Royal style and gossip: no time to think of a snappy title!

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Link to previous thread which has links to all previous threads [[http://Royal
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http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/styleandbeauty/3415838-Royal-style-and-gossip-tiaras-galore-and-more

I think Diana, as she was when she died, would've been the MiL from hell. But who knows? She might've mellowed over the past 20 years and she and Charles might've become friends. I doubt he'd have married Camilla if Diana was still around though!

I discovered this BBC documentary on YouTube that maybe some of you have seen and know about but was news to me.

It basically covers how Charles brought in a very well-known spin-doctor, called Mark Bolland otherwise known as Black Adder, in an attempt to change public opinion about him after the death of Diana. It seems Charles' office were not above exploiting the Princes to "change the narrative" so that Charles was seen as a caring father.

To rehabilitate Camilla, again William was manipulated in ways that angered him and I think explain a lot about his current careful relationship with the press. The documentary claims it was due to this treatment that William spilt off from his father and established his own press team.

The Queen finally ran out of patience when Charles' team were willing to throw other members of the RF under the bus to make him look better. Bolland left and promptly started slagging off his former employers in the press. He was successful in changing public opinion however, so it's interesting to see how we have all been manipulated..

I think Prince George also has a look of the Queen's father in him: George VI.

Though it's technically true that the Queen was Edwards heir; people forget certain things. When he abdicated he had to also agree to sign away the rights of any and all heirs.

As it was Wallis had fertility problems.

However!

If he'd chosen the Crown, picked a suitable bride, Diana Churchill would have made a good candidate, and had children, the Queen would basically now be the equivalent of Lady Sarah Chatto or a lesser minor royal.

Even if he had reigned and had no heirs, he didn't die til 1972, which would have given HMQ 20 years to focus on her marriage and her DC, which is why she makes him apologise to her in The Crown which probably didn't happen but I bet she wanted it to.

@IdaBWells Is that the doc Charles wanted to ban? It was supposed to screen on the bbc but I think they pulled it.

CurlyWurlyTwirly
'Everything Camilla is living; Diana would have dreamed of.......'
That's it in a nutshell. 
I liked Diana but know she wasn't without fault. Her affairs with married men were horrible. She knew what it was like to be cheated on.

She was 19 without a mother to guide her and a social climbing granny who had married into the aristocracy. She gave Charles two lovely boys.

What amazes me about the (lovely) family pic is that until fairly recently it would have been utterly unthinkable to release such a thing. The public opinion has massively changed, quite an interesting lesson in itself.

Queen I see some commentary that it was supposed to air in 2014 but didn’t at that time because of criticism from the RF. It’s all news to me as I mentioned, I am not in the UK so out of touch!

I am watching the second half which seems to be focusing on the Princes and Kate. The first half definitely shows how William’s trust was horribly undermined when his first meeting with Camilla was leaked in intricate details to The Sun. It just looked like he was totally set up due to his own popularity, to give Camilla credibility and this was only a year or so after his mum died.

@PawneeParksDept I suspect HM would have given it all up without a backward glance if had meant her fatherhood didn't have to be King. It shortened his life, he definitely wasn't naturally suit d to the role (although seemed to make a good fist of it) and that's what she can't forgive.

Can't imagine the Queen Mother ever let bygones be bygones after a pink gin or three either !

I think Louis looks like Kate as a baby. Same eyes and dark hair.
Hope they do an up to date photo at Xmas

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett

I agree. Though the thing is they said the stress of the role killed him and that is probably what they actually believed in the 50s

The fact was, he was a heavy smoker, he died of lung cancer and would have died young anyway

The stress of the Second World War on the King also seems to have taken it’s toll. If you see photos of him before and after he really aged and looked haggard from stress. But it definitely was the very heavy smoking that was the clear culprit, although it’s amazing that Queen Mary lived so long considered she was also a very heavy smoker.

I have read that the RF had an inkling of what might be in store for Elizabeth even before her grandfather George V died. They were all despairing of the Prince of Wales and his romantic antics.

And ask for her education, they certainly knew from the time she was 10 that she would very likely be monarch someday. And yet she was still given the somewhat meager education that was common for aristocratic girls at time. Supposedly, that was primarily her mother's doing.

You'd be surprised @IdaBWells, my grandmother smoked for a good 40 years and lived to 92!

it’s amazing that Queen Mary lived so long considered she was also a very heavy smoker

Really??

I've read more RF biographies than I can remember, but I never knew that ...

I think they all smoked back in those days, it was considered a mark of sophistication!

It was probably (the smoking) medically prescribed for his nerves. Doctors often prescribed it for mental health reasons and often prescribed it during pregnancy

I meant to ask, read Ma'am Darling recently and really enjoyed it, anyone know any others in a similar style/tone about the royals?

I haven't read Ma'am Darling yet, but The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown is a really good read.

I can't remember where I heard it, on another MN thread I think, but the poster said they'd heard a story that the Queen Mum had given birth to a deformed but living male child and he was spirited away to be raised in secret in some village in Scotland! The poster's gran was from that village and had told her that.

Of course I highly doubt it's true! But I've also read that George VI and the QM had fertility issues and were given assistance in conceiving HM and princess Margaret.

I thought the smoking was something to do with helping his stammer

Everything I know about George VI I learned from The King's Speech

The book “Shadows of a Princess”by Patrick Jephson is well worth reading. He was her long suffering Private Secretary for a number of years, his account is candid but not unkind to Diana.

I love these threads but don’t normally have much to contribute. However, have just seen on Instagram that Cheryl has posted a photo of her ready for Prince Charles’ 70th party. Hopefully we’ll see some more guest photos!

Is his party today? I don't know why I thought it was later this week.

Not keen on that outfit...