"Martin" wrote in message
On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:46:34 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Martin" wrote in message
On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:11:55 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote:

Indeed! My ma-in-law is fond of reminding me that when Charles and Di
got
engaged and she asked me what I thought of it, I predicted that the
marriage
would be a disaster.

The odds on you being right are better than 50/50 in UK for any
marriage.

But given that the common herd can divorce and thus end the disaster it is
immaterial what happens in the rest of UK marriages.

Divorce is common in the royal family.

But till the divorce of Charles and Di, it wasn't common for the heir to the
throne. There was no precedent.

Have you actually done the stats on the failures of Royal marriages that
have ended in divorce? It'd have to be less than 1% I would have thought.

almost the whole of the current generation have divorced.

Indeed. But if we look at how many current royals have divorced and how far
removed they are from succession, and compare that with what has happened in
the past for that same profile, I suspect my figure of 1% would be a high
one.

Probably more murders or 'accidents' to get rid of inconvenient spouses than
Henry's total divorces which is the only precedent for divorce.

Did you foresee Camilla marriage too?

No, but then I doubted there would ever be a divorce given the precedents.

Like Princess Margaret, Anne, Prince Andrew ...

None of whom had a realistic chance of succeeding to the throne...

A marriage can be disasterous without it involving a divorce. The two
were
so unalike that it was bound to end in misery. I thought that she would
be
the one to suffer most. She did suffer, but she learned some good avenge
tactics along the way.

What do you foresee happening next?

I predict that the next monarch will be named William.

Amazing! but not king of Oz?

'Monarch' would apply to us too. Oz won't do anything about getting rid of
the monarchy till the Queen dies (much to my disgust) and then we'd have to
have a referendum and to stage that would take so long that a new monarch
would already be a reality.