Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Royal style & gossip: hairbands and birth plans

995 replies

QueenOfTheAndals · 10/04/2019 12:32

Will Kate emerge from her Norfolk seclusion sporting a bigger than ever Alice band? Will the Mail and Express stories about Meghan get more ludicrous by the day? And will this thread see the arrival of Baby Sussex? All will be revealed in due course...

Link to previous thread

OP posts:
Thread gallery
81
QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 09:39

Diana actually did break out of the royal mould a bit even while she was married - see her support for HIV/AIDS charities. Not a popular cause in the 1980s but her involvement with them did a lot to increase awareness and decrease stigma.

OP posts:
QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 09:44

@BertrandRussell Not wearing tights and liking dark nail polish? God knows the royals have faced worse scandals before!

OP posts:
AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 09:48

The charity baby shower was a sensible and well intentioned idea to stop those crazy people who send baby gifts to a couple who absolutely don't need them. If someone never intended to give a gift and never will, no bother (I am in that camp). Some people would have thought it a sweet idea and donated. Some people who were going to send a gift to the couple might have thought "actually yea, this is better...". And some insane people will still send them a gift. The charities gratefully reported a huge boost in donations. I don't understand why this is now being turned against her? And yes it is definitely her, not them or him, people don't seem to have the same energy for Harry or think anything is his idea...

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 21/04/2019 09:52

How very interesting! I refer you to my post 5 April 10:26. Did we not have this very discussion? Perhaps MM is a MNetter! Or could it be the Queen herself ...

I always thought this was a plan before the rumoured falling out between the brothers. The engagement interview was a big giveaway. I suspect this has been in the works from quite early on.

Regardless of the article (thanks for the link Queen) I still don't see them actually living in Africa. I agree with hopeishere that it looks a bit colonial. It will definitely be somewhere where they can have aa active Commonweath presence but I don't see MM being up for a big cultural change, at least on what we have been able to see of her.

I do believe it will be good for resetting the perception of MM. To some extent I think they are architects of their own downfall - the persistent lavishness on MM's wardrobe in the face of public criticism demonstrates an unpleasant level of arrogance. But some of the comments made in what Dave Gorman calls "The Bottom of the Internet" have been truly appalling. I sort of hope they do disappear from view for a while and we can start discussing the frocks and bling again.

(As a complete aside, I wonder how Catherine feels about it? If MM gets all the lovely sunny forrin jaunts, does that mean it's visiting nurseries and opening libraries in grey old GB for her from now on?)Sad

AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 09:52

Also lol at the suggestion that a woman who worked her way through university and life and has never herself actually been the cause of a scandal beyond an asymmetric dress and dark nail polish is the one who needs reigning in. Not her husband with his history of pot smoking, strip poker and dressing as a Nazi.

AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 09:55

All royal wardrobes are persistently lavish except Anne's.

I see you're also simultaneously lining up the rumoured move to Africa as "well it's because they're wrong 'uns" and also "again she's slapping Kate in the face".

AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 09:57

"To some extent I think they are architects of their own downfall - the persistent lavishness on MM's wardrobe in the face of public criticism demonstrates an unpleasant level of arrogance."

"I sort of hope they do disappear from view for a while and we can start discussing the frocks and bling again"

All the thrifty frocks and diamonds and emeralds and rubies and sapphires and other bling? Catch yourself on.

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 21/04/2019 10:03

lol at the suggestion that a woman who worked her way through university

According to Samantha Markle their father paid for her education. Although this is not MM's narrative.

QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 10:06

Perhaps both versions of the story are true. Maybe her father paid the tuition fees but she had to work to pay for day to day expenses like rent and food etc.

OP posts:
Daisypie · 21/04/2019 10:06

Wanted to share that I have just been to a gorgeous exhibition called from Tudors to Windsors. Here are a couple of treasures ; the Duke of Windsor's suit, a dress of Princess Margaret's and the lovely painting of George 6 and family at afternoon tea.

Royal style & gossip: hairbands and birth plans
Royal style & gossip: hairbands and birth plans
Royal style & gossip: hairbands and birth plans
AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 10:06

"according to Samantha Markle" lol

"Her father paid for her education". Merciful heavens! WHY WOULD SHE DO SUCH A HEINOUS THING AS LET HER FATHER PAY FOR HER EDUCATION WHEN SHE IS A CHILD AND YOUNG ADULT? The absolute witch.
And if you're talking about " the narrative" of her less than great relationships with her dad now, I think he kind of brought that on himself by behaviour that is not compensated by paying for education a few decades ago.

QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 10:06

Where is that @Daisypie?

OP posts:
Myimaginarycathasfleas · 21/04/2019 10:07

I think you are misreading my posts, @AFifthOfKoolAid. I said I thought this was a plan BEFORE the so-called falling out. Smile

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 21/04/2019 10:08

@Daisypie that exhibition looks wonderful.

SevenSeasofRye · 21/04/2019 10:11

I think the problem with Meghan is not that she's done anything obviously 'wrong'. It is the general feeling that she's going her own way and not taking on board what the public is saying, and probably what the Royal staff are advising. She seems increasingly to be micro managing Harry, writing his speeches, photographing herself watching him rehearse, and now managing their social media posts. Even the donations are mentioned in dollars, which is a bit crass, as I assume many of the donations came from Britain, not just America.
I just don't get the feeling she is interested in learning about the country she is supposed to be representing, she wants to carry on regardless in the same mould she was used to as a single woman.
Her spending is causing speculation. Yes, Kate also spends a lot, but she is the Queen in waiting. She has been a member of the Firm for quite a while now and she's earned her spurs. She recycles a lot, and doesn't appear to splash the cash for the sake of it, or in a celebrity sort of way the way Meghan does. Kate has an image as a fairly normal sort of woman really, who likes the outdoors , loves her family and keeps her private life private. She doesn't hang out with celebrities or have elaborate showy baby showers and understands that engagements are not about herself, she is representing an institution . I still don't think Meghan gets that. It feels like she thinks it's the M and H show.
It also feels like Meghan is picking and choosing what events she does in a way the other Royals perhaps don't to make herself look good.

I imagine this grates with William and Kate whose attitude is more pragmatic. Who knows really though?

As for Meghan working her way through University, I thought it was common knowledge her father paid for her education, even though this is not the image she wants to project. A lot of her 'work' also undermines her feminist credentials, being a suitcase girl and doing ads which were very sexualised. So much for empowerment.

Daisypie · 21/04/2019 10:13

@QueenoftheAndals Bendigo Art Gallery.
One more - beautifully embroidered section of the Queen's coronation gown.

Royal style & gossip: hairbands and birth plans
Myimaginarycathasfleas · 21/04/2019 10:15

@SevenSeasofRye You have expressed this so much better than me. I agree with everything in your post.

AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 10:16

Meghan has been royal for 11 months and has been pregnant for nearly 9 of those months, having never been pregnant before and having a rapidly changing figure from her previously slim one. Her opportunities to "recycle" have been few. And yes Kate recycles, but she also has near identical expensive dresses so...

As does the Queen. As does Camilla.

AFifthOfKoolAid · 21/04/2019 10:18

Is it not possible that her father paid and she also worked? Many kids from middling rich families did and do that, especially in the US where fees are eyewatering. I don't get why she is being slagged off for essentially saying she had jobs at university?!

QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 10:23

Thanks @Daisypie, bit far for me to go, alas!

OP posts:
QueenOfTheAndals · 21/04/2019 10:29

Meghan has "recycled" coats but as @AFifthOfKoolAid said, she's pregnant so has needed to buy clothes that fit her. She wears a lot of designer stuff but has also mixed mid-range and high street in with it, like Kate does.

Though I'm not sure how Kate got a reputation for being thrifty - she has at least 5 identical green coats by McQueen or CW that she only wears on St Patrick's Day!

OP posts:
Kedgeree · 21/04/2019 10:44

What's a suitcase girl?

I think the amount of nonsense spouted about H&M is getting ridiculous. It's as if the media is struggling to find a Meghan and Harry shaped box to put them in - their brand isn't established yet and it seems that the direction of travel on that brand development is just "be very different from W&K". That's bound to lead to confusion. At the moment it's all a bit "slebby", a bit Brangelina, and that's not very British. I don't believe a word of the Africa thing. I think it may very well be on H's wish list, but if it happens at all it'll be a three month wonder ?

CoverYourEarsTeam · 21/04/2019 10:52

Oh @Daisypie ... I'm just down the road and am told (by a non-royalist friend) that this is, indeed, a most amazing exhibition. Do you have any more pics?

gingercat02 · 21/04/2019 11:01

Finally some lovely photos to look at. Mirror link but everyone looking gorgeous for Easter and HMs birthday, no DoS but not surprised at that
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/royal-easter-live-queen-celebrates-14440743

BertrandRussell · 21/04/2019 11:03

Why do people think she’s micro managing Harry? And of course some of her friends are celebrities- she was an actor. And are people really objecting to the request for charitable donations instead of the heaps of presents loonies send for royal babies? How very odd!