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

Has anyone actually met Kate, Pippa or the Middletons?

432 replies

Littlepiggyinablanket · 10/01/2023 07:54

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Cariadz · 12/01/2023 07:01

confusedcentral5 · 12/01/2023 06:39

Granted there may have been some inherited money in the family but Michael was at a stage in his career where he’d have a very good salary and Carole had her business, even if it wasn’t turning over what it did eventually

Enough to pay 30k a yr fees per kid? Gary sold his business for 20m I think so he defo had spare money lying around.

there was inherited money in the family plus he had a good career that brought in a good salary.

A man like MM would never allow someone else to pay for his childrens school fees.

Magnoliasunrise · 12/01/2023 07:01

Sorry that should have been re this - I was eating lunch at Daphne’s when Kate and Carole sat down next to me. They pushed a lot of salad around a plate and had an argument about what to get Pippa’s children for Christmas. Carole wanted to go to Marie Chantal in Walton Street to get some co-ordinating pastel clothes but Kate said no and they had an argument. Kate said, and the words are still ringing in my ears to this day, “wouldn’t it be funny to buy them a load of red plastic shite,” and Carole said no, Pippa would t like it but Kate was adamant. They finished their hot water and left, going in separate directions (Carole to posh clothes shop and Kate to TK Maxx) but not before Kate left £100 on the table as a tip.

Cariadz · 12/01/2023 07:04

This article explains the inheritance.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2565539/The-family-tragedy-helped-Middletons-make-millions.html

Susanthehappytrottingelf · 12/01/2023 07:07

God it's depressing that anyone sneers at Carole for working a proper job and then running a successful business when it's normal to coo at Kate for being hugely impressive for being thin and smiling

Kateforqueen · 12/01/2023 07:16

@Pottyaboutplants laughing at your post, my Irish colleague often uses the word notions about our boss 😂

Kateforqueen · 12/01/2023 07:21

mathanxiety · 12/01/2023 00:30

@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.

I find this very interesting, it's very different to UK. The Irish speaking schools sound like they have a demographic similar to private schools & they're free? The college application system sounds fair.

Lovesnowforever · 12/01/2023 07:29

Interesting thread

backinthebox · 12/01/2023 07:49

“I'd love to meet Carole and ask for a g&t and a packet of nuts just to see her face”

DH’s boss made some very similar sneery comments to me, thinking I was cabin crew. Her demeanour changed completely when she found out I am a pilot - she’d just assumed when DH said I was taking him to work with me and he was going to the Maldives that I was cabin crew. The sneery comments though have her firmly pigeonholed in my opinion as a very unpleasant person (that is the polite way of putting it!) Cabin crew work hard and look after all their passengers (who can be difficult in so many ways from entitled to drunk to grope-y and many variations of plain nasty) with a polite smile at all hours of day and night. Quite why their profession should be the subject of such sneering I no idea. @vera99 - I’ve put you mentally in the same corner as those who are rude to waitresses. Pointlessly rude because you think it makes you look big.

Iamthewombat · 12/01/2023 07:56

Kateforqueen · 12/01/2023 07:21

I find this very interesting, it's very different to UK. The Irish speaking schools sound like they have a demographic similar to private schools & they're free? The college application system sounds fair.

Show quote history

You think that it’s fair that the kids whose parents can afford the most expensive schools grab a disproportionate share of the university places? Right you are then! Mind you, you are an arch royalist so that figures.

Iamthewombat · 12/01/2023 07:57

I’m not interested in getting involved in a discussion about the Irish schooling system, for the avoidance of doubt. There’s enough of that on the thread already!

vera99 · 12/01/2023 07:57

backinthebox · 12/01/2023 07:49

“I'd love to meet Carole and ask for a g&t and a packet of nuts just to see her face”

DH’s boss made some very similar sneery comments to me, thinking I was cabin crew. Her demeanour changed completely when she found out I am a pilot - she’d just assumed when DH said I was taking him to work with me and he was going to the Maldives that I was cabin crew. The sneery comments though have her firmly pigeonholed in my opinion as a very unpleasant person (that is the polite way of putting it!) Cabin crew work hard and look after all their passengers (who can be difficult in so many ways from entitled to drunk to grope-y and many variations of plain nasty) with a polite smile at all hours of day and night. Quite why their profession should be the subject of such sneering I no idea. @vera99 - I’ve put you mentally in the same corner as those who are rude to waitresses. Pointlessly rude because you think it makes you look big.

Up to you as they say but I'm am certainly not indeed exactly the opposite. I was channeling PW mates comments in an inelegant way but I'm sure the Middletons can handle themselves. They seem to have done very well in every respect compared to us republican plebs. BTW thanks for your work you do a great job which must be very demanding and which can have calamitous consequences should you get it wrong. When my staff got things wrong I used to say don't worry just live and learn at least we aren't piloting a plane 🙃

HaggisBurger · 12/01/2023 09:07

garlictwist · 12/01/2023 05:39

What are vogue's royal links? Isn't she married to spencer matthews? Is he royal?!

Show quote history

Oh god. This is all very googleable you know …. as well as in the thread.

HaggisBurger · 12/01/2023 09:13

Kateforqueen · 12/01/2023 07:21

I find this very interesting, it's very different to UK. The Irish speaking schools sound like they have a demographic similar to private schools & they're free? The college application system sounds fair.

Show quote history

There is a slightly different slant that is sometimes posited on some parents who send their kids to the Irish speaking schools. It’s normally the case that you’d have at least one parent who speaks some amount of Irish in order to support the child with homework.

Which then indirectly makes these schools very homogeneously white / Irish rather than reflecting the more racially and culturally diverse place that Ireland has become in the last number of years. So allegedly some parents choose Irish speak education for that reason and may account for the massive rise in the numbers of these schools in the last 10/15 years.

CliffsofMohair · 12/01/2023 09:19

thread tangent- I work in a Gaelscoil. We have a real socio- economic mix, reflecting the community where I live (largely white Irish). It’s the local school for most of the children. Interestingly because of local school place pressures we have had a few new starters from Ukraine which has been interesting as they are learning Irish and English at the same time.

Back to thread !

Pottyaboutplants · 12/01/2023 09:21

mathanxiety · 12/01/2023 02:46

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.

IRL I think you would be like my SIL. An insufferable snob who could (but to be fair I have never thankfully heard her say) she is UMC - but only in the so called ‘definition’ - uni Ed, professional parents etc. The reality is she is an insufferable snob who has a limited friend network as she’s unbearable IRL.

FWIW Malahide and Howth are beautiful areas in Dublin and just as nice (imo nicer) than Dalkey/Dublin and a desirable location for many wealthy people (which is how the co versa toon started).

For the person comparing Irish language schools to private schools, again this is only in Dublin. Outside of Dublin they struggle to fill the places in Irish schools. The main reason they are popular in Dublin is due to ‘white flight’. There are fewer children of different nationalities in Irish schools which is seen as a positive thing for some parents. Take from that what you will.

USaYwHatNow · 12/01/2023 09:23

Came here to echo the Waitrose stories... Mrs Middleton had a habit of not paying for her shopping....

HaggisBurger · 12/01/2023 09:25

USaYwHatNow · 12/01/2023 09:23

Came here to echo the Waitrose stories... Mrs Middleton had a habit of not paying for her shopping....

What? She’d shop lift from Waitrose? Are you sure that’s not Richard Madeley?

vera99 · 12/01/2023 09:30

This reply has been deleted

Removed for copyright reasons. MNHQ

BoJoSecretGF · 12/01/2023 09:59

Camilla Long has written some very mean things about the Middletons. It’s clear she was peeves that Willy didn’t marry her.

ShirleyPhallus · 12/01/2023 10:01

I came here for some juicy gossip and am very disappointed

LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet · 12/01/2023 10:07

ShirleyPhallus · 12/01/2023 10:01

I came here for some juicy gossip and am very disappointed

Me too. It’s annoying when celebrities are just nice and dull 😂

LadyEloise1 · 12/01/2023 10:39

@mathanxiety
Don't forget private primary schools. There are a few, but not many around Ireland.
They get no financial assistance from the Department of Education. The fees pay the salaries.
They are often feeder schools into the adjacent private secondary school.
Not all of the salaries of fee paying Secondary school teachers are paid by the state.

angstridden2 · 12/01/2023 10:47

I find all this stuff about Carole Middleton very hard to believe. Surely an intelligent person would not put a foot wrong in public knowing it would be aired in the media (and on MN!). She doesn’t strike me as remotely daft.

vera99 · 12/01/2023 10:51

Iamthewombat · 11/01/2023 23:52

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.

Show quote history

My vote for post of the week - lick-spittle is such a good word ! Lady Colin Campbell is unwatchable yet very popular it would seem and have the Harry haters frothing with anticipation at some supposed huge story that is just about to break that will destroy him for ever apparently.

Coxspurplepippin · 12/01/2023 10:55

angstridden2 · 12/01/2023 10:47

I find all this stuff about Carole Middleton very hard to believe. Surely an intelligent person would not put a foot wrong in public knowing it would be aired in the media (and on MN!). She doesn’t strike me as remotely daft.

Same angstridden2. Carole Middleton would be unlikely to do anything that would embarrass her daughter.