Of all the complaints lodged against the Cambridges – and to a lesser degree, Prince Harry – I have never really cared that they seem like somewhat normal people. Like, William, Harry and Kate are more “normal” than royals of other generations. They’ve lived out in the world, they’ve held real jobs, they’ve shopped at the grocery store like normal people and they watch their favorite TV shows. Why is that a bad thing? Well, according to the Daily Mail’s William Hanson, it’s a bad thing because they’re in danger of taking away the untouchable mystery of royalty, the allure of the unknown. Hanson is an “etiquette expert” (??) and he’s had it with Will and Kate calling each other “babe” and “darling” like the normals. He’s done with Harry making cute videos with the Queen to promote Invictus. He loathes the fact that William was photographed with his hand in his pocket. Seriously. You can read the full piece here. The most relevant portion:
Last week the press reported the half put down that the Duchess of Cambridge delivered to Prince William at the Chelsea Flower Show. ‘Babe, we’ve got loads of those [buxus shrubs]’ she reportedly said to her husband who had forgotten the makeup of their garden. Babe?! Not a very imperial pet-name, is it? He’s the second in line to the British throne, Your Royal Highness, not a character in TOWIE. Babe is a far cry from ‘cabbage’, which we think the Duke of Edinburgh uses for The Queen. Cabbage is quirky and unusual enough to pass as aristocratically anachronistic. Babe is just plain common.
… All these populist movements, whether staged or accidental, will erode the majesty that the royal family need and must retain to survive. For me, royalty should be royal. They are not supposed to be like ‘one of us’. They must all be nice people, yes (and they are), but it seems that it’s now all a bit too chummy and informal. It won’t last if this continues.
We all know that Royal funding is not the most secure fiscal fixture. The more that the Royal family behave like your average Joe the weaker the argument is to give them that funding. We don’t fund them to be like us. If they are just like any other family, then what’s the need to subsidise them? Why not give us the funding then, instead? It’ll play right into the Republic campaign’s under moisturised hands. I want gilt. I want ermine. I want pomp. I want a well-waxed chauffeured Bentley, not Prince William driving mother and latest child home from the hospital in their family car like a regular bloke.
They are missing the point. Half their role is to set certain aspirations for the rest of us – however unattainable some of those may be. Even some of the shop assistants in John Lewis today are grander than younger royalty. It’s not all doom and gloom. The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall have got a nice balance between affable and regal – perhaps the benefit of longer in the job. They always say the right thing, never confuse friendliness with trying to be a friend, and are always immaculately dressed.
What’s the solution here? Just know your (elevated) station. You are not celebrities, Your Royal Highnesses. You do not have to try to make us like you. Just be yourselves and don’t try to emulate the proletariat’s behaviour. (Ditto this to you, Prime Minister.) I completely get that you may just want to live quiet normal, ordinary lives but that’s not part of the bargain. So put a tie on, Harry; hands out of your pockets, William; move away from Reiss, Catherine, and start being more royal. You can do it. I share because I care. The greater the chance we have of seeing you down the aisle in the Waitrose on Kensington High Street, the less of a case there is to have you.
While I think this guy sounds like a prissy elitist, I also thing that he might have some kind of fundamental point, which is: if the royals are “just like us,” why should we care? If they’re just another melodramatic, stunt-queening reality show, why should the taxpayers fund them? Say what you will about the Kardashian clan, but my tax dollars are not supporting their lifestyle.
I think this Daily Mail column is basically the internal argument happening within the royal family right now: Charles had moved a lot of pieces around to insure that William, Kate and Harry are seen as the modern young royals, the new faces of the royal family. Charles has done that with the belief that William (and to a lesser degree, Kate) will step up and move into a bigger royal role. But William’s still sticking with his “I’m so normal” thing. That’s what the Cambridges want to project: that they are no different than any other fabulously wealthy and pampered “middle class” family. William believes his title is a burden, and he just wants to be “normal.”
As if to prove this columnist’s point, the Daily Mail has photos of the whole Cambridge family looking like a normal, middle-class family at a horse show this week – you can see the photos here. Kate and Prince George are wearing matching stripes.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
I read this story a few days ago and I think he makes some very well laid out points, especially considering that he is in favor of the continuation of the Royal family. I thought his most valid point was the lack of justification in continuing to fund the lifestyle of Normal Bill. They are set apart because they were born into royalty. If they want normal, then get a job and be a normal family. You can not have it both ways.
I agree. I had a heck of a time with the article because I thought the writer was a pretentious snob, but I do think he had a good point to make too.
Charles has three valets. I laughed. 100 servants and three valets.
And Republicans have under moisturized hands. Where the heck does that come from?
Babe is common😂😂😂
I agree, the normal act is killing the BRF. Look at the queen. Every detail is perfect, her clothes are amazing, her hats are fabulous, she always brings the bling, and her love and devotion to England and the Commonwealth is never, ever in doubt. She lives to serve. That is what makes people love the BRF. Not because we can “relate” to them.
Ah, LAK, that’s why us aristos call each other sweetcheeks. 🙂
@bluhare: I immediately got up and put some salve on my hands. God forbid some snobby twit should immediately assume that my hands are chapped from mopping floors in a castle or something!
Exactly. The very idea of royalty these days means you have to be extraordinary to earn your keep (although I still see massive asymmetry). No one is trying to fund their next-door neighbor’s, normal lifestyle. And, one cannot pick and choose when normalcy suits them, which is what they do a lot of the time.
That being said, this also felt like a slight dig at Kate’s entrance into the family. As in, her middleclass roots are rubbing off on them. Anyone else get that vibe? I feel like there are always subtle ways–which heightens the snobbery–that people like to remind Kate and the public that she was not born into royalty or aristocracy.
Also, RE: “they’ve been out in the world and held real jobs”: That seems to be lumping the Cambridges in with Harry, not the other way around. Both Kate and William held jobs that made sure they would be well accommodated in terms of time/scheduling (read:vacations).
Sophie and Tim Laurence were both middle class, and these digs aren’t directed at them. I don’t think it is a dig at Middleton’s roots. It is a dig at them pretending to have “middle class values” while failing to work, spending like there is no tomorrow, being supported by others, and constantly complaining about their privileged lives.
The problem with this whole normal thing is that they – and the idiot writer of the article – have no idea what normal actually is.
It’s all getting to feel like I’m in the midst of a BRF version of Stuck In The Middle With You: entitled fools to the left of me, entitled fools to the right of me… and every single one of them projecting ideas and attitudes onto the plebs that simply do not exist.
Sixer you have quite the way with words!
But Sixer!! Your poor under moisturized hands!!!!
The only thing those two are “trying” to do is going on another vacation…
Will and Kate are the punishment for Britain’s imperial past.
Seriously,could they be any less capable?
Feels like reverse psychology.
The people have been complaining about them not doing enough and costing too much, so they put this ridiculous article so the commenters can come to their defense and praise them for being “normal” (whatever that means).
Did anyone notice in those horse trial pics how she wasn’t wearing heavy eyeliner and wiglets? I know the pics weren’t of highest quality but I swear she looks better the less she tries. It’s interesting because my husband accuses me of the same, and here I just thought he liked me attracting less attention. Lol. Maybe he’s onto something….
They knew they were being papped, the photographer was close enough to be spotted taking photos. The Meade bloke at one point looked directly at the camera. It was staged – usually they are very protective of the kids.
And Charlotte is a mini Carole.
Yes, to show them as such normal, hands-on parents. The problem is that they probably arrive via helicopter and had the nanny and PAs in the background preparing their picnic lunch.
I didn’t notice that, but what I did notice is Kate flashing her rear end. Pull up your pants, DARLING.
They try to sell the normal middle class family, while taking private plane and elicopter instead of a train.
Well, the Daily Fail would know, wouldn’t they…??
Their definition of “normal” involves living a wealthy life paid for by everyone else, never working, taking multiple luxury vacations, and demanding privacy in public places.
The British family has masses of inherited wealth. And there is no use complaining how that wealth was acquired unless you complain about everyone else: robber barons, monopolists, people who steal windows concepts from other people, mobsters, those who rip off the stock market via hedge funds, bankers. Let’s start pointing the fingers at all those people too, then I’ll mind about Will being born into a very very wealthy family. And why shouldn’t they have a stipend if the price is their privacy and constant criticism?
They have alot of inherited wealth, but not as much as everyone thinks. For years Forbes used to call the Queen a billionaire until someone pointed out that 80% of her wealth was actually state property. She’s since been downgraded to an estimated £275M. From that, she supports rest of the family’s private living. And even that isn’t enough because Sandringham and Balmoral have commercial aspects to them as opposed to simply being rich enough not to need that extra income.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/18/how-wealthy-is-the-queen-not-as-rich-as-you-think/
If all is taken away, they will have to make do with that £275M and no more and pay proper taxes on it. Plus any other income stream they’ve set up independently.
Without state funding, they can’t afford their current lifestyles.
They’ve earned the criticism. It is about all they have earned, aside from their nicknames.
They live off the Duchy, which belongs to the people not Charles Windsor. All the security comes out of a different taxpayer fund. They are not spending their “own” money, they are living off of other people. They are not doing the job they are supposed to do in exchange, hence the criticism.
William inherited £10 million (after taxes). If they had to be “normal” and live on their own money and within their means, they’d be out of money in three years.
I think genuine “normal” (using pet names and the like) is good. It is the fake, staged “normal” (ridiculous William grinning like a maniac while doing yoga in his stupid socks – because he’s so relatable) that stinks.
I concur.
Babe is common😂😂😂
You have to type it like the plebs say it! Bayb!
Weird, I thought normal people worked full-time.
Exactly. And normal people don’t need PR people to fluff them up and make excuses for them. If they were truly normal, they would just get on with the job in a dignified manner and that would speak for them. Also, making enemies with the press is so counter-intuitive to me. If they just did their jobs, the press would report on it and there would be no sniping articles and god awful, cringeworthy photos. It’s not rocket science!
Haven’t the British tabloids always had a love/hate relationship with the Royals?
The problem is that they are trying to control public perception at the level of the image instead of doing the actual work to earn our respect. It’s not working. If they showed up and and showed a genuine sense of love and duty no one would care if they wore striped shirts or tiaras.
They aren’t trying to be normal. The only time they play the normal card is when they want sympathy for someone taking a photo of their private time. Normal is not what they’re going for when they ‘work’. Their public appearances are just sloppy in execution in comparison to royal standards.
Except when those photos-in-public-places quiet the “why is William never seen with the kids in private time” speculation. PR
I don’t get the obsession over these two, they are the most boring royal couple alive. The media really have to reach hard to find stuff to write about them.
The DM author is an idiot because their lifestyle IS aspirational for a lot of people! The one percenters of their generation all live like that. Easefully. While the rest of us are chained to the laptop or some other toil. That said, if they lived any more poshly, there would be an uproar about that too since they “are on the dole.” These two can’t win.
If they lived any more poshly? More poshly than a 50+ room mansion in central London? A 10 bedroom mansion in the country? Secret vacations to tropical islands and expensive ski resorts? Three dozen staff (home and office) including nannies and housekeepers? A new $100,000 tennis court? Helicoptering around instead of taking the train like HM? $100,000 a year in new clothing?
How much more posh do you expect them to get, seeing as it is paid for by the taxpayers?
They can win by working more than his elderly relatives. Showing up and doing the job for which they are richly compensated.
Well, the national health care system in England is under fire and tax dollars are hard to find. I wouldn’t think twice to say bye-bye to them all!!
There is nothing normal about The Duke of Dork and his Potato Head.
I literally just made these points yesterday on the Will Yoga Moves story (even including the Kardashian reference). Pulse + my finger = on it.
Lol
What is he saying that she is trying to be normal by calling him babe, probably find this term of endearment was fondly used in her social sphere before she dated him and she has introdced her normal ways into the Royal family, that is why he fell for her, there is no escape now. Normal for these two seems to be the story line in channel 4 the Windsors, I suspect that is the concern of this social ettiquette journalist, I mean putting it out into the comedy satire domain that Kate and Pippa are gypsys got us all scratching our heads.
The Normal Show would be so much more entertaining if Spitting Image was still around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On-okY7cVhM
I wish spitting image were still around to town on normal Bill.
Me too. I loved Spitting Image when it was in its heyday. They would have a field day with William and Waity.
So true. Spitting Image would go HAM against the Doolittles!
I read the DM article when it was published and found myself agreeing with it. Once you take the mystery away from the royals and try to normalise them, it makes people query why we need them if they are just like us.
The pics at the horse trials were a major PR exercise. Poor Jason must be working overtime. They show how much Kate has aged but in a strange way she looks better than she does with the caked-on make-up and hair extensions.
A few DM readers commented that she seems less engaged with Charlotte than she did with George at the same age. You certainly don’t see many pap strolls with Charlotte or pics of her at farm parks with granny Carole.
This is rich, coming from a guy who has not one, but two scenes where he is fully clothed as a naked woman tries to seduce him.
This “columnist” is simply trying to justify his existence. If William and Kate, the top of the aristocratic heap, are relaxed and un-snobby, this dude -utterly untitled- (gasp!) yet with airs and graces, looks ridic.
If W &K remain elitist, then his so-called standards and quips about peasant-y dry skin normalizes.
tl;dr
In the land of no etiquette, this dude is jobless.
I believe the rise of nonstop media coverage and the internet – where everyone can have an opinion, right or wrong or indifferent – has fundamentally changed the BRF forever. When I was a little girl, there were only three TV channels and we found out what was going on in the world by watching the network news shows or reading newspapers or magazines. Case in point: my British relatives rang my parents in Dallas as soon as they announced Prince William’s birth, screaming into the phone, “We have a King!” It still took over an hour for the news to formally report it in Texas! The BRF maintained their mystique largely because we did NOT see or hear about every single one of their activities. The royal press pool was also stocked with trained, professional journalists, not bloggers or paparazzi. Nowadays, photos and videos can be posted on the internet and disseminated worldwide essentially in real time. Traditional news sources cannot ever be late to a story and must always try to get scoops ahead of the competition. They are also under pressure to constantly cross-promote, retain eyeballs, and get click-throughs. Suddenly everything the BRF does MUST be considered potentially newsworthy, and woe be it if a media outlet cannot identify the designer of Duchess Kate’s latest dress (and provide a helpful link to the designer’s website).
There is something to be said for preserving an aura of privilege and mystery in an age when most celebrities neither understand nor pursue either. When the Queen visited a U.S. supermarket several decades ago, it was treated as a unique excursion for a woman who is not required to do a regular grocery run for her family. Normal for her was NOT shopping for food while pushing a cart. But within days of her wedding, the paps photographed Duchess Kate shopping at a Waitrose in Wales and analyzed her purchases, interviewed other shoppers at the store, and critiqued her outfit. People said things like, “Oh, she’s just like us! She understands real life!” But not only is Duchess Kate really NOTHING like the vast majority of us (we do not need multiple RPOs to go to the grocery after all), her current role as the wife of the second in line to the throne as well as her future role as Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth are as surreal as life gets. I can honestly say that while I did not give two flying figs about what Waitrose frozen meals Kate selected or what she said to the cashier, I was fascinated by the Queen’s questions and interactions during her shopping trip. The difference? The Queen was doing something totally outside of her comfort zone and she has not routinely been photographed dashing into Tesco for snacks or pushing a shopping trolley.
In my opinion, the BRF would be far better off if they stopped trying to convince us that they live normal lives albeit with titles. Instead they should just admit that while their lives are far from ordinary, they care about important issues and sincerely want to – and will frequently – use their roles, access, and privileges to make the world a better place for everyone.
Excellent post, spot on!
Will and Kate’s problem is that they aspire to a lifestyle their titled, rich friends lead without fully appreciating how different their situation is. They go to school and socialize with people who don’t need to have a sense of public service or duty because they have family wealth. The family money means can go on as many vacations as they want, work or not work. Will and Kate may be in that circle but their situation is entirely different. The Royals lifestyle is dependent on the goodwill of the British public and taxpayer.
Christa, Ditto !!!!!
Has anyone else noticed how red Will’s face is in the first pic? He looks quite mad and she just looks worn out! It’s a short outing at a garden show – put on some smiley faces people!!
Well, I agree with the columnist about one thing: that Invictus video was beyond cringeworthy.
If she is so normal what’s with the new accent that she has cultivated ? Go back a couple of years and listen to how she used to speak I think she is trying far too hard to be royal.
Normal people take a helicopter to travel short distances, work 15 hours in three months, play polo and wear custom-made outfits by McQueen (or have the clothes altered in such a way that completely sucks the character and sexiness out of them). Sure.
I think it must be difficult to be ‘normal ‘ if you have security around you 24/7 – just taking a walk or dropping into a pub they would have a security staff nearby and then there is the eavesdropping staff it must be very stifling. Not to mention the photographer hiding behind the bushes if they attend an off duty event.
That isn’t the type of normal being discussed here really. It is that they are pretending to be “everyday folk” and we can all see otherwise. I do not care if they are papped going to the grocery store, there is no bloom on the rose of either W or KM. Stop whining about your privileged lives and get to work already. Stop pretending that “normal” = not working for your perks.