Has anyone actually met Kate, Pippa or the Middletons?

[Littlepiggyinablanket]

Either before or after William appeared on the scene? Mn is very disparaging about the Middleton's so following on from the has anyone met Meghan thread... Has anyone met the Middleton's or Kate?

If you read my post I said they both mixed with aristocracy. However Pippa's set were the country set, Kate had a different circle of friends. Pippa went to Edinburgh uni, Kate St Andrews & they socialised separately in their uni days. Pippa went on shooting weekends.
Siblings from the same family have different skills, I learned to horse ride in my teens my sister didn't!

I always think it must be very strange for Brian McFadden's parents. Just being normal Irish people but seeing their two ex-daughters-in-law in magazines and online all the time, one of them on holidays with the future King of England.

Hmm. Does Ireland have an UMC? I didn't say paying so called 'voluntary contributions' make a school posh either! We do have fee paying private boarding schools though, a couple of my first cousins went to them. And DEIS schools in so called disadvantaged areas. And grind schools like The Institute which are quite expensive fee paying day schools where the well heeled send their offspring for their final years in secondary school so they can maximise their points in the Leaving Cert! Is private school energy having a D4 accent and oozing confidence? That would sum up my cousins😁.

@Kateforqueen your sycophancy and scraping obsequiousness is awful. I refuse to effuse about carol because her daughter married well.

❤️Carole. And why shouldn't she have heirs, she birthed the future queen consort ffs & her Grandchildren are all in line to the throne. More reason than most to have airs! ⬅️ wet boak

Met K & W through work, they spent a couple of days with the organisation I worked for at the time. They were both lovely and Kate was really nice, much nicer and warmer in person than we were all expecting and seemed genuinely invested in the work we were doing. She chatted to our community members, our programme users (little toddlers), parents, staff, management etc all the same way, with the same level of attentiveness and respect.

She is absolutely beautiful though very very slim, though looks completely healthy with it. The HAIR is gorgeous, she must have some extensions in there as its mega thick and glossy and perfectly coiffed, she seems a really lovely woman and her and William appear to be thick as thieves together, they're clearly very bonded and good mates as well as married and it's lovely to see in person.

@Kateforqueen

she birthed the future queen consort ffs & her Grandchildren are all in line to the throne. More reason than most to have airs!

Isn't it a bit embarrassing to condone the idea of someone being condescending or arrogant? Acting like they're better than other people? It makes me cringe to hear someone think that's absolutely fine.

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/airs

To have airs is to be condescending or arrogant — in other words, to act like you think you're better than other people. If you put on airs, you'll find it hard to make friends.
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put%20on%20airs

to act in a way that shows one thinks one is better than other people

www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/put-on-airs

to assume an affected or haughty manner
E.g. As their fortune increased, they began to put on airs

@Kateforqueen

Completely agree with this. The Middleton's used education as a means to social mobility. More power to them. They invested heavily in their dc & raised beautiful children who won't let the side down. Pippa's sister in law is Vogue William's ffs. With all Vogue & Spender's love of publicity they have never cashed in on their royal connections unlike chavvy H&M

Maybe not. The Middleton parents did though. Was they doing so, as outlined below, pretty tasteless and cashing in on their royal connections? Interested in your thoughts on it.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middletons-parents-to-cash-in-on-royal-107806.amp

KATE Middleton’s family will profit from her wedding to Prince William by selling “traditional street party” products to Royalty lovers.
“Will you be selling traditional British themed products we can order in the coming months?” Party Pieces replied: “We certainly will be doing some traditional street party bits. These will be available mid-late February!”

The range may worry the Royal family, which is keen for the wedding not to be seen as a business opportunity for the Middletons. The family has previously been accused of cashing in on their links to the royal family.

Shortly after the engagement was announced, they published an article on their website that claimed: “Every little girl dreams of being a princess” and last March an interview on the website featured Kate giving tips on throwing a children’s party.

Yes, I have. Both before and after she married William. I cannot tell you enough how absolutely beautiful she is in the flesh, and so, so tiny and so softly spoken. I was in awe of her shiny hair.
I didn’t dare speak to her though, I just admired from a distance.

I ‘met’ Harry too at the Norfolk show one year. I was showing my husband and children how I can fit an entire Mr Kiplin French fancy in my mouth in one go while he walked past, within 2’. He made eye contact and burst out laughing as I said “hi, want one” while spluttering cake and brown icing everywhere. One of the security people who was escorting him took a French Fancy cake. A yellow one. Not sure if he ate it, highly doubtful.

Are you Ingrid Seward, ‘editor in chief of Majesty magazine’?

I had to ask because I play ‘royal lickspittle bingo’ whenever there is a news story involving them. I tick the ‘royal commentators’ off: Jennie Bond, Richard Kay (described on a previous thread as ‘old letterbox gob’, which I find hilarious), the awful Arbiters, Paul ‘the rock’ Burrell, the undead lady Colin Campbell and of course dear old Ingrid. She has been conspicuous by her absence on TV in discussions about Prince Harry’s frost bitten bits, broken dog bowls and bridesmaid dress fittings, so I’m wondering whether she has been reduced to posting on Mumsnet about which Middleton learned to shoot when.

Those of you who's children have played with K&W children - did your mind explode at the thought that you want/need to take a photo, but obviously can't?

I'm not a parent, but lots of parents seem to document their children's lives every 5 mins with a photo, tagging that would actually be a photo worth having!

I worked with a fairly close family member for a couple of years (close enough to be sat opposite the queen at the wedding). She is genuinely lovely, bright, funny.

@Kateforqueen

The line between 'state' and 'private' is very blurred in Ireland. There are very few fee paying schools - 52 out of a total of about 730 - secondary schools in the entire country.

The non fee paying schools are distinguished from each other mainly by their management structure. Many were formerly owned and run by religious orders who might still have a seat on the board of management and still have a semi-religious ethos. Many are single sex. They're not called state schools. There are also Community Schools, all coed, many of which were formerly run by religious orders too, though some were not. There are also Vocational schools. Irish speaking schools tend to attract people who have a keen interest in a certain type of education for their children. They are often UMC, Irish-speaking families, many parents who are leading civil servants, broadcasters, lawyers, people with careers in the cultural scene. They're free too.

Families pay for books and school supplies, and uniforms.

In practice, all schools do the same national curriculum, all students do the same national exams, and all applications for university places go through an anonymous Central Applications Office. The CAO computers don't know what school you went to or who your parents know.

She would be considered upper middle class in Ireland? Dear Jesus what a load of rubbish. People might have an opinion if they are rich/wealthy/comfortable/well off but upper middle class. Nonsense.

Are you indeed? This is a strange phenomenon that exists only in South Dublin particularly Killiney/Dalkey where labels are used as self importance. I haven't heard anyone in any other part of Ireland describe themselves like this. In fact, outisde of I Dublin, peole would laugh in your face at perceived notions.
The only other person I have ever heard describe themselves as being UMC in Ireland is my DH who thinks he is a cut above every and all Irish people whoare not from Dalkey/Killiney.

Every time I see someone sneer about Vogue I keep thinking ‘but she went to Santa Sabina ‘ . She’s WELL posh. And she’s a QS. She could have been in Room to Improve’!

this. it was 100% uncle gary who paid for Marlborough. Kate initially wasnt even going to boarding school.

Hasn’t she raised one of the older daughters? She seems to have stepped in when he skidaddled off to Oz and Kerry was hitting the rails.

the undead lady Colin Campbell and of course dear old Ingrid.

Brilliant description of the appalling Lady C and I once heard someone say "Ingrid Sewage" and now I can't get it out of my head.

Have tea with her every Wednesday

Yes.

Carole is exactly what you'd expect. Michael isn't quite what you'd expect. Pippa's nice. No idea about James.

William is very good at playing the part he needs to in the moment.

There's literally no point in posting anything other than Kate is Lovely here. My views on her are fairly anodyne, but anything even the slightest bit critical draws fire, so there's really no point. No one actually wants to hear anything other than the party line here.

Whilst studying in London I worked at Waitrose Marylebone for 6/7 months and she came in a few times, was very polite to the staff and focused on finishing her shopping list. I did have the chance to speak to her on the second occasion, she was very articulate and charming, everyone who had interacted with her on multiple occasions had nothing but kind words to say about her. Having skimmed through the thread I do suspect some of the comments on here are false, they either don't reflect the shop correctly with inaccurate facts or hold Americanisms- clearly from the American fans dim enough to believe one sided narratives from H and M.

I am from the general Dalkey/Killiney area, @Pottyaboutplants. But that's not why I'm UMC, and not everyone from that neck of the woods is. Vogue is MC.

This is my favourite from this thread, love it. “An actual giant and a real princess” 💕

Private schools in Ireland are very much a thing and are as much about class and wealth as the Uk.

But given that Ireland is somewhat smaller than the UL the network aspect of it is far reaching.

I say all this with great confidence as part pf my family is Irish, and a large part of my youth was snogging fellas from the various schools!!

There are press pictures of Kate looking the worse for wear after a night out.