You mean ::gasp:: no Queen Camilla?
Oh the humanity
I agree with NinjaChick. There’d be some instant tabloid-fed fury, a few smart bombs dropped and SAS assaults, some tedious nicknaming (Prince of Hearts, something like that), then in a year or two a bitter dispute in the media about what the fuss was all about and that royals in the front line should be treated no differently to anyone else.
I don’t wish harm on him, but I’m buggered if a prince suffering death, injury or kidnap on the front line will rouse any more emotion from me than any other soldier.
Apparently, there may not be a Queen Camilla regardless, since the Windsors declared that when/if Charles takes the throne, Camilla will get the title ‘Princess Consort.’
I wish to have it on record that I agree entirely with your closing para. and feel exactly the same.
Yes but will the ladies of this fair land still be able to con their partners into buying them a new frock for the occasion
im so sick hearing about this Harry-person on CNN. For the last 2-3 day they havent talked about anything else
That last sentence is definitely how I feel. In terms of ‘it would be a shame if anything happened’, he’s worth absolutely no more nor less than my sister, who works in an Air Force cube farm, or her buddy who’s currently in Afghanistan, or my buddy who’s in the Army Reserves, or any of the posters on this board, military or not.
The idea that he is because he’s a prince boils down to “He’s worth more because of who mommy and daddy are and he’s really rich,” which frankly sickens me.
That’s generally missing the point. What if your school’s mascot were beaten up by the other team. Wouldn’t it make you want to beat them on the field even more?
Well, no, it would make me not want to play them at all because they’re obviously not particularly sporting. But that has nothing to do with the situation at hand, which deals with real people in life-or-death situations. Prince Harry isn’t a mascot, he’s a person. I’ll buy that the queen is to some a symbol of Britain, but not her grandson.
I saw in one of the articles about this that he wanted to be ‘normal’. If he wants to be normal, and the army brass wants to treat him normally, great. But if we’re going to treat him normally, then we have to stop viewing him as inherently better than others by virtue of birth.
Well, until the cover got blown, he WAS apparently carrying on as a normal member of his unit. But that only worked as long as the cover held and he did NOT become a casualty. Say that the cover held, but sadly some time in the Spring, Cornet Wales were wounded or KIA standing beside his comrades… the media would have gone insane over it – while ignoring that the same shell that took out Harry also took out three other blokes – but the Army would come out looking just fine, having provided neither more nor less to him than to others. But say the casualty were a capture without the adversaries having any inkling of who they had on their hands. Now what the heck does the field command do? Put in the same effort at rescuing any junior officer, while continuing the mission, or call in extraordinary reinforcements to rescue this one, thus cluing in that there’s something special about this one? Either way they get reamed hard.
In the short term, the Army’s manpower gap will be nicely plugged, advertising courtesy of the tabloid press.
Again, you are still missing the point. A titular monarch is a position of ‘AUTHORITY’. In this case it’s hereditary. Most authority positions like the President derive their power from the chair, and not from the person in the chair. Now, when it’s hereditary, it’s both about the chair and about the person. It’s not simply that he is more valuable than the other person, it’s what he represents. People actually care about culture. What you are saying is that a person shouldn’t care about culture, that we should all be atomized units of equal value. This is an important modern notion. The reality is, that it doesn’t work like that anywhere and never has, this is unlikely to change within your great grandchildren’s lifetime barring some sort of eschatonian paradigm shift.
Yes, the crown prince’s second son is a not the same as the Queen no, but to downplay it more than is necessary is absurd. You are projecting your philosophical ideal upon reality. In reality, people care about royalty. No, they don’t have the power to restructure the government at whim any longer, but really in practice they never actually did. It took a lot of work for Louis XIV to do such a thing, and he is remembered as an exceptional Monarch for its successful accomplishment. The second son is always expected to serve in some kind of capacity as Harry is doing today. However, Harry’s death would be personal for the royal family, and if you think they are without claws then you really do not understand how power works in the real world.
The royal family is still obscenely wealthy, they are some of the most famous people on the planet. They can get most anyone in the world on the phone, really, who’s not going to take their call? If that call is taken, a favor from the royal family is valuable currency. They are better educated than most people on the planet due to a historical pedgagogical tradition, and they can afford the finest schools and tutors. Their friends are all billionaires and heads of state. On top of that, there is a national affection for them as a part of shared British culture. The royal family could micromanage an SAS contingent to exact vengeance upon the Taliban for that. As it is now the British are questioning their involvement in Afghanistan, that would be revised if Prince Harry were beheaded and the video made available on Youtube.
Not quite the worst-case scenario, but imagine what would break loose if Prince Harry were captured by the Taliban, and proceeded to do an Yvonne Ridlely ?
I used to be a soldier and my opinion is that an attack on the family who represents us is an insult to all of us,unlike Diana who was no better then she ought to have been in my mum and her friends words.
I personally would never ever forgive an assault on the RF which I would consider an attack on everything British and all our values ,may I say that I’m not rich.
Attacking the R.F. is like attacking a British ambassador and if you are a so called British citizen who enjoys all the privileges of being British but when it suits you refer to yourself as another nationality then why dont you fuck off back to the country that you are apparently so proud of being from and stop expecting us to change our ways to suit you.
You’re a republican ?Funnily enough theres a republic that you can go home to in a couple of hours,so why dont you do us all a favour and fuck off home .
I think the ‘Harry is no more important than any other soldier’ group is missing the powerful impact of Nationalism and mob mentality. Harry isn’t a person, he’s a flag, and if captured or killed would have the impact of a hijacked plane crashing into Parliament.
From what I understand, she’ll be styled as the Princess Consort, although legally she will be Queen. Much as now she is now legally The Princess of Wales, although she chooses not to style herself as such (using Duchess of Cornwall instead).
Zev Steinhardt
While you’re technically right, you’d be surprised how often the second son of the monarch assumes the throne. In fact, two of the last three men who became Kings of the United Kingdom were second sons, not first sons.
Zev Steinhardt
EH? :rolleyes: I **am **home, thanks and I don’t think you are going to deport me anywhere.
Sorry me old mucker but I have’nt got the foggiest idea who you are!
I agree. I’m not your British Bulldog Queen-and-country type - but yes, I think if someone captured and worse, killed, Harry, the shit would very substantially hit the fan.
I’m pretty ambivalent about the Royals, on a day-to-day basis, but such an act wouldn’t be about the Royals - it would be a gesture of defiant threat against all of us.