Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Hilary Mantel makes a good point

544 replies

juneau · 19/02/2013 08:15

She shouldn't have said it, since it's bitchy and uncalled for (and I actually find HM rather odd, if I'm honest), but after a good couple of years in the media spotlight I struggle to think of one thing the Duchess of Cambridge thinks or believes in. She never gives an opinion, she barely speaks, she just looks pretty and smiles.

OP posts:
pofacedplot · 19/02/2013 19:54

'making the pair slum it in a dingy apartment at Kensington Palace'

Grin
sassytheFIRST · 19/02/2013 19:55

So Kate hasn't put a foot wrong, eh?

inappropriatelyemployed · 19/02/2013 19:55

"Kate has my every sympathy because she married into a very annoying and rather rude family. eg the Queen saying 'thats awful' to Kates wedding dress exhibition and the choice of portrait artist at the national portrait gallery and exiling Kate to Anglesey (What is that about?) and making the pair slum it in a dingy apartment at Kensington Palace"

What??? Seriously, WHAT are you babbling about?

Your every sympathy? Exiled? A 'dingy' palace apartment.

She is a little rich girl whose mummy sent her daughters to Scotland to hunt down rich thick twats for husbands.

She has never done a proper job. She diets for a living. Oh and takes holidays.

I save my 'every sympathy' for woman who are struggling to make ends meet under this shitty Government. Dave is not so quick to spare a thought for them.

Pan · 19/02/2013 19:55

I've listened to HM's delivery, and it may be uncomfortable for some. But her deconstruction of the female role in monarchy is spot on.

Some small-thinking Brit with an naive view of monarchy could object. But her cool analysis of how things actually work is exact.

Overall, it's the coming together of monarchy/women's value/Brit nationhood which HM has pointed up to be absurd.

sassytheFIRST · 19/02/2013 19:56

So Kate hasn't put a foot wrong, eh?

Quite right.

She has been silent, decorative and fertile. Like royal wives throughout history.

Ooh... That might be the point Mantel was trying to make....

scottishmummy · 19/02/2013 19:57

Kate is one of many speak your weight horahs.posh,well mannered.difference being she married well
Ms mantel is an accomplished author,don't care about how she looks
Mantel printed word brings many people considerable pleasure,she v talented

pofacedplot · 19/02/2013 19:57

Hear hear Pan.

TheOriginalLadyFT · 19/02/2013 19:58

I don't know which is worse on this thread, the attacks on Mantel for her looks or the class-motivated stereotyping of the Duchess of Cambridge as a rich lazy parasite

My god

Dualta · 19/02/2013 19:59

I'm delighted Hilary Mantel has given us her opinion, and I agree with her.

More should be expected of Kate Middleton than to look the part and play well-behaved princess/wife/mother. She has the opportunity to create for herself a unique position of influence but appears not to be taking it.

Millyad · 19/02/2013 20:00

I'm a new dad, if anyone said this about pregnant girlfriend or my child I'd go nuts,HM is a dinosaur with no relevance to comment on KM whatsoever, freedom of speech, I've had to sign to say no bullying,bad comments or trolling just to get on here, if I was to bad mouth a footballer, lets say about his race I'd have the police on my door, if you've got n

scottishmummy · 19/02/2013 20:00

Hasn't put foot wrong=pg,inoffensive ,and decorous.as per expectation of royal women

inappropriatelyemployed · 19/02/2013 20:01

"class-motivated stereotyping of the Duchess of Cambridge as a rich lazy parasite"

Er, so what is she then? Rich, yes? Lazy? Perhaps she has secretly been working really hard doing something for the last ten years we've never heard about? Parasite? I think she lives off our money.

Don't see a sterotype there, myself. But perhaps you know something different about her secret hardworking lfe where she lives off her own earned income?

scottishmummy · 19/02/2013 20:02

Perhaps when not going mad millyad,you may care to engage brain
This isn't about pg women,footballers or race.your indignant froth is misplaced
It's discussion of representation of monarchy,role played by km and media representation

pofacedplot · 19/02/2013 20:03

Have you read Mantel's essay Millyad? Here is is just in case.
lrb

Millyad · 19/02/2013 20:03

....ing good to say, say nothing...
How about ill be KM for the day and she can say it to my face,she wouldn't cause she's a spineless media whore who's got naff all else to do than to hastle someone who's in the spotlight.... Do we not already have a dead nurse due to these kind of idiots....

Over educated under common sensed

LapsedPacifist · 19/02/2013 20:03

Kate has my every sympathy because she married into a very annoying and rather rude family. eg the Queen saying 'thats awful' to Kates wedding dress exhibition and the choice of portrait artist at the national portrait gallery and exiling Kate to Anglesey (What is that about?) and making the pair slum it in a dingy apartment at Kensington Palace (has anyone been inside- it is awful) and using her as a human shield for Camilla. Kate is not plastic to me. She is very very human. And as yet, she isn't history, so Mantel should keep her claws off her.

Funnyperson, I understand your concern about the real woman behind the royal persona and her potential for having her feelings hurt, but you seem to have fallen hook line and sinker for the fantasies peddled by the popular media . You really cannot know if any of the 'facts' you have quoted above are real - this is just what has been reported by the media. You are reading her life and situation as a fictional narrative, which is exactly what HM is trying to analyse in her article.

squoosh · 19/02/2013 20:03

Millyad what are you talking about?

coffeeinbed · 19/02/2013 20:04

But she's not attacking Kate.
It's about the institution that denies Kate the right to put her pretty feet wrong.

Well, whether Kate wants that is a whole another discussion.

scottishmummy · 19/02/2013 20:05

Millyad what are you on about man?It's like phil Mitchell with iPad

squoosh · 19/02/2013 20:05

Yeah that Hilary Mantel, such a media whore! Hmm

coffeeinbed · 19/02/2013 20:05

And the media that executes the wishes of the institution, one way or another.

pofacedplot · 19/02/2013 20:06

Oh. My. God. This is turning into Shameless.

Millyad · 19/02/2013 20:06

I'm not going mad at all but it seems people are so quick to judge the girl, I take it all you have met her including HM and devised this opinion after your afternoon tea with her......

LapsedPacifist · 19/02/2013 20:07

Millyad, do follow the link to the article and see what it's about.

And then come back and we'll explain all the difficult bits to you.

funnyperson · 19/02/2013 20:07

Well as it happens of course I actually asked for and got a Mantel book for Christmas. I am a great fan of her writing style in her books though I have to say I now think she is possibly lacking in emotion. Lots of words but no soul or emotion.
Anyway I agree with what is said above about the role of women in the monarchy. It is true that Kate could be a lot more courageous about who she is -stick up for commoners and all instead of trying to mould herself completely to the aristocrat thinking and way of life, even stick up for the Welsh in Anglesey. But hey, she is having a baby. There is plenty of time for her to make political statements later. As a matter of fact I think her ornery dress (off the high street) is occasionally a statement. Not a strong enough one, but one never the less.