Christmas Day walk in Sandringham

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This is such a strange thing....so the royal family walk along a stretch of path every year and people gather to watch them. These people try to talk to the Wales children and give them presents. They are photographing the children, taking selfies, etc. I think the kids are far too young to do this. It is so odd.

How on earth do William & Catherine think this is okay?!

I'm glad you acknowledge that they do do these visits and yes I agree - no pawing.

The Queen negotiated the very favourable Sovereign Grant (which included a golden ratchet and no scrutiny at all by Parliament, unlike the Civil list) in return for them 'voluntarily' paying tax. As a result, we should know if they are upholding their side of the bargain, and to what extent. Not to mention if anyone else tried not paying tax HMRC would come down on them like a ton of bricks. This will not happen if William just refused to pay anything.

Nobody deluded it. Apart from anything else, it’s on the msm!

Laughing at the notion of those three kids reading Mumsnet. Mental!

Yes, but when his father has declared the tax he has paid, it is not right that William chooses not to. Obviously something to hide.

It's a personal decision. The fact that his decision is different to his father's doesn't make it wrong. Again, in the UK tax matters are private - this isn't the US.

It may be a personal decision for one of us but AFAIC, not when you are taxpayer funded.
It makes it wrong.

I imagine he pays £2.50 so he can assert he pays tax! 😂

Last time Charles declared it, it was £5million

Did the man at Sandringham want to give the RF children messages from dead relations? What were his words? I don't consider "Your grandmother would be proud of you" to be sinister, but if he said, "Your grandmother contacts me on a regular basis and she's been telling me how proud of you she is," I would see that as rather more serious.
I feel that it wouldn't matter what the Waleses did, you would think they handled anything badly. Maybe that's your weird obsession.

It may be a personal decision for one of us but AFAIC, not when you are taxpayer funded.

He is only taxpayer funded for official duties and security, nothing else.

The statement on the Duchy website states 'The Prince of Wales pays income tax including on his income from the Duchy of Cornwall'. There is a similar statement on the annual Duchy of Cornwall accounts which are scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee 'The Duke of Cornwall does not have access to the Duchy's capital value and pays income tax on the annual revenue surplus he receives from the estate'.
(The Sovereign Grant, Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall annual accounts are all public documents and are all scrutinised by parliament.)

But is does let you see how dictators can flourish.

I am most concerned about dictators flourishing in populations who seem unable to look at facts.

But the RF board is populated by odd sycophants who will endlessly defend the royals - the sort of wierdos who would go to Sandringham to harass children.

I love the way this poster considers there is no difference at all between intelligent and informed posters who have considered the pros and cons of a constitutional monarchy and decided it’s a supportable option as Head of State, and people who bedeck themselves in photos of long-dead royals and turn up at every public opportunity to see them. 🤣

It’s exactly this kind of thinking that makes some aspects of the opposition to the status quo unappealing.

Has the elderly gent ever admitted to channeling Diana or communing with her gravestone? 🤔

I know that. No need to write all that out or C&P

However, Charles has disclosed the amount for a very long time. William refuses to do so

I think the Wales handle parenting as well as anyone could in their unique circumstances. That is why I find the way they’ve handled this so weirdly out of character. It is quite entertaining to see their loyal fans dancing on the head of a pin to make it all right when they must know, in their heart of hearts and in the dead of night that it really isn’t!

It's quite entertaining to see their committed critics dancing on the head of a pin to make it all wrong , when they must know, in their heart of hearts and the dead of night it's a non-issue!

The only change is one of those areas so that people cant just wander up their driveway!

So the press are also having us on when they tell us a children's nature centre has been closed and sitting tenants moved on?

I don't think it's a non issue at all. It looked worse than last year, it won't get better. Maybe it's because I saw more footage from the general public - with one clip and the person ignoring everyone else in the family and shouting out "where are the children, we want the children!!"

In my heart of hearts, I think it is an ongoing issue.

There is no requirement in the UK for anyone to make public his tax details: they are a private matter between the individual and HMRC

E2 reluctantly started paying and declaring tax in the wake of the Windsor fire in the face of public anger over the suggestion taxpayers meet the repair bill.

C3 continues to reveal a certain amount of tax information even though he tried to claim polo pony costs as a business expense.

We are simply left to wonder why W has declined to reveal even this limited information on his own account if there's nothing to be seen.

Yes, the demands of some members of the public is an on-going issue, and I would expect there is an ongoing conversation behind the scenes about how that is managed with regards to the children. Just as there will be on-going decision making about security, mobile phones, education etc as they grow up.

I don't think the Sandringham Church walk was a sign of on-going parenting failures.

I don't think 'allowing' an adult who has legal capacity to make that decision - attending a royal event, sleep on a park bench etc - is an on-going issue. Or the responsibility of anyone except the person concerned.

@Baital
”I don't think the Sandringham Church walk was a sign of on-going parenting failures.”

I think it was an incredibly out of character decision for the Wales parents to make. Which makes me wonder why they made it.

I don't think 'allowing' an adult who has legal capacity to make that decision - attending a royal event, sleep on a park bench etc - is an on-going issue. Or the responsibility of anyone except the person concerned.

I agree with that. BUT, it is up to parents to keep their children feeling safe. so keeping said children away from random strangers is ......well parenting.

Very basic parenting as well.

is quite entertaining to see their loyal fans dancing on the head of a pin to make it all right when they must know, in their heart of hearts and in the dead of night that it really isn’t!
And the thing is, avid Royalists who defend everything they do are a small minority of mainly older people, plus quite a lot of Americans. A more transparent, accountable, less extravagent Monarchy is more likely to survive long term so ironically it is probably scrutiny by non Royalists who will keep them going by forcing them to respond to criticism and changing rather than the people who excuse everything they do- which is often absolutely nothing except minimising, covering up and refusing to act. The types of people who wailed at grieving children 28 years ago and now shout and scream at their childen are doing themselves and image of the Monarchy no good at all.

That’s easy to say when you don’t make any attempt to justify it. So why do you think it was out of character?

I would note that the Wales’ older children have been walking to church with their parents at Sandringham since 2019.
They have been attending other formal events (Trooping the Colour/ the Platinum Jubilee/ the Coronation) for a similar time period, and informal events, like sports matches, as well.
The two oldest children both accompanied their parents on a public walkabout in Cardiff in 2022 as part of the Jubilee celebrations.

So no, I don’t think this is out of character at all.

Looking back at the recent history of the walk it looks like the first year post Covid walk 2021 the family took more time than in previous years to talk and interact a lot more on the walk back after Church. Possibly as a natural reaction to the previous year where the public were not allowed to gather.

The press made a big deal about showing some people giving the kids gifts and it was the first time they were interacting more with the crowd.

That seems to have encouraged more people to do the same in hopes of a personal interaction rather the just a wave.

Like I said above - it probably feels quite different on the inside - it’s just a little bit ‘more’ each year - doesn’t have the same impact as watching curated video clips.

However if us outsiders can see the escalation I’m absolutely sure the highly trained security team can also see it.

There will be debriefs after any royal engagement and this will be no different.

At ToC, Platinum Jubilee, Coronation, you don't get oddballs thrusting Aldi selection boxes at them or stuffed toys for George.
A formal event bears no resemblance to the Sandringham walk.