Ojnab,

"Is Mise we can do without them, Of course everyone is buying what the snobs wear, only the stupid. It is excesses which are causing world problems"

That is not the point, Imelda Marcos spent a fortune on shoes that she could never wear but she kept a lot of specialist shoemakers going and their employees fed.

The Queen has great wealth but not anywhere near what she'd have if one of her ancestors hadn't given most of the family's fortune to the State.
It is arguable that her presence in England adds enormously to the income of the State in the form of tourism alone.
Charles runs some very successful farms and is a firm believer in the non-use of pesticides, he is an environmentalist.

Just as an aside, Charles is noted for his good manners and I worked at a dockyard with a couple of blokes that were ex Royal Navy and had been seamen on a battle ship where he was a junior officer.
Every morn they had a section of deck to scrub and many officers would walk over the freshly scrubbed area before inspection was held.
Charles, they said, would always ask if inspection was over for them and if it wasn't would go back and make his way around their bit of deck; a thoughtful bloke.

Thanks O Sung Wu for your comments, I do agree with you on the training of the Royals for combat, but we must always remember though that these are a protected species of human beings, like manny others who advocate war but never attend, media attention with the Royals is always high so therefore they will be portrayed as fighting in the front line, if you believe that then so be it, but many people like myself do not believe that, they may be there but protected from any real combat, after all we do not want Prince this or that to be killed off, we have to make sure we keep the family unit going well into the future, I think it was Prince Edward who declined military service, he was honest. Q & A tonight on Anzac Day there were many truths coming out of the session which I agree with, war is futile and we do not want young people to know that militarism is great, Anzac Day is for the brave young lads in the past and not to create a setting for WW3 in the near future where many more young lads & women will die.
Remember Japan was our enemy, and if I had died fighting them in WW2, and then popped back for a day into the present, I really would wonder what did I die for.
War is for armchair Generals, the poor are the ones exterminated in it.

'afternoon to you OJNAB...

I don't believe there are many veterans who would support a war. Indeed I found Prince Edward's candour most refreshing and my respect for him rose exponentially. He's since gone on to produce, present and narrate several excellent doco's on and about English history, if you have the opportunity to view any of them I'm sure you'll be impressed, as was I ?

Concerning your apprehension, that we may well be creating a potential setting, that might precipitate a trigger for a World War ? Regrettably it's already started, and the curtain has risen. The two competing (hostile) rivals are;

The Islamic nations vs. The Christian nations.

Will it bear a similar face to that of the Great War, WWll, Korea, even Vietnam ? None of them in my opinion. I think it'll probably replicate many of the features of them all. I really couldn't be sure ?

What I can share with you OJNAB, this conflict will be inescapable for all of us, resulting in massive casualties, many representing purely 'collateral' damage, as the Americans are so fond of saying ?

Sorry, I missed that ? What was it you just said...? Oh I see, you believe I'm speaking a load of rubbish, the stuff of an overactive imagination. ? That's OK ? Please just look about you. On every continent there's conflict with Muslims, over one thing or the other ? In fact most of us, comfortably ensconced here in Oz wouldn't have even heard of the bloodshed occasioned by these Muslim groups, worldwide ? Be they ISAS, ISAT, or whatever Muslim clique you'd care to identify, they're already nurturing pious dissension and discord, in the name of Islam, here 'n there.

You see OJNAB my friend, the Western powers have no panacea to this predicament. As evidenced by the major powers gyrating about, seemingly without direction. All the while they're vacillating upon this solution and that ? The only possible way to avoid global annihilation, is to locate an acceptable 'circuit-breaker', and hope it's 'tripped' in time to prevent an intercontinental catastrophe !

O\ Sung Wu I do agree the world is in a mess and as you say WW3 may happen or has started, the coming generation of young people is of concern in many ways where their future is concerned. OLO is a great way to express opinions which are always enjoyable to read. even if we sometimes do not see eye to eye on many subjects
Thank you for your responses and hopefully we will continue to enjoy all writings on this site.

Ojnab,

Do you include Prince Phillip among the members of the Royal Family that
have, in your opinion, inflated military records?

Is Mise, Philip is of no interest to me nor is any other member of that Imperialist family, of excess, You have your views and I mine, but I am not alone in my thinking of them I can assure you.