The Royal Family #15

[Boring Monday]

It’s a difficult one - putting to one side the 1950’s Enid Blyton dressing up box.
They are going to be on display at events all their lives. I would imagine it’s better to ease them into it from a young age in a controlled way, when they are with their parents and can be with other kids in the family at special events rather than just dump it on them at 18 or so.

 

[Heidi88]

I am bit behind as I recorded it and started late but why are the likes of Holly Willoughby and Rylan on one of the buses? Whatever about musicians and sports stars on then but inane, talentess tv presenters? No thanks!

 

[Merpedy]

I genuinely don't know? If it caused her hurt of course she should have voiced it. Perhaps not on a multi-million viewers show!!

Harry said it was once and only to him. She said multiple times. It's hard to fathom what exactly happened.

I haven’t watched the interview nor do I plan to, but from an article I quickly glanced over (and sadly cannot find again) to see what she said exactly, it mentioned that she had voiced discomfort about those comments and was ignored. Plus, the comments may have been made without Harry being there or he may have not realised how the comments are not obviously racist. Really, it doesn’t matter

Plus I’m sure the two would have corrected the language used around that if they felt so strongly. I doubt even the average American really wants to discuss racism, even if it’s about the RF, because there will be plenty of people who have gone through similar things themselves. If I remember right the Harry and Meghan rave thread had a pretty good discussion about this in general

If it comes to the day that we’re deciding whether to keep or get rid of the RF, I don’t think Harry and Meghan’s experience will have much bearing. There’s plenty of other examples of the RF being racist in the past; the fact that they attend private schools where those sort of mindsets are normalised, or so it seems from the many privately educated people I’ve met, will play a bigger role. That and basically everything else about the RF

It’s been almost ironic hearing BBC saying that the Queen has no real political power, or maybe it was part of the Queen’s speech that was part of one of the events, but there’s evidence of her/the RF lobbying the government to change or be excluded from certain laws.

 

[Falkor]

On that note, do you think that Kate only married him for love? I'm sure the money and him being a prince was a huge attraction for her. That and we all know Carole is the UK's answer to Kris Jenner and like fuck was she going to let any of her kids marry poor.....

Honestly, it would have put me off - if she wanted to marry wealth there were far, far easier options than William. And after the press coverage over the last 30 years or so, who would choose to be in the royal family? I think she married him in spite of him being a prince, because she knew she was essentially marrying the entire country when she did so and she'd never be private again.

 

[TooFarScone]

Tonight was great but felt just like the usual charity concert, opening ceremony, etc that we're used to seeing on TV except this one was at the palace. I think a huge royal variety performance would have been better, with more older acts who the Queen would actually recognise.

 

[Nordic]

I strongly think there are attempts from some areas to get Andrew back in eg the archbishop comments about forgiveness.
thankfully whoever is managing the other internal opposition is winning, hence the covid, the no show yesterday etc. I’m hoping on this one they realise that there’s no way back and he is shunted off away from the public.

 

[LoopyLou47]

Interesting re the Crown and artistic licence, I wish they wouldn't do stuff like that. A bit like Shakespeare and the tudor myth isn't it.

Re that story, the ' artistic licence' made the RF look better, as they pretended someone actually cared about them, when no one did. The things the Royals and the tabloids on their behalf are complaining about re The Crown is stuff that has been written and gossiped about tor years including by the tabloids themselves. A drama showing drama is less underhand than the endless ' sources' printed in the press, which is speculation masquerading as reportage. The Royalsxare up in arms now about The Crown because it reminds people of the Diana years when Charles has spent so long trying to repair his reputation. It was hilarious when they released the Diana interviews with no commentary whatsoever- just hours of Diana talking.

i find it distasteful that people are speculating what happens if they break up and about what would happen to the children

Also when they gleefully state that The Queen would take custody of them. Can you imagine the uproar if two very small children were taken from their mother and given to the Royals??? Apart from the fact that two children would be separated from their mother for no good reason. There would be war with the US for a Starr as Lili and Meghan are US citizens.

 

[hannah123]

It’s ridiculous that people can’t see the irony in a Prince pretending to be down with ‘ordinary’ people by selling the Big Issue then buggering off home to a bloody palace, whilst waffling about how much he cares about homelessness.

It’s a tricky situation where if he did nothing people would still complain. I give to food banks and don’t want people going hungry, but I’m not going to stop shopping in M&S because the people I give to can’t afford it. Likewise I don’t see how opening palaces will help, even if that is an idea they’re considering, because it doesn’t get to the root of homelessness.

I think there are certainly other areas of the RF activism that are questionable, like the environment. If you have 2 engagements in one day and need a helicopter to make both of them, do better planning so you only do 1 that day and can get a train. If you have to get a helicopter home to make tea time with the kids, unfortunately miss teatime like most parents would.

 

[thegirlscout]

In regards to Prince John, he made regular appearances with his family until his 11th birthday when his condition, epilepsy, became too severe. Unfortunately back in the 1900s, epilepsy was poorly understood and nearly everyone who had it as severe as John, if they couldn’t be cared for at home, ended up moving to a mental hospital for the rest of their life. When reading about John I have read one of his grandmothers kept a garden especially for him on the Sandringham Estate. Also his mother let local children befriend him which was against Royal protocol at the time. After his death one of the children, Winifred Thomas, was given a number of John's books, which Queen Mary had inscribed, “In memory of our dear little Prince.”
It seems that quite a few of the family were sympathetic to John, apart from Prince Edward who described him as an animal and said his death was “little more than a regrettable nuisance”. He also wrote a hateful letter to Queen Mary which has since been lost. What a prized dick he was.

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

It’s always a odd seeing the Royal go to some of the Caribbean countries tbh. Doesn’t feel very right

It's not ideal. Especially going to these countries to persuade them to keep the queen (or king, when it happens). I believe they should just be able to decide for themselves. We shouldn't impose decisions on anyone.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

People were not PC in those days

Most people in the U.K wouldn’t even consider curry ‘foreign’ anymore.

 

[Merpedy]

Was watching Al Jazeera a little while ago and they were discussing the importance of the royal family, the future of it, and the commonwealth etc. They had guests from Nairobi, in Birmingham (UK) and a guy from UK too. Not sure who they were exactly, but the guy from Nairobi is a journalist I think as seen him before. It was interesting.

They were saying that the issue with commonwealth is that despite it being a good thing generally, it's still a sign of white European dominance and in some ways, supremacy (I'm paraphrasing a bit) over the ex colonial realms, and that it is likely that the the Caribbean countries will remove queen as head of state.

I think they were a bit torn on the commonwealth, but the Kenyan guy did think Commonwealth is still an institution rooted in colonialism that will always haunt it. I wonder if there will be moves to sever the commonwealth when the Queen dies, or will that continue?

It’s always a odd seeing the Royal go to some of the Caribbean countries tbh. Doesn’t feel very right

 

[thegirlscout]

I rewatched the Paddington sketch again and “happy jubilee and thank you for everything” set me off. It really is less of a celebration and more of a goodbye isn’t it.

It did seem like that, especially when they projected ‘thank you, ma’am’ on the palace walls.

 

[LadyQuaithe]

That’s how you handle that. Their PR are doing really well this week.

We all had an incredible time, especially Louis.

 

[BonBon27]

Oh where did you red that?

I was coming to say I don’t know why William is dragging up his and Harry’s relationship again. It seemed from an outsider perspective, H&M did what was asked of them at the jubilee, showed up, kept their heads down and went home with minimum of fuss. I thought everyone would move on, if not get along, but now William’s friends are back slagging them off in the media. Why are the RF keeping talking about them?

To be fair I think losing your relationship with your brother would be something you wouldn’t just forget. It’s a loss that would affect you quite deeply, whatever the relationship you’d had in the first place. I know I’ve been through the loss of a close friendship and my husband is probably sick of hearing about it, esp when I know I’m going to be in the same place as the person. Not that it needs to be in the media, but I’m sure it’s something William thinks/talks about a lot.

 

[Blurp]

I think there are some medical issues which are more socially acceptable - for instance lots of people in this country have dyslexia and Eugenie’s condition was easily corrected by surgery and we (the public) don’t see the after effects this has on her. I think if there was a noticeable deformity or noticeable mental health issue then I think people would be more unkind.

Mind you, I don't remember seeing anything but sympathy for the Duchess of Kent after she had mental health problems after a late perimenopause pregnancy ended in stillbirth (Lord Patrick Windsor) and a previous pregnancy had to be terminated for medical reasons. It was known that Lady Helen and the Queen both gave her considerable support during this time which led to her conversion to Roman Catholicism and then to her withdrawal from royal life. She has remained in the public affection.

 

[Boring Monday]

Zara, Peter and the York girls all have jobs. The European Royals have pared down their Monarchies so only the heirs have Royal titles. The second in line is always problematic because they are destined to just sit around with no real purpose apart from be a support to their sibling, then when the sibling has children they aren't even needed for that anymore. Apart from anything else, it's a terrible way to treat people.

The Spare is a terribly outdated concept and actually quite cruel. They can’t do anything ‘just in case’ but when they start the slip down the pecking order are just expected the tootle off and shift for themselves. The last 3 have struggled terribly.

Maybe the best thing for Charlotte and Louis would be an acceptance that they start living their own life and preparing for not being a working royal sooner rather than later.

 

[LoopyLou47]

I think it's right that they need to give Andrew something to do and a way to earn money, to keep him busy and out of trouble. We might think he can't sink any lower, but someone with an inflated sense of entitlement and used to living a certain lifestyle could be ripe for causing further embarrassment, especially after the Queen is gone. BUT it should be a private family matter, not a public-facing role.

He could be given a vanity management position on one of the private royal estates, where he can bark orders and take meetings and feel important, but doesn't actually do anything of consequence or have contact with the general public. Both of his parents lived into their 90s, so he's not just going to go away anytime soon. A proactive approach is clearly needed.

That's a good point actually. He could just be told to do something like manage Balmoral or something out of the way. Problem is, he wants the life of an oligarch, with all the playing in the dressing up box that being a Royal entails. It's not just money it's status for him. But he's burned those brigades. If only for the sake of his daughters he should slink away.

 

[Glaschelle]

I definately think the Queen is deteriorating mentally and physically.

Remember when she did the scene with Daniel Craig for the 2012 Olympics - completely straight/stern faced. She was also photographed during the opening ceremony looking totally bored and never seemed to crack a smile.

Contrast this with 10yrs later and the sketch with Paddington Bear - she's beaming and delivering a punchline. And then seems to joining in with Queen (the band)

This isn't the Queen I remember.

 

[Merpedy]

If she continues on for a few more good years but with deteriorated health I wonder if there’s a chance of her just being in the background of everything and not appearing on the balcony?