Posted on 11/11/2003 12:08:26 PM PST by dead
THERE HAVE been a number of really fabulous royal headlines over the past few weeks. But my own favourite was one splashed on the front of the Daily Express. "85per cent say Diana was murdered", the paper proclaimed, as if that settled the matter.
This, I believed at the time, was the height of absurdity - a gormless pretence that the idle speculation of a self-selected group has the ability retrospectively to ordain the motivations behind an event. It's a shoddy simulacrum of democracy indeed that is invoked to suggest that gossip and rumour could somehow be transfigured into fact and reality as long as enough people believed them. How quickly though, the absurdity has achieved new heights.
Now, it seems, the entire world is being invited to speculate about rumour and gossip, even though the rumour and gossip is so insubstantial that no news organisation in the land can stand it up as a genuine story.
Even the Mail on Sunday, which ignited the situation by preparing to print the allegations of the former valet George Smith last weekend, did not plan to suggest in its pages that the allegations had substance. That is why the man who served an injunction against the paper, Michael Fawcett, was able to obtain it, unusually, on grounds of libel instead of privacy.
Charles has been candid about the fact that he himself is at the centre of the allegations, and that they are not true. His former valet may have wanted to muzzle the press, but Charles appears to have been more relaxed about the whole thing. Even now, he appears to feel that it will eventually drift away.
Maybe this is because he knew that the story would emerge anyway. No paper in England and Wales has risked contempt of court by spelling it out. But even without the help of the internet, any interested person has been able to piece together the general gist from the naming of Mr Fawcett as the person who applied for the injunction, the naming of Charles as the royal at the centre of the allegations, and from the denials from his friends and press allies that he is gay or bisexual.
But maybe it is because Prince Charles is socially liberal enough to understand that these allegations are not, despite the horrified hype behind them, very dangerous at all. Perhaps he understands that nowadays only hate-driven homophobes even consider hints about gay sexual activity to be any sort of a slur.
As a republican I'm happy enough to argue why it is that Prince Charles should not be king. But I would I not consider homosexual tendencies as a bar to the throne of England. In fact, rather than considering the end to justify the means, I'd find it downright offensive if this were the private detail of a private life that brought Charles down. And while it is true that such allegations, if true, would suggest that Prince Charles had other failings, I'm afraid that all of those are already very much in the public domain. They would tell us that he is not sexually faithful. But we know this already from his treatment of his wife, the mother of his young children. They would tell us that he does not respect the proper boundaries between himself and his staff.
But we know this already because we know about how he likes to have his toothpaste squeezed for him, his wee bottle held for him, and his elaborate set of transitional objects packed for him when he travels.
These revelations I feel to be more shocking and more indicative of an unattractive and unchecked neediness than the allegation that he may as an unmarried man with a tolerant girlfriend have submitted to a sexual act with an intimate employee. Which is not to say that the Prince is all bad. Unlike many of the other members of the Royal Family, he pays his staff well, and tries to look after them. Even poor George Smith, the former employee now being used so appallingly in this frenzied attack on Charles, has been treated with sympathy by the prince.
Princess Diana - the caring, compassionate one - nipped down to the Priory while the man was being treated for alcoholism and mental health problems, and milked him, tape-recorder whirring, for anything he might know that she could use for her own ends.
Charles - the cold and uncaring one - had sent him there and footed the bill for his treatment.
It would be ugly indeed if there were witnesses out there who knew that there may be some truth in this man's allegations, but choose to remain silent out of deference to the Royal Household. It would be ugly, but again unsurprising.
Unfair deference, the elevating of one man at the expense of others, is and will always be part of the disease of the monarchical system. In the meantime though, we are all invited to become implicated in the ugliness, asked to make a guess as to whether there is truth in these allegations or not, and support or condemn a man on the strength of nothing but unconfirmed gossip and anti-gay prejudice.
© Independent News Service
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
Which queen?
Certainly, it has nothing to do with manliness. Or the ability to lead a country.
...Neuticles.
Not to me, but then I've always thought he was a little queer in other ways. When one looks upon photo's of the mug of his paramour, Camilla Parker-Bowles, one thinks Charlie might do better if he were gay.
Depends on what she's like in bed. Looks aren't everything. A lot, but not everything.
As for Charles, he wears skirts, doesn't he?
Elton John and Boy George would perform at his crowning ceremony?
Camilia Parker Bowles could take off the wig and reveal his true identity?
He could get a part on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?
The King of England once again becomes a true Head of State?
But we know this already because we know about how he likes to have his toothpaste squeezed for him, his wee bottle held for him, and his elaborate set of transitional objects packed for him when he travels.
These revelations I feel to be more shocking and more indicative of an unattractive and unchecked neediness than the allegation that he may as an unmarried man with a tolerant girlfriend have submitted to a sexual act with an intimate employee.
I don’t know, I think buggering the help might be a little more shocking then having them squeeze your toothpaste for you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.