It turns out that he is none other than His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, so
perhaps his comments aren't entirely misplaced.
He is indeed right that the people of Britain have little respect for those who
they do not feel worthy of it.
To gain the respect of the British people, you have to earn it; you cannot buy
it, nor can you inherit it and, in a particularly British way, those who are
presented as entirely successfully, are usually the most rejected of
them all.
Which is why so many American top bands have such a rough time, outside
of their dedicated fans, when they come to Britain.
The British people do not have the American Dream ethos; that anyone and
everyone can succeed.
They are a hard working people in a relatively poor country and realise that
hard work is necessary to achieve rewards. They also believe that such rewards
should be gained by good, honest work and not at the expense of others who are
stepped on and trampled over in the clamour to reach the top.
The British, deep down, hate the, "Sod you, Jack", attitude so inherent in the
American Dream where those who climb the ladder do so with little respect or
feeling for those crushed underfoot on the ascent.
There has been a long history of divides between the haves and have
nots and those crossing the divide must be careful how they do it. The
most respected successes are those who have been philantropic in their
crossings, who have not forgotten their roots and the inequities which exist
in British society.
Notable successes have been Tiny Roland, Alan Sugar, Richard Branson ( the
epitomy of the
Great British entrepreneur ) and Robert Maxwell, until he showed his true
colours, buggering off with millions of pounds of employee's pension money;
his death was hardly lamented and his sons have since suffered the anger of a
betrayed nation.
Others have been less successful in their rise of status; politicians most
notable along with the Fat Cats of British Industry who are seen to
offer no justifiable reason to earn their high salaries other than the fact that
their mate George in the private sector earns that much.
Branson in particular is a British dream come true, a hard-nosed business man by
all accounts, who has managed to retain the public's respect as he became a
multi-millionaire.
He has, despite his upper-class upbringing and character, shown himself to be
able to understand the people of Britain who have not been so privileged.
His great ballooning adventures, or disasters depending upon one's view, have
been seen as eccentricity but also as something which everyone might try and
do if they had masses of money. Everyone wants to see him fail for his folly
but succeed for determination at the same time.
When Virgin Atlantic went through a pretty
rough patch, his comments on the BBC's Money Programme, that he'd bail it out
with millions of pounds of his own money, because it was only right that what
he'd taken should be put back in, earned him a respect from the public even if
it did cause awe amongst the grab the profit and run businessmen and
women which almost everyone universally hates.
It is respect from the top to the bottom which endears respect in return.
This is something which the Earl of Wessex, aka HRH Prince Edward, is
fundamentally lacking - as his recent comments so patently show.
The British have a peculiar, unexplainable love of the Monarchy; rather
contradictory to their attitudes to those climbing out from the gutter to the
heady heights of success.
Although not universal, respect for the royal family seems ingrained in the
British gene; no one seems to be able to justify their existence except
for naive responses along the lines of, "But, they rule us", and, "They're good
for tourism"; "Wasn't Princess Di the most beautiful woman in the world ?"
Which means, when a member of the royal family is seen as a complete no
hoper; they're in a pretty bad shape.
Such is Prince Edward.
Edward never really made a name for himself or stood out within the royal
family. Having hidden from public gaze and being reticent to bring the people
onto his side, neither expressing any view nor support of them and showing no
concern at their lives, he should hardly be surprised that they have taken
such little interest in his own.
His Really Useful Company has not made a name for itself in theatrical circles
because it hasn't done anything of any note, his Ardent television production
company hasn't managed to produce a profit yet and the public see him as
nothing more than another individual who isn't doing very well for himself;
another failure, like everyone else.
Any successes he may have achieved stateside, such as his tours discussing the
rebuilding of Windsor Castle, have been tainted by the fact that such successes
have only been achieved with insider and privileged knowledge
and the fawning and toadying of those who attend such events simply to
claim for themselves the credit that they've seen a British royal.
So when he starts whinging that the British people don't recognise his success
it's hardly surprising that they get upset; he's neither a successful royal nor
a successful business man, indeed, he's not been a success in any way.
Accusing the British of not respecting success is asking for it as they
obviously do; in their books, when it's deserved.
It's not surprising that his comments went down like a lead balloon. He's
damaged his own, minimal, reputation more than he can possible imagine.
Attempting to offset the damage done, by suggesting his comments were responses
to derogatory media coverage in the UK and not the people of Britain, hasn't
helped because everyone knows that the press were uttering exactly what the
people who read the newspapers think; he's c--p and has done nothing worthy
of accord.
Old Eddie boy has, right royally, put his foot in it.
