Royal style & gossip: from maximum Maxima to minimalist Meghan

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread:

Royal style & gossip: what do we want? Frock shots! When do we want them? Now!

Curly Yes, he and Alexandra were the first royal occupants as Prince and Princess of Wales. Queen Victoria bought it for them as a wedding present, which helps explain why Alexandra did not want to leave the main house even after her son inherited it.

This is it. Apparently it was a pretty grotty and unloved kitchen by this stage too.

I've read that Alexandra (aka "motherdear") was not the easiest of MiLs and apparently tried to take precedence over Queen Mary after Edward VII died. Something to do with that being the way they did things in Russia, her sister being the Dowager empress there.

You can tell I'm bored out of my tiny mind today, lol.

Oh my @ElspethFlashman that is hideous! Tony should've stuck to photography.

I know quite a few people who have 2 kitchens. There is the show kitchen & then a hidden one where all the work is done. It’s a very very Greek thing! Most of my family are shocked that I “only” have the one!

Well, I've never in my life heard of ordinary people having two kitchens.
People can live how and where they want, but if property is being renovated/upgraded at public expense, perhaps they ought to be more circumspect.

Anyway, jewel news! The retired jeweller (qv) was telling me that the Royals regularly have their pieces re-modelled. He reckons the family have one of the best collections he's ever seen, and diamonds of superb quality.

Two kitchens is very common in Jewish families too. My family are Greek Jews. We always had at least two kitchens growing up but that was because my grandmother (who wasn't Greek but was described by her BiL at her funeral as more Greek than the Greeks!) inherited the big family home. We are renovating home in the near future and we will have two kitchens in one (2 full ovens, 2 dishwashers, 2 prep areas, 2 sinks etc). We are a family of 5 and I batch cook 1-2 weeks of food for the family at the weekend.

Off topic - why do you want 2 kitchens?
This is a whole new world to me, and I'm by no means poor

Our friends had a sort of prep kitchen. Then another big one with aga, sofa and dining table.

My brother's house has two kitchens. One is in what used to be in what is called in the US a "mother-in-law" suite (granny flat in the UK, I think). My brother has taken over the space for his work and main hobbies, which are gardening and cooking various wildlife he has killed.

why do you want 2 kitchens?

If you entertain in a public manner, you probably need a large professionally equipped catering kitchen. But if you also cook yourself, which I think William and Catherine do sometimes, you likely want a smaller, cozier and more aesthetically pleasing space for that.

Some Jewish families have 2 kitchens as it's easier to keep kosher that way.

We entertain up to 150 people in our home. We also have professional chefs fly in from HQ to cook for customers. They prepare up to 30 different dishes for the customer team visiting. You can only imagine the clean up!

Tonight I'll cook for lasagna, 1 for Monday/Tuesday and 3 for the freezer. If I had my double kitchen I'd make the four lasagne plus 4 casserole and I'd do the kids granola bars all at the same time.

If we had a bigger home we would have 2 separate kitchens. We live in a very urban area and our home is considered large at 1500sqft. We are going to increase it to 2400sqft which is considered palatial. We used to live in the suburbs and we considered moving to a bigger home. DH was looking at 8000+ sqft homes. I put my foot down and insisted on urban living in part because I didn't want the burden of paying to maintain a huge house. I grew up in a home where the roof was about an acre. It cost over £500k to replace it. Lovely home with lots of happy memories but I'm not going to put that noose around our necks.

If you’ve grown up with everyone around you having 2 kitchens then it’s the norm. As I said my Greek family think I’m the odd one for only having one. All the mess goes on in the smaller unseen kitchen & the larger show kitchen - which has top of the range of appliances - maybe has the finishing off done.

We stayed in Hillsborough Castle the night of our wedding and sorted our breakfast in the little kitchen used for royal visits. Kitchen itself was pretty tiny and there was a lot of pine, but the crockery was monogrammed and the produce they laid on was all Duchy stuff.

Didn't think to take a photo of the kitchen but here's the private dining room in the apartment area.

Personally I'd think it more strange if W and H continued to live (almost) in each others' pockets than H and M moving somewhere new

But then I don't even live on the same continent as my family (no "rift" involved!)

I agree, Olenna. I love my siblings and get along very well with them; in fact I am sitting in my brother's house right now. But I certainly don't want to live next door to any of them.

The move is a complete non-story.

Shocker as expectant parents choose to move out of central London to larger property 45 minutes away.

In Singapore people usually have a dry kitchen and a wet kitchen.

Yes I was coming on to say what a none story

Imagine it on AIBU

DH and I are expecting our PFB

His family is very wealthy and owns a number of luxury apartments and I'm very grateful that his family has enabled us to have one.

However, we are neighbours with not just BIL and SIL, but also his cousin and her husband and various extended family members in the one complex.

Staff from the business are always popping in and out too

AIBU to just want a bit of space ?

Wow, all this kitchen talk. I forgot in my dad's house in Asia, there are 2 kitchens. One for his live in couple to prep & cook on an open fire in clay pots. We as.kids used to love helping on visits.
There is a pantry for mainly making cups of tea and all the fridges.

I do wonder how house hunting goes in the royal family. Are they told of suitable premises or do they request? Do they view multiple properties? It all seems so alien to me!

Lovely tiara for sale in an auction. Check out James Adams Dublin.
Sorry I can't do links.