Princess of Wales: surgery and recuperation

[yetanotherusernameAgain]

No thread yet?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68009259

And would you be happy to keep doing it until you are 96?

Well so what - should they work more and spend less time with their children to make it fairer for people who don’t give a shit about them?

I work FT and I’m one of the only ones in my Year 2 son’s class who does. Most have their youngest in that class and still only do a 3/4 day week. It’s not reaching for the stars or unreasonable to be a part time working mum

The 3 - 4 day week only holds up if your working day consists of 1 phone call or 1 hour meeting.

KarenNotAKaren, I agree.

I also think they’ve learned that royalty can do more good when working on bigger, behind-the-scenes projects than by rocking up to the opening of an envelope with no substance behind it. I see coverage from the 80s of Diana opening shopping centres and the like - the things Will and Kate are working on are much meatier, longer-term things.

That’s why we see less of them out and about shaking hands but I think it gives them a more meaningful role.

exactly!

Honestly the totally simmering jealousy over a woman having major surgery is verging on disturbing

I agree.

The slimming down that Charles always wanted is also inevitable. This institution has a shelf life and lourding the wealthy around the country non stop is tone deaf when the rest of the country is struggling.

And would you be happy to keep doing it until you are 96?

The Queen chose to do this. She could have abdicated at a more sensible age, and it was really time that the idea she couldn't do so because of Edward VIII should have be dismissed as irrelevant today.

I've never been more than a part-time working Mum because I wanted to spend time with my kids too. I was lucky to have the choice. A lot don't. They have the choice which is privilege. I don't blame them for exercising it one bit but I do imagine, if I had to work full time to make ends meet, how much I would wish to have the choice.

@GrowUpWoman "I also think they’ve learned that royalty can do more good when working on bigger, behind-the-scenes projects"

In what way?

Yes I’m not a royal supporter at all and wish we didn’t have a monarchy but surely most people can process that if you carry out 134 engagements a year you probably need a fair bit of time preparing for those engagements and being briefed by your team, before and afterwards, write speeches etc, time to develop strategies about your next visits and direction, time to write thank you notes and personal correspondence afterwards, time to meet with security and stylists and jewellers and all that jazz. Time to actually travel about. Never mind all the exercise and fitness you have to do to look good in front of the camera. Plus all the extra stuff like having your portrait painted and appearing at Balmoral etc and all the communication and briefings with King Charles’s office. I’d say that’s pretty much a ft job.

The difference is that they don’t go home after work on a commuter train that’s late and overcrowded, they don’t have to stop off at Sainsbogs to buy milk and bread, or clean and cook and do the laundry if they don’t want to! Or do the recycling or DIY. And they have nannies, chauffeurs and gardeners on tap! So they perhaps have more energy to put in to their work but maybe the constant pressure and scrutiny drains them of that?

Realistically, very few joint parents could clear their diaries of anything work related for three months or so. Many people carry on even when the medical issue is terminal or life threatening. That is a luxury that many cannot afford and it is ok to say it really I think.

Have you seen what is involved in a royal engagement? I have - had to do one as part of my work (Princess Anne, she was lovely!). It’s more than a phone call. It’s more than an hour - they speak to so many people, have endless photos, get shown around the workplace with the press in tow and then they’re choppered away. Mine was a fairly small one and it was a good 4 hours from start to finish with barely a toilet break. That didn’t include her travel time.

"Well so what - should they work more and spend less time with their children to make it fairer for people who don’t give a shit about them?"

Personally, I don't actually care what they do- they can drift around eating caviar out of mother of pearl spoons as far as I am concerned. What I object to is the "hard working" fiction.

I wouldn't want to do it. All that people meeting and small talk and having to show an interest, even if I'm not feeling it that day. No thanks. I can do it, I do that sort of thing when I need to, but I also don't have cameras that will catch any moment I let my guard down and show any sign of being tired of it.

@lesdeluges

That’s rubbish. If your partner, who you had three kids with, had to have a major i operation than most people who use holiday days and personal leave to be off with them. I’ve seen it happen before where I work- the only people who don’t get this are working for shite corporations.

It’s not a race to the bottom.

It would be hard in other ways though. No privacy, having to be on guard what you share with other people for that reason. I wouldn't swap places.

Totally agree, it's really quite horrible reading what presumably women write on here about other women sometimes 😢

@CurlewKate William’s homelessness project, Kate's early years stuff. Their work on mental health.

These are big, multi-faceted projects and while I’m sure Will and Kate aren’t involved in all the details, they will involve meetings, reading, making choices and decisions, all of which happen out of the public eye.

So it’s not easy to compare someone who does 100 ‘rock up and cut a ribbon’ public appearances with someone who does a lot of work on a long term project by meeting people eg at their home.

But ultimately, I imagine the projects will have more long-term impact. That’s where I think royals should focus - on driving positive change, not being empty figureheads.

Yes of course most would get some time off or take it unpaid if that's possible -for the immediate crisis. I'm talking about three or more months though. For ordinary people (unless they have critical illness cover which is for the ill person only I think), it may not be affordable. Look I know there are ways around it if it is critical, but once discharged and some sort of recovery is happening, then it's back to work even if it's on a part time basis or something like that.

Some realities are far dirtier and far more crowded than others.

That's the reality of spread of infection / cross contamination of bacteria and germ theory.

Of course a person in an exceptionally clean private suite (not just room) with dedicated staff is going to be way and beyond less exposed to all the grimness of the NHS. I acquired an infection at a central london hospital, its generally known as being spread by dirty surgical equipment. Don't suppose K will be needing to worry about things like that.

Some of the posters on this thread are clearly very unhappy people.

This thread is very sad. People sound so bitter. The woman is clearly quite ill and not having three months off for an ingrowing toenail.

Would it really be beyond the realms of decency to wish her a speedy recovery rather than sneering and jeering?

Looks like that ship has well and truly sailed.

I was in nearly 3 weeks with mine, and 5 weeks when it was reversed (had complications).