Royal style & gossip: down with fleeces and double-breasted suits!

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread, complete with our acronyms.

Ive always thought having live in staff must be difficult. Everyone knowing your business & being unable to walk out your bedroom starkers.

Sorry for lowering the tone

QueenoftheAndals
Did that "previous poster" name change and is still around or disappear ?

I think they're still around @beanaseireann but not on these threads. Harry and the toilet was a high point!

Ah I didn't realise it was just in Grazia!

W&K have orderlies from the army to help. Their staff was listed out once. Presume they have one housekeeper for anmer and another for KP.
Off the top of my head W&k have a housekeeper, 2 nannies and 2 orderlies.
Presume there are maids / cleaners permanently based at KP as there are so many apartments.

This is not a posh claim at all but my bff at primary school had what her Mum called a housekeeper. She did all the "wife work" childcare, cleaning, cooking, food shopping, household admin, washing, ironing, dry cleaning, supervising homework/music lessons/etc while the parents worked fairly long hours (for the late 70's in NI).
I presume a proper housekeeper actually manages other people to do most of those jobs and keeps the household running smoothly (She would have ensured someone would have repaired the hem on my work trousers that I am now off to sew!)

My understanding (from knowing a few people who work as staff for rich people) was that a housekeeper can cover a wide range of variable jobs. So a housekeeper to a rich but not mega rich family may do all traditional "women's work" in the household, including some childcare and the cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. Whereas in a very rich persons house they will be more of a supervisor who ensures the cleaners, chef, etc do their jobs, and just generally ensures the household runs smoothly.

Ive always thought having live in staff must be difficult. Everyone knowing your business & being unable to walk out your bedroom starkers.

I must say that whilst I'd love someone to come in and do all the cooking and cleaning, I don't think (if I magically became rich) I could ever have full time staff in the house because it would feel intrusive to have people around all the time. I suppose if you grow up with staff around all the time it probably doesn't feel intrusive though.

Staff have their own quarters. They aren't in your kitchen in their pj's.

They usually have their own accommodation , so they don't actually live in your house.

It's only the middle classes who struggle with staff. I think rich, old money people are used to it.

Hmm I get all that.

But if I was ever rich enough to have staff I would want a pot of tea in bed every morning. Tea in bed before the madness of the day starts (to me) would be the height of luxury.

Occasionally dh will make me one if I’m out of sorts (RA) & it’s nectar I tell you, nectar.

Iheart you don't need staff - you need a tea made and a mini fridge next to the bed.
My grandparents were housekeeper/nanny and driver/gardener/handy man to a wealthy family. They were the only staff so Grandma did the "wife work" while grandad did the "boy jobs". They had a cottage in the grounds of the big house (which was a big family house not a huge stately home). In a bigger household with multiple staff the housekeeper managed the female staff.

DH brings me a brew in bed every morning.

I'm sipping it now.

The only staff I'd want is someone to change my bed linen every day (that's number one on my 'when I win the lottery' wish list, to get into clean sheets every night) and a hairdresser to wash and dry my hair every morning.

My most hated jobs indoors which I would love for someone else to do are
Cleaning wooden blinds
Scrubbing the kitchen floor
Putting the food shopping away

If I could get that lot done, I'd be happy

I know staff have their own accommodation but I still wouldn't want people in my house full time work hours as the royals do - some even have night nannies so there can be people there around the clock.

I suppose if you grow up with it, it would be "normal" but for us mere mortals I don't think most of us could ever get used to it.

Tbh when that news report said H&M were running on minimal staff I did wonder if Megan, having grown up presumably without full time staff (perhaps a cleaner?) found it a bit too intrusive to have staff around all the time, especially in that vulnerable time just after birth.

Ooh I remember our previous posh poster Where did she go? Did she flounce?

Hello all, btw and thanks Queen as always. Just caught up after having poorly children (nothing serious) for two whole weeks. Argh! Bloody germpit playgroup.

So judging on what a housekeeper does, basically I am one. Just for free! Ha.

Didn't like the Erdem, but then I never do. It's that awful neckline I think. HM looked lovely as always.

DoCs pink coat dress, meh. Looked nice, appropriate but nothing to really comment on. I thought her make up was nice though.

I'm an hour or so outside of London where we have a bit of a non accent but are generally fairly 'well spoken'. I think she sounds so nervous. I have some family previously at naice schools and they don't sound like DoC! She speaks like the Queen.

As for staff, I'd love a cleaner. One day I will have one. But other than that I'd find it so intrusive having people in my home. I imagine if you didn't grow up with it it'd take some getting used to. I'd have hated having people here when I'd just had my babies.

Eugenie looking pretty in what appears to be (shock, horror) Erdem

I think it's entirely conceivable that MM and PH don't have "staff" but probably there's a cleaner at least and the gardens are looked after by the main estate team?

Now that Doria's gone, I wonder if she'd get a night nanny, at least some of the time? Perhaps they can borrow one of K&W's staff for the odd night? I would have loved one, once a week, for the first 6 weeks but DH hated the idea of someone being in our house while we slept. A friend had one for both her kids and she said it was incredible.

I wondered the other day what happened to "that" poster. She hasn't been on here for ages?

I know the McQueen coat dress yesterday was very much a Kate uniform, but it was a lovely colour and as pp said, her make-up was much better than usual for some reason. The close-up pics were very nice.
Why do they carry umbrellas though at the garden parties? There wasn't rain in the forecast was there and surely they would just need to gesture and one would be brought?

I don't think it's inconceivable that H and M don't have staff. After all, Meghan has spent most of her life muddling through without help. But I think it's unlikely. I very much doubt that they are doing all their own cooking, for example. I suspect what that means is they have no (or few) permanent staff of their own but there will be definitely be a few seconded from Windsor Castle.

But I guess even the cooking is unlikely to be done in their kitchen. You can totally imagine the cooks up at windsor making extra and packing it up into the Queen's Tupperware to send down to them! (probably labelled so it comes back! )>

Which is really just the posh person's version of my friends all bringing me home cooked ready meals when I had DS!

I know someone who used to be a PA for a member of a well known posh family (think ‘banking dynasty’ and you’ll probably be two guesses away). Some PAs seem to do a lot of the household admin that maybe a butler or housekeeper would have done once. She didn’t live with them as no childcare or housework involved but she did a lot of life admin. It was fascinating hearing about her job!

Also I liked Kate’s Erdem number! the garden party outfit was fine though I feel she should embrace brooch wearing if she’s going to stick to dress coats. If being a royal isn’t a reason to wear a brooch at every opportunity I don’t know what is, it’s a dying art she could go someway to revive. When she wore that Tartan coat dress to the v&a in Dundee I couldn’t believe the missed opportunity

I think Kate’s coat dresses are a good uniform - she’s clearly thinking long-term and has decided that simple, classic tailoring suits her, is easy and also sets her apart. She does it well. What she needs to get better at is making it more interesting. Agree, a collection of lovely brooches would help. More adventurous accessories - colour blocking on handbag and hat rather than matching, for example, and a wider variety of shoe and boot styles. That way she can reuse coats more as well. Another point to consider is perhaps she dresses that way particularly when she is accompanying the Queen, in order to not draw attention away from HM.

I like the more fashionable outfits she’s worn recently and I really love her taste in boho dresses, but I think they’re better suited to less formal public appearances, like Chelsea. I think she’s got the balance right on when and to what type of even she wears the different styles, she just needs to tweak them a little here and there, mostly the coat dresses. I don’t mind a uniform, it’s clearly how she feels most comfortable, but it could be done a bit more adventurously.