William and Harry: Contact with Foreign Royals

[Dierna23]

Anyway, it would be nice if William would attend Victoria's wedding. But I doubt it, as well.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Anyway, it would be nice if William would attend Victoria's wedding. But I doubt it, as well.

I believe he'll be in South Africa for the World Cup, he may fly back, but i doubt.

 

[Melibea]

I think that until he is not crown prince or married he will not attend this type of affairs.

 

[dianadebraga]

Returning to the original topic:
I think the friends circle of William & Harry really is the people of high society (of London) and British nobility with whom they grew up, at least that's what I hear. But I remember William & Harry talking about their TRUE, REAL friends of them are not who the media reports, so ...

But I think this can change when they have titles and OFFICIALLY start traveling.

 

[Hereditary Thane]

What a laugh: the Casiraghis royalty!? Monaco is a princely house, it's reigning prince is not strictly independent nor sovereign.

The Princess of Hanover is styled HRH by virtue of her marriage; she is by this marriage a member of the old royal family (as Queen Mary refered to it) of Great Britain. Indeed if salic law had prevailed in Great Britain, Caroline Grimaldi would have been the present queen consort. Strangely enough Queen Victoria had a soft spot for the princely Grimaldis and often gave them presedence over foreign royals. What she would have made of their present life style is open to conjecture.

 

[zembla]

They seem to have no contact with the fashionable jet set crowd that the someone like Charlotte Casiraghi reigns over. I'm surprised even Beatrice and Eugenie are out of it as well...

 

[Lumutqueen]

Okay we've been throught the Monaco royal topic. And it's been discussing and dropped.

The reason the don't hang around with the so called fashionable jetset (don't know who you goes into such a group however) is because they aren't. They are royalty.
Beatrice and Eugenie have there own friends, some of whom are fairly fashionable and fairly wealthy.
This topic is about the contacts they have will foreign royals.

 

[zembla]

I think it has more to do with them just not fitting in with that crowd. Nevertheless, it makes sense for the lack of royals friendships as well, it's 2010 not 1910, they have a wider circle to mingle in for some normalcy.

 

[amedea]

So it's official, William and Harry will NOT be at Victoria's wedding: a visit to Botswana and Lesotho was announced for the princes from 11 to 19 June

 

[CrownPrincess5]

Oh yes it's definitely official.

Princes to attend World Cup

 

[Lumutqueen]

This was always known that they would most likely not attend.
I don't think they will attend a wedding until there own or possible Alberts depending on when he marries.

 

[CrownPrincess5]

I've always thought too that they wouldn't attend. But then the media began speculating that they would. The thing is, I've never seen them attend a foreign royal wedding. You could tell me if they have, but I've not seen them attend a wedding like that ever.

 

[Lumutqueen]

They haven't attended a wedding of foreign royals ever. And until they have finished traning I doubt they will.
They don't seem to be particularly close to any royals, and to be asked would be out of curtesy. Even if the World Cup wasn't on, I doubt they would go to the wedding.
I didn't read any stories about William and Harry attending the royal wedding.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I don't see them going to foreign royal events until their father is king, really. Until then, it'll be the Queen's immediate family or her cousins. Then the next generation down.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I don't see them going to foreign royal events until their father is king, really. Until then, it'll be the Queen's immediate family or her cousins. Then the next generation down.

I agree.

I think we must remember that Victoria is the child of the sovereign so the British monarch should send an equivalent person to the wedding - one or more of her children.

 

[crownprincessrhey]

It's a shame if William isn't acquainted with them as I think he could benefit from it since they all have the common factor of being a royal. Who else can really understand what it's like to be a royal except another royal? They could all be a great support system for each other.


I couldn't agree with you more...William also needs to socialize more with other royals so that he could also get some perspective on how it is to be an heir and royal. I think he should reach out to them as well. If they seem from the other generation, there is still Guilliame from Luxemborg who is closer to him in age.

 

[Zonk]

I think William gets enough perspective from his father, Prince Charles. He isn't new to the game. He was born royal after all.

 

[nascarlucy]

I would think that royals would associate with royals to a certain degree. I wouldn't expect all their friends or associates to be royal, but I think they could be a good support system to them. I'm surprised that some of them don't at all. If they didn't as children, then they probably won't later in their life.

An heir to the throne can understand someone else in the same situation. Their siblings or their partner doesn't totally understand this. Perhaps because they are men (men don't really discuss these things), this is why they dont' reach out to each other. If there were more women who were heirs to the throne, I think you might have a network or support system or more likely to have one than males have.

I wonder if jealousy or some other petty things over the centuries or years has caused this disconnection with each other.

 

[Iluvbertie]

It is more that the British don't have this connection. The others do but the British, since WWI, have looked to Britain for their connections and not the Europeans. With Philip's own relatives there was a chance for greater public connection but if it didn't happen then it won't be happening now.

 

[nascarlucy]

You wonder if someone or some incident happened during World War II to cause this disconnect. Could it be something that some royal household did or said something which could have caused this disconnection? Perhaps a betrayal or something very serious happened which caused this. Something perhaps the public isn't privy to. World War II caused a lot of royal divisons.

 

[Zonk]

I think prior to WWII a lot of the British Royals had intermarried and developed relationships with other European royals. The BRF is related to European royals but the relations were a little more closer prior to WWII. At some point George V niece Ena married into the Spanish Family, his sister Maud became Queen of Norway, another great neice Margaret (mother of Queen Ingrid) had already married into the Swedish family, when she died her cousin Louise married her widower. George's cousin Marie was Queen of Romania, his cousin the Kaiser was ruling Germany, and another cousin had already died in Russia. Margaret's daughter Ingrid (mother of Margrethe II)married into the Danish Family. I hope I got the familiar relations correct. So everyone really was related. There is a picture of Edward VIII when he was Prince of Wales at the Fort, and in the picture are Dickie Mountbatten, Princess Ingrid of Sweden and Prince Gustav Adolf and Princess Syblla of Sweden (they are the current King's parents). So they all socialized together and didn't just meet up at weddings and funerals.

But time moves on and people sadly die. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had great relations with the Norwegian, Dutch, Danish and Swedish families. The late Queen Ingrid I believe was Princess Margare's godmother, and was one of the few European royals who attended Margaret's wedding. Queen Elizabeth II has decent relationships with them but is not like the past. I think the people who have decent relationships with the European royals nowadays are Charles, Edward and Sophie. They are the ones who have had the opportunity to mix with them of late. It will happen for William and Harry its just not their time yet. And really, the generations are off. The younger European Royals (with the exception of the Swedes) are pretty much ten years older than William and Harry...and a good 20 years younger than Charles. Edward and Sophie are a good mix in between the ages.

 

[Mermaid1962]

I wonder whether the BRF has common interests with those in Europe's royal families in terms of hobbies and other enjoyments? If people don't have much in common, it's hard to sustain relationships over the long term--even if the people concerned are HRHs and HMs.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I think prior to WWII a lot of the British Royals had intermarried and developed relationships with other European royals. The BRF is related to European royals but the relations were a little more closer prior to WWII. At some point George V niece Ena married into the Spanish Family, his sister Maud became Queen of Norway, another great neice Margaret (mother of Queen Ingrid) had already married into the Swedish family, when she died her cousin Louise married her widower. George's cousin Marie was Queen of Romania, his cousin the Kaiser was ruling Germany, and another cousin had already died in Russia. Margaret's daughter Ingrid (mother of Margrethe II)married into the Danish Family. I hope I got the familiar relations correct. So everyone really was related.

Most of these weddings etc though took place before WWI, even if they continued past the end of that war and that war really saw the end of the British Royals connecting besides the odd friendship or so - the parents might have still seen their relatives but encouraged the children to associate more with British people of their generation rather than take holidays in European courts etc and thus the ties weren't there.

 

[nascarlucy]

If the children don't see their cousins or distant relatives very often, then the relationship once the parent or grandparent dies, becomes more distant or non-existent. I can see how this happens in families because this has happened in my own family. There are some people in my family (distant cousins and distant relatives) that I've never met. I only know what my mother and grandmother told me about these people. Because many of these individuals were shattered across the United States, the ties were just not there.

 

[KittyAtlanta]

I think there may be a lingering alienation factor that has not dissapated from the BRF having to distance themselves from their German relatives during the period before WWI.

 

[CordeliaFitzgerald]

This topic is fascinating. I didn't realize the various European Royal families didn't really associate with one another anymore. I would have thought that they did, given that most are distantly related to each other (or were, through Queen Victoria).

Which brings me to my next thought: I wonder if they are fascinated with each other they way we are with them. For example, when Prince William and Prince Harry (presumably) look at photo albums where they see their mother meeting Princess Grace, I wonder if they think "OMG! Our parents met Grace Kelly!" (Well, they do seem to get starstruck where pop stars are concerned, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to imagine the guys being awed over Princess Grace.)

Or, if they ever wish they could live like other royal live. I hadn't realized until I read this topic that there is a difference between the English aristocrats vs. the Monaco jetsetters. It's the high life for both, but one is definitely more ...frivolous...than the other. I wonder if Princes William and Harry have ever wished they could be more like the Casiraghis...or conversely haven an even more low-key like the Luxemburg royals.

I do agree with others in this topic though: since only royals know what is like to be royal, they could and should all use each other as a good support system. And, yes, they do have their parents and extended families..but sometimes you just need that friend to go to. It's a shame they don't.

 

[Lumutqueen]

This topic is fascinating. I didn't realize the various European Royal families didn't really associate with one another anymore. I would have thought that they did, given that most are distantly related to each other (or were, through Queen Victoria).

A lot of European royals socialize with each other, like the Scandinavian royals but the British royals seem to like being on their own.

I wonder if Princes William and Harry have ever wished they could be more like the Casiraghis...or conversely haven an even more low-key like the Luxemburg royals.

I think they would love the get away with what the Casiraghis do, but Luxembourg royals live a very sheltered life.

 

[nascarlucy]

I would think it would be nice if the royal housholds connected more with each other. Certainly if you were a prince or princess, then you would have a good idea of what life is like being a royal, what challenges you face, etc. Someone who is a prince or princess would understand you or perhaps be someone that could lend a sympathic ear to when you are having difficulties.

 

[Mirabel]

This topic is fascinating. I didn't realize the various European Royal families didn't really associate with one another anymore. I would have thought that they did, given that most are distantly related to each other (or were, through Queen Victoria).

Which brings me to my next thought: I wonder if they are fascinated with each other they way we are with them. For example, when Prince William and Prince Harry (presumably) look at photo albums where they see their mother meeting Princess Grace, I wonder if they think "OMG! Our parents met Grace Kelly!" (Well, they do seem to get starstruck where pop stars are concerned, so it wouldn't be too farfetched to imagine the guys being awed over Princess Grace.)

I think they are a bit young to be overawed by Grace Kelly, many young people barely remember her. She died when they were quite young and her Hollywood days were behind her long before Diana married Charles.

(Also, I once read that the BRF referred to some of the Dutch or Scandanavian royals as "the bicycle kings.")

 

[nascarlucy]

Agreed Mirabel. I remember Princess Grace as I heard the story growing up where the All American girl from Philadelphia married the Prince of Monaco. I also remembered when she died (it was quite shocking as right before the national news came on, the local news said she had broken her leg in a car accident and then you hear she died in the accident).

Prince William and Prince Harry had probably seen pictures of their parents and family with famous people of all walks of life. Unless someone in their family talked about these people all the time, or said that they were in awe of them, they just would be pictures of interesting people but not something that really stood out to them.

If seems like those the most fascinated by royalty are common folks, like me who are on the outside trying to look in. Royalty doesn't seem to be fascinated with each other it seems. Maybe some are, but don't talk about it openly.