Posts tagged Prinncess Diana

1 - Becoming a royal puts your life in danger.

Being a symbol of the UK can have it’s benefits but one of the draw backs is that you become a target for terrorists and anyone else who has a screw lose. Pretty much every single senior member of the royal family has been attacked in some form or another.

The scariest examples are.

• Princess Anne’s kidnap attempt in 1974 in which everyone apart from Anne was shot by the gunman. But it’s scary to think that Anne could have been killed at any moment.
• Prince Charles was attacked in 1994, the gunman managed to get on stage and fire two rounds but luckily no one was hurt.
• Charles and Camilla’s car was attacked by a mob of protesters in 2011 it was rumored that one of the attackers managed to open the door and hit Camilla.
• There has been about 4 assassination attempts made on Queen Elizabeth that we know of. Although not an official assassination attempt there was an incident in which a man simply climbed into Buckingham Palace and sat down next to the queen in her bed!
• Princess Diana was attacked twice in her royal career and stalked by a lonely scary guy. Although she was never hurt it cause her a lot of stress.  

2 - You have no privacy and the British media are the nastiest in the world.

I think it’s a no brainer that you don’t have any privacy as a royal but what people often forget is how nasty and down right F***ed up the British media are.

They will tap your phone, (It’s rumored that Kate’s voice mail was hacked into which I think is disgusting)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal

They used to trespass in order to get pictures but these days they can use power lenses to get photos of you sunbathing topless.

Editors will some times pay some one to go under cover and find out your families dirty secrets as they did with Kate’s family.

Editors will also pay a reporter to apply for a job at Buckingham Palace solely to have him report about what’s happening inside and take photos of the rooms.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/feb/15/pressandpublishing.royalsandthemedia

Oh and don’t even think about gaining weight or going out the house without looking perfect because the media is not shy about creating a cruel nickname for you like the “Duchess of Pork”

3 - You don’t automatically become rich

There seems to be this idea that when you marry a Prince you automatically become a millionaire and you go out and spend your Prince’s money, well that’s not exactly true.

The truth is it depends on which Prince you marry. If you marry the heir to the throne then you will share the income of the Duchy of Cornwall which is a yearly income of about £24 million a year. But even then that money is divided among the Heir’s children, charities and general running costs of the Palaces and various other things so their might not be much left over for anything else.

You might be thinking “Yeah but what about trust funds from various dead relatives” well… yeah getting a large sum of money is great apart from the fact that money is supposed to keep you for your whole life there for you need to be careful how much you spend because when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Kate for example doesn’t receive a wage for her royal duties she only has her expenses paid for by Prince Charles. She doesn’t have any money to her name and isn’t really rich in her own right.

4 - You don’t automatically get access to the royal Jewels.

I’ve heard a lot of people moan about Kate’s lack of royal jewels but the fact of the matter is that the Monarch decides what you get and don’t get.

Queen Elizabeth is a great believer in Jewels representing a person’s position in the line of succession. So again what Jewels receive or gain access to greatly depends on you place in succession. Kate has received almost nothing from the Queen other than a loan of a tiara for her wedding day. This is properly largely due to the fact that she and William are working as part time royals and are second in line not first.

5 - You have to become a mother

I know that for many women this is no problem at all, but what about the few women that simply don’t want to be mothers or feel that they don’t have the temperament to be mothers. Again this may depend on what royal you marry, if you marry a lower ranking royal then it doesn’t really matter but if you marry the heir then you really have no choice.

The whole purpose of a royal getting married is to produce an heir as babies outside of marriages can not be included in succession. As many have pointed out, producing an heir is the only real duty of a woman who marries a prince. 

6 - You are held to a higher standard to behavior than normal people.

This of course is understandable to a certain degree as you do represent a country and if you are head of state the commonwealth too. But the standards people hold you too can some times force you to lose touch with your own personality. Many who have married into the royal family have complained that they felt suffocated by the strict protocol of behavior. Sarah Ferguson’s bubbly and outgoing personality was warmly welcomed by the royals prior to marriage but once she was married she was expected to suppress her energy and act in a dignified manner. Sarah tried her best but found she was giving up a huge part of who she was and the pressure to be perfect and the fear of disapprove from the palace cause her a great deal of stress.

7 - You have to be of a member of the Church of England and if you are not, you must convert.

I know that some royal watchers have a more optimistic view on this point of some one out side the church of England marrying into the royal family but I personally doubt it would happen without conflict. For example, If William decided to marry a Buddhist and that woman kept her faith how can she in turn by Head of the Church of England along side William. Also what faith will they raise their children in, Buddhist or Christian. Well.. it would have to be Christian as the child would be head of the Church of England.

I would also like to add and forgive me if this offends anyone but I am basing this on facts. The Church of England is the strongest opponents to gay marriage, gay rights in general, abortions and woman holding positions of power within the church (The vote on women bishops fail to pass last year). Suppose William fell in love with a women who had a gay sibling? or who was raped earlier in her life and had an abortion? You may find your own beliefs don’t fit in with the Church of England.

8 - Even if you really care about your people there is very little you can really do to help them in times of trouble.

Queen Elizabeth learned this during the Margaret Thatcher error era.

Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth could not have been more different. While Queen Elizabeth regarded Nelson Mandela as a freedom fighter and symbol of the injustice of the South Africa apartheid, Margaret Thatcher famously referred to him as a terrorist. She was the strongest opponent against economic sanctions towards south Africa in protest of their inequality. This divided the commonwealth and caused a great deal of distress to the Queen who so deeply cared for the commonwealth.

Thatcher also introduced the Poll Tax which was first introduced in Scotland before any other country in the UK. Using the people of Scotland whom at the time had already suffered from huge job cuts under Thatcher and were being used as guinea  pigs for new tax system. Queen Elizabeth was powerless to help the country she loved so dearly even though she was there Queen.

9 - Republicans

These are people who spend their whole time informing the British people how undemocratic the royal family is as a means of representing the UK. The most frustrating thing abut Republicans is that many of their points are valid. Not every one in the UK is white, upper class and Christian so why should have royal family, our so called representatives be such a small reflection of the UK. They also keep a very close eye on everything you do and will protest you at public appearances.

10 - You give up your right to vote.

This might seem like a small thing to some people but to me I find that to be a big deal. Becoming a royal takes away your basic right to have a say in how your country is run. That is crazy to me!

I am almost finished writing an article that I have been working on for some time.

The reason behind this is not to criticize the royals but to try and give a reality check to many people who seem to think that marrying into the royal family is one great big amazing adventure The more I have followed the royals they more I have come to feel that given the opportunity I would never want to become one.

I hope that this article can create some discussion and make people think a little harder about what royalty is and how much you really have to give up if you marry a royal.

I feel like going through my Diana photos and finding a funny gif to go with it.