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?

Was Henry VIII a good king?

It's a worry, isn't it?

Perhaps he'd have been a better 21stC King than he was a 16thC one.

How many engagements did Charles attend in 1985?

Most people have holiday photos
Many secondary schools have skiing trips many ordinary families have skiing holidays
A couple in the public eye are sharing their holiday photographs and why shouldn't they? If it was David Beckham and family there wouldn't be this silly fuss and he has done even less for the country than William.
Many are born to privilege and many to poverty it was ever thus.

spare I thought it was clarified in the thread that was shift hours not flying hours?

Instead of working on their PR, why not just work a bit?

Tiggery

A royal aide said today: "In terms of shifts, over the course of the year the monthly average is around 80 hours on shift. He also has to take mandatory rest days, in line with CAA rules. And then he has his royal and charitable duties on top of that."

Well we hear a lot about Henry VIIIs dirty laundry, but I don't honestly know if he was a decent king. :o

History was never my strong point.

Perhaps I am not giving William enough credit. Maybe he has more say than I think. I don't know. I think the weight of tradition and duty is an incredible burden.

No wonder Princess Diana was bored rigid. That's hardly anything IMVHO.

He just got through a lot of wives in pursuit of an heir Liz and caused all sorts of constitutional mayhem in the process.

IVF might have saved him a lot of bother

I can see a return to a chivilary philosophy with a Henry IX.

With jousts and everything Vertigo?

*According to the Court Circular website, Prince William has done 79 engagements in the last 12 months.

So a grand total of 5 fewer than your beacon of Royal dutifulness, Princess Anne...*

Princess Anne has done 456 engagements in the Uk and 88 abroad in 2015! Here

And tbh, Kate has always been workshy. That's part of the problem, if she'd done something apart from a very part time very short term pretend job for friends, she'd be perceived differently now if she didn't pull her weight. And she'd be in a better position to act in a professional manner now, and not come across as she does.

TheFairyCaravan
Yes, but we had agreed that the fair like-for-like comparison was Anne when she was at a similar life-stage to William ie had 2 young DCs and an outside job/interest (riding horses, in her case)

And the levels of Royal duties seem to be broadly comparable

The idea that Royalty has to earn its keep is something of a modern construct.

In the past Royalty did WTF it wanted to and if you complained then you'd be sent to the tower. Sort of.

If they wanted to, the Royals could sit around drinking gin all day and eating cake. They give back in order to appease us plebs. But they don't have to.

I think most anti-Royal comments come from jealousy. As far as I understand, William works a 20 hr week as an air ambulance pilot. I am sure there are many families who'd be happy enough for dad to work those hours if money wasn't an issue, so he could be more of a hands-on dad.

It's easy to forget the life William had as child and how he now wants to protect his own family from media intrusion. Given he is going to have many years ahead of him as King, but he may not inherit the title for another 20 years, then I say good on him for putting his family first while he can.

Oh grow up, Polly. Why is it that 'jealousy' is trotted out when you have no respect for someone? Personally I'd rather have my self respect.

It's also ridiculous to compare Wills and Anne.

There is a 30+ year age gap, she doesn't have a young family, and from what I hear ( friend who are in the know) her 2nd marriage is in tatters and she wants to keep as far away from her DH as possible. Supposedly she is reunited with her ex, Parker Bowles but won't divorce a 2nd time.

Grow up? is that the best you can do?

There are plenty of 'ordinary women' who do not work and haven't had what you may call a 'proper' job before or after marriage.

Saying you have a lack of respect is just ridiculous. Why on earth are you so invested in the Royals and their lifestyle?
Grow up yourself.

I'm not invested enough invent 'friends in the know'. I'm not invested, I'm just baffled as to why people, like yourself, seem to worship these people. What's missing that you you need to fill?

I invest my tax.

^ this

People are just as absorbed in the lives of many other celebrities on even more flimsy grounds IMHO.
If people enjoy taking an interest then I don't see a particular problem with that.
I think the RF and the events of their lives can form a kind of back-drop to all our lives, like many other things do, such as changing fashions in music, the political scene, economic ups and downs.
Life goes on through it all! I think they can make some contribution to that sense of both change and continuity through the years.

Why does having an opinion and defending that opinion become being over invested on here? FFS its a discussion board. Its purpose is to discuss.

Over invested or navel gazing.

I don't think anyone is worshiping anyone else here, but there is a palpable dislike of the emotional blackmail going on by the press, where if you don't kowtow to their intrusion, you get rubbished to the nation.

The goalposts have been moved to the point of hypososy by the Daily Fail et al. Kate is pilliored for being 'workshy' because she didn't have a career before marriage and children. Diana, however, did a few months working part time in a nursery but didn't come in for any of this flack. Her engagements list was mostly hanging out at a polo club, yet she is heralded as being committed to charity and good works. Kate gets criticised for 'recycling' her clothes in the same breath that she is told she is too much of a trophy wife. It is pathetic, and just because I want to call people out on the bitching doesn't mean I'm putting anyone on a pedestal.

In the last decade, there seems to be some notion that the Royals need to be 'just like us' but with fancier dinner parties and tiaras.

Strip away the titles, and they are still an upper class family who are independently wealthy and don't need to be pulling 40 hour weeks for either the money or to people-please us.

It would be weird if they weren't going on skiing holidays. But some people act like they need to be submitting their timesheet to the nation every month so we can check we approve of their lifestyle