Just after Prince Andrew’s infamous BBC 2 Newsnight interview, a few people, including a former old Press Secretary to the Monarch, were quick off the mark to suggest with calls for the Prince to relinquish his charities and out of the blue, he added the Sussexes. In his old eyes and diminishing capacity to think anew in a modern world, the Sussexes can go away and the rest of the royal family can do fine.
This particular man, although out of the royal job for over twenty years, has become a sort of royal ‘rent a quote’ hawking himself anywhere. He is still going round making outrageous and very silly comments and making a living out of it, mostly from US and Australian television companies. How unfortunate for their audiences, as he is selling them snake oil.
So let’s examine his claims that with Prince Andrew and the Sussexes ‘banished’, other royals can successfully carry on. One has to ask, which royals he had in mind. After all, we all know what they are all doing at present, how successful or not they have been, and whether that success is measurable.
With the Monarch at 93 years old, I doubt that old former Press Secretary and now a hangers-on was counting her among the other royals. Duke of Edinburgh is already retired. We have Prince Charles and his 72 years old wife, Prince William and his wife, Prince Edward and his wife, and Princess Anne. I have left out Prince Andrew and deliberately left out the Sussexes.
Realistically only Prince Charles among the lot works very hard successfully and has been for fifty years. He had to create his own footpath as an heir, there was no playbook for him to follow. His charities and work are visible and successful to see and evaluate.
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What about Prince William and his wife? They are Patrons of some charities alright, but what have they brought to the charities other than the occasional visit with a smile. That is the old school patronage the Queen has done for almost seventy years. The couple have no idea or the inkling to exploit new ideas to make their charities thrive in an age of money shortages.
Apart from the mental health issues, which began with Prince Harry, nothing new and concrete has come from that camp. There have been the occasional splutter of newspaper leaks of ideas and plans in the pipeline to launch one thing or the other, there has been absolute zilch to point to physically. The Cambridges apologists in the newspapers have in past articles, made lame excuses that, their lack of activities were due to being groomed to be King and Queen Consort. But as they would know, that is total baloney, when one considers it would take another twenty-five to forty years for that to happen. Besides, his own father at 71 years is still busy working hard and wants to extend his Charity Trust to New Zealand.
I honestly have no idea what Prince Edward does, but his wife Countess Sophie is supposed to work hard, but does not publicise it or royal reporters do not deem her newsworthy enough and completely ignore her.
The Princess Royal Anne goes around a lot but under the radar. She is mainly reported in local news media when she goes visiting an old fire station or call in at a local hospital. That’s been the staple royal visits or work over the years, which the Cambridges are following.
With the Duke of York virtually ‘retired’ from active royal service, the 230 charities he was patron of, have to find new patrons from among the royal family. His daughters are not working royals, so are handicapped. That leaves Prince Charles and his wife, Prince William and his wife, Prince Edward and his wife and Princess Anne. That is, if the most hardworking and successful royals, apart from Prince Charles, the Sussexes are ‘banished’ as suggested by that old fool.
It is such a sad state of affairs that on a horrid occasion like Prince Andrew’s ignominious unraveling last week, that unprincipled old idiot of a former press secretary would seek to link the Prince’s abominable sexual history, to the Sussexes’ documentary and suing the tabloids as equal heinous crimes, which deserve some kind of punishment. Did they disgrace the royal family? Of course, not. That man was being very disrespectful and ill-mannered.
What most of these newspapers do not realise is that the Cambridges represent the older generation, who are sadly on their way out. However, the Sussexes represent the millennial generation who would inhabit the world after the Queen and Prince Charles. The Cambridges despite everything, would need the Sussexes to keep the royal ship afloat until their reign starts. Their children would grow up to be replicas of their parents, so might not be able to save their reign without a great input from the Sussexes.
The British newspapers in general, do not publicise that much the successful initiatives the Sussexes undertake. They have done in some instances, such as the growing Invictus Games, the Smart Works campaign, the Hub Community Cookbook. With the unflinching support of Sussex squaddies around the globe other charities, they have highlighted have been supported incredibly. There are no royals, leaving out the Monarch, that can command that sort of support or friends, as the Sussexes might prefer to call their supporters. The couple has done so much charity work in seventeen months of marriage more than the eight years the Cambridges have chipped in. Through their influences, some companies have expanded and some people have been employed for the good of their families and society in general.
With the launch of the Sussex Royal Foundation early in the New Year, would come the unveiling of the grand picture being cooked behind closed doors. We would know then, who deserves to be where in the scheme of the royal family. We would also know the rumours that have swirled around the Sussexes about where they want to settle, have been ill-founded, illogical and calculated to harm. However, as always, the truth shall prevail and with that would come their strengths to succeed and help those in need.
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