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Are the Royal Family losing their touch?

(847 Posts)
volver Sun 03-Apr-22 16:22:31

A couple of weeks ago we had the disastrous PR associated with the Caribbean tour, and now the judgement of the Queen is being questioned, for giving Prince Andrew such a prominent role in the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service.

The position of the Royal Family depends very strongly on their acceptance by, and the support of, the public both here and overseas; are they losing that?

Esspee Mon 04-Apr-22 14:10:58

PECS

I hear a this about a mother's unconditional love & that is fine.

However it was a State occasion and not a family one. She did not have to permit him to escort her..she has 3 other children and equerries too. In my opinion it was a very deliberate move to start A's rehabilitation.
I am not suggesting he should not have attended but he could have arrived or sat with his DDs & SsIL

That tells me that the public mood has been misjudged by someone! They appeared got it wrong after Diana's death and back tracked.

There is media speculation that A will be accompanying HMQ to the Derby! It ws not long ago that Royal pundits were saying it would be at least a year from the sex scandal until A was seen publicly with the Queen.

Some mums don't believe their kids ever do bad things!

I agree completely with your comments PECS.
Andrew had a right to be there but allowing him to have a prominent role was a huge misjudgement by the Queen. The last time she made such a huge error of judgement was, I believe, over the death of Diana.
When she goes I feel it is time to bring an end to this anachronism.

Parsley3 Mon 04-Apr-22 13:55:22

The Cambridges do seem to have ditched their personalities in favour of the traditional stiff and formal way of doing Royal visits. The Caribbean trip was evidence of that. It’s disappointing really as I was looking to them for change. My children care not a jot so perhaps the existing reverence of the monarchy will simply naturally disappear.

maddyone Mon 04-Apr-22 13:40:48

curtsy…….

maddyone Mon 04-Apr-22 13:39:30

I liked Tony Benn very much. He spoke a lot of good sense.

Royal families have evolved because their ancestors were better at fighting than ours. They were also ruthless and cruel. I don’t really know how we’ve arrived at the place where we are now, with royals being treated with such deference. They are not one jot different than the rest of us, but people bow and curtesy to the Queen. Just why?

Grany Mon 04-Apr-22 13:30:48

Democracy is good Ireland elects their president every seven years I think. And the same with Germany There are many good respected presidents. We could have a president something like they have in Ireland.

Or like the Bundes President in Germany. A very well respected figure head, whose sole purpose is to welcome foreign heads of state, represent Germany abroad and sign his/her name on bills which have passed both houses.

The only difference between Michael D. Higgins and our president, Frank-Walther Steinmaier, is that MDH was elected by the electorate, whereas Steinmaier was nominated by and elected by our elected representatives in the Bundestag.

The roles are the same though and both do an excellent job, The fact that they have limited terms of office is a good thing too. The Monarchie in the UK is a waste of space and money and is an anachronism in the 21st century.

The Caribbean tour didn't go well did it. All three countries are now becoming republics

And Andrew who paid out £12 million Charles and Andrew dealings with oligarchs

paddyann54 Mon 04-Apr-22 13:27:35

But Tony Benn didn't use his hereditary title AND he worked for the benefit of the working man .I saw his "one man show" in Edinburgh and he was inspirational,shame there aren't more like him

Petera Mon 04-Apr-22 13:17:40

Aveline

Peters as one who used to work with paedophiles, real ones, and their victims I don't accept generalisations such as those you make. There is a world of difference between children before puberty and 17/18 year olds.
Paedophiles like young children usually under 12 unfortunately. The others are just dirty old men!

Well we can argue about legal and dictionary definitions if you want, although I would say that you worked with paedophiles who were also criminals - paedophilia is in itself not a crime.

But I'm happy just to agree with you that Prince Andrew is a dirty old man.

GillT57 Mon 04-Apr-22 13:12:03

They drive me mad Anniebach, all with their deferential, hushed tones, talking speculatively about things that they have no more knowledge of than anyone else. The palace release information as it suits them, and the so called royal experts are not party to anything secret. Then you get the editors of the fawning magazines such as 'Majesty', usually a home counties woman sitting in her chintz sitting room, giving her breathless opinion.

Nickee Mon 04-Apr-22 12:59:28

If Charles and William had the balls they would tell the Queen and the advisers that they weren't going to show up at any events where the favourite is present. Then everyone could draw their own conclusions.
And that means Camilla, Kate and the kids too.

Anniebach Mon 04-Apr-22 12:56:46

Tony Benn owned a lovely country estate and a town house in
Holland Park, such wealth

volver Mon 04-Apr-22 12:51:18

Oh no, not more democracy! Much better to have someone at the top whose 19th Great Grandfather was handy with a claymore.

Anniebach Mon 04-Apr-22 12:47:49

GILLT57 the royal experts , every newspaper has one plus the tv stations , amazing how they know what anyone in the family is thinking, and the ‘body experts’ they know why anyone blinks.

Voting for a president, thinking of our prime ministers , no thank you, and another election !

Grany Mon 04-Apr-22 12:42:00

wicklowwinnie

Can anyone explain to me how "royal families" have evolved please?
When, where and how, did it all begin?
How many other countries in the world have the same thing?

Tony Benn reportedly said: "I don't think people realise how the establishment became established. It simply stole the land and property off the poor, surrounded themselves with weak minded sycophants for protection, gave themselves titles and have been wielding power ever since."

GillT57 Mon 04-Apr-22 12:37:50

Like many people I suspect, I have respect for the Queen, wouldn't describe myself as a royalist, but don't want to have elections for leaders of a republic either! The Carribean trip was a bit of a disaster, all very 1950s in its execution; patronising for those being visited and terminally boring for those obliged to attend. As for Andrew, i do wonder, as someone else wisely posted, if the compromise was him walking in with his mother, through a side door, thus avoiding any embarrassing jeers? I suspect we will see big shakeup when the Queen dies, and frankly, I am not looking forward to the weeks of tv programmes which will follow, all the talking heads, and so called royal experts. It was bad enough when the DoE died.

volver Mon 04-Apr-22 12:34:05

wicklowwinnie

Can anyone explain to me how "royal families" have evolved please?
When, where and how, did it all begin?
How many other countries in the world have the same thing?

Their ancestors were better at fighting than yours and mine.

That's it, really.

And something about Queen Victoria.

volver Mon 04-Apr-22 12:32:41

DillytheGardener

volver what you and Princess Anne doing in a field together? grin

The one thing I have in common with Princess Anne is our support of the Scottish Rugby Union Team!

Aveline Mon 04-Apr-22 12:32:39

Peters as one who used to work with paedophiles, real ones, and their victims I don't accept generalisations such as those you make. There is a world of difference between children before puberty and 17/18 year olds.
Paedophiles like young children usually under 12 unfortunately. The others are just dirty old men!

wicklowwinnie Mon 04-Apr-22 12:29:09

Can anyone explain to me how "royal families" have evolved please?
When, where and how, did it all begin?
How many other countries in the world have the same thing?

DillytheGardener Mon 04-Apr-22 12:24:41

volver what you and Princess Anne doing in a field together? grin

nexus63 Mon 04-Apr-22 11:41:46

i have respect for the queen, i am scottish and it annoys me that she is always talked about as the queen of england, as regards to andrew, he did have a right to be there as it was his father, now he should go back in his box and now come out until his mums dies which i don't think will be that long, she looks so frail and heartbroken, you hear of elderly couple dying within months of each other of a broken heart and i think that is what the queen is suffering from. i lost my husband when i was 39 due to a doctor making a mistake, i wanted to go to bed and not wake up, my 16 year old son was the only reason i kept going.

Petera Mon 04-Apr-22 11:41:28

Aveline

Thank you Jane43. Others are obviously not aware of this.

Here we go again. The most common definition of a paedophile is a person who is sexually attracted to children. Not to children under the age of puberty.

The legal definition of a child varies from country to country but is not connected with puberty and is definitely not the same as the age of consent.

In England, for example, a child is defined as anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday, likewise The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child says the same thing.

volver Mon 04-Apr-22 11:40:48

Interesting comment on Kate and William DillytheGardener, I agree.

Princess Anne once almost ran me over in a Land Rover outside Murrayfield. I don't think it was intentional. Probably. wink

DillytheGardener Mon 04-Apr-22 11:34:18

Former royalist, and now hold republican views, once QE dies I think the monarchy should be redundant. While it was a memorial service and a ‘family’ event. The worlds press was trained on PA, and I thought it very calculated on his end to walk his mother in, he knew how it would be seen and received, and doesn’t care the damage it will cause to her Majesty’s public image.

I’m fed up with the rest of them. I don’t care for Prince Charles because of Diana, and I agree with his organic etc views but think he is wildly out of touch, and I think Kate and William, and I’ll be pillared for saying it, are very old fashioned. None of my nephews or younger relatives think they are relevant or modern.

The only one I like sans the Queen, is Anne. Sensible and no nonsense type. But I don’t like her enough to support continuing with the monarchy though.

Anniebach Mon 04-Apr-22 11:31:14

Yet Whitewave surely after that payout others would do as
Giuffre did ?

volver Mon 04-Apr-22 11:28:10

Whitewavemark2

Anniebach

I didn’t know other women have come forward and said they
had sex with Andrew ,

Read what Epstein offered the men both in the USA and his private island.

Windsor was a frequent visitor to both, and I suspect not for the good of his health.

His announcement at the time of paying out the 12 million that he was going to do everything in his power to stop the sort of activities both Epstein and friends took part in and to support the women who had suffered as a result is beginning to ring very hollow.

Arrogance and entitlement are hard qualities to overcome aren’t they?

There's a mini industry engaged in saying things like "It was never proved", "innocent till proven guilty", "where are all these other women then" "She loves her son" and all the rest of it.

The Reputation Management firms must be in overdrive.

The RF are not a quaint vestige of our glorious past, they are a nexus of power intent on maintaining that power in the modern world.

Now I sound like Grany grin