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Original poster

I feel sorry for the Cambridge children on the first day at school.

134 replies

Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 06:43

So insignificant I know but I can't help help feeling sad for George, Charlotte & Louis that their great grandmother passed away on the first day at Lambrook.
They obviously adored them & vice versa, it will be a very hard time for them & I hope the school will be very caring towards them. Kate was absolutely right to stay behind & be with her children.

OP posts:
toomuchlaundry · 09/09/2022 07:21

Poor George is one step closer to being King, even their names have changed.

When DS’s great gran died it wasn’t splashed all over the media and wouldn’t have been the topic of conversation at school/playground.

The Queen and Louis seemed to have a great rapport at the Jubilee

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 09/09/2022 07:23

It's hard for them as I guess the spotlight will be on them at parts of the funeral unfortunately as it was at the jubilee.

I doubt they will be there, or maybe just George, they will probably just go to the internment after at Windsor.

SheWoreYellow · 09/09/2022 07:23

Believeitornot · 09/09/2022 07:04

I was close to my great Uncle so you don’t know that?

I think though we should avoid projecting and wondering. The Queen deliberately kept herself pretty private in terms of knowing who she was and anything we say is just guessing and speculation.

It is a sad time for her family. I hope people leave them alone when it comes to their personal grief.

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Great granny is a generation further than great uncle though.

toomuchlaundry · 09/09/2022 07:26

Most schools will likely have a special assembly today, I wonder if their school will

Original poster
Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 07:27

It's so unfortunate for them as it would be for any child starting a new school but they have the world's spotlight on them, they moved to Windsor to try & get out of the fishbowl they were living in & now this... I'm sure they were very close to her. I read Kate & the children spent a week in Balmoral recently so at least they spent time with her majesty in her final days.

OP posts:
Freckl · 09/09/2022 07:34

My DC see their great grandma every week, spend every Christmas and Easter with her and talk on the phone too. They're really close. Of course it will affect them and I'msure the Cambridge kids will feel their loss too. However, my great grandma (who I was also close to) was my first experience of death and, while it was sad, it felt "right" - even to a child - as she was so old and frail.

I think Kate did the right thing staying with the children, but I was thinking about how the Queen (as grandmother) stayed with William and Harry when Diana died, and what the public read into it. I don't think that will happen this time though.

What a funny 24 hours. I admired the Queen and feel a bit funny having a King.

twilightermummy · 09/09/2022 07:38

MargaretThursday

That’s lovely! Thanks for sharing that story 😊

1994girl · 09/09/2022 07:41

Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 06:43

So insignificant I know but I can't help help feeling sad for George, Charlotte & Louis that their great grandmother passed away on the first day at Lambrook.
They obviously adored them & vice versa, it will be a very hard time for them & I hope the school will be very caring towards them. Kate was absolutely right to stay behind & be with her children.

Yes it will be sad for them. But it's no different to any other child losing their grandma.

SoupDragon · 09/09/2022 07:41

It is different for them because the death of their Great Grandmother makes every single newspaper and is broadcast across every TV channel repeatedly. Plus the lying in state and massive funeral.

toomuchlaundry · 09/09/2022 07:44

Also many children thought schools will be shut today and will be disappointed that they are not, and they most likely will be for the day of the funeral unless it is on Saturday. That doesn’t happen for your average great Nan

User287264 · 09/09/2022 07:50

I feel for them. What a lot of big emotions to deal with in a single day. Starting a new school and their great gran dying, all in front of the whole world.
My kids are close to their great gran who is the same age as the Queen. They'll take it hard when she goes.

And what a nightmare for the school staff, I bet they weren't expecting all this. And for all the other kids who started at the school yesterday.

EdithWeston · 09/09/2022 07:55

It's going to be hard - brand new school, no friends yet, all a bit strange

And then a significant family bereavement, one the whole world (literally) is talking about - which is one hell of a difference to the rest of us whose lives are more private

alrightfella · 09/09/2022 07:57

I do feel very sorry for them. For any other child they would be sad about great granny and get on with their day. However I'm sure they'll be shielded from it but I imagine it will be mentioned at school by peers etc. I'm sure it will be mentioned in every school assembly today, plus the day off for the funeral. They can't really escape it.

Goldenbrowns · 09/09/2022 08:01

1994girl · 09/09/2022 07:41

Yes it will be sad for them. But it's no different to any other child losing their grandma.

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Of course it’s different!
they are different, the whole royal family is ‘different’. That’s the point.
Any other child losing a great grandparent or even a grandparent would likely only share the news with their close friends.
literally everyone in their school will know.

Adversity · 09/09/2022 08:15

People deal with sadness in different ways, some want to share and some want to try and ignore as their way of coping. The Cambridge children and all of the Royal family have no choice but to have it in their faces 24/7.

Plus in any family the death of the last member of the oldest generation is actually a very big thing. My friend who is 60 and I were discussing it recently. I am 56 and we met when bright young things, I was only 21. We had at that point two generations living above us. Now my friend has no generation above her and we have just MIL. She was saying how incredibly unnerving it is, I agree with her.

Original poster
Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 08:16

I think it would have been easier had this happened when they were in Thomas's Battersea. The head, school staff & classmates were used to them & knew their personalities & they had friends.. Obviously they will be out of school for a few days.. I'm sure the whole royal family needs to do a period of mourning..

OP posts:
Chanel05 · 09/09/2022 08:18

Very sad for them of course. Children tend to be rather resilient and accepting over things such as death.

Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 09/09/2022 08:21

Meltingsocks · 09/09/2022 07:02

She was their great Grannie, they won't have been close, they'll be fine.

Your children were likely picking up on your feelings. Mine were supremely uninterested

Maybe your family isn't close, but when my sons great nans have died, he's been really upset both times. He was very close to them. But then I'm close to my family.

Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 09/09/2022 08:23

Yes it will be sad for them. But it's no different to any other child losing their grandma.

That's just silly. When other peoples grandmas died, it's not all over the news and people talking about it. Of course it is different for them.

Softplayhooray · 09/09/2022 08:29

Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 07:03

@Meltingsocks probably, I was properly weeping since the news broke that she was very ill.😭

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Sorry you feel sad but that's really not an ok thing to do on front of your kids. No wonder they were sad and upset too, seeing you like that, and also having to watch the coverage of her death with you, and probably being confused because they didn't know her but probably felt they had to be sufficiently sad in front of you to honour the occasion. Seems very unhealthy.

PizzaFunghi · 09/09/2022 08:36

I doubt they'll be in school today or for a day or two, and maybe for some of the events, at least George. And then once the funeral is over, things for them at school will get back to normal pretty quickly.

I don't think their names will have to change, as someone suggested. Just because their dad now has (and will have more) additional titles, it doesn't mean he's not still Cambridge as well, so no reason not to keep calling them that if that's what they prefer/choose. They're all slightly 'made up' surnames anyway, aren't they, so nothing official about it.

DickDarstedly · 09/09/2022 08:38

@1994girl Yes it will be sad for them. But it's no different to any other child losing their grandma

What a strange thing to say. Of course, when children lose their grandparents or great grandparents it’s sad and it will be sad for the royal children too but probably no more or less than any other child. What will be much, much harder is that every one of their classmates will know about it and it will draw attention to their special status. That is probably the very worst scenario for a child joining a new community.

Children need and deserve to grow up in communities of peers where they are not considered outsiders or different. It’s an important part of forming their personality. This has been up ended on their first day of school.

CousinGregg · 09/09/2022 08:39

Why? Everyone will be treating them with kid gloves. Pleb children just have to get on with it and no one GAF.

LittleLangdale · 09/09/2022 08:40

I feel for them too. They've had a lot of change in a very short space of time. I also imagine that seeing his grandfather become King will be a defining moment for George. He's old enough now to know what his future will be and it might be quite overwhelming.

I hope they don't have to come out and put on a show for the funeral.

PayPennies · 09/09/2022 08:46

Ewetoo · 09/09/2022 07:00

@BendingSpoons yes especially in George's class, he's 9 years old so he's peers will likely to have been following the news last night. My children were extremely upset, we watched the BBC & sky news together, it was a historic moment in time & I wanted them to feel part of it.

I would ask you to consider why your children are weeping about this. Presumably because they pick up cues from the adults around them. So presumably you were weeping. Just why? Raise children to not sit and weep about an enormously rich woman they never met.

I too have children. We got about our working day, picked them up from infant school and nursery - mentioned the days news - then they played their sport and watched alohabkocks respectively and went about their day. The notion i would weep and give them cues to sit an cues to “feel a part of history” or whatever is absurd.