Okay , I'm just going to say it... where is Kate Middleton?

[Tuesdayalready]

(or for the MN purists, Catherine) The most high profile and popular member of royal family has not been seen since Christmas. I do think it's quite strange and so many rumours from the foreign press. And before anyone starts jumping down my throat about her having hysterectomy / crohns / ad infimum / I've had both a hysterotomy and half my intestine removed and was back in work within a 8 weeks.

I am not a royalist but I find the request for pics of the kids quite disturbing. Who would want to parade children in front of a camera when their mother is going through….something?

I know what you mean, but the world has changed due to the internet since the old queen's 'never complain, never explain' ethos, and the media blackout has got people talking about this whether the royals like it or not. Kate is being made a laughing stock via memes; William's alleged affair is getting more airtime, as are the theories that he harmed her in some way; as are rumours of their impending divorce. Kensington Palace could have handled this much better without necessarily revealing any private medical details.

Oh my goodness - hold the front page!!! Two different posters have two different and opposing opinions about the same subject! I didn't realise opinions had to be collective on mumsnet now with everyone picking the 'same lane'

Now if you had found one poster who was giving conflicting opinions that would have been worth commenting on, otherwise what is the point of your post? 🙄

No, @OolongTeaDrinker . Whatever they said, the hard of thinking, the crackpots, the tin foil hatters and the stirrers would have made up nonsense. Don't dignify it. The royals have said all they need to say.
People overshare now, so it's a bit weird to have some who won't play that silly game. I respect that. I respect privacy.

Kensington Palace could have handled this much better without necessarily revealing any private medical details

How? they've said she's had surgery, she's doing well, she's recovering and she'll be back around Easter and thanks for the good wishes. What else could they have said or done or how differently should they have handled it?

Kate is being made a laughing stock via memes; William's alleged affair is getting more airtime, as are the theories that he harmed her in some way

Really? I see that as some people losing their filters because it's SM and showing how deeply unpleasant and vile they can be; and if you're* going to be unpleasant and vile you'll be like that whatever you've been told, because that's what you are. KP could come out and update people and I could pretty much guarantee that the reaction for some of the SM brain dead would be 'well, obviously they're covering something up, what aren't they telling us?'

*Not you personally, you meaning the population out there.

Here’s a shocker for you @TitusGroaned

Two things can be true at once .

There was once a (deluded) deference in the media.

The ‘royals’ have deals now - how long these deals will hold is the question

‘If it continues or gets worse, then they haven't.’

Agree a lot with what you’re saying. But surely they don’t really care about the incessant buzz online? Twitter is a joke these days, a platform for the most 🦇 💩- bolstering the likes of Tate and Trump. The obsessives have already crossed the line with stuff they’ve spouted, the shock factor has already worn off, and it all sounds increasingly like a desperate plea for attention. Edge lords end up becoming tedious very quickly.

As a platform, it seems to have gotten a lot worse under Musk’s reign?

You’ve now characterised one of those as being in the past tense though - as in it doesn’t reflect reality now. So they aren’t simultaneously currently true then are they 😉

(‘Shocker’ - may have over hyped things slightly btw)

Kate is being made a laughing stock via memes; William's alleged affair is getting more airtime, as are the theories that he harmed her in some way

Do you really believe any serious person forms their opinion of anything based on memes? I know the internet had made the world feel devoid of intelligent life, but it exists.

This.

When did people start equating Twitter or Reddit with serious sociopolitical discourse 🤷‍♀️

I have absolutely no idea. However, they do!

@TitusGroaned
I said one of the phrases that are being analysed and cobreasted
Another poster used the other phrase

I think the other poster was talking about the past , I was talking about the present.

Im not sure what point you are trying to make

If anything it’s quite brilliant at unveiling just how stupid specific people can be. It is good to know, even if disappointing.

Of course not, where did I ever say that? It just that these types of things further degrade the respect people have (or don't have) for the royal family though. Surely no-one in the public eye wants to become a figure of fun when it could have been avoided by better PR.

I have not one iota of respect for the ‘royals’ - and neither would anyone who cares to give the whole con a moment’s thought
That’s before we look at their support for sex offenders and their other murky dealings
The flow of public money to these chancers needs to stop .

I have not one iota of respect for the ‘royals’

So glad you cleared that up, dear! We had no idea and had thought to get you a KP tea set and Royal weddings video for your next birthday. 😁

‘Im not sure what point you are trying to make’

right back atcha 👍

I’m glad to see they aren’t catering to the clueless.

Well obviously we had no idea because unlike that poster we're not giving it a moment's thought, are we? unthinking forelock tugging serfs that we are 😄

I only went and looked at twitter once ! , could feel my iq shrinking while I was looking, never again!

OK but when exactly did this 'deference' ever really exist?

• In Edward II's time there were balladeers singing about his profligacy and alleged goings-on with Piers Gaveston

• In Henry VIII's time there were highly popular pub ballads about his alleged impotence and small willy

• Thomas Paine's description of George III as a 'royal brute' went viral in UK as well as the American colonies

• Queen Anne was savaged as being "ignorant in everything but what the parsons taught her when a child ... Being very ignorant, very fearful, with very little judgement"

• Queen Victoria's appearance, alleged lack of intelligence and alleged Germanic bias were regularly mocked and excoriated by media as disparate as Cleave's London Gazette, Punch, Penny Satirist, Figaro in London

• Elizabeth II and her family were endlessly ridiculed and parodied by such varied media outlets as Private Eye, The Sun, Spitting Image, Viz, Guardian

I'm not disagreeing with you I'm just trying to establish what time period you are thinking about because if there ever was a period of universal deference in communications media for British monarchs then presumably it must have been before Edward II who came to the throne in 1284? Could you be more specific on what time period you are referencing?

Perhaps Kate woke up one day and suddenly realised that she can’t put her kids through this madness, packed all their bags and did a runner to Montecito where Meghan answers a knock at the door in the dead of night to see Kate and her kids on the doorstep.

A year later Kate is happy and healthy. She and Megan have a podcast called The Great Escape where they interview women who escaped the clutches of the patriarchy.

This post bears repetition, so I'll perform that service.

It's certainly true that a whole lot of linen is being aired on social media which the rf would much rather was kept in the closet.

The few voices who've said over and over that it's nasty to 'spread those rumours' are being well and truly drowned out - to the extent that they are probably having to acknowledge to themselves that a few unpleasant rumours are in fact true.

I personally find it extremely healthy that the rf can't make a dent in social media. They just don't have any control. It's a massive problem for them.

🤣

Same and I can’t afford to lose any points. 🤣🤣🤣