Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The royal family
Original poster

Waity Katey and no jobs threads have me thinking

85 replies

LucyGoose · 28/04/2011 19:57

As several threads have sprung up about Kate "wasting" her education, and squandering her bankeable skills due to her relationship with Prince William, I got to thinking....

did William really keep her hanging on for 7 yrs. with no guarantee of a wedding or engagement in sight? Would a young beautiful woman in this day and age really keep her life on hold for the next holiday with her boyfriend? Why the hell would her family basically pay for her to do this? She seemed to have no shortage of clothing, jewellery or spending money
Maybe the papers are right, the Middletons are social climbers willing to marry their daughter off to royalty, because there is no way in hell my family would pay for my education to have me wait around for my boyfriend to make up his mind.

OP posts:
bemybebe · 28/04/2011 22:22

Poor Kate can never please: she has a degree, so too much education, if she did not - too little; marry young - too quick, 'why not wait?', marry later - 'waity Katy'. Her family is too common, but if they were aristocracy - why go for the 'inbreeders'... i guess this will never end!

I have no clue what she is like in the rl, but seeing her in the interview and the press - she is smart, happy, beautiful, eloquent young woman and I sincerely wish her well. Her newly found fame can be a curse or a blessing. Go girl!! [cgrin]

AitchTwoOh · 28/04/2011 22:22

i think that's a bit bullshitty though, expat. i can feel sorry for lots of people, rich and poor. and tbh i take issue with the choice that she has. she loves him, presumably. why can't she just have a normal (rich, privileged, fabulous) life with the man she loves, just like all her Marlbro and st andrews pals? she can't, because it's not on the table. i think hers will be a pita life compared to her peers, poor woman. i wouldn't want it.

AitchTwoOh · 28/04/2011 22:24

the idea that she spent her 20s waiting to be asked to be married is a bit far-fetched imo, they've been LIVING together since uni. more likely this is as long as they can stretch not getting married with the press and palace etc. he's finished his training now, they have to do it.

expatinscotland · 28/04/2011 22:26

I don't think it's bullshitty at all. Life is a trade-off. Some people fall in love with a bloke who already has kids. Why can't they just get to live their lives without having to be a step parent, too? Some people fall in love with a person in the Forces. Why can't they just get to live their lives without the person getting deployed, moving around, or the possibility of their live ending early because of their job? And on and on. She knew that was on the cards from the get go. She was free to walk then. Love isn't a lightning bolt. It's something you chose to cultivate.

I think it's more bullshitty to make out she's some sort of victim of circumstance. I wouldn't want to bring my daughters up to think that's ever the case when it comes to how they chose to live their lives.

2babyblues · 28/04/2011 22:27

Tons of people go out for years before marrying, why was she specifically waiting? I thought she worked anyway.

wasabipeanut · 28/04/2011 22:28

You know what swc, you are sort of right. She clearly has lived off her parents etc. and I am a tad concerned about the general message being given out that marrying well is the be all and end all. BUT I am still rather uncooly excited about the whole thing. They are obviously in love with eachother IMO and have waited a long time so that she can see exactly what she's letting herself in for. And she does have fab hair.

I am switching off my usual cynicism. Normal service will be resumed at the weekend.

SybilBeddows · 28/04/2011 22:30

I agree with Expat. She knew the deal from before she met him - it's not like he only found out he was a prince recently.

I do feel sorry for him though tbh.

PatriciaHolm · 28/04/2011 22:30

I would imagine that pretty much ever she's been living with PW, she's had a curtailed level of choice. She can't work in the family business due to accusations of exploitation; she can't really work anywhere else due to extreme press scrutiny; how many employers want a foyer full of paparazzi? The royal machine isn't going to have let/want her build a proper long term career because it's all going to have to stop dead tomorrow, and the press would have had a field day with her "focusing on her career' rather than PW.

She's no role model for anyone, but she's living the only life she's ever known, one of privilege, which became extreme privilege when she developed a serious relationship with PW. Once that happened, her choices shrank considerably.

expatinscotland · 28/04/2011 22:31

Who knows why they waited? It would bother me if my daughter did wait when she really wanted to get married. But if it didn't bother her then it's none of my business.

I don't ever want them, however, to feel their own destiny is out of their control.

expatinscotland · 28/04/2011 22:32

She's never styled herself a role model, though.

bemybebe · 28/04/2011 22:32

expat "Love isn't a lightning bolt."

Ooooo, you cinic! I disagree!!! Grin

smallwhitecat · 28/04/2011 22:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Georgimama · 28/04/2011 22:36

Oh for heavens sake swc. It's quite normal for the bride and groom not to see each other the evening before their wedding. I expect she's been having dinner with her parents in her hotel, which is pretty much exactly what most brides do the night before their wedding.

SybilBeddows · 28/04/2011 22:36

that's true, they could have been out there together, like a normal couple who've been living together for years.

meditrina · 28/04/2011 22:36

Comparing papping nights out (day, time, venue unknown, and only on the street) to day jobs (all those known, possibility of dirty tricks - with consequences for the business and its other employees) isn't like for like.

Georgimama · 28/04/2011 22:37

Everyone I know who is married lived with their spouse before the wedding, and all of them spent the night before the wedding separately.

Oh what a surprise - BBC news has just confirmed she, her parents and her brother and sister had dinner together in their hotel.

expatinscotland · 28/04/2011 22:38

I don't. It can be real hard work to make it last sometimes. My own parents have been married for 47 years next month. They both come from parents who were married for decades before death parted them. They'll tell you, real love, it's mutual respect. Sure, it's possible to have that feeling about someone, when first you see them, that this may well be the person you will marry. But it's not a given even then - what if the person doesn't love you? What if you find out that there's something that's just not going be able to be working round? Etc?

It's like, you start dating a person with kids, you know from day 1 that they will always be a package deal. So you can then chose to continue a relationship, or walk before it gets too deep. Ditto someone who has a dangerous job, a job that takes them away a lot, is a lot older or younger than you, of a different faith you don't agree with, politcal party, etc. YOU control that. You know the score. You decide. It's a decision in Western society (excepting people forced into marriages and such).

You date Prince William, you know from the year dot that he has chosen to continue as a prince and therefore, much of his life will be public and therefore, yours, too.

SybilBeddows · 28/04/2011 22:38

really? I thought most couples these days had a big pre-wedding dinner with both sets of parents the night before, that's what my friends have generally done.
I knew people who did the 'groom goes to a hotel the night before' thing in the 80s, is it still common?

Georgimama · 28/04/2011 22:39

Apparently so. I am only 32.

(retreats to the 1980s)

smallwhitecat · 28/04/2011 22:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

AitchTwoOh · 28/04/2011 22:40

love was most certainly a lightning bolt for me and dh. he asked me to marry him on our second date, and i said yes and meant it, and we moved in together immediately thereafter. took us a further five years or so to get married but there was never any question that we wouldn't. it was a done deal.

wasabipeanut · 28/04/2011 22:41

My DH spent the night before our wedding at a hotel. I am 38 and we married 5 years ago. I spent the night at home getting pissed with my bridesmaids.

Georgimama · 28/04/2011 22:43

swc - he's royal. She's not (yet). Hence why he is doing the walkabout.

Purdah my arse.

Aitch, very similar here.

expatinscotland · 28/04/2011 22:43

It was a done deal, Aitch, because you wanted it to be. Love may not be, but acting on it, getting married, living together, having kids, etc. is.

meditrina · 28/04/2011 22:44

There's a thread somewhere discussing the coverage of the wedding from a feminist point of view. It's also interesting to look at this thread in that way - lots of assumptions about her waiting for him, but not considering the possibility that he might be the one having to persuade her to enter his peculiar world for good.