Having heard the news that Prince William and Kate Middleton are embarking on a rail tour across the land to meet inspirational people, I can’t help wondering what the reaction would be had it been Prince Harry and Meghan Markle climbing aboard the royal train? Meghan haters – and plenty of people do hate Meghan because she appears to be A Real Human Being and, of course, because she is black – would have had a field day. There would be the usual tabloid headlines attacking Harry and Meghan for having the brass neck to step aside from the Family Firm, when they should be rushing around this country, smiling and shaking hands with people. That, you see, is what real royals do.
I’m not entirely sure about the timing, either. Why now, when COVID-19 is still very much with us, when the ‘stay at home’ instruction, believe it or not, still applies and, vitally in my view, pubs are still closed? We can’t go and have a swift half in our local but we can line-up to wave at some royals. Worse than that, the ‘inspirational people’ William and Kate want to meet are still up to their eyeballs trying to prevent even more people dying.
An even bigger question could be, why now? Having opened everything up again – except pubs, obvs – and abandoning social distancing altogether at Christmas, the odds of there being a third COVID-19 wave and a third lockdown in the New Year are lower than Lewis Hamilton being F1 champion this season. (Yes, I am aware that Hamilton has already won the title. I am merely explaining the absolutely certainty that Britain will grind to a halt long before we’ve finished scraping the bones of the Christmas turkey.) Would it not have been better to dust off the royal train next summer when, it is to be hoped, we will all have been vaccinated and things will be back to some kind of normal? Couldn’t they just do a few Zoom meetings?
I have nothing against William and Kate. They seem decent enough people, involving themselves with good causes and campaigns in order to keep them something to do. I’m only a republican in spirit, anyway, and have no desire to scrap the royals given that most people, for reasons I don’t really understand, seem to love them. I’ve other, more important, things to worry about. But I do question the sense of launching on a rail tour of the UK when large numbers are being infected, hospitalised and sadly dying from an unseen virus. Could the royal train not be a super-spreader?
The only interest I have in the entire shebang is what kind of diesel locomotive will be hauling the train. If I was to find out, I can’t guarantee I wouldn’t drive to an isolated viewing point to watch it pass by. If going out to watch the royals is sad, God knows what that makes me.
