To think the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge need to work on their PR strategy?

[SamanthaBrique]

In recent months they've been accused of being work shy and what's their solution? To release photos of them and the children on a luxury skiing break! Now I don't begrudge them a holiday, but why make it so public? If they wanted to release photos of the kids then they could've just released a few shots of George and Charlotte at Kensington Palace or Anmer Hall. I don't know who is advising them on their PR but AIBU to think they need to engage someone a bit more in touch with public sentiment?

I think the strangest Murdoch/Sun/Times story recently was the one with the photos of the queen aged 6/7 playing in the garden doing nazi salutes with the queen mother and uncle edward. Not really news that he was a nazi sympathiser. And also photos so old turning up decades later.

Felt oddly 'protective' towards the queen - seemed deliberately hurtful/spiteful non-story and wondered if there was some other agenda wrt to royal family

Thought that Murdoch was supposed to have an issue with not being accepted by british establishment wrt to royal family or maybe that's just garbage

Limited, absolutely fascinating. I love "trade secrets", no wonder you write so well. Keep them coming!

it's mean spirited to think it's perfectly fine to have so much going to so few

Having a problem with such an unfair, catty attitude to individuals is not the same thing as supporting the monarchy as an institution or saying it should stay. Don't you understand that you dislike (or disagree with) a system without hating, despising and thinking the worst of the people who have been caught up with it on the other side? No, I expect you don't understand that. It's far too satisfying just to hate.

that you can dislike (or disagree with)

Mrsmorton I'll trade them for some dental work . Both of us have to contemplate some very unpalatable things in our jobs. Though as a long term career, I think you made the better decision.

gonetoseeamanaboutadog I have a problem with having a monarchy, nothing to do with individuals, what makes you think otherwise? and yes I still think it's mean spirited to worry about a super rich family when so many have nothing. Who are you actually referring to with your "unfair, catty, hating" comments??

www.thelocal.fr/20140311/paris-still-worlds-top-tourist-destination
It's still Paris limitedperiod

If William has a problem with the limelight he can abdicate and he and wife can go and get jobs, leave their residences and the media will leave them alone .

I didnt think so.......

gonetoseeamanaboutadog I'm still baffled by your "it's far too satisfying just to hate" comment? Who has mentioned any hate?.....oh I get it, if we don't agree with having a monarchy that means we must hate them.....what a strange notion

It is possible that she ditched the shamrock tradition this weekend because of severe pregancqy sickness again. Couldn't really blame her if so. However, in general I think that they should be more visible and hardworking, because with wealth and prestige comes responsibility and duty. We have this monarchy, it's going nowhere realistically, so it needs to sing for its supper.

Here's the real reason she stayed at home on St Patrick's Day...

I don't know why the Cambridges put up with all this Royalty shit really. He has more than enough private wealth for them to go about their own lovely lives in Norfolk, doing his helicopter job, her at home growing veggies and taking the kids to nursery. I can't see what benefit royalty brings them. It just looks like a whole lot of hassle and a whole lot of criticism. They're just there for the Foreign Office to pimp out. That's no way to live a life. IMHO.

I think it's partly a sense of family identity and duty - he's a nice chap and is doing what he thinks the Nice Chap would do.

I agree gone. And I should think they genuinely think they are in a position to help those less fortunate, by bringing certain issues / campaigns / charities to the forefront. I think they are nice people trying to live and lead a nice life. Not that they get much thanks for it. I don't really understand how people can think their royalty gives them a cushy life.

What was really gutting is that James Whittaker gave a talk at the Cambridge Union just before he died where he had offered to completely spill the beans on everything, and you know what? Practically nobody attended it. So we will never know for sure what went on a lot of the time.

Ah, James Whittaker, that's the guy I was trying to find the name for. In one of his last interviews with This Morning, he said that William was a very spoilt young man aka he wasn't the saint that everyone was making him out to be at the time.

they genuinely think they are in a position to help those less fortunate, by bringing certain issues / campaigns / charities to the forefront. I think they are nice people trying to live and lead a nice life. Not that they get much thanks for it. I don't really understand how people can think their royalty gives them a cushy life.
Don't get much thanks for it??? Their actual cost to the country is roughly £365 million......you don't think that's enough thanks, what would you have us all do......and you really don't understand how people can think their being Royal gives them a cushy life? I have no words for that one.

I genuinely think they know they have to do something for charity, to justify their position, and to add to their PR. These two don't seem bright enough to realise we can see they're doing the bare minimum, and she, in particular, can't hide her boredom and resentment at having to be there and do something.

James Whittaker never recovered from the outrage that Diana chose a snivelling boy from Dewsbury to write Her True Story over a booming posho from Cheltenham.

The fact that Andrew Morton made millions from it, may have crossed his mind too

If Whittaker had any secrets to spill, he wouldn't have given them away for nothing in his speech to the Cambridge Union. So you didn't miss much there BoffinMum

I wonder how much interest and support for the monarchy is tied up with support for the current Queen. No one much below their mid 70s will have any real memories of another monarch on the throne. Even as a republican I have to admit she made a decent fist of the absurd monarchy lark by and large.
However I can't see her elder son being able to command as much support as his mother. He certainly can't keep up the pretence of being above politics.

Nor will Charles coming to the throne have that fairytale quality,which monarchists seem to love. He'll in all likelihood be in his 70s when he comes to the throne, will reign for 20 years or so before the throne passes to William who will also be of pensionable age by then. As this thread has shown the tide has started to turn against William with a narrative that he's lazy, spoilt and petulant.

I really think the calls for a republic will gain traction when Elizabeth 2 dies.

They are all rather spoiled and entitled. Why wouldn't they be?

I don't think she does look bored and resentful. I think she looks interested and warm. Certainly that's what people seem to say about her.

Any new mum focuses on their family and their children as much as they can, FFS. If there was a time in my life when I'd be least interested in my 'royal role' (and the public haven't paid for Kate's upbringing and she'd still be rich without them BTW), this would be that time. If it's a toss-up between pleasing the public and being there for my children (and stuff the nanny, I've had help in the home and still been completely hands on, there's always lots to do), I'd be there with my children with bells on. My children have spent the entire winter going from ailment to ailment. If I'd been away for them for the morning and thought they needed cuddling, I would have happily left my husband to dole out medals. He's the one who is going to be king, after all.

If she is a 'real mum' and I think she probably is, she will put being there when her children want her way ahead of being seen smiling in a pretty dress. William was quite open about wanting to spend his life with someone who would be focused on creating a happy home and being the kind of mother that he sort-of almost had...I don't think they're lazy at all. They're not playing the media game and the media don't like it, that's all. The growing majority in Britain hate the royal family regardless and they seem to realise that it's not a friendly audience out there, on the whole. That would make me feel even less inclined to waste one moment of my time with my children on the public, if I was needed/wanted at home. Children are tiny for such a short time. Why can't we let her get on with it and save our bile for the suicide bombers and y'know...evil...

Don't get much thanks for it??? Their actual cost to the country is roughly £365 million......you don't think that's enough thanks, what would you have us all do......and you really don't understand how people can think their being Royal gives them a cushy life? shock I have no words for that one.

This is the kind of attitude towards the royal family I really don't get.

That £365m you talk about pays for the running of the 'business' of royalty. The state owned palaces, the 100s (1000s?) of people who work for them, arse-licking the Chinese on behalf of the Foreign Office etc. This money isn't theirs to play with. It doesn't pay for their private holidays, or their private homes. They have plenty of their own money to do that. If they were to quit the day job they could go about their priviledged lives in private like all the other rich people.

In a few weeks the Cambridges are going to leave their babies at home with the hired help whilst they get matched off to India to rush around like headless chickens meeting and greeting and smiling. For the Duchess this is all whilst having her grey hairs, hair length, sartorial choices, eyebrows, hemline, and baggy eyes examined, discussed and critiqued. No doubt there'll be hours, days of meetings, research, reading and briefing before hand. This is not what I would call a cushy life. Maybe they really enjoy it. But bloody hell, I would not call this a one-way street.

My heart bleeds for them. How absolutely tiring it all must be.....and yes, in regards to the Cambridges it really is nearly a one way ticket. What they do in return is hardly strenuous. Marched off to India......absolutely every detail is seen to by others, all they have to do is turn up. The cost of the monarchy is probably even more than I said. The 100s or 1000s that work for them make it even more extravagant, the money could be used to build and staff hospitals. How disgusting to spend all that to keep one family.