Calling all sensible UK citizens!
It’s confession time – I’m an agnostic when it comes to the Royal Family.
I’m broadly content in principle with the modern version of the institution, i.e. the one that – whilst supposedly representing a fairy-tale romantic ‘continuation of the line’ and connection to our past history, staying above and out of politics and otherwise keeping out of trouble – goes around the country (and indeed occasionally the world) ‘selling Britain to the masses’ by making public appearances, cutting ribbons,’ opening’ new buildings, acting as patrons of worthy charitable organisations and handing out ‘gongs’ to those who some Government honours committee or indeed Prime Minister has decided are worthy of them.
It’s the ‘upper middle class family’ one to which, sometime after the death of King Edward VII, his son George V and family reluctantly but smartly downsized to as a sensible means of remaining ‘relevant’ (rather than the alternative of being thrown away and/or exiled into obscurity, as were many of their contemporary haughty, out of touch, arrogant fellow royal dynasties by or in the first half of the 20th Century).
That said, I’m a believer in the theme that in life we gain the respect of others – or should do – by our own actions, the way we conduct ourselves and the way we treat other people and the world.
Not by right.
Not by in what circumstances, or which family, one was born into.
Not just because one inherited vast wealth, or perhaps live amongst well-to-do friends & neighbours and (despite not having earned enough oneself) just aspire to ‘fit in’ and enjoy a similar lifestyle.
And that’s the way, if there was any justice in the word, it should be.
I instinctively recoil from people who reek of an overbearing sense of entitlement, especially when (from my perspective, but sometimes also that of the public at large) on the face of it they have done little or nothing themselves deserving such an attitude/position.
When it comes to the Royal Family, I prefer those members who have accepted their lot, carry out their duties with diligence and dignity and – when not performing in the glare of the public gaze – generally keep themselves to themselves and preferably out of sight.
Please step forward and take bows, the Queen and Prince Philip.
It’s not a generational thing on my part, some residue of still-surviving boyhood indoctrination – it’s just how I see them. They accepted their positions in life, both the down and the upsides – and have simply got on with it.
However, I have little time for Prince Charles or his brothers.
I regard Prince Charles as the biggest threat to the British monarchy since King Phillip II of Spain in the late 16th Century. (I’m not going to explain on that statement for fear of getting myself into trouble with the Rust’s editor).
Similarly, I subscribe to the satirists’ view of Prince ‘Air Miles’ Andrew, his erstwhile wife Sarah Fergusson and two daughters who – and I’ve never met them, I’m going on their public image – all possess an enormous and unwarranted sense of entitlement.
As of today, there is a month to go until the wedding of Princess Eugenie to someone called Jack Brooksbank who, as I understand, is a brand ambassador for a drinks company.
Whilst I wish the happy couple all the best for their nuptials and married life, based solely upon what I have read and seen in the world’s media, I am derisive towards the plans that the bride and her family have been putting in place.
It seems that, determined not to be put in the shade in comparison to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Princess Eugenie has invited 850 guests to the wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, including every celebrity they have ever met or heard of, plus massive post-wedding parties, in a naked attempt to match or indeed emulate Prince Harry’s extravaganza.
Including the late addition of an open-topped coach ride around the town for which the police/security bill is going to exceed £2m of taxpayer’s money.
Please sign up by sending your personal details and a postal order for £50 to me at the usual address if you want to join my intended 12-strong group attending this extravagance by going down to Windsor on 12th October to stand along the route of the above-mentioned coach ride and, as the vehicle containing Eugenie & Jack passes, silently turn-about and face away in silent protest.
Or better still, don’t turn up at all – I’d just love it, just love it (to use a phrase first coined by the legendary footballer/manager Kevin Keegan) – if Eugenie & Jack’s wedding day was marred by a total absence of public interest.
For any Rust readers who fancy a laugh, please follow the link below to an extract from the hilarious satirical Channel Four television series The Windsors which lampoons the well-known Royal Family members.
If you can get past the initial scenes, featuring Kate Middleton at a Highland Games event with Prince Charles (played by Harry Enfield) and the Duchess of Cornwall … and then Prince William walking in the Scottish countryside … you’ll get to a passage in which Beatrice and Eugenie go on the razzle with Justin Trudeau and he also meets Fergie, see here – courtesy of – YOUTUBE
