George's exams

[everetting]

Kate is not going with william to Singapore as George has important exams. What exams would a 10 year old be sitting in November?
I know nothing about private school systems so hoping someone here does.

I doubt a retired rugby player would be able to sit in Kensington Palace drawing room interviewing the heir to the throne and his wife for over an hour for his podcast to make money, without his royal connection!

He would be the same as any other ex rugby player!

No, those polls are usually taken by an miniscule number of people (I researched, and the big 2023 "British royal family members positive opinion" poll which was widely quoted in the press was a poll of just over two thousand people, which is nothing).

You'd need at least several million people to answer a poll for it to be statistically significant, and most people just aren't invested enough in royals to be willing to answer a poll about them.

And it's usually a self-selecting group, since royal fans are far more likely to vote in or seek out polls about royals.

I am not young. But I am not a horsey person.

And are they reporting on it today too? Will they be tomorrow and the day after? No.
However, one glimpse of Meghan walking her dog lasts for a week!

people say there is no interest in him, yet a thread about george becomes about H&M

However, one glimpse of Meghan walking her dog lasts for a week!

I wouldn't know. She very rarely shows up anymore on any the publications I read.

William and Kate are popular in the polls, but in a pretty passive way. It's like my DH who would say sure he likes them both, but he doesn't want to read about them or see them at events.

I suppose it all comes down to what you personally view as "charismatic".

IMO none of the RF really have it - especially not Harry & Meghan. Any interest I have in them is akin to car crash viewing - you can't help but look, but it's unforced error after unforced error since 2020.

I've tried listening to their speeches but Harry just looks uncomfortable all the time (just like his brother & father), Meghan is more polished but IMO its all "neo-inspirational word salad" rather than a succinct clear message.

Charisma has missed all of them really IMO.

I have no idea who either of those people are either. By any standard, they are clearly not household names the way Zara is. She's famous because she's the Queen's granddaughter, her sporting career has helped validate and boost that fame, but that's not why she's famous. And equestrianism is extremely expensive and depends as much on your access to top grade horses and training as it does talent, maybe more. It's not like athletics where people from any background can succeed if they're naturally gifted and willing to work really hard. It's incredibly unlikely Zara would have become an Olympian if she wasn't royal and had huge wealth behind her.

I'm not either but Richard Meade and Lucinda Prior-Palmer were on the telly a lot in the 70s and 80s when the BBC showed Horse of the Year show and 3 Day Eventing. I'm 64 though.

Of course Mike and Zara have benefited from being royal and so have the rest of them, M and H included why else would they be getting Oprah interviews , books etc ?

Andrew has benefited immensely as his sleazy arse isn't in jail

I don't personally find Harry all that charismatic either, but clearly the general public do.

I don't think it's the car crash factor because the world has been in thrall to Meghan-mania since she first started dating Harry.

well said

I don't personally find Harry all that charismatic either, but clearly the general public do.

They may have in the past. That isn't the way he's perceived now.

^I think it's interesting that the other two examples of famous equestrians were both from 40-50 years ago. The world has changed a lot, and culture has changed a lot.

Equestrianism always took money to pursue but it's much more elitist now than it was in the 1970s, it's almost impossible to pursue eventing as a career now unless you have serious wealth somewhere backing you up. And in terms of fame, equestrianism just isn't high profile anymore. The Horse of the Year Show used to be broadcast on BBC primetime, now it's only broadcast on something called "Horse and Country TV", a subscription-only online service.

Can anyone name a single equestrian who is a household name outside of horsey circles today, other than Zara? We just don't live in an era where equestrianism is a route to fame anymore. So I don't think Zara's fame can be credited to that, because there are lots of eventers who are far more successful than her who no one outside horsey circles has ever heard of.

How interesting. I think Harry comes across really well in speeches and chats. I watched him on Stephen Colbert in the US and he had the audience eating out of his hand. To me, he was witty and engaging.
I appreciate if someone doesn't like him, they will not see what I saw. Whether that is charisma or not, I am not sure.

Meghan has a beautiful voice and goodness me she can engage an audience and speak off the cuff. But that is her expertise as an actress I imagine.

I think Meghan, in particular does have charisma.

It's incredibly unlikely Zara would have become an Olympian if she wasn't royal and had huge wealth behind her.

I don’t think that’s fair. If she didn’t have the talent to become an Olympian then she wouldn’t have done, and yes she did need access to horses etc, but it’s not necessary to have a Royal connection to do that.

There's a real danger in assuming that one's personal opinions are shared by the general public. And here in Britain we get a very jaundiced view of things due to the media, in other parts of the world (especially in America, where I'm currently working) they perceive the British royals very differently because they don't have our ingrained attitudes towards hierarchy.

Not a Harry fan myself particularly, but looking at the insane sales his book racked up, and the continuing media interest, clearly something about him is continuing to capture the fascination of the general public worldwide.

Zara had all the openings, she followed her Mother's footsteps, that doesn't take away from her talent in that area, but the doors were open and ready for her!

Are/were you an eventer? Because I was an eventer, so I'm speaking from personal experience.

Horses cost money. Riding lessons cost money. You can't start eventing even on a very small scale just from having riding lessons twice a week (and even that costs more money than most people can afford), you need to own a horse and eventing horses are crazy expensive.

You can't pursue eventing at that level without very serious money behind you from an early age, and without the right connections to elite level trainers.

Yeah okay hypothetically if Zara had been born into an ultra wealthy non-royal family then she may have had the same access, but does it matter?

Harry's book sales have been extremely high. People are very interested in both him and meghan whether as fans or critics. They garner a lot of attention.

Yeah I'm not denying Zara's talent, or her mum's talent. Clearly they're both very talented and hardworking.

But most people don't have personal experience of eventing and have no idea what that world is like.

Not a Harry fan myself particularly, but looking at the insane sales his book racked up, and the continuing media interest, clearly something about him is continuing to capture the fascination of the general public worldwide.

I'm afraid the 'something' you are wondering about is his propensity to spill the beans, cause drama and gossip about his family.

Anyway I'm watching a Netflix documentary atm about a famous couple. Successful and self made. Beckham. Toodooloo

But they spilled the beans about two years ago. People are still very interested in them.
And Charles spilled the beans as well.