What about Beatrice & Eugenie?

[olderandnonthewiser]

I’m not sure what to think tbh. On one hand they must be so so mortified; on the other they enjoy all the perks of Royalty and their position in the RF despite their revolting father.

How do you see it?

I think the job is pocket money.

Rw: Eugenie is the gallery she works in Portugal?

Sounds like a very good life to me.

I doubt B and E have proper jobs, probably just listed as consultants. They're figureheads for anything they're involved with, no work involved. They're not on the official royal rota, but they stepped in when Catherine was ill I think. They both married well so no reason why Fergie can't live with one of them if out on her ear.

I’d love to know who pays for that.
Do they still get security paid for by us?

No

They don’t do “Royal Work” though in that everything they do (turning up at Davos, being a patron of a charity) is entirely in their personal capacities. They don’t represent the UK government in any way.

And they are free to make a commercial profit from their activities. So they have exactly the same deal as Meghan and Harry. The main difference is that they have historically been on better terms with the family so have been present at family events - Christmas at Sandringham, jubilee events, days at Ascot etc. Meghan and Harry would be able to do those things too if their relationships hadn’t broken down.

As the article you link to points out, they have large family trust funds.

I don't think they have ever claimed to earn all their money through their jobs, though they do both work.

If your granny was worth c 400million (private net worth), it's not particularly surprising that you have a nice lifestyle

Same is true for Zara who has a luxury life and has done even less work - her horsey stuff is the ultimate posh girl job. They are from a very wealthy family - none of it is particularly surprising

Well yes exactly. All this ‘ nowhere to go’ nonsense.

But this is where I am confused. So they are part of a very rich family with trusts etc but Andrew and Sarah can't afford to pay rent or house themselves? Make it make sense.

And I encounter plenty of very wealthy people in my day to day life and none of them have chauffeur driven cars - they drive their own very nice cars. Personal drivers is another level of wealth - so again why the issue over paying rent or the upkeep of Royal Lodge.

Edo is very rich indeed. Chauffeurs used a lot by those I know on temp basis, lux car for a day for London apts, etc. As & when.

A&S seem to be extravagance/greed personified.

The picture in the Times of the 4 of them at Bs 18th!

They seem to have no idea at all how money works!

Above for @stillavid

They don't have "grace and favour" apartments - thats only for staff (or ex staff) who pay no rent (actually in return for lower salaries - the pay working for the royals is generally quite shit really).

Ever since the outrage over the peppercorn rent paid by the Michaels of Kent the apartments the royals have are billed at full rates. For working royals it's paid by the Queen and then Charles, I would imagine that the likes of B&E get it subsidised by Charles still - they likely pay the peppercorn amounts royals used to pay and then Charles tops up the rest. They wouldn't get away with them all being grace and favour now.

I reckon they feel entitled to the housing because although they are rich personally they're not rich in terms of the lifestyle they want to live.

Since the outcry over the peppercorn rents happened the Michaels of Kent have been paying £120,000 a year for rent at Kensington Palace.

The rent amount touted for Royal Lodge is around £260,000 a year. It must cost an absolute fortune in heating bills and the likes. Add in several staff, stupidly high travel costs and the likes and your 20mill from Granny and 10mill from Mummy isn't actually going to last you long.

He's been brought up seeing the cousins being funded by Mummy (although they were working royals not ones that had to be hidden like him!) and would have been fully expecting the same to happen for him.

I bet several of the royals impacted by the changes over the years would be a therapists dream to observe how their minds take it.

You'll need to take it up with The Times who describe them as such.

You'll need to take it up with The Times who describe them as such.

I think if we took up every inaccuracy in a newspaper we'd get nothing else done in life! Sloppy journalism seems to be a thing in every publication now.

Grace and favour has a specific meaning. Getting bumped up the waiting list for an apartment at St James' because your granny was the boss and now your uncle is, is questionable in and of itself so no need for their inaccuracy.

“They are free to make a commercial profit from their activities “ !

Yes, but if those commercial profits were made because they accompanied their father and gained contacts when he was a tax-payer funded trade envoy, then that should be investigated.

I believe Fergie looks after the Queen's two corgis (don't think Queen wanted any more because of her age, but Andrew bought them 🙄). I hope she doesn't threaten to put them in rescue if she's not given a home 😆.

If you say so, though as they are not and never have been working royals you’d need a good case as to why they had a personal conflict of interest there.

That would mean thought that any negotiations Harry and Meghan had with, say, Netflix Oprah, or any other commercial counterparties whose contact details they obtained before they stepped down as working royals in January 2020 should also be investigated. That would presumably for example include the head designer at Balenciaga whom Meghan met while a working royal as she commissioned him to create bespoke looks for her and Harry’s trip to Morocco.

I wonder then why his company files its accounts under small business exemption rules?

I do like it though when he and Captain Tequila strut around in their Jubilee
gongs. Hilarious 😂

I'd be happy to see robust investigations into any and all of the venal royals.

I'm sure Harold's on the list 😁

It is not permitted for trade envoys or any of their family members to benefit from their post (it states so on government website). If there were no dodgy dealings from his position then why have the files been sealed ?

Because it’s utterly standard practice for information about individuals, not just Andrew. It’s why national census records are sealed for 100 years, for example.

Not the same thing at all. Information on trade envoy records can be accessed through Freedom of Information Requests. However, the royal family are exempt from Freedom of Information requests which shows that they are treated differently from the rest of us.

Personal data is also exempt from disclosure from Freedom of Information Act requests. See on the ICO website where they set out all the exemptions:

Section 40(2) – Personal information
This exemption covers the personal data of third parties…where complying with the request would breach any of the principles in the UK GDPR.
This exemption can only apply to information about people who are living; you cannot use it to protect information about people who have died.

So no, individual members of the royal family are not treated differently to the rest of us. They just have a specific mention giving the same rights that everyone else has - probably because they would receive far more requests about their personal data than general members of the public would.

ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi/guide-to-managing-an-foi-request/exemptions/list-of-exemptions/#section40.2

probably because they would receive far more requests about their personal data than general members of the public would.

That makes it ok then

NOT