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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Carole & Michael Middleton orchestrated children's future from birth?

227 replies

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 12:52

Aibu to think the Middleton's very single handedly claimed the social ladder seamlessly? All three children are wildly rich & accepted in the highest echleons of society. Aibu to think that was no accident but carefully mapped out from birth?

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Didimum · 16/03/2024 12:53

There’s know way of knowing. Why does it matter either way?

DinaofCloud9 · 16/03/2024 12:55

Even if they did try there was no guarantee that William would want to be with Kate.

I'm sure a lot of people had the same idea when it was announced what university William was going to.

benjoin · 16/03/2024 12:56

DinaofCloud9 · 16/03/2024 12:55

Even if they did try there was no guarantee that William would want to be with Kate.

I'm sure a lot of people had the same idea when it was announced what university William was going to.

Yeah my mum did but I didn't listen

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 12:57

Didimum · 16/03/2024 12:53

There’s know way of knowing. Why does it matter either way?

I feel there is no way that parents could mange this level of social claiming these days even if the determination was there. Personally I find it really fascinating.

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cryinglaughing · 16/03/2024 12:58

Why are we rehashing this again 😩

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:00

I've just finished the Crown & Carole really was portrayed as the brains begin the operation.

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pikkumyy77 · 16/03/2024 13:02

Oh who cares? This feels like a really useless form of deflection from understanding how class and privilege are ruining the UK.

MojoMoon · 16/03/2024 13:04

If they did, then we should get them to put their incredible talents to running the country. The idea that you could plan and successfully execute a plan to have your baby daughter marry a royal 30 years later is ridiculous. This isn't a Disney film.

Would you feel better if she had been born into an aristocratic family?

They made a fair chunk of money, sent their children to elite boarding schools populated by other rich families so their children's social circle is rich. Their children then all married people from their social circles (which is what most people do).

Most people marry people of similar economic and educational backgrounds to themselves (assortive mating is the scientific term). In their case, that means marrying other rich people.

It's very, very rare for someone who is from a wealthy family, attended expensive private schools and selective universities to marry someone from a poor family in a poor area with no further education.

mitogoshi · 16/03/2024 13:06

They orchestrated a good start for their kids, not just education but the soft skills that mean you can manage in the upper echelons of society. Beyond that is is how their children chose to live that got them to where they live - so many chance happenings resulting in the situation that exists, well outside their control.

Sockdolager · 16/03/2024 13:08

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:00

I've just finished the Crown & Carole really was portrayed as the brains begin the operation.

You get that The Crown is fiction, right? And, even with that as a given, the parts dealing with the William-Catherine relationship appeared to be from Schmalz Hallmark TV, with the single addition of the excellent Eve Best being criminally underused as Steely Social-Climbing Matriarch. She even looked bemused at her own lines half the time, unsurprisingly.

Why is it so difficult to grasp that two apparently rather bland, workshy individuals met at university and subsequently got married? Happens all the time.

ODFOx · 16/03/2024 13:08

A clever and wealthy hardworking couple raise clever wealthy children who are well educated and used to being around other wealthy well educated people.
It's hardly Machiavellian is it?
Don't most parents aim for give their children the best opportunities they can?

Mydahliasareshit · 16/03/2024 13:11

Grandpa Peter Midd was Prince Philip's quite literal wingman on tour.

What goes on tour, stays on tour.

That's the beginning of it all.

Scarletttulips · 16/03/2024 13:12

The other sister married wealth as well.

I would say the same, you guide your children to a better quality of life - why wouldn’t you?

Did you expect her to marry a drop out, work shy nobody? How would that have panned out so you think?

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:15

mitogoshi · 16/03/2024 13:06

They orchestrated a good start for their kids, not just education but the soft skills that mean you can manage in the upper echelons of society. Beyond that is is how their children chose to live that got them to where they live - so many chance happenings resulting in the situation that exists, well outside their control.

Yes exactly. They ensured the kids had all the soft skills to fit in easily with the upper echleons.
Still doable these days if clever, parents who are clued in to what these soft skills actually are but it would cost a hell of a lot of money, lots of time & effort but most importantly compliant children

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DrCoconut · 16/03/2024 13:17

Surely no one actually believes that the future king was able to meet let alone marry some random girl from uni? I'm not saying it was an arranged marriage but both sides will have carefully curated their offspring's social set so that any eventual outcome was acceptable.

MereDintofPandiculation · 16/03/2024 13:18

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:00

I've just finished the Crown & Carole really was portrayed as the brains begin the operation.

The Crown was a documentary, was it? Hmm

LifeExperience · 16/03/2024 13:26

There is absolutely no way to orchestrate your children's future. They bought a house in a nice area and sent their children to private schools, but the rest was a combination of circumstances and their children's own desires.

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:32

@LifeExperience I fully believe that they put the kids into the "right" activities for social advancement.

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CorylusAgain · 16/03/2024 13:35

Having the funds and desire to send your dc to 'top' Public schools is of course social engineering.

But what exactly do you think the Middketons did differently to all the other parents who also sent their dc to these schools? The vast majority of those dcs will have ended up with mixing in the upper echelons and therefore marrying someone from that strata of British society.
Now that system is open to criticism but to suggest that Carole M orchestrated her dcs futures specifically is a stretch.

SilkFloss · 16/03/2024 13:35

The Crown?!
Jesus!

CorylusAgain · 16/03/2024 13:41

Blueballoons1 · 16/03/2024 13:32

@LifeExperience I fully believe that they put the kids into the "right" activities for social advancement.

They sent their dc to boarding schools! The schools provide all "right" activities (alongside all the 'right' people)

RageAgainstTheCoffeeMachine · 16/03/2024 13:41

Imagine giving birth to a daughter and saying ' right, she's going to marry the future king '.
Why Kate and not Pippa anyway? Wasn't she worthy or something?
Sorry Pippa, we've already earmarked your sister for the king, you'll have to make do with someone else, don't worry though, we'll make sure he's wealthy.

saveforthat · 16/03/2024 13:41

SilkFloss · 16/03/2024 13:35

The Crown?!
Jesus!

Indeed. I really enjoyed the earlier series of the Crown but this last one, I actually lived through those years and some of it is completely ridiculous.

Vitriolinsanity · 16/03/2024 13:41

I've sent my son to private school specifically so he can marry Princess Charlotte.

Testina · 16/03/2024 13:44

If you took each child’s cohort at school, do you think any of them didn’t marry wealthy? 😆

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