Harry meeting the king just now

[Justanotherdramalama]

I think he's going cap in hand to ask for money. I really hope he's not got the nerve to ask to come back!

The Palace learned some really important lessons after Diana, HM The Queen realised family life is important and William was to be allowed such a life before he became King. He has a young family that need to see him. Tomorrow William could lose his father and his life will change forever, he will be King and family life will have to suffer.

People are quick to complain about Charles not being a proper father to poor Harry (usually without mention of William funnily enough). So here’s William trying to do things differently with his own family and of course getting criticised for it, they can’t win.

He has said he doesn’t want to be doing endless quick drop-in visits to cut ribbons and would prefer deeper involvement in a smaller number of causes. Who knows how many hours he works. But if he worked really hard, it would look like this, without as many public appearances as his grandmother and with much of the work happening behind the scenes. But as I say, who knows, certainly not me. Nor anyone here calling him lazy.

I don’t think a bean counting approach to engagements is helpful. I believe there’s a balance to be found between impactful work in terms of measurable results and the sort of bread and butter work that makes ordinary generous hearted volunteers and charity workers feel valued and seen. That has impact too as it motivates people to do good.

I hope William is using this time to find that balance. He’s shown pretty good judgment in a lot of things (some missteps too) so I think he’ll get there.

People criticized Charles and Diana putting their kids in boarding school aged 8 and then leaving them with nannies in the holidays - (Harry even wrote a book to complain about his deficiencies of his upbringing) but now William is criticized for being a more hands on father.

Also - always bugs me - the much quoted 'if a tenant dies without a Will, he gets their assets'. He is entitled to them, but infact they are put in a charity fund for the benefit of other Duchy tenants.

No

Bonna vacantia funds have been used to refurbish the Savoy chapel in London. On the Strand.

Duchy accounts suggest it has collected £61.8m in bona vacantia funds over the last decade. Of those, only £9.3m or 15% of the total has gone to charities. Now there are fresh questions about a further £14m, earmarked for charitable causes, but seemingly not donated. The duchy is refusing to explain why the funds have not been transferred to charities.

The Duchy employs over 200 people, so its income is clearly not for his sole benefit.

They're employed to maximise returns on his behalf.

And if there are 200 employees working on his behalf that should leave him plenty of time for ribbon-cutting and charity cheering yet doesn't seem to.

It's perplexing.

You saved me posting that, @jumpingthehighjump

A wider piece is linked below, and also contains the interesting "a significant portion of bona vacantia funds are secretly being spent on renovating properties owned by the king that are rented out for profit by his estate"

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/24/kings-estate-facing-questions-over-14m-in-bona-vacantia-not-donated-to-charity#:~:text=Duchy%20accounts%20suggest%20it%20has,causes%2C%20but%20seemingly%20not%20donated.

I don’t think a bean counting approach to engagements is helpful.

It's the only measure we're allowed to see.

More transparency and detail might help but given W won't even declare his taxes I doubt we'll see a light shed on how he spends his days and days of unaccounted for time in the immediate future.

Bonna vacantia funds have been used to refurbish the Savoy chapel in London. On the Strand.

Substantial reserves are also held in case of obscure relatives coming forward.

No details of where the interest on those reserves ends up.

Well said @Puzzledandpissedoff

Bonna vacantia funds used to refurbish monarchy properties to make yet more Dosh

It's a clever ruse

I’m glad to see lots of others have posted what I was about to, which is that there’s an astonishing lack of understanding (deliberately so) of how very senior management roles work.

I manage a reasonably large team and hold a senior director level role in a business, and despite doing little of the “doing” work now, I work harder than anyone else in my team. There’s an awful lot of work that happens that may be difficult to perceive by people who think work is based on physical output or visible labour.

there’s also the fact that every visit they do they have to be “on.” They can’t do a half arsed job, be grumpy, or appear to be uninterested, even if they’re knackered, stressed or having a bad day. They know their visit to a person might be something they remember for the rest of their life, and they have to show up consistently and positively and always behave like they’re fascinated in what they’re hearing. That’s bloody hard work. Some of my work involves attending events or entertaining contacts or media sometimes, and it’s absolutely exhausting.

The final point is as others have said, that William will be doing this job for the rest of his life. Your average Joe might work a 37.5 hour week, but they’ll also get to retire in their mid 60s and spend the next 20 or so years (with luck) doing as they please. William could be doing this into his 80s or 90s with little slow down. So can I blame him for wanting to take it a bit easier now while his kids are young? Absolutely not!

I agree.

Estates falling into Bona Vacantia are typically very small. It’s rare to have large estates and no Will. Even so, all efforts are made to identify legitimate beneficiaries. Nobody who should benefit, doesn’t.

The final point is as others have said, that William will be doing this job for the rest of his life.

Choosing to do it isn't the same as having to do it.

ETA

Can't clear unintended quote.

Please ignore 😁

Choosing not to do it isn’t exactly straightforward.

Yet it's been successfully managed in the past...

While the conversation is on royal duties I'm grabbing the chance to quote Queen Mary because for some reason it always makes me giggle. She is reported as having once reproved a member of the family:

"You are a member of the British royal family. We are never tired and we all love hospitals."

Finally someone talking sense.

So what are you saying, you’d rather he worked a standard working week for the next 25 years and then abdicated the throne so he could retire?

Like any monarch W could walk away any time he chooses just as his Great Uncle Ed did.

It was coped with then and would be coped with now.

Restoring a historic Church is legally considered a charitable purpose…

Almost certainly it’s paid over to the obscure relatives if and when they are located as the Duchy will hold the money in trust for the beneficiaries under the will, which involves a requirement to invest the money do it earns interest.

I assume there is a reason that details about the Duchy of Lancaster - nothing to do with the Duchy of Cornwall - are now being quoted on the thread.

I hope it's not simply for obfuscation.

Obviously you don’t know much about history or you would realise what massive ramifications that had.

I was wondering about that - I knew the estate went to the other Duchy.

The Guardian posted an article about those shopkeepers in Devon who were complaining that the Duchy hasn't renovated their shops. However, they were paying way below market value. William is apparently planning on renovating but will obviously be doing so at a loss. It makes sense for him to repair and rent out property so that he can use the proceeds for his charitable endeavors.