Why wasn’t any member of the RF present at the women’s rugby World Cup final yesterday?

[Dustyhem952]

Honestly, I think it was a disgrace!

And an insult to our female players! And the entire team who worked so hard to get to be champions!

If the England’s men’s team had reached the final of the the World Cup, against a Commonwealth country no less, I bet someone would have turned up!

No doubt the team members will be invited to Windsor at some point but I think it’s a huge mid-step that no member of the RF could actually be bothered to travel to the stadium, sit in the stands, and actually cheer the Red Roses on!

Princess Anne often attends Scottish rugby matches. It would have meant so much to the women there if someone in the RF could have turned out for them. People clocked Mark Carney for Canada and could be seen literally looking around to see who was there for us!

Princess Catherine sent a message of support in advance and I have every sympathy with her if she is not well enough to attend a match, But if that was the case, someone in one of the offices at St James’s palace, to which we all collectively contribute a lot of money, should have clocked this situation and made other suitable plans!

Sorry Catherine and William, you can’t just pick and choose the events you want to attend like Wimbledon and Aston Villa matches!

As said upthread, they weren't representing the RF. They were given free tickets by some insurance company I think. They don't represent the RF. Otherwise they would be 'half in half out'.

How strange she could manage hours and hours of watching tennis at Wimbledon then.

Cancer recovery is like that

The Tindalls were there on a freebie from Howden’s Insurance. They were not there as RF representatives.

I didn’t personalise the previous patron as I didn’t think it was relevant for the point I was making. I don’t recall any posters starting threads to say it was a disgrace for the previous RFU patron not to attend the Women’s World Cup Finals when in role. Do however show me examples of contemporaneous criticism if I am wrong.

Which makes me wonder if this is a genuine issue, or a convenient stick…?

there are countless threads about them, why not post about them on one of the 100's of them.
or is it a tactic of a fan.

It is a convenient stick for many of the posters on this thread.

I’m disappointed that Kate wasn’t there but I assume because she did go to the semi final, and pre planned the good luck photo they took for the social media for the final, that it was because of a diary clash of some sort and not because she ‘couldn’t be bothered’.

@Serenster people are allowed to complain about the Royal Family any time they like. William is next in line to being our head of state and we pay for him and his family to work. From what I can tell of him and Kate they both seem particularly work shy, loving the high life and status but not putting in any of the graft that comes with it. If they actually put some effort in, no one would notice if they didn’t go to the odd event here or there.

I hadn’t realised that, @Serenster, that is also absolutely terrible.

Good to see the RF are consistent, I suppose

Totally agree

Shape up or ship out!

They are notorious for being workshy, I am prepared to change my opinion but I think it is getting worse as time goes on

Clever Serenster! Everyone googling who was the previous RFU patron. I will say Womens RFU has exploded since he left but also say he should have gone

Of course women’s rugby has massively increased its profile since Harry left! Agree with jumpingthehighjump. The players themselves only started to turn professional since 2014! It’s a totally different game and this final was special as the England team had been defeated in the two previous finals.

The attendance at the 2010 final was just over thirteen thousand, whereas there were 82,000 spectators at Twickenham on the 27th. Social media followers and interest online has exploded!

It’s not just me saying this:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/c77dzn1m6xro

However hard Serenster defends the monarchy, not having a member of the RF attend this fixture against a commonwealth country no less, when their head of state had flown over 3,000 miles to be there, was a big mistake, and a mistake that’s been noticed.

And for the record I am a genuine fan. It is easy point-scoring to accuse people of using this as a stick to beat the RF with, but I was really upset for the players that no one could be bothered to show up for them!

Edited to say that I am not the only one either. There are at least two other threads on here about it and there has been extensive comment on-line about the RF’s absence. It really wasn’t good.

I agree. Kate was doing the bare minimum before cancer, and she’s back to doing the same bare minimum now. William has always been work shy. It is a poor show that neither of them attended.

Everyone is free to express their opinions but I would rather this did not turn in to a Catherine bashing thread because recovery from any form of stomach or bowel cancer can take a couple of years and if you can’t eat a lot at first it can take a while to get your strength back.

Also, I don’t like to describe them as work shy because they patently live an active life and for every state visit for example that we see, there will be hours of dress fittings, briefings and rehearsals. And William has the Duchy of Cornwall work I imagine. Not that I agree with him having that privilege but I don’t get the impression they are at home twiddling their thumbs.

My argument though is that whoever is in charge of their schedule and PR strategy is getting it badly wrong because they are not taking fundamental changes in society in to account.

No one turned a hair at QE2 spending far more time at Ascot rather than at Aston Villa Birmingham or even Twickenham for that matter. But that was because it was a different age, it was accepted that she was elite, and the public were deferential. Also, if they did express an opinion or disapprove, they did so over the back fence to their neighbour; it wasn’t printed for others to read globally on a sm site.

I think that’s why QE2 never allowed that documentary about her family to air again, in which Prince Philip was portrayed frying sausages on a barbecue at Balmoral and the late Queen making the salad, because we all know that they are not a normal middle class family and ultimately it was disingenuous. Ditto the leaked story about Tupperware and light switches at BP.

But William and Catherine have a different problem altogether. The public in this modern less deferential age will not tolerate too much in your face elitism. They lap up stories of down-sizing and no live-in staff without much critical thought. We want the RF to be ordinary and like us but they’re as far from that as can possibly be in terms of wealth!
William is as rich as Creusus. And stands to become a lot more wealthy when he inherits the Crown, just as Charles inherited £650 million when he became King, with not a penny of inheritance tax paid!

So why aren’t their PR teams saying, you need to be at the Rugby, because it will make you more relatable? I would argue it was much more important to the British public who won this rugby match, than who won the Wimbledon final between two non-Brits.

No one would have commented if they had sent Princess Anne or William turned up to the rugby with one of the dc. Zara and Mike being paid by Howden’s Insurance to attend, just adds insult to injury if you ask me!

William seems to be trying to solve this fundamental dilemma of how to be relatable and popular while being massively elite, by being less present generally but that didn’t work well for Queen Victoria and I doubt it will work well for him either. The only way he can gain respect is by working hard and supporting and visiting grass roots organisations but we all know that there are inherent credibility issues linked with a Prince of the realm vowing to end homelessness, when they will inherit seventeen estates one day!

Maybe Prince William has realised this himself?

No one turned a hair at QE2 spending far more time at Ascot rather than at Aston Villa Birmingham or even Twickenham for that matter.

I have to disagree on that. I know in our house she was not popular for not supporting football. im sure my family was not alone.

Yes! Agree!

Well let’s just say she faced less outright criticism than William currently does and will continue to face in the future. And there were fewer ways of expressing discontent in the past without the internet.

IMHO, there need to be more formal yet accessible ways we can make our feelings known on these issues.

i would suggest the following:

If you want to complain about the Monarch and how they are representing you and the country then write to your MP.

If you want to complain about the heir/heir’s family/other working royals then write to the Monarch as they are the ones who set and manage the expectations for their ‘team’.

If you want to get rid of the constitutional monarchy as our parliamentary system both write to your MP and join and become active in Republic.

Been there done that

I think it’s the volume of people doing it that could make changes - so it’s worth repeating. If people want change MN moaning isn’t going to go very far.

I would argue it was much more important to the British public who won this rugby match, than who won the Wimbledon final between two non-Brits

This. The UK is goong through such an institutional crisis, public morale is low and people are at each other's throats. A win by a women's team is such a positive thing and could have been capitalised on by the monarchy. Again the "young" royals keep on getting it wrong.

Absolutely this ^^

As for the thread I don't follow sport so wasn't aware of the Wales' not turning up at an important sporting final once again.

Astounding.

If W really does value his role he needs to start showing it. He's beginning to be in danger of looking as though he's simply trolling the public.

I prefer to call it “expressing an opinion” and “awareness raising” rather than “moaning” 😃😃 but yes agree that we need to lobby our MPs frequently and consistently and join Republic UK if so inclined.

Also, I’m thankful for Mumsnet which is one of the few sites where you can express an opinion freely and engage in reasonably intelligent discourse on this subject.

There are much fewer active working members of the Royal Family now.
Realistically there are only Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine, Edward and Sophie and Anne. 3 of them are in their 70s, 2 in their 60s and 2 in their 40s.
The York sisters can't really get involved, Lady Louise Windsor seems to be on a pathway that doesn't involve being a 'working' Royal and James, Viscount Severn, may well follow in his sister's footsteps.
Is that it? Am I missing anyone?

The only people you are missing are Ann's kids, Zara and Peter. Just because they don't have titles doesn't mean they are less important than the Edinburghs kids

The other thing that crossed my mind is the RF probably don't want to set an expectation that they will be at every final, held in the UK.

Where would they draw the line?
Because no matter what someone will moan, why do they turn up to the Rugby but not Netball or the many other minority sports held in the UK.

Because William and Kate are patrons of the Welsh and English RFUs respectively, I think that sets an expectation that at least one of them should be at major rugby union finals when they are held in this country. Particularly if a home nation is involved.

That goes for any other sport that they are a patron of. Rugby world cups are only every 4 years, and obviously not always held close to home, so it’s not like it’s a major ask really.