Prince William and the Air Ambulance

Your DH was probably very proud of you grannybuy but didn't have the media attention in order to make a public declaration as such. Most of us just go through our lives quietly getting on with it. Juggling work and family life. Many of us struggle financially and have that constant feeling of guilt that you could be doing more for those you love.

I don't have much time for any of the royals as I have said many times before. They might like to think they live in the real world. They might like to play at being a "working daddy" or a "busy mummy" but they are not. They are pampered and spoiled with nannies, hairdressers, cooks, chefs, cleaners, chauffeurs, gardeners etc to do their dirty work for them while they play at being a "normal" family. Oh and let's not forget how much they must worry about paying the mortgage and monthly bills.

Easy to be a fine young man when you have such a privileged life, merely by an accident of birth. There are many, many fine young men around the world including flying doctors, air ambulance crews, hospital porters none of whom seek publicity. I suspect he was told what to say and would rather have not stood in front of the cameras. He is being trained as a future king and many of his words are scripted. Diana was prepared to challenge the dysfunction that she found herself surrounded by because she married into the Royal Family and as such showed a determination and bravery. Had she lived I suspect her sons would be living very different lives.
In an age when other fine young men find themselves struggling to provide for their families or are losing their lives in wars, to hear a member of the Royal Family say they are giving their wages to charity, is misguided and completely gives the wrong message to all fine young men across the globe!

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. There are many much more fortunate people in the country, born into lives of quiet wealth and privilege without the constant media attention and public scrutiny. We can none of us take credit for the circumstances we're born into, nor should we be criticised for them. PW is doing fine, IMHO.

I don't care that he has taken a part time job which involves one of his favourite hobbies . I just don't understand the admiration poured out towards him as if he walks on water , heals the sick, feeds the poor and homes the homeless

daisy, What sort of different life do you think PW would be living if Diana had not died?

Her own life was just as dysfunctional.

Would it be better if he was not giving his salary to charity, but spending it on wine women and song? Plenty of young men would do just that, given the chance.

Yes Diana was a sad woman. Not the brightest but doing her best under very difficult circumstances. Whatever happened to her, PW would still be an heir to the throne and would still lead a lifetime in the spotlight. He's also doing his best. He didn't ask to be born into the family he was born into any more than any one of us. We all try to make the best of it. He could be doing much less but has chosen not to. Good on him.

You don't have to 'seek publicity' if you are a member of the royal family, daisy. Hard to avoid it! Give him credit for using the privilege of his position to try to make things better for other people. Nobody says he has to!

Diana's life was only dysfunctional because of what "they" made her merlot.

Who wouldn't be if they had to live like them lot?

Also having your husband and the father of your children dangling his floozie under your nose couldn't have helped matters.

Poor Diana, I am still convinced that history will show that she was murdered.

Well considering he is (kind of) living on charity..... Elegran

He is not living on charity gillybob. Like many, many people from wealthy families he's living on the income from investments including investments in property. He didn't ask for his life. He just got it.

Diana was unbalanced before she married into that family , I don't like criticising her because I think it obvious she was a victim of mental illness, but it's unfair other people are accused of serious actions such as murder because of an attention seeking, manipulating woman . good grief she caused her sons such harm. Baffles me how she is considered a good mother , good mothers do don't cause their children the hurt and embarrassment she caused her sons . To go on Panorama and weighed down with all that eye make up claim there were three in her marriage , the fact she was a third in several women's marriages didn't matter

........and where did that money come from Jane10 ?

So the queen doesn't get £36.1 million from British taxpayers then?

Oh and of course living rent free in several palaces,castles, stately homes doesn't count as charity either does it?

I doubt Diana was "unbalanced" before she married into the Windsor family. I would think (like her fertility and her past) her mental health was probably checked out. After all she was hand picked like a breeding heffer in order to provide the heir and the spare. He (Charles) obviously had little choice in the matter.

None of us know what actually went on behind closed doors do we? She (Diana) was a beautiful woman and seemed to have a great deal of love and compassion which is why the public took a shine to her. Unlike the queen who seems to have a heart of stone. I don't think the queen and the rest of them liked how popular Diana was with the public. As for saying "good mothers don't cause their children hurt and embarrassment....." Are you saying that it's okay for good fathers to flaunt their "bit on the side" Anniebach ?

Here we go again! Meanness, envy, gossip and BOREDOM!

The Royal family pays more in taxes than they get from the UK public which is often forgotten. They gained their estates over time by astute investment and marriage just as many wealthy people have done. You may not like it but that's the way it is. We, the UK public did not just decide to give them their land! Its a business that they've been developing for centuries. I believe Prince P even refers to it as "the Firm"!

There does seem to be a vein of bitterness and vindictiveness running through quite a few of the threads at the moment...

I do hope that wasn't directed at me Lilygran . Are you saying that unless you LOVE the royals you are mean and envious ?

Actually I am a little bit bored at the moment (hence why am playing on GN) as we have a team of visitors in the factory and I am on tea, coffee and falling about duties, so can't get to my usual desk.

Of course there are no gossips here are there?

We are all entitled to like/dislike whoever we want to. It is a free country -- at the moment-- and as far as I know there are no guidlines on GN to say we all have to love and respect the royals.

gillybob, what proof is there that Diana spoke the truth?

Diana was disturbed before the marriage , her obsession with getting rid of every nanny her father employed, eating disorder

She was not hand picked to marry Charles , he was with her sister before her, have you read her book? I do believe the villain in that sorry saga was her father, he wanted one of his daughters in the windsors family as did his mother in law. Elder daughter didn't work out so Diana was next in the queue, she was brought up on Sandringham, holidayed in balmoral , she knew the family well . The poor woman craved attention and I doubt anyone could have given her all she demanded . What of the rumours Camilla was with Charles on the royal train just prior to his marriage ? The log book showed the blond was in a car registered to Francis Shand Kidd,i doubt she loaned her car to Camilla . Charles said he resumed his relationship with Camilla after the marriage had broken down, I do know they started meeting in certain houses after the marriage was rocky , things which happened then did not happen sooner . Sorry but she was vindictive , she was so jealous of the fact her sons were close to Tiggy she publicly accused Tiggy of having an abortion, this was wicked

I haven't read "the book" Anniebach and have no desire to really. Although I am sure it's quite easy to write a book about someone once they are unable to disagree with you.

There is of course no proof that anyone of them "spoke the truth" and unless you know/knew them personally I doubt a book will be entirely gospel either.

I was sure that I did hear that the Queen Mother had quite a lot to do with the matchmaking, but could be wrong as I really don't know them.

Tbh I really couldn't care less.

I too object to people who question the necessity for a Royal Family being described as "mean and envious". I don't envy their wealth or their way of life but I do think the millions of pounds that are spent to maintain a system that legitimises inequality by reason of birth could be better used.

As I've mentioned before, during the 50's and 60's the Royal Family began to be seen by more and more people as an expensive irrelevance. In order to rectify this situation a "reality-type" documentary was produced with the express aim of "humanising" them and increasing their popularity. Social commentators have said that this strategy worked and they learned that it is necessary for the Royal Family to constantly be in the public eye, creating an image that they are part of our own "family", in order to maintain its position. They call the tune as to when, where and how they are filmed or photographed and any intrusion (in this country) into their privacy is firmly dealt with.

I think Diana was an emotionally and mentally fragile young woman whose difficulties were certainly not helped by her marriage to Charles. She may have been unstable but I still think she made an important and positive contribution in helping to dispel the myths surrounding HIV and leprosy and in raising awareness re land mines. Without really knowing someone, it's difficult to make a judgment about a person's true nature or motives, but from what I saw I liked her.

.gillybob, she wrote the book , she was very much alive when it was published . It's a time long gone now and I think so sad she was so troubled but I also think it so wrong that the allegations of murder are made. I thought of her as a breath of fresh air in that family and my opinion of her is not based on rumours in the press. The poor woman danced with the devil and paid a very heavy price, but her death was brought about by her own actions - and the Fayeds, I am no royalist but I think to lay her death in the hands of the windsors is terrible

Thank you Eloethan I was beginning to think it was just me who didn't "love" the royals. What puzzles me is how anyone can love a family who they don't know other than the little snatches they see on TV and photographs in the press , together with the occasional carefully choreographed speech. But hey ho it takes all sorts to make a world.

We will never know Anniebach.

As I said I wouldn't want to read a book about/by the royals so it could say anything at all.

I am sad for a beautiful young woman who died in such tragic circumstances but as I didn't know her, that's as far as it goes.

I am a Royalist and believe that without them we would just be a tiny overcrowded little Island, however referring back to a comment I made 14/7 I think his PR team made a mistake saying that ' with the job comes a salary of £40.000 which PW will be donating to charity. ( or words to that effect ) It was this that I felt was ridiculous for reasons I have stated and also as my DH pointed out.......He (DH) gets an occupational pension + a state pension...which is considerably reduced with tax poo aid. Surely with PW wealth he would be taxed so much there will be nothing left? I would have been quite happy had they said he was working voluntarily.

I certainly don't love, admire, envy the windsors , only thing in their favour for me is they save having to vote for a president every five years , they have no effect on my life , I wouldn't cross the road to greet one when they do their walk abouts , I watch their weddings because I like weddings and like to see what is being worn , that's it

Sorry paid not poo aid.