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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel a bit sorry for Kate Middleton?

127 replies

RavioliOnToast · 02/05/2015 19:56

less than 12 hours after giving birth, she's sent home from hospital, which is totally normal, but within the time frame of giving birth and leaving the hospital, she's quite obviously had a team of stylists giving her a wash and blow, doing her makeup, getting her a lovely dress to wear etc etc. to then be papped by God knows how many photographers.

aibu to think that even though she's royal and all she should have been able to slip out the back in her converse and sweat pants and mellowed in post labour soreness.

OP posts:
FarFromAnyRoad · 02/05/2015 20:22

Kate Middleton? Did she not get married then? Did she decide not to take her husband's name?
Oh - and she pursued that life? Really? Christ - by all means be anti-Royalist but such a snidey comment - is that really necessary?

Joolsy · 02/05/2015 20:22

TBH I would have loved a stylist to give me a quick makeover before I went home after giving birth. I looked like death warmed up. I realise it's not high on a list of priorities after having a baby but I'd have liked a quick pamper

wigglesrock · 02/05/2015 20:23

Nope, that's her job, smiling, producing heirs, opening things, being a figurehead. She may not have chosen who she fell in love with but she chose to marry him and have this kind of life - there's no way she would be under any illusion it would be any different.

squoosh · 02/05/2015 20:28

She'll always be Kate Middleton like Victoria Beckham will always be Posh Spice.

Thurlow · 02/05/2015 20:29

I'm no royalist or anything, but I do feel a bit sorry for her sometimes.

She met a guy, fell in love, but as a pp said, he wasn't just a random guy, he is going to be king one day. It's a big decision to make. I mean, seriously, imagine trying to make that decision. Yes, you don't have to work and you don't have to worry about money and all the other very very lovely things that come with being a member of the royal family. But you've also got to make the decision to be in the public eye, to have everything you wear and how you look every day criticised in the minutest detail, to know you'll have security guards around you all the time, to know your family is going to be in the public eye as well... And to know that you're going to have children in this situation as well.

That's a big ask. That's hardly the normal decisions most of us have to make when we fall in love with someone.

Of course there are some amazing perks. But there's a lot that can't be nice about it as well. She came from a very, very nice background but it's not like she was born royalty. I can't imagine when she went to uni at 18 and imagined what her life would be like she thought it would be like this.

But good for the pair of them, they seem to be trying as hard as they can to have a relatively normal family life.

Rockinghorse123 · 02/05/2015 20:31

YANBU. The royal correspondent actually said "yes you can see she has a bit of a tummy" I felt really sorry for her at that point. How awful to be leaving g hospital and having the world comment on your weight 10 hours after giving birth Sad

Topseyt · 02/05/2015 20:32

I was just glad to slip quietly out of hospital and go home after having each of my three. She had to face the world's press. She knew she would have to and hence the stylists, but I don't think it can be easy.

The way I look at it, at least I could make any cock-ups in private, or at least with nobody batting an eyelid. She can't. I remember after George was born and the look of relief on William's face when he had successfully managed to fix the car seat into position after they emerged from the hospital. The rest of us don't have to do things like that with the international press watching every move.

I certainly don't envy them. I think they handled it well though.

MarshaBrady · 02/05/2015 20:33

Yabu because she is most likely very happy with the life she has.

cleanmachine · 02/05/2015 20:35

Hospital room or luxury 20 bedroom home with nannies, night nurses, maternity nurses, chef, housekeeper, cleaners, gardeners, and a staff of 20????? That may have been a really tough decision to leave hospital so soon. ...

cluecu · 02/05/2015 20:35

None of us can know for sure if she always pursued him or if she genuinely fell in love with him as they met. I like to think the latter.

Either way, they seem very happy and I hope they are (how can any of us make assumptions about anyone we don't know?). I don't feel sorry for her but I genuinely wouldn't want her life for a multitude of reasons.

cluecu · 02/05/2015 20:38

Meant to add...I hope she is very happy in her life. She might be, she might not be. Like anyone else I don't know...I don't know! Smile

BigRedBall · 02/05/2015 20:38

I don't feel sorry for her! She obviously doesn't have the same worries as us plebs!
No cleaning, getting dinner ready on time for older DS, no washing, no worries about childcare or DH going back to "work". She's going to probably go back to her mum and dads house and chillax and have everything done for her. I'm sure getting dressed up to leave the hospital with her absolutely gorgeous little baby wasn't traumatic for her at all.

QuintShhhhhh · 02/05/2015 20:40

Nah - dont feel sorry for her at all.

That is a pretty small price to pay for living perhaps the most privileged lifestyle on this planet.

AlpacaLypse · 02/05/2015 20:40

Someone came up with the phrase 'Gilded cage' for people who are stuck in the public eye through no other reason than who they were born. This is one of the moments that I'd appreciate a 'like' button for Thurlow's post and several other thoughtful and sympathetic ones on this thread.

Yes of course William and Kate will never have to worry about paying the bills etc, but 99.5% of us will never have to worry about being 'papped' or specifically targeted by terrorists.

Tryharder · 02/05/2015 20:42

I feel really sorry for her. She has such a tough life.

ThanksWink

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/05/2015 20:43

Just think, she is the only person who is allowed to have one of those 'Princess on board' stickers without it being bleugh.

I feel sad for her but I'm not sure I feel as sad as for the 300 Yazidi killed by IS, who were pushed off the front page of the BBC for this.

MarshaBrady · 02/05/2015 20:44

I'd say poor Diana lived in a gilded cage. But it seems much better for Kate and Wills. The press are not as bad and they do some duty stuff which isn't too taxing and have a nice life together otherwise. I'd say more managed press engagements and better for it.

MarshaBrady · 02/05/2015 20:45

Too many I'd says

AlpacaLypse · 02/05/2015 20:46

I've made several daft mistakes on my road to adulthood. So has DP. I expect our DDs will cock up good and proper more than once too. To know that the Daily Mail, Sun, Paris Match and dozens of other magazines and tabloids across the globe are waiting with baited breath for the first remotely possible photo that might just be spun into a salacious story about me, my husband or my children? No thank you.

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 02/05/2015 20:49

With the education she had, presumably she has the intelligence to know what her life was going to be like.

I know a lot of mums who are actually struggling. Having to put a bit of make up on for the photographers is probably as hard as it's going to get for KM. She probably didn't even do it herself.

No sympathy for her whatsoever. Sympathy for the two children who can never lead a normal life.

Viviennemary · 02/05/2015 20:52

That is the life she has signed up for. And she looks to me as if she is enjoying it all very much. So I don't feel sorry for her at all. And she seems to have a supportive husband. Unlike the late Princess Diana.

BewitchedBotheredandBewildered · 02/05/2015 20:53

Nope, don't feel sorry for her.

Don't envy her either, I wouldn't want that life for a big clock.

Swings and roundabouts innit?

No such thing as a perfect life.

Thisishowyoudisappear · 02/05/2015 20:56

It's part of her job and she knows that. So I don't feel sorry for her, although I do think the scrutiny of her looks is excessive.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 02/05/2015 20:59

Just responding to the thread title and the AIBU .....

I thought she looked very happy and pretty relaxed leaving hospital with her new baby dd to be driven home to Kensington Palace by her dh to see little George again before bedtime.

What's not to like really!

I thought she looked proud and confident too - and so she should
Nice day's work Kate Smile

I'm sure she was happy enough to get home (or at least her own familiar territory), had her full say about timings of things, and I reckon had briefed Wills to do less chatting this time!

GobbolinoCat · 02/05/2015 21:01

yes but she stood there for all of 2 mins? big deal! she can go now and slob and do as she wishes for months.

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