The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester 2: Jan 2006-

[BeatrixFan]

We'll happily keep them if you'll send a cheque...

[COUNTESS]

Right, Beatrix Fan, the ribbon cutters cost money.

[Elspeth]

It seems as though celebrities are in higher demand than royals for a lot of social occasions these days. So, between the lower demand for royals and the fact that a lot of the current crop of young royals don't seem to want to have much to do with royal life, it's quite possible that the royal family will slim down again to include just the monarch and his/her immediate family, who will basically do constitutional and ceremonial stuff. The Gloucesters are a wonderful example of a couple who have put their public duties first even though by all accounts they would have preferred a more private life. Unfortunately that commitment seems to be somewhat lacking in the current generation of minor royals.

[COUNTESS]

I just think the whole "royal" thing has outlived it time. Times change. The Gloucester's have handled themselves with dignity and aplomb. Today's generation are no longer impressed with this and that title, my personal opinion. Especially, if the people with these titles bring little to the table. Not that some of the "stars" the younger generation admire, bring anything to the table. But, I digress. I think, the general public, are not excited about families, that they have discovered, are really no different than their own. Just with a whole lot more money and privilege. When the present queen passes, again, my opinion, things will change greatly. The respect that Elizabeth garners in vast amounts, will be gone.

[LadyCat]

Originally Posted by iceflower

The Duchess of Gloucester visits the Royal Academy of Music
on December 13, 2007 in London, England. Secchi/Scoopt/Getty

You can see more pics of the event at the Queen's current
events thread

-----> Pic

I wanna look like that when I GROW UP!

[Mermaid1962]

There's more to monarchy than royal celebrity. The fact remains that many of the world's most stable countries are constitutional monarchies. When I see how many of the republics in the word fare and compare them with the constitutional monarchies, I think I'll keep my monarchy.

Originally Posted by COUNTESS

I just think the whole "royal" thing has outlived it time. Times change. The Gloucester's have handled themselves with dignity and aplomb. Today's generation are no longer impressed with this and that title, my personal opinion. Especially, if the people with these titles bring little to the table. Not that some of the "stars" the younger generation admire, bring anything to the table. But, I digress. I think, the general public, are not excited about families, that they have discovered, are really no different than their own. Just with a whole lot more money and privilege. When the present queen passes, again, my opinion, things will change greatly. The respect that Elizabeth garners in vast amounts, will be gone.

[andrew]

I think that when Charles becomes king, and it may be in 10 or even more years, the Gloucester will be nearly 80, the Kents over 80, Princess Anne around 70, the duke of York nearly 70. So only Prince Edward and his wife will be relatively young. My opinion is that the York princesses and prince Harry should gather themselves, get more mature and have a more positive contribution to the Royal Family.
They somehow represent the quintessence of Britishness, of tradition of power so they should be their to support charity, arts and all kind of manifestation that bring smth. to the UK.
Anyway, they have to become more responsable and more aware of their role. I hope that it will happen in the near-future.

[andrew]

Sorry, I've mistyped
"should be their to support charity" it's: should be there

[Mermaid1962]

I agree. Beatrice and Eugenie still have to get their education. But after that, it would be nice to see them active on the Royal scene--and not just for the glamorous occasions.

Originally Posted by andrew

I think that when Charles becomes king, and it may be in 10 or even more years, the Gloucester will be nearly 80, the Kents over 80, Princess Anne around 70, the duke of York nearly 70. So only Prince Edward and his wife will be relatively young. My opinion is that the York princesses and prince Harry should gather themselves, get more mature and have a more positive contribution to the Royal Family.
They somehow represent the quintessence of Britishness, of tradition of power so they should be their to support charity, arts and all kind of manifestation that bring smth. to the UK.
Anyway, they have to become more responsable and more aware of their role. I hope that it will happen in the near-future.

[BeatrixFan]

Are they really needed though? They can't just switch on the Royalty guise, it has to be there from the start to be believable and thats what you've always had with the Gloucesters. It's always been their duty. But a slimmer Royal Family without the hangers on is inevitable and I think that in a country of our size, we don't really need as many RF members as we have. Yes the Gloucesters represent us well but if they didn't, someone else would.

[Mermaid1962]

It goes back to what a Royal Family is for. If a Royal Family is to consist of a Head of State signing documents, meeting with diplomats and the Prime Minister and nothing else, then is possible to have quite a slimmed-down RF. However, if there's a need to have members of that family to visit foreign countries and support helpful organizations on the monarch's behalf, then more working Royals are needed.

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

Are they really needed though? .

[BeatrixFan]

Sweden seems to manage to do both with under 10 members.

[Elspeth]

Let's get back on topic, please. This thread isn't about Beatrice and Eugenie and whether the monarchy as a whole is worth keeping or not, it's about the Gloucesters. We have other threads where discussion of the future of the monarchy is on topic. Unless such discussion specifically pertains to the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, it isn't on topic here.

Thanks.

[CasiraghiTrio]

Originally Posted by COUNTESS

Right, Beatrix Fan, the ribbon cutters cost money.

Everything costs money, though, countess. If you don't have royals cutting ribbons, then you have mayors doing it instead. you would have to pay them just as well, so either way, you're paying for someone to do the job.
l like how the Gloucesters do their job anyway. They do it well, and probably are underpaid for it, so.........

[iceflower]

HRH Duke of Gloucester and HRH Duchess of Gloucester attending
the opening night performance of New York City Ballet at the London
Coliseum, 12/03/2008.

----> Pic

[Lady Marmalade]

I love her bangs...she looks so young. They both make great role models.

[PrincessofEurope]

she is such an ambassador for Britsih tennis going out to Argentina to watch the davis cup tennis - amazing royal who deserves so much more credit then she or her husband get (but her hair has got abit too long now)

[CasiraghiTrio]

I tried putting the link here but twice it failed me. Anyway, I see that the only way of success to view it is to go to youtube.com and type in "Duchess of Gloucester" in the search engine. or better still, you can access it without so much trouble on my youtube page.

YouTube - chewstercastle's Channel
It's the first video in the videos section, titled "HRH Birgitte Eva, Duchess of Gloucester."

I think I can't link it directly because I disabled on the settings the embed option.

[iceflower]

The Duke of Gloucester visited an eco-school in Hatfield
last weekon March 18.
Here's a small -----> Pic and the -----> Link to the article.

[CasiraghiTrio]

Thank you, ice.

On a different subject, for some time I have wondered about what the Earl of Ulster has been doing. Is he still in the army? If so, does anyone know what is his rank, or what he does for the army, what is his regiment, etc?