I’m actually enjoying Kate’s Keen Birthday Embiggening Week over here. It actually started just after Christmas, the build-up in coverage around the Duchess of Cambridge’s 40th birthday. Kensington Palace clearly sent out talking points, and they even made Kate’s private secretary available (to the Mail, at least). While many of the talking points are repetitive, some are merely priceless keenery ripe for discussion. Not only has Kate “never put a foot wrong,” she’s also got to give credit for her keen perfection to her mother, Carole Middleton. Please allow Ingrid Seward to speak about Carole and Kate like they’re both out of a Jane Austen novel. Kate is, as always, merely a local beauty from Bucklebury whose many fine accomplishments attracted the very bald and terribly rich prince.
Since joining the Royal Family more than 10 years ago, the Duchess of Cambridge has barely put a foot wrong. She’s often the picture of poise and professionalism on engagements and as she approaches her 40th birthday has been described as growing in confidence. And according to one royal expert, this, in particular, is down to one very special person in Kate’s life – her mum Carole.
Royal expert Ingrid Seward credits mum-of-three Kate’s “ambitious” mother with helping to ensure her daughter is accomplished at whatever she turns her hand at – including royal life.
Ingrid told the Mirror: “Kate is a product of her mother, she was brought up to do everything to perfection. She learnt to sail as a young girl and rock climb and ski. She loved cooking, dressing up and making clothes. She learnt the piano, her father taught her to play tennis to a high standard. All these skills came because her ambitious mother encouraged her to learn them. There’s nothing she can’t turn her hand to.”
And on top of striving for perfection, Ingrid also believes Kate’s reserve and willingness to remain in the background has also put her in good stead for royal life.
Ingrid explained: “She is patient, and has the ability to listen. And she has discovered she has this ability with people, she is very good with the very young and the very old.
Kate’s many fine accomplishments include learning how to finger a few chords on a piano, skiing, rock climbing, getting dressed, cooking and playing tennis. The kind of accomplishments a woman would need if she’s planning a life of leisure as the wife of a rich man. Carole never taught her daughter to work for a living, nor did Carole teach Kate any social or professional skills which might ensure that her daughter would be something other than a trophy wife. The whole plan revolved around William and getting the ring, although I’m sure Carole had a back-up plan for Kate to marry someone terribly rich but untitled. What kind of kills me about Carole and her plan is that she truly didn’t prepare herself or Kate for what happens after Kate secured the bag. There was no actual preparation for “being a princess” or “working for the Firm.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
Kate does seem to enjoy the athletic activities.
I think she “dabbles” in them.
It’s the only thing she does that comes across as authentic. Too bad they just didn’t build her a charity portfolio solely around sports.
They probably tried but Kate doesn’t want to work.
Maybe they tried, but the plan was presented in a way that was patronizing to CATHERINE, so Baldingham instantly rejected it.
She enjoys sports as a hobby but being serious about competition in sports takes real work. Which Kate does not put in. And she makes herself the center of attention when she is seen with genuine sports champions.
I always got the impression that William purposely sets her up to fail. Perhaps it’s setting the stage so if he divorces her, he can come out looking clean.
I think Kate would do some kind of work for sports. She clearly exercises and diets a lot, so she does have willpower. She would never organize anything, but she could attend various sports matches and pose for photographs with famous athletes.
But it’s all quite standard middle class upbringing (make that upper middle class with money for sailing and horses) – both me and my sister had music lessons, church choir, the odd embroidery day with the nanny, dad/older cousins who taught us to sky, ice skate, and play tennis, ballet lessons, swimming lessons, hiking in the mountains vacations (rock climbing is a bit newer here).
And we’re not rich, just a regular family with a good income. There’s millions like us. They’re not accomplishments, it’s what you do as a middle class kid. I still enjoy swimming and skiing and hiking, only I don’t have the leisure to pursue them as an adult as much as Kate can, with all her money.
Sailing and skiing aren’t really middle class IMO, I guess skiing can be depending on where you live, but if you aren’t near mountains then you have to drive or fly – for example I can drive to a ski resort about an hour away (its not a good one lol, but its something) but my brother and SIL have to drive more like 4 hours, so then you have hotels, and then they fly to better ones – so for their area, skiing is definitely more of an upper class activity than a middle class activity, especially the level of skiing Kate does.
Music lessons, sports – that all seems middle class to me.. But you can’t say “well these things are all middle class EXCEPT FOR these other significant $$$ things that werent” lol.
I am middle class and the first time I tried to ski I was 27, same with sailing.
absolutely- send your daughter to the coveted St Andrews, with all of the rich boys who couldn’t get into Oxbridge. marry her off and then read her monthly Country House and Garden column , which will discuss in depth different kinds of wall paper and their outdoor dogwash for the spaniel.
@BECKS1 I get your point about skiing, fair enough. I do think that the difference between middle class and upper middle class is money, not values – the richer middles can do more expensive activities, but they’re just activities, not anything more profound or serious.
My point was that Carole just enrolled her children in the typical activities for their age and income tax bracket, and Seward is now trying to spin it as an awesome and prescient educational plan – cue the music for the “training to be Queenie” montage.
And it wasn’t, it was just Carole being basic shallow Carole.
I absolutely think it depends where you live. if they went on ski holidays they are expensive so to become a competent skier they must have spent some dough. I agree music lessons, swimming, tennis is all pretty normal stuff. I grew up pretty poor but learned to swim and i could have had tennis classes through school that was very cheap but i didn’t like it. Sailing requires money and access i don’t know anyone’s kids who sail even though there’s water near me. maybe in some countries sailing isn’t as expensive.
Skiing definitely depends on where you live re: it being middle class or not. As an adult, I moved to an area within a few hours drive of ok-ish East Coast ski areas and lots of my friends (some who were barely middle class) skied. Now, it might be different and less affordable in places like Vail, but a lot of those adult friends ski often. It’s treated the same way trips to the beach were where I grew up in the south. Even families on the lower rungs of the middle class ladder went to the beach for the odd weekend when I was a kid, because it was a few hours drive and you could get a cheap motel (or campsite), and all of those ski friends I know as an adult saw a trip to the beach as exotic and rare when they were growing up.
Mrs. Middleton couldn’t have given Kate preparation for “being a princess” or “working for the Firm.” It was learn on the job, even for Princess Diana, who was part of the aristocracy. Until Meghan married Harry, so much was hidden from the outside world. I’m still stunned at the revelations.
Jane Austen would’ve had a field day with the grasping Mids. Even their family name sounds mediocre.
Enjoying athletics isn’t useful skill for future PW or future future Queen consort! Her contemporaries speak several languages and are giving speeches and holding public meeting on the world stage! Kate can’t give 2 second speech without looking que cards
The teenage Princess of Asturias at 16 runs rings around Kate with her knowledge of languages and ability in public speaking.
Its like watching a different version of the bridgetons. If i had daughters i would still point to her SIL as a role model.
Kate has no actual achievements and it is embarrassing to watch the different spins. Kate was brought up to cling on and stalk a narcissist who treated her like crap for 10 years. There was no plan for her to actually work at being a princess once she secured the bag. They tried and failed to mould her into a lesser Diana but it didn’t work. They’ve tried appropriating aspects of the queen, the queen mother and her sister in law but nadamas. I’m glad she’s being overshadowed during her birthday week by Paedrew.
And it is something that Kate can’t complain about (Andrew overshadowing) because he’s the Queen’s favorite.
She really isn’t much of a “trophy” at all (bad skin, poor speaking skills, bad posture, no sense of style, lazy). Her true value is being a doormat to her rich and titled husband. THAT (turn a blind eye to anything he does) makes up for not being a real trophy.
I think it’s pretty middle class, I was taught all the same things when I was growing up.
We tend to say that Kate was only picked by William because the aristos didnt want that life either way SHE was still picked. I think sadly thats her greatest achievement, she out flirted and out charmed the rest of the non aristo girls who made a beeline to St Andrews.
I don’t think she out charmed them, judging by her biographies. She would be William’s friend and “protect” him from women coming on to him (even before she and Will were dating). She does not have women friends. After the breakup when nobody else wanted to get involved with him, William settled for her.
Kate’s an ultimate “Pick me” girl. The ultimate “I’m not like other girls” Cool Girl. Queen Pickmeisha.
Kate was the LAST women standing and even than William didn’t want to marry her. The man dragged it out for 10 years and she waited and waited some more. Royal Reporters continue to write as if the world can only view Kate through their version of her. They seem to forget it’s the 21st century and we pretty much see for ourselves how Kate has represented herself on the public stage and it has been a complete FAILURE! If I could give Kate advice it would be simply…..stop trying to compare yourself to or out do Meghan, it’s a fool’s errand
Kate is that character from Gone Girl. The Cool Girl who is really a complete PickMe.
Kate played the role of the courtesan in order to ultimately get the position of wife of a royal. And she was never able to adapt to what was expected once engaged. Of course William didn’t care because she was on call for him and that was good enough especially after he got rejected by all the other women he has placed above her.
I think the RF felt that having PWT marry a commoner was going to help the monarchy. I don’t think he truly wanted to marry her. I mean he spends more time discussing Jecca Craig than he does his own wife. Kate was a way to help the image of the RF during a time they were really stagnating. Kate was vicious in her stalking and dedicated to getting the ring. She wanted the Diana comparisons and wanted that particular ring to show her as a royally palatable Diana vs an actually interesting person. She fought for him and she’s not giving up the crown without a fight. Messy…
She was a pick me that William’s friends called mattress waiting. Wouldn’t say she out charmed anyone. There was no contest.
It wasn’t his friends – reports say it was his protection officers at the time.
William himself would tell his friends he had sex waiting for him, meaning that she would show up to his place whenever he called and then leave the next morning in full view of the paps with that khaki overnight bag.
Total pick me.
She didn’t “win” William. She waited around for 10 years until the Queen finally put her foot down so the balding 30-year old prince would marry his longtime doormat.
@ candy, not only TQ, but also Charles and CarolE! I would also wager that CarolE placed a great deal of pressure on the Bitter Brother to propose for YEARS, which caused the multitude of break ups. Possibly not immediately after graduating but possibly within 2 years.
As far as Ingrid Sewer comments, she is sadly on the train of delusions with Mumbles McMutton in regards to every comment that she has made. Mumbles is excellent with respect to her interactions with children and the older population? When? Where? Why weren’t we seeing these occasions of Mumbles McMutton “never putting a foot wrong”?
As for the rest of the Meddling siblings, I have to wonder how they personally feel about their Mum investing so much time, money and priorities with Kween?
I also wouldn’t be surprised if this lead to marital trouble between CarolE and Michael as well. You can’t have one parent solely focus on ONE child while the other two feel abandoned emotionally. It’s not a healthy dynamic, as I grew up with the same dichotomy, but it was due to my brother, as my sister followed. My father being an Argentine native with placed the male offspring as superior and worthy of no expense is questioned.
Kate wasn’t picked. She was the last woman standing. All the other ladies that Bill tried to woo into royal life said “lolz, nope”, but not Kate. She endured all the cheating, lying, name-calling, and humiliation because she wanted that crown. Honestly, I would not be surprised to learn that Kate fell out of love with Bill way before the engagement and just stayed because she was in it for the power and position. If she had just been in it for the money she could have married any wealthy aristocrat.
I think I agree with this – she def didn’t marry him for love – but I’m confused as to why she would want the power….she does absolutely nothing with the limited power and influence she had now. And surely she must have known beforehand that any authority she would have would come via William? Of herself (royally speaking) she is nothing. This makes no sense to me
Agreed. Also, sunk-cost fallacy. “I’ve already spent all this time and effort, I’m DEFINITELY getting that crown!”
@Anners, it’s not power but status. She gets to be the UK’s number one woman. Everyone must literally bow down to her.
Ingrid is super sycophantic. Kate is a dabbler, she never is really “expert” at any of these fields. She is not a professional tennis player, she hit chords, she is not a seamstress, she is not a rock climber. And she would never have to “make her own clothes” and now can “dress up.” Carole raised Kate to find a rich husband and they aimed for the top when they found out where William would be going to University. Kate had no career, she did not use her art degree, she spent those years waiting for the phone–going clubbing and on vacations, and learning how to “win back” William through a lavish media campaign. Ingrid though can turn on a dime. She praised Diana and put her on many Majesty covers but when the tide turned, she started slamming Diana.
The fact that Kate’s mother didn’t push her to keep at least a part time job is staggering to me. In this day and age not working is absolutely ridiculous. Not even a volunteer position. I don’t even want to here about that retail job that she had for a day. Please, spare me with that mess.
Princess Diana had a job. Duchess Meghan had SEVERAL jobs. Carol Middleton had a whole career and she couldn’t teach her child to be a person who valued hard work?
I guess Carole wanted her to marry up, and it would have been “bad” if when William called her she had an actual work deadline and could not be available for him. And Kate could have gotten work experience and some structure instead of waiting for that phone to ring.
Yes – Diana was out working as a nursery teacher and as a cleaner for her sister aged 19 and she was the daughter of an Earl ie real aristocracy.
As ever Carole trained her daughter to do what she *thought* the toffs would do but since she isn’t one she just got it horribly wrong.
Carole didn’t want ANYTHING as mundane as a *job* (or even volunteer work, where, y’know, you actually have to SHOW UP on a schedule) to interfere with Kate making herself available for Bitter Brother whenever he had to scratch that “itch”. Keen said it herself, she told her Jigsaw job that she had to be “available whenever William would call”.
Carole missed her century. She’d been Mother of the Year 2-300 yrs ago!
Carole’s teaching method would have been for royal mistress in years past though and not royal spouse.
The story of Carole letting William use their bedroom after one of the break ups in order to help with a reconciliation remains the sign of a mercenary parent who didn’t care about their own child’s self esteem.
Even the fact that she dropped out of that charity boat race because William called!
She was actually doing something, even if it was likely for the publicity. I don’t think her attitude towards charities have changed at all.
My sister told me about that! Why not just complete the race?!? Like you said she was actually doing something and her seeing it to completion would have been a real accomplishment.
Let’s face it, Harry would never call Meghan and be like “Hey girl. You busy?” He would have gone to the race and cheered Meghan on.
Carole didn’t seem to want any of her children to truly make something of themselves. All three had expensive educations for the sole purpose of networking and trying to marry into the upper echelons of society. She even got her brother involved to finance Kate’s fake post-university lifestyle so she could play at being a rich girl and stalk her and her mother’s ultimate prize, the reluctant Willnot. Carole (and Michael) did them no favours as all of them seem unhealthily dependent on their mother and still get laughed at by the aristos. Not to mention the lack of self-respect and self-worth that Kate et al must face every day. None of the Middleton kids seem like healthy balanced adults.
It’s like the RR and RF are finally coming to terms with the fact that Keen is just never going to get her sh*t together and actually DO something so now they’re trying to spin it as her being humble and never making things about herself? Yawn. Just say you fumbled the bag with M and keep it moving.
But where is “the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”?
But she had all these classics from Waterstones on her desk! No? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
To be fair, they WERE in nice pastel colours!!
They’re trying to distract from the fact that Kate is actually an airhead, a fact of which they’re well aware, trust me.
kelleybelle, YEP!
Hahahaha!
A wind up doll with a brain?
If she’s read Jane Austen I’m an elk. “With such an husband her misery was considered certain.”
This sounds like a reverse list of gripes KP had with Meghan.
Again – rent free.
Ugh, that picture of younger Carole. Like she’s a second away from flashing us with her vag. And you say she didn’t teach Kate any skills! Gd knows flashing the public is about all Kate has managed to accomplish in all these years.
The repeated use of the adjective “ambitious” in front of Carole’s name is NOT a compliment. This is major shade. “Ambitious mother” translates as pushy, social climber seeking to advance her children.
That’s what I wondered Hench. How do Kate and her mom feel when these birthday embiggening pieces call her mom ambitious and say Kate is a product of her mom’s ambition? They can’t like that. I mean Meghan was called ambitious. How dare you call my mom that?
Mrs Bennett.
@Jais – the RRs seem to uniformly dislike Carole and do not try very hard to hide it. And this piece is aaalll shade – to the real aristocracy this idea of pushing and manufacturing your children to climb socially is looked on with a combination of amusement and disdain and their real view of Kate and Carole dripped out of that Tatler article. Carole is seen as a pushy parvenu.
The irony is that Kate and Carole, not coming from the right circles, may not even realise that this ostensibly embiggening piece is actually the opposite. The list of “accomplishments” is comical. The aristocracy do not ‘train’ their children – they just naturally learn all the things they do because they are all the things they do in the course of their everyday life with their families.
They may not realize a lot of the shade in these embiggening pieces but the word ambitious has to sting. The RR do seem to dislike Carole so it makes you wonder how much they actually like Kate. I’m thinking not much…
If William ever did decide to publicly divorce or separate and the gloves were off, the press would probably eviscerate her. It would be pretty brutal. Like I’m no Kate fan by any means but even I shudder to think.
that was major shade and not even disguised! Between ambitious and Kate’s ‘accomplishments’ it was a lol piece.
I mean, even Diana (who actually came from royal lineage) worked. She was a cleaner for her sister and worked as a nursery aide.
Kate was brought up to be a trophy wife and nothing more, and now they’re trying to make “fetch” happen.
Diana also worked for an American couple as nanny to their son. She excelled in that and never shirked.
Yup. That’s why she was able to go straight to work and carve her own path. The public recognised that authentic work ethic. Sloth on the other hand is all about her photo ops.
Diana did work but she never went to college. Hopefully, if you didn’t go to college you would work instead.
It boggles my mind that Kate is still ‘listening and learning’ after ten years on the job. And you are right; she was brought up to go to university to get her MRS degree, not have a career. If you look at some of the women who are now Queen consorts, Kate suffers by comparison. Maxima of the Netherlands worked in finance, Mathilde of Belgium was a speech therapist, Letizia of Spain was a journalist, Queen Silvia of Sweden was an interpreter. Even Princess Sofia of Sweden spent the years she dated Carl Philip working on herself to be an asset to the Swedish Royal Family. Kate has more in common with Charlene of Monaco than these women.
Charlene did have real skills in swimming. Which takes work.
Charlene was an Olympic level swimmer.
Mary of Denmark was a marketing manager.
Kate? Party girl and yacht girl;
I should have qualified my comment to say that, yes, Charlene worked hard to be an Olympic-level swimmer and now has a foundation that teaches water safety to children, which has been a passion of hers from the beginning. Kate has never been passionate about anything; she’s just always been ‘keen.’ Even Camilla, a housewife for twenty-something years until her divorce, has shown that she has more of a work ethic than Kate.
Even though Mary worked very hard to land Fred too, she at least is smart with a law degree and worked as a marketing manager. though they did rewrite her just ‘bumping into him’ at the pub rather than she stalked anything royal at the olympics. and she learned danish, imagine kate doing that.
:And on top of striving for perfection, Ingrid also believes Kate’s reserve and willingness to remain in the background has also put her in good stead for royal life.
Ingrid explained: “She is patient, and has the ability to listen. And she has discovered she has this ability with people, she is very good with the very young and the very old”
Ingrid cannot be serious. Kate did not remain in the background when she wore the red dress and sat down at the piano hitting chords, And the gold gown and the fashion shoot at Philip’s funeral.
She has no ability to listen, She has no ability with people, She is not “very good.” She apparently had her own agenda about Meghan and the people skilled person did not hesitate to roll her eyes at the mention of Meghan’s name.
Whenever Kate meets children, she may be grinning madly, but the kids looked bored (and rarely look at Kate or engage with her). And you just know those were the *best* pics they could get. I never understood why people think she is “good with kids.”
I agree. Kids are very good at reading people and they never seem interested in her. Kate has her usual manic smile so they can try and get a few pics so she seems relatable and just “so good with kids” but everyone else is looking at her like she is nuts. Remember that photo of her pouring cereal? She has this manic scary grin on her face around the kids and they all seem disinterested in her.
‘Very young and very old’ = ‘people it’s easier for her to patronise’.
“There’s nothing she can’t turn her hand to.” Umm, let me help you Sewage:
1. She can’t tell the truth that she made M cry.
2. She can’t tell the truth that she made M cry.
3. She can’t tell the truth that she made M cry.
4. She can’t tell the truth that she made M cry.
5. She can’t tell the truth that she made M cry.
I’m sure there are more examples…..
Had a press release sent out because she didn’t want anyone knowing she wore hair extensions.
She can’t make a coherent speech.
She was definitely brought up to be a rich aristocratic wife or a trophy wife (not sure if those are considered the same thing.) She was taught things like sailing and skiing that I usually associate with the upper classes – I know people besides rich people do those things, but in general they are expensive hobbies and are well-known activities of the rich, and when you factor in the tennis, its clear she was groomed from a young age to be a rich wife of leisure.
Issue is, being royal isnt being a wife of leisure so there was a flaw in their plan. I wonder if the thought was kind of a “shoot for the moon, land among the stars” kind of thinking – if she didn’t marry William, the “chase” would at least put her in the path of other rich, well-connected men, preferably with titles so she would have ended up as a countess or something, with a rich aristocratic life that was the ultimate goal, not necessarily being Queen.
Here is where I admit that I wondered if George Percy ever got married and fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, lol. (It seems he has not.)
Before settling down with terribly wealthy James Matthews, George Percy was who Pippa was supposed to marry. They met at university in Edinburgh, where she also palled around with the brother of the current Duke of Roxburghe.
I know! that’s why I was thinking of him lol.
Didn’t Mama Percy shoot that fantasy down in a NY minute? The Mids were NOT considered suitable in any way for George.
This is why I tend to think she must really love William (there’s no accounting for taste). Firstly because of what she puts up with in his treatment of her, and secondly because if she and Carole simply wanted her to be a trophy wife, William was the worst possible choice. A queen, even a queen consort rather than a queen regnant, is not a lady who lunches. Or at least hasn’t been up until now. Perhaps William intends to regress the role of king to simply a figurehead who spends his time hunting, feasting, jousting and bedding court ladies. But a queen is more than a full time job – it’s literally 24/7. She’s a constantly public figure who has to meet and greet thousands of people every year and doesn’t get to pick and choose which occasions she fancies attending or issues she cares about, it’s really not a good fit for someone who is apparently so shy she can’t speak in public, or so workshy that she can’t do more than a couple of quick events per week.
I think she loves the status she gets from William and is manipulative enough to think she can get out of working. Kate wants to be Queen and not do any of the work.
I think she was in love with an ideal or image. I don’t think she or her mother understood what it entailed. I think they saw the wealth, the palaces, clothes and jewels, and Carole figured she’d get some by association. I think the reality once it set in and the honeymoon wore off was a shock to K.
But even as an aristo wife she fails. Compare her to Rose Hanbury, an actual aristo wife. There is no way in hell that Kate pull off all of the work that Rose does for Houghton Hall. Being in that set is more than just lunching because somebody has to look after those estates that come with the titles, which is usually the wife. Rose is not lazy and the work that she does takes quite a bit of skill, as well as knowledge and good taste. She also is good at planning, organizing, and hosting which is critical for her role as lady of the manor. Kate can’t even run Amner Hall and leaves most of the responsibilities of running it to her mother. I don’t think even a titled man would have married Kate because she doesn’t have the skills to be an asset to those type of men.
It does not show “love” for a woman to be a doormat. It’s not a healthy relationship if a woman feels she must put up with bad treatment to stay in the relationship and get the ring. A person needs to have good self esteem to be in a healthy relationship and not ‘put up” with bad treatment. It does show that Kate would put up with the treatment to get to be Queen. She rushed out of the University of her choice to enroll at St. Andrew’s when word got out William was going there. I think Carole also had ambitions to be grandparent of a King. If Kate had been seeing a man other than William (IMO) and he broke up with her over the phone, he would be History. But since it was a future King, Kate went on her campaign to “win him back.”
She might be one of those people who love status and power more. That’s why I say she and Burger King deserve each other, and they might be more similar than they think. It’s not difficult to believe these 2 will have no problem lording over everyone when Chuck dies.
I’m not sure that Carole’s first priority was her daughter’s happiness or suitability for the role. She wanted the status of being mother to the Queen and grandmother to the future King.
I read somewhere recently that Pippa and her mother no longer get on because she refused to play puppet and married the untitled James Matthews. The same article said that Kate is the golden child because she does what her mother wants.
I’ve always thought that James was Pip’s “Kate” (ie: last one still standing when all the other rich, titled ones passed on her). He still wanted her, she wanted to be married (rich), and there they were.
I think the reports about Pippa not cooperating with her mother are fiction. By all accounts from the Middletons’ mouthpieces, the whole family met James Matthews back in the early 2000s, like 2004, at his family’s mega resort in St Bart’s. Having secured the crown with Kate, I doubt Carole cared about anything other than Pippa getting married to the most wealthy man she could. Ownership of vacation resort a bonus. James’s money is also pretty liquid in comparison to some aristocrats, and he is willing to prop up the Middletons with it – he’s currently employing James and has been for a number of years.
I think it’s PH who wouldn’t cooperate with Ma Middleton and take up with Pippa.
From my limited knowledge the women who marry into the aristocracy work, look at Rose Hanbury, Julie Montagu, Emma Thynn, these women work and contribute to running large estates, it’s not only about dressing up and playing the piano. I think most men these days want a woman who is accomplish, who brings something to the table. I’m not even sure an aristo man or for that matter a self made business man would have married Kate. At best she would have been a trophy wife for an older man and even he would have had a side chick who can carry a conversation and have substance. Jeff Bezos first wife worked for a living that’s how they met, she also worked with him creating Amazon. Bill Gates wife was an executive at the company, Zuckerberg’s wife is an MD, I can go on. If you look at world leaders, their wives are women who had or have careers. At a diplomatic reception I’m doubtful Kate can even make small talk. Carole did her a disservice.
Karole Kardashian is still so shook over Meghan. I don’t know who’s had more sleepless nights over the last five years, Karole or Kant.
And I”m starting to think the whole kindergarten piano recital thing was done solely to give the media an “accomplishment” to write about for her 40th, so embarrassingly sparse is her “resume”. Two weeks ago, no one knew she could even “play” the piano. Yet today she’s the white Alicia Keys and it’s all the rota rats can talk about for her birthday, when they’re not obsessing over Meghan.
Crying at the “white Alicia Keys” 😂
But you know what….you have a VERY good point. Our little stunt queen (literally and figuratively) had to give them SOMETHING new to embiggen her with on this milestone birthday.
If you can call consistent mediocrity an accomplishment, sure.
This woman has been so useless and lazy over the twenty years of her adult life, that they’re actually using her high school extra curricular achievements as accomplishments! She took a couple of piano classes at school twenty years ago and hasn’t played since. She took sailing at school twenty years ago and has displayed zer passion for the sport or the lifestyle. She took home economics and learned to cook a meal or two at school twenty years ago yet doesn’t even cook for her family and isn’t even a foodie, obviously. This is absolutely pathetic. I guess that makes me an expert computer scientist (tech club), a fire fighter (four field trips), a sailor (ROTC), a five star chef (home ec and field trips), a farmer (4H Club), a pro volleyball player, a pro lacrosse player, a newspaper columnist and editor (journalism club and yearbook), etc. This is literally what they’re doing to boost her profile now. All because of Meghan’s excellence and the fact that Mumbles is completely incapable of developing the skills that all public servants should have. She can’t give a speech, can’t hold a conversation with smart and powerful people, can’t write, can’t find solutions to problems, can’t create, produce, or implement projects, etc. She’s pathetic and an embarrassment and they all know it.
Very well said!
+2 @ Nyro BINGO! This woman had a very good secondary school (what we call it) education. The home ec, needlework, hockey, sailing, tennis, netball, music/choir, art, etc… all par for the course. These are the finishing school/exposure classes, with O and A levels looming. A lot of us know this from lived experience. You can do a lot with a good secondary school education, but it comes down to applying it to one’s self and life. The Home Economics class alone would have taught her how to cook/bake, manage household accounts/expenses and time.
@TEALIEF
Don’t forget how learning to sew on a button or fix a fallen hem prepared Kate to sew her own clothes and sew curtains for her 10 bedrooms at Amner. LOL!!1 She so accomplished!
Barely put a foot wrong.
If that Seward thinks I’ve forgotten the Sarah Everard vigil she’s got another thing coming. I find the fact that she does nothing useful with her time far less offensive now that we’ve seen what she thinks counts as appropriate and compassionate PR. They left a 39 year old mother of three to her own devices and that’s what she did with her time.
Of course the rest of her day is fully booked taking Ls from her husband’s affair partners and her brother-in-law’s new family, so maybe she had to scramble.
And how about the nonstop ass flashing right after they got married? I’m not forgetting that either. It’s pretty much burned into my brain.
Yep, the occasion on the windy Australian? tarmac in that yellow dress flipping up nearly over her head was unforgettable. Everyone got a great view of her bikini panties. That was at the beginning of the marriage, l think, and it just continued from there.
Lol she showed us what she was at the beginning!
There are a few events I know of where she did ‘fine’ but honestly, taking her 10+ years as a princess as a whole, she’s been worse than useless. It genuinely makes me mad to think about her behavior.
Carole sounds like lowkey narcissist who wont leave their kids alone. I dont know why everyone think pippa got some grand prize because even her sister married future future king of england and produce next generation , pippa only attracted a semi rich guy with rape father in law. Mattews want pippa because of her sister mattew father rape case magically disappeared.
I hardly doubt any rich millionaire or billionaire without any shady past wants middleton girls.
Also Middleton has poor social skills and zero woman friends. They are essential for rich husband. Mackenzie, melinda didnt marry with their husband by flashing underwear . They are equally intelligent and have work ethic.
Pippa might have been able to marry her boyfriend in 2011 who was from a posh family but not an aristo. The one before Nico. But the media attention from Kate’s wedding led to their breakup.
Mckenzie didn’t marry a billionaire, she helped him become a billionaire. they started amazon while married
Her athleticism could have been her strong suit if her “causes and interests and projects” had been managed correctly from the start. She does well with outdoor activities and is a major missed opportunity , such as forcing a square peg into a round hole. The powers that be tried to make her something she is not, rather than building on her one obvious strength.
Exactly. She should have started an initiative focused on activities and healthy eating like First Lady Obama did. Even focusing art as she was an art major in university would have been “easier” for her. She has no IDEA about the early childhood development and no desire to surround herself with experts who do. She is such an embarrassment.
Kate would be the last person from whom I’d take guidance for healthy eating. I’d probably starve myself to death.
Great point about her degree since we’re going back to high school accomplishments now 😂 Why don’t we get more art related content from her since she studied art history at university? I know she has the photography stuff but they could be propping her up with so many other art related projects. What a waste.
Interesting that they’ve gone from proclaiming she’s NEVER put a foot wrong to saying she’s *barely* put a foot wrong. Gotta say, there’s been some (very) mildly shady vibes throughout this birthday PR bonanza.
Who never puts a foot wrong? Putting a foot wrong, making a mistake is one way to learn and grow. This woman going through life walking on eggshells is not the wonderful thing they think it is.
See, this is exactly why her/their PR is soooo bad. People appreciate public figures that make mistakes and ADMIT them. Both, H & M, have admitted errors. My goodness, Harry has had to publicly show contrition for mistakes. William (nor Kate) ever has. It’s why they are not relatable to a modern generation. They want to come off (with help from others) as people who don’t make mistakes. That is not the modern view of things (or mentally healthy view of things). The BRF is stuck in an ancient perception. Will & Kate will not be relatable if that is the stance they take.imo
“And she has discovered she has this ability with people, she is very good with the very young and the very old.” People who can’t run away!
Scarole groomed her daughter for this. She was the one who treated Kate like a pawn from day one. I think it’s sad that Scarole produced a doormat for a daughter. I hold Michael in the same regard. I remember a piece that said they gave up their master suite so Keen could entertain Baldy. Also, I would be embarrassed when the nickname “Mattress” came out while they were dating. I remember the BM dragging Scarole and now they seemingly love her.
How times have changed. The first time I went home after being married I felt awkward taking my new husband to my bedroom. That was 1963.
Why does it seem like so many of these Big Birthday puff pieces have shady undertones?
Good question. Again and again, their distaste and disdain for both Kate and Carole is barely concealed.
Exactly this. I’ve found them all quite deliciously shady. I think they’re subtly stinking the knife into Kate and Carole here and there and there and here.
It’s shady because they don’t actually have anything to work with and the truth is that Kate is a lazy, coddled, unaccomplished woman. Talking about Kate is the very definitive putting lipstick on a pig. She hasn’t actually achieved anything in her 20 years as a public person and has achieved even less in her nearly 11 years married in to the royal family. The shade we are seeing is actually just the truth sprinkled with a bit of sugar.
I’ve been wondering this, too. It feels like the writers were tasked with Kate puff pieces for her 40th, likely with suggestions from Jason Knauf & Carole, but they’ve been spinning the stories to reflect poorly on Kate. It feels like the gloves are coming off. I think that Jason & Kate are about to be blamed for Sussexit in order to absolve William. William & Kate had a dynamic for several years where they held things together via shared antipathy towards Harry & Meghan. I suspect Charles & William may now be playing out a similar dynamic with respect to the Middletons. It also makes me wonder about the Queen’s health–it’s probably not good.
The writers better be careful they don’t sound PATRONIZING.
She does well with the “very young and the very old” so basically with those who don’t yet know their mind or who have forgotten parts of it?
LOL!
@Harla-LOL. That is a really funny comment and uhmm, errr, accurate.
Try as they might, the RR can’t transform Kate into something she’s not. The taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth from Kate, or any of the royals.
Those are all skills we all learned in boarding school. I have never listed them on my resume, because… I’m an adult and playing tennis, field hockey, and skiing aren’t relevant.
Honestly, the absurdity of this is getting pathetic. Also, I couldn’t help but see the grey hairline she has, which is natural for all human beings but since her hair is one of her major achievements, gave me a bit of second hand anxiety for her.
You are so right, a commenter above mentioned something. They’re citing her high school resume as ‘accomplishments’. When you’re almost 40, that’s pretty bad.
It was @ Nyro who wrote it and I responded to her comment. This is secondary school. Very good, all girls, prestige, secondary school stuff. Been there, done it, and it’s not on my resume. Nobody cares, because anyone who goes to schools like that, do these things, whether they are schooled in the UK or elsewhere. Whether their families are to the manor, or to the hovel born, they are exposed and do these things at school. We, of the humble hovel, were more interested in passing exams and getting accepted into a good uni.
Shouldn’t parents raise their children to be independent and self-sufficient? The Middletons took a huge and expensive gamble on William marrying Kate. They had two mortgages on their first Bucklebury house.
Now Kate is nearly 40 and her entire identity is tied up in William.
Not only isn’t Kate independent, James and Pippa aren’t either. If they weren’t wealthy, each would be considered a failure to launch. Each had every opportunity in the world to have a career in anything and refused it. And I would love to know how James’ dyslexia prevented him from finishing university yet he graduated Marlborough with the A levels necessary to get into Edinburgh to begin with. He just didn’t want to put in the work. 3 children with some of the best educations money can by, not a single career. In *anything* – not even PR.
Tutors – there has long been rumours that tutors were used to get Kate into and through University, esp considering the degree and University she got into.
I knew someone years ago who was a private tutor and most of his work came from helicopter parents who wanted their kids to get into the right schools etc.. He earned a good living from it. I think he also did it to fellow students as a way to earn extra cash when he was at Uni.
Snort. Where’s the accomplishment?
And also, she’s a rock climber? Since when? There’s that photo of her when she’s around 3 climbing around on rocks as kids will do, but that’s all the rock-climbing we’ve ever heard of. Or is that something else she & W do in secret, like the scuba diving?
There were rock climbing pictures recently. I looked it up, September 21,2021, Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, uses climbing equipment as she visits Royal Air Force. I guess if there are pictures of her rock climbing, even if it was done for 10 minutes for the press pictures, it qualifies her as a rock climber.
I did two hikes a few years ago while on a family trip, I must remember to add avid hiker to my CV.
Call Jane Austen. We’ve just read the perfect description of our antagonist. She’s spoken of as accomplished in all the fine parlors, and although she has only a small income and no title is surely competition for the best husband prospects.
Wow… horrible message to young girls… all of this is so outdated and sexist. The future of the monarchy they say?
You can tell from their names Carol hand plans for them – Catherine Elizabeth and Phillippa Charlotte. Both daughters are named for the monarchy QE, Prince Phillip, and Prince Charles are all included.
Yep, utterly over the top fake posh names.
Well Carole can’t help Kate be a royal or a princess, Carole is a doors to manual kind of commoner.lol.
William wants this in a woman. He wants a woman to not not rock the boat and look the other way. She wants to not work and live in a castle and she doesn’t care what he does as long as it’s discreet. Mission accomplished.
Yet she wants to be the center of attention at events including the concert and the film premiere and that garden dedication.
@Gab Yes, he wanted this, theoretically. He wanted the opposite of his mother (I’d like to read psychological analysis of the choices Diana’s sons made in wifes, someday). But she embarrasses him. He cringes when she is speaking. She has no class at all, even for dumb as he is she is too much embarrassment in public. I’m afraid she is high managment in private too. Maybe he got more than he wanted…
It seems Carole forgot one of the most important trait – a work ethic. A lot of the aristo women who have estates work hard to keep them running. They’re not easy to run or maintain and to do it until your husband dies (or even keep going if the heir isn’t married) isn’t easy. I mean I don’t want to act like they’re such great people who are such hard workers because they absolutely do live a life of leisure but they’re not *totally* workshy like Kate.
Exactly. There’s a difference between not having a job and not working. The old aristocrats are landowners and landlords who recognise their duty to their tenants and tenant farmers. They know that they are a large source of employment for many people around them and they take that very seriously. Noblesse oblige and all that. They work hard to keep their estates running and making money.
Congratulations to Carole then.
When Khate first appeared I thought she was a harmless meek person. A bit of a doormat but average. Now, I have no difficulty believing she is very conniving, absolutely two-faced and has very little conscience. Think about the alleged stories of her having to change school and copying homework without remorse. Her weird obsession of mooning several times until it was a concern, not just once or twice. Her calculated moves to postpone college to meet Will. Her alleged bullying of the York sisters and the faces she made at Harry when he was single. Her open courting of the press. Wearing that outfit for a fashion show. Pretending to be Burger King’s girlfriend to chase another girl away. I think all the attacks, leaks and very weird copying of Meghan and his ex also convinced me she is not behaving …well? And to top it off, she made use of a murdered woman’s vigil for PR and walked off when she got what she wanted. The posed photoshoot at Phillip’s funeral. She seems to have no conscience and wants to be Queen Bee for every occasion. The fights between her and Burger King must be epic. Imagine if it’s still the 1600s…I’d watch what I would be eating if I were Will, Charles or Camilla. Not that Will is any better. He is not behaving …well either.
And there was also that episode where she dressed just like Jecca when they attended the same wedding. The “Outback” hat and Jecca’s look.
I think William and Kate both have narcissistic personality disorder. They display all the traits, lack of empathy, envy, passive aggressive behaviour, sensitive to criticism, need for admiration, manipulation, etc. I don’t know what happens when two narcs are married to each other, but I can’t imagine it ends well.
I want to see her watercolors!
“A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address, and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”
(Jane Austen, Vol. I, Ch. 8)
Nan, now that you mention it, I’m astonished Carole didn’t insist on Kate taking up watercolor painting. It’s famously one of Charles’ pet hobbies, and would have earned Kate bonus points with him, especially during the dating years.
Does she have a beautiful little design for a table?
I’m loving all the references to Jane Austen… “It was, moreover, such a promising thing for her younger daughters, as Jane’s marrying so greatly must throw them in the way of other rich men;”
When someone writes the biography of this mediocrity who’s in over her head, it must be someone in the vein of Austen. It would be such a fabulous bestseller.
She brought her up to be a gold digger and man chaser.
Kate’s PR really goes overboard because they are always insisting that she is perfect – that is they key feature of her PR. I think that is a mistake – not only because Kate is so obviously mediocre but because no one buys the idea that an actual person is perfect. We know humans are imperfect and insisting on Kate being perfect in everything she does just emphasizes that they are selling a lie. The perfection angle strikes me as a particular Middleton talking point – and I think that this insistence on her/their perfection is a symptom of their class insecurity. It also makes Kate rather unappealing in the sense that she isn’t relatable because the image she presents as completely perfect in everything she does is just super unrealistic and quite obviously deceptive.
That’s exactly it. We (collectively) dislike her even more because it keeps getting shoved down our throats how wonderful, talented, amazing, and perfect she is, when a blind bat can see that she is none of those things. It’s just sickening and I can’t believe that it’s not done even a little bit on purpose just to poke the hornet’s nest.
Another ‘tell’ is that they almost always make the writer refer to the superior Middleton values, the excellent Middleton bloodline etc.
Kate thinks by labelling herself as ‘perfect’ it will make people look up to her, like she is a shining example of what a woman should be. It’s such a poor way to market her. Firstly it’s incredibly condescending that the little rich girl who has never had a job, and had everything handed to her on a plate is ‘perfect’. She has never been challenged at all in her life. She’s never had to work a full days work once in her life. All she has to do is stand there in a coat dress and basically act like a cardboard cut out.
No woman should ever look up to her because she is so below par compared to women her age. Most women I know out work her, take care of their kids and home, don’t have nannies or staff. I know kate wouldn’t last a single day if she had to live the life of an average woman. So why should an average woman look up to her?
Kate being ‘perfect’ doesn’t fit in a world where women are now encouraged to embrace their imperfections and uniqueness and own them with pride. It’s not what women want to see.
This insistence on perfection is also a major marker of inauthenticity. Nobody is perfect, anyone who does insist that they are is a fake. That is actually both Kate and William’s major problem when interacting with people – they are not just awkward, they are so obviously inauthentic. Most people know when they interact with someone genuine.
My parents brought me up to also be a housewife to a wealthy executive type man too. Then I figured out I was smarter than most men and made my own way in life. People are always surprised to find out all the skills I have besides work.
I’m sure that in Carole’s eyes Kate is a total success. After all, she nabbed William, so that probably means that some day Carole will get to play with TQ’s jewelry! However, Carole left out some crucial lessons, like being kind and thoughtful, being interested in others, and giving of herself. Kate was never taught that helping others would help her grow too, and that it is possible and even preferable to help others without the presence of cameras. There is no depth to Kate, her shallowness goes on forever.
Carole’s probably looking to the future where she can “advise” George, who will be King someday plus go in for matchmaking, trying to have them meet royals from other countries or ultra rich people with titles.
Reply to Tessa; by the time George is king Carole will be pushing daisies.
Normally your parents are supposed to hate your bad boyfriends, not encourage you to stay with them. He dumped Kate multiple times and cheated on her, before the marriage! That’s horrible. You should never stay with a man who is capable of doing these things to you, he doesn’t love you.
I’m not a Kate fan. I think she is lazy given all the nannies, cleaners, cooks, and her parents to help her. I dislike how unwelcoming she was to Megan and how she has allowed the Megan made me cry story to flourish. And she has not defended her in the press. But I admire competent people. And by all accounts she is a very good tennis player, sailor, cook, skier, etc. Because she loves to do those things. She also seems like an excellent mother. Too often I see wealthy parents who don’t prioritize spending time with their children or setting limits and the children turn out like rich entitled wastrels. My psychologist friend says money, lack of supervision, high expectations an an x factor event like divorce, a death, etc. And it’s a guaranteed drug problem for rich kids. Plenty of aristocratic examples to see in the UK and in the US of people like this. Women have choices and if her goal was to be a stay at home mom until the children were in school I don’t fault her for that. Many of us might wish for the same. But it’s time now to step up and do more than listen and focus attention on an issue. What I admire about Harry and Megan is that they speak out, write the book, donate the money, create and run the charity programs that makes a difference in people’s lives while still seeming like a good friend,boss, and parent. That is not easy.
But that is very American isn’t it? Outshining Willy or Charles is not allowed and neither is upsetting the political scene in the UK which would result in changes to the monarchy or to the aristocratic class based way of life. Which is why H&M left that toxic family and island like many people before them. The US is far from perfect but the class based society 8n the UK is a dream killer.
If her goal was to be a SAHM until her children were in school, she married the wrong man for that. And even now, her children are in school, sooooo…..where is she?
We don’t know if she is competent in any of the things you listed. Her PR says she is very good at tennis, sailing, cooking, etc, but we don’t actually know that (sailing I will give you bc she does seem at least competent when we see her on the water.) but we don’t really know how good she is at most of the things listed, including being an excellent mother. I don’t think she’s a bad mother, dont @me people lol, we don’t see enough or know the kids to say she’s a horrible mother OR that she’s an excellent mother. Again it is something about her we are TOLD.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a SAHM but she’s married to the wrong man if she wanted that. She knew she was going to have a public role and while being great at tennis, sailing, cooking etc etc is great and fine, she’s also got a job to do and she’s not very good at that – which I would argue is a more important thing.
Kate is in over her head.
She doesn’t get a choice to be a SAHM. Sorry. She made her choice when she married William, which automatically forfeits her right to be a SAHM after that point. You don’t marry and become the wife of a public figure, the FFK, a role that has a public facing component inherently, and then refuse to live up to its requirements.
If she wanted to be a SAHM, she shouldn’t have married William.
Kathleen, I agree with a lot of what you said, except that Kate is a good Mother. When she’s been shown at her engagements which included children, it’s pretty much a flop because she doesn’t connect with the children whether they’re in elementary school or teenagers. I’ve never been a parent, but I’m an Aunt. Talking with kids has never been a problem for me because 1) I like them; and 2) I was around my nieces and nephews when they were growing up. I’m really glad to say that they never gave me the looks that the kids Kate has been around gave her. I think if the Cambridge kids turn out alright it will be because of their Nanny.
Knowing what we know about Kate, it’s very unlikely she’s ‘excellent’ at any of those things. She might be an OK tennis player. She has no work ethic. To be excellent requires effort. William said she’s not a good cook. She HAS a cook. We see nanny Maria with the kids and Kate just waltzing off on her own. She’s a narc. I’d rethink your admiration of her.
@kaiser 💯! It’s 2022 you can’t raise your daughters to be nothing but a trophy to put on the mantle. You’re doing a disservice to your child. Women should be independent in every sense of the word. We should need to be with a man. We should want to be with him. There’s a difference.
Kate dabbles and half-asses everything in life. My mom, the nicest and most forgiving angel of a woman, snickered when she saw Kate’s grand piano performance. I went through years of formal music school in Austria, so my mom had watched me and others progress over the years. It was even clear to her that Kate’s “skills” are at a very basic level. No one with any real proficiency is that stiff and glued to the sheet music while playing what is by all accounts a very basic piece.
I grew up with an Italian-American father. My father made a bit of money and promised my mom she never had to work again when they got engaged. She only worked long enough to collect the bare minimum of social security. Her mother and his mother never worked either. My father expects me to find someone similar, so I don’t have to work hard,maybe part time. He has always given me money monthly since I became an adult, bought me a car etc. I have always been employed, but never pursued a career because of my trust fund(only child). He has flat out told me, don’t marry someone in debt or not secured financially.We are very middle class. Could this be Kate a bit too or no?
No, Andrea. The difference is not money, it’s work ethic. You are employed. You have always been employed. There is the difference.
Every parent wants their child to be financially stable. If it works for you and you’re still respected for your own contributions to the marriage, why not. If she wanted to just be a homemaker and step down from being a working royal I think that could be arranged. But they’d have to justify it in some way and this is the very difficult part for the firm? Either reduce the funding and have William pick up the numbers? This means William is head of state front and centre and only he gets paid. His family gets security and housing but nothing else. We know the royals creativity can kick in when it comes to bypassing laws or fudging accounting so maybe they’re smart enough to think of a solution for her. Maybe. Another problem is European queens work. So she would look really bad unless like I said, the firm is smart enough to think of something. Having said that, if she wanted this in the first place, I wonder if the Queen would even allow the marriage? Hard to say. Another problem is when she married they started with the narrative that she would hit the ground running because she was the first graduate spouse…yeah that wasn’t smart. So she’s stuck.
Kate wants to be loved like Diana but she doesn’t want to work. She should have stopped pursuing William when they broke up and find a rich stable man with private funding.
You aren’t going to marry a future King therefore expected to have a public role so it doesn’t matter whether or not you work (no offence). That’s between you and your future husband.
You’re right, this is essentially what Kate and any other well-to-do daughter of an aristocrat or aristocrat adjacent person would do. Diana did not “work” in the strictest sense, in that she did not need to work to provide for herself. Rose Hanbury does not “work” in the same way. These women have money, and have been provided for their whole lives. They don’t ever need to work in the way middle-class and working-class women would.
With that being said, Kate…is not in that same sort of position. When people say she doesn’t work, it’s not that she needs to work a 9 to 5 job. Kate is not fulfilling the responsibilities of her role as a FFQ. She is a public figure, whether she likes it or not. She married William, and sadly, she doesn’t get an option to decide otherwise, bc William is the FFK. Her position as his wife is a job unto itself, it has its own responsibilities, and Kate is not fulfilling those.
Her work ethic is not even what’s at stake here. She could be lazy as she wants and probably still do a heck of a lot more than she does right now. She is not engaged in what she does. She doesn’t take even a cursory interest in her position. She has talents, but they are all very surface level. I do not think your mother or grandmother, or even yourself, would say that any of you are like that.
A woman doesn’t need to work a career to demonstrate her work ethic. Even the little that Kate does could be done a lot better, if she just took even the smallest of interest in any of it. She doesn’t bother.
A woman does not have to have a career but in this day and age most do–two career couples are very prevalent in this day and age with the couple putting aside money for future tuitions for their children and women who have careers may be single parents.. But very wealthy women that I have read about have worked diligently (not having careers per se) and some have headed up charities, which does require work Work with real deadlines and not part time where she could come and go as she pleased, would have given Kate some structure and preparation for the responsibilities of royal work.
@Tessa, even being a “society wife” entails work. It does require a person to be gregarious and friendly. Throwing a party where everyone has a good time is not easy. Knowing how to conduct yourself in public is one of the few things that the British aristocracy is supposedly good at.
Being a SAHM also entails work. It involves planning, scheduling, meeting deadlines, ensuring that the needs of the people around you are being sufficiently taken care of. A lot of the SAHM I know are very competent, effective people.
You pick up skills from any position in life. It’s not like Kate doesn’t have any skills. She’s just not motivated to use them for this particular position. That says a lot about her tbh.
Kate is an entertainer, and it’s hard not to watch a good trainwreck. I wish Rose liked the attention the way Kate does than we’d have a real life public soap opera. Unfortunately rose won’t bite and Meghan values her privacy, so it’s just pathetic will and Kate and dm fiction. It’s funny according to them every single person in Kate’s life has played a villian (Carole, will, harry, Meghan, Rose, Pippa) except Kate, which we know by now is the real villian.
I’ve been thinking about this more recently, because we often refer to Kate being brought up to “catch a prince”, yet her values and skills don’t really come close to that. She’s not “accomplished” in even the Jane Austen era sense where eligible daughters were taught to paint landscapes, memorize epic poetry, speak Italian or whatever.
If you were truly raising your daughter to marry an aristocrat (and I don’t think you should, btw), you would have nailed down her elocution early, coached her in public speaking, made sure she’s comfortable on a horse, had her start on the committees of local charitable events etc and THEN engineer a chance meeting at some posh shooting weekend.
Kate might have been better suited with some terribly wealthy non-aristo, or as more of a trophy wife, where her job would be to shop for new clothes, get her hair done, and maybe order around the staff. She might have been extravagantly happy as “Katie Middleton”, random footballer’s wife with all the leggings and hair extensions she could ever wish for.
Her skills fit more of a mistress where she can focus on maintenance of her looks and shop for outfits.
*Memorise epic poetry*. The RR do go on about her education and “accomplishments”. It insults their readers, and it insults those who take education seriously. Sorry, Kate is just not great. My gran, God rest her soul, recited all 9 stanzas of Sea-King’s Burial from memory from her dying bed. My mother has the Glove and the Lions in her repertoire, drilled in by her primary school teacher with the necessary projection, elocution, and emotive skills. This is primary school, end of year Christmas pageant stuff. At least one class in the primary school on stage reciting an epic poem that they practised all year, in front an audience of many.
Kate thought she was going to be a superstar upon marrying William. She thought stardom and attention would take away her insecurities and leave all those girls who hated her along the way seethe with jealously.
She thought she would be the most famous and beloved woman in the world like Diana by default, whilst getting to sit around Norfolk doing absolutely nothing at the same time. She doesn’t understand why women like Diana and Meghan are exceptional.
Diana herself said that all strong women in history walk down a similar path. Iconic women become admirable through the adversities they face and how they make it through.
Kate’s life has been a walk in the park, she has never been challenged, not once. She prides herself on being ‘perfect’ when really she is just static. She will not be an iconic woman in history like Diana is and Meghan will be.
Ok, this is what strikes me here – “All these skills came because her ambitious mother encouraged her to learn them.” Setting aside the shade cast with “ambitious mother,” even bigger shade is implying that Kate wouldn’t have bothered learning even these skills unless her mother pushed her. Nothing in this piece says that Kate was interested in or wanted to do any of these things.
Do Carole and Kate dye their hair the exact same colour? It’s a very brassy brown. Pippa’s ashy shade of brown is way nicer.
Agree with all that’s been said. Kate was trained by her mother to catch a rich man-that’s it. CM failed to help her become her own person & K continues to choose not develop herself. It would be tragic to witness if she was a kind person, but she’s too actively lazy & mean for much sympathy.
Technically, a “trophy“ wife is a much younger & beautiful second wife who marries a wealthy man after he dumps his first wife. He wants an armpiece he can show off. Kate is definitely not that.
I found this story laughable but what I came to comment about is kind of mean but I have to say it anyway–in that pic, y’all, check out her roots! It looks like mine! I.e., she has frizzy grays that need coloring. Color me shocked! I wouldn’t think she wouldn’t keep up with it. Ugh, I have come to the point where I really need to go more frequently
“…loves dressing up and making clothes.” No WAY is this serious, I have to think Ingrid Seward is clowning Kate. Dressing up? And my ass Kate has ever made a single item of clothing a day in her life. What’s next? Kate loves playing tea time????
. Kate probably took “sewing” in one of her classes. I am afraid for Charlotte, she will be raised this same way unless she rebels. If she’s interested in science, I hope she’s allowed to study it.