Kate Middleton should have had a job.

[MoralDefective]

AIBU to be bemused and a bit dissapointed that after years of expensive education that Kate Middleton has never had a proper job.
What a shame that an apparently intelligent young woman has spent the last (7?) years since university seemingly waiting to get married.
It makes me wonder why she went to university in the first place.
Such a waste of opportunities and good fortune.

[sethstarkaddersmum]

Kate'll be the first Queen of England ever with a degree, at least.

(a real one, I mean. When Cambridge finally decided to give degrees to women the first one they awarded was an honorary one to the Queen Mother )

[amidaiwish]

History of Art at St.Andrew's isn't an easy choice or an easy one to get into.

she must have pretty decent A levels too.

[Melfish]

As previous posters have said, she did work for a short time at Jigsaw. It's probably sensible she then limited her work to helping out at her parents' business. There was always the goal she would end up as William's wife, so can you imagine if she had a 'normal' job working with the rest of us? Think of Kate working in my office- it's a massive public sector building with loads of staff - there would be camera phones snapping at her picking her nose, looking rough from the night before, stories of 'Kate leaves a floater in the bog' 'Kate winked at me over the photocopier' etc. The poor girl wouldn't have stood a chance, bearing in mind the amount of time we all spend at work.

At her parents' place all staff would be vetted and briefed that they could not talk about her, no matter how nice they could say she was. It seems she's spent most of the past 9 years or however long it's been keeping adverse stories of herself out of the media, something she's mainly achieved, from what I've seen of her, by keeping her social circle and work contacts limited. She would have found that very difficult in an open workplace. I wish her luck in her new job.

[tessofderbyville]

I think OP should give the girl a break. Apparently she has been working and who cares anyway? Her education has played a huge role in making her who she is today and will stand her in good stead for her future.

Whilst on the subject of using one's time wisely, would the OP say that writing critical threads on Mumsnet about people one knows nothing about is productive or beneficial to anyone?

[lady007pink]

Was she not a buyer for Jigsaw?

[piscesmoon]

'What good is feminism and women's rights if we're dictated to and judged by other women as to what we should do??

Exactly. I still don't know why women are so horrible about each other. I also find it depressing that people think that the purpose of education is just a job, otherwise it is pointless.

[lucky1979]

She was doing marketing for Party Pieces, and judging how many different catalogues of theirs I seem to get, she must have been doing quite a bit of work. Managing the design and production of catalogues, promotion, printing and fulfilment and distribution isn't particularly glamourous work but the amount they fire out must have meant that she was doing quite a bit.

And William does have a job flying search and rescue helicopters, it's not a ceremonial role is it?

[PURPLESWAN]

This is one of those threads which makes me realise how truly horrible and judgemental women can be about other women.

We dont all judge people on how glittering a "career" is as a truly well rounded person is so much more than just what they do for a living.

How many people who go to university actually "do" anything with the qualifcations they earn - it is something which annoys me massively but thats a whole other thread.

[PURPLESWAN]

Oh and I wouldnt swap places with her for all the tea in china.

[piscesmoon]

Someone further back said that she had secured the best job in the country!! I agree with PURPLESWAN there is no way I would do it-a horrible job! Good luck to her.

[midori1999]

I agree with Purpleswan and piscesmoon.

Aside from which, plenty of force wives and girlfriends do not work, mostly due to the nature of their partners/DH's job. Believe it or not, some of those have degrees too, some have even had successful, professional careers. But nobody gives a toss what they do or what jobs they have done...

[FairPhyllis]

TBH I don't think she's very different to Diana, who had one of those Sloaney-type jobs to pass the time before making a good marriage. Diana's job certainly never paid the bills: she lived in a very swish flat in an expensive area of London, so she must have been supported by her father until she got married.

The main difference is that Kate and William's pre-engagement relationship lasted so much longer than his parents' that it became really difficult for her to do anything without being criticised for it. I suppose that looking back she might now wish that she'd done a Masters or some other educational qualification. She probably didn't realise exactly how long it would be before he was ready to marry.

Having said that I do think it is a bit sad if she felt she had to be permanently "on call" for William, who as far as I can see left her to twist in the wind for however many years it was.

[madwomanintheattic]

lol midori


dear god, without education i'd have thrown myself under a bus after the first posting.

loads and loads of US based research about the lot of the military spouse - if they manage to work at all, their jobs are lower paid and temporary. who in their right mind wants to pay good money training up an intelligent woman for them to pitch up the next day, apologise and say 'so sorry, short notice posting, i have to hand in my notice'.



but anyway, she isn't yet. although to all intents and purposes she has been for the last good few years.

dh and i were together 9 years before we got married. it was virtually impossible to see other as we were both serving (never in the same place/ country). she obviously made a concrete decision that she cared enough to be available. ultimately i made the same decision and left myself.

in our current posting i can count on my fingers the number of wives that work. less than 10%. (i am one of them. but i've got one of those poorly paid, 'doing it to pass the time' jobs that seem to be so despised.)

hey ho.

the lot of the military spouse is just to be permanently 'on call' for whenever they need you anyway - i don't think her life is going to change that much tbh, title or no.

if she's anything like the rest of us, she'll start breeding immediately to fill the unemployed hours.

[Sakura]

She really doesn't know what's coming.
She's not only going to become a wife (and the societal expectations of this role continue to confound me) but a royal wife. There is such a big difference between being a girlfriend and a wife. It's going to be so awful in many ways. Not only that but she's got the added pressure of divorce not being a reasonable option.

SO I think we should all cut her some slack

[Sakura]

And I've got to say, the more I see of her the more attractive she seems, in many ways. She was a really good choice for a prince IMO

[sethstarkaddersmum]

She can still do a Masters, being married doesn't disqualify you from higher education AFAIK.

lots of universities do distance and flexible learning now....

[mrswoodentop]

Diana worked 10 hours a week in a very posh Montessori ,she did not have a Montessori qualification and had one O level.Kate has 2Asand a B at A level and St Andrews is very competitive.She works for her parents business,they are entirely self made and have the work ethic in a big way ,but working anywhee else would have been practically impossible due to media and security issues.
I have a shred from a very good university and 2 professional qualifications but I do a job below that level because of my husbands job.Presumably I have wasted my education

[mrswoodentop]

Sorry I have a degree .....blooming iPhone!

[IntergalacticHussy]

i'm a graduate roughly the same age as Kate and i suppose you could say the same thing about me. I haven't had a 'career'; I've had jobs (like a lot of people as most skilled jobs are outsourced to developing nations, not that she can use that as an excuse!)

Mind you i've been bringing up kids for nearly 5 years so i s'pose that lets me off the hook a bit. and i'm married to dh rather than Prince William...

Education for the sake of education is something we are in danger of losing altogether.

[2blessed2bstressed]

Oh ffs! Does it matter?

[NordicPrincess]

i thought she had a job, wasnt she chased on her way to work and that was why she won against the paps for harrassment?

[KittyFoyle]

Next you'll be appalled if she's a SAHM. Remember the end of Educating Rita where she point out that for the first time in her life she had a choice. Fortunately for her I imagine Kate Middleton does give a toss what some total strangers with no real facts think of her decisions.

[KittyFoyle]

Or rather does NOT give a toss...anyway I'm sure her PR people will be watching all this and advising her to say all the right things. Give her time and she'll be on here being interviewed.

[KittyBigglesworth]

Unless she suffers severe cognitive decline, her education will always be useful, particularly for the life that she will be leading! I should think her degree will equip her well for conversing with crusties at the thousands of meals she will be expected to attend and at which she will be able to display a high level of cultural interest in the surrounding art. Academically, she is more intelligent than Diana was - she achieved 2 As and a B and a 2.1 from a well respected university, although in an age of grade inflation, that may not be as of an achievement as it would have been in Diana's day.

Whether she will have the perceptive intelligence that made others warm to Diana, especially when visiting victims in mundane or hostile surroundings, remains to be seen.

I know that some people expect that a degree should lead to career progression, with each successive job being of higher status and salary than the one before as they get older however I don't see anything wrong in learning for learning's sake. If money isn't a consideration, then a more lateral experience of studying another degree at a later point in life, taking different jobs that are taken just because they are of interest or in Catherine's case, helping her family business, isn't any less respectful.
Those with money always have and always will have greater choice.

Over the forthcoming decades, she won't be able to spend much time with her family and a parent can sometimes die earlier than expected - she may be glad for the time spent with them while she had the opportunity. Besides, many know of someone who qualified as a doctor or barrister and then pursued a different path; that is just as, if not more annoying. She has achieved her goal, I suppose, as her time will be dictated by a public & social agenda from now on - a full time job in itself.

In some ways, she's a sacrificial lamb. Her siblings will have elevated status and far more fun by dint of their sister doing 'time' and the family business will, no doubt, go from strength to strength because of the connection! Catherine will have little time, truly alone, with Will - imagine wanting to say "What the -fuck- heck did you say that for?" and knowing that all the flunkies are watching/listening or the long lens of a paparazzo catching a glum look or 40 something jowls? I wouldn't want that. It will become even harder as she ages and she the comparisons between her and how her deceased MIL looked at her age not cease.

So, no, she shouldn't have had to work anywhere other than for her family's business because her desired position limited her freedom and choice.

[blueshoes]

You cannot be too bright to do her role. You'd die of boredom otherwise and won't adjust well to the constraints.

See what happened to the Crown Princess Masako of Japan who has all but disappeared from public life. She was a high flying diplomat before she married the Crown Prince.