It's a boy

[telectrix]

by the time he's king, this country's first language will be urdu anyway.

 

[ian.settle1]

Well the general public havent seen him yet, maybe there is a reason why they are taking their time showing him to the public

Here's why

 

[tidyboiler]

Maybe they will call it Gaylord, after its uncle Edward.

 

[tidyboiler]

a few years back i saw a story about a black couple who had a kid that came out bright white. apparently, one of them must have had a distant relative that was white, but i reckon that poor fella's head must have been in bits for a couple of weeks. imagine the woman trying to explain that one.

I have a friend who has 12 kids, ............... her husband is afro caribbean and they have 6 white and 6 black kids. The white ones are all pale skinned (paler than me) and have blue eyes, the black ones are really dark and have afro hair and dark brown eyes. Her grandkids are a mix of black and white too, the white ones produced black kids!!!! :arabia:

 

[telectrix]

Maybe they will call it Gaylord, after its uncle Edward.

or noddy, so his grandad will be his friend.

 

[Adam W]

The tourism argument doesn't really hold water though does it? Do you think that Johnny Foreigner and his family think they're going to be taking tea and scones with them when they book their holiday here?
France was the number 1 tourist destination in Europe last year and look what they did to their royalty a couple of hundred years ago. The USA has never had a royal family and people go there in droves every year.

Of course Johnny foreigner and his family know they won't be invited to the Queen's garden party - invitations are reserved for people who have done outstanding things in their community, made news headlines, accomplished sporting achievements etc, although Johnny foreigner and his family will pay a fortune for tea and scones somewhere with a royal connection, or anywhere a bit posh where they can just imagine that they are a bit like the Queen.
France and America have presidents, which cost more than our monarchy, and they have tourism despite not having a monarchy not because of it. If anything that strengthens the tourism argument because the French and Americans come here because of the monarchy, because they don't have their own. Look at what the Americans are 'in to' - knights, medieval jousting, castles, fairytale princesses.... Kings and Queens... In Britain you can visit a real castle or palace where a real king, queen, prince or princess has lived, but in America they have to make do with Disneyland, which is someone's fantasy idea of what we have.

I suspect this is more of a north/south thing and a dislike of the monarchy because they're 'posh' and you don't like to be seen to have ideas above your station, or 'aspirations', but the fact is a lot more northerners would turn out to see a visit by the Royal family than the Royle family.

 

[trev]

It's nothing to do with them being "posh" or not having ideas above my station. It's down to the fact that I don't like having a head of state that we cannot get rid of via the ballot box. One that costs us £ millions every year despite what we're led to believe by fawning sycophants like Nicholas Wichell. It's also down to the fact that we're told we must at the very least admire these people, have you taken a look at what some of their political leanings were in recent history?
With or without them we would still have castles and everything else you mention and as you rightly state, these are what the tourists are drawn to.
There were an estimated 350,000 babies born yesterday, most will be born into lives of grinding poverty. A lot will have very short lives yet we're supposed to think that this one is somehow more special than any of the rest. I wish William and Kate well as I would any new parent, I genuinely hope that all is well with this child but I don't accept that I or anyone else should bow and scrape before any of the Franco, Grecco Germanic, British royal family

 

[Adam W]

Unfortunately life is a lottery - you get the hand you're dealt with, and if your parents own a successful family business then the chances are you'll be set for life, all the more so if that family business or inheritance has been going for hundreds of years.
I think in this day and age people are left to show the monarchy as much respect as they want to give - I like to think our royal family are better than the dictator of a banana republic.

 

[Sparkie30]

i would rather have a monarchy than lying politicians everyday.

 

[telectrix]

unfortunately, we're stuck with both. at least the monarchy actually work for the benefit of the country ( as well as themselves, of course ).

 

[tidyboiler]

i would rather have a monarchy than lying politicians everyday.

Unfortunately we have both.

 

[telectrix]

telepathy, or what?

 

[shagbite]

Unfortunately life is a lottery - you get the hand you're dealt with, and if your parents own a successful family business then the chances are you'll be set for life, all the more so if that family business or inheritance has been going for hundreds of years.
I think in this day and age people are left to show the monarchy as much respect as they want to give - I like to think our royal family are better than the dictator of a banana republic.

and if i'd won the lottery, the last thing i'd do is pass round the begging bowl - expecting folk to support my lifestyle so i don't have to dip into my own pocket.

 

[Silly Sausage]

In my best Max Bygraves voice, "I wanna tell you a story".

Back in the mid 80s, I worked for a small computer company which had a certain Lord Herbert as an investor.
He's now Earl of somewhere, google Highclere you'll find him.
Anyway, we'd build hardware then program it up. Once or twice a week we'd bring him (L H) in to 'test' the software.
Which basically involved sitting him in front of computer and see if he could break the program. The guy didn't have a clue, he was only there to make him feel he was contributing to the business. So, putting it bluntly, he was a complete and utter moron, we'd just take the **** out of him all day, WHOOSH!, didn't have a clue. Good job mate, see you next week!

If he's representative of the aristocracy, I seriously pity the British masses who seem to hold these people in awe, respect, wonder, whatever...

And as for the Duke of E..... hahahahaha....our head of state is married to someone who, I think it's fair to say is universally accepted as a total idiot, says it all for me!

 

[trev]

I like to think our royal family are better than the dictator of a banana republic.

In principle they're exactly the same. The people of a banana republic cannot get rid of their head of state, neither can we.