How will the Royal Family end?

[JoyousGreyOrca]

The Royal Family will end. Not yet obviously. But within the next generation.

People often assume institutions like this fall slowly and gradually. We see a bit of that already happening with the reduction in "working" Royals, far less favourable poll results than when Queen Elizabeth reigned, and the willingness of the media to be more critical of the Royal Family.

I have seen people commenting assuming this means the Royal family will end soon. I think they misunderstand what is happening.

But society is changing and the deference that Queen Elizabeth attracted can no longer be taken for granted. Colonies are no longer happy for the Royals to carry out cosplay colonial tours on their soil, and increasingly they will remove the King as their Head of State. But I think when the end comes it will be sudden and unexpected. Similar to the fall of the Soviet Union. A clear weakening of the institution, but then a sudden, and shocking fall.

The aftermath will be very messy though as the Royal family try and fight for as much of the states wealth as they can, using the courts if they need to.

William spreadshimself too thinly (imho) too huggy and shouts responses to press and bystanders, too informal
Kate is like a cardboard cutout, her clothes are too neat and the waist is always
too high. I see her as prissy and her hair is Edwardian.

Unless they are aristocrats themselves, no one their age can relate.

When the real Queen died, I opined aloud that I did not believe George would ever be king and was shouted down - I didn’t mean that Charlotte would elbow him out of the way either - but that because of the timing age wise, when William’s reign ended, the world would have changed completely - goldencarriages, preposterous fawnings, outlandish costumes, outdated and outmoded traditions wouldfinally go the same way as the AA salute.
Apart from which, George would have a career, young family, no interest in the top job.

HMtQ should have (been forced to) retired at 70 as should Philip.

Found it!

"Last year's coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla cost 72 million pounds and showcased Britain to millions around the world, a government report said on Thursday, with the event costing less than half that of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
Charles and Camilla were crowned on May 6, 2023, in Britain's biggest ceremonial event for seven decades with a lavish display of pomp and pageantry in front of 100 world leaders and a global TV audience of millions.
In its annual report, the culture department (DCMS) which had responsibility for organising the coronation, said it had cost 50.3 million pounds ($63.6 million) to stage, with another 21.7 million pounds for policing costs.
That compared to an estimated 162 million pounds which was spent on the funeral of the last queen and related events in 2022."

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/king-charles-coronation-cost-72-million-pounds-government-says-2024-11-21/

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/king-charles-coronation-cost-72-million-pounds-government-says-2024-11-21/

here you go

and avoided us hving a couple of old codgers crowned, the controversial crowning of Camilla, called Queen, the cost ^ although their stamina fortitude and stoicism is admirable, Charles face on the notes, William needs to step up now and be more visible, perhaps accompanying Charles more often, King with son and heir

What? 😬

I've seen Status Quo about a dozen times 😂

So it’s vote ‘Rossi for President’ for you then! 😂

William and Kate's unwillingness to do the job and laziness will be the end of the Royal Family.

Say what you want about the late Queen's 4 children but they all watched both of their parents be extremely hardworking and followed their example.

The numbers don't lie. Mind you, in the early 2010s, Edward and Sophie's son was half the age Louis is now and they still worked hard. Sophie traveled around the world and spoke at the UN.

You can even look at the Queen's cousins (The Kent's and the Gloucesters), same

The 2 main issues with the Waleses is that:

1. From the outside looking in, it looks they don't want the job. They took the longest time settling into royal life. They became full time working royals 6-7 years into their marriage. They both took almost a decade to start solo projects.

They clearly like their little life on the countryside like their aristo friends. They moved their kids out of a palace to move into a smaller home in the countryside. They do the drop-offs and pick-ups. They never carry out engagements when their kids are on school breaks. The kids have been their excuse since the day they became parents.

2. A lsck of supporting cast: Until he turned 40, William was lucky that a lot of people could cover.

You had the Queen, Prince Philip, Charles, Camilla, Anne, Andrew, Edward, Sophie, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Gloucesters, Harry, Meghan for a short time.

Today, the Queen and Prince Philip are deceased. The Duke of Kent retired. Princess Alexandra is unofficially retired.

The Gloucesters are getting older (they're older than Charles and Camilla)

Harry and Meghan left

Charles has cancer (we don't know how long he'll live). Camilla is also working and traveling less.

That leaves the Waleses, Edward and Sophie.

Edward and Sophie work a lot more than the Waleses (they were recently in Nepal. Sophie traveled to the Middle East and several African countries last year) but don’t get the publicity.

The kids are obviously too young and I don't expect them to become working royals in their early 20s.

You have to be seen to be believed

Maybe Harry could help out if he's not too tired from doing 4 days at Invictus?

@Nono22972 Thank you, that is a brilliant post and it outlines some of the real challenges facing the Royal family.

The problem is they can't or won't remove the titles from disgraced members of the RF.

Andrew lost his HRH but is still a prince. The people of Inverness tried to have him removed as Earl with no success.

@Nono22972 exactly, they hide behind their children -

it cannot help William’s resolve when he sees his cousins having escaped
any sort of duties : Peter Phllips, Zara, the duff sisters, his brother absconded,
he must feel like the last man standing

to survive they probably need to commission competent market research

Kate needs a modern haircut, stop wearing stripey holiday jumpers to
deliver grave news, stop gurning, William needs to fastenhisjacket so he
doesn’t always look as though he will fly away and they need a permanent
home so we know where they are as we need consistency.

Did William have an investiture? did I miss it?

Andrew has not lost his HRH. He just agreed not to use it. But he has been caught using it several times.

The Monarch, as the Head of STATE occupies the position so that others cannot -
this is not ‘imagined’

I grew up in NY. I never thought Trump would be president once. Let alone twice, and allow himself to be shutdown by Elin Musk's young son.

I also never thought that I would have to pay for Harry's security every time he visits NYC. I'm more at risk during my daily commute than he is surrounded by his body guards.

I'm also a bit puzzled that a PP said they couldn't figure out where the Wales reside. The court circular shows some, although not all of their work. In addition, W & C are repeatedly criticized for spending time with their children. Everyone know where the I d's go to school, hence the family is on the Windsor estate.

When I remember certain presidents who were always at Camp David or playing golf....

This is such a weird argument - we get literally no say in who is our head of state, why is that better than having a say? It’s mental.

They are criticised for using their children as a constant excuse as to why they can't do anything. Under 200 engagements a year, when some are phonecalls and many are several 10 minute visits a day does not mean they can't spend time with their school-aged children. Its insukting to wotking parents for them to sayvthe onky way to spend time withbtheur children and be good parents is to have essentially two non working parents. There is nothing measurable or tangible that I have seen from any of their projects, and to say something is their ' life's work' means they can drag the same thing out for decades, doing little. William was always going to be Prince of Wales. Yet it seemed to come as a shock to him. He suddenly started learning Welsh. He can't reveal his tax returns because he's still learning how to send WhatsApp messages to his staff. Did he not think about learning how to tell someone else to do tax returns before this? I'm not sure what evidence there is that he will do anything to ' modernise' the Monarchy. He may permanently cut off his brother, but I doubt he'll get rid of the Sussex kids' titles because that would mean his own grandkids may be at risk of not having titles either.

I can't be arsed to read the whole thread but surely the answer to.the of the royal family's survival is clear ?
Bring back the sainted pair...you know the hard working ( ha ha ) , dedicated and perfect Harry and Meghan. They should obviously be installed as the rightful King and Queen so certain people can fawn all over them and William and Kate should obviously be beheaded at the Tower.
The motivation for starring this " debate " is so obvious it is pathetic frankly.

And yet despite this William and Catherine are currently the most popular members. Maybe people like that they are so family orientated and put their kids first?

As I said upthread, maybe people should be looking into why people prefer a constitutional monarchy/why William and Catherine are so popular (despite so many people on this thread labelling them as work shy)/why so many people like the royal family etc, rather than pondering what is going to bring them down?

And why there are so many anti RF threads. As I’ve said I’m not a royalist but a constitutional monarchist.

I have to say I find it concerning, that after Brexit and with the world so currently unstable, people want to destabilise the U.K. even further by changing the status quo.

I find it fascinating that it almost seems like the less William and Kate do, the more popular they are. No wonder they can't be arsed!

What I don't understand is the reason for that - is it the great press they get? Is it being the only remotely "glamorous" ones?

I cynically think that when Kate is no longer able to be glamorous clothes horse, the press won't be as kind to her. Really depressing comment on society's attitudes to women but I do think that being very thin and wearing nice clothes is the reason for her good press.

There is no point in discussing Harry and Meghan on this thread because it will just turn into all the rest of the threads on the royal family board and it is so very boring
Surely we are talking about the current royal family, the monarchy, the future of it who is working and who is not and how it will survive or not.

Personally, and this might not go down well, I think there is a rift between Charles/Camilla and William/Kate because what son would not step up to help their 76 year old father who has cancer. Kate doesn't need his daily support, he should be standing in for his father at every opportunity, he should be doing engagements every single day to take the workload off his father, he should be accompanying him as much as possible to show a united front of the Monarchy. Yet he does none of this.

Supersimkin7 · Yesterday 19:10
Not with a bang but with a whimper.
William and Kate don’t do the work. They won’t step up.

I'm a constitutional monarchist, and while I don't agree with the criticism implied in this remark, I agree with the 'not a bang but a whimper' point.

I would be very sad to see the monarchy go in the UK but I think the combination of modern pressures, especially social media,and changing attitudes both from the public AND the younger royals will mean challenges in the near future.

I think that the huge commitment to lifelong service and the burden of duty which was espoused by QEII is too much to expect of modern royals. I don't accuse William and Catherine of laziness, which I know their critics do, especially after the trauma of the last few years, but I do sometimes detect in William a just-perceptible reluctance and perhaps a dread of the never-ending commitment he's meant to show, and I don't blame him. Catherine is a star in terms of her role - but we don't know what the future holds for her. I don't blame William at all. He didn't choose this role - he was born into it, but with his more normal upbringing (compared to his father and grandmother) he probably expects to live a more 'normal' life too!

In contrast to QEII, I think Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands believes that to survive and stay relevant, monarchy needs to be regularly refreshed, hence her abdication in favour of her son a few years ago. This allows the monarch the reassurance that they will get a period of retirement and for the public to get a younger, refreshed monarch at regular intervals. I'm coming round to seeing her point of view! I think that's the stumbling block for William, and may be for George: that they'd be more inclined to commit fully to the role if it was for a limited time, as with most professions. I completely get how pressured they must feel, seeing things going on into the future with no respite.

I think press scrutiny and social media have also changed things irrevocably. Look at the Sussex Squads activities and the campaign of hatred, defamation and spite against Catherine in particular. I think that has affected William profoundly and I can imagine neither he nor Catherine want that for their children.

I'm still a monarchist, and I hope that by scaling things back enormously to Scandinavian levels, William will be able to continue as King after KC dies. But unlike many people, I have a lot of sympathy for him. He didn't choose this role and it's clear he's a shy man who has put himself outside his comfort zone a lot to do what's required nowadays, and without the deference that protected his forebears to a large extent.

Really? I see very few anti monarchy threads, in fact this is probably the first one I have been on. I can't remember. Anti harry and Meghan yes lots of those, but not a decent discussion on the future of the monarchy so I thank @JoyousGreyOrca opening a discussion

No one will be destabilizing the UK because nothing is happening and it won't be for a couple of generations, if at all. I just want change, more slimming down, I don't want to see all the wider family hangers on trading off their royal connections, and I want to see far more transparency as far as finances, and a complete overhaul of that

Even that is a faint hope because every time any MP wants to raise a question about the royal family it is shut down in parliament