Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

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: Max and Wax and whacky hats

999 replies

QueenOfTheAndals · 09/03/2020 15:34

Now that the Commonwealth event is nearly over, we have another treat ahead of us. Maxima in Indonesia!

In light of what happened on the previous thread, I'm going to take a leaf out of Elizabeth SMT Holmes' book and say critique the clothes and the styling but not the physical appearances of various royal women.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
113
AppleKatie · 29/03/2020 15:46

Ah yes I’d not noticed the desk behind Williams back.

Still a bizarre set up.

Laiste · 29/03/2020 16:23

Talking about what Kate does (or does not) do at her desk puts me in mind of the book Rebecca. If anyone here's read it? Newly at Manderlay the heroin sits at Rebecca's beautiful desk looking at the neat 'in' and 'out' drawers and Rebecca's lovely pen and her monogrammed paper, and has nothing to write and no one to call. Doesn't she knock off the priceless porcelain figurine at that point as well, and hide it?

Not saying Kate has nothing to do ... just thinking out loud Grin

queenofarles · 29/03/2020 20:55

Trump just posted he is not paying for H&M security. They’d have to pay for it.

with all that is going on, I think no one on either side of the pond has time to discuss such things, probably they’d need to pay for it , at least this year!

StartupRepair · 29/03/2020 21:46

I'd find Kate and William more relatable here if they WFH in their PJs. The suit looks weird in a lockdown!

LizziesTwin · 29/03/2020 22:01

I think that’s a downside to having staff. A friend of mine was working from home last week fully suited up, make up etc & suddenly had to go into the House of Commons. She said she felt v smug that she could just go straight there rather than having to shower etc.

Heygirlheyboy · 29/03/2020 22:19

What a book Laiste!

AppleKatie · 29/03/2020 22:29

I’m sure they are in their casuals in reality but PR isn’t reality is it?

Maybe that’s why she’s pictured in the suit- perhaps it’s the last time she was dressed 😂

MotherofPearl · 29/03/2020 22:47

I've been feeling so low with the lockdown so came on here for some cheering up, and you didn't disappoint in the chat about the very staged photos!

Maybe it's a stunt desk Grin

QueenOfTheAndals · 29/03/2020 22:58

Me too @MotherofPearl, I think I only really started to feel it today. During the week I was too busy with work to think about it much but today it hit me that it was the weekend and I couldn't do any of my usually activities Sad

OP posts:
MotherofPearl · 29/03/2020 23:05

@QueenOfTheAndals, it's so tough. The thought of it going on for months overwhelms me, and I'm generally a 'get on with it' type. Trying to home school 3 DC while simultaneously holding down a FT job is going to prove challenging.

In more relevant-to-the thread news, I quite like Carl Philip and Sofia's WFH photos:

https://www.newmyroyals.com/2020/03/princess-sofia-and-prince-carl-philip.html?m=1

Also very staged but somehow they look more convincing to me.

QueenOfTheAndals · 29/03/2020 23:21

I think it might be because they're using modern technology like a smartphone and an iPad rather than an ancient landline phone. They actually look like they're working.

OP posts:
AppleKatie · 29/03/2020 23:34

I know what you mean. Yes they do look staged but more plausible somehow. It might be the headphones?

LadyEloise · 30/03/2020 00:55

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought the awful "wooden" filing cabinet was facing the wrong way !Smile

banivani · 30/03/2020 07:51

PCP and PS styling is off even compared to CPV and PD - www.instagram.com/kungahuset/?hl=en

They've done the working from home photos (before the rest of them, and then some serious "visiting field hospitals" photos. I think PD even has some stubble showing? Nice touch. ;) I jest, but I do think CPV:s "sitting at a desk" photo looks genuine (let us draw a merciful veil over the "husband and wife working together photo"). They've hit a gritty grey cast too which looks Serious. Have to say the pics from KP look a bit cheerful/GBBO. ;)

Royal style: Max and Wax and whacky hats
Royal style: Max and Wax and whacky hats
blablablablablablabla · 30/03/2020 07:58

I think William is sat at a 'partners desk' they have space either side and drawers etc for two people to work.

QueenOfTheAndals · 30/03/2020 08:08

That second photo of CPV is very Law and Order. She and PD look like they're interrogating a suspect!

OP posts:
QueenOfTheAndals · 30/03/2020 08:11

And when they're done they'll pass the suspects to criminal lawyers Felipe and Letizia!

Royal style: Max and Wax and whacky hats
OP posts:
QueenOfTheAndals · 30/03/2020 08:13

And even the coronavirus hasn't stopped Maxima, though she's abiding by social distancing rules. All the royal women are really leaning into pantsuits aren't they?

OP posts:
Tablefor4 · 30/03/2020 09:00

Nothing says working through a global pandemic like a pant suit 😃

LadyEloise · 30/03/2020 09:34

QueenoftheAndals ".. Very Law and Order..."
"....criminal lawyers Felipe and Lartizia."
SmileSmileSmile
Too true.

banivani glad to see you're back posting.. I was wondering if you'd been affected by Covid19. Sweden is taking a different approach.

banivani · 30/03/2020 10:32

That second photo of CPV is very Law and Order. She and PD look like they're interrogating a suspect! Hahaaaa lol!

@LadyEloise - ah don't worry about me, I'm just swamped at work because people are staying home when sick so we're spread a little thinner than normal, and also we have to work with a lot more long-distance meetings that we weren't fully equipped for. I am also fielding a LOT of stupid questions from people who should know better. (Tbf there''s nothing going on royal clothing-wise ;) .)

I fully support the Swedish approach btw, it's all very sensible and measured and based on scientific facts. Every weekday there is a joint press conference with The Public Health Agency, the National Board of Health and Welfare, The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and random organisations who have something to say that day (The Red Cross was there for example last week talking about organising civilians). It's a fecking JOY to watch. So calm and matter of fact, no posturing. No politicians unless invited.

It does work partly because the country is sparsely populated and only while the curve stays reasonably flat, if it starts to spike then the politicians will start imposing actual rules and shout a lot. Now we are working under "recommendations" from the agencies responsible but recommendation in agency-speak in Sweden does mean rule, just not enforceable in hard law.

So it's business as usual here, just common sense. Economy is still taking a terrible hit, healthcare is crying out for more staff etc. But it still feels manageable, TG. Helps that the schools and preschools/daycares are open so people can work of course, which also adds to a sense of normalcy.

Just as in the UK people are idiots of course, social distancing when out and about seems like a hard concept to grasp for example. Dumbasses.

BlingLoving · 30/03/2020 11:47

I think the photos are all very staged but as a PP pointed out, not much more you can do. Having said that, the British ones definitely aren't as good as the European ones. I think there's still too much of this old fashioned vibe and desire for Old England and Queen and Country and all the rest of it. It's the same thing that drives the Mail to act outraged because a young couple don't want to spend Christmas with his grandmother.

I'd love to see pictures of them on Skype/Zoom chats - I don't believe for a second that's not happening - dressed smartly but not formally. I imagine William working in the office is usually chinos and a fleece after all! But there's no way to take a picture of someone on the phone or working on a computer that doesn't look ridiculous.

BlingLoving · 30/03/2020 11:48

@banivani - I love the common sense approach but I do worry that if people aren't forced to keep physically away from each other they won't. The day before lockdown here, when schools had just closed, playgrounds in our area were absolutely rammed. People apparently having completely missed the point of schools being closed.

banivani · 30/03/2020 12:06

@BlingLoving well our sparse population and large outdoor spaces work to our advantage. If there is a 50-60 % drop in people out and about the place looks pretty deserted already and we do have a lot of space to spread out, so it doesn't matter if people go to playgrounds. But your example highlights one reason why they have not recommended schools to close. It's not particularly effective because it brings other problems.

The recommendations are based on what is proven to work to limit spread of diseases that spread via secretions (while accepting that it cannot be completely contained) and calculated to be stuff we actually have a chance of living with relatively long-term, since this isn't going to go anytime soon. So the reasoning is "how invasive can the measurements be if they have to be sustainable for say six months". The risk of being infected is much higher indoors so being outdoors is encouraged, if you use some common sense. Then you can sit on either side of a park bench and have a chat even if you are 80, enjoy the sun and not become a quivering heap of stress from isolation. I'd like to call that last bit "Lex Mumsnet AIBU" because bloody hell that board is a shambles these days.

How well this will work when the weather improves and everyone wants to bbq in the parks is another issue, we'll see. We might be locked up yet. People are only being moderately smart, not super smart.

LadyEloise · 30/03/2020 12:35

Interesting re Sweden banivani.
Different countries in Europe are doing things so differently.
It will take time to see which approach was best.
What happens when our lockdown ends and we are allowed go out and mix freely ?