Friday, March 27, 2020

Coronavirus and the Class Divide

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall left London for the Balmoral estate only hours before the government instructed everyone else not to flee to the country, for fear of spreading infection or overloading rural health services – aren’t alone in hightailing it out of town. His mother, the Queen, is safely ensconced behind the thick walls of Windsor Castle.

While some of the super-rich seek to ride out the epidemic in hastily rented moated mansions, or on deserted tropical islands, the weekending affluent have quietly decamped to second homes in Devon or Norfolk or Cumbria.

Houses that normally sit shuttered and forlorn until Easter started opening up again the minute the schools shut – and so many people have been trying to book hideaway cottages on remote Scottish islands that ferry crossings are being restricted. 

This virus is mainly exposing the class divisions that we already knew existed. We hardly needed a virus to tell us that the royals are privileged, work is precarious for many, and some families have resources others don’t – whether that’s a cottage by the sea or a garden to play in

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-prince-charles-covid-19-test-old-divisions

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