As we’ve heard so many times before, the Duchess of Cambridge is here to save the royal family from having a tired, boring, Germanic Christmas. Well, not so much the royal family as Prince William in particular. For more than a month now, the royal reporters have been focused on the Cambridges’ holiday plans, and whether they would eschew royal traditions again to have a Middleton Family Christmas at Anmer Hall. The royal family has already begun their pilgrimage to Sandringham – the Queen took the train to Sandringham last week, and the rest of the family will be arriving in drips and drabs throughout the weekend and the next few days. The Daily Beast also notes that Prince Harry might be staying with the Cambridges at Anmer Hall, which… I would not recommend. He would become a pawn in Carole Middleton’s holiday shenanigans! Anyway, in case you needed to bashed over the head again with how Kate has “revolutionized” royal Christmases, here’s the Daily Mail’s latest story. Some highlights:
Kate is into kitsch. While the Queen likes Sandringham to have austere holiday decorations, Kate has created “a veritable temple of kitsch” at Anmer Hall, “friends report that Kate has spent hundreds on gaudy decorations, including glittery baubles, flashing tree lights and mounds of tinsel, which her two-year-old son George apparently loves… The usually conservative Kate has bought two trees, the smaller of which has been dressed with flashing fairy lights for George and his seven-month-old sister, Charlotte. A larger tree has been dressed in a more tasteful colour scheme for the main house.”
A source tells the Daily Mail: “Kate has gone all out and there’s a lot of glitter, sparkle and Christmas cheer. She wants it to be great fun for the kids. There is nothing formal or stuffy, it’s all rather over the top and good fun. The Middletons always go OTT, and Kate and Will are following suit.”
The other royals are pissed off. A source says: “Some of the Royals are rather snippy about what they call the ‘Alternative Anmer Christmas’ and I’ve heard one say ‘It’s the Cambridge way or no way.’ Prince Charles realises this Anmer Christmas with all the Middletons in tow is ‘non-negotiable’… It’s not Kate, but William who has instigated this. He wants an ordinary, fun, family Christmas in his own home and that’s what he’s engineered. No one’s said ‘no’ or told him it’s not the done thing. It has just been accepted.”
William wanted something more relaxing. A source says: “Sandringham is wonderful, but it’s very traditional and formal, and not relaxing. There are multiple clothes changes a day. You can’t blame William and Kate for wanting something more relaxed.”
The royal presents. The Cambridges will still do a Christmas Eve dinner with the royal family and they’ll exchange gifts after dinner, but the gifts always have to modest, like… cashmere socks. But then Will and Kate will do their big Christmas gift exchange on Christmas morning, with the Middletons and no expense has been spared for their family Christmas gifts. Reportedly, Will and Kate bought “a custom-made oak see-saw engraved with their children’s names, while the Duke is said to have bought a vintage toy train set for George.”
On one side, I think it’s completely fair and completely fine that two 30-something parents of young children want the pleasure of a traditional Christmas, with the kids unwrapping gifts early on Christmas morning. And of course Kate wants to spend the holiday with her parents, and William wants to spend time with her folks too. But it does feel like William in particular is still trying to stick it to his father and his grandmother. And this: “It’s not Kate, but William who has instigated this. He wants an ordinary, fun, family Christmas in his own home and that’s what he’s engineered. No one’s said ‘no’ or told him it’s not the done thing.” That’s William’s “normal” fetish in a nutshell.
Also, this happened!!!
Saturday's Times front page completely cut out William. Says it all really. lol. Express only used George. pic.twitter.com/8yk7MDxKhO”
— Niraj Tanna (@IkonPictures) December 18, 2015
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, WENN.
I wonder for how long is the British public going to let William and Kate have their cake and eat it too.
I wonder the same thing every time Katie and Bill are written about on here
So, basically, it is a Party Pieces Christmas full of cheap sparkles and tat. I guess that is to be expected from Kate and William not growing up in a middle class household wouldn’t realize that some of us have taste.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with cheap sparkles and tat. The article clearly said that there was a tasteful tree and the kids had a separate one with the sparkles etc.
If I were Kate I would do exactly the same thing. My gorgeous tasteful tree in the living room and all the Christmas kitsch in the family room for the kids.
I totally agree with you Bluhare, I would probably do the same thing, but if “we” play the oh so normal middle class family how many of us has a livingroom for the nice tree and a family room for the kitsch?
I used to live in a 1300 square foot house and I had two trees every year. So it can be done if you have the will and enough cheap and gaudy tat!
American here.
Curious — is Kate Middleton’s family truly considered middle class?
Aren’t they millionaires many times over?
I’m familiar with the British class system.
But even then… are they REALLY middle class?
Well, rumours are the honest money came from Pa Middleton side but then you have Uncle Gary which is a different story on all FRONTS 😉
ps- and no, I don’t own a motorcycle and I’m not expecting one under the xmas tree this year.
Middle class means something very different in England than in the US and Canada (where I am from). I think the Middletons are called middle class because they are not titled aristocracy and they are relatively “new” money. But I believe they have millions of their own.
Did anyone else notice how easy it was for The Times to edit William out of that photo because he was off to the side separated from Kate and the kids?
I love the shade associated with cropping Billy out of the pic
It looks as though Billy was cropped into the photo in the first place – so not too difficult to remove him.
@wolfie
Totally agree, he doesn’t look like he took the pic with the rest of the family. But for the press to cut him out of his families Christmas picture is an amazing level of shade. I wonder if that annoys little Billy?
Heh-I can’t help but loving your comment! Lol it’s a guilty pleasure I guess!!!
ha, I think wolfie is right…the whole photo looks like a project.
Well, he is the least photogenic. His teeth are ever so yellow.
I am allergic to kitsch. I am not allergic to bitch and therefore, Murdoch or no Murdoch, the Times front page meets with my doubleplusgood approval.
I’m not surprised all the Murdoch press cut out William.
That said, as soon as I saw the photo, I was struck by how easy it would be to cut out William (or Kate and the kids) because there is a perfect separation between the two sides. A neat line down the middle.
Now that I think of it, every Cambridge family photo, going back to engagement has that separation. Some like engagement, wedding, christening photos can’t be helped, but all the ones where they are supposedly showing us how much they are family show this separation where it looks like a composite picture, even when it’s not.
Sad, really, innit? All the Cambridges have to offer is a few tatty Xmas (I’m sure that’s how they spell it) gewgaws and a photo. And even the photo is nothing more than the cipher in a bitchfight between Normal Bill and the Fourth Estate.
And as per, Chuck is the only one who turns up to offer support where people of the country are actually suffering. He’s in Cumbria today. Never did I think the day would come when I found myself bigging up the Pompous Heir.
Many people have come to that conclusion. If we are going to keep the monarchy, then Charles is preferable to William.
It’s quite a turn around considering how often it was expressed that Charles should be skipped for William.
William’s wedding was a coming out of sorts. Nevermind Kate. As soon as people had a good look at him, Charles didn’t look so bad afterall.
And it’s only going to get worse.
I like tatty Christmas geegaws! I have an aluminium pom pom tree that I decorate with all the tatty and kitschy 1950-60 ornaments I can find, complete with one of those lights with the revolving color shade. NOthing but the tackiest in the bluhare household!
(That being said, I didn’t put it up this year. 🙂 )
LAK/Sixer
But when will it be so bad something is addressed? When he’s POW?
William just appears to not have an understanding on a role that he’s in. Which is minor to the next 2 he will have.
I forget the movie, but it was a reluctant son working in his father’s and grandfathers company. He kept screwing up seeing if they’d fire him. He would always be covered up by the other employees and could not get fired. Seems very similar.
LOL bluhare! Ugh to gewgaws from me, sorry. I have a tree with blue and white lights and a star on the top. Thassit. We have gone ironic before, though, and put an empty bottle of Fairy Liquid on the top. Is that Scrooge-y and tacky enough for you? Or heresy? Teehee.
FLORC – Normal Bill thinks the photo *is* his role.
Fairy liquid? HAHAHAHA!! At least you have a fairy on top!
The Sixer family needs a Festivus (Festivus for the rest of us!) pole. Then you can wrestle and have the Airing of the Grievances!
Mr bluhare has a Festivus pole in the man cave.
What the freakin’ Ada is a festivus pole? Am I about to go down the rabbit hole?!
We do make cool stockings full of silly but appropriate presents for each other. Will that do you?
PS: dearest bluhare, this festive photo is just for you:
http://twitter.com/MrAlanCooper/status/678288025676156928
I’m scrooge mcscrooge this year. A veritable human festivus pole.
And thoroughly enjoying my daily box of mince pies without concern trolling about my weight from the relatives.
http://festivusweb.com/
Sixer, this is right up your alley. I want to know what your Feat of Strength will be!!
That photo is awesome. You’ve got to admire someone’s stick-to-itiveness to get something like that put together!
Bluhare
Is that someone’s OCD. I can’t help, but be distracted by the fence.. I hate to thinkit, but it’s like a camp circa 1940’s. Netflix has too much ww2 movies. That is the issue I think.
And had to look up the festivus stuff. My brother needs that book! Go prime shipping Go!
Oh my giddy aunt. Next year, I am having a festivus pole!
I knew it would, Sixer!
@bluhare: My brother and I gave my sister and her family a Festivus Pole a few years ago for Christmas. Since we couldn’t wrap it we left it in the trunk of my brother’s car and on Christmas Eve we made them all close their eyes when he brought it in and, along with a well planned “argument” and bickering as he “struggled” with it (it weighed 4 pounds) a great time was had by all.
(And the best part is we made the pole out of wood and decorated the entire thing with duct tape so it kind-of looks like metal.”)
Every year the Pole goes up and my sister thinks it’s the Best Present ever!
#Seinfeld
That’s great, Fuefina! Mr. bluhare has festooned his with lights and it’s the dog’s favorite place to nap these days. When we can’t find him, we go looking and he’s having a nap under the Festivus pole!
I love festivus! Ha, I can imagine your dog enjoying his perfect tree. I too have a few dear tacky things among our decorations…like some red velvety-touch deer with gold glitter ears and tail, from the 50s I think (vintage shop find in Chicago). And two little glitter and faux fur wood squirrels. Best, this big felt and rag sock moose (reindeer) head with roll eyes I got from our church’s annual holiday jumble sale. Mr Liberty just rolls his eyes, but then hangs his beloved tiny Starbucks to-go cup ornament on the otherwise soooo tasteful tree. This year we each get three tacky things. Mixing taste with tacky can be fun esp when kids are going to be around.
This is probably my confirmation bias, but to me this feels like another strand of the ongoing “Will and Kate are just like you, but slightly cooler.” Look, ironic Christmas decorations! Cool gifts! And OMG who does NOT have, like, problems with the MIL during the holidays, it’s totally a bummer but whatever. Kids are gonna love the artisanal see saw.
And while I’m posting, I will also add that the PR machine is still looking for some upper-class hobbies for The People Magazine’s Princess. We moved on from sketching in the garden to baby photography to….any guesses? Gardening like her FIL?
If she ever became a mummy blogger, I would die and go to heaven. And I don’t believe in heaven.
The bit about her spending the summer sketching her children felt very aspirational mommy blogger
It would be #pippatips to the power of infinity. Oh, I can but dream!
That’s really unfortunate, Sixer, because I would really love to know what Sixer heaven is like!
Sixer heaven has books, Indian food, The Bloke (once schooled on his manners), Idris (also with edges smoothed) and um… chocolate.
PS: can I just say that I am deeply unappreciating Mr Sixer? He usually steps in for all the jobs I hate doing. He is the house Ironing Fairy, the house Shopping Fairy, the house Child Chauffeur Fairy. So WHY OH WHY is he not the house Christmas Present Wrapping Fairy? If he carries on like this, he will not be in Sixer heaven.
You don’t want Mr. Sixer wrapping presents. Truly, you do not. I delegated that task to Mr. bluhare one year and NEVER AGAIN. I think he did it on purpose so I would not ask again too. And it bloody worked.
I hate to say it, but you wouldn’t want a present wrapped by me either!
My husband believes presents should be wrapped and hates gift bags. But he doesn’t do anything until about 10pm the night before. I love gift bags and hate being up til 2am. So one year I put everything in gift bags early. 😊 Solved that problem as it’s now important enough for him to get it done before the last second!
Husbands who wrap gifts? What is this strange land of which you speak?
Wow cheap gaudy decorations and avoiding the boring relatives! Looks like I will be having a Cambridge Christmas as well!
Ha, me too! I believe Christmas should be as tacky and gaudy and OTT as possible. Tasteful during the holidays is boring. We have three inflatable decorations in our yard (three!).
My house looks like Christmas exploded all over it, and I love it! We don’t have inflatable decorations outside, but we have those plastic figures that light up (a Santa, a couple of reindeer, and a gingerbread man). My husband hates it and grumbles about it, but the cats and I outnumber him, so we win.
@Hawkeye,
😆
You guys should see our neighborhood. People literally drive from all over to come look at all the lights. There are enclaves in our entire neighborhood that look like someone exploded a rainbow over them. My mom and sister live on that street, and they have lights over the street tied to houses. They’re so OTT that a lot of them have had to install separate circuits to handle all the lights.
I can’t get over how like a typical family this all sounds.
Totally. Just like any other family–who is going to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with who, all the oldsters want to see the little ones. Families with small children juggle and work it out. I read somewhere that Sandringham cannot accomodate everyone anyway, the family is just too large.
rosiek
That’s 1 of the reasons they got AH. To have their own space as there was limited room to stay over at San. There is room to move around there. And being given AH it was thought they would have no excuse to not show up for christmas.
It will get typical family real the day a miracle happens and either Pips or James manages to marry and have a family. Then the Midds will really have the “where to spend Christmas” dilemma, and we’ll see if Kate and Wills remain the center of that family or not.
While I like Charles and Camilla, and I love THE QUEEN, and I think the Cambridges are two lazy spoiled baby, I also think Royal Christmas can be a nightmare, I cannot blame them for this.
I agree. I will be one of the first to shake my head when William is shirking royal responsibilities, but adherence to Sandringham Christmas traditions is about Will’s personal family obligations, not public ones, so even if I wanted to judge his motivations, how he spends his Christmas, for the most part (extravagant public spending maybe?), has nothing to do with me. It would be like me taking personal affront if our new PM spent Christmas in Montreal instead of Ottawa, or that he decided to have tourtiere instead of turkey.
Couldn’t agree more, Livvers. That being said, I confess to being quite amused at the about face in plans if you believe the Express story!
You’re so revolutionary!
If PW is so adverse to the traditions os the monarchy and would rather be like the Middletons then maybe he should step down altogether. I’m sure there are other royals who would love to take his place with a smile on their face.
This talk of Kate ‘revolutionising’ the RF is getting on my last bitchy nerve, girl can’t even moderinse/revoltionise her hair. And while I think Sly Bill is behind the Midds getting shoved in the RF’s face they are also desperate to be up at the big house – something to dine out on and get those freebies the so love to take.
Her family are not thought out in a positive light sure he/they can see that. The more he shoves them/they shove themselves into the public eye the more hate they get from the press and people.
Silly boy always loves to use the Midds to shove it to his father and grandparents. What a sad little boy he is.
this, x1000
When William will be done getting back on his own family, he will find something wrong with Kate and her family and he’ll find another refuge in someone else and that someone else’s family. Can’t wait to see that happening. It’s just a matter of time but it’s always funny how people like Katy here and her parents think they are all so powerful now.
Well, Henry VIII turned on Anne Boleyn when she couldn’t give what he wanted. I guess we’ll have to see what that means for William in terms of what he wants.
True.
Henry VIII cut off his wives’ heads, William will use the passive aggressive card until his wife demands to be beheaded (just kidding, I’m sure Kate is more resilient than that).
I think, als that eventually Sly Bill will piss off the press so much that we’ll be treated to the expose of the century when all the Middleton dirty laundry will be publicized including how Willy’s pulled strings to let them buy their house with cash (maybe taxpayer money?), add a 1million pound extension to their house using public money, their business is dodgy and personal finances funded by dirty money etc. Not to mention William’s own secrets like where is he when not with his family. I’m really hoping that he will be publically shamed enough or forced to step aside. I’ll be making popcorn.
I don’t usually wish nervous breakdowns on anyone but this time I wish them on the members of the royal press.
If a nervous breakdown caused by William is needed to bring us the complete profile of the future king, I am all for it.
Otherwise, they should have exposed all of them because of the Truth getting out there and because of the Taxpayers and stuff like that, but obviously those weren’t good enough reasons.
It’s such an easy choice in American – vote for Bernie Saunders, and have the economic divide addressed,, or vote for a hawkish party, and let the country (the US), be involved in “chest-thumping”. The problem of the !% seems a problem of the “powers that be”. And the tip-top of that power is symbolized by the “crown”.
The Express is reporting, though, that the Mail has this story wrong and that not only will the Cambridges be attending the Queen’s Christmas dinner, they’ll be staying in Sandringham on Christmas Eve (not Anmer). In fact — horrors! — they’re reporting that rather than come to Anmer, the Middletons may remain at Bucklebury and the Cambridges may join them there for the New Year.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/628200/Kate-William-join-29-other-royal-guests-Christmas-lunch-Sandringham
The article’s been shared by several royal reporters on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phildampier/status/678477480446074885
Yup; I saw that too. Not that I really give a damn where they spend Christmas, but that article was especially interesting seeing as William himself said they were staying at Anmer two weeks ago.
My friend sent me the two links and we decided that the two stories are problematic based on their bylines.
The story in the DM is written by Katie Nichols. A Middleton Mouth piece. She stumbles when she’s deliberately given bad information in a game of ‘who in his circle does William distrust this time’. Yet she remains in the circle.
Then the express article. Written by a Journalist who, until the recent secret meeting at which she was invited to gaze at the hidden babies, was extremely scathing of the Cambridges.
Since that meeting, she’s written pro-Cambridge pieces which makes her articles suspect for now.
It’s probably a little from column A and a little from column B, but it’s all problematic.
BTW, I think the Katie Nicholl piece is the annual hissy fit the Middletons have when they realise that an invitation to the big house isn’t forthcoming. Again. So they commission a hit piece on the horrid, stuffy royals and their bah humbug christmas bereft of fun and frolicks unlike what can be had at the Middleton household.
I do think we fail to account for the fact that leaks from the RF (I’m agnostic on whether the Midds are still talking — I think Michael’s absence from the scene this past year has been extremely telling) are not as prodigious as they used to be. I think it’s the one biggest lesson learned from the 1990s, by everyone adjacent to the catastrophes. In the absence of manipulated truth-telling (by Royals and their proxies), there’s a huge element of fairytale imaginary BS in almost everything we read about the RF’s private lives. The trick is to read in the margins of actual events, and to look closely at photos (who is where, doing what, when) to find out the solid basis for whatever fantasies individual reporters are spinning these days.
For example: George keeps getting seen with Carole around Bucklebury. Where is Kate whenever that happens? And where exactly IS William these days? Are there sightings at East Anglia airfield? Those are the facts upon which we can build a solid story, IMHO at least.
Ellen2: absolutely.
Ellen2
I love your comment.
Ellen 2, I think you’ve summed it up. Where IS Billy? Where IS Mr M? It is such a ball of worms.
I wonder if they tried to have the Middletons included in the Windsor Christmas but couldn’t manage it so now they’re leaking to the press that they didn’t want to be part of the dumb old Windsor Christmas anyway because their Middleton Christmas is going to be so much better.
Or did they really just slowly set up a compromise, initally playing hardball with alternate Christmases until some way could be arranged for Kate to spend Christmas with both families.
If the Windsors asked, would the Middletons gladly ditch their kitsch Christmas and run the whole way to spend Christmas with the Windsors? I mean they even went to the Windsor church service.
Maybe the best way to check William is to be totally open to the Middletons so William can no longer use them to rebel.
The whole Midd clan would be up to the big house in a shot if an invite was issued. This who,empress ‘will they/won’t they’ thing is the same every year. They drop hints in the press and make the RF out to be a bunch of bah humbugs. I think the RF backed off from them after the bad press when they turned up in the Royal carriages at Ascot a few years ago. People were like why the eff are they in the carriages when no other In laws have ever been. It just helped cement the social climbing image they have.
It’s such sour grapes and they’re only getting away with it because Zara and Autumn aren’t saying anything and Harry doesn’t have children yet.
But I agree, definitely the Middletons are known as social climbers. They should have stayed out of the press except for doing charity work and events like the Christening. Kate’s silent rock rather than tan and grinning widely for the photograpers. Being demure would have gone a long way.
I think Julian Fellowes wrote in his book Snobs about invitations being issued with the implicit understanding it would be bad manners to accept but the Middletons either can’t stop being desperate to belong or they don’t care as long as they’re photograped to look like they belong.
As for Kate, she keeps picking this strategy of withdrawing and isolating herself but that just won’t work in the longterm. She’ll just be portrayed as lazy and inept.
Doesn’t Sophie’s father get invited to Sandringham House for Christmas?
He’s widowed, so if there was no invite he’d be alone each year (although I believe Sophie has a brother.) He also doesn’t make a huge public fuss about it! That’s probably the big difference: he’s quiet and discreet and presumably an excellent guest. The Midds are not. But he’s middle-class, if not working class: the Queen’s not being a snob, she’s just avoiding the Middleton circus.
I believe he’s been there a few times over the years and he a similar age to TQ and DoE but yes he ain’t blabbing to the press about it. That family invited the press into their lives for the get go and have been using them ever since at some point that hand will bite back. When it does it will b epic. The dirt that they must have on them, as am sure they have made enemies over the years in their relentless climb.
Yes. And it’s not about seperating families.
The stories that come up as justification for the Cambridges refusal is OTT.
There’s something about the PR and stories for Cambridge favor that seems so forced. It’s not a factor of trust.
I do wonder if there’s a question of security or secrecy.
Florc – The overwhelming factor in William’s favor, is that many fortunes ride upon the viability of the Crown.
It’s like any normal family…sons tend to spend time with the in-laws and daughters tend to drag home the husband..my grandkids decorate our house and do the tree every year usually it looks like a glitter bomb exploded in the living room. This is the first year the decorations have made it to the tree top and garland is artfully arranged around the dog’s bed. Sadly as time goes by they tend to spend less time with she who must be unnamed and me – no crazy architectural designed gingerbread house or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation…
I wonder who does the cooking
Carole. It must be her because no one trusts a skinny cook ie Kate.
“a custom-made oak see-saw engraved with their children’s names”
I don’t know why I find that so funny…just thinking about it cracks me up
The see saw was so deliberately planted. So detailed.
Why the need for multiple outfit changes for Christmas? I spend the day in my pajamas.
For 1 example. Church. Not pajama friendly.
And after returning from Church who can’t wait to get out of those clothes into something else? Something not pajamas because you’ll be entertaining guests.
I see no problem for “costume changes”, unless one is not in the party-spirit, or one is counting the cost!
I doubt any Middleton woman is adverse to changing clothes and showing off each new expensive and flashy outfit.
I cannot wait until the Middleton versus the Royals Christmas stories die down. It’s a load of nothing.
What, exactly, are the festivities at Sandringham that Kate and Wills are skipping? It sounds like they are there for most of it, other than sitting around late on Christmas Day while the Queen gives her speech. And if there was an invite from the Queen to the Big House for Christmas Day to Carole and Michael they would all be up there faster than a shot from a cannon, Anmer’s twinkles and flashing fairy lights be damned.
Arm the barricades and start the revolution!
Sounds a lot like many people’s Christmas. On another note Kate needs a new hair stylist, someone who knows how to cut a fringe into thick hair. I can’t count the number of times a stylists has messed up my fringe by cutting too far back because my hair is so thick. I gave up and let them grow out. Kate should too. I actually prefer her hair longer although drying it can be a nightmare.
Not when you have an on call 24 hour hair stylist. Like most people. 😉 Merry Christmas Maggie! We can snark a lot and might forever disagree, but all the same. Enjoy your Holidays
Merry Christmas to you as well Florc! (It’s ok to disagree. I appreciate our differences)
Photos from when she was younger show that she doesn’t have the thickness of hair she has now, because it seems as if she added in extensions that are 100% more in amount than what natural hair she has.
Kate’s dating years there’s a search of “Kate middleton feathers in hair”.
Compare that with her just married to honeymoon photos.
She has Pippa and Caroles thickness. When their hair is not done up. Which is what Kate has had her whole life until the engagement.
No shame in extra hair. It’s just not growing from her scalp. This isn’t an insult.
I’m so happy for the Cambridges having a “relaxing” Christmas after the hundreds and hundreds of events they do each year. Surely, they deserve it. /snark
Yes, for heaven’s sake, among the deserving …-…they must be counted – for looking so cute(?). No – it’s for being Just Like Us!
The DM also says that Harry was invited to join the Middleton Xmas in the evening for games organized by James…. 7 minutes in Heaven?
More than 7.
😀
I agree with Kaiser that Harry should not go to the Middleton Xmas party, even if it is in the evening after Xmas lunch.
I can see that turning out into ‘See? Even Harry hates spending Xmas with the Queen and Philip and prefers the Middleton’s company instead.’
There are worms in the stew – and Willy is It!
There’s a new DM article out today on Pippa and Carole’s Xmas party tips:
– Use your ‘computer-savvy child’ to type out all the addresses for the Xmas cards
((Because that’s fun for kids))
– Use younger party guests to top off the older guests’ glasses and to make sure the glasses are always topped off…
((Saves on hiring wait staff, I guess))
– Seat children at a SEPARATE table….
((Umm… Wasn’t this a complaint about the RF’s Xmas lunch?))
– Give teenagers mocktails…
((Virgin bloody marys?))
As long as it’s a Middleton directive it is fun, middle-class and super family oriented.
If it is associated with the royals, even remotely, it is cold and boring and protocol driven.
Keep with the program!
😀
According to another blog Wills Kate and children will be with the Royals at Sandringham on Christmas Day
They’re scheduled for annual photos. Happens every year. It’s not something they can miss without it being documented for history of them not being there.
Maybe William and Kate are doing it year about between the royals and the middletons although all the other inner royals spend Christmas Day with the royals.
Regarding the changing of clothes, although we always see them all at a Church service mid-morning, they apparently also go to an earlier service (maybe just for them) where they take communion. Photos were shown of them last year from both services and the Queen and Kate at any rate had a different coat for each service. I think the Queen’s coat at the first service was fur which she hardly ever wears in public now as it is deemed unacceptable.
I didn’t know until recently that the Queen does not sit with the rest when they are watching her speech but goes into a room and watches it alone. I don’t blame her for that – would be mortifying although I suppose she is used to that kind of thing.
Saw photos today of Sophie and her kids at some theme park with Zara and Autumn Philips and their kids. No chance of seeing Kate at anything like that. The press had Zara Philips daughter’s face blanked out.
Zara’s daughter’s face was blanked out? And Willy uses his children for kid-cash? What a sorry State of Affairs!!!
What I don’t understand is why they can’t come to some sort of compromise. They could easily alternate Christmas at Anmer with the traditional Christmas with the Queen. Or have a small, separate nuclear family Christmas with the Middleton’s for the children and also participate with the Royal Christmas tradition. It could easily be resolved and a satisfactory solution found. I think the true grist of it is that it’s an immature power play on William’s part and Kate goes along with him like an anxious, eager to please puppy. She’s also unhealthily intertwined with her family and is obviously awkward and out of place with the Royals, which I think is why she supports anything that includes her family and avoids the Royals. I’ve watched her fashion and taste since she first appeared on the scene and I think she has common, tacky taste and has to resort to mimicking others instead of having her own style. I think she’s decorated her mansions in a way that she thinks will seem the poshest (lots and lots of beige and off-white), but doesn’t have any natural flair for it. I’m sure her Christmas decorations reflect her low rent taste and are way over the top. She needs to really have a think about what she signed up for when she married a man who comes with huge amounts of duty and giving back. She’s been in the Royal world for 15 years now, with nothing to show for it but two children she doesn’t even raise without staff. She is the least competent, laziest and most spoiled and pampered senior Royal, and has earned the disgust and dislike of millions of people who had such high hopes for a fresh, youthful commoner joining this family. If she and William continue to put themselves first, enjoy their unearned wealth and perks and use the taxpayer’s money to live their fantasy version of a “normal” life. What they don’t want is to be held accountable for their actions, give back in any real way or to have to respect and participate in the ancient traditions of the historical institution that let’s them live their hedonistic life. They have no respect, no sense of duty and basically refuse to do anything that interferes with their cushy lifestyle.
Well said Effie. They are such disappointments and will be the reason for their own (and the Midds) downfall. It’s inevitable given the way their PR has been operating lately (for example, using the children as a pawn in their power play) IMO and the sooner the better. The whole thing is becoming a farce and if QE and Charles don’t lay down the law soon and give William an ultimatum, the public will revolt.
W&K need to own who they are instead of trying to be something they aren’t. Like when they painted their KP apartment purple, they should have kept it purple. Like when Kate wore a WAG mullet mini-dress to a fancy gala. Keep wearing them. Like when they’re so uncomfortable meeting children and other charity recipients and having small talk with the plebs and making speeches and other promotions for the aid of their charities. Stop doing them altogether. Just be known as the party royals and accept only invitations to galas, movie premieres, and yachting events with Sir Ben. Stop pretending to be too busy working in private to do public work duties.
If W&K could be so brass as to do their own thing their own way instead of having their PR tell the world they’re 100% different than who they really are and what they really care about and who they feel comfortable being around, then, though I’ll still criticize them, I’d appreciate the honesty, because treating the public like we’re stupid will finally end.
There are TV characters whom viewers love to hate but can’t get enough of, and then there are those whom viewers just can’t stand resulting in writing campaigns to get them off the air. The former antiheroes own who they are and that makes them entertaining. They have a ‘love it or leave it’ type of attitude at the same time making their own scandalous behavior seem so fun. The latter don’t have this cheeky, humorous perspective about themselves, and because they are so constrictive in how they are perceived, they’re unrelatable and are tiring to watch.
Your comment made me lol!
And their PR is such a disaster. They and it are out of touch.