When did things start changing?

[Claire]

I was recently asked to help with a new book about the changing attitude towards the British monarchy. And much of the book will be done with non royalists _ for balance and perspective I wanted to ask this question of the people in general on the forum.
Essentially we wanted to ask what event changed your opinion, mind and attitude towards the royals the most. I agree that much of this has to do with your age and the country that you are from. A British reader in their 60’s will not necessarily have the same expectations of a monarchy as someone in America who as only recently started watching the royal family.

But in order for the researchers to start looking at this - we would like to know of the below events which single event changed your opinion and attitude of the monarchy the most for the worse.

1. Duke of Windsor - abdication and appeasement of the Nazi regime Germany
2. Princess Margaret - divorce
3. Prince Charles - Camillagate
4. Prince Charles - Jonathan Dimbleby interview
5. Prince Charles - Divorce and affair in general
6. Royal family in general - handling of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
7. Diana - Squigy tapes
8. Diana - Andrew Morton book
9. Diana - Panarama interview
10. Princess Anne - divorce and affair in General
11. Prince Andrew - divorce in general
12. Prince Andrew - friendship, involvement and implication of rape with Jefferey Epstein
13. Prince Andrew - extravagance in travel and lifestyle
14. Sarah, Duchess of York - Divorce and affairs
15. Sarah, Duchess of York - extravagance in lifestyle
16. Sarah, Duchess of York - Business affairs in the US after divorce
17. Prince Edward - Quitting Marines
18. Prince Edward- Royal Knock out.
19. Prince Edward- Unsuccessful Business dealings
20. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - fake sheik tapes
21. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - unsuccessful Business Dealings
22. Prince Harry - Drug use, excessive Drinking partying, nazi dressing up and appearing naked.
23. Prince Harry - Megxit
24. Prince William - Excessive Drinking and partying

Thank you

 

[Blog Real]

I think Princess Diana's interview on Panorama and the princess's death have changed the way people look at the monarchy.
Then the way Prince William and Prince Harry look at the institution having a different attitude has also changed things.
And of course the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla.

 

[Lee-Z]

I was recently asked to help with a new book about the changing attitude towards the British monarchy. And much of the book will be done with non royalists _ for balance and perspective I wanted to ask this question of the people in general on the forum.
Essentially we wanted to ask what event changed your opinion, mind and attitude towards the royals the most. I agree that much of this has to do with your age and the country that you are from. A British reader in their 60’s will not necessarily have the same expectations of a monarchy as someone in America who as only recently started watching the royal family.

But in order for the researchers to start looking at this - we would like to know of the below events which single event changed your opinion and attitude of the monarchy the most for the worse.

1. Duke of Windsor - abdication and appeasement of the Nazi regime Germany
2. Princess Margaret - divorce
3. Prince Charles - Camillagate
4. Prince Charles - Jonathan Dimbleby interview
5. Prince Charles - Divorce and affair in general
6. Royal family in general - handling of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
7. Diana - Squigy tapes
8. Diana - Andrew Morton book
9. Diana - Panarama interview
10. Princess Anne - divorce and affair in General
11. Prince Andrew - divorce in general
12. Prince Andrew - friendship, involvement and implication of rape with Jefferey Epstein
13. Prince Andrew - extravagance in travel and lifestyle
14. Sarah, Duchess of York - Divorce and affairs
15. Sarah, Duchess of York - extravagance in lifestyle
16. Sarah, Duchess of York - Business affairs in the US after divorce
17. Prince Edward - Quitting Marines
18. Prince Edward- Royal Knock out.
19. Prince Edward- Unsuccessful Business dealings
20. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - fake sheik tapes
21. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - unsuccessful Business Dealings
22. Prince Harry - Drug use, excessive Drinking partying, nazi dressing up and appearing naked.
23. Prince Harry - Megxit
24. Prince William - Excessive Drinking and partying

Thank you

It seems you are only looking for "changing opinions" in a negative way?

I think several british royals have experienced the opposite...

 

[Mumper]

I was recently asked to help with a new book about the changing attitude towards the British monarchy. And much of the book will be done with non royalists _ for balance and perspective I wanted to ask this question of the people in general on the forum.
Essentially we wanted to ask what event changed your opinion, mind and attitude towards the royals the most. I agree that much of this has to do with your age and the country that you are from. A British reader in their 60’s will not necessarily have the same expectations of a monarchy as someone in America who as only recently started watching the royal family.

But in order for the researchers to start looking at this - we would like to know of the below events which single event changed your opinion and attitude of the monarchy the most for the worse.

1. Duke of Windsor - abdication and appeasement of the Nazi regime Germany
2. Princess Margaret - divorce
3. Prince Charles - Camillagate
4. Prince Charles - Jonathan Dimbleby interview
5. Prince Charles - Divorce and affair in general
6. Royal family in general - handling of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
7. Diana - Squigy tapes
8. Diana - Andrew Morton book
9. Diana - Panarama interview
10. Princess Anne - divorce and affair in General
11. Prince Andrew - divorce in general
12. Prince Andrew - friendship, involvement and implication of rape with Jefferey Epstein
13. Prince Andrew - extravagance in travel and lifestyle
14. Sarah, Duchess of York - Divorce and affairs
15. Sarah, Duchess of York - extravagance in lifestyle
16. Sarah, Duchess of York - Business affairs in the US after divorce
17. Prince Edward - Quitting Marines
18. Prince Edward- Royal Knock out.
19. Prince Edward- Unsuccessful Business dealings
20. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - fake sheik tapes
21. Sophie, Countess of Wessex - unsuccessful Business Dealings
22. Prince Harry - Drug use, excessive Drinking partying, nazi dressing up and appearing naked.
23. Prince Harry - Megxit
24. Prince William - Excessive Drinking and partying

Thank you

What I know that William and possibly now Harry have done to the prestige of the Monarchy and the true royal Succession. What they have allegedly done, and this is from inside sources, is reprehensible, but the press is not allowed to talk about it.

And their so-called respect for their own mother's memory and patronages is a sheer joke, in my opinion. Very little regard for and/or respect or interest in the causes closet to her heart. It's very sad that it's come to this, but there is why I cannot have any real respect for them in particular.

Andrew, from the same sources, etc, has always been a spoiled, arrogant,and selfish man. What he has allegedly done is atrocious, too, though in, of course, a different way and manner.

And I am actually distantly related to them all - a very sad state of affairs.

 

[Nico]

I don't understand the question.
Is the Monarchy in some kind of danger in the UK ? Has the people so radically changed their mind about the institution that a referedum for a Republic is planned next year ?
I don't think so.
You seem to imply that the Bristish Monarchy is in trouble for some time and/or is in some kind of irreversible downfall since a peculiar event.
As far i can see the Monarchy is safe and sound. Of course there were and still is many highs and lows. Some predicted the Armageddon adter Diana's death or after Charles and Camilla wedding. This proved to be wrong.

I agree with Lee-Z. Some aspects did change , for the best .

It's not a revolution, it's an evolution. And it's not negative. Not at all ...

 

[Claire]

The work is a piece on changing moral and ethical views in the last hundred years _ using people’s changing views of the British royal family as a example of values and standards to be emulated and referred. Of course that alone has problems.
Yes - the study only looks at a decline in attitude and many people will say that there attitudes will change gradually and over time , not a single event. But they need to know if they need to change methodology, pre internet and after internet. Hence this question.
This is not a comment on the collapse of the monarchy or decline of morals worldwide.

 

[Nico]

Well if you need some kind of landmark where the global perception of the Royal family changed, i would suggest the unfamous 1969 documentary "A Royal Family".

 

[camelot23ca]

For me the events leading up to Charles and Diana’s divorce seemed embarrassing for the family. It was a circus for awhile and it was their own fault that things played out that way.

My respect for Charles has increased since he’s kept his married life with Camilla private and low key. I’ve also appreciated how The Cambridges have increased their workload and public profile and have kept their marriage and family life free of public drama.

The recent issues with Andrew and The Sussexes haven’t really affected my view of the BRF as an institution because none of them will ever be the Head of State. If Harry was the elder son the situation with him and Meghan as it’s played out over the last few months would be an unmitigated disaster that I think would take the BRF many years to recover from, if it ever did. And if Andrew was the Prince of WalesI’d have reservations about the institution’s ability to ever recover.

 

[Osipi]

For me, the biggest change is not in the people nor is it in ways that the monarchy has changed and adapted as the decades passed but the changes lie in the onslaught of information that has become available about the British Royal Family.

I was born in the last month of King George Vi"s reign and growing up, my mother and my aunts always kind of looked to the Queen as a standard. What the Queen served for lunch, what the Queen wore, what the Queen said and every now and then a bit of gossip about her sister, Margaret. Mom learned a lot of what she knew of the BRF from Pathe newsreels that played at movie theaters. There really was a curtain of "mystique" that surrounded them.

My generation was the one ushering in the "sexual revolution" and "women's lib" and conflicts across the globe became part and parcel of our nightly news broadcasts. Going into the 80s, things widely expanded such as 24/7 news channels and the media found that royal reporting, no matter what the story, was of interest. Charles was the "action man". Andrew was "Randy Andy". Then came Diana and the War of the Wales. All reverence for things royal evaporated and became fair game as it was discovered that people ate up and came back for more when there was juicy details to be told.

Now, we're in a global society where a burp can be heard around the world as it happens. Royals, especially the British royals are followed and reported on even if they're just spotted driving their car out of their own gates. The mystery and mystique has disappeared and the innermost secrets of the people belonging to the British Royal Family are seen as their individual selves warts and all. Nothing is sacred or private about them these days.

To me, the change is more in how people perceive the actual flesh and blood people that make up the royal family rather than how it affects their viewpoints on the monarchy of the UK itself. Its just more open and blatantly in our faces what these people do, say, wear, goof up and stand for. Royals throughout history have always behaved badly. The public just wasn't in on their antics as it happened.

All in all, I believe what has changed is that, today, people look at and see the members of the British Royal Family as being just as real and human as the rest of us are. The "mystique" is gone.

 

[Ista]

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