Things King Charles might do

It was meant to be light-hearted MaizieD.

Won't try that again.

But anyway:

They can keep the houses they own of course, such as Balmoral and so on, if they want to. I don't want to impoverish them. Just thought they could give up the houses and palaces that everyone is always saying belong to us anyway.

I suggest they actually give the Jewels to the V&A and never wear them again.

Nobody needs to be Prince of that, Duke of this and Earl of something else. It doesn't mean anything.
A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, an' a' that; But an honest man's abon his might, Gude faith, he maunna fa' that! For a' that, an' a' that, Their dignities an' a' that; The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth, Are higher rank than a' that.

Its lovely if they all help their charities for nothing. We'll have more of that please, no private helicopters, thank you. Just the bikes.

Here's Anne in one of her uniforms, on the left. That's 70+ year old Anne who has never served in any of the forces. I'll just leave this there. Please don't try to make this about the armed forces.

Yammy

Callistemon21

What does it matter or affect you or me?

I was planning to go to Highgrove

?????????

Well, you'd better get your visit in quick. It wasn't me who said he might get rid of it.{Grin}

No, it was me ?

Callistemon21

Kalu

A newsfeed this morning reports that Andrew and Fergie will remain at royal home. Not much has changed so far.

Well, they have to look after the Royal Dogs!

Give it time, Kalu.
They might be on the waiting list for Council accommodation.

Of course Calli, how could I have forgotten their royal duty of caring for the dogs. ?

Callistemon21

^What does it matter or affect you or me?^

I was planning to go to Highgrove

?????????

Well, you'd better get your visit in quick. It wasn't me who said he might get rid of it.{Grin}

Kalu

A newsfeed this morning reports that Andrew and Fergie will remain at royal home. Not much has changed so far.

Well, they have to look after the Royal Dogs!

Give it time, Kalu.
They might be on the waiting list for Council accommodation.

Give most of the Palaces and other houses they own to the National Trust and give the proceeds to the country

It's not cheap to join the National Trust and we can go to see those which belong to the Crown eg Windsor, Buckingham Palace, paying an entrance fee towards the upkeep just as we have to with the NT.
The only residences the Royal family own were bought with their own money.

Lots of misinformation is floating around on the internet.
Warning: Don't believe everything you read online.

A newsfeed this morning reports that Andrew and Fergie will remain at royal home. Not much has changed so far.

Give most of the Palaces and other houses they own to the National Trust and give the proceeds to the country.

Are you extending that to all the people who own big country houses, say, Chatsworth, Blenheim, Woburn Abbey, Belvoir Castle, Floors Castle, Blair Castle, etc. etc. or do you just have the royals privately owned property in your sights.

And a little bit of googling shows that many of the royal residences owned by the crown are already open to the public.

Give the Crown Jewels to the V&A for exhibition.

The Crown Jewels are exhibited at the Tower of London and have been for all of my lifetime.

Either insist on actually approving what the government put in from of him before he signs it, or do away with the archaic tradition of Royal Assent all together. Along with the State Opening of Parliament.

But the republican proposals for a non royal, apolitical, HoS always seem to include a requirement for approving legislation

Give all the profits from the Duchy of Cornwall to ... err...Cornwall.
No comment

Limit titles to one per person - e.g. you can't be Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Pick one.

Why?

If members of his family want to support charities, encourage them. Just don't pay their expenses when they go to visit them.

How do you know that they don't visit them and take an interest n them in their private capacity as well?

Buy bikes for William and Kate and the kids to get around on.

I'm sure they could afford their own bikes...

Throw out those blooming ridiculous uniforms they all seem to have stashed in the cupboard.

Gosh, those uniforms do rankle, don't they? I expect you'd like to throw out all the ceremonial uniforms of the British armed forces. (The provision and upkeep of which, incidentally, no doubt support a number of thriving private enterprises)

Come on, volver. You can do better than this, surely?

MaizieD

Chestnut

Anniebach

I am curious as to how princess Margaret’s children can be
.pruned, and why, they live private lives, should they not
attend family funerals and weddings ?

Ha ha, maybe 'pruned' was not the right word. Everyone seems to want the Royal tree to be cut back, I was just speculating on which branches that would apply to (sticking to the tree analogy). I guess it's up to the King to wield the secateurs.

Chestnut, why should these family members who don't receive public money and don't carry out any royal duties, be exterminated ?

I am truly baffled...

Perhaps it just meant crossing them off the Christmas card list.

It saves on postage.

What does it matter or affect you or me?

I was planning to go to Highgrove

?????????

What does it matter or affect you or me? As long as the country is not paying out money to a load of extended family and uses the money to sort out the NHS and Education to start with. I don't mind what King Charles gets up to. The last two by that name certainly made a mess of their lives.
I think I would have changed my name like his grandfather and been George the 7th. Too many poor historical connotations to Charles.

Chestnut

I am not calling for extermination of anyone! I just mentioned the different branches. Everyone seems to want the Royal tree reduced in size, and we were given to understand that Charles would do that. I am not suggesting anything as I have no idea who receives money and who doesn't.

I am not suggesting anything as I have no idea who receives money and who doesn't.

In which case, before shooting your mouth off don't you think you ought to find out who is receiving money and who isn't?

Or believe the people who do know when they tell you that the family members you're talking about aren't actually on the 'royal payroll'?

The overhaul needs to start by looking at who gets paid what (either in money or in kind - e.g. accommodation) and then asking what they actually do in return, and calculating whether that equates to their benefits and gives us value for money.

The monarchy only survives because they are supported by so many of the public - if people did not turn out to see them when they do stuff, then it would all gently die out. If people did not avidly read stuff about them in DM and Sun then the media would not churn it all out all the time.

We all know that the monarch's speech at the opening of parliament is a farce - they are just reading a script that they might fundamentally disagree with. How poor Charles is going to bite his tongue over things like fracking I do not know.

Yes. In my opinion. Well done for spotting that I'm giving opinions on a discussion forum.

That would be a start...
In your opinion......

Although I enjoyed watching our armed services put on such a marvellous display during the funeral on Monday, I fail to understand why the royal family all wear those flamboyant uniforms during state occasions. I know, before anyone points it out, that they all hold honorary positions in the services, but wearing those uniforms is ridiculous. They looked perfectly fine and nice at Philip’s funeral last year wearing mourning suits.

Things King Charles might do

Give most of the Palaces and other houses they own to the National Trust and give the proceeds to the country.

Give the Crown Jewels to the V&A for exhibition.

Either insist on actually approving what the government put in from of him before he signs it, or do away with the archaic tradition of Royal Assent all together. Along with the State Opening of Parliament.

Give all the profits from the Duchy of Cornwall to ... err...Cornwall.

Limit titles to one per person - e.g. you can't be Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. Pick one.

If members of his family want to support charities, encourage them. Just don't pay their expenses when they go to visit them.

Buy bikes for William and Kate and the kids to get around on.

Throw out those blooming ridiculous uniforms they all seem to have stashed in the cupboard.

That would be a start...

I am not calling for extermination of anyone! I just mentioned the different branches. Everyone seems to want the Royal tree reduced in size, and we were given to understand that Charles would do that. I am not suggesting anything as I have no idea who receives money and who doesn't.

Chestnut

Anniebach

I am curious as to how princess Margaret’s children can be
.pruned, and why, they live private lives, should they not
attend family funerals and weddings ?

Ha ha, maybe 'pruned' was not the right word. Everyone seems to want the Royal tree to be cut back, I was just speculating on which branches that would apply to (sticking to the tree analogy). I guess it's up to the King to wield the secateurs.

Chestnut, why should these family members who don't receive public money and don't carry out any royal duties, be exterminated ?

I am truly baffled...

imaround

Callistemon21

Chestnut

Slimming down the monarchy may be easier said than done. First we have Edward Duke of Kent and wife, Prince Michael of Kent and wife, Richard Duke of Gloucester, all descendants not of the Queen or even her father, but descendants of the Queen's uncles! Not a direct line at all.

The next branch to be pruned would be from the Princess Margaret line, again not a direct line. Three children and four grandchildren I believe.

Everyone else is actually descended from the Queen, but there are still quite a few there with four children and eight grandchildren, plus more.......

They don't receive public money, just expenses if they perform any duties.

How do you propose to prune them?

I am puzzled.

Prune
To chop off
Surely not? We're more civilised now, surely?

I was about to ask if these distant family members receive money from taxpayers?

Pruning family members makes it sound like Charles is going to cut everyone off and isolate himself from everyone but William and Catherine.

No, they don't receive any money from the public purse, imaround.
Edward, Duke of Kent mentioned in the post above, is 86. I'm not sure if he still carries out any duties but I certainly saw him just pre-Covid at an official event. His wife is 89, hasn't carried out Royal duties for over 20 years and in fact taught piano.

The others mentioned in Chestnut's post all pursue their own careers.

A lot of misinformation persists.

Anniebach

I am curious as to how princess Margaret’s children can be
.pruned, and why, they live private lives, should they not
attend family funerals and weddings ?

Ha ha, maybe 'pruned' was not the right word. Everyone seems to want the Royal tree to be cut back, I was just speculating on which branches that would apply to (sticking to the tree analogy). I guess it's up to the King to wield the secateurs.

I think he should do away with bowing and curtseying, really no place for that in this day and age. I believe the family had to do this even if they met the Queen in private in her own home .

Callistemon21

Chestnut

Slimming down the monarchy may be easier said than done. First we have Edward Duke of Kent and wife, Prince Michael of Kent and wife, Richard Duke of Gloucester, all descendants not of the Queen or even her father, but descendants of the Queen's uncles! Not a direct line at all.

The next branch to be pruned would be from the Princess Margaret line, again not a direct line. Three children and four grandchildren I believe.

Everyone else is actually descended from the Queen, but there are still quite a few there with four children and eight grandchildren, plus more.......

They don't receive public money, just expenses if they perform any duties.

How do you propose to prune them?

I am puzzled.

Prune
To chop off
Surely not? We're more civilised now, surely?

I was about to ask if these distant family members receive money from taxpayers?

Pruning family members makes it sound like Charles is going to cut everyone off and isolate himself from everyone but William and Catherine.

Nexus one of the royal correspondents ( I think it was Ingrid Seward) was one of the royal documentaries saying that the toilet seat story was nonsense, though I think she did say he had his own mattress when possible because of his bad back!
There’s a former chef, Darren McGready, who seems to have had plenty to say about the royals since he moved to America, like Charles having two plums at breakfast every morning, but only ever eating one.

DS has met Camilla in a workplace and was unexpectedly impressed. She was apparently so friendly and interested that everyone liked her. Very natural and down to earth.