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Original poster

To have had more respect for the Cambridges if...

153 replies

Marmiteandjamislush · 05/05/2015 18:37

They had been honest on the baby's birth certificate. We are at my DSis and DBils over the May Day weekend, leaving tomorrow. Anyway, unlike us they have TV, radios, newspapers ect. and my Dsis is royalty mad, so the news has been on the whole flipping time, even on specialist news channels! Anyway, she has just shown me an article about the Baby's BC and it says Mother's Occupation: Princess of UK, now I don't follow the royals or any media, but I did hear a while back that the DoC did not do many duties because she is a SaHM, so why couldn't she put that on the BC? It's like it's not a real thing. This makes me cross for 2 reasons, I am practically a SAHM, as I only work out of the home 3 days a month and I think if she'd written SAHM, it would have given it good publicity. However, I'm also cross irrationally, I know, but I am PG Princess is not an occupation, it's a title, which can't be earned on merit. I get the charity thing, so why not put philanthropist? The same with the husband, he's in the air ambulance, isn't he, last I heard (was told by Dsis), why doesn't he put that? I just think it's laughably old fashioned to have titles as occupations, as if they have to prove they are 'special' or 'other'. What's wrong with writing what they do far a living?

OP posts:
WhyHaveYouDruggedTheirOnions · 05/05/2015 21:13

Faux, I kind of know what you mean. I really like the DoC, but think it's weird how many people (in RL) have said how sorry they feel for her "having to" pose for pics and have her hair done etc. It's actually a bit condescending IMHO. "Aw poor Kate" um... You don't know her and she seems to be doing quite well in life wouldn't you say?

WhyHaveYouDruggedTheirOnions · 05/05/2015 21:14

DoC = Duchess of Cambridge, just realised DoC could mean lots of things!

Moln · 05/05/2015 21:16

I already queried that CindyEcstacy apparently this human rights charity work and lecturer only reads Reuters.

Original poster
Marmiteandjamislush · 05/05/2015 21:19

Moln, we don't have other media due to religious reasons, so paste me that, as I'm sure you will. We don't have a goat as we live in North London, btw.

OP posts:
HotFudge87 · 05/05/2015 21:23

The funny thing is, being a princess is an occupation! Yes she leads a comfortable life with no money worries, but having to engage in royal duties is part of HER JOB as a princess, the same as William. I think they do an amazing job to juggle so much and come out to the media and public eye as being 'normal'!

Moln · 05/05/2015 21:25

Ah well that makes sense then.

(though I have to say that I think someone said that your sister had the goat not you)

Moln · 05/05/2015 21:38

BTW I wasn't pasting you in anyway. I was telling CindyEcstacy that I'd asked that question (which I had) and gave your answer , and referred to you by your occupation (because that the main theme of this thread)

SurelyYoureJokingMrFeynman · 05/05/2015 21:48

We did indeed have this thread when George was born.

There's a column like this on just about every type of vital or population record.

On birth and death certificates it's headed "Occupation"; on marriage certificates "Rank or Profession". And on the 1871 census I'm looking at right now, the column is headed "Rank, Profession, or Occupation".

That's really the full version of the header for all these records.

So it's completely correct for the baby's birth certificate to record her parents' Ranks. That's what that column is for.

Fauxlivia · 05/05/2015 22:28

I don't think they are juggling that much tbh. She makes a few public appearances but it's not like she has to rush home and get the dinner on and do all the laundry! Life is not hard when you have nannies and housekeepers!

munchkinmaster · 05/05/2015 22:35

Thanks to those who clarified the hrh order thing

marilyntaylor · 05/05/2015 23:17

Reading this thread made me wonder what Princess Diana's occupation was given as on Prince William's birth certificate. Interestingly, although Charles was listed as 'Prince of the United Kingdom' like William, in those days there wasn't even a space for mother's occupation. Apparently, it wasn't considered to be important in those days!!

ChangingTiming · 05/05/2015 23:19

Biscuit that is all. And I still think its a donut

Pangurban · 05/05/2015 23:44

Thank goodness everyone is so sympathetic and understanding of the arduous, gruelling, thankless privilege position the royals occupy. It certainly appears to be a dreadful hardship being a royal; all those sycophants grovelling around you and treating as the truly god anointed/appointed person you most certainly must be by chance of birth or serendipity of marriage. And they have to return to those holes in the wall called palaces and such to have to endure servants, wealth and hunting. There should be a campaign to release them from their misery or at the very least try to obtain more support and funding to help them cope. I wonder if Nicola has put anything in her manifesto.

pombearsforbrunch · 06/05/2015 00:17

Ok. Just a thought. But when I went to register one of my kids, I wasn't working and was a 'stay at home mum'. The registry office wouldn't accept that as a 'job' and therefore asked for my last job title. I'd never worked, so it was put down as Undergratude Student (I'd just left Uni). Perhaps it's just a rules thing?

sliceofsoup · 06/05/2015 00:20

I think that we could all agree there are significant perks to being a Royal. Having land, wealth, an array of servants. But the things they don't have are the things we take for granted. Freedom and privacy. They have decisions made for them, there is a path they must follow with little room for maneuver. They have people around them at all times. The first few weeks I would think it would be a novelty, and then I would find it stifling. They are photographed at every opportunity.

I don't care how lovely it would be to have hairdressers and makeup artists around, 10 hours after giving birth, still bleeding, sore, exhausted and emotional, to have to stand there like that, on show for the WORLD, knowing those photos will be regurgitated every decade or so from now until forever, knowing every minute detail of your look and your behaviour will be analysed...no, there is nothing that makes up for that.

I don't feel sorry for them. They live a life of privilege, they do OK. But I can recognise that their privilege does not come without sacrifice, and until we have walked a day in their shoes I think it is grossly unfair to claim that those sacrifices are not substantial.

LucyBabs · 06/05/2015 00:35

I always laugh when people ask why do you care? There are many threads, topics and discussions like this on MN..It might not bother you but it bothers someone (coz we're all different innit) and I think IMO its worthy of discussion. If you don't like it, hide the thread..

The Royal's are a waste of your tax paying money. They have a great aul life. No money worries, living the high life while the peasants work their arses off to fund their life style. I'm Irish and couldn't give a shiny shit about these over paid fools. I do wonder why a lot of the UK adore them though...

steff13 · 06/05/2015 00:41

I don't care how lovely it would be to have hairdressers and makeup artists around, 10 hours after giving birth, still bleeding, sore, exhausted and emotional, to have to stand there like that, on show for the WORLD, knowing those photos will be regurgitated every decade or so from now until forever, knowing every minute detail of your look and your behaviour will be analysed...no, there is nothing that makes up for that.

Agree. Although, proximity to Harry would ALMOST make up for it. Wink

Bogeyface · 06/05/2015 00:41

Not RTFT but I agree with the OP.

Prince or Princess is a title that is acquired as an accident of birth or marriage, it is not earned.

When I heard it on the news ealier I shouted (literally) "THATS NOT A JOB!!" because it isnt! Being an Air Ambulance pilot is a job, being a SAHM is a job, being a member of the UKs biggest scrounging family is NOT a job!

Bogeyface · 06/05/2015 00:50

I don't feel sorry for them. They live a life of privilege, they do OK. But I can recognise that their privilege does not come without sacrifice, and until we have walked a day in their shoes I think it is grossly unfair to claim that those sacrifices are not substantial.

I agree with you in regards to those who are born into The Firm but would rather have a different life. But for those who marry into it such as Catherine, then no I have no sympathy. She knew what she was getting into, she had a choice.

HuftysTrain · 06/05/2015 01:01

I don't feel sorry for her - I envy her! What a life she's leading. She'll make a mark on history, give birth to a king (and go to bed with one), people will listen to her, she has the opportunity to make the world a better place (if she chooses to), power and influence, she takes tea with the Queen, meets monarchs and emperors, holidays in utter luxury and resides in palaces and stately homes. All this and she is not actually hounded by the press at all, but is left relatively alone to raise her family in privacy, assisted by fabulously supportive parents and round the clock domestic help and a nanny.

Really, really, not much to pity there. You only get one life, I think she's definitely been given a good set of cards.

sliceofsoup · 06/05/2015 01:04

Can anyone really know what it is truly like until they are right there in the thick of it?

Yes she would have been coached, and she would have had an idea. But when she got married she had no idea about childbirth, and no idea how invasive the circus would really feel. She knows what she is missing compared to the rest. She used to be a nobody, with her own time and her own life.

I also hate when people call her lazy and useless for not ever having had a job. She was young, she was only starting out, and then she was thrust into the spotlight, being chased by the press. Even back then, there would have been a lot of talks going on about her role, and her opportunities to carve a life for herself would have been disappearing by the hour. Who would invest their time and money in her when she looked set to be his wife? Whatever job she had taken would have HAD to have been cast to the side as soon as they were married.

JessieMcJessie · 06/05/2015 01:47

Ha ha I love it- a religion that bans TV and radio but allows Mumsnet?!

Damnautocorrect · 06/05/2015 03:21

pombearsforbrunch
You can put whatever you wish to put on the certificate as your job.
I asked when I registered my last, we asked about every ludicrous job "you say it, I just write it", was his response.

pearpotter · 06/05/2015 05:28

Biscuit What did you put on your DC's birth certificate, Gossipmonger Royal?

Hakluyt · 06/05/2015 05:39

"until we have walked a day in their shoes I think it is grossly unfair to claim that those sacrifices are not substantial."

Ooh- happy to walk a day in their shoes-where do I sign? But could it be a bit longer? I'm not sure I could make a proper judgement in just one day. It might have to be a year, so I can assess the level of sacrifice involved in both their summer and winter holidays.........