August Annotations

Working Royals:
Blessing or Curse for the Monarchy?

Sophie Wessex’s encounter with a phony Arab sheik is well known. The Countess was meeting with someone whom she assumed was a potential client, and was speaking freely with the gentleman about her in-laws and other government figures. The ’sheik’ turned out to be an undercover journalist for a tabloid who published their personal conversation. This of course embarrassed the Royal Family - and Sophie - to no end and brought about a new criticism of the Monarchy: Are the working royals using their titles and power to an unfair advantage? Which then brought the discussion to whether or not they should be working at all.

It seems to be a catch-22. There are people out there who continuously complain about their tax money going to the Monarchy, but at the same time think that working members of the family will use their connections unfairly, so they should quit their jobs.

When you think about it, Sophie didn’t say anything spiteful about her in-laws, and as far as the comments on certain politicians, I say that they were nothing out of the ordinary. We all have something less than complimentary to say about members of our governments, whether it be how they do their job or their personal appearance! True, protocol dictates that royalty should not involve themselves in politics or express opinions that are of a political nature, but this is in the public arena. It’s not as if Sophie stood at a podium in front of millions of people airing her views; quite the contrary. She was speaking to someone whom she believed would keep their private conversation just that - private. She wasn’t speaking for the world to hear.

The nature of the conversation was not earth-shatteringly horrible, either. Sophie wasn’t giving out government secrets; she wasn’t being nasty to the Family, nor was she plotting evil things. A few off-hand remarks is all they were, and for the Queen to stand behind her throughout the ordeal lets you know that the Monarchy is not about to crumble because of a sneaky prank pulled by under-handed republicans/journalists.

Interestingly enough, The Prime Minister was nominated as “Villian of the Countryside” by Country Life magazine. This sort of backed up her comment about Tony Blair “not understanding” the countryside. He was voted a “Villian” in the wake of his handling of the foot and mouth crisis. But HRH even apologized about that, and Conservative Leader William Hague, another person included in her famous conversation, stood up for her. “Is there any one of us in public life who hasn’t made a mistake? It is unfortunate that a member of the Royal Family has been tricked by a journalist.”

I disapprove of her speaking so freely with someone she does not know. She seems to be very open and honest, which are wonderful qualities, but she needs to be careful what she says. As innocent as it all was, there was someone right there to take advantage of the conversation and make her look bad. There are always people out there lying in wait to jump down the throats of the Royal Family, so the littlest things can be misconstrued. This is most unfortunate. However I believe HRH The Countess of Wessex should not have felt such public pressure to resign from her PR firm. Her remarks were not a big deal, and those who believe that she committed some great evil need to back down from their steely glare. She is only human.

So make up your minds! Of course a title will look very attractive. I’m pretty sure Sophie realizes this, but I don’t think it’s really her doing. People like titles, so naturally they will give her their business due to THEIR star-struck ideas. I’m quite sure thousands upon thousands witnessed the marriage of Sophie to Her Majesty The Queen’s son! It’s no secret, therefore she is not entirely to blame.

©2001 Mandy’s British Royalty