I caught the end of the FA cup final today. Wills was clearly struggling shaking the hands of the common people. (In this case, very common. I'm talking footballers.) His father’s son.
Just for the record, I’m not a royalist.
Princess Diana, worshiped by the tabloid press and soon to be sainted by the Daily Express, probably wasn’t the angel many remember her to be. However, the mass hysteria that followed her death suggests she had a great effect on many lives. One thing I do remember was her touching AIDS patients at the height of public misunderstanding and fear of the disease.
How strange then, to see her first son find it so distasteful to shake the hand of footballers – and his grandmother wouldn’t have been amused to see him wipe his hand on his suit and tie.
Our future king doesn't seem to have the common touch.
(The general worth of footballers, like that of the royal family, is for another time and place.)
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HI Phil
Written by jean.day (2387 comments posted) 19th May 2007 | I expect that particular image will haunt him forever, if it was a obvious to everyone as you found it.
But it must be a hard life when everything you do is analysed by everyone. Still, it pays well. |
Written by Lizzy (838 comments posted) 19th May 2007 | Hi Phil.I'm not a royalist either and as it's the 'common' people who uphold their position maybe their should be more respect for them.
I remember once seeing Bernard Manning on the tele, he shook hands with Craig Charles and immediately wiped his hands on his trousers as though contaminated!!!!!!!!
Lizzy
| Me too
Written by AnnieSeed (128 comments posted) 20th May 2007 | I'm not a royalist at all. I used to be until it became apparent what contempt they have for anyone who isn't royal. The odd thing is that you hear of them moaning about wanting to be normal, wishing they could go to the supermarket and not be stared at, and yet if someone departs from the usual sycophancy they are often dreadfully offended.
There was the lady who waited with the crowds in 1977 to see HM, and when HM passed nearby, called out "Pleased to meet you, Ma'am!" Upon which HM glared at her and hissed out of the corner of her mouth "Speak when you're spoken to!" Which made that lady glad she'd forgotten to bring any flowers for HM.
Then there's Edward, who, when someone asked "How is your mother?" snapped "I hope you're not talking about Her Majesty the Queen." Does he have another mother then? I would have thought he would have had the grace to respond appropriately to a question that was kindly meant.
If this is what they're like then I have no time for them and there's no way on earth I'd ever curtsey to a woman like Camilla Parker-Bowles (and that is what she'll always be as far as I'm concerned). |
Written by Bottleblondesurfer (3590 comments posted) 20th May 2007 | As you say Phil they were footballers. He'd have had more of an excuse,though, it they had been rugby players. Those scrums can get very intimate. Why do we imagine him to by any more than what he is: a prilileged inbred who's lucky to have thumbs. Diana don't forget for all her power and position was still a commoner and still had a sense of perspective. Wills is a product of "The Firm"
cheers
Jane |
Written by JourneyAtNight (318 comments posted) 20th May 2007 | How traumatic for him. I hope he's recovering alright.
I feel sorry for them royal folk, they never seem to serve any real purpose. Still, guess they'll always be a good source of entertainment for us commoners.
E
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Written by Witzl (1585 comments posted) 21st May 2007 | The unofficial motto of every American is 'I'm just as good as you are, bud,' and we tend to resent people who think they're better than we are. So the thought of His Nibs wiping the hoi polloi off his hand does not impress me, but perhaps he has one of those cleanliness fetishes?
Charles came to our school in Tokyo back in 1986, before I started working there. The management desperately tried to get the staff to come out and greet him but nobody could be bothered. My husband and a few others were finally prevailed upon to go and when they went, most reluctantly, they were elbowed out of the way by other more important employees who pushed them towards the back. When Charles finally showed (with the Crown Prince of Japan who was also visiting our school), he pushed past all of the VIPs up front and went straight to the back, where he made a bee-line over to my husband and proceeded to ask him a series of rather daft questions about how he liked teaching in Japan. We still have the photo someone took somewhere... My husband is, like you, NOT a royalist, but he has never forgotten that Charles shoved past the big-wigs and went straight to the guys in the back. | Monarchy?
Written by gerardconnolly (1186 comments posted) 21st May 2007 |
' A King? A King, Sirahs? You say he is still a King!!? Then Sirs, by the bowels of Christ shall we cut his head off with the crown still on it!!'
Oliver Cromwell to the Committee of the Regicides,1648.
They used to know how to do things properly in those days. |
Written by Toad (107 comments posted) 29th May 2007 | | Witzl, I don't completely agree with your American motto. I see disgusting levels of cultural obsession with our celebrities, and I sense the unspoken sentiment that people think celebrities are indeed "better than them." When celebs, or royals, I imagine, have this sentiment reinforced by the public, it probably starts to stick, and they feel the need to wipe their hands after handshakes, etc. |
Written by Fledermaus (3506 comments posted) 14th June 2007 | Funny. When the late queen Juliana rode a bike (long before I was born, but still), the English press seemed to be enormously amused of such un-queenly behaviour. I remember that in an interview with one of the British royals, decades later (long after I was born), they still referred to it: The English monarchy had to get closer to the common people, but that did not mean they had to ride a bicycle...
But then, the Dutch press was all upset when prince William-Alexander embraced and hugged olympic swimmer Inge de Bruin. Our future king hugging a good-looking blonde who wasn't his wife, oh how un-noble!
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