The purpose of this blog is to campaign against cruelty by members of the UK royal family (and all other monarchists) towards direct heirs to the throne That is to say, when the royal family
- brings up direct and indirect heirs in today’s electronic goldfish bowl
- imposes jobs for life onto direct heirs
they (the royal family) behave with cruelty to children.
THE KEY POINTS
What’s wrong with imposing a job for life onto any child?
- it denies freedom of expression, movement, choice,
- Not everyone is cut out for the jobs imposed
- beyond the age of, say, 12, kids rarely ask for a job for life
- this imposition tends to ignore the reality that individuals & situations can change
- it may traumatise for life.
Given the other impositions on UK kids, why do I focus on direct heirs to the throne?
Because I think it involves a gap in our awareness: I know of no other site on the net like this one (though other sites mention in passing cruelty to royal kids.)
With direct heirs to the throne, the situation is grim because of the amount of pressure on them. The number of people in the UK who support the UK monarchy is about 30m Then there are overseas supporters। The Anglican Church says that the number of Anglicans worldwide is 70 million: it’s likely that most of those are royalist. There are many who are not British or Anglican but support the British monarchy. So perhaps the figure for the planet is 100m. Given the international publicity for UK royals, direct heirs under 16 are among the most famous children in the world, more famous than most of the kids of the Beatles, prime ministers & US presidents. So, from pole to pole, there’s no escaping royal impositions.
Compare this with the issue of forced marriages। Forced marriages are illegal; forced monarchy is not.
Then there is sexism. Older female heirs are bypassed for younger male ones. Of course, this may, in the short term, be to the advantage of the females. But this adds to the general sexism of society, and general sexism would, probably, in the long run, affect female heirs.
And for boys and girls alike, there are trust issues. Today’s 24/7 news coverage means that every time a direct heir trips on a kerb or has a spot on his/her face, they are lambs to the media slaughter. (There are guidelines for the mainstream media to try to prevent intrusion into their lives. But the guidelines won’t stop paparazzi or casual passers-by with cameras. A pic of a royal child having a row could be on the internet within minutes. More, royals are at the mercy of staff, friends (& family?) who want to sell details for money/advantage. So trust is always an issue for direct heirs. To grow up with little trust damages children.)
Direct heirs are not as badly off as children born into slavery, but, for all their privileges, they may be worse off than those who suffer minor physical cruelty. Be that as it may, there is clear cruelty to kids, & it is a scandal that we pay for it.
(There may be other mistreatments. Consider, briefly, religion, politics, & children. The age at which kids can make an informed decision about politics & religion is debatable. However, I know of no individual or psychological school which claims that that can happen at five. If the royals impose monarchy and Christianity on all their kids at five, as seems likely, then even heirs are treated with cruelty. (Of course, such impositions are common in the country, but being commonplace doesn’t make something right, & we don’t pay for impositions which non-royal parents make on their kids.)
As I write – 8.3.08 – I know of two indirect heirs who will soon be approaching five, the kids of Prince Edward.
However, the argument with religion and politics may not be clear cut. When adult Royals do take kids to church, they may argue that they’re merely showing 5 yrs olds what happens, & they’re not imposing a belief. And, although adult royals clearly impose monarchy on direct heirs, they may argue that they do not impose monarchy onto indirect ones. So I make no claim about political imposition on indirect ones.)
Thanks for reading,
Leni Lindev with thanks to Arthur Edwards.
royalcruelty.blogspot.com
