William on Graham Norton

[viques]

Poor Harry. As if his week hasn’t been bad enough he has now had to watch his brother appearing on the best talk show , holding his own, looking comfortable and relaxed, keeping up with the banter, making half decent jokes, telling stories against himself with humour.

Makes Harry’s attempt at tv chatting seem even more uncomfortable.

“Call me William” versus “I am a prince.”

That W's off on yet another holiday?

Absolutely.

Poor thing must be worn out after all that exhausting gallivanting round TV studios 😴

Funny ai take on it

www.instagram.com/reel/De7LcAisc2X/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Your hyperbole will not work

The only people ranting are royalists insulting other posters . Go right ahead . It only blows back on you.

There is great deal of anger against the Windsors and royalists would be well advised to stop mocking it . I bet the Windsors are taking it seriously .

You bring up pedophiles. No one has raised that re William except you.

The Windsors knew about Andrew and Epstein for over a decade . They protected him . They attempted to rehabilitate Andrew with William photographed with Andrew in the front seat .

What did you know William and Charles and when did you know it?

I agree that our major institutions, including the monarchy, are crying out for reform and also that a huge amount of pressure lies on William’s shoulders to carry out a proper root and branch slimming down of the institution.

I think that a Republic will ultimately be a better system for our countries and more democratically accountable, but I don’t advocate sudden change. Lownie’s suggestions of five steps we could take to improve matters would be a great starting point to restore trust and transparency:

** Introduce parliamentary accountability by allowing both Houses of Parliament to be able to fully debate monarchy, ask direct questions, and actively scrutinize public expenditure on the royal family.

** the current bloated sovereign grant, that’s linked to crown estate should be abolished and replaced with a new, much simpler and more transparent "Royal Duties Grant" voted upon annually by MPs.

**the royal duchies should be nationalised by having them subsumed in to the crown estate, explicitly establishing them as public property belonging to the British taxpayer.

** the legal exemptions that shield the royal family from FOI requests should be stripped away, subjecting them to the same public transparency rules as any other public institution.

** create a strict, transparent registry detailing all royal gifts, similar to that which MPs have, alongside a formal register to hold non-working or extended royals accountable to Parliament for their commercial activities.

Added to the above I would restrict the number of palaces and properties that the monarch currently owns or has access to; is the full number about seventeen or eighteen at the moment?

I find it outrageous that in these straightened times, the tax payer has paid out £369 million for the restoration of Buckingham Palace, without any public consultation on the matter, while the Royal Family has decided that none of them are going to live there! The idea being that BP will become an administrative centre when St James’s palace is already available for this purpose.

If they are are will work for chump change your honours, doff caps and curtsys - PM me - let's talk !

I thought William looked so well and was wonderfully relaxed and such a brilliant opportunity to showcase the Earthshot initiative that is making a big difference to all our lives.

( I suspect AI is replacing me and many others now so it will fall on deaf ears sadly)

Fine. Pay for your own helicopters, take a limo rather than a free ride, and stop pretending it’s all in the line of duty rather than a life of luxury. Pay the full whack of tax on your income, accept inheritance tax like everyone else, and open your wills to public scrutiny when you die. And reconcile with your brother who has offered his hand - be a big man and not a spiteful heir. Then we can talk about public service and sacrifice.

It amazes me how people think that unless the RF are in public or on TV they are not working. It’s the equivalent of saying people who WFH aren’t working because they are not in the office.

“Work” to one person is very different to another e.g. nurse to payroll to electrician. It’s clear PW is well briefed before he turns up to public events, the TV appearances will have taken time to prepare for. Earthshot will require meetings and research I.e. reviewing applications, running the Duchy will require time etc. Rehersals for set Royal events e.g. Trooping the Colour. plus there are the red boxes,

Every. Single. Word. Many thanks for the post. The irony is that, if he were truly enlightened, he would get ahead of the curve and lead reform from within. A growing clamour for change from outside only makes the institution look worse. Other royalists may well be piling on to deflect criticism and protect the monarchy, but in doing so they risk hastening the very decline they claim to want to prevent.

Agree.

Which side of the argument people are on doesn't really matter; the fact that some people use false statements in argument absolutely does.

A week before the official visit, the briefings are produced. A one-pager is prepared, and someone sits with him in the car to run through the itinerary.
He is woken by a valet in the morning. Breakfast is served, while a flunky rattles through the day's schedule. The luxury car or helicopter, accompanied by a royal police escort, whisks him to the venue.
Smile. Exchange a few pleasantries. Shake hands. Tilt the head sympathetically. Hold out your hand with the palm open, as though you're presenting an invisible box of sincerity. Keep an eye out for the best photo opportunities - woke rules apply as you tour the room.
Back in the car, round on a flunky because some minor detail has gone wrong, something nobody else even noticed.
Finally, home again. Put the telly on. Another hard day's public service done.

Kerching another £44k net for that day. Gizza job - I can do that !

That’s all very well but as we know, following KC’s accession and the AMW debacle, this doesn’t work in practice.

The heir is heralded as monarch within hours and days of the previous monarch dying. This is what happens in a hereditary system. There is no time or space or formal mechanism for debate or for the will of the people to be taken in to account. The entire system is slanted towards the status quo.

Even after a seventy year long reign, when a public debate would have been appreciated and imho respectful, no such possibility exists,

Of course the hereditary system also relies on deference and mourning to prevent too many objections being made.

The time when we should have a debate is now when a relatively young king is about to take over!

As for Parliament acting on our behalf, most MPs, with the exception of a few stalwarts, have completely abdicated their responsibility to ask the difficult questions on behalf of us. This was apparent during the AMW debate which was barely afforded parliamentary time in the first place!

And the AMW scandal highlighted how vulnerable the RF are to being used by Libyan gun smugglers, Chinese spies and American millionaire paedophiles, precisely because they are subject to so little scrutiny!
Not that this should need spelling out, but this state of affairs is in no way beneficial for the UK and its people.

As for Parliament acting on our behalf, most MPs, with the exception of a few stalwarts, have completely abdicated their responsibility to ask the difficult questions on behalf of us. This was apparent during the AMW debate which was barely afforded parliamentary time in the first place!

Which is a problem with Parliament, and strong questions should be asked of MPs; I've been saying this consistently.

Parliament is sovereign. There is nothing that is stopping them. There is no reform required; they already have all the powers.
The question is why they aren't using them.

The paragraph that is repeatedly quoted as preventing discussion of the RF actually allows it, and specifies the manner of discussion, so that is not an excuse.

WRT AMW, in my opinion (and I have said this throughout the AMW saga) it is because AMW, while his behaviour has been egregious, is one of the least powerful of the men involved.
There are plenty of powerful finance, business and political men still out there who have not yet been brought to justice - and may never be.

I totally agree. Palace strategy for the last eighty years or so in response to a crisis appears to be:

** put finger in ears

** followed by head in sand,

** eventually, when public outrage encroaches on royal visits, and can no longer be ignored, try and defend their position using private briefings with tame journalists and historians, encourage broadcaster friends like Rory and Gyles to bat on their behalf on tv, engage crack PR teams, lean on objectors with legal letters or NDAs, or with the lure of a gong or a fancy invitation to Ascot or a garden party

* issue a statement saying they are deeply* surprised, concerned or saddened

** say they will do everything in their power to change matters while behind the scenes doing the opposite

** state that an internal enquiry will take place which eventually finds nothing much to see here guv

**eventually are dragged kicking and screaming to make some long overdue reform in the most minimal and non transparent way possible

It’s not a good look tbh.

some sensible suggestions here.

They probably think teachers come in at 8.30 am and knock off at 3!

It's the last refuge of someone losing an argument to claim they don't really care and are only having a laugh...

This might be the case, but how would we know? William wants to treat the monarchy more like a conventional career and that’s a good thing. But that also means he needs a clear job description, have some supervision and receive annual appraisals. As for working from home, my boss would think I’m currently busy, but I’m actually on Mumsnet 😆

Introduce parliamentary accountability by allowing both Houses of Parliament to be able to fully debate monarchy, ask direct questions, and actively scrutinize public expenditure on the royal family.

The power is already with Parliament; the MPs just need to decide to use it

the current bloated sovereign grant, that’s linked to crown estate should be abolished and replaced with a new, much simpler and more transparent "Royal Duties Grant" voted upon annually by MPs.

No problem with that in principle. There would need to be decisions on where the money came from if it was decoupled from The Crown Estate. There would need to be decisions about what other bills did not receive Parliamentary time to allow yearly discussion of this one. The recent SG Bill (Act next month) has fixed one of the 2011 anomalies.

the royal duchies should be nationalised by having them subsumed in to the crown estate, explicitly establishing them as public property belonging to the British taxpayer.

They are private, not public property. They are private estates since the 1300s, and were handed back to the monarchy for the personal property of the monarch/heir after the interregnum.
Under current UK/international law if they were seized by the state appropriate compensation would have to be paid.

the legal exemptions that shield the royal family from FOI requests should be stripped away, subjecting them to the same public transparency rules as any other public institution.

My understanding (from the last time I read a legal argument on this) is that members of the RF have the same rights under FOI as any other individual in the UK. You may have heard differently.

create a strict, transparent registry detailing all royal gifts, similar to that which MPs have, alongside a formal register to hold non-working or extended royals accountable to Parliament for their commercial activities.

There are already rules regarding gifts. Would agree to transparent registers for working royals, MPs and members of HoL.
I don't think non-working royals should have any more scrutiny than any other private individual, as long as they are not receiving any tax-payer funded benefits. (I exempt security, as that is based on risk.)

Parliament is indeed sovereign but imho you are wrong to assume that the institution of the monarchy doesn’t bear any responsibility for parliament’s current impotence.

We know that the late QE2 lobbied both British and Scottish governments privately to protect her personal wealth, hide her private investments, and exempt her private estates from green energy laws.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/07/revealed-queen-lobbied-for-change-in-law-to-hide-her-private-wealth

We know all about the then Prince Charles’s spidery ink letters to ministers.

We know from the AMW situation that not only did the late Queen lobby for AMW to be given the position of trade envoy, senior members of the civil service who reported his wrongdoings to the monarch, were sent away with a flea in their ear!

One such senior civil servant was happy to go on record in Lownie’s book, but has since been leaned on by those acting on behalf of the institution and will no longer do so!

We know about attempts by members of the RF lobbying on behalf of certain rich foreign donors in bids to undermine immigration law and speed up passport applications.

We know about the honours system

Etc

Vera? , well that explains it then!
you the self confessed Corbyn fan , faux republican who is a huge fan of monarchy if only “good king Harry “ would rule!
thankyou for letting us know….

Thanks I have sparred with the best of you over the years...don't worry I won't be here long. I have faux busyness to do elsewhere ....

www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_royal_family/5306429-sentebale-4?flipped=1&page=23

A blast from the past indeed!

Good ! , because I respect that actual republicans may have a point but I do not respect those that use that name to defend Harry !

Back to Daddy for a second. I remember at the time reading and snorting with derision at the millions in cash given to KC in Fortnum and Mason carrier bags. £3million in total, WTAF, must have weighed a ton!

Of course it was just the way these sheiks do things and it all went to charity, not sure which ones.

A bank transfer or two direct to the charities from the sheik's own bank was out of the question I reckon, and everything comes at a price anyway.

spectator.com/article/prince-charles-s-cash-in-bags-controversy/

Some posters are really triggered by how welll William came across on the GN show 🤷