Eugenie moving into Kensington Palace

This is no way to talk of a fellow Gran

Perhaps she wore a dress embroidered with daffodils or leeks Anniebach

I don't recall her wearing a flat cap or leading a whippet when she visited Newcastle either. Unless that was her I spotted in The Bigg Market, wearing a tiny mini-skirt, bra top and a headscarf.

She has never worn a woman's Welsh bonnet on the very rare occasion she has been to Wales , snubbed again

I have just been to Buckingham palace to see the exhibition of the Queen's dresses. Some are beautiful but a large number of the outfits and hats are not. I was very surprised that ER agreed to wear some of the more ridiculous garments. Is it really necessary to embroider national emblems or Olympic Rings on one's evening wear to show respect for the country she is visiting or the occasion she is attending? Perhaps it is an aide memoire. I am wearing tartan so I must be in Scotland.
On the question of tourism, I did visit London especially to see this exhibition, so I can't argue against that. However, does the UK as a whole benefit from Royal tourism? No.
Would the tourists still come if we had no ER? Yes.
Are Andrew's daughters a waste of space? Yes.
IMO of course.

I know what I would choose too trisher.

But she doesn't have to do it MaizieD. It's not as though it is a condition of her pension being paid is it?

You might be considerably younger than she is but have you enjoyed the first class healthcare? The best of nutrition? In fact the best of everything?

I have no issue with EARNED wealth.

So here's the choice, clean the house, sort out the garden, do the washing or have someone cover all that while I get dressed up and driven to meet a few people and have a nice dinner somewhere? I know what I'd choose. 340 events are as nothing compared with all the other stuff.

I'm sure that many of us would love to do some of the Queen's official engagements but how would you feel about the 340 she did last year?

Granted that many of them may have been quite short, like welcoming foreign ambassadors at the Palace but some are pretty demanding for a 90yr old. I wouldn't fancy having to dress in my best, ensure that I look immaculate and then go out to meet loads of complete strangers, handshaking and making polite small talk, having to look very interested in things that might bore me rigid, stand for hours (10 minutes at a bus stop is enough for me!) at ceremonies, trudge round factories, put up with bad weather etc. etc. I bet she's knackered at the end of some days. I couldn't do it and I'm considerably younger than her. She also has to keep herself up to date with everything that is going on in the UK government and Commonwealth affairs. She may have the lifestyle of a wealthy person (and there are plenty of very wealthy people around who don't do anything like what she does; shall we chop their heads off, too?)but she works hard at an age when most of us would be putting our feet up and only doing what we wanted to do.

I agree that the minor royals are quite useless but they are really no different from any other members of wealthy families; just a bit more high profile.

gillybob frilly romper suits!

She doesn't have to do it Luckygirl. She chooses to do it. Maybe she could get one of her lazy good for nothing granddaughters to step in her shoes.

We do not need all these royal hangers-on, and when Corbyn is PM grin I am sure he will ditch the lot of them

Now what is the lesser of the 2 evils?

"I will do a foreign trip trisher I'm not fussy where it is and I don't even mind watching some crazy dancing, as long as I get a generous clothing allowance, first class travel, 5 star food and 7 star accommodation."

I am not a royalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I cannot imagine that the queen at 90 relishes any of this.

We do not need all these royal hangers-on, and when Corbyn is PM I am sure he will ditch the lot of them!

Andrew and his mob are totally superfluous to any benefit that might accrue from a royal family.

My 2 DGD's adore Zara (Phillips)Tindell Terribull. Well they adore her horses any way.

Yes but he has to wear those frilly "little lord fauntleroy" outfits for the privilege Lillie. No little shorts and tee shirts from NEXT for him.

oops, sorry, "granny's favourites"

I think there is a consensus among the public that the Duke of York and his two daughters are superfluous to royal requirements and these girls should just go to work and get on with it like the rest of their contemporaries, I gather they faff about in art galleries and the like for a few week at a time, punctuated by yet another week or two on some rich geezer's yacht I think Princess Ann set a fine example with her no nonsense approach and by not giving her children a title, and possibly not such a sense of entitlement with all that goes with such a title,lthough that's conjecture on my part, Zara Tindell projects a down to earth image imo. After not being a royalist for years, I now think a slimmed down royal family are on the whole preferable to an alternative. It's naive not to think that some sort of nepotism won't emerge whoever is appointed in the place of a royal family it's human nature. Look at politicians at home and abroad, across the political spectrum, this can be seen time and time again. After all America tried to create their own royal family with the Kennedys in a way.

trisher I'd like to do the visit to Sydney Zoo so my GC could cuddle the koalas, bilbies and kangaroos like Prince George. When we went, we weren't allowed to touch them.

I don't like Eugenie and Beatrice, I watched a documentary a while back and they said they thought they were grannies "favourites" because they shared a lot of her interests. Sucking up, no doubt. Give me Zara or Harry any day!

Here it is again with the "first" in the right place.

I will do a foreign trip trisher I'm not fussy where it is and I don't even mind watching some crazy dancing, as long as I get a generous clothing allowance, first class travel, 5 star food and 7 star accommodation. Oooops silly me I forgot that sort of thing comes as standard for the royals.

I will do a foreign trip trisher I'm not fussy where it is and I don't even mind watching some crazy dancing, as long as I get firsta generous clothing allowance, class travel, 5 star food and 7 star accommodation. Oooops silly me I forgot that sort of thing comes as standard for the royals.

If all the GNetters volunteered to cover one event each I'm sure we could cover all the Royal duties. I'd like to do a nice opening somewhere with a champagne reception afterwards, but I'm very adaptable.

Gilly, you have just reminded me of a republican who would refer to the windsors as ' their sh** don't smell Windsors '

My thoughts exactly Anniebach I just don't get it. Some people seem to view the royals as some kind of divine beings.

They are human. They eat (well), drink (often), pump (never in public) and poop (although it probably smells like roses) just like the rest of us.

I can't understand the adoration of this family, camping outside a hospital for days to wait for the birth of a Windsor baby , get a life

Mumsy your cartoon would definitely apply to me.

Probably because like her father she is a lazy scrounger.

I really can't understand the fascination with the royals. Each to their own I guess but I can't understand what there is to admire and look up to in a large family who do no work, (I'm sorry but opening art galleries and smashing bottles on ships followed by a banquet in their honour, is not work by any stretch of the imagination) live in several huge costly palaces that they do not pay for, eat and drink the best food, travel the world, enjoy the best health care in private hospitals etc.

I have more respect for an overpaid footballer or pop star.

I dont understand why she isnt made to carry out royal duties. I cant see why she shouldnt be, especially as some of the other Royals do a huge amount of them.