From stewartb
The relocation of Charles and others in his household to Balmoral at this time is more than insensitive. It is crass!
It exhibits a flagrant disregard for government guidance – ‘no unnecessary travel’. And it disregards both the guidance as well as widespread rural community ‘sentiment’: in terms, don’t use second homes in the Highlands as your personal bolthole in order to isolate yourself and your family. Don’t come, stay put! The heir to the throne has ignored all this by traveling to his family’s private residence at Balmoral – and it is such bad luck that immediately after he arrives he tests positive for Coronavirus!
We already know that the queen moved location to Windsor in response to Coronovirus. The BBC said so: “This year however, the royal diary has been changed as Buckingham Palace adapts the Sovereign’s plans in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic.” So is Charles’ move to Balmoral a ‘response’ to the same?
The ‘courtly’ Hello Magazine on 25 March certainly suggests that Charles’ move north and the queen’s move to Windsor are both related to Coronovirus:
“The Queen and Prince Philip were taken to Windsor Castle last week as the coronavirus pandemic continued to escalate worldwide, and it’s since been confirmed Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla have also left London and are spending their time in Scotland.”
It goes on: “Last week, Charles was said to be hard at work at home at Clarence House, so he’s likely still doing the same thing at Balmoral.”
“https://ca.hellomagazine.com/royalty/02020032455776/prince-charles-camilla-parker-bowles-balmoral-coronavirus-pandemic
So ‘if still doing the same thing’, what was wrong with Charles, his wife and his office staff and his security staff all staying put in Clarence House? Or if not to his taste, what was wrong with making the shorter journey to his private home at Highgrove, Gloucestershire? And was there no room in the other Royal Residences in and around London close to well resourced private medical facilities if needed?
I wonder how many members of staff have traveled with Charles to ‘serve’ him at Balmoral? How did they travel and at what cost, and at what infection transmission risk? Did all his accompanying staff get tested by NHS Grampian for the virus too? How many people local to Balmoral will now be engaged in ‘serving’ an infected house guest plus accompanying staff? Do Police Scotland now need to deploy to Balmoral? How many Grampian Health Board staff have already been and may still need to be engaged in supporting the infected visitor and potentially others in the household?
Does the man and his advisors not ‘get it’ … or just don’t care?
He must have been already infected before he moved to Balmoral.
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They don’t care. We are subjects and should do as we are told. He met the criteria for testing, so did Camelia. Not so the staff. NHS Scotland tell the truth, no they did not. Are Police Scotland going to investigate As there appears to be a case that the act to move from England while infected to here was quite deliberate. The UK govt said don’t travel, stay at home. Not stay at your holiday home. BBC and STV sidestepping the whole issue. They are cowards.
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Will he put his hand in his pocket and:
pay for all the carers in the area to be tested, to get personal safety equipment now?
pay for all GP surgeries in Aberdeenshire to get testing kits to test staff and PPE?
pay for some additional ventilators for the local hospitals?
pay for all of his staff AND their families to be tested?
If not, why the bl**dy h*ll not?
He is a pampered, privileged, petulant waste of space who has demonstrated beyond any doubt his unfitness for any role in public life.
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Bloody angry about this.
Both Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford have previously raised hell about this sort of behaviour.
I hope and expect them to respond in the same manner regarding Charlie.
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No. Ms Sturgeon and Mr Blackford have important jobs to do at this time and do not need the distraction of this petulant prince and his unacceptable behaviour.
They rightly highlighted the behaviour at the weekend of the campervan/second home set and how unacceptable that was and why. Charles’s behaviour puts him into that group and people have made that connection. Therefore rather than Ms Sturgeon and Mr Blackford being embroiled in this we, the people, should take every opportunity open to us to make clear how unacceptable his behaviour has been. Any opportunity provided by sites such as this, any place, particularly newspapers etc, which has below the line comments on this story should be used to make our disgust clear. That more than any comment from Ms Sturgeon etc. will be far more effective criticism.
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Sorry, Legerwood, I have to respectfully disagree.
The media are focusing on the issue of whether or not Charles should have been tested. The justification for this has often been that due to his level of contacts he is deemed to be a, “super source”.
If this is the case, then it is even more important for him to restrict his movements.
Given the unequivocal nature of both Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford’s condemnation of tourists, were they informed of these travel arrangements beforehand?
If not, why not?
If they were informed, did they agree to his arrival or advise against for all the reasons put forward previously, but ignored?
Either way, this stinks of favouritism, pure and simple.
No doubt Charlie prefers mincing around the Highlands in a kilt, killing the local wildlife as is his usual custom, rather than being cooped up in Highgrove.
However his behaviour in this case endangers the lives of Scottish citizens. As our first minister it is Nicola Sturgeon’s duty to respond in the strongest possible terms.
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I wrote this BTL on a prior thread. It’s worth repeating but note: the ‘sensible’ course of action referred to in the final paragraph is NOT for you or me!
On Sunday 22 March Harpers Bazaar announced that Charles and Camilla had ‘left England’:
“Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla were forced to postpone their upcoming royal tour of Bosnia, ….. It’s also been revealed that the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall have left England for the time being, and are spending time in Scotland instead.”
“A palace aide confirms to BAZAAR.com that Charles and Camilla are staying on the Balmoral estate, and have left London for the foreseeable future.”
According to Harpers Bazaar: “The decision to spend TIME IN A REMOTE LOCATION MAKES SENSE for the duke and duchess, who are both in their seventies and, as a result, at a higher risk of coronavirus.”
source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a31881510/prince-charles-duchess-camilla-leave-london-balmoral-scotland/
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I noticed that on Reporting Scotland at 6.30pm this evening (Weds) reporter Laura Goodwin said,
“Well, we know that the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, as they’re known in Scotland, arrived at their property here at Balmoral on Sunday and it was here that Prince Charles started to exhibit what we’re told were mild symptoms of Coronavirus.”
Other reports I’d read indicated that he was unwell before he arrived. I checked, and sure enough, contradicting itself, the BBC website tells us, via Nicholas Witchell, that
“The duke and duchess arrived in Scotland on Sunday. Charles had been displaying mild symptoms over the weekend and was tested by the NHS in Aberdeenshire on Monday. ”
In other words, he knew he was unwell and still travelled to Scotland, and the BBC knew that yet reported otherwise this evening – I can’t help thinking to elicit more sympathy and less condemnation.
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To be fair, when reporting on today’s newspaper headlines on Good Morning Scotland (BBC radio), Gary Robertson read out the critical headlines about Charles.
Just after 8am, he interviewed Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer. He raised the issue of Scotland having a lower Covid-19 death rate than England. She responded that it’s probably a matter of time before it gets worse here.
When discussing testing with her, Gary Robertson said, “There was a case yesterday… of a patient on Royal Deeside who had mild symptoms and was given a test, as was his wife. As you say normally tests are for the very sick who are going into hospital, how did that happen?” She didn’t really answer, citing good clinical reasons and pleading patient confidentiality.
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Completely lost all credibility, he is a spoiled , petulant , uncaring prince , he cares not about the people he might infect in Scotland , he cares only about himself , show your disgust the next time he ventures out in Scotland , boycot him ! .
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Maybe Police Scotland should chap on the door and tell Duke Chuckie to take his campervan home ?
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