One year into King Charles's reign, how do Britons feel about the monarchy?

[MamoruHisaishi]

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2023/09/04/one-year-of-king-charles-how-do-britons-feel-ab

Prince who? He's hardly visible to me.

Charles went to Aberystwyth University to learn Welsh for a few months

No doubt their Staff prepare the brief, but the Royal who is doing the visit must read it, question it, understand a fair bit about the organisation to be visited

You'd hope so, yes, but let's not forget the confirmation bias at play here

Those prepared to host such a visit tend to be pretty "pro" in the first place, and you only have to witness the gasps of admiration over the royal's slightest squeak or gribbet to appreciate that the cries of "Ooooo they knew so much" perhaps aren't entirely objective

@Puzzledandpissedoff Depends on the Royal. Princess Anne is genuinely knowledgeable about her charities. I used to work for one of them and was always impressed when she would turn up at an event and speak off the cuff about the work of our charity but then also weave in relevant things from her other causes, and bring it all together as a whole. Probably helped that we were related to one of her passions but still, she was good at it. Whether all of them have that depth of knowledge, I couldn’t say.

And yet somehow she does as many engagements than William and Kate combined

Yes, I can believe that about Anne, @Spudlet; just her comments about spending the first few years learning about a chosen cause said so much to me, and of course not all royals are created equal just as nobody else is

OTOH I was present for a visit by the late Margaret, who couldn't have made her boredom any more clear. Nevertheless one or two were practically vibrating about the honour of it all, including one (normally very phlegmatic) lady who was actually skipping on the spot

Beats the hell out of me ...

@Puzzledandpissedoff I agree. I admire Anne for her work and her achievements - now, clearly having been born a princess has given her an advantage but she has achieved plenty of impressive things. I can’t be doing with bowing and scraping to people who are solely there because of their birth (or marriage, of course). I know from colleagues who worked for one of Anne’s overseas charities that she really does get stuck in and asks difficult questions!

Puzzledandpissedoff
I was present for a visit by the late Margaret, who couldn't have made her boredom any more clear.

Princess Margaret! The Spare from Hell.... Arrogant. entitled, demanding - and wasn't backward about letting people know it. And then there were the much younger men. Shades of nephew Andrew, but all kept quite by the two Elizabeths, mother & sister

Margaret was something else. Hearing about her 'morning routine' did it for me, let alone the scandals with Roddy. She was very lucky there was only newspapers reporting stuff when she was around.

Hang on, Roussette, what's this about the "morning routine"?

Never heard of that so I guess it's passed me by ... any chance of a link?

Honest Puzzled it's 😯
I thought Royals were supposed to work for their free extravagent lifestyle!

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/guide/a13068417/princess-margaret-morning-routine/

That entire book (Ma’am Darling) is fairly jaw dropping tbh. I ended it feeling a tiny little bit sorry for her… but also extremely glad that I never had to meet her 😳

Many thanks, Roussette; I'm dotting in and out today but will have a read of that later

Look at that dress!

Margaret was given the option to leave the ‘firm’ if she wanted to marry the love of her life . She chose to stay .
Funny that they all choose to stay in this onerous life of luxury. - oops sorry I meant ‘ duty’
A bit like Charles and Camilla . Charles could have insisted that he wanted to marry her but she wanted someone else and Camilla was only one of several mistresses he saw before and after his marriage .
All re written now of course .

Excellent piece, Roussette, and thanks again for that

I'm tempted to buy the book now but am not sure if I could stand it!!

Margaret was given the option to leave the ‘firm’ if she wanted to marry the love of her life . She chose to stay

You're right of course Novella, but I don't think we're supposed to mention that ... isn't the narrative supposed to be that her life was ruined because she couldn't marry the man she loved?

As if a marriage with a woman like that would have lasted anyway, if she couldn't have her pettish demands catered to ...

Eh? Who were the other mistresses after his marriage? I don’t think you have any evidence at all for that. He can’t have had mistresses before his marriage can he? Do you mean lovers?

It would be very easy for him to just go by Harry Windsor. He doesn’t want to do that though. He loves the cachet of being a member of a family he despises.

Margaret was something else. Hearing about her 'morning routine' did it for me

Wow. The pictures in that article 😮

Margaret was a monster. I particularly disliked hearing how nobody was permitted to leave a party before her departure which invariably took place in the small hours 🙄

Like her oafish nephew she's another example of how an accident of birth order could have landed an utterly entitled tit on the throne for life.

So we are all in agreement. Despise the lot of them and are hoping for a presidential Republic in the next calendar year yeah?

No? Who's said that?

The Monarchy will continue for at least two generations whether we like it or not. I just hope for change.... transparency, slimming down, less opting out of the laws we abide by, etc.

A year isn't practical.

A lot would need to be considered first (estates, c of e, powers of the president and loads more) and then a Bill through parliament which would take at least 9 months, and then plans for an election.

But yes I would love to have a republic

I read somewhere it would take a decade to unravel at minimum.

Won't be happening. But change might as the generations change. There is far more apathy amongst younger people

A decade seems like a fair estimate - there is a lot to work through