Royal Passions

[ILoveCristina]

Thanks!! Yes, I meant royals in general.

[Dennism]

Work on creating another generation of royals!:)

No seriously. They do what other hard-working people do in their downtime.

[Mette2]

"Work on creating another generation of royals"

I hope you don't mean all royals Dennism. It would be a bit scary if the older generation of royals were expecting :) (that's of course if I understood your joke correctly)

But yes, I can only imagine that the royals work hard with all the things they have to keep up to date with and the preparation for visits within their own country and visits to other countries.

[Dennism]

Okay. Maybe not the older royals but they have their fun nonetheless, hopefully.

[maryshawn]

The poor butler was often caught in a battle between QN and KH. Hussein apparently liked his Arabic tea; QN did not think it was good for him (is it rich or what is in it?). Anyway, they'd go back and forth. Bring it. Don't bring it.......But the butler said "In the end, you don't say 'no' to a King; he got his Arabic tea." Smart butler.

[maryshawn]

Originally Posted by sommone

Hi Mary Shawn, haven't spoken with you in awhile...I suppose KH would have had a lot heartburn and indigestion.

Let's start a new thread....all the things that would give KH indigestion:
- ex wives
- siblings
- children
- Presidents, prime ministers, other rulers
- current wife
- succession
- assasination attempts, including poisoned eye drops

Am I missing anything?

[shelley]

Originally Posted by maryshawn

Smart butler.

But I bet he didn't last long. That household did not have a the reputation of keeping their staff very long, once Q. Noor came on the scene;two years was the max.There were a couple of diehards but most of the king's long term staff were removed. Maybe that is why he prefered to spend so much time up the road at P. Hassan's house where he saw familiar faces ( previous to Q. Noor his household staff were mostly Sudanese or Nubian and all basically related to the staff of the other households - and jobs tended to be handed down from father to son to grandson ) and could eat the the sort of food he liked.

[bad_barbarella]

i thought they just lie around and get pampered... i didnt realise they actually do so much

[hillary_nugent]

Count their calories?

[bad_barbarella]

some dont look like they do.... but mary is so thin now... i heard she like lost 6 kgs since she has been dating fredrick in 2000

[DKgirls]

Originally Posted by bad_barbarella

some dont look like they do.... but mary is so thin now... i heard she like lost 6 kgs since she has been dating fredrick in 2000

Well, she seem to have it under control now :) And others are thinner, so she's not alone!!!!

We think that the Danish Royalties do have some spare time, there's some pretty dead times!
And we do know that when Mary is off, she tries to ride her horse as much as she can and just do "normal" stuff!!!

[bad_barbarella]

oh how cute... i never knew she could ride a horse

[hillary_nugent]

wish they weren't royals? hahahaha

[ILoveCristina]

Originally Posted by Alexandria

Is there a specific royal you had in mind? And do you mean the Spanish royals in particular or royals in general?

In regards to the Spanish royals, the King and Queen, Felipe and Letizia have very rigorous schedules so I think their down time is limited. All their duties aren't necessarily about showing up, shaking hands, cutting some ribbons and making small talk before leaving. There is research to be done or read on particular organizations or individuals, the King likely meets up with the government regularly to be kept informed and up to date on government decisions or actions even if he does not get a say in things, the Queen and Felipe each have organizations in their name and likely spend some time being filled in and making decisions about the organization.

Cristina and Inaki each have jobs as well as three young sons to take care of and to chauffeur back and forth to school.

Elena and Jaime also each have jobs and two young children to take care of. Elena is also an avid equestrian and participates in competitions often so she also has training.

OK, you mean they have to read about the associations, etc, that they visit? I don't understand why! Do they have to prepare their speeches themselves or does somebody do it for them? Then I see why they don't have much free time!!
Who decides what associations they visit?

[hillary_nugent]

turn on the TV and have some beer? hahaha

[Alexandria]

Originally Posted by ILoveCristina

OK, you mean they have to read about the associations, etc, that they visit? I don't understand why! Do they have to prepare their speeches themselves or does somebody do it for them? Then I see why they don't have much free time!!
Who decides what associations they visit?

While royals have a very glamorous job, their job is like many of the jobs us "normal" people have and have entailed responsibilities. They may not read every document that comes their way about an organization when they visit it but they are certainly aware of the most important information, such as who the board of directors are, what recent projects have been carried out by the organization, what kind of support they provide, etc. It's not just a matter of showing up and shaking some hands and smiling. Undoubtedly that happens sometimes but certainly not all the time.

Recently the King and Queen and CP of Sweden visited Iceland. I doubt that they would've gone completely uninformed about the country and recent important events so that they could carry on some level of diplomatic conversation as they met the President, other government officials and other important individuals from Iceland.

I'm sure the royals have speechwriters to prepare the text of what they are going to say, but they likely also practice it once or twice -- nobody makes a speech cold, it would be terribly embarassing to do so (remember Haakon's geographical snafu last year?). But the really involved royals will likely make some contribution to their speeches, whether its injecting a personal anecdote or some personal feelings about the group of people they are speaking to.

[Australian]

Some royals have their own careers as well though. Countess Sophie does, well she did until recently. I understand Princess Stephanie of Monaco is a singer/designer. Some of them still have careers. I for one, believe that people marrying into any royal family should not have to quit their jobs. It is a very old fashioned concept. As it was said before, theres not always an official duty to perform every second of the day.

[Lena]

I agree with Alexandria...the biggest part of Royal work is the work in their offices...reading and answering letters, refusing or accepting invitations, reading introductions for their visits, reading little biographies about the people, they will meet, planning visits and so on.
Without that, being a Royal with an official function would be an easy job...when you look at the schedules of the Royal houses then you will see, that an average Royal has only about 10 duties a month...10 days working and 20 days off, plus the great payment would be a dream for many people here, but it´s more work than it seems. Anyway...I don´t pity them...every Royal has a certain scope...they can decide, if they just want to do the basics, or if they want to do charity as well, they can decide, if they want to educate themselves and can attend seminars, they can decide if they want to write their speeches or let them write...they have a lot of freedoms, which most working people don´t have. In times when they want to do more sports, more private travelling or just want to be with their children they can do less official duties.

BTW. I agree with hillary_nugent...probably a lot of Royals spend their freetime in front of the TV like "their" people

[Australian]

What do you guys think about Princess Stephanie of Monaco having a singing career?

[Lena]

Originally Posted by Australian

Some royals have their own careers as well though. Countess Sophie does, well she did until recently. I understand Princess Stephanie of Monaco is a singer/designer. Some of them still have careers. I for one, believe that people marrying into any royal family should not have to quit their jobs. It is a very old fashioned concept. As it was said before, theres not always an official duty to perform every second of the day.

I partly agree with you...IMO people, who just marry the second, third... one in line to the throne should go on with their work. And if I would be a reigning sovereign I would "force" my children to start an own education/career. I even would refuse to give them money for 1 or 2 years, so that they get to know the life, which an average person in their country lives.
But I´m not sure if it makes sense, when a newly-wed crown princess goes on with her old job (Letizia back to the TV station ?) there´s a lot to learn, and a lot do (my post before), which doesn´t let space for the "old" career.
I further think that it´s a problem, when Royals start a career as "service provider" and/or as enterpriser. I especially think now of prince Edward and his TV-production-business. Edward is still part of the british Royal house...he´s working for them, but he had also this business and has implicated his family too...there´s IMO the independent role of a Royal house in real danger.