It's odd to see royalists commenting on Andrew's sense of entitlement, as if entitlement isn't the bedrock of monarchy. As a group the royals feel a deep sense of entitlement: entitled to a unique family claim to the job of head of state and head of the state church; a claim to
thousands of hectares of land that rightly belongs in public hands; exemptions from whatever law they choose to exempt themselves from, including race discrimination and environmental protection laws; titles and honours awarded to them for no reason other than the family they
belong to and their status within it; medals, ranks and uniforms from all branches of the armed forces despite their own military careers being either quite short or non-existent; hundreds of millions of pounds every year to spend as they choose on running their household;
dozens of staff, including people who help them dress in the morning; the use of private jets and helicopters for routine domestic travel even while lecturing everyone to reduce their carbon footprints; privileged and preferential treatment by the police when reported for alleged
crimes ranging from sexual offences to criminal damage to cash-for-honours; direct and secretive access to government ministers and the freedom to lobby government on any issue they wish; direct access to all government papers which allows them to intervene in official decision
making before the public, press or opposition even know what's being discussed; dispensation for any offensive comments made in public; deference and sycophancy from everyone they meet; the use of Crown Estate property
as if it were their own; exemption from freedom of information laws, preventing scrutiny of what they're doing behind closed doors; and much more. In short, they believe they are entitled to pretty much whatever they want, when they want it and on their terms. #AbolishTheMonarchy
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🚨🚨 BREAKING NEWS: The Met Police are trying to ban Republic's anti-monarchy protest at Trooping the Colour, but we're still planning to rally for an elected head of state this Saturday. Here's the rundown 👇👇 #NotMyKing #AbolishTheMonarchy
Enough nonsense about royal duties and engagements. It's worth getting back to why we should #AbolishTheMonarchy, why we campaign for a republic.
Monarchies are corrupt and corrupting, they rest on feudal values, and our monarchy is bad for equality and democracy. 🧵
On a matter of principle we should reject the monarchy. It is an institution that celebrates inequality, that sees it as the natural order, rather than a problem to be resolved - except when posing for cameras with homeless people.
These principles matter. We compromise our committment to democratic values by retaining the monarchy, Lords and established church. Democracy rests on the idea that we're political equals, coming together as free citizens to govern ourselves. Monarchy stands against that idea.
It may appear trivial, but this kind of nonsense misleads the public about what kind of man we have as a head of state, and about the role of monarch. So it's worth taking a couple of minutes to look at what is actually being claimed here, and the evidence.
#NotMyKing 🧵
The only sources for the claims are the royals, none of whom are well versed in 'hard work', and 'insiders', which is probably their press team. As for the paperwork, it's telling that it's just "paperwork" and we're never told exactly what it is he's supposed to be doing.
It is written in sweeping terms that avoid direct claims, such as there being no "average" day and how many engagements he does. The reader is left assuming this all amounts to a busy schedule. A look at the Court Circular shows he has long stretches without any appointments.