Last year, the Duchess of Cambridge and I did the same job: blog writer and blog editor. We were practically twinsies, although I’m pretty sure that I wore sweatpants and flip-flops to my job while Kate wore a cute “blogging outfit” that consisted of a short skirt and a ruffled blouse which probably set her back more than $600. Another difference between us was that after Huffington Post UK published her pre-written essay on mental health, Kate skipped off for some retail therapy. She probably spent more time shopping that day than she spent blogging.
Why this trip down memory lane? Because apparently Kate does like to read some blogs. Specifically, she might enjoy some mommy blogs. In Britain, there’s a popular mommy-blog forum called Mumsnet and “sources” claim that Kate is a regular reader and commenter.
Kate Middleton may live in a palace and be married to the future king, but apparently she’s just like millions of other mums out there, relying on the internet for childcare tips. According to a new report, the Duchess of Cambridge is no stranger to mummy forums online and has registered under an anonymous name to swap stories with other mothers. The royal is mum to son Prince George, three, and daughter Princess Charlotte, who celebrates her second birthday in May.
“Kate has turned to websites like Mumsnet and BabyCentre for guidance,” a source told Reveal magazine. “She has adopted an anonymous name, and mainly posts questions about issues she and Prince William disagree on, like watching cartoons before bed. Using these websites has really helped Kate, although she’d never admit to using the web for advice – the Royal Family tend to ‘just get on with it’ when it comes to raising children. But, since mums on the internet generally agree with her point of view and not Will’s, she will go right on posting!”
If true and Kate does use internet forums, we can’t help but wonder if Kate ever ventures on to the Royal Family thread on Mumsnet?! Of course, it’s not the first time Kate has been linked to Mumsnet; back in February, when husband Prince William presented a CBE to the website’s co-founder, Justine Roberts, he joked that Kate may well be a user.
Roberts said: “We speculated as to whether the Duchess of Cambridge was a Mumsnetter.”
As much as I would enjoy the idea of Kate-as-mommy-blogger, it’s far more likely that A) this story is total bulls–t and B) if Kate does go online for non-shopping-related activities, she’s probably just lurking and not sharing stories. There’s no harm in lurking and God knows, I wouldn’t want my browser-history lurking to be made public. And if the story is true and she’s chatting with mums online? Meh. We’ll never know for sure. But wouldn’t that seem too much like actual work?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Last year William gave an honour to one of the women who founded one of these sites and said they used it. Even so I’d take it with a pinch of salt, will and Kate like everything that a person they’ve met has ever done.
And also, George loves blogging. George wants to be a blogger when he grows up. George wants to be whatever the person Kate is talking to actually does.
I like mumsnet actually. I’m not a mum (nor do I have plans to be), but thanks to them, I am antihauling (h/t to Kimberly Clark). In that I’m talking myself out of stuff that I’d normally buy and not use (usually makeup).
No shade from me re: Mumsnet.
I like it too. I mean, it’s SO big that there are many areas within those forums that try my soul. But there are just as many that are wise and brilliant. Do you remember that whole Kids Company debacle? I read the best analysis of that in a thread on Mumsnet – careful, forensic, full of expertise and far better than anything any journalist in the press managed to put out.
@Sixer
Definitely! I’ve especially been following the forums post Brexit referendum with interest and I’ve been interested by the to and fro’ing.
I initially joined Mumsnet b/c I was asked to knit something for a friend’s baby and got warned off that all babies needed until they started moving was a onsie and a heater, but my knits would get more use when the children were toddling around. Saved me a lot of time and money, tbh. I thank them profusely.
But really, my makeup/product junkism was getting out of hand, and the anti haul strategies, as well as discovering konami (it’s been a slow process, but I’m seeing the top of my vanity table, and my space is beginning to feel ‘quieter’) so again, no hate, no shade.
LOL, yeah, I do tend to stay away from the mums in that part of the forums though!
Exactly. You find a veritable rainbow of women on there and, while I have no interest at all in the stuff that descends into competitive mummy wars, that is a tiny, tiny fraction of what goes on.
I don’t know if you know it, but the moneysavingexpert forum is the same. There are some benefits bashers on there but for me, interested in sustainability and gardening, it’s a treasure of a resource with great people to talk to.
What is mumsnet? I’ve never even heard of it. Someone school me, please!!
Was that the ‘just for little people’ one?
I followed the thread about it, really interesting, even better when the owner came on and started abusing everyone who disagreed with her 😬
I know a US equivalent. Some great, thoughtful bright people and some people who would Internet kick you in the teeth.
@dodgy have you tried makeupalley for product/makeup reviews? Also the Sephora website has pretty comprehensive reviews.
I’ve never been on mumsnet (not a mum) but am desperately bored at work at the moment, so may venture!
@hashtagwhat mumsnet is here: https://www.mumsnet.com/
@Clare, yes, I have used makeup alley for reviews, but cheers for sephora (we don’t have that in the UK anymore). My issue is that I have so much makeup and toiletries. I’ve realised that for makeup, I pretty much just need three coloured lipsticks (a nude, a deep red and an orange/pink), an eyeliner (L’oreal), mascara and blot powder. Everything else is just noise. Same thing with nail polish, I just chucked out half of my collection and will whittle down the rest to three colours plus top and base coat. Mumsnet made it happen for me.
So I’m trying to get rid of noise and save some money.
Hence me just pulling my finger out and getting rid of stuff that I rarely use, don’t need. I’m just studiously working through what I have, tbh.
I’ve been on MUA for over 10 years. The skincare board are the best fights.
Yeah, I can’t shade her for doing so.
I liked parts of it, but the relentless transphobia on the main forums has really soured it for me.
Off topic, but can anyone identify the painting on the wall? Not knowing is driving me nuts.
Now it’s driving me nuts too! it reminds me of Francisco Goya’s painting style from far off… Am looking it up
Well I know it’s not my fave. Monet. But then this is Kate we’re dealing with.
what could Kate possibly have in common with other moms to talk about?
She has children?
Lol
Top photo:
DK: and this is how you type on the computer board yes?
Staffer at desk: *claps* yes, madam wonderful job!
*bangs head against computer board the moment DK leaves the room*
Its BS but could explain why she’s too busy to work at the day job she spend 10 years clawing her way into. Another desperate attempt to make her look like a hands on SAHM who can’t bear to be away from her children even to go to bachelorette parties with her sister to France.
I want to know which bit of the forum Katie Keen contributes to. The Mumsnet forum has some classic threads (some bloody awful ones too, but that’s the way of forums). Penis beaker being possibly the greatest thread on any forum ever. I will share it with you and dare you not to laugh for at least an hour. I play there occasionally.
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/a1875847-Do-you-dunk-your-penis
It is now my happy fantasy that Katie Keen appears in there somewhere.
“I am sure at least one other person will come along and say they do something like this, I am sure.”
Thank you for my morning laugh. Will be chortling about beakers all day.
There are more!
http://www.mumsnet.com/features/15-legendary-threads
The first one (!) and “There is a tiny elderly Korean lady in my garden and I want to go out” are my favourites.
Sixer: 0_o
what the beejezus did i just read?
That was hilarious.
And really a concern?
Told you! And now we can assure ourselves that Katie Keen read it, took notes, and Normal Bill now has a penis beaker on his bedside table. I believe this and will never have it otherwise.
I shall assume you meant a CRYSTAL penis beaker, let us not be downmarket about the future king’s post coital ablutions.
I imagine Kate being very excited after finding the perfect vessel online and discussing it with Pippa in great depth.
Pippa Tip #68 A clean willy is the best willy
The valet has to take it away in the morning!
Hahahahahaha – OMG. Quick someone write someone do an E L James and write some bad trashy chick lit on threads like this?
My personal fave “plunges his knob into a bucket”.
Dearest Darling Sixer, you have literally made my morning. I fully intend to sit here all day and read the penis beaker thread. I’m on page 3, and cannot stop laughing.
Silly American Question ALert: what does “make squash” in a cup mean? A couple of posters mentioned it on the thread and I have no idea what that means.
Squash is concentrated syrup drink made from fruit concentrate, sugar and water. Needs to be diluted, usually with water, to drink hence the colloquialism ‘make squash’.
I don’t know what Americans call squash! Er… cordial? I don’t think you drink much of it. Squash is a child’s drink – concentrated fruit-flavoured syrup that you add water to.
Posting as LAK was!
Ah! Ok. Thanks for the explanation. 🙂
This is some truly quality internet
“Fanjo?” I have NEVER heard that one before. LOL!
OMG, I hate you. I need to be productive, yet here I am reading about penis beakers. *sigh* I just know I’m going to read the whole thing.
Wait until you get to the bit about the popping candy!
@Sixer, I’m just stuck on why a beaker of all things.
The comments are seriously killing me though. “Do you have it all on a tray covered with a small cloth and uncover it in a manner of a priest uncovering the communion wine & wafers?”
Ijc.
I just got to popping candy, and I have tears streaming down my face. Sixer, this little gem has made you a HOF commenter for life.
OMG I can’t believe what I just read. Is this for real??? Thanks for the belly laugh, Sixer. Just what I needed this morning. I stupidly put on the TV, and a news station came to life with the Spicer Sh*t Show on again. Reading your link made it fade. Hugs!
That was pretty much the best thread I ever read. I’ve saved this and am going to read the legendary ones!
Hello Fellow Mumsnetters, can someone tell me how to cope when you’ve two little ones, barely five nannies, your cook needs menus approved, Mummy is with the kitchen decorators and wedding flower people for absolute hours now, and the kiddos are crying for a book that is on the table over there but you are knee-deep in buttoned summer coats that were just delivered? Seriously the tots won’t stop crying for the book that is over there? But I’ve somehow buttoned myself to a sculpture (just wanted to see if both the sculpture and I could fit into my usual old size and we can, just! So hooray for that, the raisin diet worked again!) But seriously, the kids and that book? It’s just over there! Any thoughts? Mummy is not answering her bloody mobile! — So Distressed in B
Lololol! Buttoned into a sculpture?! But how?! WHY?! @Liberty, funniest thing ever ever.
It’s good to see you back, Liberty!
But what happened to Romina now Harry dumped her for Meghan?
Hallo bluhare my dear! Sorry have been insanely busy and traveling so just lurking when I can.. Ah Romina. Will she be the new Camilla? 😉
The sculpture!!!!!!!
Dying.
Dead from laughter now.
You’re awesome! 😹
Kate and her over animated facial expressions lol
Ahahahahahaha. I’m currently pregnant with my first, and I’ve been lurking the BabyCentre forums to try and learn more about parenting etc.
This is going to sound snotty, but I stick to lurking because the typical BabyCentre poster just isn’t my kind of person. There’s a whole other dialect that gets used on these forums. Ie. Everybody refers to their husband as “DH” (“Dear Husband”) and their son as “DS” (“Dear Son”). And all the posts are peppered with “hun”s and kissy Xs.
Part of me suspects that this article is just fan fiction, although it also wouldn’t surprise me if Kate is the kind of person who enjoys that sort of thing.
I just hope that I can find some snarky sarcastic moms to befriend after my baby’s born. 😛
The Mumsnet forums are mostly not about parenting though. Politicians actually go there for web chats in election campaigns to try to win votes. You’d probably like it there, Emily. Lots of snark!
It sounds like I picked the wrong mommy forum to latch onto! I’ll give Mumsnet a try. 🙂
Mumsnet has changed over the past few years and has made an effort to be seen as more than a place for the ‘yummy mummy breast milk is best’ type of poster they were infamous for.
Omg, I used to read a travel blog…then she started calling her husband ‘the hubster’ and ruined it for me.
Any forum where users refer to DH is not for me.
This
Get thee to the Bargain Hunters Board!
Congratulations, Emily.
She looks nice in these pics. My sister just looooooooooooooves her, and women like her, she does have that blogger appeal. It’s probably what she’d be doing, had William passed. No shade, though, that’s modern mom life.
Going to say it… UK mummy bloggers are usually a bit common OR dreadfully middle-class. There are no normal people there on Mumsnet.
Mumsnet: always terribly convinced they got the right solution. Don’t bother providing links to anything more academic / statistics.
Personally I don’t like it.
Who’s to say Kate is not a Celebitch? She could critique her own outfit choices.
Agreed – I have no doubt that she looks up stuff about herself on line. For example, I would bet good money that she checks/has checked What Kate Wore and Go Fug Yourself. But I’d LOVE to know what gossip sites she checks about herself!
Maybe she is one of the Meghan bashers.
and Kate kisser.
Didn’t she say in the engagement interview that she never reads the net about herself (yes, I’m ashamed that I remember that! lol). She said something about how she doesn’t care what others think about her, only what Willnot thinks. Please correct me if I’m mistaken!
She said it, but does that make it true? She has a lot of time on her hands, as do several not-in-demand celebrities. I suspect more than a few can’t resist the temptation.
Nearly all celebrities claim they didn’t google themselves. Thing is when they say that they can claim ignorance about all the rumours and gossip stories swirling through the net and therefore they can decline to comment on such stories.
I doubt that celebrities don’t read these stories. They manage their image and that includes analysing their image via google. Perhaps they have managers or PR who do it for them. But google is surely relevant for celebrities.
Considering she is both vain and has too much time on her plaster-speckled hands… I have no doubt she Googles herself looking for assurance and ego-pats.
I agree. She has mummy and staff for the ego-pats. Also the teachers at Prince George’s expensive school do probably take a call from her anytime.
Isn’t that what nannies are for?
Why not? She has loads of time to hang out online and possibly that is the reason why she does no shows and keeps making excuses not to work. She can’t tear herself away.
Seriously? She has two small children who she obviously spends time with. I don’t think they spend all their time with their ONE nanny.
maggie. me thinks they spend a majority of their time with the nanny!!!
How is it obvious that she spends time with her children?
I really cannot imagine her login to a mummy blog seriously she has three nannies and a very helpful hands on mother. if you have that amount of help and support every single question is going to be doubly aired. Sadly though I am beginning to wonder if the children are being horribly over indulged and spoilt and that might be a reason to source a mummy blog.
I just think Kate is doing what she would do if she had married any regular bloke. She doesn’t think like a royal and while I’m all for being a woman who wants to be around other mothers, she doesn’t seem to really think beyond the domestic sphere of nannies, a cook, and housekeeper. I do believe she is at a point in her life when she prefers to do just this, but isn’t interested in the wider world where she has to think before she does things and I don’t think she wants to remember that she has duties and a nation to serve.
Mumsnet forum isn’t a mommy blog. People who comment there aren’t blogging, just like the people who comment here aren’t blogging.
She probably hangs around in the style section.