HRH Kimetha said:
Indeed it is nice to see Prince William...
HRH Kimetha,
I do understand what you are saying because it makes perfect sense.
I became a royal watcher myself because I enjoy the escapism inherent in following their lives of privilege.
However, I strangely find that I'm not jealous, because I realized something a while ago: These people are just single individual persons that have to pay a tremendous price for their royal blood and heritage.
They are living bits of history who are forever bound up and obligated by duty for
life in a way that the sons and daughters of regular rich people aren't. There are many, many wealthy people in this world whose children party, play polo and frolic about in the sea going island hopping much more freqently than William and Harry,
BUT the adult children of those people don't have to give back anything to anyone at all, and if they choose not to no one says a thing about it.
They aren't expected to do military service for their countries, they don't have to explain their choice of spouse to anyone, people don't write in message boards and blogs about whether or not they're doing their jobs properly, and they Never Ever have to justify themselves or their life choices to anyone at all. In fact, many of them never even have to work at all in life if they choose not to, and no one blinks an eye.
By mere fact of birth, Princes William and Harry have some very serious strings attached to all of the trappings of wealth and privilege that they were born with. Bodyguards are not a wealthy luxury for them, they're a true necessity. They must have bodyguards because the mere fact of who they are makes them a serious target for terrorists and kidnappers. It may seem unlikely but it IS reality.
Most 'normal' people couldn't be ransomed for millions of pounds, but the Princes could. If either Prince was kidnapped, it would create an incident of world class proportions and the kidnappers could actually try to impact the british government in some way. Those boys have had to live with that hanging over their heads their entire lives.
Every move they make is severely scrutinised and critiqued by a world audience at large. Everywhere they go, everyone they come into contact with or even just interact with in public; everything they do is scrutinised and dissected for error and or/comment on a daily basis.
What rich person have you
ever heard of that would willingly submit to such horrible micromanagement and massive intrusion into their personal privacy?
Even if the monarchy were totally abolished, the partying and frolicking currently enjoyed by the rich and privileged persons of this world would continue unabated. Abolishing the monarchy would stop William and Harry from being princes of the realm, but it wouldn't affect the thousands of rich people in the world. It wouldn't make the rest of us any richer, either. Sometimes people speak as if (and I'm not refering to anyone on this message board
) the royals are stealing from them and if they do away with them they'll get thousands of pounds! William and Harry do receive an income from their father in addition to the pay they draw from being in the military, but regardless of the Civil List, their father is independently wealthy, that is a concrete fact.
They weren't and aren't stealing anything from anyone, they didn't have to step on anyone or harm anyone to get their wealth. There are rich people who did do those things, but not William and Harry. Like many wealthy people who are NOT royal, they were born to privilege.
But
unlike many people born with a silver spoon, they are obligated to pay a price for their birth and their wealth, and they are expected to pay with their own lives.