I am proud to be English, my country doesn't always give me reasons to be proud, but I am proud of my heritage, and where I am from, and so I should be. The politics of the country, are a completely different matter altogether. Tony Blair in my opinion does a great job, he doesn't always get the necessary support, but I think he's done what is best for us. People seem to think that people such as Tony Blair aren't human, that they shouldn't be allowed to make mistakes. They are human though and everyone will make mistakes, he isn't going to be able to please everyone all of the time, the best he can do is as much damage limitation as possible, and hope that most of his decisions are the right ones, and the guy does have some tough decisions to make! This isn't what my blog is about, my blog is about the Royal Family, our monarchy.
I watched a programme, a few years ago now called 'Dear Prince William....', which was basically a young boy, the same age as Prince William, telling him what he thought of him. He compared their lives, he went to a local comprehensive school in liverpool, his Mother was an auxiliary nurse, and his Father a postman. A huge difference from the life Prince William leads. So what was this boys opinion on our future King? "Although William and I are the same age, that’s about all we have in common," says Barry. "He was born to be King and I was born to be his subject. I think it’s ridiculous that in modern Britain, in the 21st century, one person should be thought of as being better than anyone else because of their birth." I have to say I agree with him, for a society that doesn't believe in a hierarchy, we do a pretty good job of implementing it. Maybe it is to do with my generation and it's total lack of respect for those in power, or our ignorance towards politics. The Royal Family, in my opinion, is no more than a tourist attraction and I don't see why I should pay money for them to live a better life than me. For what? Do they make the same decisions everyday that Tony Blair does, do they face the same tough decisons that could be life altering, no. The Queen is simply a puppet, to which he pulls her strings.
Having said that, I do feel sorry for our young Prince, the scrutiny he endures at the hands of our media, the media some would say helped kill his Mother, is unbelievable. He didn't ask for this attention if anything he shys away from it. He does enjoy the lifestyle that goes with it though, and who wouldn't? That is the price he pays though. The royal family, do some good, they are able to use the media attention to make people aware of social issues, they can use their status to help people, it isn't all bad. Just the majority, hehe!
The older generation I think would like to keep the Monarchy, no more than for nostalgia reasons I feel. My generation, as I mentioned earlier is a completely different story though, at the time of this documentary, there was a poll done on 1,000 16-24 year olds, here are the results:
· 38 per cent believe that Prince William wants to be king; 26 per cent feel that he doesn’t and 36 per cent don’t know.
· 46 per cent feel the Monarchy is still relevant; 42 per cent feel it isn't and 12 per cent don’t know.
· 73 per cent would rather be a citizen than a royal subject; 16 per cent would prefer to be a royal subject and 11 per cent don’t know.
· 70 per cent of 16-24 year olds would not want to be Prince William if they had the chance; 24 per cent want to be Prince William and 6 per cent don’t know.
· 73 per cent don’t think Prince William should go fox-hunting; 18 per cent feel he should and 9 per cent don’t know.
· 59 per cent think the Royal Family doesn’t provide value for money; 24 per cent think they do and 17 per cent don’t know.
Value for money? This suggests they are just a product, that we pay for, and therefore should provide the goods, hmm maybe this is true. Young people seem to be split on whether the Monarchy is relevant or not, for the power they have, they should have alot more support, they seem to expect a blind faith in them, but todays generation, is encouraged alot more to think for themselves, and this will only lead to trouble in the future for the Royal Family, their royal subjects may just rebel.
So what is my answer to this? Well other than having a referendum, and letting the 56 million people that the monarchy are supposed to serve sincerely get what they want. I think in short that England should become a republic.