Our gracious Queen

Is a mother responsible for the divorces of her children ?

Who will pay for security I wonder?

Bingo !!

We will pay

The bingo was for the walk alone etc etc.
If 3/4 of my children had divorced, I’d be asking myself some questions.
We’ll pay of course just as we did when Andy used to go and visit his paedo mate and when he’s off playing golf etc etc

We shouldn't be paying. I think the country has more important things on which to spend taxpayers money.
A lady on the news tonight can hardly see and is waiting possibly more than a year for a cataract op......
A man at our Remembrance service couldn't stand...waiting same length of time for mri scan. I could go on....

Harry not used to family estrangement? Really? Weren’t his parents divorced? And aunt and uncle?

Yes but you can have divorce without estrangement and estrangement without divorce.

Well said Merlotgran.

I think Charles and Diana could be described as “estranged”. But this idea the royals are all one happy Walton’s - style family and Meghan has elbowed her way in is just so much tosh. The RF is just as dysfunctional as many others, just that they’ve got more money than most families and can paper over the cracks better.

Waves to suziewoozie and agrees with Miss Adventure about the response if Her Majesty asked for advice after one of her grandsons decided to spend Christmas with the in law.

Also - William and Kate have spent Christmas with her family.

Merry Christmas one and all

They gave Balmoral a miss, now Sandringham .

They posted a happy birthday message to Charles, a photograph of Harry holding Archie at his christening, Charles looking at them.

I recall reading somewhere (can't remember where) that the Queen sees Archie often - I am sure she has no problem with Meghan and Harry spending Christmas with her mother.

Why should Meghan's mother not spend Christmas with her grandson just because Meghans MiL is the Queen.

Sad to hear that George, Sally and baby Claire will not be with their grandparents for Christmas.

Esther and Tom are so elderly now, who knows if they will be here next year?

It would have been lovely to see photos of them all but unfortunately George is still in Afghanistan on his third tour of duty and Sally is looking after her own elderly Mum, who has dementia.

Sign of the times, when wars and sickness are still pulling families apart.

I hope at least one person gets the point of this post.

I think there’s far too rosy a picture being painted here of family life and Christmas. The truth is often much more problematic and stressful. The real investment should be in everyday family life - whether in person ( if you’re lucky enough to live near) or through Skype, FaceTime, Duo. Christmas has nothing to with the relationship I have with my dgc and I expect that’s something I may share with HM. But lets face it, it’s a wonderful sanctimonious stick to beat MM with

As I am elderly LOL
I find it strange that we think only the elderly may not be with us much longer...

we all know that death takes us whenever.

I'm not spending Christmas with some of my family

Should I be worried that they're too busy?

Bradfordlass.... your family sounds much more interesting! Could we swap them with that dysfunctional rabble we call the Royal family?

Well said Kathy1959 some of the younger royals want the money and privileges of being a royal but don’t want the negatives that come with it, Harry threatens to spend more time in Africa, well who would care as long as he doesn’t take Taxpayers money when he’s there.

I don't care
I am sick of hearing about them
Megan is an attention seeker like diana
Poor harry had parents who argued when he was 5 separated at 10 divorced at 15 ...no wonder he latched on to this actress
But he has suffered no more than the rest of us and has a privileged life to cushion him
We have the examples of our queen princess ann katherine william zara ...all who get on with dignity
I will be glad when the wallace simpson wannabe gets her own way and they all move to america where at least her respectable dignified mother will see her grandchild
Yes the queen and prince philip are old but i am sure they have more important family members to care for
News stories now saying they are going to stay but end result as usual is more attention for megan

As I get older I see Christmas more and more as a lot of fuss about nothing. It’s one day we spend weeks of preparation for to just stay at home mainly overindulging and it’s over in a flash. It causes problems in families thrown together, and problems for people who aren’t and feel slighted. Why? Apart from the kids who are excited about getting lots of presents. Then there are the parents who can’t afford Christmas and will get themselves into debt. I reiterate- it’s one day!!

As many divorce there are dysfunctional families all around the country.

My younger daughter divorced so I have a dysfunctional family

North Norfolk can be very bleak at Christmas, much as I love it. Not much competition with Florida (or wherever Granny Doria lives)

Wonder how much security will cost us

Each generation doing it differently. It is no different in the Royal family to any other family

But it IS different - it’s totally different because we all pay for this bunch of leeches. Part of the deal is that the whole firm parade to church on Xmas morning and slap a smile on for those that want to look at them. Just as it’s part of the deal that they present to new baby to the public and show them his face. I personally couldn’t care less where they are, I just object to paying for them and Listening to H&M moaning about how tough their lifestyle is. They can just give it up and go and live elsewhere if life in the goldfish bowl is too tough - If they want to stay and be publicly funded then they ought to play the game.

The divorce rate across the country is not 75%. Divorce does not automatically equal dysfunctional, no one said it did. But the idea that the RF is one big happy role model for the rest of us is sheer bunkum and tosh. There are some very unpleasant characters within it - at the moment I’d put sleazy Andy at the top of my list and I wouldn’t want any young female relative anywhere near him at Christmas or any other time tbh.