money The Royal Family Is Forbidden to Play This Specific Board Game
When Queen Elizabeth II is around, nobody gets to pass Go, nobody collects $200 (er, £200), or get confused about that Luxury Tax square. Why? According to Express, Monopoly is strictly forbidden because, believe it or not, the royal family is like a lot of families and the real estate board game can get out of hand. The paper explains that the queen's rules and regulations go beyond what to wear, when to wear it, and who shakes whose hand (well, nobody right now, thanks to the coronavirus) and extend to board games.
Express unearthed a quote from The Daily Telegraph that explains it all. Back in 2008, when Prince Andrew got Monopoly as a gift during a royal function, he had to turn it down. Why? He explained that it was banned, because "it gets too vicious."
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"In December 2008, Prince Andrew attended Leeds Building Society’s newly refurbished Albion Street headquarters. Before he left the Duke of York was given the property board game Monopoly to mark his visit," Express wrote. "However, Andrew had to politely decline the game as he reportedly revealed: 'We are not allowed to play Monopoly at home.' The Daily Telegraph reported Andrew explained the game could cause arguments within the family, as 'it gets too vicious.'"
That doesn't mean that Prince Louis and little Archie won't ever get to experience the table-flipping anger of not being able to make a rent payment or the heartbreak of having a cousin choose the dog token and being stuck with the iron. Andrew didn't explain whetheror not it's OK for the royals to have at it when the queen's not around, after all. With all the royals quarantining in different places — Queen Elizabeth II is at Windsor Castle riding horses every day, Kate Middleton and Prince William are at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, and Meghan Markle and Prince William are dealing with drone attacks in L.A. — there's no telling how many rogue Monopoly games are happening.
