Prince William's Absence (Part Two)

[MaggieFS]

Following on from this glorious thread

William just pulled out of event due to personal reasons http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/theroyall_family/5017144-william-just-pulled-out-of-event-due-to-personal-reasons

The headphone anecdote just says to me that it must be fucking awful to live a life where you can't have an off day or a minor irritation without it being talked about by random taxi drivers and passers by for years.

It has to be said Anne is pretty awesome. I just remember catching a glimpse of her silhouetted in the doorway of the abbey after riding ( no frailty here ) to the Coronation as Gold Stick, and as she stood looking almost Napoleonic in her garb I thought what an absolute legend . For me the role of Gold Stick is now like a kind of like a conciliatory Darth Vader. She even managed to greet Harry without awkward gulps or twisted smile. Just gets on with it.

Now that's a logical suggestion

@crumblingschools "your life is not your own anymore, I would hate page after page on social media of people speculating whether I had issues with my bowels"

Agreed-although there are compensations! But talk to me about the difficult and onerous task of being monarch. The job you have to train for and put in the "hard yards". Why couldn't any of us step into the "job" tomorrow?

With due respect @Roussette is not a public figure so is not obliged to relay a thank you message. Many on here have been vociferous in stating that Meghan and Harry cannot pick and choose the boundaries of their privacy. So the same must apply to others in the RF, no?

The "how can they be finding it difficult, they have no real worries" narrative is quite disgusting tbh.

There are many many families up and down the country who are struggling with various things. Some of these families will be wealthy, some won't. Some of these families will have ailing parents, some won't. Some of these families will have work challenges, some won't.

It's all relative. Making "struggling" or "suffering with MH/stress" only the domain of those you deem worthy of it is nasty. It can hit anyone for anything. It's relatice to your personal circumstances.

They have moths and months off a year, holed up in various country estates. Kate and William did 100 engagements each a year. That is sometimes made up of phonecalls and zoom meetings. Even generously, it amounts to about a days work a week, term time only. They literally only have to put their game face on for a few hours a month, in a job where they have everything prepared for them, and even if they say something rude or ignorant, no one challenges them or tells them to their face if they have done something wrong or made a mistake. And in return for never having to worry about paying a bill, cooking dinner, the cost of living, the food bill going up, doing the housework, childcare, their children's education or job prospects, ever.

But the late Queen was criticised for never being there for her children and the implication is they developed into a dysfunctional family, all with 'issues' of some kind.

W&C want to be hands on parents. They have 3 children.

If they were not being hands-on parents, people would criticise that.

Princess A is not the angel some people think. Some of her constant work is possibly to get away from her H!

If mumsnet wad around when QE2 was raising her dc, there would be multiple threads judging her.

Millions of people have three children and work full time! It’s not an either/ or situation! They are all at school - and have a team of staff. What are they doing every day if they are not working??

@Angrycat2768 Are you very young? Have you missed all the criticism about the late Queen and the D of E, and how they were distant parents?

The late Queen was often held to account in later years for not putting her family further up the list of priorities.

W&C are not yet King and Queen. Their time for wall to wall public duties is yet to come.

They have made it clear that they want to be hands on parents and not create another dysfunctional family.

I think they are very sensible indeed.

Princess Anne knew what she was doing when refusing titles for her children. Eugenie lives out a better private life in Portugal.

My sons are the same age as William and Harry. Very close. It would break my heart if they fell out like this. I always thought together W&H could handle anything.

But theof children are in school every day why can’t they work then? They are not parenting 247 are they!

There is a lot of middle ground between the way the late Queen parented - leaving her young children for long periods to do tours - and having both parents around for every single school holiday and every pick up.

Ah, you're back @Newchapterbeckons

How's your sister, by the way?

You can't compare being on show as Royals with working as a non Royal.

William had a very difficult childhood and he wants to be there for his children.
That's far more valuable than cutting a ribbon somewhere.

The Queen chose to go and live in Malta without her children before she was Queen. There are stories about her wanting to bath Andrew but not having a clue what to do with him, so passing him over to the nanny. She was not a natural mother. Most parents manage to bring up well rounded children without both parents working part time, term time only. If the way to have well rounded children was for both parents to have the school holidays off and work 10.00-2,30, maybe Kates Early Years campaign should be lobbying the government for all of us to have that!

Sorry but who are you to say they ought to work more?

Unless you have insight into exactly what they do- and the work behind the scenes that doesn't appear in the media- you don't have a clue.

I am one of the tax payers paying close to a 100 million a year for this shit show.

I also can't help but notice that they make more time for things like Wimbledon or the BAFTAs than the less fun engagements.

I am sure someone will shortly try to claim that it's exhausting preparing for every engagement which just begs the question of how the older royals are somehow managing 3x the amount of this tremendously hard task

The Queen (E2) was an impressive iron clad figure head - always seen to stick to duty.

That image was tarnished for me when she allowed bloody Andrew to hide behind her skirts.

But that is/was a reminder that she was human and her feelings did influence bad decisions with bad optics.

They are all only human.

To be fair to late Queenie, she lived in Malta as Princess Elizabeth, before children, whilst Philip was stationed there. She did not abandon her children to play house in Malta.

Totally agree she did not come across as a natural mother though.

Piers Morgan seems to be the one stoking it, this time round.

"very strange and rather concerning"

But his agenda is obvious - the Royals aren't meant to have privacy. Even when recovering from surgery. They are meant to satisfy the tabloids at all times.

I presumed they had it quite easy with work but I had no idea they did so little. Bloody hell. 😮

Apart from trying on pretty dresses and going to sporting and polo events what exactly do they ‘do’? They have teams of housekeepers, maids, nannies and chauffeurs! It’s not hard to understand.

They are there at our pleasure. If they don't want to be there and don't want to put in the effort, then they should go. It would make little difference to the running of the country if we elected a ceremonial Head of State instead. We may be able to ditch the House of Lords, and have a proper National Anthem that is about all of us, the citizens of this country rather than one person. They want to be there, and they want the status and luxuries being a Monarch and their family that it provides. So they need to do their part. We know what they do because it's listed in the Court Circular, and they have legions of staff. If they are preparing for all their visits themselves, then don t get us to pay for 60-800 staff each. If they don't want to do the work, give Buck House to the state to open up all year round for tourists and get them to pay for their own house renovations.