Do royals have more privelege than ordinary citizens world wide?

[Rachel]

I did not know you could make a royal pay like this for gross and destructive behaviour. I am glad it is so, but I doubt if it is true in many countries. what does anyone know of it? I am interested to find out.

UK court sentences prince to at least 20 years
AP - October-19-10 11:44:49 PM By DANICA KIRKA
Photo By AP British court sentenced a Saudi prince to at least 20 years in prison Wednesday for beating and strangling one of his servants at a swank British hotel in a case that featured days of lurid testimony about their abusive relationship.

Justice David Bean sentenced Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud to a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 20 years for the brutal assault at the Landmark Hotel in London on Feb. 15. The sensational case featured CCTV images of the shaven-headed prince throwing a punch at his aide in a hotel elevator -- the set piece in a prosecution case that alleged the suave playboy prince battered his lover in a rage following years of abuse.

"No one in this country is above the law," Bean said. "It would be wrong for me to sentence you either more severely or more leniently because of your membership of the Saudi royal family."

The jury had deliberated just 95 minutes before returning its verdict. The prince was convicted of both murder and a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the elevator.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw described a flamboyant lifestyle with a dashing prince who lived the luxury life -- dining in fine restaurants and receiving erotic massages from a masseur who compared him to Hollywood actor Omar Sharif.

The prince's lawyers attempted before the trial to stop evidence of his homosexuality from being made public.

"Beneath the surface this was a deeply abusive relationship which the defendant exploited for sadistic reasons, for his own personal gratification," Laidlaw said. He described the assault leading to the aide's death as being "a really terrible, a really brutal attack."

Al Saud originally told police that he and Abdulaziz had been swigging champagne into the early hours of the morning, and that when he awoke at 3 p.m. he could not rouse Abdulaziz.

Jurors rejected a claim by his defense lawyer, John Kelsey-Fry, that the prince was guilty only of manslaughter. Defense lawyers had attempted to shield the prince's sexuality during the bail application process, but failed.

Since the prince's arrest, Saudi officials have said nothing about the case, and Saudi newspapers and television have not even mentioned it, a sign of how embarrassing the trial and sentencing are for the royal family.

Media in the kingdom strictly avoid any discussion of the private lives of members of the royal family -- particularly of anything that casts them in a negative light.

The prince's grandfather is the half brother of the current king.

Britain has no prison transfer agreement with Saudi Arabia, so there is no possibility the prince could serve his sentence there.

[Jez]

I did not know you could make a royal pay like this for gross and destructive behaviour. I am glad it is so, but I doubt if it is true in many countries. what does anyone know of it? I am interested to find out.


One of the main tenets of the US is that we do not recognize royalty. We recognize the governmental position of the person, but we do not recognize the divinely appointed royal status of the person. This is a fundamental part of our government's foundation and our culture as Americans. "All men are created equal" as stated in the Declaration of Independence is largely a reference to the unequal treatment between royals and non-royals that we took issue with during our revolution.

This is why Obama's bowing is so scandalous. He took one of the key underpinnings of our government and our culture and he threw it out the window. He might as well have used the Declaration of Independence as toilet paper. We've strayed from so many of our original tenets, that I wouldn't be surprised if we treated royalty differently when it comes to the law. Our politicians certainly get a lot of leniency, regrettably.

[Rachel]

Thank you for that information. I wondered what that was about concerning your president. Is it the same for ambassadors and such, what about diplomatic immunity

[Jez]

You're welcome. :) I'm curious, how was his bowing and (some of) our our media's outrage over it interpreted in your country?

We recognize ambassadors and offer diplomatic immunity. Though not in all instances.

[Rachel]

Well of course I cannot speak for all Canadians, but it was looked upon with anxiety and suspicion as well as a sense of sadness and indignity that he did not also bow to our Queen then. The anxiety comes from the fact that we worry about secret deals or perks or failing to understand how the mind of the middle east works toward Americans so that by his bowing he greatly weakened and in fact shamed your people in front of the world. It is both pleasing and a joke, in many of our minds that Mr President would do such a thing because when those clips are shown on Muslim and other television what they may see is a fawning , perhaps fearful leader who thinks a polite bow will get him in with these powerful rulers.
We in Canada are still very much in the Queen Victorian mode when it comes to bowing before Her Majesty and we think it right and proper. We do not for a minute think Her Royal Highness is better or such , we are all the same under God and in the law we believe, but we do acknowlege that in life there are different stations and hers is at the top and that must be respected.

[Jez]

Well of course I cannot speak for all Canadians, but it was looked upon with anxiety and suspicion as well as a sense of sadness and indignity that he did not also bow to our Queen then. The anxiety comes from the fact that we worry about secret deals or perks or failing to understand how the mind of the middle east works toward Americans so that by his bowing he greatly weakened and in fact shamed your people in front of the world. It is both pleasing and a joke, in many of our minds that Mr President would do such a thing because when those clips are shown on Muslim and other television what they may see is a fawning , perhaps fearful leader who thinks a polite bow will get him in with these powerful rulers.
That is interesting, and precisely what we feared. Thank you for sharing.


We in Canada are still very much in the Queen Victorian mode when it comes to bowing before Her Majesty and we think it right and proper. We do not for a minute think Her Royal Highness is better or such , we are all the same under God and in the law we believe, but we do acknowlege that in life there are different stations and hers is at the top and that must be respected.
This is interesting too. I think some times it is so easy to fall into thinking that we (Americans, Canadians, Australians, Brits) are so similar, but it is times like this where our differences are apparent. The idea of bowing is an indignity. Mostly it's from what I said above, but it's also from the idea that everyone in the US can be anything they want so long as they work for it. We're not hampered by station or class. A dirt poor 20-something can go on to be the next big time CEO or senator, it's only a matter of time and effort. Everyone putting in good effort is equal and worthy of equal respect. So the disdain for bowing goes both ways. It is insulting for someone to expect me to bow for them, but it is also insulting for someone to bow to me, regardless of any of our current positions in life.

Of course, this is all changing as time goes on and government (the closest we have to a ruling class) gains more power and becomes more solidly entrenched. Still, though, the sentiment is a strong part of our culture, even if it is increasingly perverted.