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?

Like them or loathe them a lot of people like to take an interest in the Royal family and William and Kate and their children are very photogenic so it is not surprising the press are keen to get their hands on photos. I expect the release of the few photos of them on their holiday were given on condition they leave them alone the rest of the time. Give them a break. William is a qualified pilot and does public engagements and Kate also does public engagements with two young children to care for as well. They raise the profile of the UK and I for one was happy to see the photos of the little ones as I would be of anyones' children having fun. What is the problem so long as they are on board with that? It is no different to seeing photos of David and Victoria Beckham or other celebrities with their children.

I agree with Tigger that the fact that Kate has never had a proper job doesn't help with her image at all. I find it genuinely quite shocking that, in 2016, there are still women being brought up not to work but to seek to marry well... which is what seems to have been the case with Kate and her sister.

How can you say they have been 'brought up to marry well'? How do you know how they have been brought up? Genuine question.

The assumptions people make never cease to amaze me.

Well off family goes skiing shocker!!

I imagine they went on holiday despite the bad press because they wanted to go on holiday and neither read nor give a fuck about the bad press.

And nor should they.

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.

TBF, Kate was almost a decade older on her wedding day than Diana was on hers (and a single graduate with options to her during her twenties.) Whilst

I'm no particular Diana fan, but she did have several jobs in the couple of years between school and marriage, didn't she?

My problem with Will and Kate working hours isn't the number it's the gaslighting us attempts that they work more than they really do.

Spare she did 84 in 1981 which was the year Zara was born. In 1982 she did 179, so Wiliam is a long way behind.

Here

I wish we could have a referendum on becoming a republic, as well as the EU business.

I was idly wondering if the same people who are so hotly defending W&K are the same people who appear on benefit-bashing threads and whaddya know? :o

As a Royalist, I think they don't need a new pr strategy, they both need to get off their arses and work for what they have. As I said on another thread about them, this month William has 1 event scheduled, Kate none, compared with Princess Anne who is doing over 20. They are completely lazy and the Queen should be having strong words.

If they don't want to put in the effort for the obvious rewards, they should leave the Royal Family - perhaps he could work for the inlaws.

All this talk of abdication misses the point that if William were to remove himself from the line of succession it would pass not to Prince Harry but Prince George. If William doesn't want the crown for himself, he is hardly likely to want to lumber his son with it from (probably) his twenties. I am not sure he could legally decline the crown on behalf of his son while George is still a child.

Lynda that doesn't surprise me at all

Looking at the longevity of his parents, Prince Charles could live for another 30 years. If William comes to the throne at 60, then he may feel he can decline the crown, as Prince George will be in his 30s & able to take his own decision on the matter. It is possible that William never intends to take the throne, but is remaining in place as a buffer between his son & the throne until Prince George is older.

If William has no intention of taking the throne I think he would have removed himself from the charade a long time ago.

He has towed the line, yes he has done some decision making, but he had the wedding of a future king IMO.

Realistically, even if William took himself out of the line of succession now, what would change? I believe he receives most of his income from private wealth anyway. His father would still house him and pay for security out of the Duchy of Cornwall income.

sloaney Di blabbered on about wanting privacy after the divorce, and then was all over the papers, happily milking her status as 'I slept with royalty' with every posh freebie going. She DID chose the life. Just because she's dead doesn't make her a saint, and it wasn't the press that forced her into a car with a drunk driver and no seatbelt. She chose.

this is not William's fault and he does actually work.

Polly there is no connection between Princess Anne and the Parker Bowles family except that Camilla is now her sister in law.
Princess Anne's second husband is Tim Lawrence and her ex is Mark Phillips.
Not having friends 'in the know' I have no idea what is going on in their marriages.

I think they don't need a new pr strategy, they both need to get off their arses and work for what they have.

why should they? Have the country are royalists. why work for it when the country will continue to fund you anyway?

I think the Press have it in for them because they won't play the game. The Cambridges control their own press and photo releases and the press don't like it.

I can't blame William for not wanting his children to live in a goldfish bowl.

*half

Andrew Parker Bowles (inspiration for RC-B?) and Princess Anne used to date in the 1970s, and there have been persistent reports in the press that they have become closer again since the death of his second wife.

Re the RCB thing: has there ever been a bigger disconnect between an inspiration and the end product?

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.
If they want to continue with their lavish lifestyles they do. The days of the royals not being accountable to the taxpayer are long gone. The only reason they "give back to appease us plebs" is to keep the money rolling in.

I think William is a bright chap and can see that the royal family has less and less relevance in 21st century Britain. Maybe he will engineer the abolition of the monarchy when he inherits.
I can't see Charles being a hugely popular monarch. His mother is a tough act to follow and has a lot of personal appeal to some sectors of society. I can't see him having the same affection from the public. By the time William accedes, I wonder if there will be any real appetite for an unelected head of state and he can call time on the whole institution.

That only works if you are sure they will not decided to make changes to the surrender of the profits of the Crown Estates. If the Crown reverted to keeping them, HM's govt would be considerably worse off.