Royal style and gossip: monochrome Megs, colourful Kate, the whacky hats of Max

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Link to the previous thread, which was fast filling up!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3394928-Royal-Style-and-Gossip-The-Sussexes-Down-Under-Meghan-is-glowing?msgid=82047922#82047922

@LimpyLampy Diana's family was just as dysfunctional! Her father Johnny was a wife beater and her mother Frances bolted and ran off with the heir to a wallpaper fortune. Her grandmother (Frances' mother and a BFF of the Queen Mum) then testified against her own daughter in the divorce proceedings and Johnny Spencer was awarded custody of the children.

He later married Raine (an interesting woman in her own right) who has a reputation as the archetypal wicked stepmother, although she and Diana appeared to have an amicable relationship later on. Diana's sisters (one of them an old flame of Charles) don't appear to have been very supportive and her brother had his own marital woes. I think he's onto wife number 3 (or is it 4?) now.

How do I know all this??? I swear I've never been a Hello reader!

Sorry, her father Johnny was ALLEGEDLY a wife beater and "cruelty" was one of the reasons cited in the divorce.

imagine George coming home from school one day and saying “Mummy, Thomas said I’m going to be the King one day”

Sophie has said that they didn't tell Louise who her grandmother was until one day she came home from school and said "Mummy X told me Granny is the queen"!

Diana has an awful upbringing too. Her parents had three daughters and finally the all-important heir. He mother 'ran off' with another man, leaving her children behind, and at the divorce her mother gave evidence against her, so the children grew up with their father. Diana and her brother used to go by train to see their mother. I think their mother was an alcoholic too.

Her family seemed to totally abandon her once she married Charles - hence why her brother's speech at the funeral, whilst rousing and heartfelt, was too little too late.

Diana certainly came from a dysfunctional family herself .

"When Diana was 14, her father became the eighth Earl Spencer, following the death of his own father, and the Spencers moved to the family seat, Althorp. The following year, in 1976, he married Raine, Countess of Dartmouth, the daughter of romantic novelist Barbara Cartland (Diana's mother Frances had married Peter Shand Kydd in May 1969)."

Coincidentally Camilla's maiden was Shand. No relation!

I go to St Paul’s cathedral once a year for an event and each time I am struck with horror by the thought of poor Diana, scarcely older than a school girl, getting married to a man in his early 30s. What hope did she have?

I need to look at today’s pictures, thank you for the new thread.

Is there a photograph of Sophie Wessex at the state dinner last night?

She's the only one I've not yet seen.

Fate not that I have seen when looking today I would like to see hers

this is the best I've seen.

That's a lovely colour on Sophie and her hair looks good too. Seems quite similar to Kate's updo.

She looks lovely there. I think she's not comparing well to Max today although the photos of them together are so joyful! They seem to get in like a house on fire.

The disparity in the ages of Diana and Charles was largely because of the perceived need at time that his bride should not, as they put it then, "have a past." I don't imagine there were many virgins to choose from in Charles's age group.

The DM has an article quoting people slagging off Kate's dress!! I thought they were going to link our thread 

You can't see the tiara very well in that one of Sophie, thank you though. I think she was wearing the 5 aquamarine one, which is a beautiful piece. Would love to see her in it.

She was wearing the aquamarines. And an Emily Wickstead gown apparently

Thanks QueenoftheAndals

Thanks lovely colour on Sophie it's was reported she was wearing the 5 aquamarine one. They do all seem to stick to the same tiara don't they? That seems to be the one Sophie wears most, obviously we have already said Kate tends to stick to the lovers knot, Camillia and the Queen seem to stick with the same as well be interesting to see what Megan does when she finally gets to wears one. Obviously I may just be seeing a small range of photos

Sophie has stayed very loyal to Emilia Wickstead.

That's a great colour on Sophie. Really vibrant.

I wonder if you can reshape a tiara to the wearer's head, to an extent? Might explain why they seem to have favourites? Not that I've ever worn one but they look like they have the potential to cause major headaches if they don't fit.

@Spudlet I went to Bicester Village in September and I saw those Penelope Chilvers boots in her pop up shop. They are designed for people with very, very slim legs!!

Lol, that's me buggered then

I remember on Diana's wedding day, a roving reporter interviewing Raine & Johnny outside the Palace. The Earl was bemoaning that he would probably never see Diana again now she was part of the royal family, and he and Raine would always be on the outside looking in!

Later, Diana became closer to Raine who introduced her to Dodi F.

Oh can I come and play?

Have I missed the Stuart tiara chat from the state banquet? Loved her dress too.

Look from about 8pm in the previous thread for Stuart chat!