Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
There was a time when the word "bitter" could be used in describing how I felt towards individuals in the Royal Family, but now I'd say indifference describes it better.
If we are to have a monarch, then I feel the current one, the only one there's been in my lifetime, will be regarded by history as having done a pretty good job. Similarly, although I know very little about them, Diana's two sons come over as decent human beings to me.
At the end of it all though, they are just people and you get good ones and bad ones just as in every other walk of life. If we are talking about "betters", I'm pretty sure that there are millions of people in this country, including some in the Royal Family, who are better than me in terms of the type of person they are, the way they have lived their life and the way they have contributed to society. However, equally, I'm pretty sure that I am better than millions in this country, including some in the Royal Family, when it comes to those qualities I listed.
It all comes down to respect with me. This is something that has to be earned in my opinion and I'll admit to a degree of it towards the Queen. In saying that, I see no reason whatsoever why I should respect someone just because they are born into better circumstances than I was and this is at the heart of my feelings throughout my life towards the concept of Royalty - there are many aspects to being a Royal which I would rate as negatives, but, essentially, they live a life that has far more that is good about it than bad and only do so because of the family they were born into. As I mentioned earlier, I was bitter about such things once, now it doesn't bother me as much, but I would say it is tougher for them to earn my respect than it is for the "ordinary man/woman in the street".
I don't automatically assume that the Royal Family are better than me and never will do, but I fundamentally disagree with anyone who argues that none of the people who come out of the woodwork when there is a Royal birth/marriage/death feel that Royalty are better than them - you only have to catch some of the fawning nature of both questions and answers in the coverage of such events to see that.
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