Work Schedule

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by wiwaxia

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean.

I tried to explain that even here in the republic of Germany our public servants, who live on the state as well as Fred does, have their private hobbies like sailing. If they are good enough in these sports they can even "work" on competing internationally, thus representing our country, while being payed by the state.

Where's the difference? Why is it completely normal here and deemed so strange in our neighboring country of Denmark? Only because Fred was born into his work and did not have to apply for it?

[Empress]

The way I see it is this - If he is good enough to sail on a team that will bring attention to Denmark, by that teams competing and/or winning, then all the better. His presence will bring more notoriety than if he were not there. See it in a way as one of Marys patronages. His job on the sailing team is not only to crew with the other members, but to bring his presence and all the media that follows him to that event so that it gets more coverage.

That is in effect one of the jobs of royals. To lend their presence, and thus garner media attention to causes that otherwise might not be so well covered.

We feed into that by wanting as much media coverage of them as possible.

[wiwaxia]

Originally Posted by Jo of Palatine

I tried to explain that even here in the republic of Germany our public servants, who live on the state as well as Fred does, have their private hobbies like sailing. If they are good enough in these sports they can even "work" on competing internationally, thus representing our country, while being payed by the state.

Where's the difference? Why is it completely normal here and deemed so strange in our neighboring country of Denmark? Only because Fred was born into his work and did not have to apply for it?

I don't wish to comment on the situation in a republic, as C P Frederik was the topic, but I'll just have to take your word for that! I agree up to a point that it could be considered work, and be an advantage in focusing on Denmark, but, it must be said that he doesn't have an international reputation as a sailor, (he doesn't seem to be very good at it), if, on the other hand he had officially competed in the Olympics representing his country (ex-King Constantine), or was a recognised on some official professional level as his countries representative in that field, it would be different, but the bone of contention from this magazine, quoted earlier, is that to make his hobby appear more appetizing to the populace, it has now been designated a state affair, which it most certainly isn't, it doesn't benefit Denmark, or his subjects, maybe it's a money spinner for the breweries that sponsor him, who knows!

[Elspeth]

I think this is an area where they need to be very careful. When a member of a royal family is seen to be trying to pass his hobby off as work, it can lead to resentment and scorn. I can just imagine what would have happened if Prince Charles or Prince Philip had decided that they needed more state handouts for their polo because it was in some way helping them represent Britain. Princess Anne was an Olympic-level eventer, but I don't recall anyone suggesting that that should count as part of her royal duties.

Frederik and the royal advisors must be very certain of his popularity in the country if they think they can get away with this.

[Jo of Palatine]

I got the impression that they don't want to treat all sailing events that way, just those who actually are connected with representing Danmark. And there are those, where he is not just one of the skippers, but where he represents his country on an international sports level.

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

I think this is an area where they need to be very careful. When a member of a royal family is seen to be trying to pass his hobby off as work, it can lead to resentment and scorn. I can just imagine what would have happened if Prince Charles or Prince Philip had decided that they needed more state handouts for their polo because it was in some way helping them represent Britain. Princess Anne was an Olympic-level eventer, but I don't recall anyone suggesting that that should count as part of her royal duties.

Frederik and the royal advisors must be very certain of his popularity in the country if they think they can get away with this.

A very sensible post, Elspeth. I can't imagine such a thing being accepted in my country by the general public with too much delight either. When the Prince of Orange is even supporting sporters during the Olympics etc. there are people commenting about the 'burden' of the royal duties. His membership of the Olympic comittee was greeted with equal sceptisism, though in hindsight they were terribly unjust.

I am wondering if there have been any sceptical comments about this in Denmark?

[Helen88]

I was wondering how many hours the CP Couple works in, like, a week. It's probably very hard to estimate. When one looks at their schedule, one only sees their appointments but I wonder how much time they need to prepare those.
Do they have like a maximum of hours?

[Amelia]

I don't think anyone can answer that for you except the CP Couple themselves

[Villemann]

Let me put CP Frederik's work load into perspective, because it is an issue I deal with in the final chapter of my book "1015 Copenhagen K," the English version will be published worldwide within a few weeks.
In 2007 Frederik had approximately 70 official engagements, including his own birthday, Isabella's christening, royal hunts, state visits etc. etc. In the same year, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is pushing 90, had 380 official engagements.!

[Marengo]

That the British usually have such a high number of official engagements has a lot to do with the way they count them. Most royal families for example would list a state visit as 1 event. In Britain they count each and every seperate part of the programme, and such a visit can count as 10 engagements for example.

It might be interesting though to compare the number of public engagements of the crownprinces of the smaller monarchies (Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium and Denmark). I believe all courts publish the engagements on their websites so all we need is some volunteers to do the counting .

[sunsh1n3]

Originally Posted by Helen88

I was wondering how many hours the CP Couple works in, like, a week. It's probably very hard to estimate. When one looks at their schedule, one only sees their appointments but I wonder how much time they need to prepare those.
Do they have like a maximum of hours?

I think that when we are talking about how much time they need to prepare, we can assume that they are not the ones doing the research. They may just have to read over the facts, but not necessarily do the research and that makes a big difference in how much time they actually spend preparing for their engagements. Plus, they are not regular Joe's who have to take care of household duties (i.e. cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.), so all in all in MY opinion, they don't seem to be very hard working. Again, that is MY perception, and you know what they say - Perception is reality.

[lyndaW]

Originally Posted by Villemann

Let me put CP Frederik's work load into perspective, because it is an issue I deal with in the final chapter of my book "1015 Copenhagen K," the English version will be published worldwide within a few weeks.
In 2007 Frederik had approximately 70 official engagements, including his own birthday, Isabella's christening, royal hunts, state visits etc. etc. In the same year, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is pushing 90, had 380 official engagements.!

It seems each Country "counts" their engagements in a different manner. Some even count their travel time. It would be very difficult to figure out how many "hours" are spent in each engagement and then add them up. Some engagements may last 3 or 4 hours, others may only be for 20-minutes. Some engagements are very worthy - others are just fluff, and others are for trade purposes for the future.

For instance, look at Queen Rania ... she "seems" to always be working, so one wonders when she has time to sleep.

[Empress]

I wish my husbands job would count his travel time as work time. They don't so I get very upset when he travels outside of work hours. Salaried or not, getting home from a plane at 12.30 at night is ridiculous!

[Lilla]

Originally Posted by Amelia

I don't think anyone can answer that for you except the CP Couple themselves

You are so right . Personally I finde it utterly uninteresting guessing about the workinghours of the CP Couple as nobody knows - but themselves. But I guss - this is just another way to let steam out, promote personally opinions or - even market a questionable book.

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Lilla

You are so right . Personally I finde it utterly uninteresting guessing about the workinghours of the CP Couple as nobody knows - but themselves. But I guss - this is just another way to let steam out, promote personally opinions or - even market a questionable book.

Perhaps that should be a matter of change for the courts in europe, be more open about the number of hours spent while working. No matter what image of hard work and such the courts want to give, most people will think that royals basically do very little, some public duties and enjoying the good life. More openness might take that impression away.

Note that personal attacks or sharp remarks to other members are not welcomed here at TRF. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, as long as it is expressed in a civil way and has arguments to support it.

[Amelia]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Perhaps that should be a matter of change for the courts in europe, be more open about the number of hours spent while working. No matter what image of hard work and such the courts want to give, most people will think that royals basically do very little, some public duties and enjoying the good life. More openness might take that impression away.

I don't know, I think even if they did list every single thing the Royals do some people would still question it, still find fault with it because at the end of the day that is what they want to do. I think the different courts do things the way they do because it works for the majority in that country, not everyone will be happy but that has always been the case and always will be.

[Xeara]

If choosing and shopping for designer outfits, shoes, and accessories can be classed as work, then I would say Princess Mary does quite a lot of work

[UserDane]

Originally Posted by Xeara

If choosing and shopping for designer outfits, shoes, and accessories can be classed as work, then I would say Princess Mary does quite a lot of work

I don't think that she has a larger wardrobe than your 'general CPs'. She is admittedly very good at reusing her ensembles in different way - perhaps that gives the misleading impression of around-the-clock shopping?

[Currier]

I find it hard to deal with such a thread as this. Why not suggest the royal couple have a time clock installed so they could satisfy the complainers about their work load. I believe their "pay" doesn't begin to compensate for the scrutiny they must endure.

[Fashionista100]

People enjoy critisizing others. That is just the way it is. There is good critisism but often people don't do that. mary and Fred do a lot for their patronages. Much of it behind the scene. Mary has gone to several patron functions only we find out about it several months later as it is a "private" visit. She also spends a lot of time prepping and in meetings with her staff. Everything must be planned down to the last detail. She also has to spend a great deal of time "keeping up" with what is going on in the world and Denmark. Then she must keep up to date on her patronages and advances in those areas too. There is a lot of work in that reguard. Yes, they have severant to do cooking, cleaning etc. They have people to do the paperwork too. They are also very active parents and are determined to spend time as a family with their children and each other. I think royalty has learned from the whole Diana/Charles fiasco. As for shopping Mary doesn't do that too much. Anja Camilla her stylist will bring clothes to her to pick. She does shop like a normal woman, but that seems to get covered more. Lets face it, we want to see royals more "off duty" than "on duty". We are fasinated by every aspect of their lives. If we were not, we wouldn't have this message board. I also know that Mary is very dedicated to her patronages and very carefull about what she chooses. She just doesn't want to cut ribbons all the t ime.