Gosh , they don't look well.

[fedup33]

With the exection of Sophis in blue and B's husband, I'm sorry but the Royals look ill and sad. It's a shame.

William may well decide to spend Christmases somewhere other than Sandringham, once it is his decision. I hope he does because the public that attend seems to be getting a bit silly and pushy since The Old Queen died.

Exactly.

They don't get paid by us for this public appearance. They are, on this occasion, a family attending the local church.

Most of the family attending church on Wednesday receive no public funding.

They might not be publicly funded directly but:

a. We don't know how much support the king offers family members from the duchy funds diverted and skimmed from the public purse into his own pocket but given we do know Harold (Willy too) was trousering a tidy £2m pa when Fred was PoW and we've heard heart rending stories about how deep he's now having to dip into his pockets to subsidise Charmless it's not unreasonable to suppose at least some are in receipt of portions of said diverted funding.

b. As for others who appear to live a gilded life on air, where and how do you think all that handy trust fund cash originated then ballooned?

The family members know which side their bread is buttered on. They have very comfortable lives because they are members of the RF. If it means turning up for the occasional public engagement I suspect it’s an easy decision for them. (Made more easy by seeing how tabloid media, and many of the public on social media who follow the tabloid example, are reacting to Harry and Meghan after their exit).

When Diana died the tabloids stirred the public into a mad frenzy - as it was a big payday for them. They did the same with Kate’s illness. And have also been doing it daily since Harry and Meghan left 5 years ago. Constantly stirring up the outrage. I’m a bit amazed that some people can’t see the similarities in regard to tabloid media actions when it comes to Kate’s illness (the early months) and Harry and Meghan. I bet the royal family can.

They can’t quite stir up the same outrage for Andrew and his exploits. My theory is that there is no royal woman involved (so far) that women and some men can scold and, in extreme cases, hate. Although according to a royal biographer (I think it is Andrew Lownie but don’t quote me) who happens to be publishing a book on Andrew in the new year, Sarah Ferguson is about to be a co villain in the Andrew story. If so, that’s who the tabloid media and social media will focus on. Sarah.

I’m now thinking of the latest Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni tussle, and the text messages between Justin Baldoni’s public relations specialists,

“Ms Nathan telling Ms Abel socials are "really really ramping up", to which Ms Abel adds: "It's actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women".

I pulled that text off an article published by tabloid style Sky News. There’s more.

I hadn’t yet read your last post CathyorClaire when I posted. I agree.

I wonder if this clip will link? (It's from Sky News AU.)

Watch from around 2.30 onward - there's some really odd stuff from the crowd toward William & family, and the police walk over.

2

This. But you have to pay 6% of the total amount of the trust in tax every 10 years. Plus any money taken out of the trust is taxed at normal UK tax rates.

This is plain silly.

@Wittow
"It's absolutely disgusting how people ask those children for selfies, like they are performing monkeys"

But they are performing monkeys. Otherwise they wouldn't be there!

I’m really shocked W and K allow the children to approached by the public like that. It’s completely inappropriate for Charlotte to be put in a position where she has people asking to take selfies with her. What on earth are they thinking? I think the whole walk to church thing has to stop . Maybe Charles needs to start hosting Xmas at Windsor or something.

There's several folk on this thread who are a bit mixed up as to the definition of a 'pap walk'. The royal family walking to Sandringham church on Christmas Day has no need of a surreptitiously placed phone call to the press alerting them to the RF presence 😁.

Oh hilarity

I wouldn't be surprised if next year a carefully planted "Plant" makes a scene during the parade, making it necessary to cancel the ritual going forward - forever.

Were any of Camilla's family included in the parade?

I call it a pap walk. They walk in front of the paps.

Definition according to Google....a staged walk, often performed by celebrities, where they are intentionally photographed by paparazzi.

It goes on to say that it is used to generate publicity, obviously the case for the royals.... positive PR for them they hope

The RF are walking to church. I'm sure they'd still do it if there were no crowds, no photographers. A pap walk is someone specifically out to garner attention, having tipped off the press beforehand. No need in this instance.

We can agree to disagree can't we? I doubt all the royals of which there were very many, a huge crowd of them, would be going into church by the back door surreptitiously without the cameras. The King and Camilla maybe but not all of them.
Of course they don't need to tip off the press... the media were there from about 4am so they said on Sky.

Nothing constructive to add on the points made?

Exactly.

They know the paps are going to be there. They know the news outlets are going to be there. They use it to puff their PR.

It's a pap walk in all but trivial detail.

Were any of Camilla's family included in the parade?

This is a very good point when the thing's being framed as a cosy, blended family event.

Were any of Camilla's family included in the parade?
This is a very good point when the thing's being framed as a cosy, blended family event.

Are they regular churchgoers, then? I have no idea, but sounds like you think you know.

They know the paps are going to be there. They know the news outlets are going to be there. They use it to puff their PR.
It's a pap walk in all but trivial detail.

Except the “trivial detail” is that most, if not all of them, would still be attending church on Christmas Day even if there were no photographers there at all. How do we know this? Because, as people have said upthread, they attend church on other Sundays when staying at Sandringham and some family members had attended the first service on Christmas day as well. When the news crews weren’t there.

On the basis of your definition, Remembrance Sunday is a pap walk…

'They know the paps are going to be there. They know the news outlets are going to be there. They use it to puff their PR.'

Several members of the royal family attend the early service, no puffing of PR, no pap shots. Of course they know the press are going to be there - it's hardly going to puff their PR if all the nitpickers start ripping in to them. It's the head of state and his family - there's interest so there's press.

Hmmm, They might attend church privately on occasion but reading about the Duchys, charging the Nhs rent to use Rf land, and many other money making schemes at the expense of others, I can't help but wonder about their lived Christianity. Do unto others etc.

Churches charge rent for their land by the way. And charge community groups/private citizens fees to use their halls etc. That is absolutely normal. Holding the Royal Family to a higher standard than the rest of the world seems a more than a bit designed to make up a reason to criticise them.

I don't see anything wrong with charging people to use your land. Lots of people live in leasehold properties and pay a fee to the landowner. As do lots of tenant farmers.
The Church of England is one of the biggest landowners in the U.K. I have friends who live on CofE land - they pay a tithe for the upkeep of the local church as well as paying for the lease.

most, if not all of them, would still be attending church on Christmas Day

Would they?

Charles apparently goes regularly as you'd expect of the head of the church so yes, we'd expect him to be there.

William is apparently less committed to regular attendance (and also lazy) which suggests he'd duck the visit if he could. We simply don't know about the rest.

some family members had attended the first service on Christmas day as well. When the news crews weren’t there.

The crews were apparently there from 4am so the first service must have been very early.

Where did it take place?

There only appears to have been one service at Sandringham that day:

www.sandringhamchurches.org.uk/services