Members of the Royal Family take up important positions as they represent their country. Therefore, they are expected to act dignified, diplomatic and are expected to be on their best behaviour at all times. However, not all royals succeed in this task. From time to time some royals speak up unexpectedly. This was no different in 2017. Here are the top five worst royal quotes of 2017.
5. “My wife hasn’t shown me the respect an
ordinary wife should show her spouse.”
Prince Henrik of Denmark made the headlines in his country and
abroad this year. Ever since Henrik became Prince Consort of
Denmark, he has been talking about how dissatisfied he is with his
title of Prince Consort. He feels disrespected and thinks he
deserves the title of King. His collection of inappropriate
statements started when he stated that he
doesn’t want to be buried next to the Queen when he passes
away. To make things worse, the Prince gave an interview to the
Danish newspaper BT in which he complained about the way
the Queen treats him. He stated the only way to make things better
is if the Queen makes him King instead of Prince Consort. However a
couple of weeks later, the Royal Danish House announced that
Prince Henrik has dementia.
4. “Africa’s rapidly growing human population
is staggering (…) [we need] to take measures
now.”
In itself, this quote is not that
controversial. It is a fact that at this point the population in
Africa is rapidly growing. There is also not a big issue with
stating that we should take measures and plan to ensure that people
and animals can live together in the future. However, it was Prince
William who said this at the time he and his wife are expecting
their third child. It is true that the Duke and Duchess having one
more child is not going to harm the planet that much, but it is the
principle. To keep the human population growth rate constant, it is
said that people should have 2.1 children. Many believed that if
the Prince is so worried about a growing population, he could set
the example himself.
3. “[The Catalonian Separatists have] a total
disregard for democracy.”
King Felipe of Spain
has had a tough year with the
Catalonian government organising a referendum on independence
and eventually proclaiming Catalonia independent. After the
referendum, the King stated that the Catalonian separatists were
completely irresponsible and had a total disregard for democracy.
However, the King didn’t mention the police violence against the
Catalonians. He also didn’t call for dialogue. He is the King of
Spain, and one of his main tasks is to keep the country together.
From that moment on, when he unconditionally took the side of the
Spanish government without creating a space for dialogue, many saw
him as not the King of all the Spaniards anymore.
2. “You are adults, and I expect you to act
like adults in my courtroom.”
This was not a royal quote, but this statement was made by the
judge who presided over the divorce settlement of Prince Louis and
Princess Tessy of Luxembourg. At the start of the year, the Grand
Ducal Court announced that the
Prince and Princess were divorcing. As the couple were not able
to agree on the financial settlement, the case was taken to court
where things got very ugly. Prince Louis and his entourage
were accused of being behind the negative press on Princess Tessy
(she was branded a gold digger). Furthermore, Princess Tessy’s
legal team claimed that the Prince’s team said he would drag the
case on for years if Tessy did not settle soon. Prince Louis
became very angry after hearing the accusations and leaned towards
Tessy and angrily denied it. The precise quotes were not allowed to
be published. The relations between the two have become quite bad.
The judge was done hearing the fight, and he urged them to “act
like adults”.
1. “It’s a pleasure to be in a country that
isn’t ruled by its people.”
This is not a quote
from 2017, but
as he retired this year, all of his famous quotes were brought
to attention once more. Known for his gaffes, Prince Philip stated
this to the then Paraguay dictator General Stroessner. Some
are funny; some are insulting and even borderline racist. Prince
Philip can consider himself lucky being one of the most respected
people in Britain as the people often forgive him for many of his
statements.
