Well, well. Over the weekend, The Daily Mail’s senior royal correspondent (and one of Princess Diana’s favorite reporters) Richard Kay wrote a flat-out fascinating story about the Cambridges. You can read the full piece here. It’s all pretty engrossing and I’m not sure if I believe all of it, especially the stuff about Kate’s discomfort with comparisons to Diana.
The introduction of the Middleton Rules: The “Rules” are described as being introduced by William shortly after he proposed to Kate, part of an agreement he had with the Middletons (specifically Michael, for some reason). The Rules are basically to insure that Kate was never thrown to the proverbial wolves like Diana was when she was just 19. Kay writes that the rules “were presented to the Queen and Prince Charles by William as a fait accompli.”
What are the Middleton Rules? As Kay writes, “It went beyond merely fending off the pesky paparazzi and involved the use of expensive media lawyers, and the meticulous planning of future royal duties and the upbringing of the children they were planning, to create an extraordinary protective bubble around the family. In short, the Middleton Rules would establish that the middle-class values embodied by Kate’s family…were not abandoned the moment she was upgraded from girlfriend to Duchess.”
Kate was supposed to attend Bear & Daisy’s wedding: Kay notes that Kate-friendly sources insist that she was never going to attend last weekend’s wedding, but Kay’s source said that Kate really did RSVP (and not cancel) and she and William “were meant to be sitting on the top table. The placement had been imaginatively written on an antique-looking mirror inside the marquee and the names included William and Catherine Wales.”
Whether the Middleton Rules mean Kate doesn’t attend weddings: Kay notes the criticisms lodged at Kate for not attending, and he seems open to the idea that maybe she’s just tired from looking after two kids. But, Kay also notes, William and Pippa stayed overnight. Kay writes: “What is harder to work out is William’s presence. To put it bluntly: why is he partying with Pippa and not helping out his wife at home?”
Kate knows what William needs/wants. Sources tell Kay that Kate is fine with William going off for a weekend because “She knows how to handle him and she lets him have his head from time to time to blow off steam. And remember, her sister was there, too.”
What the Queen thinks of all of this. Kay notes that William missed out on V-J anniversary celebrations in London to attend his friend’s wedding and the Queen “has got used to William missing some important ceremonial events since his marriage and has generally been willing to tolerate these absences (and Kate’s virtual invisibility) out of deference to their family life and the Prince’s day job.”
The Queen’s courtiers are another story though. Kay says “senior courtiers” have been bitching to journalists off the record about William prioritizing social events ahead of duty, and they even outed William as attending Bear’s stag party before the wedding. But, Kay also notes, William really has cut down on a lot of social engagements with friends, especially in the past few years.
Kate is struggling. How Kay writes it: “I understand there are some issues that are concerning Palace aides as Kate has, at times, struggled to adapt to royal life. In particular, she loathes the constant comparisons with Diana — especially when these emanate from within Palace walls. Living up to the public image of the late Princess, let alone William’s near veneration of his mother, has proved a significant strain at times. Indeed, I am told it has even been murmured that when the time comes, she might not want to be Princess of Wales at all — which could mean the title has gone forever. She also dislikes references to her as a clothes horse. Friends say that while she is naturally image-conscious, she is certainly not a fashion obsessive.”
What the Queen thinks of Kate: Kay says the Queen in sympathetic towards Kate generally and the Queen thinks Kate “has acquitted herself well” on those rare public appearances that she does make. But… the Queen’s “one reservation has been that Kate was clinging too much to her family… she does still frequently return to Bucklebury, the Middleton family home in Berkshire. Royal aides may privately complain about the proximity of the entire Middleton clan in the Cambridges’ life, but have had to accept that this situation has come about not because of Kate, but because it is William’s choice.”
Charles’ complaints. Kay reiterates that Charles has problems with how little he sees of George, but one of William’s friends tells Kay: “The problem is the Prince of Wales is so sensitive to any reproach and anything that he feels undermines his position. The fact is Charles can’t cope with the disorder that naturally comes with a very lively toddler like George. Mike Middleton, on the other hand, rather enjoys it.”
Kay’s sources also say that Kate’s feelings were hurt when courtiers bashed her too-short hemlines, wedges and big sausage curls – she apparently has made some wardrobe adjustments but refuses to cut her hair (although, I will point out, she has progressively de-sausaged her hair). So, what are we left with? William is a temperamental brat and he exhausts everyone, including his family. Kate struggles with everything and she clings to her family. William has canonized his mother in death and Kate is over it. Kate lies about going to weddings. William is a 33-year-old man-boy who is still trying to stick it to his dad. Basically, we knew all of this before, but it’s still interesting to see it packaged this way.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
That article contradicts itself (and other narratives Kay himself has previously spouted) about a dozen times, so I think the overt story is the usual silly BS.
However, the subtext is a completely different matter. I think Kay listed out all the (probably true) bits of shade he’s been wanting to cast for ages, stuck a few conjunctions in to make paragraphs out of them, and sent out the result in the hopes of maximum damage.
Agree, it’s mostly BS. But, I wonder why Kay needed to throw a little shade, in a back-handed way, on the Queen (“clinging… to her family”) and PC (“Mike Middleton…enjoys it”). He knows most DM readers object to any criticism of Kate spending time with family and they think Charles can see George whenever he wants.
So do I have this right?
Charles is morbidly sensitive and easily offended. It has affected all the relationships of his life. He is an emotional mess. It could have a negative effect on the country when he takes over!
William is spoiled and willful, and acting out. He wants to party like an unencumbered man and still project the image of Diana’s dutiful son and loving family man. He is letting Kate (really, Carole) do the heavy lifting on that front. His unresolved emotional issues could affect the entire country when he takes over.
Middleton “middle class” values – like partying in Mustique, running through millions of dollars of other people’s money, living in houses staffed with minions and run like five star hotels – are affected the future of the monarchy, and the country!
Kate was ill prepared and perhaps ill suited to public life. She is a “recluse”.
I hope I am following along.
And, ph yeah, the press is pissed at these two.
Well, you’ve made a considerably better attempt at making a coherent whole out of it than Kay did! Which certainly underlines that he’s written a nonsense story full of accurate details – and that might well sound counter-intuitive but is actually entirely deliberate.
I think they call it a pincer move!
LMAO, suze! I think you’ve captured it. The real question is whether the Queen sees it just as you do, which is driving her to seek immortality, quite successfully so far, out of love for her subjects.
Yup. This is more fallout.
This has been going on for weeks now, it’s like a Cold War between William and the DM, nobody’s declaring Armageddon yet but they are dropping increasingly heavy hints it’s going that way. I would love to know what they’ve got on William, they keep banging on about his unwillingness to give up his ‘party lifestyle’ and his enthusiasm for getting rat arsed so I’m guessing it’s something to do with alcohol…
I think they’re reading the crowd. Slowly introducing this seems to be going well for them. Then they’ll have the upper hand. William stop this nonsense of trying to strip away their freedoms or expect more of this.
Thing is, he can stop it. But can he swallow his pride long enough to do it?
That’s a good question, FLORC. I think he made a huge mistake with that letter to the press, and he’s so petulant he won’t back down. I hope Armageddon happens soon. This royal brat needs to be brought down.
I would agree except for the fact that Kay, although media, has always stated his well thought out and well sourced opinions. He’s never had to scramble after leaks or whatever gossip scraps the other journalists fight for. He doesn’t do copy and paste stories and he’s bold. He was this way even when he clearly didn’t like Kate.
I want to know what has happened. If Kate is headed for a nervous breakdown this piece would be the perfect set-up, imo.but I’ll never put Kay in the same boat as the other fed up, frustrated journalists ready to turn the tables. Kay has no agenda – he tells it like he sees it.
Yes, thank you Suze for making sense of Kay’s article, good job. I had a hard time following it, ha. I do feel Kay has good sources at the Palace and with Charles’ camp, so he has to run a fine line with being too direct.
So Kate doesn’t like the Diana comparison? A commenter at the Daily Mail mentioned a wonderful clip on Youtube, search Charles and Diana Together. Diana is 24, William is 3 and Harry 1 and she comes across as good at being interviewed, and making small talk, caring, into her work, they show her at a hospice etc. The commenter pointed out she is about 10 years younger than Kate. This is what I remember and what I expect.
Listen to the part around 6:45 where Charles, when asked what his ‘job’ is, says it would be ‘easy to sit back and do nothing.’ Wish Kate would see this clip and buckle down and make it look like she cares about issues affecting people or the environment, something.
Suze, you forgot the part about Kate “struggling”…
Even to someone like me (who doesn’t follow the royals much), it seems more like “not trying at all” or just not giving a damn.
Thanks Sharon Lea – I remember watching this when it came out and just watched it again. Both Charles & Diana seem to have had a good grasp of what was expected of them – even without a written job description as Charles alluded to. It has to do with having a work ethic v.s. a sense of self-entitlement. Unlike W&K who appear to lack a vision and a work ethic are a sharp contrast to C&D.
Edit: In particular, Diana’s natural ease with people and genuine interest in them comes out in the segment where she visits the hospice. It’s all about the person she is with and you can see that with every interaction. It’s easy to say Kate could learn a thing or two and perhaps she could in terms of actually trying to work more, but it’s not that simple. Kate simply doesn’t have Diana’s charisma and genuine interest in others and it shows.
Imo
Kay is still a journalist and he does better with profitable articles.
They’re all playing that game of balance. Writing a story that will get read and appeasing parties involved. However that may be. I’ve found him to be more bold and less brown nosey than others, but still he has his agenda.
And (imo) I dont think Kate is near a nervous breakdown. Her actions appear still extremely coddled and i’d be shocked if even 10% of the constructive criticism reaches her. Or it does and never sinks in.
FLORC
Agree except if Kate was having coping challenges it would not be the result of negative press or popular criticism. It would be because of her perceived difficulties with private issues. She has been described as high-strung before which could be a euphemism for tempestuous. Her being coddled or shielded by the handlers would not prevent her from seeing herself as overwhelmed. If William is not easy to live with and if her mother is too strong willed Kate may be between a rock and a hard place in her mind. She certainly seems to be filling some kind of void with meaningless fluff.
Candice – yes, exactly! Both Charles and Diana seemed to have a good grasp of what was expected of them and were able to articulate it in an interview. I agree that Kate doesn’t have the star quality of Diana, but we’d all give her a lot of points for trying, like Anne. She put 9 -10 years trying to land William, we know she has determination, can she use it for the greater good?
Imo
Yea. I think you’ve said it well with this.
She does sort of remind me of some ladies I know. They shop to fill voids of time. Boredom. And they feel overstressed in life because not being able to get the time slot they want at the nail salon is a tragedy that ruins their day. It’s perspective/relative. Because this is all they have it’s hyper important.
It’s like they want to insult the Cambridges but have to do it in this bizarre roundabout caveated way so as not to overtly offend the predominantly older royal loving DM readership
Mara: they aren’t sure which way the wind is blowing. they’ve written enough stories to know it isn’t all sunshine and roses, but it isn’t all vinegar. so they are treading one step negative and two steps positive.
eventually they will come out and say it. they just need to be very, very sure first.
I think Mara has the what exactly right and LAK has the why exactly right.
STILL not quite there for the tipping point, but things are certainly ramping up.
I agree!
Interesting aside (at least to me), whoever advised Prince Harry that it might be a good idea to make himself busy outside of the country for several months is brilliant.
If it was Harry himself who read the winds of change, kudos to him.
@Suze – Harry has been distancing himself from these 2 for a while, he’s focusing more and more on doing his own thing with the Invictus Games and Sentebale (which Willy was originally involved in but like all his other ‘endeavours’ has pulled away from).
There is a media blood lust building and it’s going to be epic – they must have some very damaging things on these 2.
Betti/Suze
It’s interesting to read William and Harry. They’re both very expressive and appear to not easily hide their emotions. Kate is the complete opposite. She can put on a good front and any slips you might notice (eyeroll) is a simple case of lacking proper etiquette/social courtesy(imo).
Harry has appeared less relaxed around WK when he has been there. Less smiles or cracking jokes. More stiff. Polite still, but no where near what he used to be.
And his working… he’s always done this. Harry was often away and now that he’s not deployed he’s not sitting at home. He’s still traveling and working. When he gets something going WK will step in and attach their names. When the fanfair dies down they’ll step back.
LAK/Sixer, what do you guess the story will be? William is a drunk party animal who is cheating on Kate, Kate is an emotional wreck, The Middletons are getting divorced??? All of the above?
I don’t think there is necessarily a specific story. There might be one; there might be dozens.
I think there are invisible lines and Normal Bill is so far beyond his that there will be fallout. The royals only get to live lives of privilege and luxury thanks to those invisible lines – and here, the quid pro quo is public service. You don’t step up to the plate as a royal then you will, eventually, get called on it. The instigators of the calling out will be the press.
It happens once in every generation. And Normal Bill is fast approaching the moment he gets called back into line because it’s get into line or the public will get the pitchforks.
(My best hope is that the ridiculous little squirt steps aside and Harry says, I don’t effing well think so and does the same. Then we can nationalise all the holdings and they can all bugger off. I can but dream. This last bit won’t happen, but Normal Bill’s comeuppance most definitely will).
Vava: all the above? Exception Divorces. I genuinely think these two will not divorce. I don’t know enough about Mike and Carole’s marriage dynamic to speculate.
I thought you could abdicate for yourself and for future children (as Edward VIII did) but not for existing children. So if William abdicated, it would be George next in line, not Harry.
William can remove himself but, since they are born, not his kids. He might be able to request Parliament tinker with the laws but IDK. Is a very nice dream to have Harry as Charles’ heir, though, and would be lovely if it happened – at least we know he actually cares and would work, especially when it comes to his patronages.
I think they’d have to remove them, as long as they are under 18, whatever laws they have to bend. They removed all future (nonexistent) children of Uncle David too.
You couldn’t have the future heir and spare raised by two people who threw it all away because they didn’t care about monarchy. Likewise, you couldn’t have the uproar of Queen or Charles taking the kids away and raising them (which legally the sovereign can do).
If William steps aside, which I don’t he will, they’d have to take the kids out of the line too.
Not that it’s going to happen, but there’s nothing in the law at present allowing the Establishment to take the children out of the line of succession. One of the ways they’d keep William in line is to threaten him with this scenario. If it were inevitable, they’d sort the law out (one of the benefits of a ‘living constitution’) but there is nothing in the Bill of Rights 1689 or the Act of Settlement 1701 permitting William to take his children out of the line of succession.
If William removed himself in a fit of ‘woe is me’ George and Charlotte would still be next in line but Harry could hold the top job for a while as ‘Regent’ until George reached 18. Assuming that neither the Queen or Charles were alive at that point. Alas it’s never going to happen because William likes his privledges, somone else footing the bill for his every desire, the 10s of millions which will come to him from the Cornwall estates each year when he becomes Prince of Wales and the constant ego massaging by the establishment, beside the fact he probably couldn’t cope in the real world and damn well knows it.
As Tina says – we have an unwritten constitution. If Normal Bill ever decided to become truly normal, then the legislation would be written around the circumstances.
I really don’t think the Middletons hustled for so many years to become mere mortals when/ if William gives up the throne. That would be such a bad investment.
If the Middleton’s(Carole&Mike) divorce. I give William and Kate about 8 more years together before William gets the nerve to get out of his marriage. I don’t believe he ever has been deeply in love with Kate. The wedding day came off more as if, he was performing a chore.
Richard Kay is quite reliable and has good sources inside still. I believe the article is someone wanting these things leaked about Kate, not coping.
Also Ingrid Seward and other journalists have said over the years that William is very, very sneaky and does a lot that the Palace stops from being reported.
Aww. Poor, little, sensitive rich boys and girls.
Guffawing at the thought of her feelings being hurt by courtiers comments on her style.
Diddums!
‘Middleton Rules’ = ‘Having your cake and eating it blatantly in front of all the peasants ‘Middleton Rules’ just proves everything we have been saying on this site for ages. They want a quiet ‘normal’ middle-class life PLUS all the ludicrous amounts of money, privilege and elitism that Royalty automatically entails. Land grabbing off farmers for example to relocate (I’m trying not to swear) a *&$%%£ Tennis Court. These people make me want to puke. Somebody please pass me a bucket.
All this Middleton middle class rule nonsense is making me miss the decadent do not give a f!#k Allthruster Bonas family.
At least they’re honest.
The Middleton’s remind me of the Boleyn’s, cut throat, ruthless, tell any lie, flatter anyone with a title to get the ring, then once in, still scheming.
Sounds like William put the Rules forward rather than Kate though. That’s where I’m sort of confused about how to assess the Middletons.
I think you’re asking the right questions. According to some stories the Middletons were ticked off with William after he wanted Kate vack just before the boat race she had trained for although they had always supported him before. Mike, in particular, thought the reunion was a bad idea. He asked William his intentions and the response was marriage. Carole said only on the condition that Kate not be mistreated, she would not have to give her family up and they would not be cut out of the grandchildrens’ lives.according to William’s engagement interview he said he decided not to ask Kate’s father for her hand because he would have said no. This statement always struck me as odd. He then said that it was Michael who broke the news to Carole and he and Kate were somewhat nervous about her reaction.
Now there are as many opinions out there as stars in the sky about the Middletons but Kay confirms what I’ve explained here in this latest article. More than interesting, imo.
Imo
Parts of that story get changed around and others make less sense. Help me with this.
Mike Laid Down The Law. I’ve read here and there (KatieN for 1) that it was Carole who took William aside and asked William his intentions/not to mistreat Kate/control or access over the grandchildren. I’m sure Michael felt the same, but it was told this came from Carole. Exception possibly being the engagement interview where Kate and William mention this. And that was said to be riddled with edits, scripted questions/responses, and coaching. Which is not unordinary since many interviews or sitdowns with royals formally like that and in their control are the same.
Now speaking more candid and from observations of personality, situations, and how things have been unfolding. William can give his word, but if Kate accepts his behavior and the midds still invite him along who exactly is putting their foot down that William not continue to mistreat Kate?
Lastly, Kate worked the pr angle hanging out with William’s friends, losing weight, having fun without him and making sure the cameras got it… That doesn’t really ring of letting go from either Kate or Carole. I do believe both were upset at him though, but more that there was a break up and that there was such a long wait for a proposal. Not for the mistreatment. Unless that is what they meant by mistreatment?
That whole interview was shady. The engagement story didn’t ring true (and was a copy of his friend’s engagement story), and at one point they mention coming back from Scotland instead of Africa. Kate also says that she doesn’t care what other people think, which didn’t bode well.
Good questions but I’m not really here to defend the statements – just adding them to the narrative because they shouldn’t be overlooked if one wants to untangle the rumors. That plus Kay’s corroboration of this is no little thing or a coincidence. I’m not entirely certain I believe the Middletons were ready to cut William off at the knees. But I completely believe that after the 2007 break-up and reunion they gave William the cold treatment. I’m also wondering if Michael secretly wishes William had never crossed their paths. As for questioning the engagement video I’m not going to decide when a direct quote with video should be believed versus explained away. That is just too much handcrafting for my tastes. In the pecking order of information video is tops closely followed by direct quotes then named sources no more than two layers away from the person/story in question. So the engagement video stands.
IMO: you and I have points of disagreements from time to time, and i’m afraid I’m going to disagree with you again regarding the engagement video.
Overall you are right, but that Engagement video is full of lies, misdirection and delusion. The lies are deliberate because that is William and his privacy obsession, the misdirection is trying to control the story such that they give the public what it what’s and the delusion is where they’d clearly told each other what the other wanted to hear to justify matters going forward. And some of it was manifesto going forward.
Not to mention that it was re-edited several times, and answers were provided by the production team, not WK.
Some of the lies were apparent immediately, others have become apparent with time as more information is available or you start to connect the dots.
Imo
If it comes down to pecking orders and trumps (assuming peching order higher trumps others) then there’s a vast number of contradicting storylines in video alone. Because we watch someone speak something only means we can be more certain they said it. Not that it’s true. Especially with so many contradicting timelines and quotes as things were unfolding and not rewritting for a more appealing story. Especially with so much of it already directly contradicted from numerious solid sources and facts that neither gain or lose anything by stating.
I get your point, but I cannot agree to that pecking order of trumps (if that is correct/assumptions).
If their entitled behavior continues, then I kind of blame the public for accepting it. At some point, the press and public have a responsibility to openly criticize behavior they feel falls short of the royal-public agreement.
Richard Palmer just wrote a few days ago that according to repsonses and questions he gets from the public when he’s out covering the royals, that the public is falling out of love with Kate…..he gets asked why she doesn’t work more, or why she complains about her position, yet knew what she was marrying into.
Courtiers… who are these people and how do theycome to be so opinionated (if not powerful) in 21st century?
I’ve wondered about this, too. The term sounds so “18th Century”.
courtiers are like the chief of staff. they make sure the entire edifice runs forever and keep the show on the road.
they are simply the staff that a public figure needs in order for their office to run except they have fancier titles and the office has been running for centuries.
At the end of the day, everyone blames the courtiers for all the royals’ shortcomings whilst praising the royals when monarchy is working properly.
Fancy talk for palace staff.
Have they always been so gossipy? I would have imagined keeping your lips zipped was a job requirement, especially today.
courtiers are unrepentant gossipers.
the question is whether they’d gossip to an editor/journalist or keep it amongst themselves/friends and or keep it for future memoirs.
When the wheels were flying off the Chuck and Di show, there was a river of gossip fed from the palace to the press.
Yes, the Courtier’s have been gossipy over he years. During Charles and Diana’s marriage, they were giving leaks left and right, from both camps, Charles and Diana’s or even on their own. Just go look at old issues of 80’s and 90’s PEOPLE Magazines, before People got all syrupy with celebs PR Machines.
it´s these old people who cling to traditions at all costs and run the royal household.
For example the Lord Chamberlain and the palace secretaries and all these traditionalists with silly old titles who work for the monarchy for decades and think only they can save the monarchy.
As LAK says these people keep the monarchy and the “magic monarchy fairytale” going. Without them the Windsors would strangle themselves
but they only leak if there is possible trouble stirring behind the scenes, or someone is becoming a problem for the Palace or if instructed by someone for whatever reason. Richard Kay has definite credibility, he’s old school deep roots within. if someone wanted these things leaked about Kate, William or Middleton’s, he’d definitely be a go to person by Courtier’s with inside knowledge or an agenda, to get this story out.
That was my question too!
What i took from these articles is confirmation of:
On Willy
1 – He’s an effed up spoiled man child who is determined to keep sticking it to his father and grandmother at every opp he gets
2 – If he and his wife get near the throne it will be the end of the Monarchy
3 – It could be that he’s realising the mistake in marrying her, hence why he is pulling away. He is repeating his father’s mistakes
4 – He doesn’t want to be King and has been looking for a way out for years. He won’t get one, his wife and her family won’t let him walk away from the throne
5 – There could be issues over grief with him. He’s hiding behind his mother’s death and using it to beat his father and the press with and not taking responsibility for his own actions
Kate/The Middletons
1 – She’s inherently lazy and is clearly refusing engagements. Will only do them if shamed into and are glam ones like state banquets and an overseas trip to the Caribbean. She is not willing to do any for the charities and other organisations that she’s patron of. Girl doesn’t have a charitable or humanitarian bone in her body
2 – The whole Middleton clan is involved in the control Willy game. Its not all Carole and Mike is just as ambitious, he’s just more discreet about it
3 – Carole is living at Amner full time and is the one who’s running the household there
4 – Now that she and her family have what they want they don’t care about the people, press or the institution that she fought tooth and nail to get into. She just wants to stay at home and shop, decorate and go to Mustique
5 – She’s never ever made an effort to adjust to royal life, hence the ‘problems’, she had 10 years to prepare for it so am not buying this ‘excuse’
These 2 are doing a great job of turning Monarchists into Republicans. They really don’t give an eff about what the press write about them or what the people and the rest of the BRF think about them. I read Willy’s forward on the new book coming out about TQ and i almost vomited – he talks about her dedication to the job, something that he clearly lacks. These 2 need to go away permanently.
As a British citizen and tax payer I DO NOT WANT THEM IN THE LINE OF SUCCESSION.
Neither do I, he needs to just get on with it and remove himself from the succession. And, at the risk of repeating myself ad-nauseum – I’m just seeing Edward VIII, same vanity, arrogance and weakness – so don’t give up hope Betti, we might live to see the back of the useless little twat yet…
Thanks. I do live in hope that will happen. And yes i completely agree with the Edward VIII comparison – these 2 have given me that vibe for many years. At least Wallis was interesting and intelligent, unlike the simpleton we’ve been stuck with.
The Good Prince Harry for King.
Saywhatwhen, I like Harry, too.
I agree with everything you said Betti. I have been thinking the same thing for years. It is nice to see other people thinking along the same lines
I agree with everything you said Betti. I have been thinking the same thing for years. It is nice to see other people thinking along the same lines
Al la Elizabeth Woodville and her family…….. and look how that ended up! LOL
Edit: And I agree with the Wallis / Edward analogy too….
They, in various ways, reflect both
LOL @ Elizabeth Woodville. Awesome pull.
I agree with everything you said Betti. I have been thinking the same thing for years. It is nice to see other people thinking along the same lines
And that’s why it is often pointless to continue to post comments about W/K because it is just those things you stated that are endlessly regurgitated by most of us. However, the pleasure comes in reading how those points will be made and the personality that comes thru those posts.
With that said . . . I get why a a girl from a social climbing upwardly mobile family would doggedly pursue William but given Kate’s demeanor (disposition/strengths/weaknesses), she should have either pursued a less visible aristocrat or some scion from a business family. The monarchy is going down after Charles and, of course, ‘is nibs will be blamed. Hmm. That has me thinking. I wonder if Charles is that child in a dysfunctional family that carries the blame and shame for the family.
The Middleton narrative has been thrown down by the DM for sure. They seem to be promoting Michael Middleton and tossing some not so subtle shade at the rest of the middle class Middles.
Carole lives at Anmer, runs it like a five star hotel, and is basically raising George.
Pippa has filled her time with failed ventures and futilely chasing a good marriage match for years.
James is a business failure but what does it matter because investors keep throwing money at him.
I wish the DM would stop with the middle class crap. I know they don’t mean income, but lets face it, the Middletons don’t exactly model normal middle class values. The DM should just say “non royal”, rich people values.
And I am hardly a Middleton hater. Let them enjoy their status and money. Let’s just not lie about what they are.
…but Suze, you forget that the target audience is British from the home counties for whom the term ‘middle class values’ is shorthand for something that isn’t about money.
it’s the same as describing the Ecclestones as chavs nevermind that they are billionaires. money isn’t the problem here and the insult is never about it.
For what it’s worth, middleclass values can also be a compliment depending on context or person. Since we are talking royals, Sophie wessex is from Middleclass stock and that’s always seen as a positive .
I rather like “middle class values” being used as a synonym for “Kardashianesque infiltration”!
My own personal headline would be something like um… um…
MAFIOSA MAMA MIDDLETON INFECTS HEIR TO THE HEIR WITH ARRIVISM! VACCINE SOUGHT BY ESTABLISHMENT! STAT!
True, LAK, I am reading the from an American perspective. To people like me, the idea of the Middletons as middle class, or holding middle class values, is laughable.
Heck, the Queen herself is more middle class in my mind – she goes fishing with the family and wears babushkas – a truly US middle class activity.
Sixer made me laugh so hard I almost choked.
Lol Sixer, brilliant. When are you Brits just gonna get on with it and revolt?
mimif – Republic’s latest campaign is to nationalise the Duchy of Cornwall and we’re about to elect a Leader of the Opposition who is an outspoken republican. That’ll have to do for the moment!
(Truth be told: most people don’t give the chuff from a flying monkey about the royals, whether or not they’ve been infiltrated by Hyacinth Bucket Syndrome).
I have to disagree about Pippa. Her business ventures are crap but she also works very hard on her charities. To keep repeating that she is chasing a title seems silly to me because I have not heard that she and Nicko are anything but happy.
Imo
What charities are there are Pippa’s that she’s worked for outside of racing? Because unfortunately she doesn’t do much more than any other person that signs up and pays entrance fee for a race that gives to charity. Does she orgnaize them? Or hype them before she races? I’ve only ever heard on race day or maybe just before when entry is closed. Or after in an article she’s written.
I don’t really follow, but if you could shed light that would be appreciate.
And I agree with the rest of your comment.
Sixer
That’s pretty much what my friends there always tell me. They’re celebrities and nobody can bring themselves to care until their actions affect them like traffic back up. And that anyone who appears to care more than that might be an American!
That was always my take on Pippa, FLORC. I think she’s done one or two other things, but she’s never struck me as a charitable heavy hitter.
Wonderful summary, Betti. I have difficulty reading between the lines on this one. Thanks to all the press savvy who can interpret this for the rest of us.
I think that Waity doesn’t care what people think, and she is being enabled and coddled by Willy and her family. However, if Willy didn’t care what people think, why is he so hellbound about his privacy and his family’s (!think of the children! ). Why would he have Jason put out all sorts of folderol and sleight of hand to distract from what he’s really up to?
As for his take on the queen, I have always found Willy beyond glib. Buzzwords slip and ooze so readily from his forked tongue. Every thought and opinion from his mouth is ridden with cliches and empty phrases.
As for those Midds- ugh. Rapacious, soulless freaks. Willy deserves them; he is a victim of nothing but his own self-absorption and monstrous sense of entitlement.
One other thing- I wonder who effectively decides that the birth of Charlotte absurdly counts as an engagement for Duchess Dolittle. Clearly there are powers that be who are onside with enabling her indifference and laziness.
hmmm
After the birth of Charlotte i saw it was counted as an engagement. Now it’s not listed that I can find.
Rapavious, soulless freaks?
Wow.
“2 – If he and his wife get near the throne it will be the end of the Monarchy”
Completely not argumentative, just wondering: how would the end of the Monarchy come about, in your opinion? I mean, say Will & Kate took over, and they are lazy. Then what? Will you (the British people) storm their palace and kick them out? Would your government introduce a bill to get rid of them? Would some pressure be put on them to resign, so to speak (what do you call it when you put an end to an entire monarchy?) behind the scenes? I’m really not seeing how any behavior would cost them…
I just don’t see them saying :”oh, we’re clearly too lazy to be good for our people, maybe we should just call it quits”.
Timbuktu
No expert here. Just giving it a shot.
What would they be without people turning out to see them? If the BRF was unliked by the people would question their importance and purpose.
They would find less friends inside parl and other nations on visits would not go well and even be insulting or show weakness of character. On top of any shady dealing or request for more money being exposed. It would all lead people to question their worth on a massive scale. Not simply because they’re lazy. The lack of goodwill. The land grabs. They would all get more heads turned if they simply stopped doing anything for their people, but continued to take. And they can’t exist without taking.
That’s how lots beginnings to the end begin. How it plays out from there could really go a few ways. Other royals have been removed from their countries. Take your pick. They’re all still possible options.
I think apathy is the biggest threat to the monarchy.
I feel like apathy is not something that will happen any time soon, though. I’m not exactly sure why people are into royal family now, so I’m sure that there will always be people who will coo over princesses, royal babies, royal weddings, etc. W&K have 2 adorable babies that they can parade around for at least the next 18 years, and (given the royal family’s longevity so far) by the time Will becomes the King, they could probably get George married and get started with babies. Apathy? What apathy, when there are royal weddings and cute babies bringing all kinds of cash into the UK?
Timbuktu
The attention mostly comes from outside the UK. While citizens as it’s been explained to me have greater issues like corrupt and wasteful politicians. In the “grand scheme” it’s minor.
And more people outside the UK care about the babies imo because they’re royal babies. Not sure why.
The royal wedding bringing in money? It’s not what you’d think. Very very little is actually brought in because the monarchy exists there. The wedding was like the olympics. You spend so much for it and though you bring in tourism funds you will never make back what you spent.
While other nations and castles that have more to show with royals not living in the best areas keeping much of the art and jewels private can bring in FAR more from tourism. And they don’t have to pay to upkeep the sitting royals. The difference of profit is 6 to 7 figures.
Apathy because if William and Kate don’t lay the groundwork now, there will be no one around to support them later. If they don’t get their generation rallying round, I don’t see a whole lot of hope for the monarchy. Certainly the monarchy as it is now. Maybe people want a Kardashian King and Kween, because that’s what they’ll get the way things are going. (Absurd hyperbole to make the point!)
Timbuktu: we actually have lots of historical precedence for parliament removing and reinstating royals depending on what the country needs.
Charles 1 : didn’t do what parliament wanted, we got rid of him (and after the civil war, beheaded him)
Charles 2: was invited back after the glorious revolution coz our brief flirtation with republicanism didn’t take.
James 2: didn’t do what we wanted so we kicked him to the curb.
George 1: since we’d kicked out James, we invited George from Hanover to come be our King. ( technically we invited his mother Sophia, but she died before she could rule, so George it was)
William 3: since Mary 2 didn’t want to reign solo, we invited her cousin William of Orange to come over to co-rule
Edward 7: completely unfit to rule, so we let him run off with Wallis and pretended that was the real reason we were kicking him out.
And don’t forget our brief flirtation with republicanism under Oliver Cromwell.
The paperwork for kicking out monarchy and living under a republic is available. It would be a headache to institute, but it is there.
The deciding factor in the expulsion of James II was not only that he was a Catholic but that his Catholic queen gave birth to a son – and the idea of a catholic heir to a catholic king was more than Parliament could stand. Furthermore, James II didn’t understand the meaning of the word “compromise”.
Historically, monarchies tend to fall in the wake of large political crises and regime changes, often violent ones.
Many of the European monarchies disappeared after both WWI and WWII due to the political repercussions of those wars. In more recent times the Greek monarchy disappeared after a military coup in the 60s and the Greek RF went into exile. I don’t think that there’s ever been a monarchy that has been dissolved by democratic means.
The older the institution, the harder it is to dismantle unless something truely outrageous or heinous happen to incite the public’s ire. So I don’t expect to see the demise of the British monarchy unless they do something that actively pisses people off to an unprecented degree – even the way the BRF reacted to Diana’s death was not enough to topple it.
QEII’s legendary devotion to her role as queen is probably a reaction to Edward VIII’s abdication. Both her and the Queen Mother never forgave him or Wallis Simpson for what they did. I do see the parallels between William and Edward VIII, but not between Wallis and Kate. Wallis Simpson had the ambition and drive that Kate seems to lack. She was also more better suited for a public role/celebrity than Kate is.
The Middletons aren’t first ambitious royal in-laws in British history. The Woodvilles have been mentioned earlier. Under Henry VIII, there were the Boleyns and Seymours. Both families played significant roles in the English reformation and the Woodvilles were important patrons of education in late medieval England. The Middletons seem rather ordinary compared to them. More recently, there was Louis Mountbatten, uncle of Prince Phillip.
Yes, Mountbatten in recent years. But he was almost royalty so probably doesn’t count. 😀
Ambitious and rapacious families have often been the danger with royalty marrying among their own subjects. In the olden days such a marriage, or even a concubinage, could make the fortunes of a family, both in terms of status and wealth. The effect is more ambiguous today but as we can see the Middletons have certainly exploited the status that their royal connection gives them in the media’s celebrity culture.
I can definitely see the reason why someone like QMII of Denmark actively encouraged her sons to find their brides outside of Denmark. Furthermore, it wasn’t a secret that she wasn’t thrilled about those of CP Frederik’øs girlfriends who were featured in the media due to their professions ( a model and a pop singer).
The only think I disagree with is how she is having “a tough time adapting to royal life” are you kidding me? The girl has been groomed all her life to be the future Queen of the UK. She dated William for 10 years and they have been married 4. She and William both know what is expected of them, it’s just that they feel like they are entitled to the perks of being millionaires aristos without the work. I am sure that if William was a work horse and cared about this position, Kate would be working 300+ engagements a year. The girl will hustle, but why would she if it’s easier to go shopping and out to lunch while her husband, the one born into royalty, still parties like he was 18 and doesn’t give two flipping f*cks about the British people?
“a tough time adapting to royal life”
Let me help you understand. “She cannot understand the concept of ‘work’.”
Ha!
LOL……………!
My thoughts exactly. I haven’t a dab of sympathy for her, she chose this life with full knowledge of what would entail, including a roster of duties & charity work.
I think, on some level, William is in full rebellion against his predetermined life and he is using partially reasonable excuses ( “wanting to ease Kate gradually into royal life”, “having a quiet family life while his children are small”) to defer the act of taking on real responsibility. Together, W&K put forward the idea they are taking quiet time now and will be active later. . .
But I suspect something will have to change fundamentally in William’s attitude toward his future, before he willingly assumes a more active role.
I feel like a lot of this was fed to the Daily Mail to put down some of the speculation that’s been going on about Kate’s absences and their duty shirking. The whole thing smacks of their PR image of just wanting to be a normal couple. The part I was most amused by was the idea that Kate would be tired from looking after 2 small children or that William should be at home helping her. I can just picture Kate trying to feed Charlotte, play with George, and balance a basketful of laundry while the army of nannies and housekeepers just look on.
Maybe that’s part of the Middleton Rules, lol, that Kate actually has to take care of the kids herself.
Yeah, that’s such bull. And patronizing to us peasants.
@ MATA
HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA 😆 HA
Thanks for the giggles today!
This DM article is ridiculous. Why are they saying that Kate is “clinging” to her family while “the Spencer family played no part in Diana’s life after her marriage nor did the Fergusons after the Duchess of York wed Prince Andrew”? Visiting and spending time with your family is normal. Cutting them off completely once you get married is not.
So is inviting ur MIL to live with you and help raise the children normal? That’s the sub text shade the DM is getting at – Carole is practically running their lives for them.
Kate doesn’t just visit for a day or two or even a weekend. she spends weeks at a time at her parents’ home. That’s the part that is worthy of comment. taxpayers have had to fork out security updates in the millions to ensure that her parents’ home is safe for her and the babies. not to mention the inconvenienced neighbourhood since her presence means that all emergency services and policing are directed to her as the no 1 priority.
Excellent points LAK. As a Canadian, this is the stuff I am unaware of and for sure this would be annoying as f*&%. I am learning so much from these posts today. Most Canadians are kind of meh (most that I know anyway) about the Royals though we’ll turn out to see them when they visit…kind of like a curiosity. They are so far removed from out day to day lives though we pay through the teeth when they do visit.
Visiting and spending time with both sides of the family is ‘normal’ for most people, but these two seem to spend ALL their time with the Middletons to the point that Charles has complained about not seeing his Grand children and the Queen has expressed concern over it as well. And, as Betti points out it’s really not normal in the UK to invite your MIL to live with you. Given the sheer numbers of staff these two have to carry the day to day workload it seems even more bizarre to ask ‘Mum’ to come and help out and organise it all. What the effing h*ll does Kate DO all day? While she’s at home with Mum she’s performing the bare minimum of public duties and only when it suits her and all but ignoring her charities – it’s no wonder people ask questions.
I’ve attempted to imagine how she fills her day as well. My guess is she sleeps late and just slowly fills the rest of her hours with grazing at meals, online shopping, makeup application and other little time suckers.
I have a feeling she’s like an aimless teenager who thinks deciding the color of her shoes is the most pressing matter of the entire day.
@Christin – its well known she spends 2-3 hrs a day in their private gym. It was leaked to the press after Charlotte was born that she employed a personal trainer to help her get back in shape as soon as she was able to start working out again. She’s a serious gym bunny and when she’s not in the gym she’s out a hair salons for several hours or at spa’s or decorating the several large homes they have. All of which can be backed up by sightings on twitter or public requests to have their tennis court moved and view from the house landscaped.
Doesn’t leave much time for raising kids.
Spot-on, Betti! In the past, Kate has said (through her mouthpieces) that she regained her shape by breasfeeding, yoga, and gentle walks with her dog Lupus. Only a fool or a royal neophyte would believe that load of bs – as has been pointed out countless times on this site alone, she is an exercise fanatic and adheres to a very strict diet.
@Betti – I thought of in-person shopping, hair appointments (hers are quite lengthy, indeed — must be the hair extensions), etc., but wanted to be sure that was a frequent enough activity. It really would eat up chunks of a day, just being an “idea” person for decorating, self-upkeep, etc.
The working out is rather funny to me, because she strikes me as the type who is fitness conscious, yet probably doesn’t lift a finger outside the gym more than she has to do. Just an impression; I may be completely wrong.
Christin, don’t forget “eyeliner application”…this must be taken as seriously as performing surgery.
Yes, her self-applied eyeliner and blusher! One of the claims that has surprised me is how she took lessons(???), yet insists on doing her own makeup.
duplicate
Despite my stance on Kate, i actually think it’s a good thing to go into the royal household with a set of rules and stick by them. The courtiers’s first priority is best interest of the monarchy which may not align with the human reality of the royals or new in-laws.
However, from what we see of these Middleton rules, i think William sold us a dud and we are the poorer for it.
💐 These flowers are because I am sorry I was snippy to you the other day.
Thank you. that’s so lovely. 🙂
right back at you.
Thanks, friend.
Yes and no – its all about having a work/balance just like everyone else (all the other royals have it) and from what the article says they were only supposed to be temporary and intended to act as an ease into that life but she’s got used to them and they are now perm. It shows in that she won’t do any engagements unless she’s made to.
I suspect that Mike negotiated them as Kate needs to have structure and rules in her life and can’t function with any sort of normalcy without them. Echo’s of Brit Brit.
i think we agree, but i still think you need to lay down some rules you aren’t railroaded. think of it like negotiations for your job.
the problem here with the Middleton rules, however they’ve been interpreted, whether they were detailed or vague guidelines, the end result is that Kate will not work, she will be pampered and be given everything she asks for no matter the cost.
we had a little preview of this attitude when she negotiated her job requirements at jigsaw….
i actually felt bad/pity for her when i read the demands she had placed on herself in order to keep william. now that she’s on the public purse, i don’t feel bad at all. she’s doing exactly the same thing, but it’s at tax payer expense.
Interesting point but do you think that William is not only sticking to his ‘rules’ but using those same rules to stick it up the Courtiers whom he feels failed to support his mother? If he ends up permanently damaging the Monarchy because of his ‘rules’ then it’s self defeating in the long run.
Agreed.
The problem is that the rules were drawn up by someone who doesn’t know anything about Royal life [Mike} and agreed by someone who is running away from royal life {William} and is happy to stay away no matter his mother’s role in all this.
The end result is that the monarchy is undermined and these people won’t realise it until it’s too late.
Exactly!
Is Mike the mastermind and Carole the distraction?
If so, you couldn’t have done better if you had gone to Central Casting.
Maybe the “Middleton Rules” should be altered a bit to accomodate things like royal duties.
This is what happens when all the focus ends at hooking the prize. Life goes on after that and the plan falls apart.
@ suze – voice of G*d booming about with spectacular sound effects – ‘E P I C F A I L’…( I’ve always wanted to use that expression…)
if this is true… i can see Michael doing it. This guy seems nice so he knows his oldest daughter isn´t capable to function on her own. As her father he sure was worried that the firm may be too much for her. Let´s face it they would dominate her till she breaks and let her family die outside the palace walls. If necessary they will throw Kate under the next bus.
It´s known that William is very fond of Michael and calls him Dad, so it makes sense that Michael used his power over William too protect the family interests.
I wonder if the rumors are true and Carole and Michael are seperated and will divorce. Imagine what poor Willy does when his surrogate-parents divorce and he loses his strong tied family. I know who he will blame for it. The media and the public!
Frisbee is the second CBer today to make me laugh so hard I almost choked.
I think I am going to start imposing some suze rules on my own household.
@ suze (small voice) sorry!
I always want to use facepalm and headdesk, but forget, frisbee. But now you’ve made me remember and I have. Huzzah!
@ Sixer Huzzah back at ya! – just so I can type Huzzah!
Good game! Good game. So, apropros of nothing…
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
That is all.
Guffaws! Very loudly indeed…you win.
pffft, like William was going to marry someone ambitious. He doesn’t want to be pushed to be productive in the Royal understanding of productive. He married someone who is like him, who is compatible with his energy level and value system.
William is not a heavy lifter. He is a flibbertigibbet. He married someone who would allow him to be himself, who would not push him. He married someone who would not upstage him.
These people are being themselves, odious as that is. The fault lies with the system of the monarchy.
Signed,
An American Who Is Happy We Dumped These Sponges in the 18th Century
Ditto.
All of this.
That’s it, in a crystalline nutshell. Strip away the gilding, and they’re just 2 lazy, feckless losers who found each other and would be ‘normally’ living in her parents’ basement. Kismet. They always give me a slovenly indolence kind of vibe.
I’m not sure I buy that Kate doesn’t like comparisons to Diana, because she has done too many things to “copy” Diana – the very similar outfits for iconic moments and the baby clothes, for example. Perhaps she doesn’t like her work ethic compared to Diana’s.
I only wish Diana had been half so protected.
I agree Kate loves the Diana comparisons – I’m convinced she see herself as another Diana, she certainly goes out of her way to mimic her. She evens wear a lot of eyeliner like Diana did.
I think TQ tried to protect her from the press but Diana loved the attention – she wasn’t getting any from her husband so found validation from the wrong source. All very sad.
Good point about Diana loving the press attention.
Rumors are that when around AnMer, it’s Carole who sees herself as Diana in some bizarro-land way! lol
I don’t know if it’s Kate who encourages the comparison with Diana – that would be a huge burden to bear given how adored Diana was – but, as other people have long pointed out, Carol Middleton may well be using constant references/reminders about Diana as a way of manipulating him and keeping him on side.
Yes, I think Carole likes the Diana comparison, and Kate goes along with it. From what I’ve seen over the years, Kate LOVES the attention. I think she’s hiding out right now because she’s having botox or fillers.
If she hated the Diana comparisons so much then why does she do stuff like wear a similar dress to Diana’s when leaving the hospital with George? That was not required. She also puts George in outfits similar to what William wore as a kid. The courtiers aren’t the ones making the Diana parallel here.
Nic919, I don’t think she hates the Diana comparison. I’m just wondering if it’s really her mother pushing it.
Wouldn’t it be funny if it was Carole who insinuated over time that it would be significant on so many levels that he bless and elevate Kate with St Diana’s ring. Perhaps they were hoping for an effortless halo effect. How could one not think of Diana? Kate certainly likes to flaunt it, and looks happy to rest in Diana’s halo. Giving her that cursed ring, to me, is just perverse.
Firstly, Kate is not like Diana in any way esp appearance and Kate’s laziness with regard to public visits. Why do the comparisons continue? You can’t compare apples to oranges.
The Diana comparisons became a burden to Kate & Carole when the public narrative begin to switch from poor, young, vulnerable unloved Diane & Willie protect your wife and family to wait a second, Diana worked; Diana was much younger than Kate is now when she got married; Diana was thick as a plank; Kate is a college graduate; Diana came from a broken & dysfunctional home; Kate comes from a close knit family whose middle class values serve as it’s anchor. The comparisons are no longer enough to hold the mongrel horde back. It’s fast becoming inadequately pathetic as a shield. The only thing Kate has left is the mommy card but when you weigh in nannies & staff that becomes thin in the wind too.
The DM ran several articles this weekend. One was about Kate’s failure to show up at the recent wedding. Kate is still breast feeding, I believe it said (mommy card). The other said that she’ll join William early next year when he tours the Caribbean, taking the children & foregoing Mustique (mommy card & family values). I can only suppose that her maternity leave will be over by then. 👀
That’s sort of my take, too. She doesn’t like the comparisons now that she isn’t comparing well.
I still think the wedding thing was very rude. Things happen – children get sick, she could have had a migraine or something, but why no explanation? To just decide not to go at the last minute and substitute your sister is very bad manners.
The DM calls Kate now ‘invisible Kate’. They throw subtle shade at her for avoiding royal work and hiding from the public. Typically DM. They can’t criticize the weak golden prince so they go after his ‘lazy commoner bride’. It’s just the beginning. William started this war with the british press and now they strike back.
She IS lazy. The DM is . . . well, the DM, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Good lord, this girl had a first-class education, isn’t stupid . . . in the decade in which most young people venture out on their own into the world and begin shaping their futures, careers, testing capabilities . . . this girl, driven by her mother’s ferocious social ambitions, did NOTHING but keep up a campaign to hook the Top Prize in the matrimonial stakes. She did nothing else with herself – of course she’s lazy and vapid. It’s hard to break a lifetime habit of not working (with the exception of schools as it’s necessary not to look stupid) not pursuing any goal but a man – it leaves one undeveloped. That’ Kate’s problem – she was never allowed to develop. She went straight from the shelter of her family to the shelter of the royal family. I blame her mother’s giving in to the seduction of social status through marriage. I’m no particular fan of Kate’s but it’s not far to see that it’s not all her fault. She was urged to focus and concentrate on only one thing: bumping the family up to the top of the social pyramid through William, and the family backed her and helped her = and expected nothing else of her. I think it’s sad.
Yes, this. All of it.
yes, it is sad.
What’s also sad is the number of people who refuse to see it.
I don’t think she is bright. Her inability to give a five minute speech on basic issues is pretty sad. She would have in theory done a few presentations in school for longer than that.
Have her grades ever been released? She studied Art History, which isn’t necessarily a strenuous program compared to English literature, history or the classics.
@seesittellsit
But…but…but…. As much as her underdevelopment may be due to her past upbringing and ill focus, she’s in her 30’s now, and been presented with *massive* opportunities to develop herself. That she freely chooses not to avail herself of them now is on her. She certainly had the fortitude and determination to pursue Willy for years, so she is no shrinking violet and capable of learning. She is not a victim of circumstance; she always has a choice to develop herself in other areas, ones that actually are being asked of her. She simply chooses not to.
I’ve said on this site before that Kate Mid. is clever, ambitious, patient but not an overly confident person. This is a woman who is the eldest child, possibly been praised to high heaven by her parents for just ‘being’ and who seems to believe her husband’s rhetoric. For the first time ever, I feel the girl/woman was let down by her parents’ inability to allow her to mature. I also think William’s behavior has undermined what little confidence remained after the marriage. Imagine being ‘on call’ for William for years??? It must be a huge sigh of relief for this woman to hide away with her children and mummy. I also think Michael Middleton knew his daughter was not up for the job she was chasing. I’m not a Royalist although I am British. Once my generation has passed (I’m in my seventies), I believe the Royals may be on a very shaky lease.
I found it! Here is a story from a person who was apparently at St Andrews with her, indicating that she is not bright (and a plagiarist): http://jezebel.com/ok-ok-oi-i-can-t-believe-i-m-doing-this-so-i-was-a-1704904177
@tina – thanks forthejezebel link. sounds completely plausible except for the description of kate as being very thin. i thought she was normal, slim, athletic up to the engagement when she became a skeleton, no? FLORC, Lak>???
“Have her grades ever been released? She studied Art History, which isn’t necessarily a strenuous program compared to English literature, history or the classics.”
– It is a common misconception that Art History isn’t a demanding field of study. You actually need to know quite a bit of aesthetic philosophy, both ancient and modern, theology as well as history, literature, etc. I my neck of the woods foreign languages were also required – both French and German were absolutely de rigeur. In actually got marked down in an exam once for not knowing ancient Greek!
Sophietta, interesting points. It must be a very odd place to be. A tiger mother training you to sacrifice all of your self worth, lose weight, dress sexy, and get The Prince back. Contrast with the father who looks at the daughter, looks at Prince Philip or Princess Diana and thinks, “Nope, my daughter isn’t capable of doing that job.”
Caitlin
Easily the engagement period is where Kate’s weight dropped and she was skeletal.
There are numerous photos of Kate throughout her early uni days to graduation looking healthy and naturally fit. She was never very thin, but sort of build like Pippa. Athletic and slender.
Cut to the 2007 break up Kate lost some weight. Like she hit the gym hard and toned up, but dropped a noticable about of weight. Still, she looked good.
Engagement, Shopping Kate is wearing a black wrap dress and her sternum is protruding. Other times KAte’s ribs and spin have skin stretched over them. It’s at the very least concerning. This is a time where she was papped with cigs in her hands and not just in her purse. It was said she was crash dieting and smoking more.
http://moviestarstyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Kate-Middleton-black-wrap-dress.jpg There was a more candid image, but link went dead. The ones left appear more to be filtered for smoothness and glow.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2OUm2Y07RTU/UlZO-OTy3VI/AAAAAAAAA8o/tRf1Ab0n_eY/s1600/Z%2BKATE%2BTRASHY.jpg
Here’s Kate lovely and healthy. I would say this is her default weight with a light activity routine. Or what others would call just being active.
I am not saying everyone who takes Art History is dumb, but there is probably a way to pass the program and take the easy courses to get the degree. I don’t know the course requirements for the program at St Andrews but I have never heard Kate saying anything other than platitudes. There does not seem to be much intelligence there. Which may be the way William likes it.
And that Jezebel article suggests she plagiarized her way through the lecture classes.
Kate was horribly thin during her honeymoon and right after she returned. I remember a friend of mine commenting and saying that she looked great!!! OMG, I thought she looked skeletal. The black bikini in the Seychelles, the beige dress she wore to meet the Obamas, and then that pink sequinned long dress for her first official charity celebrity engagement. She did not look healthy, IMO. (And no, I’m not a jealous person like the sugars would want to suggest…….)
FLORC – You confirmed what I thought – she lost a ton of weight post-engagement, but what I was getting at was the jezebel article referred to her as skinny during university (v.s. healthy, lean, athletic, etc.)
Caitlin
She was very thin, but still healthy at that time. Look no further than her cat walk outfit to catch Will’s eye. Thin, but fit and healthy. As they continued she lost more and more. William has stated he likes Kate with more weight than her ultra thin frame, but his history is a string of very thin long haired brunettes. His type is more than clear. Kate did take it way too far at the engagement to honeymoon period.
That article though… Or rather comments section. It’s to be taken with a fist of salt.
@FLORC – well, all non-official internet sites are of course suspect, but two commenters tell the same story about the police protection. It sounds fairly plausible that they were at St. Andrew’s at the time, although of course no one knows the validity of the individual story about Kate.
Nic,
I really don’t mean to pick on you but your comment insinuated that Art History is something that is easy to study and that the requirements are not very hard. That is not true but it is an impression that many people who don’t know anything about the field have.
I don’t think Kate is stupid. She managed to get accepted at a fairly prestigious university and that isn’t a walk in the park. She also managed to graduate with a 2.1 (I believe), which is a respectable but not brilliant result. It doesn’t seem that she made much of an impression on her teachers, which kind of supports the idea that she was a solid but mediocre student. Professors tend to take notice of the excellent students – and the really bad ones. Kate may very well had extra help (private tutors) but I don’t think that she is as monumentally stupid as some people tend to believe. However, she has never used her degree for anything and she does suck monumentally when it comes to small talk with stranger.
BTW; I took a look at that link and I smell a rat – why would art history students be asked general history questions like the one about Pearl Harbour? Nope, don’t buy it.
@Art Historian, I read it as the Pearl Harbor thing was just an example, they weren’t saying that was actually the question. And I don’t doubt that art history is a difficult degree, but Marlborough is one of the world’s best secondary schools. The top students from there go to Oxbridge, not St. Andrew’s. I can’t help but think that she’s dumb because she is so monumentally terrible at public speaking and can’t say two words without reading them, but you’re probably right that she’s not monumentally stupid.
Just because she’s so hopeless when it comes to her public performances – that doesn’t mean she can’t put a decent essay together. Those are different skill-sets – and when we’re starting to parse the meanings behind second-hand stories by anonymous commenters on Jezebel then I personally find it hard to credit the story. Besides, unless the answers are for a very simple pop-quiz then it isn’t really plagiarizing – that would be copying another person’s essay, article, etc.
Sorry for the rant but the subject is a personal bugbear of mine because I so often see art history causually referred to as the Mrs degree and it drives me up the wall. It is just so bloody disrespectful.
If she hates the Diana comparisons then she needs to stop wearing the ring, stop channeling her (according to most tabloids) through clothing like the dress she picked after giving birth to the prince and stop dressing Prince George in clothes that William wore. I know not wearing the ring is unrealistic so that right there will always cause people to compare because you can’t help but think of Diana when you see it. And maybe she’s really not trying to emulate Diana with her wardrobe choices but prince George’s wardrobe can certainly be changed up. I mean she’s going to be the next Princess of Wales. Did they really not think going into this that she would be compared to her? Cmon, they can’t be that short sighted.
Her dress leaving the hospital with George was clearly a version of what Diana wore with William. So she brings this on herself.
totally.
I wonder if she wanted the Diana comparisons at first but then realized they made her look bad so now she wants them to stop.
That’s my thought! She doesn’t like the comparisons now because Diana actually worked! And had empathy for others, which we’ve never seen form either Kate or William.
I can’t help but think that momma Carole picked the wrong daughter for Wills. While she doesn’t seem to be a brain surgeon either, Pippa at least seems to have some social skills. I think Kate may be shy and more of an introvert, which her father would have known.
And where is Mike while Pippa and James and Carole are at St Bart’s? And do adult children regularly vacation with their parents? Beatrice and Eugenie don’t, nor do most “middle class” thirty year olds I know. They are so insular, that whole family.
Oh it’s a never-ending struggle, isn’t it? First a struggle to get INTO royal life (hey, 8 years of hard tactical work to get that title and that life of unending social deference, of luxury and ten-bedroom homes, nannies, chauffeurs, an unlimited wardrobe, fabulous jewels, security for a lifestyle privileged beyond the reach of the imagination of most of us), and then a struggle to ADAPT to it – gosh, who knew? In-laws! Former girlfriends! So many conflicts between staying home and playing with the kids in the swimming pool or throwing a bone to the benighted public by showing up occasionally and thrilling them with a few smiles and another nifty outfit . . . and oh the pain in the butt of a father-in-law who’s helping fund your “extras” . . .
Another 40,000pound week in Mustique is clearly called for so we can mull it over. Of course, that means another round of shopping for bikinis with which to thrill the hubby . . . how very tiresome.
Totally agree. I really must be tiresome to do be the wife of “the” royal. I wish someone would smite me with these types of never ending struggles.
The gloves seem to be coming off. Who didn’t see this coming. Couldn’t happen to a more elitist, lazy, self-indulged family.
Yes. Bring. It. On.
If it is Richard Kay I believe it. End of story. His sources and insider knowledge are excellent.
I agree Imo. He has been around a long time and was one of Diana’s favourites.
I have just been reading Ken Wharfe’s book on Diana and Richard Kay was the Journalist that Diana let know that she was going to Disneyland. She tried to keep it a secret from the PPO’s but Ken was worried about why Diana was being so cagey and strange to Ken.
I thought that it was an excellent book, it is old but I have just read it on Kindle.
Ken knew her well and gives a balanced view of her. We all know that she could be a nightmare but also caring and hard working as well.
EXACTLY, Richard Kay’s sources are excellent. This man knows where the skeleton’s are kept and is used to leak things……still.
Look, I like Kate, but what I don’t like is the lack of work she puts in at her charities. I recall the picture Diana had done of herself with the ballet which was quite a successful campaign. It was successful and didn’t take up that much time. Even the clothes she and George wear sell out in hours (even if they’re not that great) which goes to show people are not only watching but are willing to support. I think it’s sad that they have to ‘shame’ her into doing engagements but if that’s what it’s going to take do it. Maybe then once she gets her ass in gear she’ll get used to the equation of duchess does some work=the newspapers won’t care how much time you spend with your Mom or on vacation.
I don’t understand why she doesn’t do a few photo opps / campaigns with charities. She seems to be all about her hair, so why not support something like Locks of Love (if the UK has a similar effort). Surely she could find SOMETHING and make things look better. I don’t recall Diana hiding for months or years after each child was born.
Locks of Love would be an embarrassment because of her hair extensions or wiglets. But a campaign for women’s sports or exercise would be right up her alley. But that would also be work.
She colors her hair so forgetting Wiglets and extensions she still couldn’t donate.
Side issue here: I really don’t fault Kate for not wanting to travel away from her kids for this wedding. She has a right to decide what types of occasions merit that level of commitment on her part. I don’t think the availability of childcare (nannies) somehow mandates that she leave her kids home for an event that by all accounts is just the wedding of some peripheral friend of her husband’s. I personally am missing an out of town wedding next weekend because kids aren’t allowed and I won’t leave my DD for a weekend unless really necessary. I get that everyone’s annoyed with Kate generally but let’s not lose sight of the fact that an invitation to an out of town, kids free wedding is an option not a requirement.
Personally, I think this wedding is a non-issue. The issue is Kate won’t work. They warned everyone she wouldn’t work after the birth of the baby, but I doubt the PR people fully anticipated what the fall-out of that was going to be. So, she added some events to her non-existent calendar but all of those are celebrity things (sailing, state dinner, and now this whole Caribbean tour). If Jason was truly wanting to improve her image, he’d add some charity work. In some ways I suspect even he is getting fed up with his employers and so that’s why these fluffy fun events were added.
To me it reads that she refuses to do ANY charity engagements and will only do engagements that interest her or give her the maximum press exposure.
As i said above she doesn’t have an empathic, charitable and humanitarian bone in her body. She’s all about the glamour and celebrity status.
I would be interested in comparing how many Make A Wish hospital visits Kim Kardashian does compared Kate’s charity visits. Maybe a little shaming will boost Kate’s numbers. And as annoying the Kartrashian family is, they aren’t living off of taxpayer dollars.
Hi betti
gosh you have summed this up extremely well
So on point ..
we have been monarchists always but the middleton invasion
of this family taking everything they can get constantly wanting a fashion parade and just riding on the tails of the Royal Family is such a disgrace.
katie waity has what she wants and doesnt want to adhere to Royal duties
just wants all the perks and wealth and staff running around
also she has wanted the title but doesnt want to work anyone could go to the caribbean and shake a few hands small talk and go to gala functions thats the easy peasy side but no she just wants to stay at home and shop . The title came with responsbilities which she doesnt do,
well we certainly have no respect for this very lazy over entitled duo
She was in Devon with William. She just didn’t go to the wedding.
Was that confirmed or was that still possibly Pippa?
On the wedding post, someone posted that people on Twitter saw them on the train coming up. Could have been Pippa. But really…the narrative that she can’t leave her children is bupkiss, especially when there’s proof she was at Wimbledon for 6+ hours. And the infamous trip to the Maldives when George was a few months. 10 days away from her baby. People tend to forget the Cambridges went across the world to bake in the sun, while their only child was at home. Obviously, Mommy Kate wasn’t breastfeeding her babe at that point.
I think it was based on one tweet, no photos. Nothing from hotel staff? (I know, but someone would have talked if she’d been at the hotel for two days, job or no job). My bet is on someone who doesn’t watch royals and cannot tell the sisters apart.
The Original Mia: Not only did they leave the baby behind, but also the nanny started thaat week. It was left to Carole to acclimatise nanny and baby.
Kate went to Wimbledon to watch a tennis match for hours in July so she doesn’t have a problem leaving her kids for that. She could have easily attended for a few hours for the ceremony and reception and went back to see the kids. They could have used the helicopter to zip there and back. They have options no one else has with regard to travel.
And there has yet to be any kind of reference that either George or Charlotte were under the weather to explain the last minute cancellation.
The wedding bit was just an excuse to hint about Normal Bill’s drinking and carousing and to point out again the sparseness of Kate’s appearances.
And, yeah, to publish the Middleton rules, which seemed to have rather backfired on everything.
I remember a time, usually in their first year of marriage, when the middleton rules were reported as a good thing. Fast forward and they are being presented as a bad thing.
It doesn’t really matter that William is the enforcer of said rules. Afterall he is the born royal. At the end of the day, Middleton rules have produced 3 less than productive children, encourage lazy, less than productive husband and wife team in WK, and will produce less than productive grand children in PGtips, Charlotte and Pippa/James children.
Jaygee
I guess it’s more that Kate will leave her kids for vacations without them. Maldives when George was just a few months old. Hours working out. Tennis match. And superficial activities/upkeep. To use the children and not wanting to be apart to excuse not showing up to a wedding of mutual friends when you’re expected? Even middle class people won’t do that.
Because of reasons listed above using the kids as an excuse/justifications holds no water imo.
And no requirement. Just that there was an rsvp and sources saying Kate never intended to show up. It’s rude and at the very least imo thoughtless.
Overall the wedding is not work. Her charities are though and duty should be enough to show up.
Lastly, keep in mind these were her friends too. William’s friends became people she made time for over her friends that were outside of this circle and William. She may have only been playing nice for william and not have really liked them at all, but they weren’t his friends only.
To sum it all though, Like Vava said. This wedding is a non issue. It’s just an echos a theme. And the kids should stop being used as any reasoning to explain why Kate can’t honor vets, visit a charity, or show up and not cancel where she’s expected. Mostly because she’s the one who agrees to these things. No one signs her up for them.
Off topic … this new, improved objective FLORC is wonderful to follow – well done CB!
This article was about Normal bill and Kate’s unsuitability as a royal consort. the rest was just fliller to softball the message.
I think the shade thrown at her comes from several issues that have nothing to do with regular moms refusing social engagements that mean precious weekends away from their kids.
1. Apparently she had RSVP’ed yes and then did not show up. That is bad manners anywhere, anytime, from anyone.
2. With their resources, she can have the kids along and only left in the care of nannies for a few hours of the actual wedding dinner – not that she is exactly that hands-on by all accounts (unless paps are present); they have how many staff? She is not like the rest of us, juggling a job, chores, errands, family time and social obligation. All she ever does is shop, fix her hair and ???
3. It seems to be a pattern of hers that she won’t attend weddings of her hubby’s friends. Now we all have people like that in our lives – friends of the SO which we don’t care much for, but at least for a wedding you make an effort, put on a dress and a smile and go. (It’s not like she could not afford a new outfit and the beauty prep to go with it, or the gift would be a burden…)
4. To add insult to injury – she sent her sister as a stand-in?? Who the heck does that? Or is that part of the family strategy to promote poor Pippa in their continued effort to get her married?
@JAYGEE but, she DID leave home that weekend! She was spotted by several people in Devon that weekend(no word on whether or not the kids were spotted too,) & they posted their cell pics of her on Twitter.
I get your argument & if this was her 1st child, I’d tend to agree with it. However, it’s her 2nd child, she’s learned the world will not end if she leaves them for cpl days, AND she did travel to the town where wedding was, just opted NOT to attend. She obviously wasn’t sick & holed up in the hotel if she was seen by several people outside.
No matter how you slice it: it was very monumentally rude of her!!
If she didn’t want to go, she shouldn’t have accepted the invitation. To do so, then not show up without a personal note to the hostess with an apology and an explanation is just rude. I don’t care who you are.
As the society doyennes would say, “Breeding will out, my dear!”
There’s another article out on DM that explains why W&K are going to Mustique in November instead of January/February. It’s because they’re planning on an official tour of the Caribbeans in February/March.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3207349/GIRL-TOWN-Kate-accompany-Prince-William-Carribean-Royal-Tour.html
It also has some stuff about Pippa and James, like will Nico propose to Pippa on their upcoming trip.
that article ruined the previous ‘leave her alone’ goodwill from the ‘invisible kate’ article.
Yes and it also proves that they will only do engagements that are fun, glam and give them the max press coverage where they are treated like celebrities.
Plus they will take the kids along and parade them around to the international press, snubbing the UK press just like they did in Australia/New Zealand last year. The fall out from that is going to be interesting to watch.
The Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands – such hard work, my heart bleeds for the poor dears. Yet they still manage to completely ignore the anniversaries/engagements that are important to the people of their country like the VJ Veterans. As we say in my neck of the woods ‘taking the p*ss or what”
They do love their warm weather winter VACATIONS!
They couldn’t possibly do a UK tour with the children, now could they!
They are so tone deaf it’s ridiculous. Who thought them agreeing to go on this vacation…I mean…working tour was a good idea when that’s all they are freaking known for? I said this on another site and I’ll say it here…they are being given enough rope to hang themselves and they are so dumb and smug they don’t see it.
And maybe Jason is handing them the rope!
Oh… Maybe Jason is truly a revolutionary!
Well, he is The American. Perhaps he’s a Son of the American Revolution, upset over US royal obsession?
Tone deaf is right on! My mother, who like me is obsessed with all things BRF is beginning to compare W&K to Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette!!
It also means another chance to stick it to the UK press, if they have their daughter’s official photo debut overseas like PGTips.
We need a nickname for her.
PC Load Letter?
Oh goody! Another “grueling” tour! How many days off in the midst of running in wedges on the beach, taking boat rides or having dinner with local dignitaries?
Deedee, I just had a mental image of her running along the beach in the wedges in slow motion with the hair and wiglet flying behind her and her left hand out watching the ring of doom sparkle in the sunshine and her dress flying up and her bum cheeks flapping away.
If I have nightmares tonight I will blame it on you.
I think I’m hearing “Chariots of Fire” as the soundtrack.
Carole is beginning to remind me of PMK Jenner the way she rules the roost and stick-handles everything for her daughter who appears to either NGAF or is too hamstrung by her misery-guts of a husband to even make an attempt at doing what she should be doing.
Very bad situation all around and the groundswell of negative attention and press these 2 are getting is only going to get worse if they don’t get the message and put noses to the grindstone.
The 2 families are extremely alike. 1 has better PR.
Agree. DM is really going hard on the Cambridges. The Queen should jerk a knot in both of them for not attending the 70th anniversary or V-J day. William and Kate are the future king and queen; it was their place for them to go. And Kate needs to cut the apron strings from Carole because the courtiers will not tolerate Ma Middleton or the rest of the clan having the run of Buckingham Palace. Noble titles for the Middletons? They keep this up and Charles will have the ammunition to tell them to kick rocks when he becomes king.
The only person stupid enough to give that lot titles is Willy – that’s why Carole won’t let him walk away from the throne. A title is her end game – why else would you get your own coat of arms and crest (all with matching signet rings) commissioned when the engagement was announced. Titles would mean that they have arrived in the aristocratic circles, circles Carole has been aiming for from the beginning. Being middle class isn’t enough for her.
agreed, Betti!
That is indeed Carole’s goal.
Kate and William have the right to ask for more privacy or some sense of normalcy for them and their family. The problem is they have not even sought for a compromise by doing their fair share of work in exchange for the privileged life, security and staff that they have been given. If they have been diligent and shown that they are eager to learn their royal duties, they would have even more support from the public compared to now, even if the press were to gossip about them. The reason they feel so ‘attacked’ is because well what have they done to prove themselves as hardworking royals? It’s easy to open yourself to criticism when well, you two make it so easy. I am no fan of Kate’s work ethic but I think she is just following Willnot’s attitude. If Wilnot had the Queen’s work ethic, Kate would just follow. Kate is a follower. Mature royals like Letizia who have accepted their roles would trudge on while letting their work speak for themselves. You may have married for love but you also married into a duty.
The reason I don’t think Kate is a ‘follower’ is because she’s done nothing in the past to show that this wasn’t her actual pattern in the first place.
Another thing… the Middleton parents have shown they’d let their daughter’s reputation be ruined just to catch a major title.
So is this why they won’t use their influence on W&K to make Kate do at least one or two 45-minute charity visits per week? (And I mean a REAL, ACTUAL, CHARITY FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE – not just the ones that cater to the yachting crowd, the evening theater-going crowd, the museum-attending crowd, and such.)
Do the MIddleton parents, who put themselves so much into W&K’s lives, not want to do something to counteract the work-shy and lazy reputation of their daughter (and son-in-law)?
Or are they all just like this? Do they all have this same entitled, social-climbing, ‘don’t look at the lesser folk’ type of attitude?
Has anybody heard of Party Pieces focusing on a specific charity like McDonalds does with the Ronald McDonald House?
Or Carole & Mike being known to be a benefactor of anything?
So is Kate just a follower of William? Or is she the way she is because it’s the Middleton family culture and she doesn’t want to do anything to break out of it no matter? She didn’t care about her reputation before she got engaged, so why would she start caring now?
I recall one Starlight Foundation mention. Allegedly KM was in charge. Meaning, a tiny bit of charity for PR.
There was also the charity roller disco that Kate allegedly organised all by herself – only for it to come out it was a joint effort with Holly Branson, meaning Holly did al the work and Kate just showed up wearing not a lot and generally showed off in front of the paps (then getting plastered and cussing out Princess Beatrice).
That’s a very good point.
I think the starlight foundation is the only charity I can mention where the Middletons’ charitable giving is concerned, and only the party/gala end of charitable giving.
Pippa has shown more charitable efforts in terms of branching out with the British Heart Foundation, but again, the fun stuff.
Every good story needs a villain of some kind. After all, how else will the prince & princess look heroic and shiny?
Public Enemy # 1 – ‘is Nibs. Someone upthread mentioned characters straight out of central casting. Charles is it. He is that cardboard stock character. Always has been & always will be.
Public Enemy #2 – the courtiers. What’s a James Bond movie or any thriller without the invisible gray men who pull the levers and try to control all of humanity. I’m thinking The Matrix here.
Public Enemy #3 – the public’s refusal to relinquish it’s unnatural fixation to Diana, it’s rightful Queen. How can one compete against and vanquish a ghost? Who? Who? Not poor Waity–even when she tries to deploy her wedgies, sausage curls & hyena like grin as weapons. And certainly not William, the man-boy who would be King; he who grits his teeth & clenches his fist & threatens to sue the free press for even giving him the attention his position merits. Who, I ask you, can defeat a ghost?
As long as they can deflect from their own levels of arrested development by referring to one of the above along with strategically throwing in a picture of the children, the Waity & Man-Child show will never go off the air. It will perpetually be in rerun with the same tired story line over & over again–just like Luke & Laura on General Hospital or Eastenders (which I used to love watching).😄
All I know is something must be seriously wrong with Kate if there’s a picture of her showing off her right hand……..there’s no ring there, silly!!!!
While I agree with so much said, what do you all think of the idea that WK are getting a pass because they are third in line and when W becomes POW, then they will step up the work?
Doubt it.
As it is the Queen has been handing off some duties to Charles. In return Charles has been handing off his POW duties to make room for the monarchs duties. William has passed so Harry has been noted amongst other cousins to be helping Charles.
At this point William is well into his adult life. Not learning how to ease himself into his future role. Just continuing like he can resist it forever.
These excuses they don’t need to work because they’re not POW yet is nonsense. It’s procrastination and that never works out.
My guess? W and K will be fumbling to get the hang of it all because they’ve wasted this time to slowly acclimate themselves to it. Overall though. I’d be shocked if anything changed from this current pace. A lot is left in the air though. We have to see what Charles has planned.
That excuse has been used since he was 21yr old.
As a senior royal, irrespective of title, he was expected to work. He doesn’t want to and has thrown obstacles in the way. The Palace acquiesced by allowing him time to find himself blah, blah, blah and even he acknowledges that he needs to get on with it, but he doesn’t want to and so the excuses are given.
The POW title is a rational excuse because we see what Charles has done with it. The first POW to give the title a positive meaning. Charles has done such a good job that the public don’t realise that there is no job that goes with the POW title. Charles created a job FOR HIMSELF to go along with the title. He could have sat at home and simply waited for HM to die using the same logic put forth by people who think William should wait for the POW title upgrade.
Then he would have been sitting at home for 60+ years. Like his predecessors.
Considering the obstacles William has placed in his own way, not to mention the latest of many interviews in which he says he doesn’t want to do royal duties (or words to that effect), there will be excuses when he is upgraded to POW and probably when he is upgraded to HM.
When I think about how much Charles was hated at one point and now the public is appreciating his work ethic as compared to Will and Kate, it really shows how little those two actually do.
The thing with chuck was that he worked hard and made a job/role for himself – Harry is doing the same, he’s making a role for himself. These 2 have no interest in doing ANYTHING and even admit to it.
but there are still the chorus of blind leading the sugars, saying how William will make a excellent King…
Where they get that logic, I can never figure out? LOL
If the “Middleton Rules” (or anything similar) were presented to the Queen before the wedding, I wonder if that is why she was given the title of Duchess instead of Princess?
She’ll get the title ‘Princess’ when Willy becomes Prince of Wales, she’ll get Diana’s old title – Princess of Wales. A title which Camilla currently has but chooses not to use, when they got married she choose to go by the Duchess of Cornwall (one of the Chucks other titles is Duke of Cornwall).
Kate is already a Princess. As the wife of Prince William she is Princess William in the same way as the wife of Prince Michael of Kent is Princess Michael.
She’s totally giving the Michelle Duggar smile in that white coat pic. My husband does that to me when he wants to gross me out.
Not even going to bother with the rest of that stuff but something has been bugging me for a while re: Charles’ part in George’s life… do people have any idea the number of engagements this man does? Cause, unlike some, he actually gets off his duff for more than a holiday or shopping spree. And do you also realize how tight his schedule is? Everything in his life is scheduled MONTHS in advance. So when he does see George you can bet it’s on a set schedule, which means it’s up to these people to make sure George is home when he’s coming to visit.
Seriously, when I read something like this:
“The problem is the Prince of Wales is so sensitive to any reproach and anything that he feels undermines his position. The fact is Charles can’t cope with the disorder that naturally comes with a very lively toddler like George. Mike Middleton, on the other hand, rather enjoys it.”
…rightly or wrongly, all I’m seeing are excuses for them not being home or following through on agreed visits, or simply letting Charles be part of his own grandchildrens’ lives. Kind of like they’re saying, “We knew Charles was going to be here at 1pm but George was screaming his head off so we decided it would be fun to take him to the public park 5 miles down the road. We probably could have tried to calm him down and then just took him to the swing-set an hour later after Charles left but whatever. If snobby, uptight Charles has a problem with it, well, too bad!”
Not to say he probably has an issue if George is in a cranky mood (even I’d have a problem with it and I’m much younger than him) but that is zero reason to not let him see his grandson. Mike might be the “fun” grandparent but, IMO, there is zero excuse to cut this man out of his life. ZERO. If William STILL has issues with his father then (like with all his countless other issues) he needs to put on his big-boy pants, deal with them and grow up.
And you take a look at how in interacts with Camilla’s grandchildren then try to tell me he wouldn’t be a doting, loving grandfather. He might not be perfect but FFS – he’s still their grandfather.
Sorry but I’m just so sick of people trying to excuse away these people not making sure he has his rightful place in his grandchildrens’ lives!
JMO!
Well said.
Did you all see the picture of Charles in the DM in full regalia?
No, but I saw the HM’s historical photo display re- the fact she’s set to become the longest reigning British Monarch in history whereas Charles is known as the lifelong moron.
If he does the land grab he will be, but as of currently that’s a select fews opinions.
And the longer a reign the more we forget.
re: Kate’s hair length, I’ve never understood the (somewhat outdated) western obsession with the idea that women over 30 MUST cut their long hair off because otherwise it means you are
a) age-inappropriate mutton dressed as lamb/wannabe reality star (Angelina Jolie has had her hair at shoulder-length for the last decade, and frankly it looks glorious and stylish and really enhances her looks)
b) somehow lacking as a feminist (judging by how some women who cut their hair sometimes just will not shut up implying that any woman who keeps their hair long is either insecure or doing it for the men – thanks but I just have good hair and don’t feel the obligation to saddle myself with an expensive short-hair maintenance routine to satisfy someone’s imaginary notion of feminism/stiicking it to ‘the man’).
Kate is boring as hell and those sausage curls are so 2005, but the hair length…….can’t see what’s wrong there. There are things called updos, and she’s not from HM and Camilla’s generation, when women were expected to have hair not longer than a certain length. It’s not even like she grew it out to the floor like a hippie or something, it’s shoulder length i.e. the most average long-hair length there is. She’s not exactly the type that would suit a bob.
My personal opinion is that IF Kate could keep her hands out of her hair, the long hair would be fine. The problem is she’s always running her fingers through it, and sometimes even SMELLING it! Her behaviors with her hair are gross and disgusting.
Vava
+1
ok, I get it. That’s not necessarily gross (I occasionally tug on my fringe too, when I’m trying to compose an email – and my hair is clean), but it does make for seriously immature body language.
So agree with all these comments
She wouldn’t have to cut off more than a few inches to get a more modern look. Haircuts are not an “all or nothing” thing, where she has to choose a bob or long hair. I also wish she wouldn’t bring all her hair forward onto her shoulders like hair curtains or cocker spaniel hair, leaving one thin strand down the back, and covering up any good necklaces or necklines that she wears.
There is no western obsession with long hair over 30. There hasn’t been since about 1980.
Almost every female celebrity over 30 has long hair, as do most women on the steeet.
I highly doubt anyone seriously thinks Kate should cut her hair to model some feminist ideal.
It seems to be a thing older people have a hangup about, and it really registers when those people are your boss and make their views known.
one of my former co-workers was told by our boss that it was ‘time’ she cut her hair (which was sleek, straight and maybe a little shorter than Kate’s?) just a couple of years ago, to something more “stylish” and “age-appropriate”. And she was 32 at the time. So yeah, the hangup definitely persisted after 1980.
I don’t have a problem with her long hair but what she does with it is boring and it makes it look limp. She should at least get layers cut into it to give it body and bounce – it would take years off her and make her look more soft. When it’s hanging down limp it ages her and gives her a hardness.
Think she looks so ridiculous but she hides behind it
as well
Someone said a few days ago (was it here?) that William doesn’t so much smile but bares his teeth like a cornered animal when in public. That top photo illustrates it to perfection.
Doesn’t it though? 🙂
Lol-I think it was me. Anyway, I can’t take claim for it- It’s a rather common description for laughs with regard to a male individual with large dentition.
I can remember a church minister of the Presbyterian faith complaining about his superior (a bully) several years ago using the same “baring his (large) teeth” (at him) in a sinister fashion.
That’s a good observation.
DM has an article out now.
Carole, James, Pippa, and her ex-bf are in the Carribean (Eden Rock, St. Barth’s).
There’s photos of all of them in either bikinis or swimsuits.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3208205/The-workouts-paying-Pippa-Fitness-fanatic-shows-washboard-stomach-larks-brother-James-Caribbean-holiday.html#comments
See? It’s hard to be a royal. Can’t just up and go with the rest of the family to the Carribeans when you want to. The public might talk.
Where’s Nico?
Exactly she is always with another man when photographed never with a girlfriend when out and abt.
nico nowhere to be seen when she is messing abt in sea in st barths on another holiday when do they ever work
I used to think KM was a very pretty woman(& for the most part, she still is.) However, is anyone else catching those bags under her eyes in the cream coat pic?! And, the horizontal forehead lines, on a 33yr old?!
I’m 36 yrs old & I work 30+ hours/week, sometimes late into the night & my face is not even close to looking THIS rough!
If she comes back from the pseudo hiatus looking refreshed, at this point, I’m inclined to forgive the girl.
The deep wrinkles are in her family. Also, dehydration, low body fat, sun damage and smoking are all contributnig factors. In photos the wrinkles get smoothed out and botox certainly helps, but they rarely remove them completely.
And her double under eye bags are also a family trait. It was said Kate had lipo to lessen the appearance. Those things do return though. This is just a case of her appearance being so drastically different from her photos. Like the portrait was.
All together it’s how she looks and while i’m stating this it’s not meant to be a detraction.
I’m over thirty, too. Less wrinkles and less eye-bags and less haggard than Kate.
Kate:
Smoking.
Drinking.
Sun tanning.
Dieting like mad.
Partying into the wee hours quite often before marriage.
Exercising like mad.
No serious work / attitude to develop a personality does show, too.
And no, I don’t think those chemical peels and fillers and botox injections are healthy in the long run.
This website is so very well posted you all have picked up on what we have been saying for a very long time years actually
the photos in caribbean with an ex boyfriend … yuck…
they always get friends where they can sponge from
That’s one reason, I have never believed all the stories of the Middleton’s being hugely wealthy. I still don’t believe it. Something has never added up.
Yes they have a pricey home, but something just has never added up IMO
Also the inheritance Michael Middleton got was thirty thousand,, hardly buckets of money.
So bottom line is that Kate doesn’t want to do royal duties but she wants royal luxuries funded by the taxpayer but without Kate doing any work duties?
Thick of it, bottom line tehehe!
THink waity katie would get a shock if she did a days work
Without all her staff running around
cant believe how she behaves so childishly getting out of royal duties
and just does gala events that do seem a very long time ago compared to work ethic of charles and camilla
I think the peak of the Queen being known as fun was when she did that short Bond spoof with Daniel Craig. She was prob like, “is everyone happy now? I was human for 30 seconds, sheesh. Going back to my corgis now.”