Quite possibly, you might think that the Kensington Palace twitter page is not one you might expect me to follow. It’s the official account of Prince William and Kate Middleton and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. After all, I am an old not very left leftie who has never much cared for royals of any description. Yet, I like these four people very much. I am not obsessed with their lives as such and certainly none of the media tittle-tattle. But for royals, they come across as, well, normal people. Not normal like the person sitting on the Clapham omnibus. Normal as in, I recognise these people.
You can quibble that what is regarded as work for the royals would not be regarded as work for anyone else. I get that. However, how on earth could people in such a bizarre royal setting do anything normal? You would not expect to see one of them working in Greggs, for example, or being a car salesman/woman. I rather like the fact that they have chosen to carry out worthwhile functions.
Take Prince Harry, who I like a lot. I get the impression he is not the sharpest tool in the box. But he had to grow up in the shadow of the tragic and very public death of his mother. Harry suffered from mental health issues. He also served his country on the front line. Along with his brother, he gives a lot back to mental health charities, not least by normalising this most stigmatised of illnesses. He’s off to new Zealand very soon, too, to honour the victims of the mosque murders in Christchurch. I am more than happy for him to represent me than some here today, gone tomorrow politician.
William has become the patron of the charity Passage, which aims to tackle the circle of homelessness. He also set up the ‘United for Wildlife’ organisation which is a collaboration between seven of the world’s most influential conservation organisations, although he does let himself down a bit by shooting birds on boxing day. Bit of a contradiction there but I’ll let him off this time.
There’s much, much more than this. Whatever you think of the idea of a monarchy, you cannot say the young royals are bad people. In their own way, like their mother before (look at her work with landmines and AIDS), they are making a huge difference. And if you would like to get rid of a monarchy that is benign when it comes to politics, you do know you’d get another layer of politicians if we did.
Yes, the royals represent ancient and utterly bizarre traditions yet during these days of division and uncertainty, I find their presence somehow reassuring and comforting. I cannot say the same about the politicians who are taking us to hell in a handcart.
