Should we revile or revere the royal family? – The Times

Royal fans aren’t happy: Meghan and Harry will not be allowing press photographers to hover outside Archie’s christening. They are not even releasing the names of his godparents. They want, instead, to “shield” him. Within this shield they have, meanwhile, spent some £2.4 million of public money on Frogmore Cottage, their new residence, apparently turning it into a sort of rustic fantasia. And with a £5,000 freestanding copper roll-top bath! It has raised eyebrows. It doesn’t seem fair. The public has paid up, and now it wants its photos.

“They can’t have it both ways,” the royal biographer Penny Junor has said. “Many people don’t understand why they are paying for Harry and Meghan’s house, so in terms of public relations it would be a…