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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what you think of Kate Middleton?

637 replies

Teadrinker11 · 22/03/2022 20:27

Interested to hear some opinions. What do you think of her? I was just reading a Dailymail article where she and William are in Belize and people are complaining about them flaunting their lives and all that. People struggling and Ukraine on fire, etc and Kate and William are rubbing it in people's faces. What do you think? Yes, they definitely have it better than a lot of people but in one sense I also feel that she has to thread on eggshells being in the public eye so much. Say one thing she'll be crucified but if she says something else it will be the same, she can't win regardless of what she says or do. If she acknowledges and openly says that she's got it easy with her luxury lifestyle people will scream down her neck about that too. What do you think? What's your view on Kate?

OP posts:
Waxonwaxoff0 · 27/03/2022 15:25

[quote VladmirsPoutine]@Waxonwaxoff0 Any woman who was going to have a reasonable shot at bagging William would have needed to have a degree of wealth and privilege beyond the reach of most people.[/quote]
Of course. I don't envy her though. I'd rather be broke but free than have to live my life within the rules of The Firm.

VladmirsPoutine · 27/03/2022 15:27

Same @Waxonwaxoff0. If I were going to do the royal thing I'd like to be less front and centre. Just leave me alone to roam my castle wearing my diamond tiaras. I couldn't be arsed with shaking hands and smiling at babies and cupcakes.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 27/03/2022 15:29

@VladmirsPoutine

Same *@Waxonwaxoff0*. If I were going to do the royal thing I'd like to be less front and centre. Just leave me alone to roam my castle wearing my diamond tiaras. I couldn't be arsed with shaking hands and smiling at babies and cupcakes.
I don't think I'd do well having that much money. I'd do a Harry and spend my time getting pissed in Vegas Grin
Quincunx · 27/03/2022 15:36

@VladmirsPoutine

I think she's a savvy woman. How many of us are living the lives we planned to have when we were 13?
Her sister's much savvier. Married a very rich guy who's not dependent on the public purse or public opinion. Kate chose a hard road that's about to get harder.
IcedPurple · 27/03/2022 15:41

Her sister's much savvier. Married a very rich guy who's not dependent on the public purse or public opinion. Kate chose a hard road that's about to get harder.

Would that very rich guy have married Pippa if she were just another attractive middle class girl from the Home Counties? Hypothetical situation obviously, so there's no way of knowing, but I suspect the fact that her children will be cousins of a future king didn't do Pippa any harm in the marriage stakes.

Lurking9to5 · 27/03/2022 15:42

I would say so, she is about 20 times as good looking as he is himself.

IcedPurple · 27/03/2022 15:50

@Lurking9to5

I would say so, she is about 20 times as good looking as he is himself.
She's attractive enough, but wouldn't stand out in a crowd of well groomed girls about town. Being the sister in law of a future king definitely gave her an edge in the marriage market, I should think.
VladmirsPoutine · 27/03/2022 15:54

But well off / privileged people from similar backgrounds tend to marry each other anyway. It strikes me that men like Pippa's husband would be more than available to the Middleton sisters as they move in the same circles. I couldn't be with an old-money type though they wear jumpers with holes in and won't put on the heating. The nouveau riche are much more my type of thing Grin

Lurking9to5 · 27/03/2022 15:56

Well, Pippa's husband's brother maried a similar type. Privileged, middle class, went to university, private-school, but not an aristocrat. I think vogue and pippa both way way more attractive than average though. I think both would stand out in a crowd of well groomed women!
Marrying an aristocrat not top of either brother's priorities.

Fairyarmpits · 27/03/2022 15:57

[quote lollipoprainbow]@Fairyarmpits at least they're not boring [/quote]
@lollipoprainbow

I beg to differ.

Quincunx · 27/03/2022 15:58

@IcedPurple

Her sister's much savvier. Married a very rich guy who's not dependent on the public purse or public opinion. Kate chose a hard road that's about to get harder.

Would that very rich guy have married Pippa if she were just another attractive middle class girl from the Home Counties? Hypothetical situation obviously, so there's no way of knowing, but I suspect the fact that her children will be cousins of a future king didn't do Pippa any harm in the marriage stakes.

Of course, but they were both groomed to be social climbers and inserted carefully into the "right" circles from a young age, so rich husbands were always on the cards. Wills and his scammy dad probably looked like a safe bet 25 years ago.
LadyMonicaBaddingham · 27/03/2022 16:13

I think her name is Catherine (Duchess of) Cambridge. Ignoring people's feelings about her rank and position, the fact remains that I think it's disrespectful to consistently and deliberately use the wrong name for a person.

Roussette · 27/03/2022 16:32

Like Sarah Ferguson you mean? Who's been known as that for over 30 years!??

You're sounding like a Marchioness from Downton Abbey telling us all off!

Whatever I call her, I guarantee she will be called Kate Middleton for as long as Sarah's been known as Sarah Ferguson so I'd get used to it if I were you!

DarleneSnell · 27/03/2022 16:58

I'd say she's very striking, she looks like a future queen. She hasn't put a foot wrong in however many years of marriage, and her family have held up well against intense scrutiny. The royals are very lucky to have her.

LuluBlakey1 · 27/03/2022 17:06

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

I think her name is Catherine (Duchess of) Cambridge. Ignoring people's feelings about her rank and position, the fact remains that I think it's disrespectful to consistently and deliberately use the wrong name for a person.
No it isn't. To be proper about it, she is HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. If she was Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, she would no longer be the current Duchess of Cambridge. Sarah Ferguson and Diana Spencer were allowed to keep the titles but the compromise was they were not HRH and not The Duchess of York/The Princess of Wales.

Kate will be HRH The Princess of Wales quite soon, I would think.

She should not be referrec to

PinaColada123456 · 27/03/2022 17:34

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

I think her name is Catherine (Duchess of) Cambridge. Ignoring people's feelings about her rank and position, the fact remains that I think it's disrespectful to consistently and deliberately use the wrong name for a person.
@LadyMonicaBaddingham She is known as Kate, she is not known as Catherine. Same as Harry is known as Harry, not Henry.

Her name is Kate and I will always call her Kate.

PinaColada123456 · 27/03/2022 17:36

@Roussette

Like Sarah Ferguson you mean? Who's been known as that for over 30 years!??

You're sounding like a Marchioness from Downton Abbey telling us all off!

Whatever I call her, I guarantee she will be called Kate Middleton for as long as Sarah's been known as Sarah Ferguson so I'd get used to it if I were you!

Agreed, although I don't know anyone who calls her Sarah, she's been simply Fergie since the day she married Andrew back in the 80s. No one calls her Sarah.
ArtVandalay · 27/03/2022 17:44

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

I think her name is Catherine (Duchess of) Cambridge. Ignoring people's feelings about her rank and position, the fact remains that I think it's disrespectful to consistently and deliberately use the wrong name for a person.
I’m all for using the ‘wrong’ name. Ridiculous I earned and undeserved titles, as hers, are not something I’ll choose to use. Her name’s Kate.
ZenNudist · 27/03/2022 17:47

I am a Republican. I have issues with the RF's entrenched privilege and I welcome the breakdown of the ridiculous system of them being head of state in random far flung places. I have no truck with tge UK continuing to pretend we have an empire.

However that's not the duchess' fault. She's pretty (literally) bland and blameless. I think William chose well. She's not stunningly beautiful but she is lovely and aging well with some surgical he'll. I feel sad for her that's She's got so thin under the pressure of public opinion. But she's got her place in history and vast wealth so don't really feel sorry for her.

She looked good in white on the later tour.

Quincunx · 27/03/2022 18:01

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

I think her name is Catherine (Duchess of) Cambridge. Ignoring people's feelings about her rank and position, the fact remains that I think it's disrespectful to consistently and deliberately use the wrong name for a person.
I think it's disrespectful to scam the system for years on end when she or at the very least her husband should be in FT paid employment. She'll get respect when she earns it instead of poncing about like an upper class influencer in clothes we paid for.
VladmirsPoutine · 27/03/2022 18:04

@Quincunx that might just happen yet! Their recent trip to the Caribbean was by all accounts met with hostility and protest. At this rate by the time it's Prince George's turn to get fitted for the crown he might have to also have an up to date CV!!

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 27/03/2022 18:10

In their engagement interview William refers to her as Kate, so she's clearly known as Kate.

MurderAtTheBeautyPageant · 27/03/2022 18:10

(I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of their interviews but I checked after someone mentioned it on a thread once)

Lurking9to5 · 27/03/2022 18:18

@DarleneSnell

I'd say she's very striking, she looks like a future queen. She hasn't put a foot wrong in however many years of marriage, and her family have held up well against intense scrutiny. The royals are very lucky to have her.
They are! I doubt they realised this until Harry brought Meghan in to the fold, with her family selling stories on each other and suing each other.
IReallyLikeCrows · 27/03/2022 19:16

@VladmirsPoutine

I think she's a savvy woman. How many of us are living the lives we planned to have when we were 13?
Puberty hadn't kicked in properly then so I still wanted to be a nun at 13. I'm pretty glad that my life didn't turn out as planned at that age.