I’ve got a few blah stories about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I shrugged at every one of these, but they’re worth discussing. First of all, William and Kate are both going to attend this year’s annual St. Patrick’s Day photo-op with the Irish Guards and Domhnall the puppy. Every year, William and Kate are supposed to hand out shamrocks to the Irish Guards and their mascot. Last year, Kate skipped the photo-op for no reason. Literally, she didn’t have a scheduling conflict or anything – she and William had just returned from a ski holiday – and she reportedly skipped the ceremony because she didn’t want people to expect her to show up every year. I guess someone told Kate that she couldn’t skip this year.
Second story: Kate says Princess Charlotte is very keen. No, I jest, Kate didn’t say the word “keen,” but it’s definitely the subtext. During an event last week, Kate spoke to a mom about how they both have two-year-old girls and and the other mom said: “She said that Charlotte is growing up really fast. She is the one in charge. We have both got 2-year-olds and they are ruling the roost.” Kate also said Charlotte and George are becoming friends. I’ll admit, I was slightly worried that George – who used to bash other babies in the face – would end up the alpha child and Charlotte would have to do whatever he ordered her to do all of her life. But it seems like Charlotte is already a tiny ballbuster. Props.
And finally, William and Kate are already preparing for their so-called full-time move to London later this year… by getting the taxpayers to fund even more renovations to Kensington Palace. Per Sebastian Shakespeare’s column this weekend:
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have 22 rooms and two kitchens in their lavishly refurbished Kensington Palace apartment, but do they need even more space for their expanding family? Ahead of William and Kate’s move back to London in the autumn, I can reveal that plans are afoot to dig out an enormous two-storey basement underneath the Orangery in the grounds of Kensington Palace, to ‘free up the palace suites for the Royal Family’.
New planning documents show that some of the 100 staff working at Kensington Palace could move out of their offices in the palace into the 50m-long basement extension, which would also house a collection of ceremonial dress. In total, the development at the Grade 1-listed Orangery would provide more than 1,500 sq m of extra space over three floors: two below ground, and one above ground. Staff would be based on the upper level of the basement, which has lightwells to provide ‘light and air’.
The planning application submitted this week says: ‘The addition of a basement storey is required to allow for the accommodation of administration which must necessarily be moved out of rooms leased from the Royal Household in Kensington Palace.’ The application was submitted by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the charity that looks after the state apartments at Kensington Palace.
Two-storey basement extensions are usually in breach of Kensington & Chelsea Council’s basement policy — but it looks as though the palace’s plans will get the green light. Council documents say planners are ‘willing to make an exception’ for the royals.
My take is that William and Kate are continuing with their quest to have a “separate court” from the Queen and Charles, which means they want their extensive collection of staff to be housed in KP, rather than Charles’ offices in St. James’s Palace and Clarence House. So as they prepare to move their family to KP full-time, they already want available office space for their staff in-house. That being said… I feel like there’s a joke in here about how they need to free up more space in Apartment 1 because Carole Middleton is moving in.
PS… I still find this hat to be very questionable.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Pacific Coast News.
I feel sorry for the staffers who will have work underground.
That was my first thought as well.
I had the same concerns. It doesn’t fit the nature loving eco friendly narrative that Charles and his sons, even Philip, to have people working underground all day.
exactly and the “light wells” policy sounds like garbage—was there an old law about staff not being banished to the basement but they have found a faux eco loophole? give your hardworking staff a window, sheesh…
Such bad optics.
And…light wells paired in a very sunny climate might be semi-okay…but…
A friend worked in a basement office at a museum with those “light well windows” and said it was like being entombed. The windows near worthless on rainy or foggy or snowy days. He got another job elsewhere, as did a few others…. turnover. Has anyone decided to leave the royal staff recently? 🙂
It also mucks with one’s health, from sleeping patterns to activity levels. Here’s an article i just found online that sums it up:
http://www.post-gazette.com/business/dateline/2014/08/31/Workzone-Working-in-the-dark-is-scary-for-your-health/stories/201408280293
I lived in a basement apartment for ten years. It had deep window wells and the windows were as big as in the aboveground apartments. My living room window was 3 or 4 feet high. So I got lots of sunshine. But if the window wells aren’t deep with not much of the window aboveground, then, yeah, it’ll be dark in there.
I know, how awful is that? When I was a student I interviewed for a summer internship and the office for the interns was literally in the basement of this government building, like concrete walls and so dank with one little glazed window at the feet level of passers by on the street. They offered me internship and I turned it down because I could not stomach the thought of coming to sit in that awful depressing basement every day all summer.
Interior designer here and my brain has liquified trying to guesstimate how much this is going to cost. Y’all literally could not find any other way to do this?!?! I’m very keen to see the feasibility study.
@BTownGirl this is the funniest comment! 😂
@Lorelai Awwwwww I’m so glad we’re all keen to bond over the shade hehehehehe!! http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdxbzsYyhP1r3ty02o1_500.gif
When I hear William and Kate are grand, the people spreading those rumors aren’t kidding. They are positively Victorian sticking their staff underground. And what about expanding into the Orangery? Is that going to be off limits in the future because their highnesses don’t want peasants walking above. I ask this question because isn’t the Orangery where one of the Hilton sisters married? Is that place going to become off limits? Because ya know William is deeply paranoid and spoiled.
I wondered about the Orangery as well. How on earth was this plan approved?!
Am not sure this is all down the the Cambridges, the York Princess’s are moving in or have moved in but I do agree that they (the DoLittles) want their staff based at KP. TBF their staff numbers aren’t that large but saying that they could easily use one of the many many rooms that they have in Apt 1A in KP.
I also wonder what ‘additional’ renovations will be done in Apt 1A before they actually move in? We know how much Waity likes to refurbish and am sure there are a few kitchens that need replacing.
Only Eugenie is moving in, and she’s moving into a small attached cottage, not one of the big family homes.
Is she bringing her boyfriend Jack with her?
It sounds like they are relocating KP staff, as in the staff who work there as part of the historical site. I wonder if they are clearing out an apartment for Harry once he marries?
What are they, Russian Oligarchs? You don’t hear about upper class Brits excavating listed homes in London, they make do with the space since they have a country home. So wasteful, naff and unnecessary. Can’t stand these two.
Well, Waity certainly shops like she is.
Well, half of London is owned by super-rich Johnny Foreigners these days, and they – and the super-rich Brits also, for that matter – are excavating house extensions all over the place. It’s an actual thing, honest!
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/nov/09/billionaires-basements-london-houses-architecture
Thanks for the link Sixer, being an American, I hadn’t heard much about this topic. I wondered why they would dig a basement and not add floors above. Your article explained it, “We analysed the planning laws and realised that they cover everything about the surface of the ground, but nothing beneath it.” It went on to ‘joke’ they could dig to the South Pole.
Yep! All about the planning. And, as you can imagine, central London real estate is big money.
Sixer, you love immigration. Why complain about London?
@Lola, my guess is that Sixer was referring to ultra-wealthy foreigners who buy prime real estate (sometimes as investments, sometimes as status symbols, etc.) but are barely ever there — the same thing happens in NYC.
It is infuriating because it drives up real estate prices for all of us, yet the owners aren’t actually in the city, benefiting the local economy. The apartments are empty most of the time.
That’s just my speculation; Sixer can obviously correct me if I’m wrong!
Loralei – yes, as if general gentrification weren’t enough, London, with its housing crisis for ordinary people, is chock full of empty properties – with basement extensions! – bought by ultra-wealthy foreigners as investments. It’s a scandal really. The current mayor has an investigation into it because it’s also vulnerable to so-called dirty money from laundering. Ownership isn’t always clear either – often traced back to shell companies in offshore tax havens.
Lola – I should introduce you to Hallie. You can tag team me in non sequitur replies to my comments based on slightly creepy references to opinions I’ve expressed in other, unrelated, threads hereabouts!
Ugh, I live in Barnes and basement excavation is currently the number one most talked about and gossiped about local subject (after the shocking bloodless coup to remove the chairman of the local amdram society). We’re on the river and it’s marshy, so quite dangerous – one house near me collapsed. It’s mostly celebrities (“new money”) doing it. But they do live here, at least it’s one area of London where investment or brag buys seem to be rare.
@Spiderpig – LOL at the amdram coup. I have a friend who’s in an amdram group, the ego’s and fights over things are stuff of legends – some people take it waay to seriously, thinking they are the next Meryl Streep or Richard Attenborough. She says it makes local politics look tame.
I read somewhere that William is, in addition to the planting of the new hedge, having a wall constructed for even more privacy. Not sure if it’s true or not but I wonder what other residents of KP will think of living in a Fort Knox-like property.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is true – he’s always been secretive. Its not about him protecting his family from the press, but protecting himself and hiding what really goes on in his life i.e. how little time he spends with his family, the alleged mistresses, her mother practically living with them. In my experience people who are that secretive generally have something to hide.
Utterly ghastly couple. As usual, wasting public money and offering nothing of value in return. I feel for the staff forced to work in basements – not healthy, and why the Council needs to bend to royal requests sends me screaming. But I guess the fragrant Cambridge’s don’t care about the health of oink staff. God knows what they have to re-furbish in a barely-used fully-renovated apartment of 22 rooms; I guess Kate has nothing to do. And yeah, the hat is dicey. At least it hides the wiglets, if not the caterpillar eyebrows.
“Utterly ghastly couple” is just perfect 👌🏻
If he wants privacy, abdicate and go away. Am sure most people prefer Harry!
I wish. I think he thinks he deserves to be king for all that he “has been through”.
THIS! I was just thinking that! If Dolittles want privacy, he should abdicate and enjoy his ‘normal Bill’ life. Otherwise step up to the place and be a proper royal.
Plenty of people need renovations on their homes. Not everyone makes taxpayers pay for it. This couple are greedy moochers
Who do you think pays for the renovations for the White House? Who do you think pays for the renovations of our parliament buildings? Check out what Michelle Obama paid for renovations in the White House. It’s ridiculous to complain about this.
Nope, taxpayers didn’t pay for the renovations during the Obama administration. Here’s the truth: http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/55679/
@Joannie Renovations to the White House are paid for with private donations, not tax payer money. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Endowment_Trust
Ok I stand corrected re White House. I have read that it does cost over a million dollars for maintenance. And some past presidents have put in bowling alleys, swimming pools etc. However the Canadians are paying 38 million to upgrade 24 Sussex Drive for Trudeau. He’ll be voted out in four years then the next guy will renovate. Old buildings need upgrades.
24 Sussex Drive had needed renovations for decades but previous PMs including Harper held off because they know the taxpayers would freak out. And the delays made things cost more. But the main difference here is that the PM actually works for the country and the taxpayers can and do boot them out during elections. They are upgrading the house to remove asbestos and make it up to code. They are not adding a dungeon for staff like the Doolittles who already have a refurbished place.
True but Kensington is much older and any renovations done for the RF specifically are paid for by themselves. The building is owned by the taxpayers and will be long after these two are dead! And the cost of their home in the country was paid by them, Charles and the Queen. Trudeau is costing us way more than these two ever will!
The reno to KP was done with a combination of monies, including Duchy money (taxpayers). 1.5 million in taxpayer money was also used on Anmer, hushed up. Plus the million+ used on the Middleton family home.
And who do think invited them?
Are you really comparing these awful people to Pres & First Lady of the US? How did this comment pass review? Is this Donald Trump?
Joanie, get your facts straight with regards to Canadian politics and historic houses before you make inane, incorrect comments. 24 Sussex is in dire need of major renovations to make it livable, Trudeau is not the Sun King and the property is not Versailles. If you honestly think he will lose the next election, I will eat my hand!
Carole will be moving in? They should rename the House of Windsor to the House of Middletons.
Complain about Carole Middleton if you like. But it seems with the Dolittles that if anything actually gets done around them, it is Carole who is doing the work. Give her some credit – she worked long and hard to get this “job” (mother-in-law to future king).
* Sarcasm is just one of the many services that I provide 🙂
After TQ and Charles there’s no real royal left. The young royals are more like spoiled, work-shy and lazy celebs.
I can really understand the people who scream for Rexit.
I think its sooner than that. After The Queen passes the monarchy will be at its knees unless there is a miracle.
I remember when they married and almost everybody said that Kate and William are a breath of fresh air.. well yeah.
Not for their staff, apparently.
Chag Purim Sameach everyone!
Happy Purim to you, too, WendyNerd! 👸 🎉 🥐 (closest to a Hamantaschen I could find! lol
They’re so unlikeable but has the Daily Mail always “attacked” them like that? I’ve got the feeling they really can’t stand that these two.
To me, it seems the DM uses an occasional headline to make a jab, but leaves it to the comments section. The Daily Beast hinted that the press, “…have showed Olympian levels of restraint in their coverage of the royals in recent years.” Have to wonder what we don’t know.
I know – if there have been Olympian levels of restraint, what is it that is hidden?
I sort of think it has more to do with Andy than the Cambridges, but who knows?
I am struggling to figure out what all is related here, with discussion from another site. What is clear from the planning document – ‘The addition of a basement storey is required to allow for the accommodation of administration which must necessarily be moved out of rooms leased from the Royal Household in Kensington Palace.’
From the “rebuttal” from the planning group – ‘Indicative information could be provided on the existing numbers of HRP staff who need to be rehoused to free up the Palace suites for the Royal Family.’
We don’t know who is going where or why. Does Historic Royal Palaces have 100 staff that need to be moved, or are some of those staff RH staff? We don’t know *why* they’re being moved. To move W&K’s staff out of “their” building because they want more privacy? To make room for a space for Harry and a space for Beatrice?
This was submitted in October, before the BP renovation was approved. Did the Royal Household assume it would be? If BP is undergoing 10 years of reno, they might move Andrew, Edward, and Sophie out of their 2/4 bedroom suites at BP and into space at KP. HM and Philip may decamp to Windsor for that period.
I agree there is not full disclosure. They leak information to test the waters (not in this case bc the planning docs are already approved) and they also release information several months apart so it’s too late to protest and the dots can only be connected after everything is locked down.
This basement thing reminds me of how much time elapsed between their release of info about K&W renovating apt 1A, then the reno/fulltime move to Anmer, then the additional helicopter lease. It was only after those 3 things came out (over a period of maybe 1.5 years) it was clear to me that had all been coordinated from the beginning and it was not a series of inept planning where W&K keep changing course.
It is very vague, purposefully I’m sure. I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems extremely unnecessary and more than a little bit dodgy.
Yeah, reading the quoted article again, it’s not clear that this renovation has anything to do with William and Kate. The author simply wonders aloud if it does, mentioning that it comes “ahead of” their move, which may or may not have anything to do with it. “The Royal Family” could refer to anyone, including people who don’t currently live there. Either he knows more than he’s letting on, or he just wanted to make a dry item about planning documents sound more gossip-worthy by dragging W&K into it.
And yet the rest of the country *has* to trundle on under unavoidable austerity, with no money for social care and the NHS. Nope, that’s all on grubby immigrants like myself. Nothing to see here, folks. Carry on.
What @ Maya said. I can see riots in the streets within the next two years, tbh. May I be sorted before that happens.
Immigrate to Canada and see how much you pay in taxes and what you get in return! We are paying more in tax and getting less bang for our buck. Immigrate to the Middle East. Those of us in the west have no right to complain when you see starvation and murder all at the hands of corrupt politicians. At least the RF substantially raises charitable donations to help the needy and those less fortunate.
You can’t bitch about the taxes you pay in Canada and then say the British royal family has any value. Part of the taxes you pay go to support them, especially if you were in BC, because you directly paid for the useless Doolittle trip that added nothing of value.
Can’t have it both ways. Either you support paying taxes and the BRF and all of its waste or you don’t support either. Because if you are going to complain about wasteful spending, then paying for the Doolittle visit was a huge waste and it directly took away from money that could have been spent on health care in BC, education, both provincial responsibilities and on a municipal level your property taxes in BC. The money that went for their security and their vacation was taken away from needy residents of BC.
But Kate wore a nice dress and we saw the kids for two minutes so that totally makes up for the hospitals that got a little less funding that year!
You tell that to the charities they visited and have benefited immensely because of their visit. It wasnt a waste. It’s just your dislike clouding your rational.
Mon Dieu, you are in the west, in the midst of a terrible opioid crisis, moaning about taxes, and you seriously think those two would have generated awareness about charities they visited?! All I can remember is Waity’s ghastly doily dresses, rude behaviour and blocking the press from reporting events properly!
That’s all you remember. Pity! Obviously you were not here. Quebec obviously!
Ontario darling, are you a lady of a certain age Joannie? Reason I ask is that they are the only ones that are actually interested in Waity and Bill Middleton?
I like the hat, if not the wearer.
Agree. Kaiser’s wrong about the hat. It’s a great hat! The wearer, meh.
It is made out of rabbit fur. Rabbits killed for fur. Just another way she sneaks in fur (hats, mittens, ski gear). Makes it a no-go for me.
I like the hat too. It is a change from what we have seen, so maybe I am just happy she tried something new.
All I see are hat, eyebrows and teeth.
There’s something about Kate that looks so unfinished. A closer look at the coatdress, it doesn’t fit her properly.
She looks sorta evil in it, am I crazy? Maybe knowing it’s rabbit fur gives me that impression but I hated it even before I knew it was fur…not a good look, as a 32 year old myself it’s too old and stiff for someone in their 30s
The style of the hat is great – she looks like a grown-up for once! But the jewelry is all wrong … and the plain coat needed a scarf or brooch or something …
I’m so confused how can Diana and Charles live with less staff compared to these two? I think they know the monarchy will not last and just doing whatever.
Kitty, a big Ditto!
The Middleton women annoy me so much and I’m not even from the UK.
No wonder they are working very hard (their standards, not Anne’s or Queenie’s).
Gotta keep the public’s attention trained elsewhere (Kate’s legs and bottom. Will’s Junior or side of dressing), while these royal robbers rob the taxpayers again.
I am beginning to not believe that the Royals bring in a net surplus to the UK. That they contribute at least one pound to every taxpayer’s penny. For another, how many people will still visit Buckingham even without a Royal in it (Versailles, German’s Disney castle wotsitsname, are doing very well without the welfare queens reigning in them)…
In addition, isn’t austerity measures currently in place? Why are the government still throwing money at the royals and not putting their foot down: no, we’re going to divert more funds to (insert public goods here). Or can’t a royal just step up and say, thank you for the money but no thank you, I think better to pay for… (insert some cause here).
I also agree they aren’t bringing in net surplus. If they were they would flaunt it.
Wait, I’m confused. Aren’t W&K supposed to start living at KP more or less full-time this year? That really doesn’t seem likely if they’re digging a 2-storey basement underneath their house. Those projects are very long, loud and disruptive — the reason you (normally) can’t get a permit for double basements in that borough anymore is because it was pretty much driving residents insane. BBC even did a documentary about it: https://goo.gl/clC0JG
Would W&K want to lose a second of their beauty sleep to that noise, let alone subject Charlotte, George and Lupo to it? Hmmmm.
Ravine, you are on to something. Renovations would be a good way to further delay their move. Seriously, what do they do all day when they are hiding out in the country?
Trying for a third baby and then more of a delay to get working in London.
The orangery is in a separate building from the main part of Kensington Palace. It’s currently used as a restaurant and wedding venue.
Oh, I didn’t know that. I was picturing it happening right downstairs from where they would be living.
I think you have found the answer.
I continue to be amazed that no one can seem to say “no” to the large-scale expensive nonsense endlessly splurfed up by these two useless, spendy people.
They are nothing but a couple of free loaders.
The British would be just fine without them. I would have hated to pay for their lavish lifestyle. Free loaders, lazy, entitled people these royals are.
I don’t know why the “royals” are still allowed to live such a pampered existence.
Tbh I have no idea. My country got rid of the royals many centuries ago. It was the best decision ever.
That hat is perfectly fine… for an Alfred Hitchcock film.
Slightly off topic but I have a palette cleanser for you all. Below is a link to the trailer for a Channel 4 comedy show called The Windsors – Pippa shags Harry. Its hilarious with Harry Enfield as Charles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GvHVCguMS0
That show is pretty great. I love the over-the-top posh accents (e.g. fifty pronounced as “fofteh”). It’s a rewarding show if you’re a royalty nerd because you’ll get all of the little references.
must be nice to renovate/build stuff on one house or the other every year.
…using someone else’s money that you never have to repay.
Honestly, I don’t know what kind of nonsense I’d get into if I had unlimited free time and funds. That’s not true. I do know. I’d be very active in my patronages. But if I were completely self-involved, with no interests outside my own home, and had unlimited free time and money, I’d endlessly re-design my multiple houses. At least it’s a somewhat creative pursuit, right?
Check out the Winchester Mystery House in California. I read about this place when I was a child and immediately set to designing something similarly convoluted. Perhaps Kate is doing the same thing… but in beige and with more kitchens.
It’s a state owned historical building, parts of it open to the public and leased out for various functions. There will be windows for the staff. Another article screwed to inflame the public! Poor journalism at best. Look to your politicians and ask where your tax dollars are going. Articles like this are written for the sole purpose of blaming the RF rather than who is reallly mismanaging your money.
Yes i thinkmthe story and headlines are somewhat misleading. They are creating more admin space for various Royal business. And of course it win’t be dark and horrible. There are excellent and creative options for lighting these days.
Have you ever worked in a basement with “excellent and creative” options for lighting?
I have! Designed by the premier architectural firm in our area. While not a cellar, it was certainly several steps removed from being an upstairs employee.
Hmmmm…indoor pool perhaps? Hence the digging out of the basement. God forbid they have to use the one in BP.
To basically Diana was the only royal in modern times that actually did bring surplus to the U.K. And was popular and loved all over the world and had a strong work ethic and very humble. Weird… you would think her sons would be the same.
Charles has done one hell of a lot for the UK. He’s also very expensive with an unhappy marriage and messy personal life in his past. I don’t know how to calculate profit/loss for the royals, but if Diana was in the profit column, I’d say Charles was there too. Will is in the loss column, but I’m not sure about Harry. Sentebale and Invictus probably balance out his excesses, because they’re so much less than his brother’s. On the plus side, W&K do hire a lot of British people.
Charles has definitely been a net gain to the 800,000 people directly helped through the Prince’s Trust.
W&K’s main nanny is Spanish, at least one of their housekeepers is Italian. They don’t hire as many British as you might think.
When we first heard of the renovations to 1a, weren’t we told that staff of the historic palaces organization had been kicked out of their offices so that Will & Kate could have the whole place? This is probably the solution proposed at the time. Seems to me a palace ought to be big enough to suit everyone’s needs, but what do I know?
Yes, 1A was not up for grabs at the time. It was the newly-redone office and exhibit space for HRP. W&K wanted it, so HRP ended up being thrown out. All that fandom spin about how there wasn’t running water, it was infested with mice, it needed 7 million in reno? All lies.
Ditto the asbestos. It was W&K destroying the historic internal footprint and having walls ripped down that exposed the asbestos and created the asbestos problem. Asbestos undisturbed is not the problem, but once you rip into things containing asbestos, you create the problem.
Hazel, may-be they have to have a big enough place to avoid each other.
There you go, that’s it!
Wonder is the money for this coming from the money to repair Buck Palace again?
Well she’s obviously not spending the peoples money on fancy face creams and fillers….
I think that your coverage of the Cambridges totally dismisses the fact that they have 2 pre-school children. Of course they have help and a nanny and a chef but when your child is teething at 2am, they only want their mama. She keeps making choices to not work and spend her time at home – is not that her right as a woman? And then we criticise her for being lazy? I really do not understand your take on this.
Oh, and the thing that ages women, more than anything, is breastfeeding. No creams, nor fillers help with that. And she has been breastfeeding, which no nanny can do for you.
Diana stated that her number 1 regret was leaving her boys for tours because she was pressured by The Establishment. I think that is what William is doing: he is protecting his children’s childhood.
yeah, I believe he is protecting his children’s childhood too!
That’s why I think he doesn’t like to be a Prince, of course has a lot of money, and he is privileged, but there are some aspects that aren’t good, you know. I know people don’t like this behaviour, but I think we should understand his side too.
You know QE has four kids, she never used her kids as an excuse to shirk her duties. And she became Queen in her twenties; none of this heir to the heir business.
Kate and Wills so called desire to be hands on parents has nothing to do with the topic at hand (more renovations at KP and delegating staff to the basement) nor has it ever had anything to do with their very noticeable laziness.
They aren’t normal people. No one is saying they should be working 36-40+ hours a week like most people in the West. People want them to take their duties and responsibilities seriously, do more engagements, and quit using their kids as excuses.
What Kaiser points out is that Kate’s JOB, which she was well aware of at the time she took it on, is to be a member of the family firm. William, too. They need to do their jobs. They aren’t you. They aren’t remotely normal people living normal lives. To be blunt, no, she does not have a right as a woman to opt out of royal duties.
She has plenty of time to be momma to her children and still do two to three events a week. Even with that schedule, she will have the opportunity to spend more time with her children than the majority of Western women do. No one is asking her to pick up a night shift so she isn’t there for a feeding, for heaven’s sake.
I never ever heard that Diana quote. Ever. And quite frankly, I do not believe it.
I think it’s one of those things that has been rewritten in history because I was around for the Diana years and there was no indication whatsover that she resented her royal duties. Quite the opposite. She resented when she was sidelined from them or ignored.
Wow, just wow.
No, Diana put her children first. It was widely reported that she turned down state visits to be at home with her children OR she took them with her. Eg when she bought William to New Zealand in 1983 against protocol.
And yes, she does have a right as a woman to opt out of her royal duties. She has inalienable and fundamental human rights, just like everyone else.
Not on this site! Damned either way.
You are absolutely right in that William went with Charles and Diana to Australia. It was definitely a break with tradition. However, it was never “widely reported” that Diana was turning down state visits .(Which are actually visits from heads of state to one another, not royal tours, which are something entirely different and what I think you are actually talking about.)
Diana did her job. She wasn’t opting out of work. She went on every tour that was scheduled for her. She was a full time royal from the beginning and missed very, very few events for any reason, although since she was human she did miss some. She was also an excellent and devoted mother, who put her children first. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Certainly two educated, caring people such as William and Kate can figure it all out, too. Give them credit.
If you have sources that state the opposite I would be very interested to hear them. I am not just working from memory, I just recently re-read Tina Brown’s excellently regarded “Diana Chronicles” and there was nothing in it about Diana opting out of royal events on a regular basis.
And Jessica, of course Kate has inalienable and human rights. I don’t know that requiring someone do their job takes any of those away – she can always give up the houses, the clothing allowance and the limelight and raise her children in private.
But as long as she is getting paid, she needs to work. And not all that hard. It’s hysterically funny that people consider that “damned either way.”
@Jessica – breastfeeding ages women more than anything? First time I’ve heard that. Any links to some sources? Google isn’t helping me with that statement.
If William and Kate were hard working before babies and marriage the work shy tar and feathers wouldn’t stick to them like it does.
To a lot of people the kids look like an excuse to continue to avoid working.
William and Kate do themselves zero favors by shirking their meager number of responsibilities. Last year Kate used the kids as an excuse to avoid the Irish Guards. She was Twitter papped leaving her favorite salon with freshened hair the same day. Years before you have the infamous naked balcony photos when William and Kate were supposed to be at the Paraolympics. Finally you have William avoiding work by attending a custom agriculture course and he is papped in Spain hunting boar with Jecca.
I’m sure the press is sitting on even more dirt. If they ever decide to takedown William and Kate for good, it will be epic.
Take anything Diana said with a ton of salt.
Three nannies, not one (comments from those who saw them skiing in France), including a night nanny to take care of any crying in the night. Remember, these are the folks who dumped their 8 month old son on the brand new nanny to take a 10 day beach vacation. Kind of blew the image of full-time stay-at-home can’t stand to be away from the kids for a second parents right there.
Also the possible Mustique vacation away from the 6 week old daughter, which may be where KM got her scuba certs. The appearance at Wimbledon, hours away from the daughter and no break to pump? She doesn’t appear to have breastfed for that long.
Again, why the bashing of working parents? Even if they were doing “full-time royal duties” it would be less than 20 hours a week. 20 hours a week working to improve the lives of the people who pay for your 1 percenters existence.
All of the other royals managed to do more engagements than these two, raise happy kids quietly in the country, and not constantly complain about their precious lives while attacking working parents.
I don’t know how long she breastfed the babies, but if she went on vacation without them, I don’t see how that would work. And it’s not breastfeeding that has aged her. It’s all the Botox and injections. What is she going to look like at 60?
And working even 20 hours a week (which she isn’t), it’s not like she has to come home and do a ton of laundry, run to the supermarket to get stuff for dinner, and come home and prepare it, all the while trying to read a story to George or try to toilet train Charlotte. To most women with young children, 20 hours a week is like a dream, but they usually can’t afford it, and it’s difficult to find decent part-time work theses days.
People who think we are bitching about Kate seem to have forgotten that she did almost nothing after getting her degree, and yet she had opportunities the rest of us would love to have.
Oh, I love it. I actually screamed with laughter when I read it! Boot the help out of their digs and bury them and the costume exhibit in the basement. Maybe, possibly, the costume exhibit will be fine there – less light on the fabric might actually be beneficial. But people will just love working in a dreary, dank basement. I am sure there will be fights to get a desk near a marvelous light well.
Many years ago, when Diana was still alive and her London residence was KP, I toured the court dress exhibit and other, limited, public access parts of the palace. The court dress exhibit was in the palace basement. Dark, very subdued lighting. I’ve no idea where it is now, if not there, but moving it to new, upgraded albeit basement space below the Orangery is not a step down. It’ll probably be better maintained.
I just realized what Kate’s hat is reminding me of:
If you attach a wooden stick to the top of her hat it would look like a plunger for a sink, Not a toilet. A sink plunger.
Ha,ha. She should have dressed in pink, and I would have seen that, mine is a dark pink.
Can anyone see the symbolism, plunger goes in the loo, Kate’s head….never mind!
It looks from the plans that the public space of the Orangery is going to be taken over by them to add to their would be Fort Knox, sadly. What with those fast growing trees to make into a fortification it’s looking to the man on the street that Wills wants to hide himself away in a thick walled castle looking down on his subjects living a extremely expensive lifestyle. I am not sure where this is all going
Something nice: still digging how much Charlotte looks like a mini Queen Great Grandmommy
I don’t think she looks like the Queen at all, but rather Carole and Pippa. Different mouth, chin, jawline, etc. There’s one or two pictures online of KM and James Middleton as infants. CC looks like she could be their sibling.
Louise Wessex is the one who looks exactly like the Queen.
Nota, don’t you think she looks a bit like Sarah Chatto, if you look at her baby pictures, I can see the resemblance.
I don’t see the Chatto similarity, other than dark eyes and darker hair. Others have mentioned they think she looks like Chatto. The older she gets, the more she looks like Carole and Pippa to me.
Apparently Normal Bill went skiing with some buddies in Verbier over the weekend.
That’s where Andy and Fergie have their chalet/mansion.
Oh, the poor struggling father who cannot work more because he cannot stand to be away from the kids. Except to go hunting with Jecca and missing his son’s first family holiday. Or skipping his daughter’s first Easter to go to Jecca’s wedding. Or going skiing with buddies.
I think part of why he is so privacy obsessed is because he doesn’t want people seeing 1) how much time his wife and kids spend at Middleton Manor away from him and 2) how little time they spend together as a family.
Yet more squandering of public money by the Dolittles. I’m sure there is enough space at KP, Buck House or St James’ palace to accommodate their staff. it seems like an excuse for putting off the much-publicised move to London to be “full-time royals”. After all, the poor sausages couldn’t live at KP while all the nasty renovations are going on.
As for the hat, I’m not a fan. However, it made it impossible for her to twiddle with her hair which is a plus point.
Slightly OT but again with the coat dress, Kate?? I get that it’s March and chilly in London (probably), but to wear your coat inside the building lends the impression that you’re not staying long, that you’re just “popping in.” When she averages 30-45 minutes a visit, the perception of work is hugely important.
Where were W&K today? They weren’t at the Commonwealth Day service. What’s going on?
Just read William was recovering from his ski weekend which means nursing a hangover.
Yeah, something has been up with them for a while.