William and Harry - I'm puzzled.

niggllynellie I think discussion of this subject is perfectly legitimate and I don't see what gives you the right to pronounce that such matters are "simply not our business".

Where exactly did any of them get their "personal fortunes" from.

According to Republic:

In 2013/14 a payment of £36.1 million was made in respect of the annual sovereign support grant - but there are also very substantial hidden expenses (including security - the cost of which is secret).

Prince Charles's Duchy of Cornwall does not pay corporation tax or capital gains tax, yet no valid reason for this has ever been forthcoming from the government.

Questions have also been raised about the lack of transparency over Charles's income tax, which he pays on a voluntary basis.

That was 'can't not 'can'.

Short of doing absolutely nothing day after day, whatever Prince Harry did after leaving school he would have needed security officer protection simply because of who he is which incidentally he can't help. There is no way that he could just mingle in with other young people with all the threats that he would obviously attract. Surely it's much better for him to be allowed a semblance of normal life with normal people with all its inevitable flaws than just frittering his life away, going on jollys, partying till dawn with nothing but empty days to look forward to. I think if this Prince had decided on this life style (which he could well afford from his personal fortune) the howls of derision would be deafening. Of course it's not perfect, what in life is? At least he's done and is planning to do something worthwhile, Help for Heroes tells us that. Frankly I can think why he's still up for discussion on here or anywhere else, over things that are simply not our business, anymore than ours is his, particularly as we don't keep him from the public purse, his finances are a private matter except on official business as are Prince William's.

And seeing Prince Charles, Andrew, etc., parading around with all those medals - for doing what exactly?

Anniebach I can't think what would make you admire the Duke of Edinburgh - the man who said:

to the then Paraguayan dictator General Stroessner "It's a pleasure to be in a country that is not ruled by its people."

to a woman who lost 2 sons in a fire, commenting on fire alarms "They're a damn nuisance - every time I run my bath it goes off".

to a car park attendant who didn't recognise him "You silly bloody fool".

to Lockerbie residents after the plane bombing of 1993 "People say after a fire it is water damage that's the worst. We're still drying out Windsor Castle."

Just a tiny sample of the crass remarks this man has made over the years.

POGS , how many soldiers are given 24 hour guard by the Ghurkas ?

Were the rest in his regiment not even more at risk because he wanted to be there?

How many get into Sandhurst with an A in Art and a D in Geography ? 80% of cadets have degrees , I have said commissions are not bought now , but Harry's was

My point in this is we cannot claim they are treated just like the rest , it just isn't so , Harry may have made Cpl if he had come from a comprehensive

Would he have been made an honourary Ghurka if he had not been a Windsor? I think not

It's the pretence that all this was earned which I cannot fall in with

My Dad was a Farmer and joined up in 1939 when war broke out, as a Gunner. He was selected for Officer training based on his A levels and went through the war and for 7 years afterwards as an officer.

My elder brother joined as a private, having deferred National Service whilst at University, in 1957 and did 22 years, ending as a Major.

We are just a very ordinary family yet had two Regular Army officers, two Staff Sergeants (nephew and other brother) and a Royal Navy Lt. Commander (nephew)from our ranks. Not much class distinction there.

Harry was on a 4 month deployment to Stan when the news blackout was broken by an Australian paper , I believe it was Australian.

His father the Prince of Wales is the Colonel in Chief of the RGR , Royal Gurkha Regiment .
Are you saying Anniebach that Harry whilst serving with the RGR was not mixing with the rest of the regiment? Are you saying Harry did not undertake missions that put him in any danger, he was just a poster boy!

To my knowledge Harry was very popular and was nick named 'bullet magnet'. He was given the Kukuri and made an Honorary Gurkha , a great privilege.

Thankyou, I had no idea!
(And we have been a Forces family for generations.)

All the services are class ridden to a certain extent and just like any establishment (boarding school for instance) contemporaries will often be from similar backgrounds.

Rosequartz , not snobbery, I have lived in a garrison town since 1970, worked in three army camps, still have cause to get in them regularly

When they do try to lead a more 'ordinary' life with us 'plebs' the press soon suss it out and follow them. Shame on whoever leaked Harry's tour to the press.
Prince William has startled one or two people he has rescued when they realised who he was and that he actually does carry out his duties like any other rescue pilot.

If they swanned around like some other young royals with their sense of entitlement they would be in the wrong, if they try to live a more normal (albeit protected) life they are wrong - damned if they do, damned if they don't!

Assuming officers come from a certain 'class' displays an outmoded view and is a form of inverted snobbery.

If I haven't seen something I cannot say I believe it or not, I certainly do not tell myself people do things which I have never seen, read of or heard.

The army is class ridden, always had been , I see it daily. Perhaps Leticia can give the names of lads from state schools who socialise with Harry, true officers no longer have to buy their commissions which means far less loss of life in the lower ranks thank God . 80% of army officers have degrees , Harry has a B in art and a D in geography , how many Sandhurst cadets can say the same. Harry was guarded 24 hours a day by the Ghurka regiment , this is a fact and a plane was on standby to get him out . I did not say Harry did not train , I do know he received privileges others did not. I saw him on some training hikes and no, he didn't have someone to carry his load, I do not make things up and I do not fantasise about the windsors either , I accept they are very wealthy, very privalaged and spoilt and I don't envy them living a life having to take care what they say and having to smile when ever in public. I don't think they hate the press anymore than the rest of their family, they learned from their mother how to use the press and they are good at this . I don't know them so neither like or dislike them , certainly don't feel affection for them and have no cause to admire them or feel proud of them. I admit to rather a liking for Phillip, and had such respect for Katherine Kent

It is something they have had to learn to accommodate soon but they can hardly be blamed for their dislike of the press when their Mother was hounded to her death by them.

My DH was watching a documentary. I have no idea how current it was. And on there, it came across that Prince William and Prince Harry really do not like the press. Awkward since the press are part of their lives.

Elegran There was also the story in Readers Digest that Andrew bounded into his Captain's bunk and greeted him saying that he could call him Andrew. His Captain turned around and said, "and you can call me Sir!

My DH was one of those from a State comp and who worked his way through to commission. He was never accepted as equal by those who went to Sandhurst. But he got on very well with his soldiers. Probably because DH knew all the tricks himself.

Rosequartz Harry was only there for 10 week tour. Somehow a leak occurred in news and he had to leave quite sharp . I read a post that he was fully guarded by Gurkhas. Don't know about that but he certainly had the Pilgrims looking after him.

PS. Just like my grandfather, my DH supports the monarchy and actually thinks Harry did well to get away from his privileged background.

I think that William and Harry have such a hatred of the press that they keep out as much as possible.

Are you saying that the Air Ambulance don't pick up anyone in need?
I thought they picked up those who needed medical help-regardless of whether a duke or a tramp.
Very true Elegran-Anniebach seems way out of date as to who joins the army and who joins at officer level. The ones that I know went to comprehensive schools. However-she does love her stereotypes.
They have absolutely no say about who photographs them. There will be many times that the press isn't there-but if Anniebach hasn't seen it, it hasn't happened!

I can't see how we know anything about what really goes on. The recent TV programme "Reinventing the Royals" demonstrated how every appearance is stage managed - one of the journalists said himself that he felt quite uncomfortable as to how much control the Royal PR machine has.

How do you know they didn't do all the stuff that others do at training camp, anniebach ? Do you have a relative who served with them?

They were bloody annoyed when the press turned up to photograph them loading boxes. Someone called the press when they saw them. They can't blow their noses without someone taking a picture and selling it to the press, so if they do something helpful of course it gets blazoned over the papers.

They are not squaddies, they ARE officers, as ordinary young men of their age become if they go for commissions. At the start of their careers, they mix with other young trainees and newly commissioned officers.Those who have met them in real life say how ordinary and friendly they are.

Now their Uncle Andrew - I know a naval officer of his vintage, who says that from the start Andrew mixed and ate with the scrambled egg and never spoke to the junior officers who were on his own grade.

And Harry's tour of duty in the Middle East was secret at the time.

Harry was an officer and may well have a chat but that's it, they do not mix with ordinary people

Are you saying that officers cannot be from ordinary backgrounds?
Not all officers go through Eton Anniebach

Some are quite 'ordinary' as you put it, just worked hard at 'ordinary' schools

But they do not work with ordinary people really, Harry was an officer and may well have a chat but that's it, they do not mix with ordinary people , same with William , it's just their PR machine on full throttle . When Harry joined the army we read how he was just one of the boys, never heard of army training camps stripping out lavatories and painting rooms for every recruits. I cannot see his demands to do a tour of duty in the Middle East as brave, it was selfish, he put the lives of other men at even greater risk , I accept it is not his fault he is a target , I do blame him for putting himself before others . We see what the palace wants us to see, why did the press turn up the same time the two helped put boxes on lorries ? They cannot know how Jo Bloggs lives because they live behind palace walls . It's so like Diana days over again

I was thinking more of the women,merlotgran, who had been needed for 'men's jobs' in WW1 and needless to say didn't want to go back to being servants.
All to the good that William and Harry are working with ordinary people, WhiteCloud and know how they live. Not something Queen Mary would have done!

[Anniebach] Well thread and said! I wonder who pays for the PR machine? I can guess. Charles purchased a lot of industrial land in Milton Keynes a few years ago, and collects rent from the leases. MK was designated in 1950 to be this country's next capital. The Prime Minister congratulated MK businesses for showing no signs of recession over the last few years. Anyhoo. The most re-invented people since Diana. My grandfather was amazed that he survived the trenches, and then went on to serve in India at the detention centre in Calcutta. He came back to marry my grandmother - who was an original camp follower in London where granddad now served at The Tower and Buck Palace. The parents supported them financially and my mother had to live with grandparents for the first five years of her life because granddad was not allowed to live outside of the barracks. He used to leave the small lodgings -paid for by relatives- every evening before Taps. My grandmother always had concern and assisted others - she used to share whatever she had throughout her life. She was not a royalist, although Granddad always covered the house in red, white and blue bunting twice a year and stood to attention when the Troop was on TV. She was extremely saddened at the way ex-WWI servicemen were left to sleep rough on the streets of London - many of them limbless. She was wholly disheartened at the poverty, illness and starving population particularly the children. She never forgot. She was extremely bitter when she commented how May of Teck (Queen Mary - grandmother to the present Queen) would ride by in her horse drawn carriage, surrounded by warm furs and wearing jewels from head to toe - with her nose in the air and indifferent to all the suffering. I don't see the 1000 yard stare in the eyes of Harry that I well remember in the eyes of my grandfather and today's service personnel - even an NHS medic I know who volunteered for a tour of duty in the Stan. Sorry for long windedness... it has been condensed though

Or they were dead.