Should he still be driving at 97?

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I suppose there may be some truth in what you say Anniebach but even if the Royal Family made our country very rich, for me the end doesn't justify the means.

Grammaretto, I most certainly am not an ardent royalist but a presidency ? No thank you.

Aha! Thanks I did know that he abdicated.

We are all a bit obsessed by the RF.
Apparently a lot of us dream about them and there's a constant stream of films about them.

I wouldn't change places for an instant but I believe they serve a purpose and a presidency would be awful.

annep as you are a republican and so want a president,
You are going to concentrate on the negative and dismiss the positive.

For a different reason.

Abdicated Grammaretto. that can be considered leaving the job.

Annie what did Edward 8th do?

I can't be bothered to read through 20 pages to find out. Please put me out of my misery. I always read from the back to the front when skipping through.
Surely he can't have driven around sandringham aged 97 or as I first read 977.

Edward 8th did.

Well I don't see anyone rushing to leave such a horrible job! And they have plenty of opportunity to slob in front of the telly with fish and chips - freshly prepared with finest ingredients in palace kitchen (though personally I don't see the attraction?).

I agree merlot having to sit through that year after year , grim

TBH there aren't that many state banquets.

I bet the Queen is pleased to have passed on the Royal Variety Performance to unfortunate younger members of the family.

I had a cook/housekeeper/maternity nurse and trained nanny after my first two.

ie my mum - lucky me

PECS did you have to wear a posh frock and a tiara to work?

"Oh no, not another state banquet, I just want fish and chips on a tray in front of the telly!"

But Sparkle you were not going home to maternity nurses, nannies, cooks and housekeepers either.... were you? I agree not great re media 6 hours post delivery... but benefits easily balance it out!

A job queenie didn’t apply for

I wouldn't want to have to give birth and then have to pose on the hospital steps a few hours later, having had to have a full blow-dry and full make-up, and have the general public analyse whether or not I still had a "mum-tum". No thanks.

It is a job! How did I, or anybody else, go to a meeting with the right information so I could make an appropriate contribution and know what I was talking about?
I am sure it is very hard to have ones family smalls washed in public and that is the downside to all the benefits. No job is perfect!

I couldn't either

So annep it would be worth it even if your grandchildren were mocked in the media ? You could handle that ? I couldn’t

and make interesting, polite but non-controversial conversation with said world leaders.
At the same time as knowing that whatever I did would be criticised, and having to sort out a difficult husband (well, I know what that is like ).

I'd rather go and chuck some leftovers together for supper, slob around in the clothes I wore to clean the house today (even straightening cushions too!) then load the dishwasher than get dressed up in a heavy tiara, posh frock, tights, high(ish) heels and gloves to go and shake hands with world leaders.

HM and I do have one thing in common though - Tupperware!

If I never had to wash a dish, launder my clothes, run a bath, (clean a bath) make a meal ( unless you wanted to play house!) even straighten a cushion. in fact never had to lift a finger to do any work I didn't want to do I could certainly smile at endless functions especially with all the holidays to recover( for which I didn't have to plod through the internet to find one I could afford and pack case and trundle through the airport ). Yep. I could handle that. Oh well I must go and change for dinner. I wonder what cook has made tonight . bliss!

There is no doubt that the RF do a lot of good and are good ambassadors for their country. I have no idea how they behave in their personal life but members of my family have met the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Camilla and Prince Edward, all at official functions. They have all said how pleasant they were and how well informed they were on the subject of the time although DS was only about 9 when he met PD. It must take a lot of work to swat up on all the different subjects and keep a smile on your face and show interest to all the people they have to talk to.

Sounds like we mix in royal circles no, all but one of those was related to work. The other was a casual meeting at a theatre opening.

True she has never experienced the stress of making tea, wiping a bum, going to Sainsbury’s.

How many of us have had their children and grandchildren lives pulled to pieces day after day in the press, in coffee shops, in pubs, in millions of homes.

Because she has staff to do the wiping of bums it doesn’t mean she loves her children and grandchildren less, no wealth can ease worry , no wealth can make a person oblivious to constant criticism.

We have had many threads on grief, always we read ‘there is no right or wrong way to grieve’, who else has been criticised more for not parading her grief as queenie has.