Royal style and gossip: tiaras galore and more!

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread 3
Thread 4
Thread 5
Thread 6
Special edition: Eugenie wedding thread
Thread 7

And we're now at thread 8! Here are some useful royal style blogs
HRH Duchess Kate
Mad About Meghan
New My Royals - good for European royal watching

Coming up this month:

• The Cambridges are at the Tusk Conservation Awards on Thursday the 8th
• The Cambridges and Sussexes are at two Remembrance events this weekend the 10th/11th
• The Sussexes have the Royal Variety Performance on the 19th

Plus Prince Charles turns 70 on the 14th but we may not get photos of the event as he's having a private party.

Yes @TheCraicDealer, I'm sure HM has more than one tiara with emeralds!

I wondered if HM already knew that Eugenie wanted emeralds for her tiara. I share with Queen chances are she said ooh I like that one, and got told 'actually, we're not entirely sure where that one came from, best choose another one' no big deal.

Share??? That should be, agree!

Well, it begins

Why would anyone believe stories in the press about supposed feuds from ‘a source’ or from ‘an insider’. The RF staff get paid very little (unless management) so presumably they apply because they want to work for the RF in particular. Would they really jeopardize their jobs? Can anyone remember the advert published in some magazine for a housekeeper? Duties involved household cleaning, childminding, dog minding, polishing silverware to a very high standard, shopping, clothes upkeep....., It was a job for one person but enough work for two! It wasn’t advertised on the RF website, it was on a magazine’s website and they had deduced it was for a position with W&K around the time George was still a baby. I had a quick search online for it but can’t locate it. If I remember later I will look properly for it.

I remember reading years ago that the royal household was exempt from any equalities legislation but assume that's now changed.

@Bloominglovely wouldn’t they have more specialised roles for the staff? I really can’t imagine a nanny for example cleaning unless it’s picking up toys for/with the children. She’s hardly gong to be scrubbing toilets is she?

Going*!

Did anyone watch the Charles doc last night? I didn't but might catch up on iPlayer if it was any good. I feel like I've read so many articles about it that I won't really learn anything new from watching.

I think we have all learnt a lot from these threads!

I wonder whether they have to put in every aspect of a job so that people don't become "jobsworth" - aka the Nanny asks the Housekeeper to keep an eye on the kids while she goes to the loo and the Housekeeper says "sorry, that's not in my job spec"

Anyway, here's a longer clip of Camilla sashaying with the President of Ghana.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp6gv0IHVkh/?utmsource=igshare_sheet&igshid=ba1czqr5rv11

I thought the RF was family cheap when it came to staff, and relied on the prestige of working for them to recruit? So I can imagine them wanting more for their money than others might?

Mind you, having the RF on your CV has got to be a boost, so perhaps there's also an element of putting up with it for a while for the long-term career benefit?

famously cheap, that should read 🙄

I once worked with a very naice woman who'd been one of HM's secretaries. She left to take a position as PA to a CEO where, I assume, the pay was a lot better. Said CEO was quite a snob so no doubt having Buckingham palace on her CV helped!

Eugenie and Beatrice and Zara have probably been picking their wedding tiaras and changing their minds about it since they were babies and chatting to granny about it too, in the way that families do that daft way. Of course E would get first pick.

Ahoy The job was for a household assistant job not a nanny job. It certainly listed childminding (or it could have been babysitting), also highlighted the expectation of working unsocial hours if necessary (presumably if the household were hosting). I also read they were notorious for llow salaries for the staff lower down in particular. I imagine they provide excellent training and the experience opens a lot of doors for future employment though. There was little doubt at the time as to who had placed the advert.

Surely you'd only bring out the tiaras that were actually available? All sounds very strange. Maybe there was a conversation where Meghan said 'I'd like something with an emerald' and was told it wasn't possible and that was that. Fair that Beatrice got first pick given that she had to delay her own ceremony. Also, the tiara Meghan actually wore was stunning and perfectly set off the dress. No need for regrets there.

I watched the Charles documentary and thought it was a skilful PR exercise. I'm not sure i'm totally buying it really. Charles the avuncular, kind and hard working future Monarch. I am sure he is all those things at times, but at others he can be petulant spoilt and selfish. Most of the visits filmed were without Camilla, and when she spoke he kind of ignored her.
I also sensed that William has a more complex relationship with his father than Harry. A lot of emphasis on how little time C spends with his grandchildren.

It is true Charles does a lot of good work, he just isn't very personable and can be his own worse enemy.

Well quite @Butterymuffin. It sounds like Meghan had very definite ideas re her dress and veil and the tiara she wore was perfect for it. Eugenie's emerald tiara wouldn't have suited that veil at all as it would've detracted from it. But it suited Eugenie perfectly has she has stronger features and wore no veil. Also, given Meghan's famously understated style, I don't think she'd have wanted a large tiara.

Obviously HM must have more than one emerald tiara but coloured stones would've detracted from the intricate embroidery on the veil.

I should imagine the way M does things makes a lot of waves. I read somewhere that she hugs the staff, and this does not go down well. A telling moment in the Charles doc when Harry asks 'what am I supposed to do with this hat '? M offers to carry it for him, and he says nothing, just looks confused! The idea of his wife carrying a top hat around at a BP event!
There was also an article citing some Palace flunky moaning about how M dominates H and H won't listen to any advice. This was about the recent tour. The palace aides are worried about security and the way M hugs people and dives into the crowd. They also didn't like the photo of H on the stage with M 'auditioning' him!

I was about to say exactly that Queen. M obviously has a minimal style so I don’t think she would have gone for an elaborate tiara with colours stones. Maybe the emerald kokoshnick was on the long list and she just said ‘I like that’ but not for her wedding just as a passing comment. It is very beautiful.

this dress looks so different depending on the light it’s photographed in also I think Kate may have inadvertently shown us a nipple?

I can't see anything, but it is tricky dressing for camera flashes.

I'm as cynical as the next person but I was pleasantly surprised by how well PC came across in the documentary.

Ya, no doubt. I’ll never have to worry about that in the last photo you can see her nipple 🤷🏼‍♀️ You have to zoom in but it caught my eye hence the zooming in.