The life of the Royal Family: What’s it like in the gilded cage?

Published

2 years ago

May 5, 2023

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It is Christmas 1951 and the royal train is puffing through dank, grey-green English countryside.

As it reaches a cutting, people run towards the track, waving and calling out.

Seconds later, the carriages sweep through a station. Dozens of onlookers scurry down the platform, trying to catch a glimpse of King George VI and Princess Elizabeth.

The camera cuts to Prince Philip – an alpha male, a military man of action. His face is a mixture of emotions, led by anxiety and completed by trepidation.

Coronation latest: King delights fans on palace walkabout as Kate poses for selfies

This box set sequence, viewed by millions of modern viewers, gives a glimpse of what it is like to be royal, of living in the “gilded cage”. People with no discernibly special skills are being hounded and idolised simply because of the family they belong to.

“All royals are victims,” says Professor Robert Hazell from University College London’s Constitution Unit. He adds that, while Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series “conveys the impression that they have been uniquely victimised, the difficulties they have faced are shared by all the royal families of Europe”.

Monarchy makes “extraordinary demands” and “takes a toll” on every member of the family, he says, listing several basic rights, including privacy, freedom of speech and of career, which ordinary people have but royals lack.

The most egregious imposition, he thinks, is press intrusion, referencing “Camillagate”, when the transcript of an intimate, late night conversation between Charles and Camilla was revealed by a Sunday tabloid in 1993.

Royal historian Dr Ed Owens views things differently, however.

“I’m not convinced by the narrative of burdens and hardship,” he says.

“It sounds quite a lot of fun to me. When they’re not in the public eye they have considerable time – let’s call it playtime – to enjoy themselves in their homes in the countryside.”

He also points out that far from being troubled by their royal status, at least one of the Windsors – Prince Andrew – has appeared to enjoy the life it provides.

“We have to remember that the second Elizabethan age was partly anchored in an idea that to be royal is to be burdened with a sense of duty, a sense of public service – it’s a life of self-sacrifice,” he says.

“There’s nothing about Prince Andrew that speaks of self-sacrifice. He turns that model on its head in a very ugly way, and that’s why he’s such a problem.”

Nor is Dr Owens convinced by the lack of privacy. “There’s a lot of emphasis on how their lives unfold in the limelight, but that’s less than half the story,” he says.

The “gilded cage” is a “deliberate public relations narrative” the family itself has promoted, he contends.

“We need to be careful not to take it at face value because it does obscure the positive sides of this lifestyle, and there are lots.

“They mustn’t be seen to enjoy themselves, and that’s why all the positives are kept out of the public eye.”

So: what is it like to be royal? In King Charles’s case, extremely rich – enough to make rollover lottery winners wild with envy. The Sunday Times recently estimated the monarch’s net wealth at £600m – £230m more that its last calculation of the Queen’s fortune.

That could be a gross underestimation, however, because The Guardian has put Charles’s private wealth at £1.8bn, including “country piles, diamond-encrusted jewels, paintings by Monet and Dali, racehorses and rare stamps”.

Certainly no sign of a cost of living crisis.

“Materially speaking, they want for nothing,” Ed Owens says.

“They are surrounded by huge entourages of servants we don’t see very much of. When we do glimpse (the servants), it’s usually for the wrong reasons, like a king trying to move an inkwell out of the way – that sort of thing.”

They also have “large country estates at their disposal, often have family members living gratis, close to them in grace and favour accommodations”, and go to the “best private schools, followed by a job for life”.

But what is the point of a palace if people gawp at you every time you go out?

“It’s got to be a very frustrating life for many,” observes royal author Professor Pauline Maclaran, who says some members of the family may feel “confined”.

That is the feeling one gets while watching the scene on the train described earlier, from the very first episode of The Crown.

Personality must play a part, though. Princess Margaret, who liked to sing and party, was perhaps more suited to public life than the Queen, who may have been much happier living a country life tending to her horses.

Then there is the scrutiny of the royals’ appearances. Prof Maclaran observes: “What good is having a large house and money if you feel you can’t go out the door without people remarking on anything from your walk to your look to your manner?”

Prof Hazell says he would “hate” to live at Buckingham Palace because of its “huge, echoing rooms and flunkies”.

“When you’re ‘at home’, you don’t have very much privacy,” he points out, although Dr Owens says all the servants have signed non-disclosure agreements.

What of the life of a working royal?

“Really artificial” is how Prof Hazell describes it.

“Imagine that week in, week out, you are dispatched to different parts of the country,” he says. “You have to do a lot of prep to learn the names of the people you’re going to see, you put on your best dress and your best smile, and you have to keep your best smile on throughout the visit, knowing that for these people, it will be a really special day. But, almost certainly, you’re never going to meet any of them ever again. And you do that week in, week out, day, after day, after day. I would find that really difficult.”

Meghan Markle was put off by the harsh reality of working royal life, he suspects.

“When the palace asks you to go up to Newcastle on a wet Wednesday to open a new hospital wing they expect you to go and do it.”

He also senses a “clash of expectations”.

“I think her idea of being a royal was all rather glittery – going to premieres in the West End, where they roll out the red carpet, and the more mundane side of it – which is what most royal visits consist of – I think she found quite hard to take.”

“Brands have to satisfy their customers, and the royal family is a brand,” points out Prof Maclaran.

Part of being royal – especially in a world of global, non-stop digital media – is knowing how much of yourself to display, and what to keep back.

Prof Maclaran adds: “They do tread an incredibly fine line between the idea of the mystique and the accessibility that is expected from consumers (who) demand that from their idols.

“Most of the time they are keeping up appearances (and it) must be very difficult.

“They have to put on these smiling faces and be these loving, caring people.”

Walter Bagehot, in his book The English Constitution, published in 1867, said: “Above all things our royalty is to be reverenced, and if you begin to poke about it you cannot reverence it… Its mystery is its life. We must not let in daylight upon magic.”

But they cannot simply stay in, or behind barriers. The Queen knew the value of making public appearances. “I have to be seen to be believed,” she said, according to biographer Sally Bedell Smith.

Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, was an exercise in “letting in daylight” – from the loss of his virginity in a field behind a pub to the number of Taliban fighters he killed in Afghanistan.

It sold extremely well, but his personal ratings have plummeted since its publication. Readers have lapped up the personal revelations, while not necessarily respecting him for divulging them.

So why didn’t he and Meghan opt out completely? Give up the titles and never speak about the Royal Family again.

Because, perhaps, there is simply no way out.

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Prof Hazell points out that spares are “ultimately dispensable” and it is “only those in direct line of succession who count”.

Nevertheless, the spares are “subject to the same personal restrictions as the immediate heirs”.

He goes on: “Even if he said I’m no longer going to be the Duke of Sussex, I’m giving up all the privileges, and I’m just going to be plain Mr Windsor, the press would still write about him as Prince Harry.”

The moment he was born he was royal – and that will never change.

UK

A remarkable step by the government – and Donald Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part

Published

9 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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A remarkable step by the government - and Donald Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part

When the sun sets on Scunthorpe this Saturday, the town’s steelworks will likely have a new boss – Jonathan Reynolds.

The law that parliament will almost certainly approve this weekend hands the business secretary the powers to direct staff at British Steel, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the blast furnaces at the plant open.

This is not full nationalisation.

But it is an extraordinary step.

The Chinese firm Jingye will – on paper – remain the owner of British Steel.

But the UK state will insert itself into the corporate set-up to legally override the wishes of the multinational company.

A form of martial law invoked and applied to private enterprise.

That will come at a cost to the taxpayer.

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No number has been specified, but there are wages to pay and orders to make at a site estimated to already be losing £700,000 a day.

There is also clear frustration in government at how the Chinese owners have engaged in negotiations around modernising the Scunthorpe site.

“Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process”, said the business secretary in his department’s official announcement about the new laws.

Time is so tight because of the nature of the steel-making process.

Once switched off, blast furnaces are very hard to turn back on.

If this had happened in Scunthorpe – as seemed likely in a matter of days – then it would have been game over.

This move keeps the show on the road and opens up more time for talks over the long-term future of the plant.

While the official line in Whitehall is that “all options are on the table”, nationalisation seems increasingly likely.

That would need more legislation, if it was done – as seems likely – without the approval of the current owner.

Finding an alternative commercial partner has not been ruled out, but one is not waiting in the wings either.

As for what that long-term future looks like, with just five years of life left in the Scunthorpe blast furnaces, modernisation is inevitable.

Port Talbot’s plant saw its blast furnaces closed last year amid a switch to the more environmentally friendly electric arc furnaces and a loss of thousands of jobs.

Political figures in Wales are now questioning why nationalisation wasn’t on the table for this site.

The response from government is that the deal was done by the previous Tory administration and the owners of the South Wales site agreed to the terms.

But there is also a sense that this decision over British Steel is being shaped by the domestic and international political context.

Labour came to power promising to revitalise left-behind communities and inject a sense of pride back into places still reeling from the loss of traditional industry.

With that in mind, it would be politically intolerable to see the UK’s last two blast furnaces closed and thousands of jobs lost in a relatively deprived part of the country.

Reform UK’s position of pushing for full and immediate nationalisation is also relevant, given the party is in electoral pursuit of Labour in many parts of the country where decline in manufacturing has been felt most acutely.

The geo-political situation is perhaps more pressing though.

Just look at the strength of the prime minister’s language in his Downing Street address – “our economic and national security are all on the line”.

The government’s reaction to the turmoil caused by President Donald Trump’s pronouncements on tariffs and security has been to emphasise the need to increase domestic resilience in both business and defence.

Becoming the only G7 nation unable to produce virgin steel at a time when globalisation appears to be in retreat hardly fits with that narrative.

It would also present serious practical questions about the ability of the UK to produce steel for defence and the broader switch to green energy production.

Then there is the intriguing subplot around US-China trade.

While this decision is separate from discussions with the White House on tariffs, one can imagine how a UK move to wrestle control of a site of national importance from its Chinese owner might go down with a US president currently engaged in a fierce trade war with Beijing.

This is a remarkable step from the government, but it is more a punctuation mark than a full answer.

The tension between manufacturing and decarbonisation remains, as do the challenges presented by a global economy appearing to fragment significantly.

But one thing is for sure.

As a political parable about changes to traditional industry and the challenges of globalisation, the saga of British Steel is hard to beat.

UK

Teachers in England gearing up for potential strike action

Published

9 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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Teachers in England gearing up for potential strike action

Teachers in England are once again gearing up for potential strike action after an overwhelming majority of National Education Union (NEU) members rejected the government’s latest pay offer.

In an electronic ballot, 93.7% of respondents turned down the proposed 2.8% pay rise, labelling it inadequate and unfunded.

If the pay offer had been accepted, schools would have had to find the money from existing budgets to pay for the increase – with many saying they are already overstretched.

Some 83% of teachers said they would be willing to take industrial action to secure a better deal.

The vote, which included 134,487 teachers in state schools across England (a turnout of 47.2%), was a clear signal that union leaders are not backing down.

In a statement after the vote, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said a move towards industrial action by teaching unions “would be indefensible”, given work being done to increase school attendance and urged the NEU to “put children first”.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said years of what he called “real-terms pay cuts” had left the profession in crisis.

He also took aim at the government’s decision not to fund the offer centrally.

“This will only make things worse,” Mr Kebede said. “Our members tell us every day of the desperate state their schools are in due to lack of funding.”

The union says the offer falls below inflation and lags behind private-sector wage growth.

But critics argue strike threats will only cause more damage to students still recovering from the disruption of the pandemic.

The union’s national executive is due to meet at its Harrogate conference next week, and all eyes will be on whether full-blown strike action will be announced.

UK

Protests in ‘ghost town’ where £400m ships don’t fit the harbour

Published

9 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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Protests in 'ghost town' where £400m ships don't fit the harbour

Those unfamiliar with Scotland’s so-called ‘ferry fiasco’ would barely believe it is a true story.

The new vessels cost quadruple their original price tag, one was delivered seven years late, the other is still being built, and both are too big to fit the main harbour for their daily journeys to and from the Isle of Arran.

But in this latest chapter of the scandal, the unbelievable is very much part of the script. And, as Sky News has been hearing, the consequences are brutal.

“It is completely and utterly nuts,” one exasperated campaigner exclaims as we stand overlooking the deserted Ardrossan Harbour on Scotland’s mainland.

Ardrossan, on the Ayrshire coast, has been the main port for the ferry service to and from Arran for decades. It is the quickest, most efficient route.

But the 30-year-old ferry serving the islands for generations is failing and two new bespoke-designed ones were ordered, with them due to enter service from 2017.

The original £100m cost ballooned to £400m, the shipyard was bought by taxpayers amid financial crisis, one vessel finally started carrying passengers in January 2025 while the other is still being built.

And to add insult to injury, both are too big for Ardrossan Harbour’s jetty to cope with and require an £80m upgrade.

In the meantime, services are being diverted along the coast to Troon.

Protest as tensions rise in ‘ghost town’

Ardrossan was promised it would remain the primary port for connectivity to Arran. But now the community is in limbo and is fearing for its future.

Christine Cowie, from Save Ardrossan Harbour, told Sky News: “It is completely and utterly nuts.

“Why anybody would commission a ferry which doesn’t fit the harbour for the route it is meant for is crazy. I cannot understand it at all.

“Ardrossan is like an extension of Arran. A lot of people come here to the dentist and use other businesses they don’t have on the island which are losing money since the ferries have gone away.”

A botched design process, mismanagement and a string of costly blunders have given the project the label of one of the biggest procurement disasters in the history of Scottish devolution.

People from Arran are joining Ardrossan campaigners on the mainland for a protest on Saturday. Hundreds are expected to gather as tensions boil over.

The group’s chairwoman Frances Gilmour said Ardrossan has become a “ghost town”.

She said: “It is so quiet. It is spooky. It’s frankly a disgrace. Businesses are suffering.

“Economically, this is the route. This is the economic route. We have the infrastructure. We just need the berths fixed.”

The 33-year-old MV Caledonian Isles, which has been away over the winter for extensive repairs, is expected to return to Ardrossan next month. But locals question how reliable and sustainable that vessel is.

On the edge of the once bustling harbour carpark is the Bute MOT garage.

Manager Scott Revans says they rely on customers from Arran previously hopping off the ferry and leaving their car for repairs at their centre.

He told Sky News: “The harbour is a ghost town. We’d get the passing trade doing whatever customers need from batteries to punctures. It has had an impact on us.”

Could taxpayers pick up the bill?

Ardrossan Harbour is owned by private company Peel Ports.

The Scottish government is currently exploring buying the port, but the talks are a secret, with campaigners feeling left in the dark.

No one involved in the discussions would answer questions from Sky News about when they expect to alert communities to the next steps.

A spokesman for the Scottish government agency Transport Scotland said: “We absolutely understand people and communities’ views in favour of retaining Ardrossan as the mainland port and remain committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future.

“The Scottish government has instructed officials… to explore options on purchasing Ardrossan Port.

“We will of course update parliament once there is progress and an outcome to report, however, it would be inappropriate to get in the way of these complex and sensitive discussions.”

Jim McSporran, port director at Peel Ports Clydeport, said: “Peel Ports Group welcomes the Scottish government’s statement that it intends to explore the potential purchase of Ardrossan Harbour.

“Regardless of the outcome of this process, our willingness to invest in the harbour remains steadfast. We take comfort that the port continues to operate this lifeline route and that it remains the port of choice for the people and businesses of Arran and Ardrossan.”