Do the Tales Get Taller?

I can imagine she wouldn't suffer fools gladly.

She seems very grounded and wise.

Exactly Deeda. She had to compete and win her place in order to take part. No special consideration because she was the late Queen's D.

She's an accomplished horse rider, not by virtue of her birth but because of her hard work, dedication and courage.

I always admired Princess Anne since the day she told would be kidnappers ‘Not bloody likely’ when they told her to get out of her car.

I will just say that I can ride a horse but all the money and advantages in the world would ever have made me a successful 3 Day Event rider. It's a very dangerous sport and takes talent and amazing courage to even attempt it.

Princess Anne would make a great Queen.

I agree with Callistemon and others about Princess Anne’s talent an dedication to equestrian sport.

I know one fantastic foster mum who bought a £100 yearling from a farmer who let her camp on his land with several children. They hired a truck, brought the pony home and a few years later the children were involved in pony club and gymkanas. Great experience

Talent and skill are not confined to class boundaries, thankfully.

Although, there are jealous people who wish that those they perceive to be worth "less than" would disappear and give up. I think because they feel entitled to be "better" due to their immense financial privilege. People who have some natural talent and who practice and work hard will always be better than those who don't.

You have to have the talent, and it is easier to demonstrate that talent if you have money, but that’s true of everything.

Callistemon21, I completely agree with you - yes, PA clearly had advantages that many did not, but she had to have the raw talent in the first place to rise to the very top echelons of equestrian sport.

Blondiescot

Not everyone who has horses is wealthy. I grew up around horses, as did my daughter - and there were two very distinct horsey 'sets', if you like. There were, of course, the very well-off ones and then there were very ordinary families who just happened to have a love for horses and went out of their way to facilitate that, much in the same way others would encourage their children to pursue other hobbies. In our local Pony Club, we had a few very snobby mums who looked down their noses at us - the poor relations - but when it came to competitions, our kids were just as good as anyone else.

No-one has said they weren't just as good, all I was saying was that if Princess Anne had not been talented she wouldn't have got picked for the Olympic team or won gold in Europe, however much opportunity she had.

I realise others don't have the same advantages and may have to work even harder to achieve greatness in competition.

But if the talent wasn't there, she would not have achieved so much.

Isn't it funny how that "preciousness" extends to other hobbies too when people think they are "better" than you, live in a nicer area etc- but if you excel at something they hate you for it and find ways to attack. Some things we work at because we love and the area you live or where you're from should not dictate that your skill level matches that.

We don't have a caste system. We don't live in boxes, but I am sure that some people would very much like anyone who outshines them to "get back in their box" haha.
Anyone can achieve anything and the snobs never like you being better at something than them. It's just their own insecurity, which they should work on instead of trying to attack those who they perceive as better or more skilled.

Blondiescot, that’s true. 1 DGD loved horses, so her birthday and Christmas presents for several years contributed to her riding and yes, there were a few people who were a bit snotty about families who didn’t have their own horses, especially when the non-owners won but most were not like that.

Blondiescot

Not everyone who has horses is wealthy. I grew up around horses, as did my daughter - and there were two very distinct horsey 'sets', if you like. There were, of course, the very well-off ones and then there were very ordinary families who just happened to have a love for horses and went out of their way to facilitate that, much in the same way others would encourage their children to pursue other hobbies. In our local Pony Club, we had a few very snobby mums who looked down their noses at us - the poor relations - but when it came to competitions, our kids were just as good as anyone else.

The children that I've worked with, with horses, have frequently been gypsies. So not m/c at all.

I hate snobbery, it's pathetic. Glad you did what you wanted with your horses despite those horsey snobs Blondiescot

Not everyone who has horses is wealthy. I grew up around horses, as did my daughter - and there were two very distinct horsey 'sets', if you like. There were, of course, the very well-off ones and then there were very ordinary families who just happened to have a love for horses and went out of their way to facilitate that, much in the same way others would encourage their children to pursue other hobbies. In our local Pony Club, we had a few very snobby mums who looked down their noses at us - the poor relations - but when it came to competitions, our kids were just as good as anyone else.

There are many people with money brought up with horses and all the paraphernalia that entails but not all of them have the skill and determination to be picked for the GB Olympic team or to win gold in European Championships.

But at least they had the opportunity Callistemon.

These memes, if that is the right word, are clever, and the only way to deal with the bile spewing forth from Harry is to mock it.

There’s a lot of speculation now about Harry’s mental health, and I can’t help but think that after all the ridicule that’s going to ensue from ‘Spare’ - and that already has ensued - it’s going to get a lot worse.

I honestly think that whoever either encouraged or merely enabled this memoir, presumably thinking only of $$$$$, deserves a huge amount of censure.

IMO it was cruel of whatever ‘advisers’ he has, not to mention his publishers, that it was allowed to go ahead in its final form.

Loving the memes that are circulating now!

Yes I've said the same every time I've seen that info. It's so inappropriate. What is wrong with Harry for mentioning that?

The man needs some healthy boundaries of what is right and ok. He's making me think he doesn't have any. Perhaps he's more troubled than we know.

Sparklefizz

Harry complaints (frfequently) about his privacy being invaded, yet he has said some horrendously personal things about Charles and William in this book which have been revealed in the interviews.

eg. he has announced that he is circumcised which was said in connection with saying that he had had frostbite on the tip of his penis ... and then went on to say that William was circumcised too.

He is a disgrace.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again

Too much information

That’s information from Harry, not Sparklefizz.

Witzend

Germanshepherdsmum

She grew up though, didn’t she? Accepted her role and got on with it - as well as excelling at equestrian sports and bringing up level-headed children for whom she refused to accept titles. What a difference.

TBH I don’t think she’s due a great deal of kudos for excelling at equestrian sports. A good many people might have done the same, given ample money for good horses and all the paraphernalia, stabling, feed and vets’ bills, etc. they require. Not to mention from the time she could first manage to sit on a pony, homes with hundreds of acres of grounds in which to ride them.

She deserves respect for the other matters you mention, though.

There are many people with money brought up with horses and all the paraphernalia that entails but not all of them have the skill and determination to be picked for the GB Olympic team or to win gold in European Championships.

Agree with your post of 21.38 Witzend.

They aren't teenagers though, are they? They are in their 40s

I've tried really hard to avoid reading anything about it - but now it's on the news. It struck me, having two sons, that it's just so common to have the occasional fight, falling out etc. with a brother. There's a competition for attention, too, a real temptation to appear in a better light - by slagging off the sibling. All so boringly normal (yawn).

Does he really think it's so unusual for a teenager to take drugs, have sex in a field etc.?