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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Kate Middleton is a role model for me?

519 replies

BlueBookBag · 03/10/2021 20:21

I like the way she looks, so pretty and stylish but classic and simple at the same time.

Slim but toned and athletic figure, meanwhile I could lose a few kg.

Her personality seems refined and elegant, you will never catch her sharing controversial opinions or offending views.

She seems to be a supportive wife and mother

Seems overall to live such an elegant life.

AIBU? To want to be more like Kate and see her as a role model?

OP posts:
SickAndTiredAgain · 03/10/2021 21:23

@Theredjellybean

I am sure she is a reasonably OK person in rl. But I'd be horrified to hear one of my young adult daughters say they looked to her to be a role model. She has vast amounts of staff and resources to enable her to do a job that requires no talent, no skills and no self development She is not willing to step up and do anything more than nod or smile for charities she claims are close to her heart. She is referered as a mother yet I fail to see her parenting. And I'd rather my daughters admired and strive to be strong women, with their own minds, own careers, own money, doing good and bringing about change.
I agree with the general gist of your post but I think the comment on failing to see her parent is a bit unfair. Of course we don’t see her parent, why would we? We don’t see the children very often, seeing her parent would involve seeing the children a lot more, and I can understand why we don’t. As I said upthread, seeing her as a role model as a mother is odd because we have no idea what she’s like as a mother, but I don’t particularly want to see her parenting.
Lanique · 03/10/2021 21:23

@Cocomarine

I don’t criticise her at all for not sharing controversial opinions publicly, given her role.

But bloody hell, if I’m looking for a role model, I’m looking for a woman that does!

Absolutely
Vancouverorbust · 03/10/2021 21:23

@Cantfindausernamethatsnottaken

I think she's lovely.She has done a lot for charity actually and is a photographer of merit.She seems very genuine to me.Very family orientated,which I admire.I really hope she is happy for real.
She is not a photographer of merit. Her pictures have improved a lot but the early birthday photos of George were terrible- out of focus etc

What has she done for charity? Specifically?

Sparklingbrook · 03/10/2021 21:24

@BlueBookBag

On another note I’m leaving Mumsnet soon. Maybe later on today. Or in the early morning hours.
Fascinating stuff. I vote for 'early morning hours'.
MusicTeacherSussex · 03/10/2021 21:25

OP
Are you going to do a countdown for your departure? WWKD?

Wineandroses3 · 03/10/2021 21:26

@Theredjellybean

I am sure she is a reasonably OK person in rl. But I'd be horrified to hear one of my young adult daughters say they looked to her to be a role model. She has vast amounts of staff and resources to enable her to do a job that requires no talent, no skills and no self development She is not willing to step up and do anything more than nod or smile for charities she claims are close to her heart. She is referered as a mother yet I fail to see her parenting. And I'd rather my daughters admired and strive to be strong women, with their own minds, own careers, own money, doing good and bringing about change.
Wow this is harsh! Stop knocking another woman who is just trying to get through her life. You fail to see her parenting? Oh she must not parent then cos you’ve not seen it. Whatever 🥱
OakPine · 03/10/2021 21:26

Would I want my daughters to marry someone wealthy, and walk a step behind them, smiling and saying nothing of consequence?

Hell no. My daughters have been raised to be warriors who have their own opinion, and will study hard to ensure that they are never dependent on anyone else.

Bounce55 · 03/10/2021 21:27

@MusicTeacherSussex

OP Are you going to do a countdown for your departure? WWKD?
Shall we start from 99?
clarepetal · 03/10/2021 21:28

It looks to me as if her and Will get on, and that's great as he has such a huge weight on his shoulders to be the future king. He has no choice in the matter and he was shy when he was younger. I can't imagine how scary that must feel. It's great if she is his soul mate so they can do this together.
I do find her wooden though, I think she is trying to be like the queen is now by not having any opinions which has served her well over her reign.
Because of this, we have no idea what she is like as a person, she could be horrible, she could be lovely.
I wouldn't want to be in the public eye so much- having to stand outside the hospital after having a baby and looking beautiful, sod that!! She can never balls thing up. Everything is staged.
It's really not a lifestyle I'd aspire to.
There's way more inspirational woman to look up to.

Riada · 03/10/2021 21:29

But Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished. When it was announced that Diana was to join the royal family, the Duke of Edinburgh is said to have given her his approval because she would ‘breed in some height’. Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary. But in her first official portrait by Paul Emsley, unveiled in January, her eyes are dead and she wears the strained smile of a woman who really wants to tell the painter to bugger off. One critic said perceptively that she appeared ‘weary of being looked at’.

Kate seems to have been selected for her role of princess because she was irreproachable: as painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character. She appears precision-made, machine-made, so different from Diana whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in her every gesture. Diana was capable of transforming herself from galumphing schoolgirl to ice queen, from wraith to Amazon. Kate seems capable of going from perfect bride to perfect mother, with no messy deviation. When her pregnancy became public she had been visiting her old school, and had picked up a hockey stick and run a few paces for the camera. BBC News devoted a discussion to whether a pregnant woman could safely put on a turn of speed while wearing high heels. It is sad to think that intelligent people could devote themselves to this topic with earnest furrowings of the brow, but that’s what discourse about royals comes to: a compulsion to comment, a discourse empty of content, mouthed rather than spoken. And in the same way one is compelled to look at them: to ask what they are made of, and is their substance the same as ours.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies

TrampolineForMrKite · 03/10/2021 21:29

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MusicTeacherSussex · 03/10/2021 21:30

At 60, we play rule Britainnia

TrampolineForMrKite · 03/10/2021 21:30

[quote Riada]But Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished. When it was announced that Diana was to join the royal family, the Duke of Edinburgh is said to have given her his approval because she would ‘breed in some height’. Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary. But in her first official portrait by Paul Emsley, unveiled in January, her eyes are dead and she wears the strained smile of a woman who really wants to tell the painter to bugger off. One critic said perceptively that she appeared ‘weary of being looked at’.

Kate seems to have been selected for her role of princess because she was irreproachable: as painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character. She appears precision-made, machine-made, so different from Diana whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in her every gesture. Diana was capable of transforming herself from galumphing schoolgirl to ice queen, from wraith to Amazon. Kate seems capable of going from perfect bride to perfect mother, with no messy deviation. When her pregnancy became public she had been visiting her old school, and had picked up a hockey stick and run a few paces for the camera. BBC News devoted a discussion to whether a pregnant woman could safely put on a turn of speed while wearing high heels. It is sad to think that intelligent people could devote themselves to this topic with earnest furrowings of the brow, but that’s what discourse about royals comes to: a compulsion to comment, a discourse empty of content, mouthed rather than spoken. And in the same way one is compelled to look at them: to ask what they are made of, and is their substance the same as ours.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies[/quote]
I read this essay a couple of years ago and thought that it was extremely well thought out and nailed it.

imnotacelebritygetmeoutofhere · 03/10/2021 21:32

Good for you OP, each to their own. Kate Middleton is not a role model for me though. I look up to people who work hard to achieve things. She has everything done for her. She has fashion supplied, she has a full time nanny for the kids, she has a whole team of staff, a choice of palaces to live in. That's not a role model life for me.

HalfCakeHalfBiscuit · 03/10/2021 21:35

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NCForthisxox · 03/10/2021 21:36

I do like her , but she's lived her whole adult life for William. Waiting for him to pop the question popping out kids , I wouldn't want her as a role model for my DD.

Supersimkin2 · 03/10/2021 21:36

Kate's very Stepford, on purpose I reckon.

She appears determined both to give the crowds what they want - dresses and diamonds and smiles - and not to give away anything remotely private.

Does both beautifully. Her mother's a successful social climber, no mean feat in the UK, and the considerable skills involved - adapting, aping, chameleon dressing, people pleasing and charming, will be vital in her eldest daughter's role.

TheKeatingFive · 03/10/2021 21:36

My major impressions of Kate are 'thin and uncontroversial'.

I guess if that's what floats your boat ... crack on.

Bounce55 · 03/10/2021 21:37
Grin
derxa · 03/10/2021 21:37

@Evesgarden

Its pretty obvious this thread is a wind up Grin
Clearly Grin
DeepaBeesKit · 03/10/2021 21:38

Good one OP Grin

DeepaBeesKit · 03/10/2021 21:40

Oh and in case poor old KM is drifting about on here somewhere and ends up reading all the drivel about her....

I reckon she's probably like about 90% of other mums of 3 on here.

Dreamstate · 03/10/2021 21:46

Here is a quick fix, go to a finishing school and then you can be like her. Not like she is born that way.

Couldn't think of a worse role model imo, she perpetuates the old 1950s steppers wife shite that should just be consigned to history and stay there!

Lightisnotwhite · 03/10/2021 21:48

@EishetChayil

Are you quite well, OP?
Why do people post this shit ? Having an opinion doesn’t make you sick.

It’s fine. You can have an opinion. You can also be unwell. Neither make your post invalid.

StoneofDestiny · 03/10/2021 21:49

Not for me. She has achieved nothing on her own merit. She has done nothing except marry and breed. She is a clothes horse in expensive clothes, has never earned her own income and lives extravagantly off the taxpayer enjoying great privilege.

A role model? Not in any way.