Posts tagged queen elizabeth ii

Why do people find the monarchy so fascinating? What do these people actually do? Bring attention to charities for other people to donate money? The royal family is loaded in their own right. Do they ever give any money to charity?

Yeah they do have charity subscriptions and give certain amount a month. 

The reason I find them so interesting is that they are something very unique in this day and age. They are totally non-political representation in a world where politicians and public figures have an agenda to push. Apart from promoting the Monarchy most of what they do is non political and is solely done for the promotion of the UK.

It’s also fascinating to follow the lives of those who have had their lives planned out for them since the day they are born. To have such wealth but with such limitation is fascinating to me. Also the UK is a social class obsessed nation, my own mother refers to people as “common” and describes her self as a “working class and proud” the Royals represent this class system more than anything else.

This is part rant and apology because I know that my tumblr has been a no man’s land in terms of how little I actually post stuff. It’s just a freaking Q&A page!! GRR!!

Don’t get my wrong I love answering questions, in fact in a weird kinda way it has helped me in my college work. Having to think about how to phase the answer to a question so I am not taken the wrong way as really helped me in my essay writing.

But now that I am coming to the end of my second term of college things are starting to quite down and I can finally start enjoying my tumblr and hobby of royal watching!

One thing that I have wanted to do for the longest time is go back to my roots on youtube and start making videos again!

So I have decided to do a sequel to one of my most popular video “My top ten favorite Princess Diana Dresses” I am thinking of doing my top ten princess Diana day dresses. I have a top ten in mind but I can’t think of a nice song to play in the back ground. Can anyone think of one?

Also I’m thinking of doing a video solely on the Kate-Hate and Kate-Love phenom on tumblr. It would be in the style of my “Does the Queen dislike Kate Middleton” video. Also I think it’s about high time some one talks in detail about William’s lack of work and reluctance to step up to use duties.

Also the Easter holidays are coming up at the end of the month in which I will have two week off!! Yay!! So I will use that time to seriously clean up my tumblr as I have had so many thoughtful post that have become lost in the archives and I will also be uploading more programs to my voeh account for people to enjoy.

So just a little update to celebrate the fact I am no longer a slave to my college work! Yay!

Very excited about this!  But a comment on this article does has me a little worried.

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/richard-palmer/382511/Prince-Harry-takes-on-more-of-Diana-s-work

The commenter pointed out that Diana was criticised for her calls to ban landmines which UK was still using and producing at that time.  I know Charles’ bff MP Nicholas Soames called her a loose canon over it and she had to point she was highlighting a humanitarian issue not a governmental one.  I know it wasn’t until after Diana’s death that the British government agreed to the ban. 

Do you think Harry taking up the cause is something that might cause controversy too?  Or now that the UK no longer uses them is it okay for him to take this on?  Would he have had to get permission from the government or are royals allowed to accept causes on their own?

I doubt it will cause controversy since the UK no longer produces them.. However if he does campaign for a world ban then he might face some backlash from those who make money from making them.

I don’t think he needs permission from anyone on this occassion.

Will any other royal step in and do her duties for her.

She has a trip to Rome planned to meet the new President.

I personally think Charles if he is available could do that engagement in her place. Failing that William or Harry.

I just thought I would remind everyone that she is still at Windsor castle and it doesn’t look like she will be leaving any time soon.

http://news.iafrica.com/worldnews/845756.html

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.