Happy to see Princess Kate doing so well, but...

[JustPassingThyme]

I'm really glad to see Kate doing so well, and I am glad she has finished chemo looking so healthy and happy. However my sister and I cannot stop laughing at the video Kensington Palace have just released.

We think the video has a striking resemblance to the Twilight films, only warm toned and shorter.

Narration - check
Holding hands while lying down in a meadow - check
Tree climbing - check
Stacks of logs - check
Dramatic sweeping shots of trees - check

I was waiting for William to say something really cringy while giving Kate a piggy back ride.

So do I. It must be very hard to see things from the perspective of an ordinary person though when all you have ever known is privilege. If they haven't had experience of cut backs and poor treatment, struggling to manage on very little money, not being able to take time off work, they can only understand from their own life experience. I doubt any of their friends have experienced hardship either.

For the past nine months the family have been largely immersed in their own tragic situation, their own family, shut away from the world mostly. Their definition of work is very different from that of the normal population. No one else in their position could stay at home and batten down the hatches without worrying about money and the mortgage. They are incredibly fortunate. I do celebrate with Kate and with her family though that she is on the road to recovery, hopefully. Really, this would be a great opportunity to raise awareness of the cancer she has had, put all her efforts into supporting cancer charities, and thanking those who work in those areas. Perhaps she will do that when she's fully recovered.

She and to a lesser extent William are just like Harry and Meghan: they want all the fun and glamorous bits of royal life but not the graft
Totally agree with this. They are both the same. The only difference is that the pR comparison between the two makes one pair more ' hardworking' than the other and as a result they get overly praised and excused for the minimal effort they put in. I disagree about the ' to a lesser extent' regarding William. His bare minimum has to be higher than the rest because he expects and wants to be King. Both him and Kates ' life's work' is the same as the rest of the RF- keeping their family on the Throne. Everything else they do is to that end.

I’m happy for her that her treatment has been completed and I’d imagine, in an environment which will have been comfortable, swift and supportive. As an ex nurse who once worked on a chemotherapy unit and surgical ward, I felt for all those who don’t have Kate’s privileged treatment. She is a woman who is on a very scary journey but lots of people do it alone, with crushing financial worries, with missed/cancelled appointments and on wards where there’s staff shortages/no peace and a very very different environment/outcome.

I didn’t watch all of the video, as I found it very different from the experiences of far too many people.

I read an interesting comment this morning from someone who has recovered from cancer, saying that she had really relied upon the support from patients’ groups in the recovery stage, as they understood how difficult it is to move on without allowing the fear of recurrence to rule your life, and that the PoW can’t really access that kind of support. Money doesn’t fix everything, it just feels like that when you don’t have it.

She would have access to counsellors/therapy though and not have to face NHS waiting lists for it?

Glad she is better but I’m not a supporter of the RF. I feel this type or PR makes her more of a celebrity that is infamous rather than a leader.

Her fears will be the same as everyone else's. Especially knowing her husband lost his mum very young but beyond that she must have a very different set of fears to the average person at a support group.

Money doesn't mitigate everything but it certainly makes it easier if the nanny and the cleaner feed the kids, wash the clothes and all you need to do is rest

It will be swings and roundabouts.

Some things will be much easier for her. She will have a warm home with people making her bed for her and access to private healthcare etc. But she will also be more limited in needing to keep it more private and also how awful to have to field the level of criticism of your every move she has been subjected to. I think people underestimate the extent to which privilege cannot soothe those challenges - although in part I do think that’s why people are so awful, to “ serve her right “ for being perceived as lucky. But I bet she’s quite lonely in some ways.

Well rather being a bit lonely than not being able to get a cancer diagnosis on time or timely treatment

Yes that is true.

I still don’t understand the unbridled unkindness. I think Kate tries her hardest to support the family she married into. Yes, she was maybe a bit of a waity-Katy ; but having got there in the end, she doesn’t seem to create drama or give off look-at-me vibes. And she’s got cancer and she loves her Dc like the rest of us and in all honesty when we ponder the awful thought of maybe not being there for our Dc, we don’t have the concern of worrying how they will fare with social media attacks on them and republicanism etc etc. Quite honestly, I’d hate her lot in life. I’m pleased for her she is through chemo - though I do understand people with family they lost to cancer might feel very mixed.

Agreed.

Her 'lonely' includes being surrounded by family, including her husband who does not need to work, and being voluntarily sequestered from the public.

Well everyone whinged till they were blue in the face when they were sequestered during covid. Life is generally quite hard for everyone, just in different ways.

We did not have a choice in Covid but Kate does.

I like being sequestered but that is beside the point.

I'll disagree William does need to work. Might not be work as in laying bricks but he still needs to rock up at events looking the part, prepared with information on who hes meeting etc regardless of what else is going on.

Keeping in mind his father isn't well either. He must have been taking on more of his role. He wouldn't have been able to take on less work.

Ann and Camilla aren't exactly spring chickens either. Only Ed and Sophie are under retirement age.

The pressure on William must have been horrendous over the last few months.

And have her life speculated about all over the tabloids and social media.

I agree with you that William needs to work. He does not get a free pass. Tough as it is, with privilege comes responsibility, a message he seems to conveniently forget.

The sentence you quoted could have been clearer. I should have said:

"Her 'lonely' includes being surrounded by family, including her husband who apparently does not need to work, and being voluntarily sequestered from the public.

Oh yeah, William is such a hard worker - must be difficult attending a charity launch day once a month / the odd black tie or two!

It is the life she chose. She went into it with eyes wide open.

It's still time to prepare. Time to travel. Time away from the house and kids.

His job isn't exactly a 9-5 with a 30min commute. His work is charity visits and state events. It's a job that needs done. I'm sure he'd rather have been at home at times supporting his wife and kids rather than travelling doing engagements.

So in that sense it's no different to anyone who travels with work.

Well I’m sure he would - just as every other partner of someone who is suffering from cancer would be - trouble is they can’t have the summer off, can they?

In all honesty I think there are more demanding day jobs.

The real pressure for them is the media and public opinion. This is a role that has lasted centuries and the pressure for the whole thing not to founder while it passes through their hands must be enormous. Add to that millions on SM criticising your wife while she is suffering from cancer etc and it all amounts to stresses we can’t really relate to.

He can abdicate the throne it's been done before. I don't think they suit royal life. The late queen and king Charles suited that role but now times have changed.

But in favour of …? If I were William I’d feel a bit stuck with the role on the abdication front🤣

Anne is great but she’s been in less good health lately so who knows. I’m not sure any of his cousins would even consider it. Of course Harry and Meghan might be up for returning …

Yeah, I don't think if you abdicate you get to nominate who else in the line of succession also gets skipped. If William abdicated on behalf of himself and his minor children we get King Henry IX and Queen Meghan.

Which I'd be fine with but I suspect some might not.

Think William can only abdicate on his own behalf & subsequent dcs but not on his existing dcs.