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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to thing that the new Duchess of Cambridge is just an alive Barbie Girl?

95 replies

sassyminder · 15/06/2011 21:35

Who can not even make a speech? Should she be able to make a speech being married with Prince William?

OP posts:
ohmyfucksy · 16/06/2011 00:01

She is a bit caught though because if she starts expressing any kind of opinion (of course she's not supposed to have a political one) she will attract criticism. I don't blame her for wanting to keep her head down but I wish they would talk about something she does or is interested in, not just what she looks like.

Moulesfrites · 16/06/2011 08:05

I just can't get over the fact that she has never worked - how can a childless woman aged 29 never have had a proper job? It is alien to me, and makes all this stuff about her being a "commoner" who is bringing the common touch to the royals seem incredibly hollow.

Interesting about the smoking- I know someone who did a motorbike ride across Africa with wills and Harry and he said they both smoked like chimneys so is not really surprising - and a good appetite suppressant I should think!

buttonmoon78 · 16/06/2011 09:26

She did work! She had some buyer's job which she left (IIRC) when media interest got too much. Since then she's been working for her parents. Which is no crime. A lot of people do without attracting such scorn and derision. And to be perfectly honest, if I was wealthy enough to not work, I'm not sure I would!

She deliberately kept out of the public eye for a long time and now is being mocked because people are ignorant of her 'quiet' years.

I'm sure the duchess will find her way, but I suspect that it will be in an orchestrated fashion. There will be no mistakes in the way of Diana et al.

Give her a chance.

GabbyLoggon · 16/06/2011 10:15

She fills the bill as far as the royals are concerned. Us? we may get to like her if things go wrong. (I liked Di because she took the FIRM on)

revolutionscoop · 16/06/2011 10:20

I find her bland, uninteresting and only mildly pretty. An unpopular opinion, I'll grant! Blush

Yellowstone · 16/06/2011 10:39

She didn't work! button. She herself said she couldn't work in the conventional sense because she had to keep herself free to see William. How supine can you get?

Is there something wrong now with calling Kate Kate?

buxomwenchonapony · 16/06/2011 10:44

She's probably terrified, poor woman. I expect everything she says has to be pre approved now, and is then open to being ripped apart and analysed for Diana-isms by the media. Wouldn't bring out my chatty side either.

TrillianAstra · 16/06/2011 10:51

If you had rich parents who own a business

who could and would support you even if you didn't work

and who could and would offer you a job that you could pick up and put down at will

and your boyfriend was in the Forces

wouldn't you take that easy job at your parents' business so that you'd be free to work around his schedule?

I think most people are not so career-oriented that they woyuld say "no, I must have an independent job and see my boyfriend less just to make a point".

pommedechocolat · 16/06/2011 11:14

I worked for my parents for 5 years and I actually worked very hard, created all kinds of new avenues, travelled a lot and made, quite frankly, shed loads of wonga for them.
I hate it when people who do a bit of part time filing say 'I work for my parents'.
I wish that she did have a career though as I think she'd then be a great female role model antidote to the WAG culture.

buttonmoon78 · 16/06/2011 11:14

She did work but it didn't work out (I think is what she said). So she then worked for her family doing as and when stuff because (presumably) they a) understood that she wanted to be there for Prince William when he was available and b) it meant she could stay away from other people as much as possible.

If everyone around you was going to be watching you like a hawk so they could sell the story of your latest email fluff (for eg) I wouldn't want a job like that either!

Trillian I'm certainly not that career minded! I think women who define their value by their career are perfectly entitled to. I don't feel that way, never have - I don't feel I need to trailblaze for me to have a value in society. I define my value in different, equally valid ways. And that should be true for everybody.

buttonmoon78 · 16/06/2011 11:18

I think in a way it would have been harder for her now if she had been a career woman. Imagine - if she had been some ct surgeon or something, we'd have all gone, 'oh wow, what a role model'. But then she would (in all likelihood) have had to give it up now. Then we'd all be slating her as a bad role model - giving up her sense of self upon marriage. I bet if that did happen though it would have been none of her choice (except her choice to marry him in the first place).

Whatever she was/is, whatever she did/does, she will be judged harshly because the media knows that sells and ultimately, the majority of the British public seems to like nothing better than a good gloat over someone else's failure. Makes me quite sad really.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 16/06/2011 11:21

When she did work, the media were a nightmare. Following her back and forth, and because she wasn't actually a royal she didn't have any protection from them.
How could she have made friends, or even had a chat with a colleague over a coffee, when everything was going to be picked apart and sold to the press.

In her position I would have done exactly the same, gone to work for my parents and kept my head down.

Moulesfrites · 16/06/2011 17:28

Not entirely related by why has Kate not been at ascot? Her mum was there today. (naively assumes there are better connected mneterrs who know all the duchess's social arrangements)

Maxwell123 · 28/10/2015 19:43

Is it me or is the Duchess of Cambridge looking scarily thin - almost like she has an eating disorder? I read that she is 5'10" yet weighs under 9 stones.
What is it about this royal family that women who marry into it end up anodyne, anorexic shadows of their former selves ?

LocalEditorEssex · 28/10/2015 19:45
Hmm Zombie thread.
RoseWithoutAThorn · 28/10/2015 19:57

I read that she is 5'10" yet weighs under 9 stones.

I'm 5'10" and weigh 8 stone 10. I eat but have never weighed over 10 stone even when pregnant. Ah the old "they must be anorexic" assumption. How many times have I heard that? For goodness sake leave the woman alone.

RoseWithoutAThorn · 28/10/2015 19:58

Buggar! Zombie thread Blush

DonkeyOaty · 28/10/2015 20:00

AS is a marvellous thing. For example - the poster Maxwell123 posts about the Royal Family only. How interesting, doncha think?

Zombie thread btw folks.

BlueJug · 28/10/2015 20:04

YAABU - to constantly judge her and women on the way they looks.? My hair? I'm in trouble then aren't I?

While there are women like you around OP who needs men to belittle us?

BlueJug · 28/10/2015 20:05

Oh no - Just realised Zombie thread. Sorry

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