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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask what Kate Middleton is really like?

323 replies

Cocopops2010 · 09/03/2019 17:45

Just that really. I know some of you will think ‘who cares?’ but I find her kind of intriguing. Always so well turned out/groomed, very poised, polite...I wonder what her real personality is? How does she manage so much scrutiny?

OP posts:
Bloomburger · 13/03/2019 11:57

I think she is lovely and the fact that it seems neither her nor her husband have changed shows how well matched they are. Meghan has changed Harry from someone who looked like he'd be great fun to a bit of a plank.

Strawberrypancakes · 13/03/2019 12:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Whitney168 · 13/03/2019 12:23

With a camera costing over £2500 I should hope that she does get good photos - most photographers should. I'd like to see any photographer with one of those cameras go out and take a photo with an old Instamatic camera and see how they get on.

God, if ever there was a hobby where the results are far more driven by the user than the equipment, it's photography! Without the right 'eye for a picture', a camera operator will turn out snaps with the best of equipment, and a photographer can turn out stunning shots with a disposable one.

Anyway, that's beside the point really. I like Kate. I wouldn't want her 'position' for all the tea in China, she seems straightforward and polite, obviously very hands-on with her children. She'll certainly never please a lot of the people who pick holes in her, whatever she does, and I'm sure she was well aware of that when she agreed to it.

SinglePringle · 13/03/2019 12:23

A woman can have a lot of worth through quietly going about their lives, their achievements may be supporting someone else through a bad time, making sure the house is running efficiently, being a loving mother and wife. Kate is interested in mental health issues, art, photography, and I am sure many other things too. It is impossible to tell how she spends her days without following her around. To make judgements about someone's inherent worth based on how publicly she demonstrates her 'value' is a nonsense

Yet some do all this AND have a job that contributes. Kate has such a platform and yet choses to waste it.

Triglesoffy · 13/03/2019 13:13

There’s always one.

PineapplePower · 13/03/2019 13:34

I agree that William has set the agenda from the day she met him, it had to be that way, sadly

Doesn’t have to be that way, does it? I think it was just William’s choice to treat her that way.

SheStoopsToConker · 13/03/2019 14:06

They seem very happy but I'm a bit wary of the way she always defers to him in interviews and lets him do most of the talking and looks to him before she says anything. It strikes me as being very old-fashioned, which is why I don't think he's a man who would be happy if his wife outshone him. He's quite a contrast to his brother, who seems perfectly happy for his wife to take the lead. I don't know either of them obviously, but Harry and Meghan come across as having a far more equal partnership.

IvanaPee · 13/03/2019 14:13

He’s going to be king. That’s probably why.

As for her not doing anything, she’s literally working all the time. And seems genuinely interested in the people she meets. Especially children.

When Harry was dossing around it was funny; he was a loveable rogue, a playboy prince. Kate doesn’t do what people deem enough and she’s vilified!

SheStoopsToConker · 13/03/2019 14:16

Other kings are content to let their wives shine - look at Maxima of the Netherlands, she's the star in that partnership. But I think William is more like his father that way, apparently Charles didn't like Diana getting more attention than him.

PineapplePower · 13/03/2019 14:18

she’s literally working all the time

....is this a joke?

IvanaPee · 13/03/2019 14:20

No, not a joke. Her work might not be something you deem worthy but it’s what she does. And she does it a lot.

IvanaPee · 13/03/2019 14:24

Maxima comes from a (dubious) political family so it’s not surprising she wants to be involved in those things.

Kate might well do the same in the future. Her children are still very young. There’s plenty of time for her to sit on boards etc.

PineapplePower · 13/03/2019 14:24

C’mon, it’s a few hours max per week. Not literally all the time, as you stated. Not even part-time job hours 😂

MarkleSparkle · 13/03/2019 14:47

I’m not really bothered about what she does now, it’s the lack of anything for 8 years that I find Hmm

A journalist once described Kate and Pippa as modern day Bennett sisters. I can’t really disagree with that.

IvanaPee · 13/03/2019 14:48

How do you know how many hours she works?

PineapplePower · 13/03/2019 15:07

It’s public information, the papers publish their events tally for the year. The younger royals look downright lazy compared to the more senior royals (Princess Anne always tops the charts).

IvanaPee · 13/03/2019 15:10

I see.
Well I still think she does enough not to be sneered at.

shuttersaregreen · 13/03/2019 15:33

How anyone knows how much her camera cost is beyond me. There are many hours of work that go into preparing for the visits she does I assume - reading, talking, perhaps private visits. Of course she defers to him in public. He's the FUTURE KING. Would it be better if she walked in front of him, interrupted him and dominated the conversation?

She is a very hands on parent, even if she has a lot of help. Her kids are young. She probably wants to spend time with them too. Not unreasonable at all.

StarJumpsandaHalf · 13/03/2019 15:34

If we're passing judgement I'm happy that Catherine and William focussed on their relationship and are now working at raising their family. It's a far cry from the experience of the Queen's or Charles's children and hopefully will stand them all in good stead.

They don't have jobs, they have roles within a very traditional family steeped in its own routines, but these roles will increase over time and be lifelong unless something changes dramatically. If the next two generations follow the Queen's model they'll be carrying out duties way beyond normal retirement age. A few years with not an awful lot of public note will be more than compensated for in the future.

shuttersaregreen · 13/03/2019 16:24

Absolutely Star.

SheStoopsToConker · 13/03/2019 16:39

Of course she defers to him in public. He's the FUTURE KING. Would it be better if she walked in front of him, interrupted him and dominated the conversation?

Um there is a happy medium between deferring and dominating...

Puzzledandpissedoff · 13/03/2019 16:50

Meghan has changed Harry from someone who looked like he'd be great fun to a bit of a plank

You may have a point, if the ridiculous phrasing of his WE Day speech is anything to go by

To be fair we don't know if Meghan had any input, but it sounded awfully like the sort of thing that would go down well at some self-obsessed, Californian New Age event

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 13/03/2019 16:51

Windsor working diaries are a matter of public record. There's no arguing with this manner of bald, objective fact. I find it vaguely amusing when supporters of this family claim 'but they're going to work in the future', when they've made it well into their middle-age having done admirably little so far. The measure of what someone is likely to do in the future is what they've done in the past. And in this case, the answer is 'not much'.

None of this would be any of my business whatsoever were these just your average rich, private citizen who hadn't been foisted on us as UK representatives without recourse to a vote.

In answer to the thread title, I've no idea what she's really like. Nor has anyone else. She could be a perfectly lovely, kind human being but they take good care only to project a public persona. It's what she - and her whole extended family of in-laws - actually stand for that I find so objectionable.

catinboots99 · 13/03/2019 17:02

@Thisisnotadrill

Lettuce and dust most probably Grin

MuseumofInnocence · 13/03/2019 17:13

It is possible to see their Royal Engagements

www.royal.uk/court-circular

So far in March, she has had one engagement, when

"8th March, 2019. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Joint Patrons, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, this morning received Ms. Lorraine Heggessey (Chief Executive)."

So, this month, someone came to their house for what sounds like a short meeting. She has nothing coming up for the rest of the month. That said, the Daily Mail always seems to report on other events she goes to. It would be interesting to know how much work she and William really do. Hard to judge from the outside