Prince George & Princess Charlotte, so poised & well behaved.

[Shapeshifter5]

Loved seeing those beautiful children honouring their great grandmother today. Exemplary behaviour & poise for such young children.

I really hope their is opportunity built into their day/week/year to go properly wild. I hope they get the chance to have time without boundaries and restrictions on their composure.

there not their.

I’m assuming Kate has smarties in her handbag

I would have thought they will be honouring her later when there's the private ceremony. I don't think they should have been put through this morning's ceremony in the public eye.

I can't understand how the whole royal family are so disgified, I'm a blubbering mess today, it's all so emotional! The royals didn't shed a tear in public although Harry did look extremely emotional at times.
George & Charlotte have incredible composure.

Not the blue ones though

I’m always baffled by these posts. Don’t children learn to sit still anymore. Of course they get to run around, be silly, play sport etc but they will have plenty of times , chapel at school , church services, concerts etc where they learn to sit still. Surely it’s a life skill ( although perhaps it explains why so many younger members of my staff seem to find sitting respectfully in meetings without fiddling with phones, pens etc so difficult) .

All of my dc ( now in their twenties) who were certainly no angels, would have been able to sit through a forty minute service at 7 , they did it at school each week and fidgeting was not encouraged. Much more hard I would have thought would have been sitting next to the coffin of the great grandmother and riding so slowly in the car.

They were great, their parents must be very proud.

Two of the soloists in the choir were about the same age as Prince George.

George was a bit fidgety and flapping his order of service around, but Charlotte was amazing. So dignified.

So well behaved, I loved spotted Charlotte singing along with the hymns at one point.
Parenting goals set now 😜

The choristers were fabulous too, so young also. How do they get chosen for this? Are there girl choristers?

They did an amazing job, what credit to William and Kate as parents. George is such a pro at this being Royal gig already.

At a guess Kate had a 'special chat' with them before they left for the abbey and will have had another reminder while in the car.
Hey were very well behaved but no more than most children who have been raised with clear rules and boundaries.

I'm more amazed at how people are surprised that they were well behaved. They're certainly old enough to behave at an important event. My kids always did. But then, they're very attuned to even the slightest movement of my eyebrows.

My children attended my fathers funeral when 3 and 4.
I don't think it was particularly difficult for the Royal children as they are school age and don't you remember assemblies? They must be well used to having to sit still for an hour.
I did not cry at my parents nor my husband's funeral. I cried plenty in private.

Some of the choristers are 8- and doing a complicated, skilled job too.

Totally under such scrutiny as welll, the choristers were brilliant. Is there much competition to be a chorister?

The choristers were fabulous too, so young also. How do they get chosen for this? Are there girl choristers?

They audition for the choirs of the churches/cathedrals concerned - so, in this case, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal (I think - might be wrong on the second). It's hard work - a lot of intense concentration and musical training, and some very long days. No Christmas or Easter days off!

Also, no girls. Sometimes they have a second girls' choir, but the main choir is generally boys only (apart from a few places that are mixed). They don't have adult women, either. It's extremely frustrating in some ways - if you want to be a professional singer, and you're a woman, it closes off these amazing choirs to you. Even though a lot of cathedrals do now have female lay clerks, and girl choristers, the most musically prestigious often do not. Some people prefer the sound of all-male choirs, though, and we are still very much in a man's world - cynically, I suspect that it hasn't changed in some places because it's men in charge and the rules benefit men.

Choristers are carefully selected and do a lot of practice and training. It is an enormous commitment.

www.abbeychoirschool.org/choristership/becoming-a-chorister/

Every Cathedral has a Cathedral choir, ditto some Oxbridge colleges with a Chapel choir including young voices. Some have less formal choirs where children attend a variety of schools; others have links to a prep school where the choristers have scholarships.

It’s a good way to get an excellent musical education cheaply BUT it cones with huge commitments- 1-2 services every Sunday, significant practice time, giving up every Christmas (exceptionally busy) and Easter etc etc.

Some locations take girls, either in a separate, usually less prestigious choir, or as a mixed choir.

They are both musically and academically selective, and the level of maturity, discipline and parental support needed is at a possibly unfashionably high level. Not to be embarked upon lightly.

Um they were singing the hymns as everyone was, not "singing along", to be "spotted"?

I guess it depends if you're used to traditional church services or not. They will be.

@cyclamenqueen

My thoughts too. Mine from 7 were choristers so they sat through hour long church services twice every Sunday "on show" without issue. I took them to the theatre and concerts from toddlers, dd1's first prom concert was at 6

@Shapeshifter5

There are female choristers but not at Westminster abbey alas. My DD's were choristers