Harry and Megan.

[Chippy_Tea]

They don't like the media so are removing themselves from the royal rota, they have millions so don't need to live on handouts from the Queen, It'll be interesting to see how the Palace handle this.

 

[itry]

funny my missus called this. he will be the stay at home trophy and she will go back to hollywood. all the eyes will be on her instead of him. Except now she will be an A-lister. My wife says if ever theirs a man who is beaten down by his missus its him.

 

[MickDundee]

All of the Royals should be self sufficient.

 

[Oneflewover]

Good luck to them. Will be interesting to see what this 'working' to become independent actually means..... Are they going to take up gainful employment or are they going to be merely contemplating ways of supporting themselves financially? The question of who will pay for their security, particularly in Canada, will need sorting out.
Overall I think that it's a great thing in terms of a potential reduction in the obscene public funds provided to the 'royals'

 

[Dave 666]

Hmm, will they still be drawing UK tax payer funded benefits such as travel, living expenses, security, eating out, holidays, clothing, etc etc?.

 

[MyQul]

funny my missus called this. he will be the stay at home trophy and she will go back to hollywood. all the eyes will be on her instead of him. Except now she will be an A-lister. My wife says if ever theirs a man who is beaten down by his missus its him.

Not going to work. Pottering around, riding my bike, brewing. Yes please. Wonder how I get to be a stay at home trophy hubby?

 

[kelper]

If it's true that they did not consult the Queen I think she might take serious action such as stripping their titles and removing them from the Civil List. She's a stickler for duty. Prince Philip too.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Yawn what's an a lister or a royal for that matter ha I have it it's the Andrew effect or he found out who his dad is. I see a film in the making here

 

[terrym]

I don't care what they do, and that applies to all of them.
But what I do care about is the money the state spends to keep them all going from the Queen down to the last hanger-on who is entitled to a generous hand out from the state.
Give them the properties they currently inhabit, all except Buck House which the state should keep an interest in, and let them fend for themselves, they have enough accumulated wealth to live a life style many of us plebs can only dream of
However that's not going to happen in my lifetime, too many vested interests.

 

[MyQul]

funny my missus called this. he will be the stay at home trophy and she will go back to hollywood. all the eyes will be on her instead of him. Except now she will be an A-lister. My wife says if ever theirs a man who is beaten down by his missus its him.

Your looking at things from a patriachal point of veiw here. I can imagine being a top royal is a pretty cushy number, but I can imagine there's plenty of responsibility and pressures too. Sneakily he's managed to dump all the responsibility stuff and kept all the cushy stuff. He's now free to loll about in his pants every day

 

[Dave 666]

I don't care what they do, and that applies to all of them.
But what I do care about is the money the state spends to keep them all going from the Queen down to the last hanger-on who is entitled to a generous hand out from the state.
Give them the properties they currently inhabit, all except Buck House which the state should keep an interest in, and let them fend for themselves, they have enough accumulated wealth to live a life style many of us plebs can only dream of
However that's not going to happen in my lifetime, too many vested interests.

Didn't the royals hand over the entire royal estate (barring a handful of private retreats) and key properties decades ago in return for the civil list (aka a blank unlimited check for any and every member of the royal family)?. If so I think things should be reversed, the state hand all the properties back, take the civil list off them and all benefits it entitled and make them truly self sufficient from any tax funded benefits that the rest of the population can't get.

As you can be sure as sure can be, no chance Harry won't still be costing the state millions per year in one way or another even if justified under "security" concerns.

 

[GerritT]

Except now she will be an A-lister. My wife says if ever theirs a man who is beaten down by his missus its him.

She's not THAT good at acting... her roles will be limited to cameos and not much more.

 

[Pavros]

I love the lack of self-awareness in their statement - they will work towards becoming financially independent. I suspect they already have sufficient wealth to fund a lifestyle that most of us can only dream of, so it shouldn't take them much time or work/effort to do this.

 

[Hopperty]

Lead astray by a beautiful woman, it will be all over in a year or two and he will be back.

In the same way they have been banging on about climate change whilst private jetting it all over the world. They are now so fed up of being in the public eye here, they are heading out to the states to become celebrities there.

May be they will go off-grid in Alaska seldom to be seen again, at which point they will gain my admiration and jealousy.

 

[Pavros]

Didn't the royals hand over the entire royal estate (barring a handful of private retreats) and key properties decades ago in return for the civil list (aka a blank unlimited check for any and every member of the royal family)?.

This rings a bell. Didn't something happen when they realised that they couldn't afford all the renovation and maintenance costs?

Edit: Looks like the Queen gave up current and future income from the Crown Estates in return for something called the 'Sovereign Grant' which funds the Royal Family. This amounted to £82m last year. The costs of Harry and Megan's office was funded 5% from this Sovereign Grant and 95% from Prince Charles' Duchy of Cornwall Estate. Harry and Megan will apparently be giving up their entitlement to the share of the Sovereign Grant.

 

[the_quick]

They got all the money/property they need, by being royalty, they keep most of it. Now they say, thank you very much, we had enough - kind of retiring. I wish I could do that. From other point good for them, I think media people were bit to nosy, so I guess it one of the most important reasons.

 

[MyQul]

I love the lack of self-awareness in their statement - they will work towards being financially independent. I suspect they already have sufficient wealth to fund a lifestyle that most of us can only dream of, so it shouldn't take them much time or work/effort to do this.

Isnt their lack of self awareness so sweet. They want all the anonymity of being a pleb but all the wealth and advantage of being a royal

 

[Dave 666]

What's refreshing here over the same responses you'd certainly get on other boards (still might get someone posting this though) from dedicated royalists is "bla bla bla for every £1 they cost the state they generate 4 times that in income from tourism etc bla bla bla".

Well bull!, weather they have the civil list (blank cheque from the tax payer) or self sufficient via a reversal of circumstances that tourist income would still come for the same reasons they do now!. But it would save tens of millions to the tax payer every year!.

 

[kelper]

The Civil List became the Sovereign Grant and is not a blank cheque. It's a large cheque but it's not unlimited. It's regulated by Parliament. I bet it's a fraction of the cost of running the White House and Trump's *air travel and security. (*11 million dollars a month!!!) I'm not a royalist nor am I a republican. Charles has already indicated that he plans to downsize the royal family. The only sensible thing he's said in years!

 

[Pavros]

Harry and Megan don't like Kate, do they?? I'm not saying the timing of their announcement was deliberate but it's Kate's birthday today. 'Happy Birthday Kate, and wake up to a royal shitstorm that we've created'