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 that makes sense Spudlet

I remember you saying that Queen

I would love to know where her (Elizabeth I) Jewellry is.

Melted down and sold by Cromwell perhaps? Most of the existing coronation regalia was made for Charles II or later monarchs because Cromwell disposed of much of the existing crown jewels during the Commonwealth.

@CurlyWirlyTwirly
The jewels of Elizabeth l are lost in time sadly.
Some will have been removed from the country and sold on the continent to finance the raising of the children of Charles l.
But sadly, they represented all that Oliver Cromwell hated and son, on the whole, they were broken up, sold and the gold was melted down and made into coins ( almost brings a tear into my eye at the thought of what we have lost) . This is why there is only a spoon left (which is used during the coronation) from the medieval collection of royal jewels and regalia.
The Black Princes Ruby ( actually a spinel) which is in the front of the imperial state crown made it - although it’s unclear how it ended up in the possession of Charles ll and wasn’t sold by Cromwell. But luckily for us that it didn’t. It’s the largest uncut Spinel in the world. If you look closely at it you will see a small but obvious ‘ repair’. It had been drilled at some point inits history, presumably to ensure it could be worn on the helmet of a medieval suit of armour. The drill hole has been filled - with a piece of ruby, which is a very different colour. We must take into account that it wasn’t known for many century’s that spinels were different from Rubies - all red stones were called rubies.
The pearls which hang from the top part of the frame of the Imperial State Crown are possibly from the collection of Queen Elizabeth l but it’s not 100%. I wonder what happened to all of the yards and yards of pearls which she owned.

Would love to have an openly gay and flamboyant royal wearing something more interesting than a DJ - something like a tartan suit and blue suede shoes. If they can marry black people now then anything is possible :).

@CurlyWurlyTwirly

Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret used to go on the bus to Woolworths with their nanny.

I'd say George and Charlotte HAVE been on the Tube with nanny.

They have to have normal experiences

@TipseyTorvey Ivar Mountbatten didn't have tartan trews but the velvet smoking jackets were a nice touch.

Re Elizabeth I's jewels, I've read that Oliver Cromwell ordered a lot of the Crown Jewels to be melted down or destroyed when he was Protector.

Not much sympathy here for William. They lead very privileged lives and get plenty of privacy. But I do think he will make a good king when the time comes.

Oliver Cromwell was a philistine to do that. He was eventually dug up and his head out on a spike.

I think a gay royal would look like Simon Callow in Four Weddings. He'd have to marry someone called Gordon.

Thanks Curly. I will go and read the other thread if it's not too long.

The reason the Cambridge's have two nannies and presumably the Sussexes also will is because it can hardly be avoided

They perform a mix of day, evening and overnight engagements (when they travel)

One person cannot be expected to be available 24/7 and annual leave, days off and sick/compassion leave have to be accounted for.

The wealth required to have two nannies is incredible. Standard annual salary for a bog standard nanny round here (south east nr London) is about £30k, I'm guessing they have the properly trained ones so £50k then double it. £100k a year just for childcare! And I thought £16k a year for the nursery full time was crushing.

Maria Borallo is a Norland nanny, and I'd expect their other nanny to be the same (not sure what her name is). So yep, they'd be paying top dollar. They get anti-kidnap training and skidpan driving lessons and all sorts!

Actually having a nanny per child is quite common here in the US where I live. Most parents don't want their nanny working more than 40 hours a week and they need a back up if the first nanny is sick.

Then they simply gave to pay top dollar because if any nanny needs kidnap training it's theirs.

I know Kate was basically fake kidnapped by the SAS as a training exercise to teach her what to do, I didn't read the same for Meghan but I assume she will also have done it.

I think she did do it pp.

Thanks @YorkshireYummyMummy

I had completely forgotten about Oliver Cromwell. What a philistine.
I need to reread my history.
How many children did Charles I have? I guess there were all the illegitimate “Fitz” lines.

I will definitely go and visit the Crown Jewels. Thanks for descriptions from pp.

Re: the cost of nannies, all those sorts of bills probably go straight to Prince Charles office and get paid by the finance department.
I wonder if William even has a cash card. I would expect Kate to have some of her “own” money via her parents. None of the Middleton children have done any serious work.
They are like a generation from the prewar years.

It's so common that even I have two sitters. DH travels and I work FT. I need to know I can go to work and I have 2 challenging DC and a toddler. I don't like my first sitter to work more than 12 hours a day for more than 4 days so I need that second sitter for when DH is traveling on 6-15 day trips.

I wonder with the Fake SAS thing whether they had appointed day and time or they were just warned it would happen and absolutely shat themselves in the first few minutes before realising it was a drill.

Did anyone see that Black Mirror episode where a princess was kidnapped? Poor girl was in bits. I couldn't help feeling that if Kate were to be kidnapped (which God forbid) she'd keep it together and manage to get through a proof-of-life message without sobbing uncontrollably. She has a core of steel. I mean probably literally, given how athletic she is, but also metaphorically.

Some foreign office staff get similar training, as did some colleagues of mine who worked in, erm, interesting countries. In their case they went on a course, so were staying at a countryhouse-type location - they knew something would happen but I don't think they knew when. I believe the words 'shit-inspiring' were used

I'd imagine it must have been a similar setup for the royals, they couldn't just fake kidnap them anywhere in case a member of the public tried to intervene or something! So it would have to be a relatively controlled environment.

That's a really great observation @CurlyWurlyTwirly

The society girls of 2018 have much in common with the debs of yesteryear but instead of just waiting about to be wed get some sort of posh non job through connections and attend the right social events until they meet someone similar

Apparently James Matthews got James Middleton a hedge fund job when his doomed to fail business crashed (there is a definite limit on the number of people willing to buy £££ personalised marshmallows and how that wasn't abundantly clear from the go is confusing)

But outside of people who do hedge fund jobs, who really knows what that is? 'Tis a mystery.

Charity work, for the right kind of charity, doing the right kind of job (like high-value donor work, for instance). Not, I hasten to add, that every charity worker or high-value donor wrangler is a nice gel waiting to marry someone rich! He one of the charity I worked for was lovely and worked damn hard, alhough she certainly had the accent and comfortable background. But I suspect you'd find a few there.

Or the fluffier end of PR, or work in a gallery... something sufficiently naice.

Queen isn't Margaret's son, Linley in the closet? There was that incredible scandal with a footman?

Maybe that's where the rumours came from.

@PawneeParksDept

Yes all these “society” girls & boys just have lifestyle jobs.
Modelling is the top one.

I cannot believe James Middleton is now a hedge fund manager. I would be pulling all my money out if he was in charge of my fund. Eek.