Norman Baker's Book - And What Do You Do

[VanessaSanessa]

Has anyone read this book?

I'm now half way through and I am really angry.

The monarchy really are above the law. In fact the lawmakers won't even challenge them. They twist the law to suit themselves. They pay tax if it suits them. If there's income to be made on a Duchy or a palace, they take it. If there's bills on a Duchy or a palace, we pay for that.

The amount of known wealth they have amassed (what we know of, as all Wills are sealed) far exceeds any rational explanation as to how they got it and that goes for all of them.

They are exempt from most laws, be that road or animal welfare laws.

Honestly the British public need to read this and give their heads a shake. They really are the masters of spin the whole lot of them. The whole lot of them are grifters and hypocrites, QEII included. Don't get me started on what she let her a**ehole son away with.

I can see why Charles won't boot out Andrew, they are all in it together, better keep them all on side to keep the lucrative show going.

Completely agree

I read it a few years back.

It should be required reading for those who think the monarchy is a good thing.

Eye opening.

I absolutely agree.

Never mind the bowing and scraping. FML it's a joke.

I listened to it on Audibles a few years back too and was shocked and disgusted. I went to re-listen again recently and found they'd added extra chapters to cover the Sussexes. Honestly, all of them are just highway robbers. Robbing the poor to feed the rich. The part about the hereditary peer system propping the whole lot up too! Bloody hell.

Totally agree. I haven’t read that particular book, my blood pressure is high enough already. They need to pay proper taxes, and abide by little things like the laws of the land etc. I’d remove their status, and have them work more than eg a day or two a month (William and Kate, I’m looking at you, lol). The whole concept of royalty is an anathema in this day and age.

Excellent isn't it - the more so because his sources are so often identified

Not a popular read among the stauncher monarchists though ...

Monarchist or not, if you've a logical, fair mind, I don't see how you would defend them.

You have the royals themselves, the grey suits or the establishment as Harry calls them, the aristocracy, the House of Lords and the actual government themselves falling over themselves to let them do what they want. It's actually mind blowing.

And to the poster who has high blood pressure, don't read it!! It's made all the worse as there's nothing we can do about it, the whole system around them is as corrupt for letting them away with it!

@VanessaSanessa

I've read it twice

I would give anything for royalists to be forced to read the thing cover to cover

It is a shocking, decrepit, antiquated system we have that puts this dysfunctional family above all of us. They just get richer and richer, and more and more sleazy day by day
And I can guarantee you, we will know about 10% of what they get up to

Oh for sure we only know a fraction of it!!

The people who need to read it won’t.

Its how they stay filthy rich. And there riches are covered in filth.

Lots more information on here too:

www.republic.org.uk/duchies

Haven’t read it. Sounds like it will make me very angry. Why we still entertain the lot of them baffles me in 2025.

Course they won't, because it will shatter every illusion they have about the esteemed family who are rich beyond wildest dreams, and whose (often sleazy) actions are largely hidden from us. True royalists don't even like hearing about Andrew & Sarah because it makes them uncomfortable. Criticising Harry & Meghan is fine though because they dared to walk away

Norman Baker, ex Minister, Privy Council etc, works hard at regularly updating his book.

Course they won't, because it will shatter every illusion they have about the esteemed family who are rich beyond wildest dreams, and whose (often sleazy) actions are largely hidden from us.

Even when some sleazy royal grift does get uncovered there are often mind bogglingly convoluted excuses put forward.

I can't fathom it.

You have the royals themselves, the grey suits or the establishment as Harry calls them, the aristocracy, the House of Lords and the actual government themselves falling over themselves to let them do what they want. It's actually mind blowing.
This is the worst thing for me. In some ways, what do you expect if you have a family who is told from birth they are a 'special family' and expect to have everything bought to them, staff at their beck and call at all times, people fawning over their minor activities, telling them how much harder they work than anyone else, everyone they meet falling over themselves to make their already easy lives even easier ( Oh I haven't worked very hard at school, despite having the best education money can buy, but I've miraculously got into Cambridge) Who wouldn't just try and get away with what they can?
The establishment, MP's, the government, the House of Lords, the courts however are meant to be working for us, not the Royal Family. Surely they should be holding the unaccountable to account? The fact that they choose not to is outrageous but because the House of Commons chooses not to talk about them, it will never be addressed.

If anyone's interested there's an excellent timeline below about the Duchies, and while it's true that the palace insists they're "private estates" it's a bit more complicated than that - especially since the private/public claim constantly changes according to what suits

The bigger question though is why the Duchies weren't ceded along with the Crown Estates when George III did his deal back in 1760
It's sometimes said that they were worth much less then so just weren't bothered about, but 1760's a long time ago so that's something else we'll probably never know

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/05/who-owns-and-profits-from-the-duchies-of-lancaster-and-cornwall-timeline

I'd also highly recommend Graham Smith 's book Abolish the Monarchy. Another cracking read.

@VanessaSanessa "Monarchist or not, if you've a logical, fair mind, I don't see how you would defend them."

And that has always been my argument. Even if you believe that a monarchy is good for the country, how can you possibly defend this greedy immoral shower. It's akin to being a devout Catholic and (on that basis alone) defending the Magdalene Laundry atrocities. Personally I'm a republican but I am open to well balanced debates about the monarchy. However, this family are not worthy of rational debate and, as you say, that included the almost deified QEII.

I'm still reading the book and I feel like going back to the start and highlighting everything in it and listing it out. They are beyond belief.

The most sickening thing is that the whole system propping them up is corrupt.

I'm on the Andrew chapter, f**k me, the amount of stuff he got away with as a trade envoy. How QEII left him away with it. Although I'd doubt the government would even bring it up with her Majesty. Bunch of syncophants.

Yes, I read the book on my eReader but really need to copy and paste some of it into a doc online for myself

Thank you for this.

Have ordered it 🙂

It’s an excellent book.
I have been a member of Republic Campaign for 18 years and can’t wait for the day we get rid of the parasites.

Thanks, Puzzled.

An interesting read on the "private estate[s] with a commercial imperative" indeed.

Fascinating to see how hotly debated the issue was a couple of hundred years ago to the extent of leading to a government collapsing.

I wonder how and why our modern MP's became so docile.

Fascinating to see how hotly debated the issue was a couple of hundred years ago to the extent of leading to a government collapsing

Interesting, too, that the Erskine May guidelines were intro duced in 1844, @CathyorClaire - in other words pretty soon after all this happened

Of course that was during the time of Victoria, who also wasn't averse to meddling in her own interests, so it has the sound to me of "Oh dear, better stop asking these awkward questions after what happened last time"