To find the royal family fascinating part 2

[MagicKingdomDizzy]

Hello everyone, here's thread 2.

I'd be very grateful if someone could do a clicky link to the last one. Still can't figure it out.

Thanks!

My husband is extremely sporty and coordinated unlike myself. He can catch a ball without even thinking about it. He reminds me of a golden retriever when he’s playing catch. Conversationally he is extremely quit witted but not talkative or great at articulating things. Give him a contract though and he can find a flaw and analyse. He saved me 50,000 on dividend tax by solving a tax problem that our accounting firm couldn’t. Great dealing with lawyers etc and analysing complex issues to do with property. I think everyone has their abilities and strengths. I am creative and lose my keys a lot and appear dim witted in conversations sometimes of like a scatter brain. I managed to get distinctions at uni and get into a prestigious law school but I don’t think people would think I was intelligent meeting me. I’m not sure intelligence is as straightforward as we think.

Interesting to think of Kate as peak mn aspiration.
Back to Queen Mary - she was famous for visiting people's country piles and admiring any objets d'art lying around. This was code for ' she would graciously accept it as a gift'. Bet people started shoving everything out of sight before she came around.

Dongdingdong it's about the quality of the conversation when it happens, which doesn't have to be frequently.

Well each to their own. My view is that Kate is dazzlingly dim and I'm sticking to it until I see something to suggest otherwise, which I suspect will be a long time coming.

Her hair is good provided she has a hairdresser on hand. She freaked out when it went frizzy on her first tour abroad. Not hard to have good hair with a hairdresser hovering behind you and tons of taxpayers money to colour, condition etc etc.

Kate's world-class education:

(2:30)

This is supposed to be lighthearted!

@rubbertreeplant I think what we are saying is that she was never going to argue a case in The Hague or solve Brexit or cure cancer. She’s not a ‘great mind of the 21st century’. I’m sure she’s reasonably to above average intelligent though and apparently the media say she asks very serious questions, people that have met her says she’s very well informed about the local area. She’s obviously very capable on a practical level. She’s shown great insight into human nature and the need in society by championing the heads together campaign which was a really clever move and her idea.

I wouldn’t admit this IRL, but I am getting rather excited about the DoS baby announcement. Anyone else?

Would Harry really have appeared at the London Marathon on Sunday if the baby had just been born? Doubt it...

Did she say "Can you test the smell by smelling it?" in that video?

I give up.

ok so now goodbyestranger you do sound a bit invested and jealousy. Don’t worry, I am too, she’s living the little girl fantasy I thought I would when I was 10 😒 I think deep down maybe you feel like I do, that we’re all equal, that it’s so competitive being a woman and she has so many advantages but gets accolades for outshining all of us.

For what it’s worth, you’d be a much cooler princess. I know I would be, I’d totally have a toe sucking scandal in her position 😂

One things for certain though and that’s that Pippa Middleton is no Einstein 😂😂 I imagine she would be so snobby in real life,

@rubbertreeplant I think what we are saying is that she was never going to argue a case in The Hague or solve Brexit or cure cancer. She’s not a ‘great mind of the 21st century’. I’m sure she’s reasonably to above average intelligent

Well you might be but @goodbyestranger keeps specifying that she's actually "thick"

TBF, if she had anything approaching a sparkling intellect she'd be bored witless by now.

But let's not compare her to corporate lawyers and research scientists. She's more impressive if you compare her to other royal wives through history. Try it, it'll make you feel less ripped off

@MissParple the best historic novel for a glimpse of life at that time is probably Three Sister by Philippa Gregory. It is a novel, but carefully researched. Living at court was very expensive. Katherine of Aragon lived in increasing poverty after her divorce and it would have meant no social life too. That said, it is easy to forget that Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon were married for longer than he was married to all 3 of his subsequent wives put together. It was meant to have been a successful union dogged by the lack of a male heir and used as a tool by men with political ambitions to break from Rome. I say political, because a lot of it was about power rather than theology. Henry VIII had been a loyal catholic granted the title defender of the faith by the pope. If he had produced an heir and a spare the English reformation might not have happened. At least not at that point in history.

That should be:-

• @rubbertreeplant I think what we are saying is that she was never going to argue a case in The Hague or solve Brexit or cure cancer. She’s not a ‘great mind of the 21st century’. I’m sure she’s reasonably to above average intelligent**

Well you might be but @goodbyestranger keeps specifying that she's actually "thick" 

TBF, if she had anything approaching a sparkling intellect she'd be bored witless by now.

But let's not compare her to corporate lawyers and research scientists. She's more impressive if you compare her to other royal wives through history. Try it, it'll make you feel less ripped off 

Humpy I'm not invested, just sticking to my corner on a royal family thread in the face of opposition. I could do with a hairdresser on call 24/7 though - that I'll give you! And I'm not saying what you say we're saying, I'm going significantly beyond that :)

I wouldn’t admit this IRL, but I am getting rather excited about the DoS baby announcement. Anyone else?

Honestly, no.

Even with George etc, the level of interest felt unseemly and intrusive, and he was directly in the line of succession.

This time it just feels like everyone is goggling to see skin tone and check for ginger hair. Nobody has much goodwill to the parents. There's no dynastic significance. I just...meh.

You are making me chuckle @goodbyestranger

I don't fawn, I just don't use it as a measure of her character. I just think that she's quite strictured and not a natural so keeps her trap shut. I've had a very clever, lovely but really shy girl work for me. She was really quiet on the till and talk at all. We all loved her, but I would be willing to bet that lots of our customers thought about her the way you did with the DoC because she was really shy. She actually said she felt more confident in herself after working with us but she still didn't talk. Some people just don't!

I love all the royal orders & decorations. They're just grown up school badges and probably annoy Princess Michael no end. I am going to an event on Friday where "orders and decorations" are encouraged. Shall I take a blinging bingo card to tick off and report back?

I’m intrigued to know what name they’ll go for mainly. But I suppose that might not be released straightaway.

I find this speculation on intelligence, as if it is a demarcator of the worthiness of a person is, most odd. My children have wildly different types of intelligence. My oldest sails through academic work in all subjects with ease, but lacks the ability to notice social cues and takes little interest in making a wide circle of friends. My second child is incredibly socially adept, knows who everyone is, manages to be popular and kind, but has struggled valiantly with academic work and knows it will never come easily. I don't think this means one has more going on between the ears than the other or that one is a more interesting or valuable person than the other.

@rubbertreeplant wow that was a brave statement about skin tone

Think baby will be beautiful and loved by the public, people tend to love baby royals no matter who their parents are. Will be one gorgeous little Bub.

I’m getting bored of waiting though. Feeling anticlimactic at this point.

They should have given a later due date.

@genevieva this is so true, my brother in law is technically genius and really lovely guy but I think he struggles in other ways like practical choices.

I remember stressing about whether my baby would lose iq points because someone at mothers group said there was research formula fed babies were less intelligent. I was completely unable to breastfeed for longer than a couple of months due to a litany of problems. Completely beside myself and a lovely friend said, “Alicia, iq doesn’t equal happiness, good looks might lead to a better life more than high iq” - sort of think she had an argument. Whether you’re a good, nice person is the key to happiness though and your values, it sounds trite but I standby it.

Now back to royal gossip...

@rubbertreeplant wow that was a brave statement about skin tonei

I'm just detecting some prurience in the air and I don't like it.

It feels like there's racists to one side, and sychophants to the other side, and none of it is very appealing. I left the country for the royal wedding though, so I'm just an old curmudgeon about anything faintly forelock-tugging.

@Dongdingdong is right, though, the name will be interesting.

Just curious, does anyone on here have any media connections, media experience in newsrooms or royal connections that are close or distant ? Details aren’t required.

@rubbertreeplant well rest assured that their racism will challenge when they see that baby. That’s some serious genetic diversity and the baby will grow up to be a knockout !!!!

@Humpy84 the stats on formula and IQ are a fallacy. They are actually measuring correlation between breastfeeding choice and educational outcomes. Firstly, correlation and causation are two different things. Secondly, IQ and educational outcomes are 2 different things and thirdly, there is a thread on here at the moment about social class and breastfeeding. I don't know about class, but there are socioeconomic factors that influence breastfeeding, as well as medical factors. Trying to extrapolate conclusions like 'bottle-feeding reduces IQ' is just another example of the guilt that is piled on mothers.

Yes - back to the gossip. Just wanted to reassure you.

DSHetc it's not what she doesn't say, it's what she does say, obviously.