do you want to do it? Do you want to do it in a legal way and without violence, or do you want people to stamp on their bleeding bodies in the street? What would make you happy?

If you just got rid of the lot of them, what would you do with the gold coach? Would you have it destroyed? If yes, how would you have it destroyed? What would you do with the broken pieces of it? If you didn't want to have the gold coach destroyed what would you do with it in the future?

It’s not like the coach is real gold. It’s only paint on wood….
Does OP think it can be melted down and used to feed families?

Do you know what also doesn't sit well with me? Kate being photographed quietly nodding earnestly as 'normal people', often the most disadvantaged, discuss their problems and mental health challenges to her. It just makes me think the royals are using other people's woes to sell their own brand of mental health ambassadors.

You know what would look more authentic? Her opening up about her own experiences more genuinely. All you ever hear from her scripted and impersonal, rarely anything more than a nod to her own feelings, yet happy to capitalise on the challenges of others.

Wow upinaballoon why so angry?

State museums with historic artefacts such as gold coaches where tourists and citizens alike can marvel at what used to be acceptable.

Auction off completely daft things like gold coaches to millionaires with funds raised going to the NHS.

If it belongs to the royal family the people, rather than the institution, they can trundle off in it and keep it in their garage. Don’t mind which option, really.

Calm down ! The point is that the RF are just carrying out the Government’s wishes . The way you posted suggested you blame them for the event .

Yet when she said she found home schooling during lockdown hard , she was as absolutely slated on MN !

Because homeschooling when you don’t have a job and you do have mountains of space at home, money, and resources, is not the same as the millions of people who homeschooled while working FT and living in tiny houses or flats without outdoor space.

... but she does have a job....

“Princess” isn’t a job. It’s a Meg Cabot character.

800 private jets flew in for the COP27 summit. None of it is worth giving the head space to it.

"The rich are different from you and me" (Scott Fitzgerald to Ernest Hemingway)

It's wooden!
So bad optics at Christmas to have anything gold coloured incase it looks like your mocking the poor with your tinsel!
Using that gold coloured coach is the recycle,reuse although the royal family doesn't own them the State does.

Most of the cost of the pageantry is in labour. How would scraping all those jobs help "people"?

Point of detail, that's not the Golden Coach (it might get an outing for the Coronation, though)

Which state would you like them to snub by being the first whose Head of State does not get the full protocol for the visit?