The Younger BRF: Out of Control or Doing Well?

[Vita]

I was just wondering what some of your thoughts were on the younger generation of BRs. Sure they are hip, beautiful, and glamours to boot. But do you think that they've become wilder and uncontrollable, or do do you think for the most part they've gotten their ducks lined in a row? Does the public subconsciously promote the wild behavior (being so blood-thristy over anything involving the RF)? Is it just a phase or does it just come down to a few of the young ones making the whole bunch look that way?

I guess for me, I'll just say quickly, I think it's a little bit of everything. You don't hear much Eugenie and Beatrice or even William in a negative manner. But we hear about Zara and Harry more often than not. And I think a lot of the times the public kind of waits for the kids to mess up and the media knows that's what many of us want to hear and they go to any legnths to get it.

I would love to hear what people have to say about this, because I've certainly heard various opinons on the matter before but none from royal watchers as yourselves.

[Elspeth]

I don't think Zara would be having the success she's having in the equestrian world if she wasn't fairly disciplined. She seems to be one of those people who works hard and plays hard; of course, the play gets a lot of column inches!

[Bella]

To me, the younger generation of British royals don't seem as spoiled or segregated as their parents. They have all gone to regular school since they were very small and have participated in the "real world." If you look back to the way Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward were brought up, it's as though they were kept in their own little world and I feel that stunted them in terms of being able to deal with life outside the royal court.

I think William is handling things brilliantly if you consider the immense pressure and scrutiny he must be under. Beatrice and Eugenie seem to be ideal princesses. And Peter Phillips seems to have carved a nice life for himself pretty much out of the limelight. Harry and Zara are probably considered the wild ones, but even their behavior isn't as bad as it could be.

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Bella

To me, the younger generation of British royals don't seem as spoiled or segregated as their parents. They have all gone to regular school since they were very small and have participated in the "real world." If you look back to the way Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward were brought up, it's as though they were kept in their own little world and I feel that stunted them in terms of being able to deal with life outside the royal court.

Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward all went to British public school (in America, private school) the same as William and Harry. The choice of Gordonstoun for Charles was perhaps not the best but Gordonstoun worked brilliantly for Andrew and for Anne's daughter Zara. William's and Harry's school, Eton, had an even more refined and exclusionary reputation than Gordonstoun.

I think as far as raising their children Charles, Andrew, Anne have followed pretty much their parents' script with a bit of modernizing. The main difference between their childhood and that of their children is that Charles, Andrew, and Anne were able to be there more for their children than their mother was for them and I think it shows.

[Claire]

I don't know if I believe a bit of the things the kids down at the university of Cape Town tell me I really begin to wonder about the state of the monarchy in a few years. I have said it before and will say it again. We jugde the younger royals by different standards than the Queen's children. If Charles and Anne had acted this way, if Edward and Andrew even dared, we would have massacred them. But we live in a world that is now dominated by the publicity of the young, rich and glamourous and yes, the younger royals antics are percieved as 'glamourous.' But of course public opinion changes. I wish I have a crystal ball to see what the press will think of their youth when they are written about them in the eightys

[Georgia]

I think all HM grandchildren are coping extremley well given the circumstances and the way the media is now. They have no privacy at all. Photographers followed Zara into her horse box while she was getting changed, William can't move with out someone wanting a piece of him. But it's Harry I feel most for. His good work is largley ignored while his partying is all over the press. We want our RF to be normal when it's suits us.

[Avalon]

Originally Posted by Georgia

I think all HM grandchildren are coping extremley well given the circumstances and the way the media is now. They have no privacy at all. Photographers followed Zara into her horse box while she was getting changed, William can't move with out someone wanting a piece of him. But it's Harry I feel most for. His good work is largley ignored while his partying is all over the press. We want our RF to be normal when it's suits us.

I do think they are dong a very good job as well. William and Harry are engaged in all sorts of charities. But of course whenever they go to a pub, it's attracs loads more attantion.
Zara and Peter receive much less public attantion, though Zara, as the only young glamourous lady of the BRF (I am not counting Sophie, Beatrix and Eugine), in the spotlight.
Eugine and Beatrix are not usually in the spotlight. They don't get as much pressure and attantion as the others.
And certainly the yet-blessed one, Lady Louise I am really glad the Earl and Coountess of Wessex chose to keep her away from the media.
On the overall, I must say I really admire the younger generationg of the BRF.
They have loads of examples to follow. Prince William can see how his father does the, well, job of the Prince of Wales (magnificently, imo), and the wonderful job his grandmother does as a Monarch.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Georgia

I think all HM grandchildren are coping extremley well given the circumstances and the way the media is now. They have no privacy at all. Photographers followed Zara into her horse box while she was getting changed, .

They were very lucky, her mother Princess Anne would probably have punched them on the nose!

I feel sorry for them, everyone seems to want them to be just like every other youngster one minute and then totally royal the next. They are all doing very well IMO coping with their dual roles, so what if Zara goes to the pub or Harry goes to a strip bar. Even Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward went to clubs and pubs in their younger days but, most of the press were a little more refined and the public a little more honourable back then.

[BeatrixFan]

Let us never forget, "Naff Orf". A photographer said that he camped out at the back of Sandringham when Prince Philip came out about 5am on Christmas Day. The photographer bellowed, "'Appy Christmas Sir!" to which a tired and grumpy Philip answered, "Shove Christmas .......< Bowdlerised >".

[Avalon]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

Let us never forget, "Naff Orf". A photographer said that he camped out at the back of Sandringham when Prince Philip came out about 5am on Christmas Day. The photographer bellowed, "'Appy Christmas Sir!" to which a tired and grumpy Philip answered, "Shove Christmas ....".

Thanks Beatrixfan! Never heard about that one, it's so funny and so typical of Prince Philip. And I must say I might not love him as much as I do now if he was any different. Great sence of humour, imo. Though in this case it was more probably great sence of irritation and exhaustion.

[BeatrixFan]

I think it's a wonderful story too Avalon. It is so typical of Philip and I think I'd have said the same at 5am!

[Vita]

Thanks you posters for all of your comments. I really appreciate it (and it was my first thread and everything!).

I remember when it was reported that Zara had a tongue ring and the American press went crazy over that. This had to be in 2000 maybe 1999. I remember reading about it in American Vogue and it saying she was the "wild child" and "non-conformist" of the new young Royals. I also remember thinking, "wow, who knew the RF could got that funky?" and "What does Grandmum think about that?" LOL.

[Bella]

Ysbel ~ I thought Charles and his siblings were educated primarily at Buckingham Palace with private tutors until they reached middle school. That's more what I was referring to. William and his cousins were all out mixing with other children at the elementary level (take it they were other aristocratic wealthy students and yes, private schools.)

Thank you for the insight.

[Iluvbertie]

Charles went to Hill House school in Kensington aged about 8 before going to Cheam Prepartory School aged 9 and then to Gordonstoun. He started at Hill House by attending afternoons only to take part in the recreational activities for a term and then attended full time. The other students there were children of MPs and from the embassies nearby. The recreational activities involved a lot of sport.

He was certainly mixing with other children at an early age.

The tutors mainly got them through the very early years ensuring that they could read and write before exposing them to other children. The Queen and Philip took very seriously the education of their children and insisted on their formal education being done in recognised schools.

Anne wasn't sent away to boarding school until she was 13.

Andrew and Edward, like Charles, boarded at prep school from about 8 or 9 years of age.

In that way their education was similar to William and Harry who were also sent to boarding school aged 8 or 9.

The difference was that William and Harry attended pre-school and started day school at about the same age as other boys whereas the Queen kept her children at home for the extra two years or so.

[Skydragon]

It should be remembered that back in the 50's - 60's there was no such thing, in the UK, as pre-school.

[kelly1972]

I think that the younger generation of BR are a well behaved group. They have done things that normal people of their age have done with the exception of the fact that they are members of the BRF. And get the press for what they have done and it makes the front page news. The only one of them that no one really knows anything about is Peter. He stays out of the press radar so to speak. In my opinion Peter and Zara have a realitive normal existance because of the fact that they don't have to carry out royal engagements or have a title. As their mother Princess Anne once said of them." They're not royal, the Queen just happens to be their grandmother."

[Thomas Parkman]

DEar Members,

The young royals are simply normal people in an abnormal situation. How would you like it if every time you sneezed or scratched your nose some explative deleted was there taking YOUR picture. And God forbid if you went out, as a man with a woman, horrors of horrors or if you were a woman and went out and then fell in love and then fell out of love, Lord what a soap opera, it would be all over the newspapers. And if you were a young man with a pretty boy friend or whatever, gasp what a scandal. Well guess what these people are just normal people with the faults and good things that all of us have. On occassion they may make fools of themsleves-you have never done so? and on occassion may prove to be quite wonderful and everything in between. The real problem is the meretricious, vicious insatiable and absolutley dispicable British tabloid press. The whole lot should be boiled in oil. Cheers. Thomas Parkman

[Duchess]

the younger royals aren't mentioned in the press nearly as much as the generation before them. compare zara to diana or sarah - there isn't any comparison really publicity wise. i think the younger ones are much better behaved...and that's quite an accomplishment considering some of the events that took place in the past.