Only good enough to be a mistress

[Nearly Sane]

Apart fron the Royals, Buckingham Palace and various other Royal connected buidings what else do we have  to bring in millions of tourist dollars from the States?

people visit Versailles. You can chop their little heads off and people will still flock

[ProfessorDavey]

Apart fron the Royals, Buckingham Palace and various other Royal connected buidings what else do we have  to bring in millions of tourist dollars from the States?

France gets more visitors that the UK.

Paris gets more visitors than London.

Versaille gets more visitors than Buckingham Palace.

Sorry to burst your bubble with some facts.

[ProfessorDavey]

We have moved into the era of regions based around cities-like a mini version of Putin's Russia!

Err - have you checked out the names of our traditional counties. A large proportion effectively mean exactly that - the region based around a city

e.g. Northaptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire ... I could go on.

[Owlswing]

Err - have you checked out the names of our traditional counties. A large proportion effectively mean exactly that - the region based around a city

e.g. Northaptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire ... I could go on.

 . . . and on and on and on and on . . . ..

[Robbie]

There would still be plenty to see in London even if we didn't have the royal family but they are of interest to a lot of people.

There's no new news about the royal engagement which I think from what they said in their interview, they'll be pleased about.

[ippy]

Apart fron the Royals, Buckingham Palace and various other Royal connected buidings what else do we have  to bring in millions of tourist dollars from the States?

I wouldn't be for beheading any of them but I don't see that the French tourist industry has particularly suffered from the lack of royals, why wouldn't ours be much the same without them too?

Regards ippy

[Shaker]

I wouldn't be for beheading any of them but I don't see that the French tourist industry has particularly suffered from the lack of royals, why wouldn't ours be much the same without them too?

Regards ippy

It's not as though the tourists typically actually see the royals in person anyway - they come to look at the houses.

[Robbie]

Apart fron the Royals, Buckingham Palace and various other Royal connected buidings what else do we have  to bring in millions of tourist dollars from the States?

As has been said Owlswing, we have many historic buildings with royal connections which even the British flock to see, with or without royal people on show. However it seems some foreign tourists really love the UK, cities especially London, picturesque bits, and the 'character of the people' (I put that in single quote because there are so many different types of people here, but that's what is said). I've known loads of them who, having been, long to come back, younger ones like to work and live here if only for a while, older ones bring their children! We may wonder why  , but that's how it is. Royalty is only part of it.

[ProfessorDavey]

There would still be plenty to see in London even if we didn't have the royal family but they are of interest to a lot of people.

There's no new news about the royal engagement which I think from what they said in their interview, they'll be pleased about.

There was some interesting polling done straight after the engagement was announced. People were asked whether they were 'pleased', 'disappointed' or 'indifferent' or 'don't know'

A majority of those polled said 'indifferent', despite the wall to wall media coverage which tries to imply that we should actually give a damn.

And this is also probably good news for the couple too - effectively that most people really don't care - that two people, neither of whom they know have decided to get married is frankly their own business and nothing to get bothered about.

[Robbie]

They strike me as wanting to be known for what they do rather than for being royal. Apart from their excellent financial position (& there are plenty of super rich people in this country, many of whom we've never heard), they seem to be fairly ordinary.

[ippy]

As has been said Owlswing, we have many historic buildings with royal connections which even the British flock to see, with or without royal people on show. However it seems some foreign tourists really love the UK, cities especially London, picturesque bits, and the 'character of the people' (I put that in single quote because there are so many different types of people here, but that's what is said). I've known loads of them who, having been, long to come back, younger ones like to work and live here if only for a while, older ones bring their children! We may wonder why  , but that's how it is. Royalty is only part of it.

'Royalty is only part of it'. Yes unfortunately.

ippy

[Robbie]

To you, yes, important to some and great fun at times. Also gives people something to moan about!

[ProfessorDavey]

... they seem to be fairly ordinary.

How would you know - what we see of the Royals (particularly William/Kate and Harry) is exceptionally carefully choreographed by their PR team so we see exactly what they want us to see, which may be completely different to how they actually are.

I have a close relative who is the Royal correspondent of a major US-based magazine, so spends most of his time chasing around after the royals. You wouldn't believe how carefully managed any interaction with the press is. Basically complete editorial control over the questions to be asked and complete editorial control over what is written/released from interviews etc.

[Robbie]

I did say,"seem". What more can we know of people with whom we're not up close and personal? Good thing most of the time. I think my neighbour over the road seems very pleasant, goodness knows what goes on indoors, people might say the same about me. It doesn't matter.

[Nearly Sane]

I did say,"seem". What more can we know of people with whom we're not up close and personal? Good thing most of the time. I think my neighbour over the road seems very pleasant, goodness knows what goes on indoors, people might say the same about me. It doesn't matter.

That neighbour? Oh just no!!! They have specially made duvet covers made out of panda skin. Pandas that are shot by poachers after being tortured!

[ProfessorDavey]

I did say,"seem". What more can we know of people with whom we're not up close and personal? Good thing most of the time. I think my neighbour over the road seems very pleasant, goodness knows what goes on indoors, people might say the same about me. It doesn't matter.

Sure people can be different in private than in public. But that isn't what I am talking about - I am talking about an exceptionally carefully controlled public image, created by the palace press office. And if you don't play by their rules you simply don't get access any more.

So of course the PR machine want to portray William and Harry as pretty normal - and they have been highly successful at creating that image. Whether they actually are in real life, neither you nor I know - and indeed nor do journalists who have followed them for years and interviews them countless times.

[Nearly Sane]

I'm not entirely sure what is meant by normal.

[jeremyp]

Whilst weddings of any sort, even my own, don't get me excited, many people seem to enjoy a Royal Wedding; it will no doubt be an antidote to the doom and gloom of Brexit.

The trouble is that Brexit is really important. Distractions from it are bad.

[Nearly Sane]

You are assuming that people understand what is going wrong any more than they understood what they were voting for or against.

But pretty dress!!!!

[Rhiannon]

But pretty dress!!!!

If it’s not that it’ll be something else. Melania’s Xmas decs, some woman called Emily on a card...

[Nearly Sane]

Moderator A number of posts which were a derail and concentrated on Brexit have been removed and merged with the existing Brexit thread

[ProfessorDavey]

I'm not entirely sure what is meant by normal.

Actually nor am I. The word Robbie originally used was actually 'ordinary' - I changed that to normal.

Regardless of what we consider 'normal' or 'ordinary' to mean, we have no idea whether William or Harry are 'normal' or 'ordinary', because we are only ever allowed to see the PR-spun image that comes out of the palace press office via their ruthless policing of the royal's public image.

That someone who has spent the past 20 years as a royal correspondent, with countless encounters and interviews really has no idea what they are actually like speaks volumes. If he does not know with all that privileged access, how on earth can we.