Private Eye on William

[ItsTheSeasonOfTheStick]

I found this quite entertaining

William and Kate do frig all, engagement-wise. They’ll condense a couple of things into 2 days, then piss off for weeks. I hope he does scale all the pomp and crap right down as well as the hangers-on.

I’d like to see his coronation like the Danish - just a proclamation. No crowns, orbs or millions of pounds spaffed. They should be modern, modest and low-key and pay proper income tax.

All these reporters talk nonstop about what William might do as King—but what about the current King? They’re completely ignoring him.

In a constitutional monarchy it's parliament who need to act now. The focus on William is a distraction. I find it interesting that when things like this happen the press speak as if Charles was an absolute monarch and condemn him for taking actions that are not in his remit. As Epstein's clients are hiding behind Andrew so politicians are hiding behind Charles (or for some reason pointing at William) and the press is letting both groups get away with it.

These days, you could just ask AI rather than us!

As an example:

“Prince William has had significant success in fighting the illegal ivory trade through his work with organizations like United for Wildlife and the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI). Successes include fostering international collaboration that led to the sentencing of major wildlife traffickers, the implementation of policies by numerous countries to close domestic ivory markets, and the launch of the EPI, which has grown from five to 24 member countries. These efforts demonstrate a coordinated international response that uses public and private partnerships to combat illegal wildlife trafficking”

I agree that very powerful people are hiding behind Andrew, and that politicians are hiding behind Charles. But Charles (and Andrew) are not innocent—he could have done much more than he has. One of the simpler things would have been to remove all three non-working royals from the royal website and strip their prince titles and dukedoms. Constantly trying to play peacemaker, no matter how many times his brother and son throw it back in his face, makes him look like a weak king. I think that’s why the media is projecting that William will be much tougher—they wanted Charles to be tougher. Clearly, he isn’t, perhaps not helped by poor advice, and maybe his health also plays a part.

Because the “panoply of the monarchy” brings with it the intensely valuable powers of fundraising, the ability to convene key stakeholders in both the public and private sector and the eye of the global media. That means they can act nimbly and achieve significant impacts from their small organisation.

A good example of this is the Taskforce that the Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood was able to create from scratch. Kate was able to get both funding and commitments from high global brands like Ikea, Deloitte, Aviva, Iceland, Unilever, NatWest and the CoOp. It’s hard to imagine how another small organisation would be able to replicate that achievement - certainly not one without a pedigree of several decades.

The Royal Family website seems to be stuck in the 20th century. It takes an extraordinarily long time to update anything. The palace really need to appreciate the importance of that sort of messaging.

Ah, sorry - I mistook your comment for a genuine request

With the children on half term break now they are probably getting ready for their move to their next 'forever' home.

I’m all for modernising the monarchy and slimming it down but there also needs to be greater transparency and accountability for it to continue.

this

If at some point in the future the Monarchy is slimmed down, will that mean that William & Co can funnel ALL the loot for themselves, since the rest of them won't be on the books anymore.

Or, as I suspect, those made redundant will still be maintained in some form if they behave themselves. but the bulk goes to the Wales clan.

It was a genuine request. There are a lot of UK businesses, for example, that make significant contributions to various charities for PR and tax reasons-and occasionally for genuine philanthropy- without royal patronage. Sadly fewer than used to-but still £4billion, I think, in the UK. Is there any evidence to indicate that the intervention of the RF pulls in more money?

Yep. William was down at Sainsbury’s to collect some boxes, and Catherine’s been up all night wrapping glassware in bubble wrap.

@CurlewKate
Can just see it now. Wondering if they will ask a mate with a van to help them or splash out on a proper removal company.
As if!

Was just going to say this.

"Animals & science" - because obviously Earthshot has zero to do with this. 🙄

And Private Eye are just parroting the negative spin put on their Caribbean tour - the local press in the islands had extremely positive coverage of the tour. It was just the UK/US press who decided to cover it negatively (can't think why, in 2022, it would be covered very differently now).

Private Eye well wide of the mark here. Not unusual nowadays, I find it not as sharp as it used to be.

Will the Boxing Day pheasant shoot still go ahead at Sandringham? Or is it only 'foreign' animals that are worthy of being treasured?

Maybe Catherine will prevail and her sons won't be expected to shoot.

They can't take on the load of all the royals that have been taken off the pay roll.

Given the entire 'workforce' clock up around six months FTE between them actually they probably could

Totally agree with this.

And no account has been taken of Kate’s surgery and cancer treatment and recovery! Were they supposed to do a tour in the middle of that? Have a bit of compassion fgs!

Well I wouldn’t. I love all the pomp and circumstance. Philistine!

Would you do it yourself if you had their resources? I sure as hell wouldn’t!

Why keep a dog and bark yourself?!

@Tiredofbullsit
Of course I wouldn’t. I was being ironic.

Ok…

And Private Eye are just parroting the negative spin put on their Caribbean tour - the local press in the islands had extremely positive coverage of the tour. It was just the UK/US press who decided to cover it negatively

Certainly in the eyes of the UK press it was a flop.