Wednesday afternoon/evening, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak finally announced the date for Britain’s general election. Everyone knew it was coming, but I’m not sure people realized that Sunak would set the date for Day 4 of the Wimbledon Championships. Sunak won’t stop until we get John McEnroe providing election updates from the ESPN booth, istg. Well, it’s been so long since Britain had a real general election, people sort of forgot that their “royal family” is supposed to not only remain apolitical, but the royals are supposed to stay quiet and mostly out of sight during an election cycle. Wouldn’t you know, suddenly the already-strained “working royals” have a perfect excuse to take a holiday for two months. Wouldn’t you know, July is when they usually start their summer holidays too. We won’t see most of the Windsors until September or October, right?
The Royal Family is postponing engagements “which may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign”, Buckingham Palace has announced. It comes after Rishi Sunak called a general election for 4 July.
A statement from the King and Queen said: “Following the Prime Minister’s statement this afternoon calling a general election, the royal family will – in accordance with normal procedure – postpone engagements that may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign. Their Majesties send their sincere apologies to any of those who may be affected as a result.”
The King and Queen’s D-Day 80th anniversary appearances in Portsmouth and Normandy in June are expected to go ahead as scheduled. However, the announcement will disrupt other events in the carefully planned forthcoming royal diaries.
The King could be set for the third prime minister of his reign. The prime minister revealed he spoke with the King earlier on Wednesday to inform him of his decision and the King had agreed to the request for the dissolution of Parliament.
Rebecca English did a series of tweets with information she was likely getting directly from Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. I’ll summarize. Prince William won’t have any other events this week, and he’s already canceled an unannounced (“surprise”) event for today, Thursday. We can also safely say that no one will ask where the Princess of Wales is until July now, correct? English confirms that Charles, Camilla and William will still fly to Normandy for the D-Day anniversary, and it’s likely the Japanese state visit will also go ahead. They’re not saying for sure that Trooping the Colour and the Order of the Garter event will go ahead as planned, but it’s likely they will. Some of the Windsors might also come out for Royal Ascot in June as well. Gee, it sounds like much of the big events will still go ahead and only Huevo’s busy-work events are being canceled. Not sus at all!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Prince William visits St. Michael’s Church of England High School in Sandwell to learn about the award-winning student-led initiatives available to pupils to support their mental health and wellbeing. The Prince was initially invited to visit the school in a letter posted on X by twelve-year-old Freddie Hadley last October. Whilst unable to visit at the time, His Royal Highness responded to the letter with a message on X on World Mental Health Day, commending Freddie and St. Michael’s School on their work to tackle mental health challenges faced by pupils. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Sandwell, United Kingdom When: 25 Apr 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- King Charles III at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, Berkshire. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 03 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- His Royal Highness visits Fistral Beach, which is widely regarded as one of the best surfing beaches in Europe. Here, The Duke will meet representatives from local organisations who are working to promote safety in the sea and across the beach area, ahead of the forthcoming summer months Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Newquay, United Kingdom When: 09 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Cornwall when in Cornwall, breaks ground for the new facility during a visit to St. Mary’s Community Hospital, Isles of Scilly, to meet staff and hear about a new integrated health and social care facility which is set to be built on adjacent land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Isles of Scilly , United Kingdom When: 10 May 2024 Credit: POOL/Cover Images
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attending The Sovereign’s Creative Industries Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, London, in celebration of the Creative Industries of the United Kingdom. The Garden Party will bring together approximately 4,000 representatives across culture, art, heritage, film, TV, radio and fashion Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: LONDON, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 20 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III during a reception for Prince’s Trust Award 2024 winners, supporters and ambassadors at Buckingham Palace in London Featuring: King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Tyler West (left) share a fist bump during a reception for Prince’s Trust Award 2024 winners, supporters and ambassadors at Buckingham Palace in London Featuring: Tyler West, King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III during a reception for Prince’s Trust Award 2024 winners, supporters and ambassadors at Buckingham Palace in London Featuring: King Charles III Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Sounds like the perfect excuse for Kate not to be seen at Wimbledon…
Maureen eden wrote in his column that Kate’s friends say she will not be back until autumn and only if she’s recovered
They’re gonna pull the plug on her in the autumn, then. With sparse updates to prepare the public. Putting distance between the date of announcement and the date of whatever it was that happened to her.
You know how sapphires were Diana’s “thing” and how ever since Cruella married Cluck, sapphires have become *her* thing? Cluck should have given Cruella the ring. Put that curse where it belonged.
Káiser, the lead photo of Charles is one for the ages. I’m going to print it out! 😅😂🙃
Well they all found another reason to not work. I seriously doubt them doing their events will take away from the elections because they aren’t that popular. They are only popular in their heads.
I casually followed royal family over the years and more closely now. I never heard of them cancelling all engagements because of election. I googled for around 2019 elections and saw no announcements like that. Is this new?
I’ve googled but apparently I either am asking the wrong things or simply not understanding the way the UK government works.
The PM picks a random day, a month or two ahead of time, for a general election? Then just announces it themselves? And there is no concern that the PM has chosen a day that would possibly help their party and / or hurt the other party?
Also. What do they mean “dissolve parliament”? Aren’t they in the middle of doing work for their constituents? Or ideally- they should be? Could something have been coming down the pike that the Tories didn’t like and so they just shut it down and named a general election?
As an American, I’m not familiar with the working of the uk government and – in sadly typical American fashion – I came into the uk election news with expectations I didn’t realize I had as a result of being American.
I do like the announcement being such a short time away. Dear god, the American election cycle is so dang long. It’s awful.
Joyful Liluri – there’s no concern that the PM ‘may’ pick a date that benefits her/him, it’s a well known perk of being the incumbent prime minister and any PM who wasn’t being seen to take advantage of that would be viewed as an idiot. I think it comes from the days when the King would only call a parliament when he needed more taxes to fund a war against the French.
Parliament will not dissolve instantly, there is typically a wash up period of a few days where the MPs will try to get through any important but not contentious bits of legislation that can’t wait till after the election.
The British political system wasn’t designed, it grew over many centuries and as such is pretty flexible. There are advantages to this (short election cycles, useless prime ministers can be removed very quickly, parliaments can act very quickly to new events) and disadvantages (no written constitution means more grey areas).
This is my view from the other side of the ocean – maybe our UK Cbers have a better handle.
The US has a codified constitution which expressly dictates when elections are held and the elected officials have fixed terms. The UK system evolved from when the monarch had the true power to call elections and dissolve Parliament to now where the power is with the prime minister (with “approval” of the monarch). The maximum term of Parliament is 5 years, I believe, but elections can be called within that time.
There was a period of about 10 years when the election law was changed to have fixed-term elections, but that was overturned a couple of years ago, so they’re back to the PM calling for an election when it looks like the ruling party is losing support and might not make it until the end of the 5-year term, or maybe there’s rising support from the opposition which needs to be squashed, or maybe there’s a specific referendum (like Brexit) that needs clearer support. It’s a gamble – Sunak probably thinks the situation in the UK isn’t going to get any better for him than it is now, so this is his best bet.
It works this way in Canada too. The current government decides when the election will be held but there is a five year limit on the latest day it can be called. And yes they will call the election usually in a way that best benefits their own party, but if the people are so dissatisfied with the current government sometimes it does not work.
When there are minority governments then the chances of elections being called in a shorter time are much higher. As an example, in 1979 Trudeau called an election and lost to Tory Joe Clark, but they quickly lost a no confidence vote and there was another election in 1980 and Trudeau was PM again. It isn’t quite as volatile in Canada anymore, but in theory any loss of a no confidence vote can bring down a government.
There is 100% concern but the system is broken.
And yes, most people will be away on vacations, they have added mandatory ID but only the difficult types for the younger voters, the older voters can just rock in show a tesco card or something (j/k) and be allowed to vote cause that is tory age group, but also, wimbledon means crazy traffic from South Ken to Wimbledon for 2-3 weeks.. it is problematic.
In the mean time, they have empty all the coffers, reduced taxes as much as possible so no new money is coming in, and suddenly revived a promise to pay out some 10Billion to victims of a blood transfusion scandal dating from the 70-90s to handcuff the next government further. They are truly vile.
This is all very normal in a Westminster parliamentary system. I’m in Australia, which is almost exactly the same as the UK system, with a few tweaks. Our federal parliamentary terms are around three years, give or take, and the prime minister can call an election any time in that period, or there’s other complex parliamentary ways that can bring an election on earlier (but that’s more than a short post on a gossip site to explain).
Parliament is dissolved during an election so the government can’t pass any laws while they’re campaigning which could tremendously benefit the side of politics currently in power – but government departments keep functioning, and ministers can still continue to carry out parts of their duties that are absolutely necessary to keep the country functioning effectively but don’t bind the Opposition to a particular policy direction should they win. If a huge decision needs to be taken during the election period, there are processes in place where the government consults with the opposition so that if the opposition wins power, they have also signed off on the decision.
However, there are some limits on things the government departments can and cannot do so public servants, paid by taxpayers/voters money, aren’t seen to be helping either side of politics.
I’m getting very concerned about people who claim that Kate is “not playing ball” anymore or that she’s being kept out of the spotlight due to an upcoming divorce.
The royal family shut down the media of an entire nation regarding Kates whereabouts, health, prognosis etc. No tri weekly embiggening articles about Kate, no swooning on about her timeless fashion sense, no talking about how the Wales were helping their kids through their mothers surgery then illness.
The media didn’t say a damn thing about her in any way after the palace announcement. Until social media couldn’t be drowned out any longer. And then they actively collaborated with the royals to pass off various photos and videos and tweets from or about Kate as genuine.
The royal family can and does and did get away with everything. Including murder. In the past, murder was actually one of their many hobbies.
Kate absolutely has no power to “stop playing ball”. She has no power to say no to them. Hell, she showed up to a flipping flower show and stole some of Charles’s limelight and her parents were bankrupt and being gutted in the media less than a month after.
In fact, her being seen out and about would be the ONLY way she could garner sympathy for an upcoming divorce announcement.
Kate should still have autonomy. She should be able to run errands or drive around or attend school events or post an actual (heavily filtered/ shopped) photo of herself. Are you saying she’s locked in a basement? How are they keeping her away from the internet or a camera or from going for a walk in public???
Diana didn’t disappear before, during or after her divorce. Which maybe is the lesson here.
Dead princesses can’t be seen, aren’t an intrinsic threat due to what they know, and don’t pull focus.
Or so they keep telling themselves. Even this long after Diana’s passing.
I hope the Spencer’s are asking around about what happened to Kate. And the two youngest children
As a threshold matter, I think people need to lay off the idea of “where are charlotte and louis.” we typically do not see them from January to June with the notable exception of Easter, which is what didn’t happen this year. Not seeing them during the winter/spring is pretty par for the course. It reminds me of derangers shrieking to see Archie and Lili because they are “owed” something.
No one is saying she is locked in a basement. When we talk about her being “benched” as a possibility, what we mean is that she was told to stay completely out of the spotlight or else she loses something significant in the divorce settlement. She would absolutely play ball in that scenario.
As for Kate having power, we have absolutely seen her before just flat out refuse to work. I can see this being a combination of Kate actually having the surgery and needing recovery time, and undergoing chemo, but also staying completely hidden either as a power move to William (“haha you do need me no one cares about you on your own”) or because she was told to (more likely IMO than it being a power move on her part).
If she is sick, and William wants to divorce her, he’s not going to want the public to see her, he’s going to want to try to push the narrative of “Kate doing well” like we saw with the frankenphoto, and we saw with the farm stand video. He can divorce a wife who had cancer but has now recovered.
Finally, you say Kate has no power to stop playing ball but then you also say she has autonomy and would still be able to post a filtered picture of herself. But both can’t be true. Either she has power and autonomy or she does not.
Frankly the idea that William is benching her entirely as part of a divorce settlement or something else is a lot less ridiculous than the idea that he killed her in January and we’re seeing a massive cover up involving the king, RPOs, hospitals, household staff, etc. I find it more concerning that people keep insisting that’s what’s going on.
Do I think she was benched and that’s what’s going on? I think its possible that’s playing a part here (like I said above – she’s sick or something else is wrong, and William is taking the opportunity to remove her from public life.) I also think its possible she is very very sick and that’s why we aren’t seeing her.
honestly no one knows what is actually going on so one conspiracy theory fits just as much another.
We saw how the Carole TMZ photo was ignored by the UK media. I think that was a reminder of just how little power the Middletons hold.
Whatever is going on is strange (except for not seeing the kids. I agree that’s not unusual). Kate has never been kept away from pap photos for this long.
Yeah, this was very suspicious. The story I read said that William had last minute cancelled an appointment for today (that was the headline – last minute cancellation) THEN went on to say that Charles and Camilla (and the RF) would cancel anything that might ‘affect’ the election. BUT what it very clearly did NOT do was say that William’s last min cancellation was because of the election. In fact it kept those things very separate.
So – William just went ahead and last minute bailed on a work thing today with absolutely no reason being given. This is giving shades of Constantine’s memorial again but with a much better smokescreen.
Here’s the article – CBs used to the usual prevarications will recognise the KP PR hand in this…
https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/553739/prince-william-cancels-royal-visit-last-minute/#:~:text=The%20Prince%20of%20Wales%20has,cancel%20a%20planned%20royal%20engagement&text=Share%20this%3A,planned%20for%20May%2023%202024.
Thanks for the article, Hench. What I find so incredibly unhelpful, is that (I am tired today) I have no idea what exactly it is that Huevo cancelled. Did my eyes just skip over that? What appointments, just to be clear and transparent, do royals undertake that are considered to be politically sensitive during elections anyway? I am aware that this is not the case, however, the royals are supposed to be apolitical to begin with.
ML I couldn’t see it either.
@ML – sorry to hear you are struggling with tiredness today but your eyes did not let you down. There was absolutely nothing in that article about what the appointment was – and I agree entirely with your second point which I commented downthread. Royals are always supposed to be apolitical so there should be nothing that needs bloody cancelling.
Wow, this is making me reach for the old tinfoil tiara again, the one I’ve kept near my computer since the Greek memorial … Interesting that the two palaces are finally colluding instead of briefing against each other. Did Bill fall off the wagon at the garden party? He looked pretty lit. Back to the “spa” for him, and now they’re using the election to hide whatever is going on with him AND Kate.
I gotta get me one of them tin foil tiaras, I think it might suit me.
He allegedly cancelled a surprise engagement that no one knew about. So yeah the election excuse seems sketchy because none of what the BRF is supposed to be political.
I would say the closest might be Charles doing a state visit because normally the current PM attends that event. But it sounds like they want to do it anyway.
Nothing William does is supposed to be political. He just used a good cover story.
Thank you for your responses above, Hench and Rosa.
Of course, my next question is if this was an unknown, surprise appearance that seemingly is unrelated to the coming election—WHY on earth did they let us know Huevo cancelled it on very short notice?
Presumably, no one would have known.
How else would William get credit for the event he didn’t attend. See, this way he gets credit for the imaginary scheduling of the super-secret-surprise event, and now he gets double credit for the announcement that it’s been cancelled, if it had been planned. You can’t beat that for hard work.
Lol, looking forward to the howls and screams whenever H&M choose to leave the house – How DARE they pull focus from the general election!!!
💯 this.
It’s always so predictable, and what’s more the detractors always seem to believe it, even in papers well known for their untruths.
So, the big set pieces that bring the most attention to the royals will go on but the day-to-day events, which get very little coverage will be canceled? Huevo is off next week due to another school holiday anyway so we’d never notice any difference in his “work” schedule if this announcement wasn’t made.
On a side note, it’ll be very interesting if the Labour Party wins as they aren’t as royal-friendly as the Tories. Interesting times ahead!
That was also my impression – there is a rotating door of staffers between BP and particularly KP and Tory politicians. It sounds like idiot William is being groomed to be a Tory stooge. I hope Labour takes a long hard look at the ever increasing annual grant amounts and all the special exemptions from laws and disclosures the royals have been hiding behind.
Especially the race relations act.
SIR Keir Starmer, is not as royal friendly? I feel sorry for the Brits because there’s little daylight between todays Tories and Laborites.
Agreed. I think it will be a long while before this ship of state turns around.
Haha, I follow UK news fairly closely, and have never seen any report that Sir Keir Starmer ever breathed a word of criticism against the monarchy. Indeed, his sharpest criticisms seem to be of leftier members of his own party. I don’t think Starmer’s Labour is looking to rock the (unwritten) constitutional boat.
Sadly, I don’t get the sense that anti-racism is a priority for him: google “Diane Abbott Labour Party whip”.
there is absolutely NO way they are canceling Trooping. especially since it might be the only one KFC gets, and he wants to ride around on a horse and show off to everyone.
I’ve been secretly wondering if he will fall off the horse! or get talked out of it. he is not looking great.
Oh no, what will the trees and buildings of Great Britain do without the most diligent ground breaker to brandish his shovel for them
Big shock to absolutely no one: The Windsors do no work
I get that Charles is the monarch and that likely makes a lot of difference but it is still striking to me how he manages to do work and Kate just does nothing despite both of them receiving cancer treatment. And since her is preventative, while he actually has it i am going to assume that Charles’ treatments are more aggressive than Kate’s
Not necessarily. Without knowing the type of cancer and the staging it’s impossible to compare any two people’s course of treatment and prognosis.
There is also a lot of misunderstanding around the phrase “preventative chemotherapy”. Catherine likely had tissue removed during her abdominal surgery that was later determined to be cancerous. The chemotherapy is now be used to prevent the reoccurrence or spread of cancerous cells within her body. This is a normal part of cancer treatment. Unfortunately, it can be incredibly debilitating as the goal is to kill the cancer cells without killing the patient.
From a purely political/ election perspective, it is a very good thing that the Windsors are staying uninvolved.
As to “but what exactly does the royal family do” perspective, using “look at what they’ve done in 2024” as an answer is probably not the image they want out there.
Agreed. But they are always supposed to be apolitical so there should be nothing in their calendars that counts as political anyway….
But the fact of them is political, especially now that Elizabeth is gone. Without the sentiment that surrounded her, Charles & Co are just symbols – either of past glory or present entitlement and waste.
This is where I’m scratching my head. What activities do they do that are political anyway? I mean we could say that everything is political – from Charles’ environmental ideas to Kate’s early years “work” – but visiting a charity or a local farm or a military unit isn’t “political.” So which engagements will be canceled and which will be deemed “okay”?
And @Eurydice I agree, the very existence of the royals is political. Maybe they want people to forget about them and to especially forget about what a Tory stooge William is before the election?
@Becks1 – yes, I think they’d want to hide William. To use an investment idiom, Charles is already priced into the market – but William is the new thing.
All the comments yesterday on social media were that Queen Elizabeth never stepped back in this way. It feels like this is adding another layer of protection to keep the questions about Kate at bay with her Trooping and Wimbledon no-shows. It must be pretty bad behind the scenes wherever she is.
The BRF are supposed to be apolitical anyway, specifically not getting involved in an election. I cannot remember QEII making this kind of announcement before an election in the UK. I am wondering why Charles feels the necessity to make this announcement. On the surface it looks like a poor excuse for not doing the grinding day to day work and to protect Kate from any questions before autumn. I am also wondering if this also includes the BRF briefing war against
H&M.
The anti H & M stories will continue, the tabloids need the advertising revenue, they don’t need the briefings, they can always make them up.
@Monika – “grinding day to day work” – you’re killing me here!
😂
QEII was political behind the scenes whenever it involved benefiting her family.
Charlie though was and is particularly political writing long letters to PMs and MPs and weighing in on things. It has been seen as off colour.
Bulliam will just be a sad, gin soaked huevo who just does that horrible quirk eyebrow you-so-beneath-me-pleb look and think he is doing the nation’s work.
ML, I couldn’t reply to you upthread, so I’ll try again here:
“What appointments, just to be clear and transparent, do royals undertake that are considered to be politically sensitive during elections anyway?”
There’s so much that could be considered sensitive.
• looking in at an NHS hospital, when the system has been hollowed out by the Tories, to the point that it should have collapsed during the initial phase of COVID.
• Airrly Yarrs – can’t remind anyone that this project only saw the light of the day because the Tories gutted the Sure Start program that Labour initiated. SS went beyond EY, as it offered help to parents as well, some bigger centers employed community nurses and provided childcare.
• provide social housing, so both Nansledan and Homewards are out.
• Baby banks, pantries like the one where Bulliam tried his hand at “cooking” the other day…
Everything could be viewed as political, because the Tories’ austerity politics that gutted all kinds of social security made these kinds of projects necessary.
And still Bulliam is tight with his Tory “friends”.
I would assume that visiting any charity would also highlight the NEED for its existence.
Many non profits step into the spaces in which government has failed or has specifically tanked programs designed to help the public because they hate minorities, children, women, anyone poor, babies, sick people, veterans etc.
That is literally the entire point of many non profits / charities. To help create some semblance of a safety net from whatever scraps they can manage to weave together after the government put a program through a shredder or just refused to act in the first place. Non profits are trying to catch some people or at least slow their fall. While the government is the one pushing them off the ledge.
Genuine question.
Why would the BRF stop being of service to “their people” during an election?
Because they are never of service, have no loyalty or love for the people of their countries, and don’t want to highlight the ways in which the current government is undermining the attempts to eek out an existence in an out of control housing / cost of living crises while the royals are trying to decide which palace to stay at that month.
Yes, what do they have to do with politics? Nada. WHY was the election called earlier than expected? Do the Tory Powers That Be and little grey men know something about the BRF that could topple the whole Monarchy, and decided to use the election frenzy to divert attention from the cracks starting to show in the entire system?
The Tories would put the entire royal family in the stocks if it saved them one seat.
They would deport their own mothers to the bottom of the sea if it gave them a bump in the polls.
The idea that they would willingly risk power for them is absurd. I guarantee it hasn’t went played into their thinking at all.
The Royal family serve the establishment not the other way round.
Well, I’m American so I defer to your take. But from afar, the Tories seem so reactionary and entwined with the Establishment/Monarchy/Aristocracy/Wealthy I can’t imagine them letting their defining “Queen and Country” (er..King) image to be so revolutionized.
@Dylan 100%
My god those gross , ugly ,fake grimacing smiles are getting worse with those two ,
I’m pretty bemused by the idea that the boring, charisma-challenged Windsors are capable of pulling focus from anything. People might forget to vote if they’re too excited by two elders walking around a flower show!
Or it might be that the representatives of an antiquated and elitist institution might give a subconscious boost to the Tories? Then again, maybe the opposite might happen.
Two things to remember, one is that the royal family hasn’t always been this useless and charisma-free. In past times, including when the queen was alive, they did have some influence on public sentiment.
Historically, the Crown has held influence and that is why this “choice” has been made. You can’t really understand the royals if you think about them in the scope of the last ten years as opposed to the last several hundred. Even when parlimentary supremacy was established in the late 1600s for years after that, it still was essentially competing with the Crown for influence. It has taken centuries for the royal family to become largely ceremonial which is how we understand them now. Conventions like this reinforce this important separation. The Windors should stay out of politics(we know they don’t but it could be even worse).
So yes, it is a good convention even if this version of the family is useless and lazy and has little influence compared to past iterations. Part of how convention stays convention is by upholding the practice.
@sunny – Yes, thank you. I think my point is similar, but not so well stated. Whatever they are like as people, the RF are still symbols on which the public can hang their hopes and grievances – they can be lightning rods for political issues.
I’m a pretty old, well-informed, Brit, but can’t remember an announcement like this in the past as soon as the date for a general election was set. Hmm …
It feels as though the BRF doesn’t want to be in the forefront of peoples minds during an election.
Very possibly because they are paid millions every single year for a very small number of people, while vast numbers of UK citizens can’t afford or are deeply struggling to pay for the necessities required to sustain life.
Much less having the extra $$$ to never be seen in the same outfit twice.
Hmmm is right.
Where is kate . Will there be more fake images
Kate’s at home undergoing preventative treatment for cancer.
This is a woman well known for caring about her appearance, I doubt we’ll see her until she’s 110 percent certain that she looks perfect (or at least her version of perfect).
Sure, but what “political” work were they doing before? Accepting bribes and jewels?
Poor poor William, not allowed to work. He must be very angry, duck Kate.
So they have literally only worked this year when Prince Harry was in the country or out and about in the world with Meghan getting positive press. That 45% income increase came with a 95% decrease in hours worked. I knew after Nigeria Peggy would disappear again, that’s his SOP but I didn’t expect all of them to stop. I do wonder if Chuck pushed himself to “show up” his youngest and might be having issues because of it, he looks like he’s in constant pain so they might be using this as an excuse for him and to keep 🦴 hidden. With this family anything is possible.
The perfect excuse for Kate to not make an appearance until September. The Royal Family get an extra month off on vacation. I don’t get this.
But what about Wimbledon?
Well this says the general election is set for the fourth day of Wimbledon, so Kate may still be able to make an appearance after that.
But honestly, the longer we go without seeing her in any capacity, the more I am convinced that she’s either incredibly sick or William has benched her completely in preparation for a divorce.
If this was just about avoiding work, she would have made some sort of appearance after the Nigeria trip.
Kate won’t be appearing at this or any other Wimbledon.
Well she has cancer so we know she’s incredibly sick. Cancer treatment can take a long time to go through but she’s young so there’s not reason to suggest she’ll never go to another Wimbledon, that kind of wording just feeds into QAnon type conspiracy theories.
Dylan, but all we have to go on is the bench speech. What she said is that she HAD cancer and was going to get preventative chemo. There’s a wide range for preventative chemo to make sure there are no cancer cells left anywhere in the body. Are we not to believe what she said?
Dylan, she doesn’t have cancer, her doctors think they removed it all, the chemo is just incase a few cancerous escaped.
Couldn’t have come at a better time for the Windsors. William must be rejoicing. Now, what will the rota write about? Poor Hugh Grosvenor and his bride.
Dylan – there has been so much fakery and obfuscation I wouldn’t be too sure what we were told is the truth.
Perhaps he will cancel at the last minute and Hugh will heave a sigh of relief. Well at least the next Mrs. Hugh and her parents will.
This is standard practice for the royals to disappear from the public during an election – there will be events, such as Trooping, but they will be careful about not to step on toes.
So. William had an “unannounced” made up appearance that he canceled last minute for a made up reason???? The royals are not supposed to be politically active. Canceling events because of an election is malarkey to justify not doing anything until September, then come up with an excuse to bow out through the Christmas holidays. Dear people of the UK: You are being conned. The royals are not worth their upkeep and are misappropriating what funds they are given. The properties are not being properly maintained. Demand appraisals on everything that is supposed to belong to the people. All the historic sites will still be tourist attractions even after the grifters are cast out. Will-not is lazy and too damaged to function as a proper adult, let alone king. Something is deeply wrong with the press in the UK. The press used to savagely attack Margaret for her lax patenting and lifestyle, the Queen Mum’s spending and PP’s many public gaffes, let alone the salacious details of the War of the Wales. The sycophantic coverage the Windsors get nowadays is not justified by their performance.
The royals have got them over a barrel with the royal rota, besides cancer is always a brilliant excuse, it doesn’t even have to be true.
Bold of Sunak to call a General Election on July 4th but you know that the memes are going to be fire if the tories do get swept away.
King Charles meets with the PM every Wednesday, I believe. So convenient to announce the Royals are going invisible right after that meeting. Feels like they’re covering up something involving William and Kate, possibly related.
William can’t be trusted to show up for his engagements, or if he does- he commits gaffes like swaying, dropping medals and failing to hold an umbrella for an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Kate and her two youngest children are completely MIA with absolutely no credible proof of life in over 5 months. King Charles won’t reveal which type of cancer he has. Andrew is still skulking on horseback, much like the gentleman in the Old Spice commercial – I’m on a HORSE! Ignore my ties to those allegedly committing kiddy diddlers!
Now this announced withdrawal from public life for 2 months – are they all fleeing to their underground bunkers? Something in the milk ain’t clean.
Detachedobserver – it sure is like they know something’s coming. Rishi is lining up a job in the states, the royals are disappearing, the earlier flying visit from Obama. Something big is afoot.
Bet at least William will come out of the woodwork if Harry hosts an event in June. And if Meghan shows up- even better.
I really hope, for their sake, they wake up from the “duty” psychosis the late queen imposed on her family, and remember they are among the richest landowners in the world, quit/abolish the damn institution and enjoy their money and priviledges in private. They don’t need excuses or cancer to not work. They really have no need to ever work for generations to come.
This is what we are seeing. They realise they don’t need to do anything anymore other than enjoy the spoils and get us used to the fact they are retiring the old duty model of having to turn up to stuff.
The money will last only a generation before they all will have to go out to work. I wonder how they will be able to pay for security and a lot of the property will have to go.
Advise please: is Wimbledon political or not? If not who will be subbing for Kate at Wimbledon? Will Willy stand in for his own wife by sitting down to watch some tennis or not?
Lady D – it’s not political though things like the Russia Ukraine conflict have impacted on players being allowed to play.
People seem more concerned about getting to the polling booths as it’ll be so much busier with traffic due to the tournament.
Kate usually appears with the Duke of Kent but this year maybe Sophie or one of the York girls could stand in for her.
That picture of Egghead with the shovel / spade is creepy ..he is, not literally but figuratively burying his wife . She isn’t part of any future plan. People are curious but I don’t think anybody cares any more whether she appears or disappears or who the heck stands in for her . It could be a cardboard cut out for all the impact she makes ..would save a lot of taxpayer money on tennis bracelets, summer dresses, Ascot hats .
Can’t wait to watch them, sitting on their hands, as the Sussexes tour the world…
So once again further reduced workload for free loader Willy who will just attend non political football matches and drinkies with celebs? It really is the life of Riley for him, isn’t it?
Whither Earthshot this year? Remember that profoundly apolitical, Great Global Statesman job that is supposed to be William’s legacy? No election is stopping him from working on it? Climate change is still happening, AFAIK?
I guess it’s the demands of the school run!