The Royal Family #35

[Em_gardener]

You're right, nice clothes, bland personality, job done

Exactly. I know she gets criticised for it but she's a much better 'royal' and a better team player than Diana or Meghan for example and she also has much more privacy than either of them did as royals. Bringing too much of your own personality to work with you when you're a royal is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. The way Kate does it is more sustainable in the longer term and she will be in the public eye for the rest of her life.
There's no point expecting royals to be trailblazers or to set the world alight with their ideas or their charity work. It's not really their role. Their role is to support some nice 'safe' charities, meet the public and appear interested in what they're talking about, host foreign dignitaries and lay on a good banquet for them, and represent Britain abroad. It's basically meeting people and being nice to them - the same as other ceremonial heads of state - and Kate is good at that. She and William could definitely do a lot more of it though especially now they're Prince and Princess of Wales.

I know Meghan said the RF wanted her to be 50% less or she couldn't be herself or something along those lines but honestly when you don't even work 2 half days a week then who cares if you can't express your full personality at work. I can't express my full personality at work either and I have to go there 5 days a week for the whole day. I have to be polite to all sorts of people who really annoy me too. Kate is right to do it the way she does it - she has a better relationship with the in laws, less criticism in the press, more privacy and less stress than if she were sharing her true opinions on things or if she were trying to change the British media landscape like Harry is.
I think she probably does things her way when it matters to her like taking photos of the kids herself or the way she's been able to stay so involved with her own family. Why would she care if she has to wear a green dress in Ireland or bite her tongue when she hears something stupid on a walkabout when she has the rest of the week off afterwards to do what she likes.

 

[BonBon27]

This is England’s dress, right?

 

[Onetwofour]

To be honest, I don't get the whole "she waited 10 years". She was 29 years old when they got married. It's not unconventional for people meeting young to only marry 7-10 years later. I think it makes sense for some people to not rush into marriage in their twenties. It's a very transformative decade. Kate and William's relationship got its up and downs when they got engaged. At least they were sure they could handle issues and make it work, they probably already knew the worse of each other. It was not the most stupid choice when your know that your relationship will be under the spotlights for the next decades. Having already lived challenges, Kate and William were more protected of the pressure of the medias post-marriage.

Maybe it doesn't look very romantic, but it looks like a more successful marriage than William's father, uncle and aunt. I think I prefer a more realistic approach to love and marriage than the version offered by Meghan and Harry. I don't believe in the idea of seeing a life's partner like a semi-god that can never be wrong. To me, love is seeing the other as they are and to love them anyway. It's also about being a team that can face challenges. Harry couldn't help his suicidal wife, Meghan let Harry publishing a book where he talks about his penis and his mother in the same paragraph.. They can talk all they want about their fairy tale with rosy sunsets, but I don't find them aspirationnal.

As to the real state of Kate and William's marriage, who knows? But they are good at keeping it private and people can only speculate. It also protects their children.

 

[Boring Monday]

Please can Rod Stewart, Brian May, Elton John, Paul McCartney be otherwise engaged.

 

[sephylily]

I think lady c knows fuck all tbh

 

[Great_Kate]

I am absolutely in favour in putting a damn tiara on every eligible head. Can you imagine? Anna, Sophie, Kate, Camilla, Beatrice, Eugenie, Zara, Louise…. maybe a tiny one for Charlotte? And then the ones further down the line - cousins and aristocrats that have their own family tiaras. And the royal guests from other countries….. We deserve this!!!!

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Have I understood this thread correctly?

Kate and William are work shy, lazy and don't do enough engagements. However, when they do appear to be doing more engagements they are are rubbing the noses of the plebs and showing fake concern?


I wonder if it's a protocol that they never take anything to any of these engagements in the name of impartiality. Can't be seen to show any favouritism. ( I do believe after Catherine visited a baby bank they received a donation from Pampers which was to do with her )

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

I think they'd be criticised whatever they do.

If they brought a few bags on groceries.. they're rich so why couldn't they bring more?
If they brought Tesco food.. why could't they bring Waitrose?
If they brought Waitrose food.. oh they're lording their wealth over us.

Remember when Charlotte and her parents brought food packages to the vulnerable during lockdown?
People commented that they didn't bring enough
People commented that they were bring snack bags to the peasants
Or that 'what were people going to do with homemade plain pasta'
The five year old was also blasted for delivering food during the lockdown and was labeled 'irresponsible' by the express
Or that the donations should have been done in secret.

So should the donations be in secret or not?

People who dislike the Monarchy or don't want the Monarchy will always find fault with what they do.

Catherine gets criticised for what she was wearing, that it was too expensive. If she wears a pair of Accessorize earrings then she's being
patronising to the plebs.

They visit a food bank and it's criticised. If they didn't go they would be accused of of ignoring the issue.

As I said, if you don't like the idea of Monarchy, they will never get it right.

 

[Asshats]

The very fact that Carole sent them to a private school (and kate went to a private uni!) and instead of going off and carving out their own careers they have both managed to marry very wealthy men and social climb is not lost on anyone...

There is nothing wrong with being privilege or marrying into it like they have but lets not pretend that they'll be setting the corporate world on fire if they hadn't met their husbands

I'm no fan, but there's no need to make shit up. St Andrew's isn't a private Uni; anyone can go there if they apply.

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Im one of those who is scratching my head at the idea of volunteering!!!What am I meant to be volunteering for? I am willing to spend time doing something, but what?

Will it be like volunteering at a food bank? If so where is all the food going to come from to be distributed out on that day?
Will it be volunteering to run a big party locally for the coronation for the local children and old people? No...a big community meal seems to be for the Sunday?
Will it be volunteering to plant loads of trees? Doubtful, as they tried that last year, planted loads of tiny saplings in the hottest summer for generations, and almost all the new trees died because of weather conditions!

Any kind of effective volunteering needs loads of work beforehand, to set things up, to organise things, to find funds for things.... There are basically 3 months to go to organise. Thats not long!

No it doesn't. Go out and pick up litter. Invite a lonely person round for dinner. Volunteering or doing a good deed doesn't need to be a grand gesture.

 

[Libbylulu]

Not a popular opinion but I want to see all the pomp and procession the Coronation brings. This kind of event is what we do best. In 1952 when the country was still being rationed the event was spectacular.

 

[jkroche95]

You can slice it whichever way you want...that foodbank visit did not go down well. And I don't even mean with the regular royal watcher crowd. It was the general consensus on all the social media platforms and newspaper articles I looked at. Which makes sense because this is not a Royalist issue...it's a matter of raising awareness and compassion for desperate people. If the intention is to encourage people to follow their lead, then while a private donation is great and all, it would've done a world of good to show them bringing in a few bags of essential items as people are so easily influenced by them.
There were much better ways to go about this. They could have dressed down in casual clothes, actually help with the packing and sorting and distributing, left behind the entourage of photographers ( just carry 1 or 2) and bring a box of non-perishables with some baked goods from the children for the staff. Such an easy PR win if they cared just a little bit. They don't seem to put much thought into any of these visits...just follow what their staff advises because they don't seem to really, actually care about the issues themselves. Their concern is only about doing what they have to to ensure the Monarchy survives...it is not about the actual people they meet.

I think they'd be criticised whatever they do.

If they brought a few bags on groceries.. they're rich so why couldn't they bring more?
If they brought Tesco food.. why could't they bring Waitrose?
If they brought Waitrose food.. oh they're lording their wealth over us.

Remember when Charlotte and her parents brought food packages to the vulnerable during lockdown?
People commented that they didn't bring enough
People commented that they were bring snack bags to the peasants
Or that 'what were people going to do with homemade plain pasta'
The five year old was also blasted for delivering food during the lockdown and was labeled 'irresponsible' by the express
Or that the donations should have been done in secret.

So should the donations be in secret or not?

 

[Boring Monday]

It is possible to quite like the idea of a monarchy with the history and pomp and also think that some of the current incumbents are a load of twonks and that the institution needs an overhaul but not extermination.

 

[Mark81]

It's interesting how Kate seems to get a lot of flack for staying with William (if he did have the alleged affair), and meghan supposedly wouldn't have handled things the same way. Yet she and her friendship group worship Hilary Clinton who did the exact same thing (never mind all the other issues surrounding the Clintons) and it's not like people don't stay with partners who have cheated in the real world either.

Just seems odd to criticise her actions as if its something awful/detached from real world when it's actually a common occurrence (if it happened at all of course).

 

[Lammington]

Honestly, anyone whose business was outed by the book has the right to cash in on it, to my mind. If Harry can get millions for writing his side of interactions with others, why is it salacious or wrong for them to get money for their side?

 

[Sea]

I don't want them at the coronation, as much as I love celeb gossip and dissecting behaviour, it should be a "don't rain on my parade day", the focus should be on Charles and the ceremony. The day, although of personal importance to the royal family, is a state occasion, it is a ceremony of the duty to his people. (And i say this as a non royalist!)

Also i dont want the BBC filling in silence with H&M narrative, nor hear if the children are with their grandmother in Montecito (the living one not the saintly floating ghost grannie). I don't want to see headlines showing h&m standing "frostily" next to w&k, or h&m extending any "olive branches" blah blah blah!

 

[Boredofgrey]

I like that this is mostly neither rave nor hate. For the most part we’re able to comment, air different views and opinions without it being nasty. I like reading views that oppose my own. Adult dialogue. It’s healthy.

 

[hannah123]

Harry wrote about Charles still carrying around a childhood teddy to battle his trauma of bullying at school. If there was any line to begin with Harry had already crossed it so to me it’s a free for all of anyone who wants to make money from him.

 

[sephylily]

I see William has been an absolute dick again.
When will he learn that he’s just not funny?

Prince William calls children on lunch break and rinses their mum's baking

In a video posted on TikTok the Prince of Wales, 40, appeared on a pupil's phone screen while sitting with one of their mums.

metro.co.uk

He wasn’t a dick at all all he was funny and all the comments thought he was as well. I saw that TikTok a few days ago and everyone including the person who filmed it found it funny

 

[sephylily]

I’m bored of hats. I want to see the bling. What is the point of having it f you’re not going to wear it