Royal Family Opinions 2

More opinions on the UK Royal Family. Transcript and definitions below.

Transcript

Girl: Hello!

Luke: So, whereabouts are you from, in the country?

Girl: Um, from London

Luke: Ok, great, which part of London?

Girl: North West

Luke: Oh yeah

Girl: Queen’s Park

Luke: Queen’s Park, alright. So, err, having a nice day?

Girl: Yeah, it’s really good, yeah

Luke: Um, what do you think of the Royal Family?

Girl: I like the Royal Family. I liked the wedding. I thought it was nice that everyone was coming together. Yeah, I think they’re alright.

Luke: What about, erm… let’s see… Who’s your favourite member of the Royal Family?

Girl: Harry

Luke: Why?

Girl: (Be)cause he’s kind of my age-ish, seems alright, seems quite normal. I think both of the younger ones seem quite normal.

Luke: Yeah, okay. What do you mean by normal?

Girl: As in, like, not too, they kind of try and be as normal as, like, they can, like go to uni, army, stuff like that.

Luke: Yeah?

Girl: Yeah

Luke: You think the others aren’t normal?

Girl: I just think they seem a bit more, higher. I dunno, like maybe can’t relate to them as much.

Luke: If you had a choice would you get rid of them? Keep them?

Girl: I don’t think they’re doing any harm. I don’t think I’d get rid of them. I think it’s nice for the country to have a Royal Family. I think it’s nice.

Luke: Anything else to say to the people of the world?

Girl: Yey London!

Luke: Alright

Girl: I don’t know!

Luke: Thank you very much!

Couple in Green Park

Luke: So I’m asking people about the Royal Family. What do you think? Do you think they’re a good thing or a bad thing?

Man: I think you can differentiate between the Queen and some of the other members of the Royal Family. The Queen does an excellent job. I think it’s more difficult for the  others to know quite what their role is supposed to be.

Luke: Right, okay. Right what do you think?

Woman: I think… I admire them and I think a lot of them work hard but I think the media can give them a bad profile. They’re quite invasive [the media] and I think if anyone was under the spotlight they wouldn’t come out glowingly. I do admire The Queen and also the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, I think she works very hard, does a lot of work for charity. I’ve actually met her so I think that overall they’re good for the country, they’re good for tourism and I think they keep, generally keep good standards, so yeah, that’s my opinion.

Luke: Ok, right, thank you very much

Both: Thank you

Party Animals near Buckingham Palace. The girl is from Lancashire and the guy is from Yorkshire.

Luke: Right, so, I’m asking people about The Royal Family. What do you think, are they a good thing or a bad thing?

Girl: I think they bring valuable tourism, but that’s as far as it goes really. I don’t, yeah I’m not interested in them in the slightest.

Guy: I think they give us a British persona, we wouldn’t be British without a famous monarch, and she does look bloody lovely on the coins, much better than in person.

Luke: Ok, right, have you got a favourite Royal?

Guy: Yes!

Luke: Who?

Girl: It’s Kate Middleton!

Guy: YEAH!

Luke: So you like Kate then?

Guy: She makes a lovely breakfast

Luke: Have you had breakfast with her?

Guy: I ate with her in the morning

Luke: She makes a lovely breakfast?

Guy: Yes

Luke: Okay and, err, who do you like?

Girl: Yeah, obviously Kate, in that dress

Guy: Prince Harry’s a nice guy, he seems like the most genuine person who you could actually have a beer with in the Royal Family, I’d suggest, the only ginger person who is attractive to women in England as well, no offence interviewer [Luke: I’M NOT GINGER!]

Girl: And, I met the Queen… I met the Queen’s husband, I met the Queen’s husband once

Guy: Oh Prince Philip

Girl: Yeah

Luke: You met Prince Philip? This is fascinating

Girl: Yeah because he opened part of my college up, so I had to represent

Luke: What was he like?

Girl: He was a pretty funny guy. Dead posh, and he was in Salford so he was probably shit scared!

Guy: I met Prince Charles at our university opening and forgot to stand up but I had been drinking, very very much

Luke: Alright, thank you very much

Guy: I’m sorry Luke

Guy from Australia

Luke: Right, so what do you think of the Royal Family?

Aussie: Erm, neither here nor there really, like I suppose they’re a symbol of an era gone by. I think they bring in England a great deal of revenue. I think they’ve been a good money spinner for England.

Luke: Are they good for Australia? Big question isn’t it, I suppose.

Aussie: I think they’re good for a lot of the smaller countries that depend on the commonwealth, you know, and that symbolism at the top really holds a lot of those small countries together and gives them a voice whereas a lot of the Pacific nations wouldn’t have a voice if it wasn’t for being in the commonwealth, yeah

Luke: What do you like about William?

Aussie: He seems pretty… he’s not up himself for a start, he doesn’t seem to be up himself, he doesn’t mind getting in and getting

Luke: Getting his hands dirty

Aussie: Getting his hands dirty you know, his younger brother he’s not too bad either. He does some bad, some stupid things but all young blokes do. People have got to just accept that and get over it. Yeah but they both put their arses on the line for their country, you know?

Luke: Right, well thank you very much I appreciate that

Guy from Birmingham

Luke: So what do you think of the Royal Family?

Brummie: I think overall it’s a good thing. They’re an example, and you know they’ve… for the past couple of years they’ve really come into their own again. We’ve got Charles, you know, looking like he’s going to be one hell of a king, of course that’s if the Queen doesn’t outlive him. We’ve got erm, Harry and William who look like they’re going to be two excellent princes and one day king, so yeah they’re… I like them. I like the fact that we have a Royal Family. I think we should be proud of such.

Luke: Really yeah. What would you say to people who think that we shouldn’t have one?

Brummie: Most people who I’ve spoken to about it seem to object to the cost, which is fair enough, yes the Royal Family does cost but they do an immense amount of work for that and per head it’s actually very very small so I don’t mind that.

Luke: Yeah, okay, who’s your favourite Royal?

Brummie: I’d say if you asked me around the same time of the wedding I would have said William but overall as a head of state I’ve got to say The Queen.

Luke: Really, yeah. Why is that?

Brummie: She’s just an immense woman and she’s served for so long and still she wants to serve, you can see it, and she’s quite stylish.

Russian girl

Girl: Hello

Luke: So, err, where are you from?

Girl: I’m from Russia

Luke: Okay and how long have you been in…

Girl: For 3 years

Luke: Okay, right, so I’m asking people about the Royal Family. What do you think of the Royal Family in England, in Britain?

Girl: Well, it’s a nice tradition. I think it’s nice that they have here a Queen. People enjoy it.

Luke: People enjoy it, yeah okay. Erm, who’s your favourite Royal?

Girl: Prince William, Prince Harry as well

Luke: Yeah? Why do you like them?

Girl: I fancy them

Luke: Do you really? Which one is more attractive?

Girl: Maybe Prince Harry because he’s still available.

Luke: Okay. So, Harry if you’re watching, err, what’s your name?

Girl: Daria

Luke: Daria

Girl: That’s my boyfriend there!

Luke: Oh your boyfriend’s here, okay you’ll have to deal with him first. So you like Harry, umm, okay, fine, so what about Kate, what do you think of her?

Girl: Well she’s very nice. They’ve been [in] a long term relationship before the wedding so they’re a great couple. I was here when it was a [the] wedding, so actually I made some videos and I sent them to Russian TV and they used it on [the] news, Russian news

Luke: Do you work for Russian news?

Girl: No I don’t, it was just, like a favour for my friend

Luke: Oh that’s good

Girl: So I appear on Russian TV!

Luke: Great, wow, fame and fortune is [are] one the way

Vocabulary in this video:

whereabouts = where exactly. E.g. “Whereabouts in London do you live?”

-ish = this is a suffix which means ‘approximately’

relate to them = understand them / feel that you’re similar to them

get rid of them = throw them away / remove them

differentiate = see clear differences

admire = respect and look up to

invasive = invades your privacy

under the spotlight = in the eyes of the media a lot

they wouldn’t come out glowingly = they wouldn’t look good

I’m not interested in them in the slightest = I don’t care about them

persona = an identity

genuine = real / true

ginger = with red hair

dead posh = very posh

shit scared! = very scared

neither here nor there  = without strong feelings for or against

an era gone by = an old time

revenue = income for the government

a good money spinner = something that makes a lot of money

blokes = men (infomal)

get over it = recover from it / learn that it isn’t a problem any more

put their arses on the line = take risks

they’ve really come into their own again = they’re being successful again

one hell of a king = a great king

immense = big and impressive

I fancy them = I think they’re sexually attractive