Second homes and key workers!

With the royal family ignoring rules about moving to second homes during the crisis, it seems other parts of the government`s guidance aren`t applicable to them either (Queen and family observe self-isolation, 26/03/20). Shouldn`t the "skeleton staff" attending only to the Queen and her husband at Windsor be allowed to work from home, or have the Page of the Backstairs and footman suddenly been designated as key workers?

Instructions about staying at home are, as Sajid David says, "rules that we should all obey to stop people dying" (Stay at home - this is an emergency, PM warns in TV address to nation, 24/03/20). Indeed, a government announcement states that "essential travel does not include visits to second homes" and that people "should remain in their primary residence", so presumably all plans for the queen to attempt to boost the morale of the nation with a televised address have been scrapped? With she and her husband having decamped to their second, possibly third, home, in Windsor, and their eldest son retreating  for the foreseeable future to his fourth, possibly fifth, home, in Scotland, tuning into her speech would be like listening to Johnson speaking to us from his lounger in Mustique (Steve Bell`s If, 19/03/20)! 

       Rather than epitomise the idiom about "one rule for the rich", it would be far better if the royals opened up some of their many properties for use by the NHS!

With the Queen "liaising with the government on the timing" of her speech to the nation, questions have to be asked about its "morale-boosting" qualities (Queen prepares for morale-boosting address to nation, 23/03/20). Will such a speech really raise spirits at a time when the population is being ordered to say at home, and not visit second homes or campsites? Everyone will know full well that she and her husband have left their first home preferring to reside in their second, possibly third, home, in Windsor, whilst her first son has retreated "for the foreseeable future" to his fourth, possibly fifth, home, in Scotland. 

        A televised address will most certainly emphasise the truth  about there being one rule for the rich, but its uplifting effect on the nation`s morale is debatable. Far better to open up the many unoccupied houses the royal family own for use by the NHS!