Royal style and gossip: photo calls and tennis balls

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Everyone ready for a joint Wimbledon Duchessing?

So I can't comment about leaving but you can comment on my leaving? Goodness' sake.

The school parents will have signed NDAs.

I hadn’t thought of the personal convo stuff. I get it for formal events but surely surely they can chat normally with the people they meet ‘privately’ school run and such? Wouldn’t you go mad otherwise? Without any normal interaction with anyone outside your immediate family ever?

I have known of famous folk at our school, no-one was asked to sign an NDA that sounds far fetched.

I imagine they have a very small circle of trusted friends who they talk to . Outwith those, they wouldn't be able to be themselves. No knowing who would sell a story or blab. It must be awful. I guess this is why Kate is so close to her family and we never really see her with friends. She can trust her family who have always been very discreet. William has a few friends from school and Uni, but what opportunity is there for him to make new friends who he can absolutely trust?
I was also thinking about the lipreading aspect. Anything that the Royals say to each other in public would have to be very bland to avoid their conversations being reported in the press.

@Rhubarbisevil I think that's extremely unlikely. And in the unlikely event they attempted to get all the parents to sign them, it would be completely meaningless anyway because building real "teeth" into it would be very very difficult.

I am sure the school asks other parents to be discreet etc. And if there are school events etc the school will request no social media posts of children etc (which our school does too as its policy is no social media posts for children who aren't your own). And hope like hell the parents respect it. For more one on one things, possibly the kids' security ask other parents to abide by certain things - eg if George has a "normal" bestie and they're doing regular playdates I imagine the family would have been asked not to talk about him or take pictures etc. But it's all based on goodwill and hope.

I hadn’t thought of the personal convo stuff. I get it for formal events but surely surely they can chat normally with the people they meet ‘privately’ school run and such?

I think there is 2 parts to it though isn't there? In terms of protocol or royal rules I'm sure privately they are allowed to talk to whoever they want about whatever they want. Although who knows Kate may use the don't ask me questions line as a way to avoid overly enthusiastic PTA members the one perk for me

In terms of practically speaking I doubt even with NDA's and anything else that might be in place I doubt Kate or William chat to Billy's mum on the school run about much other than the weather! It's to risky for them and William especially is very media/press wary! They have a very small circle of trusted friends/family in my opinion those are the only people they would have a proper conversation with!

Despite the privileges they have it's not a life I would want or be good at imagine having to think about every word you say!

Surely you can only be required to sign a NDA if you're employed by the famous person in question. I think most people would say 'er, no' if asked to sign an NDA just because there was a famous child in their child's class. I know I would.

@itswinetime I think that' my point. It may have been protocol back in the day, but I doubt very much it has anything to do with old fashioned protocol anymore and is mostly just about the reality of Kate/william etc knowing perfectly well that any casual chat could land up biting them if it gets into the wrong hands.

which, of course, is desperately sad.

When they lived near us in Wales the locals were amazingly protective of them. It was nice to see, the only leaks I saw came from long lens cameras. I think most people are decent and aware how awful it must be to be never off duty.

Hmmm another thing for that list I should be keeping if why I’d be crap at being royal.

I suppose though that George’s ‘normal’ (prob aristocratic in his own right) bestie’s family would see the benefits to their own child of the friendship so would be less inclined to sell stories about how he doesn’t flush properly or eat his peas on play dates...

Surely you can only be required to sign a NDA if you're employed by the famous person in question. I think most people would say 'er, no' if asked to sign an NDA just because there was a famous child in their child's class. I know I would.

I would happily sign one. It's a child, I'm not going to go round the red tops selling stories about it or about its parents. They have enough media intrusion in their lives as is.

I was also thinking about the lipreading aspect. Anything that the Royals say to each other in public would have to be very bland to avoid their conversations being reported in the press.

I’m sure they are very aware of not saying anything in public after the infamous photocall of Charles, William and Harry posing while Charles smiled for the cameras whilst talking about that ‘ghastly reporter’ 😀

I wouldn't be opposed to signing an NDA because it would prevent me selling a story to a trash mag.

It would be completely unworkable to try to have an NDA with every single person one might ever have engagement of some kind with, whether in an official or private capacity. It just couldn’t be done.

They are on guard all the time, I’d imagine, unless they are with extremely close friends or people they trust implicitly. And I don’t blame them one bit, particularly William and Harry, for being reticent in public and with the press.

Wasn’t there a story about William & Kate trying to flush out friends who had reportedly told stories about them? I’m sure someone with more knowledge will come along at some point

Gottogo I think that was a rumour. Apparently they started a story, told it privately and then waited to see if it was made public. It started when there was a noticeable cooling between William and Harry and the public came up with the rumour theory as the reason. Of course Meghan was ultimately blamed by the press/public for the leak. The whole thing was made up IMO. The leak had no basis let alone who had spread it. Meg still got blamed though.

William did apparently lay false trails whilst at university to weed out unreliable friends. Honestly, in his position I don't blame him. But how sad that you have to go to those lengths to be sure of the people around you.

Considering the stories that have come out about Diana and Charles using the boys to get ahead in the press battle over the divorce and after (wasn't it Charles people that leaked William's and Camila's first meeting!) I can fully see why both boys but in particular William with his future role trust next to no one!

I read a book by the journalist involved in uncovering the extent of the phone hacking and I think PW’s voicemail was hacked regularly going back to university days I think. I don’t blame him for being paranoid!

I wouldn't be opposed to signing an NDA because it would prevent me selling a story to a trash mag. confused

Then why would be against signing it?

I would have no interest in blabbing to the Express about whether Royal Child A snacked on jammie dodgers or carrot batons, or on any other subject, but I would resent another parent trying to bind me to any legal contract. My only obligations are to my child and to the school, not to some other random parent, no matter how important they may feel they are. And then there'd be the hassle of having a legal bod read through it, paying said legal bod, etc. You're just another parent. If you're that paranoid, look into home schooling.

Yes it’d be ridiculous, and impossible to enforce. And I agree, I wouldn’t want to sign it either. I’m not going to be legally beholden to some random person for the things I might say to my friends, family or acquaintances just because a portion of society deems them more important than me. Outside of work, which is reasonable, I wouldn’t be signing anything like that for anybody!

This is not the tread to go into this, but I don't see how signing this will negatively impact your obligations to your child, just how? If anything, it will have a negative effect if you didn't sign, because your child will most likely miss parties where the other children are invited.

Also, in this particular case it's not parents that feel they are important, it's parents who genuinely are important, but even if they weren't that famous, if I could make someone's life a little bit easier without this affecting me in any way then, I wouldn't hesitate.

Anyway, I wan't derail further.

Good for you.