Royal style & gossip: Breton stripes and skinny jeans...

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread. I think we'll be a bit short of royal outfits as they're all off on their holidays atm. But Kate's regatta is coming up next week, hence the thread title!

Same rules as always - keep it light, critique the clothes rather than the women, and don't believe anything printed in the Daily Mail

#3. Ruth Wallace. Poached by Diana from Princess Michael of Kent. This caused a lot of ill feeling. Ruth found the attention horrible, and soon handed in her notice.

Didn't the Cambridges briefly hire one of William's old nannies?

And was Tiggy #4?

#4 Jessie Webb. Not a Nanny by trade, but an interior decorator. Hired in 1990 when the Wales marriage was going down the tubes and there was a lot of domestic rows. She was nice, normal, a bit loud and a bit brash. She had a healthy appetite and believed kids needed feeding so W+H ate their body weights in sausages and cakes during this time. She used to basically gather the boys up and take them out of the house every weekend to get away from the atmosphere. Diana got jealous again, and let her go. But William really liked her, and persuaded her to come out of retirement to take care of George for the first few months. But she was 71 and made it clear it was temporary, so then they got Nanny Maria.

So nanny #2 was birth to 15 years and 2 and 4 were extras? Didn't they go to bording school? Maybe I just don't get posh set ups but why do you need 2 nanny's if your kids are away all term?? Or have I got it wrong?

#5 Tiggy. Tiggy was post-seperation, so was Charles hire and Diana had no say in it. When the boys were with their Mother, Olga Powell took care of them.

Tiggy believed in lots of fresh air and exercise. She was outdoorsy and Diana was not. Tiggy had little time for Diana's "McDonald's and movies" type of parenting, she was all about burning off their energy.

She was a posh Sloane Ranger, a chainsmoker who took the boys on Hunts. She sailed close to the wind even with her boss. In 1998 Charles was was enraged when Tiggy let Harry and William abseil off a 160ft-high dam without helmets or safety lines. But the boys loved her as a jolly big sister, so she kept her job.

Diana saw Tiggy kissing Charles on the cheek and famously observed "He's never kissed Nanny Olga!". Things reached their lowest point when Diana said to her "so sorry about the baby", and Tiggy accused her of spreading rumours she had to abort Charles' baby.

But Tiggy survived till she left to get married, and is still in the inner circle, attending Archies Christening.

I think she ran a b&b for a while, where you could get "the full Tiggy Experience".

Because in the school holidays and at half term their parents wouldn't necessarily be around. W+H didn't spend as much time with their parents as we did.

What the Nannies were doing during term time was anyone's guess, but they all lived in, so we can assume their contracts were by the year rather than the hour and it didn't matter too much.

One year, when things were very bad, William asked both his parents to stay away during the end of term Eton ceremony. But he asked Tiggy to be there instead.

They were always very much a third parent, with the first two parents frequently absent.

You could also reason that Nannies can only work the hours the law says. So who looks after them the rest of the time? Who puts them to bed if Nanny A has been working from 8am? I guess it's Nanny B.

Tbh I think the only reason the Cambridges don't have a Nanny B is because of Granny Carole.

Even with full boarding children are home pretty much every 3 weeks. My friends go to watch children in matches, plays, concerts and then there’s birthdays etc so far more contact than you’d imagine.

Do you think Diana - or Charles for that matter! - ever changed a nappy? Even one?

I think Charles is on record that he did. I believe there was some backlash from the manly traditional types that he was being a big girls blouse by doing it. And some reports it was an indirect Swipe at his own father as in "I'm going to be different cos he was so crap" type of thing.

But that doesnt mean he changed many!

I'm sure Diana did. I suspect she'd be the sort who occasionally insisted on it actually, just to make the point she was the mother. Especially if she was jealous of Barbara.

They must have changed at least one nappy.
K,W, M & H will have changed their fair share of nappies especially Kate as George didn't have a nanny in the early days.
I suspect Kate been wee-ed on vertically as you know what baby boys are like when they're being changed & get the fresh air on them.
Baby girls can do the same vertical weeing trick, well DD did to me once when I changed her.
I wonder if Kate's ever had to fish the poo out of the bath or caught sick in her hands? That's when you know you're truly a parent

I have quite a few friends who were nannies to wealthy families. They were paid to be there during term time to cover any emergencies (kids off sick etc), it was an easy (and well paid) number if you could get it!

You could also reason that Nannies can only work the hours the law says. So who looks after them the rest of the time?

Good point I don't know how royal nannies work but I do know some one who has nannied for Robbie Williams, and some designers etc they are paid well but expected to be on call 24/7 so I guess your right you would need 2

Pretty sure W+K's nanny will have signed that form where you opt out of the working time directive. In fact I just looked it up and 'a domestic servant in a private household' is one of the examples given of when you might have to work more then 48 hours a week!

I’m sure she has periods of working intensely long hours and then days off/with few hours depending on Kate’s schedule/her mums availability!

I think she probably works fairly long, but standard hours. With additional babysitting as needed. We don't see a lot of paparazzi shots or hear about Kate and William being out and about in the evenings except for official events. I suspect she's there 7-7 and with three kids, it's often 2 kids with one of them and 1 with the other eg kate does school run while nanny stays home with Louis etc.

And then there's the nights she works because they've got an official event. And the babysitting nights because they're out or one is out and one is at a work event or whatever.

Ie like most of the people I know who have nannies. Nanny disappears home at 7 or whatever, and the families then get on with it. I don't get the sense that kate is sitting downstairs drinking cocktails and watching tv or laughing with her friends while her children are being bathed and put to bed by the nanny.

@ElspethFlashman

Tbh I think the only reason the Cambridges don't have a Nanny B is because of Granny Carole

The Cambridges have at least two nannies, and possibly a third one as well.

I think they probably have other household staff who do quite a bit too. I get the impression K+W are pretty hands on but I'm not convinced they do the school run every morning - I found one pap shot of Kate on her way but I feel like there would be more if it was a daily thing.

I mean I don't know - find it very hard to imagine what they do all day at Kensington Palace! Kate must have to do a lot of dress fittings, who knows what William does! I guess they could do all the bed times and bath times etc but they're not having to do all the laundry and tidying and shopping and cooking so 'hands on' is still very different to bog-standard parenting. I imagine it's quite easy to be a good attentive parent when other people are doing all the behind the scenes stuff!

I used to be a PA and my boss had a handful of staff, it was always really hard for me to imagine his life which was essentially free of life admin. He worked hard but outside of work he basically had solid leisure time and seeing his kids was sort of built in to that. Must be nice I guess! Just very strange for me to imagine a life of never having to wash up or set up a direct debit or put the tumble dryer on.

also like becles I'm sure i read somewhere they have more than one nanny but can't actually find any evidence of this person now.

From the youtube video it looks to me as tho Charlotte had a nicely balanced rebuke - she shrinks/flinches and turns away and is bundled down the stairs .

It seems odd to me to stick your tongue out and I wonder where she got the idea .I can say hand on heart that no child of mine would have done that ,at 2 ,3 or 4 .

I remember seeing an online advert for cleaning staff which supposedly was for W & K. The duties included polishing silver, thorough dusting of valuable antiques and babysitting! I expect Maria the nanny has plenty of time off.

It seems odd to me to stick your tongue out and I wonder where she got the idea .I can say hand on heart that no child of mine would have done that ,at 2 ,3 or 4 .

I agree. Mine are similar ages and wouldn’t either and I don’t think it would cross their minds tbh. I get the impression that the ‘nasty press’ are sneered at at home and it’s acceptable. In fact I strongly get the impression that William would do the same if he could and probably does do it in private!

It seems odd to me to stick your tongue out and I wonder where she got the idea .I can say hand on heart that no child of mine would have done that ,at 2 ,3 or 4 .

You genuinely think it is odd that a 4 year old stuck her tongue out. Like seriously? You've never seen a preschooler stick their tongue out? Or heard of it?

Maybe she got the idea at preschool from other little 4 year olds. But I suppose it is nicer to think William and Catherine are castigating the press (gosh how odd- they should love them) and teaching their children to stick their tongues out at them. Bizarre. I do wish the British would abolish royalty so we didn't have to read this stuff.