Privilege.

In Britain there is a thing that few other countries have or can understand and, even though most of us think it unfair and unjust, is probably one of the things that stop this place being subject to a revolution, an Arab Spring (Christian?) or even some kind of insurrection – successful or otherwise. That thing is privilege.

Someone I know was working in a play with a well known posh actor; this actor has been going for years and was in Harry Potter – well the first episode as I didn't any more after that. This 'someone' – the person I knew – said 'he just doesn't understand privilege.'

Well what is privilege?

It is a curse to some and a blessing to others but it's something you really have to think about before condemning it and ask yourself the question would you enjoy privilege much like the queen or some duke? – even the duke, The Duke of Edinburgh – Phil the Greek. You see I have put capitals to describe him as if I was talking of God or Jesus when you refer to God as He, even half way through a sentence. It's as if they (the royals) are Godly, as they were considered up to the seventeenth century.

To me it would be a curse if I suddenly won, shall we say, 17 million on the Lottery and used some of that money to make a movie and put myself in it. 

Would people say (would I say and even think) that I wouldn't have made that movie without the lottery win?

They might and you might think that I should care.

I remember the movie The Truman Show (above) with Jim Carrey – he plays a guy called, well, Truman.

He is an ordinary small town American guy and lives a bland kind of life. Very little need for intelligent stimulation, a predictable wife, predictable relationships in fact the life of a very simple soap opera. Something you might see on TV.

Unfortunately that is what it is – he is a creation and from birth has lived in a kind of bubble. There are hidden cameras on every street, everybody he meets are actors with a specific script and scenario to follow.

One of the things the actors have to do in their semi improvisational scenario is to mention the name of a commercial product for whoever was sponsoring the show; something like 'how did you like that Bird's Instant Whip, Truman?' and he normally would like things because he was that type of guy. Nothing controversial or too critical of anything as he was predictable – it's well worth seeing. Obviously something happens to disturb his happy state but if you are really interested I'm sure you'll look for it.

There is his little world (above) - that's all he sees and there is no way out and the show is a huge hit on national TV. From birth he has been trained: how to respond to certain things and how to behave.

Now who does that remind you of?

Lately I got to thinking – especially when I saw the future King Billy saluting the parade of veteran soldiers remembering their fallen comrades – that the royal family here are a kind of Truman Show.

If we had a choice – any of us – would we really want to swap places with any one of them.

'I wouldn't mind their money' I can hear you saying.

What money and what could they possibly do with money? They don't need money; any money in bank accounts they have with Coutts Bank just stays there. 

They may leave it to their relations but I doubt it. We never see or even hear of wills; the so called Queen Mother died with a massive overdraft but what does it matter? 

I called her the 'so called . . ' as that was not her title she was Queen Elizabeth the Queen's Mother and known within royal circles as Queen Elizabeth as opposed to The Queen who is the queen. In fact they are all called 'the' something or other aren't they – The Prince Charles and so on. “Hi there THE – how ya doing?'

If we got rid of the royal family with fair or foul means or even fowl means (but what would we do with the chickens) where would the money go? £1 each to the residents of Britain might just go around . .

. . and if they disappeared overnight – just packed their bags and ran away – where would they get their money from?

Harry and Billy.

But there he was, the future King Billy, standing on a little rostrum, for many an hour, smiling and saluting the comrades as they passed. Our very own Truman Burbank our very own Truman Show.

And me? I'm free; I can still buy my coffee in Soho once a week or so, enjoy my Guinness and my favourite Irish whiskey, Jameson's and walk about without being molested. The only privilege I have is not being molested (well not often) and once in a while I have a look at King Billy as he has to smile at everybody – I know he has another job rescuing people in his helicopter whilst his brother Harry Boy can meet his army buddies, go to Vegas for an orgy – but he's a good egg too.

If we invented such an institution we would be had up for cruelty.

They're not aristocrats, they are the royal family, our captives, our pets to gawk at and make fun of; their family tree can be traced back to the year dot; there are infiltrations of course from Germany and Russia and some would say from outer space and others say they are lizards but the family line goes all the way back to all those wars and beheadings and gunpowder plots.

The aristocracy are those bumbling scary people like they late Duchess of Devonshire, another italic who, to quote a Guardian article about her,'was a friendly sort, who rarely put on side; one of those toffs who are so grand that the fact of their grandeur never occurs to them, and are able, consequently, to go through life without assuming airs and graces simply because the fact of their social position is taken for granted.'

The only ordinary people they ever encounter are the odd taxi driver who they think are marvelous and they always call them little – 'silly little man' 'awful little man' infuriating little man.'

They are fast disappearing but not the royal family.

I hope these don't disappear:

Are William and Kate boring? Really?

I hear NBC have scaled back on their coverage of the Royal Wedding because they have found out that Prince William and his future bride, Kate, are boring. Someone on the radio said that William was like the boring friend at college – I have no idea as I know very little about either of them in fact I had to look up her name just now on the Internet.
When I got back from London a few people asked me if I heard much about the royal wedding when I was there – well the answer is no. I suppose there must be a lot of talk about it in the boonies and the burbs but I didn't hear any; in fact I hear more here in the USA on the radio and TV.
If it had been Prince Harry that might have been a different story; he's a more interesting character. He's a rugby playing blokey bloke and I don't care what anybody says - he looks like his father!!!!
Of course what I mean by that is that he looks like Charles. Look at the nose – it is certainly the royal hooter. If there was any doubt about his parenthood he would have been 'disappeared' at birth – haven't you read the history of the royal family and with the use of DNA these days I'm sure he's been verified.
But the big story there is that there is a national holiday next week for the royal wedding and that goes on top of the week off for Easter. So people are leaving Britain in droves this week for vacations, holidays, trips, cruises and the like and tourists are entering Britain in equally as many droves just for the wedding.
What they will see of the wedding beyond what's on TV will be very little.
But why are America – from what we see on TV – so fascinated with the royal family?
They have the wrong idea about them in any case! A lot of people I have spoken to think that Prince Charles is some kind of sissy. I won't go any further than that but he went to Gordonstoun School – I paraphrase from Wikipedea which describes it as a school based on the traditional private school ethos, modeled on Eton and Oxford, with a philosophy inspired by Plato’s The Republic and other aspects of ancient Greek history.
This is most notable in the title "Guardian", denoting the head boy and girl, the adoption of a Greek trireme (photo above) as the school's emblem, and a routine that could be described as Spartan. There is a high emphasis on militaristic discipline and physical education, particularly outdoor activities such as seamanship and mountaineering.
The school has had a reputation for harsh conditions, with cold showers and morning runs as a matter of routine, and physical punishments, known as "penalty drill" or PD, in the form of supervised runs around one's house (dormitory) or the south lawn of Gordonstoun House.
Charles called it Colditz in Kilts!!
So there we are – enjoy the royal wedding and here he is Carlos de Gales himself – the first Prince of Wales to actually speak Welsh; does he look like a sissy to you – don't answer that!!