To think Prince William and his wife are lacking appreciation of their position

[fideline]

and good fortune?

He just seems a bit of an over-privileged posh boy?

I know everyone says he has lovely manners, but we can expect a bit more than that, surely?

They have just hired a 'forrin' nanny a) after making an enormous PR fuss about not having one b) at a time of high UK unemployment.

The list of god-parents for their baby was a bit multi-barrelled and No foreign royals, as is traditional, but Not the slightest whiff of any demographic diversity either.

There seem to be a LOT of luxury holidays going on with these two.

The uni course he is doing has been especially designed for him and seems designed to prepare him for inheriting the enormous (private) Duchy of Cornwall. Not exactly public-spirited?

In the much-hyped first post-baby interview, he was keen to promote a charity saving Kenyan Rhinos. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but the line between animals he shoots for fun and animals he wants to save is unclear and anyhow a charity for under-privileged (UK?) children would have been the nice, publicity-shrewd thing to do, maybe?

For a couple with a great deal of expensive PR expertise at their disposal they seem to be slightly missing the mark a bit too often.

I have no animosity to them at all.

I don't envy them at all though. I could never live in their goldfish bowl. I am quite happy with my life of normality and relative anonymity.

Being SAHM with plenty of help is not hard work at all. She could have 4 more children and being a SAHM would still not be hard work for her.

Its only hard work when you are juggling childcare with budgeting, shopping, cooking, cleaning etc etc etc

I certainly feel no animosity either towards the individual people in the royal family, Topsey - it's the institution of monarchy that needs to be dismantled. Even Charles without the position of heir to the throne would be just another meddlesome, quackish elderly tax-dodger writing frothing letters to ministers.

The Royal Family is essential to Britain. As a foreign born Brit, I can tell you from my experience that they are well though of all over the world and bring in millions of tourist bucks that would otherwise be spent in more hospitable countries! (by that I mean weather wise!!) The UK has the most amazing history and some part of that transfers onto the Royal family, and hundreds of thousands of tourists come here specifically to see them. Demeaning the Royal Family just sounds like jealousy to me.

I have done a lot of travelling I have yet to come across all these people that love our royals maybe in America

to many both here and abroad they are a joke. People love our history, that will still be here, the royals are part. people visit the uk as it is a wonderful country with so much rich history among many other things to offer. the royals for some may be part of that but it is ridiculous to think that should we come a republic our tourist industry would grind to a halt

I think that William has to do what he does out of a sense of duty to the monarchy. Take their wedding for example, I don't imagine for a second it was what they wanted and I'm sure they'd have preferred to have had a much quieter affair.

I think that as the Queen has dedicated her whole life to serving 'her people' things continue as they do out of respect for her. I expect that once she has died, the monarchy will change to more like in Holland and Scandinavia where the royals are more accessible and easier to relate to.

I don't think they're special or elite. I think they are burdened by responsibility and duty. They are damned if they do, damned if they don't. I wouldn't want to be them at all except I'd like to have Kate's wardrobe.

Sorry, I thought it was 67p per week mentioned on here, if it is 67 p per year even better value!

I don't know why it makes me happy it just does. Most very rich people are pretty gross, the royals behave mainly with circumspection and do some charitable things. I have seen Princess Anne out riding and that makes me happy too!

I think Kate had to prove she was boring and would toe the party line to be allowed to marry William. The Queen and Charles would not have wanted William to be overshadowed by his wife like Charles was. She had to keep her head down during her 20s to get that ring on her finger. Any kind of name she made for herself in terms of a career or voluntary work could have gone against her. Her first job after becoming the Duchess was to produce an heir which she has done. Perhaps she has been biding her time. Maybe she plans to get her hands dirty but she will have to develop her 'career' and agenda gradually.

I would like to see her do more in the years to come. With her popularity, influence and money she could make a real difference.

I don't have a strong feeling for or against the royals. I think it would be a shame to do away with them as they are part of our identity.

kim - kate chose that life, in fact and would go as far as saying her and her mother engineered it. She has got exactly what she wanted.

vicky Engineered it? Did she seduce the poor Prince, who had been brought up to know it was his job to find a nice girl (preferably the same age, as they'd seen how badly it worked out when Charles stayed a bachelor as long as possible, and then married a nineteen-year-old) as early as possible? A nice girl, who hadn't had any previous suitors, or at least none that couldn't be bribed not to sell their stories of kisses in the school toilets?

I expect Catherine's mother menaced Prince William into asking his fellow student out, didn't she?

I actually disagree with the concept of having a royal family. It's bloody ridiculous.

But I don't need to bolster that by making up reasons to hate the individuals because just reading Prince Charles' latest pronouncements produces more than enough hatred.

Oooooh a friend of a friend was in Will and Kate's year at St. Andrew's. She has very little in the way of gossip, just that Will liked to flirt with a sporty, tomboyish girl and Kate used to give him evils when he did!

That snippet will ROCK the monarchy I know!

I'm a bit slow off the mark with this thread but:

It might well be the palaces that tourists come to see but the Royal family - Kate and William in particular - are huge, living advertisments for the Royal assets.

Also I take umbrage at people looking down their nose at those of us who are not anti royal and about what it is or isn't teaching our children.

My kids are questioning of things. We discuss and debate everything. Just because I can see the allure/attraction of the Royal family AND believe it to be overall good for our economy doesn't mean that I am stupid. Nor does it mean I'm teaching my daughters to be doormats or leeches or that they don't understand the pluses and minuses of a monarchy.

And also they are both perfectly able to understand that waving flags at Royal weddings and jubilees is fun and joyful but doesn't mean they are slaves to these people or to anyone or anything!

I think we need to do a huge in-depth survey about the visitor numbers to each of the royal and ex-royal residences within Europe, that are open to the public. Then we need to find out why the visitors to the British residences chose Britain, and which proportion are hoping to see the Queen peeping out of a window.

Can it be a Mumsnet campaign?

I just can't imagine Kate as an ambassador for anything. She looks nice. But is a charisma-free zone and appears to have all the animation of an oak tree. Im still vaguely trying to recall whether/when's the last time Ive seen her on tv uttering a word. I mean, Im sure she does speak. But perhaps she just wants to get on with being queen-in-waiting, raise her little boy look forward to more children, do the obligatory engagements and thats about it. in a can't be asked kind of way.

I imagine it, or did I really hear on a bulletin today that the Cambridges are both Nethuns?

Now that really could change people's opinions of them.

"fideline, what exactly do you expect from the royalty? Are you even a royalist?"

I'm generally quite agnostic about Royalty Whatsthat. And often bemused by the whole hoopla around them.

Saying that, I am a pretty big fan of Prince Charles and am impressed by the Queen's stoicism and work-rate.

But W & C, as you may have guessed, I am starting to find grating.

Or at least, as I said upthread, I am finding their spin efforts grating.

She has given a couple of speeches that I recall, Mistress (i remember one at a childrens hospice and another, possibly on the south asian tour, making the news)

They were almost entirely unencumbered by content. Just pleasantries really, much applauded.

Nethuns?? Netmums??

Are you sure you didn't doze off?

fideline

They were almost entirely unencumbered by content

There's just no topping that sentence, is there

(stores away for future RL use)

Why would tourists come here to see the royals, you rarely get to just see them on the off chance.
I wonder how many in the thronging, cap doffing crowds at the wedding actually saw them.
Had their day imo, time to move on, sure, keep the history, you can't wipe out History but let them live off their own resources and make their own way.
God forbid they have to get proper jobs but even if they did there will always be big companies and individuals who will pay them for their names and pictures on their books.

The Netmums' founders were presented with their OBEs by William today. That's when he told them he and Kate use Netmums.