SiPie

I personally feel sorry for them.

Seldom will they see the real face of Britain as everything is swept aside and made to look lovely before they visit anywhere

They can't help the way they have been brought up and have therefore been coseted from the real 'Great (cough)' Britain

Sad outdated institution that could learn a hell of a lot from someone like the King of Norway or Spain.

SiPie

The queen seems to enjoy her job, otherwise why doesn't she abdicate and leave it to jug lugs

Iain Young

What else would she do? All she knows is queening

SiPie

She past retirement age anyway, too old to be in any other feckin position of responsibility

She can become an OAP and moan to Tony about her winter heating allowance ....

hedgehog

This is not entirely true. Prince Charles, for example, spends (or at least used to spend) about 2 weeks per year living and working with a family on a croft on an remote island off the north west coast of Scotland.

You might say that it is only 2 weeks per year but how many other people in society who are given to pontificating about how it should be in the countryside have taken the time to spend 2 weeks per year on a croft to find out the real story? I don't imagine the director of Greenpeace spends 2 weeks per year on a croft so he knows what it his talking about when he tries to force his tree-hugging views upon the nation. I didn't see any of the current administration spending 2 weeks per year working in stables before deciding to force through a hunting ban.

I can't say I am a huge fan of the Royals as a concept but I do think that the current batch, by and large, make a great effort and a significant contribution. If we judge them solely on merit then I think they are doing very well.

SiPie

Hedgehog...

How many people actually work on a croft to earn a living these days though ???????

He should of spent his 2 weeks slabbing on some council estate...a bit more realistic IMHO

Hats off to the Royals who do a lot for charity though.....Anne seems to be the hardest working judging by her list of engagements

Avalyn

I think if I didn't have to worry about anything financial i.e. I was absolutely minted (and really just landed in the money .. and people can't bleat on about how they don't cost the tax payer where do you think the Royals got all their money from originally ? Earned it - don't make me laugh?) I'd happily spend my time globe trotting around, working for a whole hard 2 weeks on crofts etc .. better than actually working

I actually think Prince Charles is the one with the most sense and since we're stuck with this outdated heap of crassness called the Royal Family he should have been King years ago.

Personally I'd give them council flats somewhere and send them out to do some proper work .. all the money made by wandering round their many castles and homes could be given to the homeless people who probably live just around the corner from the palace

Avalyn.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

I feel that William will make a great King. His mother Diana has something to be really proud of. I feel that the royals have allowed him and his brother in a much more moden approch.


It will be a great day when William is King.

Avalyn

Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society.
I am your king.

Woman: Well I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Woman: Well how'd you become king then?

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.

Dennis: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Dennis: Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.

Dennis: Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.

Says it all really, royals - stupid idea, pity back in bygone days when someone decided they were the King somebody didn't say yeah right and lob his head off

Avalyn.

A&E

you feel quite strongly about this, don't you?

Iain Young

He's got the script of the Holy Grail laying around there methinks

Totally agree though

Avalyn

angel-eyes ... have you never seen the Holy Grail by Monty Python?

There are quite a few smileys in my posts too if you haven't noticed ... bound to get a rise from some people .. most royalists are actually worse than the actual royal family themselves.

How dare you insult the monarch of the country
Avalyn.

OllyK

Somebody needs to watch more Monty Python, starting with the Holy Grail

hedgehog

There are about 17,700 crofts registered with the Crofters Commission. Because of the state of farming these days very few (perhaps no one) makes their income solely from crofting. However, it is a very important income to a very many people and you usefully highlight my point which is that the urban population know about little more than housing estates and TV. I believe that the Prince's Trust has done a lot for young people in deprived urban areas but the Prince also manages to understand rural areas and issues as well. I certainly think that, through his charity work, the Prince is well aware of the situation in your housing estate but he is also in a position where he has to take the welfare of the whole country into account.

Crofting land is, by and large, located in the wild and empty parts of the North of Scotland and much of this land is either crofting or common grazings. These are the parts that those from the urban housing estates like to imagine are being held for them so they can tramp up the hills, ride their mountain bikes across the bog etc. etc. It is reassuring that at least the Prince understands the mechanisms by which some people have to make their living from this land. They are making a lot less per year for their work than those sitting in your housing estate signing on the dole and watching TV and their contribition in environmental and habitat terms is very significant indeed.

OllyK

Sadly PC is a bit of a crack pot and is big in to alt medicine such as homeopathy. He is using the tax payers funds that the trust recieve to send out flyers to doctors surgeries promoting the use of alternative medicines. At best these have no effect, at worst they kill people who refuse to get proper treatment as they are told allopathic drugs will stop the homeopathic drugs from working.

PC needs sending to his remote croft and leaving there.

A&E

Damn! caught out again lol gonna have to dig it out and watch it tonight now! Wasn't accusing you of being serious you know

I'm not a royalist btw, more of a live and let live-ist