Christmas Day walk in Sandringham

[Phase42]

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?!

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

I do hope so

That post was for those posters genuinely worried for the welfare of the kids and not just using this thread as a chance to criticize William and Kate (as part of a barely concealed anti monarchy vent)

I honestly think society has changed so much in the last 10 years - it is just so odd to me to think it is at all appropriate to want to hug a stranger. But it seems to be this weird badge of honour at how friendly/down to earth someone is.

If I were a royal I would wear gloves and carry a stick ;)

I was really shocked to see people asking Charlotte for hugs and more shocked that it was allowed. The man who spoke to George about Nanny Diana needs an intervention, that is not healthy or appropriate. The parents and their advisors not seeing how wrong it is that the kids are having to deal with these situations at such a young age blows my mind.

Why would anyone even want to hug a child they don’t know? It’s seriously creepy.

Well, if i was with DD, and surrounded by security that I trusted (and with people who had been checked for potential weapons) I would probably be fairly relaxed.

If there was someone who had turned up to family public events for years, never causing any trouble or trying to.intrude on private events, also relaxed. Would explain to DD that it was a bit strange, perhaps we were filling a void in their life. Not a role model! But be sympathetic. As long as it didn't threaten us (like our random stranger shouting at cars and greeting passers by) just say hello and move on.

If DD felt threatened they can just ignore, or turn to me to deal with etc

Just as I have discussed staying safe with DD for our reality - public transport - in age appropriate ways, and introduced her gradually so she could build up her independence.

Edited to add - random strangers are part of everyone's life, in one way or another. For DD, it is about learning to stay safe on public transport or on foot in public places as a single young woman. For the Wales children it is walkabouts with security around. Gradual and age appropriate, with support.

It’s one of those things that to modern eyes, make William and Catherine look like bad parents. They should have learned from the Harry drama that the children’s mental health should be prioritised and only George should be considered for official outings. We shouldn’t know what Charlotte and Louis look like, their parents should be shielding them.

Well, from the 'Harry drama' if he had been excluded it would have been one more thing to complain about!

I think that’s a good point about the post-Covid interaction, @wordler.

Stan John and that ilk should never have subsequently been encouraged though, IMO. This has been a foreseeable, preventable mess.

I daresay that it will now be dealt with and de-escalated somehow via a clever compromise. I don’t think Catherine is a poor parent - far from it.

@Baital- he was raised to be a working royal, but he was always going to be dropped down the importance levels once William had children. Harry should never have been made a working royal, he’d have been happier as a private person from day one with an expectation he’d be making his own way in life.

Charlotte and Louis aren’t going to be future monarchs so why are they being shoved out in public for photo opportunities at all? Why are they ever taken as children on official events? It’s frankly disgusting that were taken on that walk and their parents should prioritise the children and say never again, even though the press love the tradition and it’s good publicity for the family.

I don’t think the walk is out of character-they’ve done it forever. What I think was out of character was the hugs, the selfies and the introduction to the ultra Royalist-was he called John?- a very different tone to the past.

As I said, i work in supported living.

Two of the people I support regularly endanger themselves. They have been assessed as having mental capacity, legally, to do that. We are limited to encouraging healthy behaviours and responding to the consequences. Both are potentially life threatening.

Another has been assessed as without capacity, so we can restrict access to food (diabetic but don't understand the consequences of choices).

Others it's borderline whether they really understand the consequences of a refusal of medical or dental treatment, but we manage to encourage / persuade often enough not to need a formal assessment.

I have no idea about the circumstances of Stan John. Maybe his behaviour affects his real.life relationships, his health, his finances. Maybe it doesn't. I wouldn't assume either way. I have known people whose real life relationships take second place to attending every match of the team they support etc. And read about - not known personally - people who spend all their time, money, and energy on a favourite band. There's nowt so queer as folk.

FFS - they weren’t ’taken on a walk’ for a PR photo shoot.

The whole family grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins who are also minors walked to and from church for the Christmas Day service that the family has been doing together for over 40 years.

Most people agree that the gifts and the requests for hugs from the children is escalating. We have no way of knowing how the kids or their parents or their security team feel about this or how they will adjust going forward.

But it’s ridiculous hyperbole to call it ‘disgusting’.

@wordler Of course the walk is a PR photo shoot. The whole purpose of these walkabouts is to engage with the public and make the royal family seem accessible.

The children are being used to ensure the continuation of the monarchy. Just as William and Harry were themselves used.

I've just watched extended versions of this attendance due to some of the assertions on this thread. At no point was Louis staggering under the weight of gifts. He was carrying a red Lindt chocolate ball and was accompanied by his father.

I haven’t seen it but they said it was a previous year.

‘It was from last year's walk which makes it even worse as he was younger. Google Sandringham 2024 and you will see it.’

Just ban the public gawkers and televise it only.

I wonder why not, no one would care. Well normal people wouldn't and probably wouldn't watch it either.

If that was the case then it's obvious that lessons were learnt and hopefully they will address the trying to hug etc.

How do you mean? The children were still accepting a large number of gifts this year.

They weren't struggling under the weight of them or whatever phrase was used. Catherine with flowers was also handing them to a policewoman. I can't say for sure how many gifts - do you know?

Lucky they’ve got several years experience of meeting the public at close quarters at walkabout as well, then!

But both experiences - the formal and informal public events - help prepare the children for what will likely be the rest of their lives - seeing crowds of people gathered to cheer them at a distance, and interacting with crowds of people that have gathered to see them up close. This has been their reality since they are born, after all. Most parents would want their children to understand the reality of their lives, whether that be our normal or not.

No idea, thousands I would imagine. At one point Charlotte had a teddy, flowers, a selection, box, chocolate coins and something else I couldn’t make out. The amount doesn’t seem to have reduced, it’s just at what point they pass it onto someone else to carry for them. Their staff are seen taking it from them before their arms are refilled with the next load of gifts. I’ve seen police officers holding gifts for them before on TikTok. They got given a huge amount this year, just like last year. Nothing has changed in that respect.

eta Louis was struggling to hold a rather large teddy so much that he had to pass his father the other gifts he was also carrying, another teddy and more chocolate.

I thought you said you hadn't seen it? 🤷‍♀️

You said you hadn't seen it .

I haven’t seen it, I’m talking about the footage from this year. The pp was talking about something from last year.

Don't you think thousands is a bit of an exaggeration? 😂