Not posh enough for a prince?
I'm not sure if the latest bit of royal news has made it across the Pond yet, but over the weekend it was announced that Prince William (heir to the throne after Prince Charles) had split up with his girlfriend of four years, Kate Middleton, whom he met while at the university in St. Andrew's (an obscure and remote but quite posh college in Scotland). The press buzzed with conflicting reports on how it ended - the suggestion was that William ended it after a "royals' summit" and that he had been told that the royal family couldn't afford "another Diana".
It's been suggested that Kate's class is what did for her - she is the daughter of a former air stewardess "made good", but her mother still shows her working-class background by chewing gum (at royal parties) and saying "pardon" rather than whatever the royals say. The problem for the royals is how they can reproduce now that they can no longer find some aristocrat to pressure his daughter into a marriage of convenience, because no woman in her right mind would put up with the restrictions and the intrusion of royal life. The life of a Windsor heir's wife may not be the notoriously miserable lot of the Japanese crown prince's wife, but it still carries far higher expectations than any other section of society. The likely answer is that the monarchy will have to drastically down-size if it is to survive at all.
Comments
"Pardon" is nothing.
Kate's mum said "toilet".
Off with her head.
Posted by: Old Pickler | April 18, 2007 12:26 AM
CNN Int'l reported that the breakup was due to the paparazzi continually hounding her and his desire to concentrate on his military career. Personally, I've been thinking this is a bad move on his part. "Well, nice knowing you these four years. Have a good life; sorry you won't become a princess. Ta-ta; I'm off to Iraq."
Posted by: JDsg
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April 18, 2007 4:21 AM
Well, if they stopped reproducing it would solve a lot of problems, no?
Posted by: chris y | April 18, 2007 5:01 PM
Yeah, the royals don't say "pardon", they say, "Speak up you mumbling b******!" And tell me they don't swear like proverbial troopers. I've sabbed many a fox hunt and the language that comes out of toff mouthes is truly outrageous!!
Posted by: Julaybib | April 18, 2007 5:13 PM
There was the crusty member of the upper class some years ago who was asked: "Do you really think we live in a classless society now?" in the course of an interview with a journalist.
"Of course we do," he said "Why do you think I'm talking to someone like you?"
Posted by: Thersites | April 18, 2007 7:43 PM
Thersites - that was Barbara Cartland talking to some journalist or other. And it's a classic.
Of course the monarchy is ridiculous in many ways. But I'm glad we've got it. Republics have presidents - they cost a lot too but they're really tacky.
I'm not sure about downsizing. We don't want eco-friendly egalitarian monarchs like the boring Dutch or tedious Swedes.
Posted by: Old Pickler | April 21, 2007 5:12 AM
OP: the question is sustainability. The problem is that royal life is stuffy and restricted and beset with intrusions from journalists who think it's their right to tell everyone about their lives, and I can't believe that anyone not brought up in it, or something a lot like it, would marry into it. Added to this is that, with a young royal, she is likely to be playing second fiddle to his armed forces commitments as well. I know someone personally who told her Army officer boyfriend to choose between the Army and her, and he chose the Army, and I don't blame her.
I don't favour a republic in this country either, although if we have to have one, the German or (dare I say it) Israeli models are much more appealing than the US or French. Republics are often formed with rhetoric about rights and liberty and all that, but don't deliver them to everyone.
Posted by: Indigo Jo | April 21, 2007 10:11 AM