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I get the feeling behind wanting to get away from the tabloid w*****s, but not being high profile Royals is not going to do that, the press will be just as interested in digging up dirt either way, so not sure what they think they are achieving.
Equally if they want to be financially independent they should just bin off being Royal altogether. Convenient that they waited until after taxpayers had funded a more than £1 million refurb of their 'cottage'. Also I'm not sure it's much of a challenge being financially independent when you've inherited £20 million from Diana and £7 million from the Queen Mother, and your other half is loaded as well. Please don't expect us to be impressed if you manage to survive on your own...
Please don’t expect us to be impressed if you manage to survive on your own…
I really don't think they give a flying **** what you think mate.
I don't think anyone can reasonably expect them to give it all up and go down the dole office but I see very little to criticise in what they are doing. Can't see Andy the nonce doing the same anytime soon.
A former work colleague’s son was at Sandhurst with him and clarified that Harry was none too bright.
Ok, I’ll bite: I worked alongside Harry for 2 months on a command and leadership training course and he was easily up there with the best of the 100+ of us on that course. I also know several others who have worked closely with him and they think the same; as an officer and operator, he’s regarded as far more competent than his brother.
really don’t think they give a flying **** what you think mate.
They do though. That's why the situation has arisen.
It's about time we recognised the Royal family for what they are, which is a quaint tourist attraction with little relevance to modern life. It's completely beyond me why anyone would take more than a passing interest in what they do with their lives, and beyond ridiculous that anyone would even notice the colour of Meghan's skin let alone judge her for it. If they can use their profiles to do good like Diana tried to do then fair play to them and best of luck.
I used to motorcycle on my commute past Buckingham Palace and I didn't often see tourists there, whereas The National Gallery, NPG, Tate Britain, Tate Modern....and think of all those works of art they've got that we never see. They should be moved into a granny flat and let the world see the nation's treasures.
Has anyone ever met a tourist who's come to the UK for royal-spotting purposes? In my experience most find it a quaint anachronism that the plebs enjoy being patronised by.
I don't suppose many would come just because of the Royal family but it is a part of it of some tourists. I remember seeing a P+L a few years back and it made sense financially for the country to have the Royal family so I am good with keeping it. If they were running at a loss to the country then they should be got rid of.
It also wouldn't be hard to make it a bit more efficient.
as an officer and operator, he’s regarded as far more competent than his brother.
to be fair I had heard the same. It's in his genes though 😉
On the other had, his uncle's 4 attempts to pass the final assessment at the RN elementary flying training school are/were in the log books for everyone to see at Roborough. Strangely once was the default number of attempts the rest of us plebs got.
it made sense financially for the country to have the Royal family so I am good with keeping it
Is this still the tourism angle?
Keep the palaces, open them up to tourists.
Let the royals live in their minor mansions instead, with or without their titles.
CountZero
Member
Interesting, considering Harry was a forward fire controller, then weapons/navigation officer on an AH-64 Apache gunship, I wonder just what sort of job a person would have if they were just average.
Or is the ‘former work colleague’ just miffed because he couldn’t be part of Harry’s gang…?
As #convert subtlety draws attention; being a Royal typically enables certain shortcomings to be overlooked - and advantages to be promoted.
Whilst I cant say with certainty if my former work colleagues son was miffed to not be in Harrys gang - I can only conclude that you recognise there are those who wish to be in Harrys gang ... and what are those individuals prepared to do to get in? give preferential treatment; lower the bar; turn a blind eye ..
The royal family are a relic of the past. Its wrong that the tax payer pays for one family to have obscene levels of wealth and privileged, and yet others in society are allowed to live in poverty and hardship. The royals are all parasites on UK society.
I certainly dont feel like mooman . I am quite happy for the royals to be royal and if they can find some ways to be less of a burden on the taxpayer then brilliant .
Thing is the deal has always been a life of wealth and immense privilege but the one thing you weren't able to do was complain about it . she has been treated terribly by the press when you compare it to Kate and i cant blame them for wanting to leave it behind but i cant see how they can go off and make money without it someway trading on the fact he is a member of the royal family.
I think we should just accept that those from the Royal Family are just better people than the rest of us.
I'm glad to see so many accepting the reality of their inferiority with a good grace.
People like mooman or kelvin trying to somehow claim that their blood is "as good as" the Royals disgust me.
Pre- brexit etc, I didn’t realise the royals etc were such a big thing...?
Seems a significant part of the UK pop are still into all that stuff... Genuinely baffling
They seem ok etc, but not sure I get the whole thing, especially the faux tabloid outrage...?!
Get a grip would be my thoughts
The first twelve (12.....!!) pages of the Daily Shit are filled with Megan and Harry, well, mostly Megan. The bitch.
I also felt like pouring a liquid over the stack of papers.
Is that Sarah Vine?
**** me, she looks like Gordon Brown after a botched gender reassignment.
Face like a roofer’s nailbag or what?
@mooman, I can assure you *from my own personal experience*, Harry was competent enough to eclipse the majority of the course (myself included) with relative ease; I would be staggered if he only qualified as a FAC and then Apache crew because DS turned a blind eye. More to the point, I presume you understand the huge level of responsibility and complexity associated with both those positions on the battlefield? And that he successfully did those roles for real in genuine contacts where other people’s lives literally depended on it? That doesn’t strike me as the actions of some ‘none to bright’ parasite who was only allowed to scrape through because his gran’s the boss.
As for Harry and Meghan, I can’t blame them for wanting to get out of this country. Our gutter press are amongst the very worst components of our apparently ‘civilised’ society and they have systematically hounded and harassed the couple in the nastiest way possible whilst fawning over William and Kate; fair play to the pair of them for taking actions to make it stop instead of just taking it like they deserve it. Good luck to them.
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The royals are all parasites on UK society.
You clearly don’t understand how the Royal Family are funded these days. All profits from Royal holdings and estates are given to the government in lew of taxes, and the government then gives some money back for the running of the Royal Family, estates and staff. The British taxpayer gets a very good deal out of this arrangement, IIRC
From what I gather, Harry and Meghan’s share amounts to 1.9% of their total income, so being totally independent financially shouldn’t be to difficult.
Maybe you should look into how much various Presidents cost their respective taxpayers annually, the sums in some cases are eye watering.
I can’t remember specifics, but German taxpayers fork out a lot, and then there’s Trump, Air Force One alone probably costs far more than our Royals get.
I’d much rather have an apolitical Royal head-of-state than someone like Tony Blair, who clearly relished the idea of being president.
Hmmm, some figures here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-costs-trips-security-taxpayer-barack-obama-month-year-a7586261.html
Family trips cost $11.3 million in one month alone!
Love that pic posted by epicyclo - great piece of work, that. 😁
All profits from Royal holdings and estates are given to the government in lew of taxes, and the government then gives some money back for the running of the Royal Family, estates and staff. The British taxpayer gets a very good deal out of this arrangement, IIRC
and how did they get those holdings? I rather think its you that does not understand. Its an appalling deal
oldnpastit
Subscriber
People like mooman or kelvin trying to somehow claim that their blood is “as good as” the Royals disgust me
Yes - I accept the nonsensical tone of my comments which suggest a basic universal equality to all individuals; I was no doubt Trolling as usual, and of course know with certainty that rich and privileged people have biologically superior children; thus wholly deserving of their privileged life.
The world, now more than ever, need the Royals to inform us about reducing our use of natural resources; population growth, and basic inequality.
I recon that gets me considered for the Queens birthday list .. OBE for sure😏
On a scale the 1 to 10 with 1 deciding what to have for dinner and 10 been WW3 between th US and Iran I rank at around -10 on my list of things to worry about.
Although listening to some people talk about it it is clearly a 12 on the he scale of world importance!
What these two people do (for what it’s worth, I think they’d be crazy not to go to Canada) is weighted about 0.00001/10 as one of my concerns. What the UK is becoming, and how this is either reflected or influenced by both “our” traditional media, and social media, is weighted about 8/10.
The amount of coverage it’s getting is absurd. I honestly can’t fathom why it’s even news.
I think its a bit Beatles v Stones, or Oasis v Blur for le media. Build them up, knock them down, make it look like a battle. Age old tactic that makes them money.
On the side of that there's the fact that a pillar of the establishment just.....walked away. Simple as. How and why could they do so! Challenges all the old beliefs, shakes the pillars that hold up the world for some. (many?)
When you see two grown people being told what they can/cannot do on the basis of their birth, the whole thing is just ludicrous, tinged with really quite disturbingly messed-up.
For the media its just selling papers or filling air space.
For the vast majority of the general public the Royals are just an example of how daft a civilised country can be. They are little more than a real world reality show. Hopefully in my life time we will see the end of their state funded privilege - and it will lead to other institutions of inequality being torn down too.
As ever Mr Pie says it like it is.
So over privileged posh white actor/coke head says its not racism!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-51145321/actor-laurence-fox-s-question-time-clash-over-meghan
Definitely not racist. I don't see how race comes into it, actually. I'm barely aware she's even black, actually.
There's a lot of stuff going around about how privileged they are and that somehow that means they're getting what they deserve.
When kids get bullied in the playground or online we say that's wrong and we support them. When grown men and women get bullied at work we sympathise and help them deal with it or tell them to get out.
These two young people are being bullied daily in the press, intruded upon and villified, in the most public way possible. Every single day. For some parts of the press they can't do anything right. But they're privileged, so they deserve it right?
Harry didn't have a choice about being born into a famous family, he doesn't have the privilege of freedom. Sure he's not going to end up on the street any time soon, but what they want most is some freedom to lead a normal life. Quite understandable I'd say.
"Waity Katie" is loved by the Daily Heil now, but in the early days she took a lot of stick for being boring, too thin and not having a job.
I'm not saying the Megan has not had an extra heaping of shite due to racism, but it's not correct to say that Kate has always been loved.
There’s a lot of stuff going around about how privileged they are and that somehow that means they’re getting what they deserve.
When kids get bullied in the playground or online we say that’s wrong and we support them. When grown men and women get bullied at work we sympathise and help them deal with it or tell them to get out.
These two young people are being bullied daily in the press, intruded upon and villified, in the most public way possible. Every single day. For some parts of the press they can’t do anything right. But they’re privileged, so they deserve it right?
Harry didn’t have a choice about being born into a famous family, he doesn’t have the privilege of freedom. Sure he’s not going to end up on the street any time soon, but what they want most is some freedom to lead a normal life. Quite understandable I’d say.
If he really wanted to he could disappear in to obscurity I reckon. It would mean cutting all ties with his family, losing all titles and not cashing in on his royal status though. I don’t think either of them are willing to do this. Fair play to them if they are though.
The gutter press will turn on Kate again when they need to.
Remember, none of this about actual sense. It is about the public having someone they can love one minute and hate the next and the media having cash.
Nosey neighbour syndrome, basically.
stick_man
Member
... but what they want most is some freedom to lead a normal life.
I think you need to re-read what they actually want.
Basically they want all the privileged bits - but none of the hassle bits.
As others have said. They are rich enough to step away and live a very privileged life. But they want to keep the best bits that will perpetuate the growth of their already substantial bank balances, and avoid them having to dip into their own pockets to pay for things like home renovations, luxury holidays, new cars ...
Basically they want all the privileged bits – but none of the hassle bits.
Presumably the irony of one of the most prominent Brexiteers on here criticising these two people for wanting out of all the bad bits of an institution whilst retaining access to the bits they like wasn’t lost on everyone here.
But they want to keep the best bits that will perpetuate the growth of their already substantial bank balances, and avoid them having to dip into their own pockets to pay for things like home renovations, luxury holidays, new cars …
Have they said that? I though they were setting up a philanthropic organisation?
The only odd thing is the publicity about it. If the Earl and Countess of Dumbartonshire had simply bought a house in Canada and spent increasing amounts of time there nobody would have cared. Eventually some journo would have done a story on the cost of security and it would have been in the news for a weekend then every few years someone would make a joke about it. It’s not like we usually see them every day (either in person or on tv). They didn’t hire Andrew’s press adviser did they?
So remember when I said if they were going to do it they should just give up theirs Royal titles properly? Well they just did....
Oooo and they want to repay the refurb cost of their cottage, plus not receive any more public funds, so fair play to them and good luck.
They are going from a life I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy… to one I’m super envious of… any attempt to stay loyal to the crown, the country, or his family, are just going to be thrown back in their faces by the press as ‘wanting their cake and eating it’, so they may as well not bother and just crack on with a new life, but work hard to keep good private links with the rest of the family.
So remember when I said if they were going to do it they should just give up theirs Royal titles properly? Well they just did….
No they didn't.
Giving up their titles and not taking any public money? ......good luck to them I say
Pretty sure the Daily Hate rags will be all over this with their racist imagery and gutter trash writing soon enough
From Queen’s statement:
"I recognise the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.”
"I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family.”
Looks like the Queen, or at least her advisors, get it, and also understand that it’s Meghan who will, again, be the target in the fall out from all this. Prepare for press and internet troll hatred to ramp up to full bile level now… but I’m impressed at the attempt to defend/shield her in the Queen’s statement.
As much as I'm loathe to get involved in this discussion, I say well ****ing done to the pair of them. Sounds as though they haven't caved to the pressure from the rest of the royals.
Pretty sure the Daily Hate rags will be all over this with their racist imagery and gutter trash writing soon enough
Yep, when it suits them to do so.
The basic trick is to play back bigots’ prejudices to them as ‘facts’, then monetise the results. Childishly simple, but seemingly a winning formula.
The interesting thing is how they get away with it, but if the audience is there.....