Oh god, not again....

[waitingtopayforswimminglessons]

We've only just got her out of the news from the last one. Some women will do anything to avoid going back to work:

uk.celebrity.yahoo.com/post/128253670519/kate-middleton-pregnant-magazine-claims-duchess

And because I am a republican does not mean I am bashing the Royals at all. I can not agree with something and not want it to exist without bashing it.

Kanye- The thing is, we could all speculate on their relationship and on Williams motives and we may or may not be right and will never know.

What I feel uncomfortable about is the idea that Kate as a woman well into adulthood (unlike some of the women who went before her) with privilege and an education somehow lacked intelligence or other options or a sense of self that means she was somehow manipulated into a marriage. Or worse - went into a marriage which she knew would infinitely restrict her movements and open her up to constant public attention and judgements on every aspect of her life (as this thread shows), clothes, make-up etc because she felt that somehow hitching herself to a future King would make it all worth it because of the status or whatever.

We don't really know that she's compliant or has no strong opinions as quite frankly, compliance and a lack of (public) opinions is what is expected of the royal family due to the fact that they are supposed to have no political affiliation nor strong opinions on anything really.

Because they are considered to be neutral and expressing strong opinions on anything will be used by some sectors of the public as a stick to beat them with. Prince Charles has been widely ridiculed and criticised for his letters about e.g environmental issues.

We could say that William has no strong opinions about anything either. I'm not a monarchist (honestly!) so don't really keep up to date but I can't think of any particular strong opinions that he has expressed publicly that weren't entirely already publicly accepted.

The whole of the royal family 'do as they're told' because they consider it part of their public duty and therefore their 'job'. I don't think anyone with any sense thinks the royal family sit down and think ' oh, I would love to go to yet another public event where I listen to boring speeches, 'open' something which I may personally be interested in or utterly opposed to because my views really aren't that important when it comes to maintaining our public profile.

Shaking hands with dozens of people in a crowd and trying to make everyone feel listened to/recognised and being polite and friendly when I'm having a terrible period or had a row with my husband/wife today, have got the shits or am just fucking bored of the repetitiveness and tedium of these events.

Palaces and money and privilege are of course huge benefits but when the cost is having the next few years of public events planned out with you having no real input while you can't walk round a shop on your own and your every move is scrutinised and judged- I don't find it that appealing to be honest.

As a personal aside Kanye - I loved your measured and sensible post which invites discussion and prompted me to really think about my views. AIBU doesn't always have that!.

The brood mare comment is not a personal comment on Kate Middleton - I don't know her as a person, I'm sure she's perfectly pleasant. Any misogeny comes from the entrenched values of the royal family - the women are expected to breed, do you think the marriage would have been encouraged or in fact allowed if Kate had declared she had no intention of having children, and wanted to pursue a career of her own choosing?

That would not have been an option for her, an outright insistance that she did not want children would have made her unsuitable and it wouldn't have been allowed. Of course her own personal choice may have coincided with the royal needs, but that doesn't mean that she's not essentially there for breeding purposes over and above her own worth as a person.

And that is not in any way saying she doesn't have value as a person or denying that the royal couple love and cherish their children as much as any parents do.

Didn't some very gullible OP post a link claiming that Kate and William had filed for divorce and that Kate had opened up her heart and poured out her innermost anguish to the media.

They believed it, it seemed. Trouble was, it turned out all to be in aid of a crappy ad for some obscure skincare product.

Is this the same OP, with a name-change?

Bogeyface He does take a wage but he donates it to charity

Anyone who thinks that Kate does not have strong opinions should watch this video of the fraction of a second when she let the mask slip while on a public thingy

Just comparing them with other couples I've seen

• they are mad about each other : corpsing each other in Westminster Abbey FFS
• they have perfected talking while looking at odd angles so they cannot be lip read
• they vanish completely at times : implying they have time for each other

and it is well and truly on record that they have fed false stories to find out who their true friends are

Piloting the East Anglian Air Ambulance is not a hobby FFS

Thanks ICould.

I'm not sure the having no opinions thing does apply to the Royal Family outside the Queen. Charles is notorious for having lots of strong views on a variety of issues and not being afraid to voice them, particularly architecture, the environment and youth issues. The Princes have strong links to African causes, AIDS and children's bereavement, Anne has a strong interest in international development.

Kate might have rolled her eyes at someone telling her to wrap a present but that's hardly on the Diana scale of shaking hands with gay AIDS sufferers when both carried a huge amount of stigma, or taking on huge arms companies and governments over land mines. And she doesn't have Fergie's need for attention or Sophie's desire for independence and a career.

Perhaps Kate does hold strong opinions although I really doubt it. But the point is that before she got married she spent a decade making it very clear she wouldn't voice them or rock the boat. She seems very much to have modelled herself on the Queen Mother who also had a policy of never speaking and merely smiling and waving. It worked for the Queen Mother pre-mass media and she was already in her dotage with little expected of her when it started to kick in.

The Queen Mother (and lots of other Queens!) is also an example of grown women being prepared to take on that life for status and prestige. She wanted to be Queen and pursued the Prince of Wales (future Edward the VIII) and he very much rejected her. She only accepted the proposal of the Duke of York (future George VI) on his third proposal when it was clear he was the best she could do. It was a happy coincidence she became Queen. It's said a lot of the bitterness she bore Wallis Simpson wasn't really over the abdication but because she stole the man she really wanted.

Philip is another one whose family manoeuvred him into position to marry the Queen and very much schemed for the marriage for status (esp. Louis Mounbatten).

And if you go back further you come across people like Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth Woodville who were the same.

People, even adults really do like the idea of status, even if they have their own money. And the immortality becoming a royal brings. Even Diana has been accused of having been in love with the idea of being Princess of Wales rather than the man.

And this is just a hunch, but I often think Kate doesn't seem very happy. I suspect that after waiting so long and not putting a foot wrong she might have finally won the prize and realised it wasn't worth it.

What strikes me is the willingness of some people to take everything posted on the internet as absolute fact.

OP, you do realise that the 'articles' from both your 'news sources' match word for word, don't you? Also, just because a website includes the words 'international', 'business', and 'times' in it's name, it doesn't necessarily follow that it's an actual reputable news source.

I think the press are peeved because of the lack of photo opportunities and because photographers got admonished for shady practices. They are trying to put them of the defensive and possibly goad them into public together.

A mum with two small children goes out less and misses a wedding and there are so many variations of the whys of this in the press and none of them flattering.

Maybe the baby has colic or won't take a bottle or maybe she just wants to be at home.

Bogeyface He does take a wage but he donates it to charity

Thats what I was referring to but I should have worded it differently, "he does not receive a wage" would have been more accurate.

Piloting the East Anglian Air Ambulance is not a hobby FFS

Why not? He doesnt receive a wage for doing this and it is worked around his family and royal commitments. Do you think that any other pilot would have been given the job on the basis that they could fly "as long as I dont have to open a hospital"? No. He got the job because he is who he is and happens to be a good pilot. Its great PR for East Anglia to have him flying for them, and its good for him because he can do it on the odd week that he doesnt have to shake hands.

Of course its a bloody hobby! The fact that it saves lives is neither here nor there, it still a hobby.

Has anyone thought that maybe she has PND? Can't face the world and just wants to hide at home with her children?

I often think Kate doesn't seem very happy. I suspect that after waiting so long and not putting a foot wrong she might have finally won the prize and realised it wasn't worth it.

I cant say that I have this hunch as I dont read about them or follow them, but I said this almost word for word during the engagement. She was chasing the prize and, as we know on MN, it often happens that once you have won it you start to question whether it was worth the price you paid.

I don't get the need to express such hatred for a woman people don't know - I really don't.

If a woman came on here posting that she had a two year old and a newborn, and that right now she didn't feel that she wanted to go out, and yet people were gossiping about her in the street, saying how she was a scrounger, should be going back to work, how all she was good for was popping out babies she would get nothing but sympathy here. In fact people would be questioning whether her reluctance to go out might be indicative of pnd given she'd recently given birth.

But because this is someone in the public eye people feel the need to degrade her role as a parent on the basis she has a nanny, insist that she should be out there earning her privilage, and when she fails to comply, start rumours about whether the marriage (about which people know nothing) is failing, or whether she in fact might be pregnant.

as for declaring being an air ambulance driver a hobby, words fail really. You do know what is involved in flying an air ambulance don't you? Or do you consider any voluntary work to be a hobby, and on that basis should anyone living on benefits but who does voluntary work be forced back to work then? Because essentially it makes no difference whether the taxpayer's money comes from benefits or from the income received if you're a royal, taxpayer's money is taxpayer's money.

I reckon she has pnd (and said so to DH) and that one of the kids (probably charlotte) is poorly, like properly poorly

kanye - is that true about the queen mum? what's your source? would love to read it myself. Always thought the queen mum was over-rated. She did, however, bring DH and me together though. I'd gone to stay with DH for Easter and the TV blacked out so I piped up "Oh, the Queen Mother's Dead."

And then Peter Sissons came on looking very grave. And the rest is history.

wannaBe, I do think there is a question mark over anything which receives public money whether it is providing good value. Be that the NHS, benefits or the Royal Family. Kate's got two small children so she deserves a bit of slack. But I think in the future as they get a bit bigger she's really going to have to up her game.

iirc there were a lot of rumours about Sophie and Edward because the dc were/are never seen out in public. In fact if I remember rightly there is still speculation that the youngest may have some disabilities which are being hidden from the public.

And plenty of speculation that Sophie had IVF because Edward is reputed to be gay and they never have sex.

I'm sure it's all true cos the internet says so.

I think it's pretty well known (although not formally admitted) that Sophie had IVF. But it was because of difficulties after an ectopic and then after a very difficult first birth.

I think it was Louise who was hidden from view. She had various problems with her eyes which were very physically obvious and required surgery and I think it was more to do with not wanting nasty comments about a small child. I need to get out more

I was just amused by the first sentence:

Kate Middleton has been hit by reports that she is expecting third child with Prince William.

If they think she's pregnant then why are they hitting her with anything?!

I doubt that Kate is pregnant again so soon after giving birth.

Maybe she is unwell herself, maybe one of the children is unwell, maybe she just wishes to have some time at home with her baby.

Whichever it is, I honestly hope everything is OK. I'm no huge royalist - I don't like or dislike them in general - but I do have a soft spot for William, Kate & Harry.

as for declaring being an air ambulance driver (Pilot - BF) a hobby, words fail really. You do know what is involved in flying an air ambulance don't you? Or do you consider any voluntary work to be a hobby, and on that basis should anyone living on benefits but who does voluntary work be forced back to work then?

My son worked as a charity shop volunteer when on benefits, because he couldnt get a job and retail experience helped his CV.

He was not a fully trained pilot who worked as an air ambulance pilot when it suited him, when it didnt clash with family commitments or weddings and who didnt need the money to support himself or his family.

Its a fucking hobby. And if words fail you that I could say that then I suggest you open a newspaper or a news website more often. There are things that happen every single day that leave me speechless, a man who uses his birth status to "work" when he feels like it is not one of them.

And yes I do feel that if a person who needs the money that a paid job would give them, chose to not take paid work in order to volutneer, (assuming that they had the high level of qualifications that William has), should be forced into work.

He is in a working retirement. He doesnt need the money, he does it because he wants to and because he can. A hobby.

Wow. You are so bitter. Why?