to think William and Kate's Christmascard this year was badly judged?

[tinkywinkyshandbag]

So not only has William been hectoring us about climate change and sustainable travel, but there's been a pandemic which has been a pandemic which for many people has been financially devastating, and for most of us a holiday seems a distant pipe dream. So this year of all years they have chosen a photo of themselves all looking tanned and relaxed on a (presumably free) holiday. Just feels a tad ill judged?

YABU.
Plenty of people had foreign vacations this year, and it is stupid and petty to ask them to act miserable like a minority of people to appease them.
Crab Bucket.

@RodneyIsDave

Don’t worry the royals are like celebs their jetset holidays etc don’t count towards climate change etc etc

Yes, the real problem is poor African people having too many children.

Whatever they had done, however they had sat, and no matter what they had worn there would be people moaning about it.

If they had been on the seafront at Scarborough or sat in front of a Christmas tree there would be people complaining that they were pretending to be poor or common.

@PriamFarrl

It looks like Petra. So an ancient civilization that was not Christian.

There weren’t many Christians about at the birth of Jesus……

I know. But you keep claiming a photo taken in Petra is a Christmas setting because of Jesus. Jesus was born 155 km away from where this photo was taken in a site that has nothing to do with Christianity.

This looks like one of the caves at Petra. I have been there and it is a very lovely and amazing place. Some of the caves are occupied by Bedu, who use them as shops and sell refreshments. I imagine the gold thing is some furniture object/container belonging to the cave owners. Jordan is not super expensive to visit. I went there years ago on a bargain package. From Petra you can see the great Rift Valley and it is close to places mentioned in the Old Testament. Ideal subject for a Christmas card.

@PriamFarrl I would have been happy with a well-posed photo, natural-looking and not obviously photoshopped. The really poor editorial and photography standards here really make me cringe. I have seen way nicer photos on peoples living room walls taken in local photographic studios.
If I was them, I would be asking for my money back.
And they should look at what Charles and Camilla do. I am no fan of either of them, but I think they have very good pr and that shows in their Christmas card. The rehabilitation of Camilla is an example of excellent pr work.

But you keep claiming a photo taken in Petra is a Christmas setting because of Jesus.

What I’m saying is that similar topography to that of the birth place of Jesus is seen as not being Christmassy but snow, holly, robins and evergreen trees are. It’s not logical.

The trust fund of millions left to him in his mother’s will?

It's well documented that they barely touch those funds.

The family money she has from her self-made multimillionaire parents?

By those kind of standards, her parents aren't particularly well off and Kate doesn't need their money.

They used their extensive Sovereign Grant allowance. Why the hell wouldn't they?

@ShirleyPhallus

I found their hand positioning on each other’s knee really odd and unnatural

Could do with Kate having a normal smile instead of her OH EVERYTHING IS HILARIOUS! Rictus grin plastered on

I used to quite like them but am finding them so perfect that they’re really predictable and boring now. Wish kate would just get shitfaced or do something vaguely outrageous instead of being so perfect and polished all the time

Came on to say the same

Cannot abide William, first off banging on about overpopulation of Africans when he himself has 3 sprogs. And now travelling to jordan (I bet on a private plane) just after banging on about climate change to us plebs on tv. And during the pandemic too.

Sprogs are cute though, Charlotte is a dead ringer for princess Anne.

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork the Bedu don't live there permanently so I can't imagine the gold space hopper belongs to them. The poorest Bedu selling goods at Petra sleep in the caves during the tourist season as they can't afford a room. Those with more money get a room like everyone else.

William in particular is a terrible hypocrite. Unfortunately, there will always be people on here defending this bunch of parasitic shysters.

Didn't they go to the Scilly Isles in the summer? That would have been a better photo.

I love photo Xmas cards.

I quite like them.

The royals always give Christmas cards with photos of themselves as recipients like to get a card that is obviously from them.

@PriamFarrl similar topography? It is Petra, totally unique and an amazing place.
Or do you just mean in the middle east with sand and caves?
Honestly, these are just stereotypical ideas of the middle-east. The middle east includes countries like Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

His smile looks fake and she looks her usually Stepford Wife insane self.

They are very careful about their curated image - which says to me there's a reason they released one of their summer family photos from Jordan. They had loads of holidays this summer - this one which no one knew about, the Scilly Isles at Charles place on Tresco, the French trip for Kate's brother's wedding, and Balmoral with the Queen.

All gorgeous places, all potential wonderful family group pics. I would have bet on them doing one from Cornwall or James' wedding myself.

So there is a reason they've let this one out which was before now a complete secret. Interestingly Charles went on an official visit to Jordan about a month later - so maybe there's some diplomatic wrangling going on and this was part of it.

I've noticed the Jordan tourism board are already using it as a 'come visit our beautiful country'.

I wouldn't be surprised if showing how lovely and safe Petra is for families is part of some UK gov deal going on in the background.

[quote julieca]@SW1amp how do you know they have money from Carol's parents? I would be surprised if the Middletons were paying for Kate and Williams holidays abroad.[/quote]
I don’t know if it’s from Carol’s parents.
I wasn’t actually aware her parents came from money, I thought it was all self made.

But I would find it very surprising if a family of the Middleton’s wealth haven’t made provision for their children and grandchildren by way of trusts as part of their estate planning.
Certainly every other family know in that sort of bracket of net worth has done so to some degree

Lots of people have been on holiday this year. There's been loads of questions on MN about tests, vaccine passports etc It would have been unreasonable if the pic was somewhere like
Australia where the flow of people in and out of the country is heavily controlled.

The Cambridges have done the pic in the woods before so if they'd gone for that then people would moan that it was the same idea again and unoriginal.

The short sleeves and props like the golden ball that William is sitting on looks odd but Kate lived in Jordan for a few years when growing up and maybe she wanted to show her kids the sites and the quarantine rules were easier to deal with.

@cabingirl

They are very careful about their curated image - which says to me there's a reason they released one of their summer family photos from Jordan. They had loads of holidays this summer - this one which no one knew about, the Scilly Isles at Charles place on Tresco, the French trip for Kate's brother's wedding, and Balmoral with the Queen.

All gorgeous places, all potential wonderful family group pics. I would have bet on them doing one from Cornwall or James' wedding myself.

So there is a reason they've let this one out which was before now a complete secret. Interestingly Charles went on an official visit to Jordan about a month later - so maybe there's some diplomatic wrangling going on and this was part of it.

I've noticed the Jordan tourism board are already using it as a 'come visit our beautiful country'.

I wouldn't be surprised if showing how lovely and safe Petra is for families is part of some UK gov deal going on in the background.

So was this taken during their October half term holiday ?

I don't mind them. And I don't really support royalty. PR must be very good.

I’m afraid the phrase ‘golden balls’ was the thing that struck me. He’s sitting on a huge gold ball. Did no one think about that? Otherwise it’s a lovely photo.
Agree, not Christmassy, but it’s a happy photo.

Why does she insist on that gormless grin so often? Photoshopped to within an inch of her life too. The lot of them are just totally useless.

"What has Christmas to do with the Middle East" is possibly the funniest thing I've read on here for years.

Me too!!!