Monika Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 "I generally don't like England that much!" Not my words but those of Prince Harry (third in line?) in his latest Interview in Afghanistan. I was quite surprised at this frank statement and this tendency of the English not to like their own country. Surely every country has good things and bad things. England is beautiful, we have lots of history and some very picturesque countryside. We might have a government we don't agree with, but which country has the perfect one? We might have crime, but again which country does not? But then I love France too and Switzerland and again there is plenty to critisize there. But it does not mean "I don't like it very much". What are your thoughts? Have I got a blinkered view of England and is it really so much worse than the rest of the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Perhaps he didn't quite say what he meant ?For him there are lots of things that happen and he he is perceived in a different way, while he is in England. However when he is in Afghanistan or in Africa (which he apparently has a passion for) he can be closer to what he terms 'normal'.Of course if he was really 'normal' and had some of the choices his contemporaries have he may take a different view......who knows.In the meantime he has done his best to fulfill his military duties and personally I think its a great shame that a web site from the USA published his whereaboutsAs regards a blinkered view - nowhere is perfect and so many people aspire to live in the Uk, can it really be so bad ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 [quote user="Monika"]. Surely every country has good things and bad things. England is beautiful, we have lots of history and some very picturesque countryside. We might have a government we don't agree with, but which country has the perfect one? [/quote]Whichever party is in power, at least half the population will be unhappy about the current administration at any one time. Human nature surely, rather than a particular country. Let's be grateful we can change our government - much of the world's population would be glad to have the chance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardengirl Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I suspect that Harry's view is very much coloured by his mother's experiences with the press (& yes, she encouraged them too), and by his & William's experiences with the press. I think it's probably natural that having lost his mother in such a tragic way at a young age, being pursued by a pack of paperazzi, he should feel this way.Of course, if he wasn't in the clubs he's so keen on, drinking so much, the press might not have been so keen to pursue him for photos & copy to fill their pages - a young man behaving himself doesn't sell newspapers!I also think it's good that he's had a chance to fight for his country - he obviously felt very strongly that he wanted to do what he had trained for.Perhaps his future lies in Africa, who knows, he certainly loves what he has found there. Good luck to him.Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 I dont suppose he was talking about the way England looks...more about the way he is pestered by the hords of photographers everywhere he goes ......It must be a relief to him to be out of the UK where he does not get that treatment and he can be "normal " as he puts it....and.... if "normal " life to him is with his regiment where he is treated like one of the boys then he should be left alone by the press to serve with it.... I wonder if this idiot who broadcast in the USA where he was would do the same about a family member of a president serving on the front line ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalpa Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 [quote user="Russethouse"]Perhaps he didn't quite say what he meant ?[/quote]Or we have to have had his life to understand what he meant? I took it that he had a freedom in Afghanistan that he can't have in the UK. That people were judging him on his professional performance, not on whether a visit to a nightclub is blown up out of all proportion by a press delivering a perception that a proportion (large proportion?) of the UK revels in vilifying. Am I really the only person who does not think that someone of Harry's age drinking in a club is so appalling as to require vast column inches in the trash press to be dedicated to it?[quote user="Russethouse"]In the meantime he has done his best to fulfill his military duties and personally I think its a great shame that a web site from the USA published his whereabouts[/quote]So do I. But then look at the international publicity the US guy has garnered for himself at someone else's expense. He must be thrilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 [quote]a family member of a president serving on the front line [/quote]That'll be the day.................................... [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Being serious, nothing compels the Prince to go to nightclubs which by their nature and own self-promotion, are in the eye of the media mainly because they are places all the "Celebs" go to. Whatever they really are!Since the Dutchess of Pork and Diana became "Royals" the younger mob have done their very best to denigrate their own position and the institution they willingly joined; to the monarchy's complete detriment.A great shame the British establishment cannot take a lesson from King Juan Carlos of Espana: and he's only a Bourbon pretender; yet demonstrates (as does his family) much more sympatico with the commoner and far greater distant presence: simultaneously.Sadly, for me, the British monarchy has signed its own sell by date charter, since it has lost sight of the stark reality of noblesse oblige.Perhaps Diana, accompanied by her young kids, both wearing back-to-front baseball caps and three hundred variegated paparazzi as they promenaded along Kensington Highstreet, en route for their nearest Mickey Ds sounded the death knell of style and transmuted a once proud and dignified institution into common coin.How on earth can any social group expect privacy and distant respect when it seems determined on a path of maximum self-exposure? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 [quote user="Gluestick"][quote]a family member of a president serving on the front line [/quote]That'll be the day.................................... [/quote]I think the nearest to that is John McCain's son - he's a marine serving in Iraq. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Perhaps my perspective is a tad soured by the current incumbent's National Guard record! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Vette Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Harry did go on to say ' what with it being so cold at this time of the year' so maybe it was just the weather he doesnt like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I see nothing wrong with Harry's statement. It was a moment of refreshing personal honesty. He was expressing his real feelings about a place where he feels alienated. I sympathise. I also don't like England very much, in fact I so dislike it I never go there anymore and if a need crops up to travel there I will do almost anything to avoid it. That’s my personal opinion gained from living in France and Spain over many years. Like Harry I am not ashamed to state it to anyone who asks me. It is not a compulsory requirement to either like the place of your birth or feel any allegiance of loyalty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 In point of fact, I've met few Germans who actually like England................................................ [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Gluestick, how come you feel free to make racist remarks about the royal family when you wouldn't do it for anyone else ?Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I wouldn't really call that rascist, Hoddy. Us Europeans have been poking fun at each other for centuries.Rather an allusion to the Hanoverian ante-cedents of the Windsors.And irony, of course.I'm also rather capitvated by the probable reality that King Michael lives in Australia!http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-10-12-king-mike_x.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I'm not being very serious either Gluestick. I just notice that other people with foreign ancestors aren't usually spoken to in that way.The programme you gave the link to was carefully researched and there is an outside chance that it may have some truth in it. I wouldn't call it 'probable' myself. The last Marquis of Hastings lived in this area at Donington Hall. He was taken away from Eton as being 'too pretty for his own good' and was brought up by servants. He fell in love with Lady Florence Paget who was already engaged to his best friend. They caused a major scandal by running away together. She walked in the front door of Fortnum & Masons and straight out of the the back entrance where Hasting was waiting for her. They were married shortly afterwards. He was a fanatical gambler and lost the whole estate on horses. They had no children. The man in Australia is descended from a sideline of this family. Sadly, Robinson's documentary missed out all of this out. It's a good yarn when properly told as in "The Pocket Venus" by Henry Blyth.I wonder if Harry's remarks show a realisation of the triviality of his normal life in England. He can't really go out and get a 'proper' job can he ?Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluestick Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Sadly, Hoddy, I don't take the "Royals" very seriously at all: as you've probably gathered!One of my accidental reference works (bought for peanuts during a main library clearout: Mrs Gluey hates it when I go to those!), is a wonderfully fascinating book called "The Secret of the Gotha" and tracks all the royal families of Europe; shows their bloodlines and also includes a very useful family tree, which clearly shows how they are all inter-related, from the Hapsburgs, through the Bourbons to the Romanovs.Reading this tome and being absorbed by it, made me wonder how on earth Europe could have been plunged so catastrophically into WW I..........If I took it at all seriously, I would progress the fact that my maternal grandfather's family were Brandon-Heindels and direct descendents from the Earl of Brandon and thus Lady Jane Grey!I have fantacised about reclaiming whole swathes of Norfolk and Suffolk! Wandering around and waving a walking stick shouting, "Get of my land, bloody peasants!"On the matter of "A proper job", I do agree. For many years I have felt very sorry for Charles, who is rather shadowing Edward VIIth and to a degree, the VIIIth, by not being allowed to anything meaningful with his life, other than hang around waiting for mummy to pop her clogs.Must be very frustrating and also demeaning from an ego perspective. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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