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?

@MaulPerton
I'm sorry that was a lot of waffle from you and evading the issue

Life crap and those boots don't kick themselves !

That's no argument and you know it

Novella, why you tell us then what state you have in mind that has a fully functioning democratic government with both a legislature and an executive that does not demonstrate the issues with entrenched privilege, protected status and unwarranted remuneration that you rail against?

12 of 44 European countries are monarchies.

At least two restored their monarchies after a period as a republic

You can list monarchies of which you disapprove, but look at the list of pariah states - plenty of republics there. And look at Russia recently. Or the 20th century history of China, or North Korea, Or Uganda under Amin, or Cuba, or the regime which replaced the monarchy in Iran

Dictatorships can be either republics or monarchies (some presidents hand on power to relatives, at whim)

What matters in the wider constitutional arrangements, rather than a glibly dismissing as anachronistic.

You cannot pretend tourists come to Britain to actually SEE a member of the RF!

I live here and saw the Queen once at a race meeting well in the distance. A tourist might see the roof of a car or a crowd but highly unlikely to actually SEE a royal!

I don’t think they expect to see them, Roussette, but I definitely think there is some excitement attached to the possibility that they might. It’s an unrealistic expectation that has also done very well for people going to see Loch Ness for several decades now too. 🤣

That's a bit sad and actually is equivalent to loch Ness monster so I agree.
Something to imagine and revere and dream about

Are you including European countries such as Bulgaria, which was invaded by the Soviet Union and forced into communism? And Romania? It was hardly a democratic choice to depose their monarchs.

There never seems to be an answer to this, which is interesting in itself.

Interestingly, Romania today has quite a lot of support for restoring their former monarchy. And not just among the population, but politically as well - the idea of a referendum on the issue has been raised. When they had a political crisis last year their Foreign Minister openly said it would have been managed better under a constitutional monarchy.

The Gold Coach usually IS in a museum.
It's got out for the occassion.
It does not have very good suspension, and the QE II certainly did not like travelling in it for long journeys, as it is so uncomfortable.
A State Visit is organised at the behest of the Government and take years to plan. (So not Sunak, but probably Johnson).
State Visits are basically 'adverts' for the country, so that is how it should be seen.

That is interesting.
Yugoslavia also had the 'decision' about getting rid of the monarchy made undemocratically. Tito wanted the king gone. I don't know how good or bad a monarch he was, but it's certainly the case that there was no public vote.

Greece, by contrast, did allow people to vote on the matter, in the seventies.

Its a state visit so its what happens
Ny facebook is full of people on holiday and doing nice things
COst of living isn't affecting everyone and thats just a fact

@stuntbubbles she has a full time job ? And anyone can say they found something tough
Ruch people suffer mental health issues too sometimes or is that not allowed as they live in a big house and have money so can't have any MH issues
They are still people when all said and done

What’s her job.

And even if we’re defining “dresses and hair extensions and waving” as a “job” (it’s not), I’m willing to bet Buckingham Palace on her “job” and “bosses” being a thousand times more flexible about her need to home school than most people’s were. Do you not recall the women starting threads on here in lockdown because they had completely intractable bosses insisting they met their 40 working hours with no concession for the home schooling, yet at the same time the schools expecting a certain level of participation, and no one having room for WFH spaces in their tiny flats – sorry but space and money DOES make a difference here – and the sheer fucking desperation that comes about from starting work at 4am to log some hours before homeschooling began all day then putting the kids to bed and working til midnight, day after fucking day after fucking day and wondering whether you’d break and knowing you couldn’t break because you had a mortgage and bills to pay.

Rich people can have MH issues too, of course, but let’s not pretend for a single second that Kate Middleton’s lockdown homeschool “job” juggle bears any relation whatsoever to an ordinary person’s. What was she going to lose if she was a bit crap at her job for a bit? Were they going to put her on a PIP? Make her redundant?

but let’s not pretend for a single second that Kate Middleton’s lockdown homeschool “job” juggle bears any relation whatsoever to an ordinary person’s What's an ordinary person?

Wide spectrum but most people aren’t “Princess of the United Kingdom” on their passport are they.

If it was such an easy job or even a non-job then why do some other people who marry into the family make such a hash of it? 🤔

Exactly

It’s not a job. The difficult in this non-job has nothing to do with the role’s responsibilities – would love to see a job description! KPIs! Annual review goals! – and everything to do with the toxic combination of the UK media and the whole royal institution being inbred and bonkers.

I beg to differ. The role of queen-in-waiting is probably the hardest one in the RF. You have to be the skinny, smiley, glamourous one who will be closely compared to other equivalents around the world and frequently have to stand alongside them for press shots.
Of course there will be appraisals and goal setting. There is a uniform, appearance requirements and a rigid code of conduct. It is not for everyone. A person who comes from a MC background managing to keep it up for years and years with no major slip ups is commendable.

Does not make it any more of a job though, does it?

Oh, climb out of her bum, for goodness’ sake!

It's a role, a position whatever you like. It's not 9 till 5 with SMART targets and HR. She represents this country whether you like it or not.

Just going by your tone, you would not manage that job. Is that where the resentment stems from?

You got me.