Why Are The Windsors So Cheap?

Cunts

he's my least favorite of all the Roya's and that isn't saying much

That's how old money keeps it OP

If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- and don't replace it because modern appliances don't work anywhere near as well as the old ones.

That's why they have money! The Kennedy's were the same way - painting only the front of the house, as well as the wicker fan back lawn chairs. The chauffer wanted Joe Kennedy to get a better car so badly, but never mentioned it again after expressing his disdain for the seven year old Chrysler he was charged with driving. "There's nothing wrong with that car! That car runs just fine!" the old man told him. "Keep your eyes on the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." - Joe Kennedy

The object of the game is to live high on someone else's dime whether it be someone else pays for it all (the UK tax payer) or substantial income derived from investments and interest.

They are cheap out of a sense of self-preservation. The Habsburgs, the Romanovs had more impressive palaces and jewellery collections, and the German and French monarchs had a greater determination to exert political influence, but the Windsors have outlasted them all because they knew when to be seen to relinquish power and when (and when not) to display grandeur. By the early 20th century, the years of the King-Emperors were coming to an end, and the Royal Family was being born under George V, a dull unimaginative man, but one wise enough to know that the monarchy had to seem more like the people. So, unlike his father, he was seen more often in the rain at Balmoral and hardly ever in the sun of the Riviera.

What R4 said. Why would you replace a well-made, long-lasting appliance with a new one that you'll have to replace because it'll break down in a couple of years? Just to have a newer style? Archaism and practicality are hallmarks of class.

Not suprising to see they don't give a fuck about the environment. A good A+ energy star uses 1/3 the electricity, so in the end it's costing them more to keep that relic.

It looks like Kim Kardashian’s kitchen

Even in 1954 the design of that fridge seems outdated. American appliances - even professional models - were much more advanced.

He probably remembers when the damned thing was brand new.

And lets stop sucking off the rich, please. The real reason the fridge is there is because the servants are the only ones who see it. Sub Zeros and Viking ranges are for the striving classes.

OP,

a fridge is a downstairs thing. You think her Majesty has ever seen the fridge? Why would she, or her administrative staff, waste money on something she never sees and uses herself unless it's broken and it's no longer able to keep the cold cuts cold and fresh for her Majesty's sandwiches for tea?

Of course a family of irrelevant, outdated relics would choose to keep an irrelevant, outdated relic around the house.

I still think this is better than his sister’s tv room.

OP, the upper class keep things until they wear out. It's the middle class who have to replace when things go out of fashion.

It becomes a game at some point, like "how long can I keep this old thing till I 100% need to throw it out."

Many poor people also have frugal habits, by necessity. It's not just part of the glowing aura of the hallowed moneyed heaven.

Exactly R18

If you are in a house that has, say, a door that can only be kept closed by pulling on a piece of string, you are likely either in the house of a very poor or a very wealthy person.

If the latter, it will be regarded as a charming eccentricity, a distinction often lost on "is X classy?" obsessed DLers

Isn't the Castle of Mey in the middle of nowhere? It might be a giant pain in the ass to ship a large new appliance up there, and since only servants see it anyway, Charles doesn't care.

According to the Castle of Mey's own website, Charles is barely ever there:

[quote]HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, has shown great commitment to furthering the Trust objectives as President and visits at least once each year, renting the castle for a few days each August. He has done a huge amount for the Trust and we thank him for his continued support.

He probably does one long weekend there every year for publicity purposes. The rest of the time it's just a tourist/wedding venue. Why would the fridge in the private quarters need to be updated?

Look. I'm tellin you. Those folks have tens of billions. They can't admit their true worth, else the public would go ape shit about handing over so much tax money to them each year. Obscenely wealthy.

Interesting that this is around at the same time as that image of Anne's TV room which had DL all aflutter, me included. Don't need to be a Bletchley codebreaker to discern the 'message': see - in our way we're just like so many of you ordinary folk! We can relate! Such well-meant patronage, I'm sure.

Also, there's certainly an upper-class cult for holding on to things for way longer than image-conscious lower-order materialists would dare to do. Frugality, continuity, and of course that element of mocking the bourgeois urge towards the new and shiny so seductively constantly advertised.

The article says the fridge has become part of the tour--it's the oldest working one in Britain. It's not really meant to be an appliance so much as a curiosity. I'm sure there are other fridges on property that are much newer.

Will the V&A get it once it makes it to Refrigerator Heaven?

I bet Fergie has Subzero fridges at Royal Lodge.

That is exactly what I would expect him to own.

It's very chic. I'd love to have it. But it probably uses an insane amount of electricity.

I'm thrilled to see from the picture that Prince Charles stores leftovers in former jam jars (the brand with the red checked lid), just like I do! Not sure what that white substance in the jar is, but I certainly recognize the jar!

[quote]I'm thrilled to see from the picture that Prince Charles stores leftovers in former jam jars (the brand with the red checked lid), just like I do! Not sure what that white substance in the jar is, but I certainly recognize the jar!

Camilla's breast milk

Few posters on this thread get it, others don't have a clue.

Anyone who knows anything about WASPs, well off Protestants and even Catholics knows they are often tight with money in certain ways. People walking around Park avenue in tattered clothing, shoddy shoes and in apartments that haven't been redone since they moved in have enough money to buy and sell everyone on this board six times over.....

You don't get rid of something that still works and has use left. You also buy things that are serviceable and will do rather than expensive labels/brands merely for show.

As a lad young Prince Charles lost a dog lead. When HRH informed HM of this fact the Queen told him to go find the thing because "dog leads cost money"...

The "poor" Vanderbilts blew through their money as if it were water and would always be there, and look what happened to them. Member of that side of Vanderbilt family with largest fortune is Anderson Cooper, and he made his own money.

R28

Brand of preserves is "Bonne Maman", and yes many persons (including oneself) reuse those glass jars. In fact believe company encourages customers to do so in name of recycling, this before being "green" became fashionable.

Have several in fridge storing various things, more in pantry and elsewhere around the house doing same.

When one of Jackie Kennedy's Irish servants married the young woman was given bits of furniture her employer had in storage.

^^^I forget the exact figure, but Ari also cut her a check! Generous.

R31, I have been mildly annoyed at Bonne Maman since their rhubarb preserves disappeared 20+ years ago; then their Damson plum preserves disappeared a few years ago (or at least impossible to find anywhere near me). I've tried other brands of both of them, and nothing else has come close.

R33

"Ari" was fed up and had begun or soon would have proceedings to divorce Jackie Kennedy at time of his death.

Provisions had already been made for Jackie that left her considerably less than she and Kennedy's felt was her proper due.

Ari was barely cold in his grave before Jackie Kennedy and the Kennedy family launched a campaign to get more money for widow Onassis. In fact they started in on Christina Onassis during funeral procession with one of the Kennedy brothers and Jackie going at Ari's daughter about a settlement. Miss. Onasis got so fed up she got out of limousine and fled to another for some peace. The young woman couldn't believe that Jackie was going after her about money when not only had her father just died, but at that time as well.

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More:

Well, you wouldn't expect the marriage of a Greek and an American to be anything more than tacky.

Who knows real reasons why Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy, but clearly the man was having a case of buyer's remorse.

Mrs. Onassis spent most of her time in USA IIRC, not Greece or anywhere else with her husband.

That might have been worked out or even overlooked, but there was also Jackie Kennedy's spending habits. The woman went through money like it was water. Like many who were brought up in comparatively poor conditions Jackie Kennedy compensated later in life when she had access to heaps of money.

Jackie Onassis did not just buy one sweater or something, but often several of the exact same thing. Maybe in different colors but still who needs five, six or more of same sweater?

Of course there was a method to this madness. To circumvent what Jackie Kennedy considered miserly allowance from Ari ($30k per month) she bought expensive clothing, wore it once or twice (if that) then sold it on for money.

Those kinds of fridges can probably be repaired (no computers, etc.). Also, the royals probably have repair people who will travel to their houses to do repairs.

Jam jars have been a running joke in my family since Six Degree of Separation

R41, I never saw that movie -- what's the joke?

Cheap orange juice from concentrate as well, rather than fresh

I read Diary of an MP's Wife a while back, and according to Sasha Swire whenever Charles goes to dinner at someone else's home, his people contact the host ahead of time, and tell them he'll only eat lamb and it has to be from a certain farm in Wales. Then at the dinner itself he'll act surprised and like it's a coincidence that they got the lamb from his favourite farm.

According to Darren McGrady (former chef to the Queen, then Diana), Prince Phillip was a lot more interested in food than was the Queen. Frankly, the Queen sounds like she has baby tastes.

I think that that fridge is much older than 1952/3/4 . The compressor compartment at the bottom is much too large for that time frame, it's almost certainly pre WW2.

They looked more like this by the late 1940's/50's, even in the UK.

It was probably taken from another Royal residence.

R44 Not to become the Sasha Swire troll, but she also said in the book that the food at royal events is always dreadful - overcooked, bland, etc. And has to be eaten extremely quickly because Liz and Phil want to get it over with and get to bed.

Hot Banquet, Buffet food is always horrible, it's why Thanksgiving or Christmas lunch should be limited to 6-8; people.

A Hostess trolley is an anathema.

R45 I read that article and thought 1954 must be a mistake. That is clearly a pre WWII fridge. And I doubt GM was still manufacturing that type of fridge even for export.

antiques are more expensive.

R34

Bonne Maman Damson plum preserves are sold by many online retailers including Amazon.com.

In USA Kroger's, Whole Foods, Ralph's and other physical retail carry as well.

If your local shop sells Bonne Maman but doesn't have Damson or whatever wanted, ask manager to order.

Doesnt it look like he's got two tubs of I Cant Believe Its Not Butter in his worlds oldest refrigerator (tm) ?

Bought marmalade? Oh dear, I call that very feeble

Prince Sausage Fingers. Syphilitic dactylitis?

R42 - been years, but there's a scene where Will Smith's character explains that when you visit a rich person, a jar of jam is a fitting gift as "rich people really like jam" -- he says it in a sort of "and other crazy shit they like" tone.

It's possible that Charles views it as some sort of irreplaceable antique. Given it's age it's probably not that particularly cheap to maintain or repair, I doubt it's actually down to being frugal.

I agree with R23 on both counts. This is, to an extent, the upper-class way of doing things, but one must remember that the House of Windsor also has a history of engaging in frugality porn.

There is nothing DL loves more than the frugality of rich people.

No, it's definitely frugality. He counts the leftovers in the fridge - the eggs, too. Rose Kennedy was the same way. Again, it's like a game with these people. They'll raise hell if something is amiss small scale - servants eating too much food, thermostat a degree or two too high, and a light left on. However, at the same time they're spending thousands on a dress, suit, or handbag.

Rich people have quirks and idiosyncrasies re money and how it's spent.

[quote]No, it's definitely frugality.

Well, that's one word for it. Reminds me of a story in the recent biography of Lucian Freud. Charles took a great fancy to one of Freud's smaller paintings seen in a public exhibition. Charles duly wrote to Freud to express admiration - and suggested swapping the painting he coveted for one of his own 'rotten watercolours.' Swapping! This at a time when Freud's work was fetching six to seven figures, and soon more. Having processed his disbelief at this sheer Royal cheek, Freud thought it best simply not to reply.

That's a good story, R59. Lucian Freud's paintings are the seeds for nightmares, but he's talented. That's a lack of respect on Charles' part.

Your random historical musings ignore fact Britain had it's own revolution which saw a monarch forcibly removed from throne and beheaded. After stint testing out democracy monarchy was restored.

Doubling down again in a show of power Glorious Revolution saw Parliament remove James II and VII, king of England, Scotland and Ireland, and replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange.

So if the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family has outlived the Bourbons of France and Romanovs of Russia on their throne it is because Great Britain has already shown *twice* it will not fail if pushed far enough to remove a monarch.

How much of this self preservation moved George V to among other things deny his Russian cousins asylum and revamp his largely German family we shall never know.

If by the Hapsburgs R6 you refer to the Austrian-Hungarian empire, that was doomed more by internal forces which no longer could be controlled than anything else. The empire was simply too large and made up of far too many different ethnic groups to keep it together.

Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 lit a tinder box that had been simmering for some time. Same could be said of Romanovs and Russia, the empire was simply too large and made up of so many different people with nothing in common.

[quote]After stint testing out democracy

Nothing during the interregnum could be genuinely considered democracy.

He probably has held onto it due to sentimental and/or frugal reasons. I have an Ultrex toaster that's around 20 years old that works perfectly fine.

Now, now, r65. It was "democracy with Puritan characteristics" -- you know, like Chinese democracy.

The Hapsburgs died out due to inbreeding, they had a tradition of uncles marrying their nieces.

Uncles marrying their neices you say?

My car was made in 2002. Still going strong. Does that count?

[quote] lit a tinder box that had been simmering for some time.

No. A tinderbox does not simmer.

They are not cheap OP. They are frugal. They come from a long line of people who known the value of money. When the old one breaks down and it's unable to be repaired they'll replace it, but not before then.

The senior Royals are "old money". There is one big difference between old money and new money. Old money knows how to make it, but more importantly they know how to keep it.

Our money is so old nanna's grandfather is on some of it.

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Frugality is part of the Protestant work ethic.

Not so cheap: "When her overdraft shot up to £4m, the Queen reportedly joked: 'Coutts would have folded long ago but for Mummy's overdraft.' "

"The lifestyle: the death of the Queen Mother marks the end of an era of aristocratic splendour and opulence."

I had my Krups coffee maker for 20 or so years and would probably still have it if I hadn't flooded it trying to do some "recommended" deep cleanng. So many reviews I read when looking for a new one bitched how their new, very expensive coffee maker would just stop working in a short time. Since they all sounded like crap I just got one of the cheapest brands at Bed Bath & Beyond with one of their coupons. Less than $30 total. Has worked perfectly well for years now.

My Toyota lasted 17 years and had I chosen to repair it I am sure it would still be in my garage. That beautiful little car still looked pristine, too. Inside and out. Because it was this subtle gold color the paint had a protective coating so the color never faded. I learned that after someone hit my car and it needed a repair - it was easy for the garage to match the paint and I couldn't spot the repaired section.

When they spend money they are accused of extravagance. When they don't spend money, they are called cheap. It's sort of a no win situation for them. And I'm not even a monarchist.

I have a pair of 110 watt tower speakers connected to my Onkyo surround receiver that I purchased 30 years ago USED! I painted them black from a walnut veneer color about 17 years ago. They still rock!

I have a crock pot I bought in 1986 and it still works a trick.

Charles is the least frugal royal. And that photo was definitely not taken whilst Charles was there. He insists on produce being sent up from Highgrove whenever he's staying anywhere else. The number of air miles he and his food get through a year is appalling. He's the most pampered person in Britain. Don't let this old fridge story lull you into any sense that he likes to save the odd penny or two.

[quote] He's the most pampered person in Britain.

He never carries any money yet is appalled at the cost of everything. He even has someone else to hold his cock in the right direction when he pisses (not Camilla).

Has to have his own pillow, food, etc.

Then preaches us all on global warming after flying all around the globe, up and down the country and shipping his own veg to him hundreds of miles away.

The man's a laughing stock.

Fergie wrote in her autobiography that everything was worn-out, faded and outdated.

[quote] Has to have his own pillow,

This article claims Charles travels with his own full bed and toilet seat.

From R84's link: "She is said to have replied: "It's clingfilm, darling.""

That has to be wrong. More like, "She is said to have replied: "It's clingfilm, Sir.""

Truth be known that old fridge in the OP image is probably a unit that has been moved to the butler's pantry and the main kitchen has top line industrial refrigeration units. Clearly from the minimal contents in that fridge it is not the only one for the whole castle that undoubtedly still hosts large functions at times.

My grandmother had the same fridge in her kitchen for about 50 years. It still ran like it was brand new.

I see they removed Camilla's gallon handle of Smirnoff and carton of cigs before the picture was taken.