# A probably silly question for our UK members



## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

Maybe it's just my personal impression and I don't wish to offend but Queen Elizabeth seems pretty mean spirited much of the time.  In particular her dealings with Diana (RIP) and now Kate.


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## Vivjen (Jan 19, 2015)

Just set in her ways...maybe?!


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## Lady (Jan 19, 2015)

I must have missed the news ....Whats the story on Kate ?
By the way do not believe everything you read in the news papers


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

In what way mean to Kate?

I've never seen or read anything anywhere that says she is being mean to Kate. Bear in mind just a few years ago Kate would never have been permitted to marry the Queens' grandson who is heir to the throne because she's a commoner . The fact that The Queen has allowed that and furnished them with beautiful homes doesn't make me believe she's being anything but welcoming to Kate.


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## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

Lady said:


> I must have missed the news ....Whats the story on Kate ?
> By the way do not believe everything you read in the news papers



She seems to criticize everything Kate does from how she dresses to how she raises the baby.  Here in the states we call it nitpicking.


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## Lady (Jan 19, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> She seems to criticize everything Kate does from how she dresses to how she raises the baby.  Here in the states we call it nitpicking.



No way would the Queen do that, i would say its made up news to sell papers  or gain viewers ..I saw both Kate and the Queen when they visited Nottingham a couple of years ago and they were both comfortable in each others company .. 
Our Queen  would never make any criticism  public .


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> She seems to criticize everything Kate does from how she dresses to how she raises the baby.  Here in the states we call it nitpicking.



Absolute rubbish...the Queen as lady has already said would Never criticise any of her family much less in public for the media to pick up on..


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## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

The only news I get about the UK is news outlets, so perhaps I am not getting an accurate picture.


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## Vivjen (Jan 19, 2015)

We would call it nit-picking too; but nothing here about it, as far as I can see...


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## Lady (Jan 19, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> The only news I get about the UK is news outlets, so perhaps I am not getting an accurate picture.



I'm pleased you asked the Question Jim so we can put you right ,,I remember an old Aunt in America asking about Diana  and we were able to put her right .


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## Falcon (Jan 19, 2015)

I didn't ask to be born but here I am, satisfied with my outcome (and INcome),

but I'd HATE to be referred to as a 'commoner'.  Sounds more like a peon.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

It's only a word meaning not born into royalty Falcon...I don't believe it's meant as any derogatory term.


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## Lady (Jan 19, 2015)

Falcon said:


> I didn't ask to be born but here I am, satisfied with my outcome (and INcome),
> 
> but I'd HATE to be referred to as a 'commoner'.  Sounds more like a peon.



Not sure whether you are reffering to the original post here ,   ,I think Commoner is a term used by papers again , i prefer to use the word untitled .


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## Falcon (Jan 19, 2015)

Well, It sounds like India with its caste system.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

According to the dictionary it means '' a person born without noble rank''...


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## Voicemacabre (Jan 19, 2015)

A little deviation if I can say that given recent events.

Personally I have little time for the royal family. I will however admit to having a soft spot for the old king and queen but that was largely due to ma's admiration for the couple when they apparently called in for tea down the East End during a lull in that little skirmish we were having with the Luftwaffe. Mind you they never dolled out any bunce to us little ones.

As for Liz and her attitude, it was six of one and half dozen of the other between her and Diana, the crystal slipper did not fit as it should have done perhaps but that is consigned to our rich history. I do not honestly think there is a shred of animosity between her and Catherine.

Indeed, regarding Billy and Kate, I confess to liking them as they have bought badly needed stability and respect to a crumbling facade. I would not miss one of the others but this new family is head and shoulders above everyone else and with them the future looks bright. There are many who would relish Charlie standing aside to allow Will the big chair.

Now OBE was it? or.........................


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## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

I am not sold on the "Royalty" label either.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

Voicemacabre said:


> A little deviation if I can say that given recent events.
> 
> Personally I have little time for the royal family. I will however admit to having a soft spot for the old king and queen but that was largely due to ma's admiration for the couple when they apparently called in for tea down the East End during a lull in that little skirmish we were having with the Luftwaffe. Mind you they never dolled out any bunce to us little ones.
> 
> ...




ROFL @ Billy and Kate... :lol1: now with the old regime you'd have found yourself in the tower for that my lad... but you're so right, the young ones..Harry, William and Catherine are going to take this country along a much different route to the one which we and our ancestors have been used to for hundreds of years..


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## Laurie (Jan 19, 2015)

Diana yes, she was just a blonde bimbo who thought she was already Queen, with about as much natural charm as a teaspoon.

Kate, I don't think so.  scuttlebutt is that they get on well, and while she has her own mind she is concious of her obligations as well as her privileges.

I personall think she is well on her way to being as popular as the Queen Mother.


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## oakapple (Jan 19, 2015)

AZ, there is so much made up rubbish out there in 'the media' about the royal family, it sells papers /mags etc.Truth to tell, because the Queen has been so private, we know very little about her really, and although not a fan of royaltyat all, I think she has done her job in a admirable way, which is more than can be said about a lot of them.


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## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

Laurie, Here in our country Diana was well loved as is Kate, the Queen when she was younger also but methinks the years have somewhat diminished her standing.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> Laurie, Here in our country Diana was well loved as is Kate, the Queen when she was younger also but methinks the years have somewhat diminished her standing.




Maybe in the eyes of the US people but certainly the Queen is still top of her game in this country..Not everyone wants to see a Sovereignty  continue after the Queen dies, and most would prefer the throne go straight to William if we continue having a  royal family , but that won't happen and we will get a King Charles and Queen consort Camilla, God help us..


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## AZ Jim (Jan 19, 2015)

Amen to that Dolly.  I am very sour on those two.


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## Bee (Jan 19, 2015)

What is wrong with Charles and Camilla????


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## Warrigal (Jan 19, 2015)

For the record, the current queen's mother was a commoner.
So was Anne Bolyn.  Nothing unusual here and no rule against it.

The laws of succession, as far as I know, still forbid the monarch to marry a catholic but you can get around the no divorced person situation with a bit of wriggling. Both of these prohibitions are likely to be changed fairly soon I would imagine.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

DW...I suppose strictly speaking the Queens mothers' mother ( the queens' grandmother) Cecilia Cavedish-Bentinck.. was a commoner but she was the great grand-daughter of British Prime Minister William Cavendish Bentinck the 3rd Duke of Portland. When she married Lord Glamis (Claude Bowes Lyon) she became Lady Glamis and then after he inherited his fathers' title of Earl in 1904, she became the Countess Strathmore. 

Incidentally the Bowes-Lyon family home is just 10 minutes from here,  where The Queen Mother was born and raised and where her family still live and own the Village and most of the surrounding hamlets and villages too .


Have a look...


http://www.stpaulswaldenbury.co.uk/


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## Warrigal (Jan 19, 2015)

There is a distinction between the royalty, the nobility and the rest.
I understand that even some of the Queen's grandchildren are considered commoners? 
Princess Anne's children have no titles? No?


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

You're correct...Princess Anne insisted on her children's births that they were not bestowed with Royal titles, and remained simply Master and Miss...much to the Queens' chagrin....and Princess Alexandra chose not to have a title conferred on her children either..


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## Cookie (Jan 19, 2015)

We don't have that here in Canada and the U.S., but in many European countries it still exists, except in Russia and France of course, where, as you know, at the time of their revolutions all the royalty and upper class nobility were executed -- not very pretty. Here we are all commoners, even the heads of state and we are totally OK with it, although there is an element of class consciousness in some places where I believe, if the ancestors came over on the Mayflower or some such ship or if they've been in a country the longest and have made a lot of money, they somehow consider themselves better.  But that is really pretty archaic thinking and we look down on it.


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## Warrigal (Jan 19, 2015)

I'm special. :lol:
Look at my user name.


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## hollydolly (Jan 19, 2015)

Ha!! I just knew you were... :king:


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## Cookie (Jan 19, 2015)

Just want to add that I do have a soft spot in my heart for the Queen and her family.  As a small child, we lived in Australia and around the time of her coronation, the Queen visited.  All the schoolkids received little packets of Coronation goodies, cards and little crowns and such.  What a thrill.  Then we got to see her in her pretty yellow dress.  Later, when our family moved to Canada, there were visits from Princess Margaret.  We lined the street and waited for her convertible to go by so we could catch a glimpse. 

 I think the royal family are romantic figures we can look up to because it's a way to imagine that life is not all grey and grim - and some are living fairytale lives..... all hogwash of course, because they struggle with life just like everyone else and are all too human.


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## Laurie (Jan 20, 2015)

"Laurie, Here in our country Diana was well loved as is Kate"

The Americans have always had a high regard for long legged blondes, nothing personal, it's in your psyche!

Everyone assumes we shall have a King Charles, but he is no spring chicken and has a florid complexion, he could pop off at any time, leaving us  with a King Edward (not William, current succession goes to the eldest son of the monarch), and eventually Queen Beatrice, as the recent changes to primogeniture will have kicked in by then!

What's wrong with Camilla and Charles?  Absolutely nothing.

He's not the first young man to be bamboozled by a designing blonde, and he won't be the last.

Camilla has sorted him out beautifully, and I hope I live long enough to see them both in Westminster Abbey.


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## hollydolly (Jan 20, 2015)

errr Laurie. ''King Edward''?...I think you mean Andrew.


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## Warrigal (Jan 20, 2015)

You raise a very pertinent point, Laurie, about the succession.
The IRA got to the Queen's cousin, Lord Mountbatten.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-20/maccallum-unelectable-shorten-vs-unre-electable-abbott/6027844

Let's hope the current lot of Islamic terrorists don't decide that Charles is a prize target and go after him.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 20, 2015)

Bee said:


> What is wrong with Charles and Camilla????



I can't stand either of them. Charles is an arrogant twit.


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## Bee (Jan 20, 2015)

I quite like both Charles and Camilla, the only person in the Royal family I couldn't stand or had any respect for was the Queen Mother, in my view she was nothing but an interfering old biddy.


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## hollydolly (Jan 20, 2015)

It's funny isn't it that the Queen Mother was seen to be ''loved' by all...yet I agree with you Bee, I think she was a master manipulator!!


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## Bee (Jan 20, 2015)

Thanks Holly, nice to know I am not on my own with that view.


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## Debby (Jan 20, 2015)

AZ Jim said:


> She seems to criticize everything Kate does from how she dresses to how she raises the baby.  Here in the states we call it nitpicking.




I think that's the role of 'old mothers'.  To criticize how their grandchildren are raised. But nobody here does that right folks?


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## Laurie (Jan 20, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> errr Laurie. ''King Edward''?...I think you mean Andrew.



Apologies, slip of the fingers!


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## QuickSilver (Jan 20, 2015)

oakapple said:


> AZ, there is so much made up rubbish out there in 'the media' about the royal family, it sells papers /mags etc.Truth to tell, because the Queen has been so private, we know very little about her really, and although not a fan of royaltyat all, I think she has done her job in a admirable way, which is more than can be said about a lot of them.



They are all over our tabloids all the time.   Does Camilla drink?  AND Kate laid into her for being an alcoholic..    That's what they tell us..


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## hollydolly (Jan 20, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> They are all over our tabloids all the time.   Does Camilla drink?  AND Kate laid into her for being an alcoholic..    That's what they tell us..



LOL...like Kate would have any right to tell her step mother-in-law not to drink...even if it were true that Camilla was an alcoholic..


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## QuickSilver (Jan 20, 2015)

I like the Royals.... just not Camilla..


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## oakapple (Jan 20, 2015)

Royal stories sell papers, and the papers don't care if things are true or not, even if they are sued, they have sold enough to cover the fines.Work on the premise that none of it is true.


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## Warrigal (Jan 20, 2015)

Tabloid newspapers are an affront to truth and a waste of trees.


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## hollydolly (Jan 20, 2015)

Dame Warrigal said:


> Tabloid newspapers are an affront to truth and a waste of trees.




ain't _that _the truth ?


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## QuickSilver (Jan 20, 2015)

I know... but it makes for good reading standing in line at the grocery checkout!


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## Cookie (Jan 20, 2015)

I notice no one has mentioned 'Randy Andy' here and some of his dubious activities and associations.

 And what about Philip and his one-liner non-pc cracks.  Does he prepare in advance of an event with a suitable comment. He seems like he's having fun.  I see in photographs he is often laughing. It appears to me that the royal couple (Queen and Philip) have a good time together.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 20, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> They are all over our tabloids all the time.   Does Camilla drink?  AND Kate laid into her for being an alcoholic..    That's what they tell us..



Aren't those the same rags that report about 3 headed alien babies, pregnant men, etc etc?


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## Laurie (Jan 21, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> I like the Royals.... just not Camilla..



I like Camilla.  Just not the Royals (Well, most of them!

Between them she and Kate have done much to bring a bit of stability after the Spencer woman came closer to brining down the monarchy than the other arch manipulator, Wallis Simpson.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 21, 2015)

Laurie said:


> I like Camilla.  Just not the Royals (Well, most of them!
> 
> Between them she and Kate have done much to bring a bit of stability after the Spencer woman came closer to brining down the monarchy than the other arch manipulator, Wallis Simpson.



Yes... despite Camilla's "home wrecker" moniker.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 21, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Aren't those the same rags that report about 3 headed alien babies, pregnant men, etc etc?



Yes... one an the same..  What else is there to read in a checkout line


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## Ameriscot (Jan 21, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Yes... one an the same..  What else is there to read in a checkout line



Facebook on my phone!


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## QuickSilver (Jan 21, 2015)

Still in the dark ages... I won't own a "smart" phone.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 21, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Still in the dark ages... I won't own a "smart" phone.



Love mine. I can share photos of where I am in Thailand with family and friends on Facebook immediately.  And I can Skype my granddaughters on it. And tons of other things.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 21, 2015)

Ameriscot said:


> Love mine. I can share photos of where I am in Thailand with family and friends on Facebook immediately.  And I can Skype my granddaughters on it. And tons of other things.




I'm not saying they aren't fine....  I have no need for one.  I have internet at home and at work.. and we cannot use our phones in the car.. so other than the check out line, I don't really know when I would use one.


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## Ameriscot (Jan 21, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> I'm not saying they aren't fine....  I have no need for one.  I have internet at home and at work.. and we cannot use our phones in the car.. so other than the check out line, I don't really know when I would use one.



I travel a lot. Although we have WiFi in the house we rented here it is slow. The internet package on our phone is fast. At home we often take bus or train and it's nice to have internet.

I also used my phone to order flowers online for my sister's birthday. I wouldn't use insecure WiFi to do that.


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## hollydolly (Jan 21, 2015)

I have a very underused Iphone...I absolutely don't use it to it's full potential or even close...

I rarely use FB although I have an account to keep up with what the family are up to...so I don't use it for that, preferring to wait until I can use my Compuer..

I don't use it to take videos' preferring instead to use my camera which has video facilities..

I rarely use the iphone to take photos, because this particular model the Iphone 5c photo taking abilities leave a whole lot to be desired, unlike my much missed Blackberry...

So really apart from using it for it's intended purpose..calling, texting and an occasional look at the internet when I'm out and about and killing a few minutes...it's really a waste of time having a smart phone..I'd be just as well off with a basic model..


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## QuickSilver (Jan 21, 2015)

hollydolly said:


> I have a very underused Iphone...I absolutely don't use it to it's full potential or even close...
> 
> I rarely use FB although I have an account to keep up with what the family are up to...so I don't use it for that, preferring to wait until I can use my Compuer..
> 
> ...



My feelings too..   I use a phone to make and receive calls.  I don't even text.  So a good old Flip Phone does me fine.  Why pay for something I don't use


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## Laurie (Jan 21, 2015)

"I have a very underused Iphone."

I used mine to order a pizza last week, so that I could pick it up on my way home from shopping.

That's the only call I've made for at least a month, and received none eoither!


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## Ameriscot (Jan 21, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> My feelings too..   I use a phone to make and receive calls.  I don't even text.  So a good old Flip Phone does me fine.  Why pay for something I don't use



No, makes no sense if you won't use it. My sister has a phone so old that when the charger died and she needed a new one she couldn't find one in stock. So her kids helped her choose a smartphone. She uses it a lot but there's still a lot she can't do since she's a technophobe.

My smartphone is worth every penny. I get my money's worth easily.


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