Ham pr disasters 44! Will there be karma? Or will the slippery mackerel of consequences pass them by?

[jeffgoldblum]

Still not bored , still interested, if you find this thread not for you please pass us by.

So glad you are home @AutumnCrowAdInfinitumEtUltra
Hope the recuperation and recovery go well.

When I was a student nurse there used to be convalescent homes, a blast of sea air at Hunstanton!
We could really do with bringing them back!

Good question. What l disagree is that Diana had good legs in that see- thru skirt. They're just alright legs. But it's a very minor thing. But what I can5 believe is the idea that Megan was copying Diana with her seethru. skirt. The first one is of a young girl, inexperiencedin the ways of the press, being tricked into standing in a certain way, so that the skirt is see-thru. She is art less in the photo, she doesn't even know how to present her facial expression. With Megan's skirt, there must be a wardrobe malfunction

It's custom Givenchy, I don't understand why it wasn't lined.

You don’t have to be intellectually curious to have a basic curiosity though and I think both these women had that. As you say, they learnt the job well which implies that they did have some form of curiosity. Diana in particular was good at understanding people and demonstrating empathy. The late Queen had a reputation for being able to remember people and facts about them. These are important as a royal. The Sussexes think that they are the centre of the universe hence they never bother to put in the hard yards of learning about anything or anyone

Anne Sebba wrote a biography of WS. She thinks that WS was an unusually experienced for a well brought up woman in the 20s and 30s, and that she probably knew a variety of sexual techniques which her first husband might well have picked up in the bars he liked to frequent.

And Sebba also points out that sexual behaviour for a lot of women in early 20c Britain was still pretty much 'lie back and think of England.' If people wanted advice on sex they had to resort to pornography, which was only available through expensive underground channels or by buying it abroad and smuggling it back - which by definition limited it to people with money and contacts (men, in other words).

WS was everything a lot of women in Britain weren't where sex was concerned; or at least, was accused of being so. Add in that she was American and already divorced, and the vilification practically wrote itself.

Because MM didn't want it lined! She was deliberately going for a copy Diana look, so she could go crying to Hazbeen saying 'look how mean the press are to me, just like they were to your mother!' And Haz fell for it, as usual.

As far as I understand Diana was given the finest education money can buy: she went to one of the best boarding schools in England

She was at school with Tilda Swinton, Cath Kidston and film maker Joanna Hogg. West Heath didn't turn out nonentities.

And while Diana wasn't academic, she did find out what she was good at, and did it very well. She didn't pretend to be someone she wasn't.

I think you have hit the nail on the head there @CoffeeCantata.

She was certainly poorly educated, as was HM the late Queen.

Someone else has answered about Diana's education.

In what way was the late Queen poorly educated? She was taught by a governess, as was usual for royal children at that time.

She then, once it was clear that she would later become Queen, had lessons from one of the masters at Eton.

Thinking about how neither H nor M show interest in learning about things...

One marker of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the topics of conversation that people feel comfortable with. Obviously people with NPD seem happy when the conversation is about themselves. The other type of conversation they feel comfortable with is the one where they're the "expert," i.e. they feel they know more about it than anyone else there. Could be literally anything - an abstract topic, or what time their neighbour put their bins out yesterday - but they HAVE to be the one imparting knowledge.

Any other type of subject? They will try to steer the conversation back as fast as possible to themselves, or to something they feel they are the "expert" on.

Learning can be very hard for these people. It's not going to happen organically, from listening to other people who know more than them, and asking questions. Because they hate that kind of interaction and will steer away from it. Of course, there are books, etc, but more or less any kind of learning involves acknowledging that there are people (usually quite a lot of people) who know more than you do about a given topic. And that you are unlikely to become the pre-eminent world expert on most things.

The people I've known who (I strongly believe) have NPD have been surprisingly ignorant. They might read an article, or even a book, about something, and then trot out a superficial fact or theory, but only if they believe they're the only person in their circle with even that level of knowledge about it. Otherwise they adopt the "proud to be ignorant" pose which shows disdain for some types of knowledge/learning as a waste of time - they are just superior to that type of thing; their natural perspicacity is a better guide. And (in my experience) they LOVE talking about their own childhood and history, and about their families, particularly the dead ones and the very young ones who can't contradict them. Because these are subjects which they can plausibly be the expert on.

Yes, but that wasn't enough for charles. While she was superb at being a princess, and no doubt a good mum, she and charles were just not right for each other.

To be fair her wedding dress did look crumpled, and that did detract from it's grandness close up.

I hadn't seen that before. Doesn't Wallis look like a nurse doing something with infected materials, whereas Megan looks mismatched like she couldn't decide if it was going to rain or shine, and then forgot to take the hat off once she'd decided.

There are many forms of intelligence.

Diana was not particularly successful in conventional academic terms, but she demonstrated strong emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.

The late Queen was educated according to the expectations of her time and station. Yet, despite the absence of a conventional university education, she had a firm grasp of constitutional history and law, showed remarkable social intelligence and possessed an exceptional memory (not to mention considerable diplomatic skill).

It makes me cross. If you don't need to work 40/50 hours in a job you may not like.( or like!) If you don't need to worry about food,housing,bills etc etc then you have an incredible luxury of being able to be intellectually curious and have time to think in depth and question. They have had access to some of the best Theologians,Professors etc etc and have been surrounded by amazing works of art,literature and history . I don't mean that those who do work and worry etc are not curious ..but it can be sporadic and crowded out by trying to do all the above that I first mentioned and it makes it much harder.

I remember some posters at the time saying it was just the light .
Of course it was .

I agree. Just think of the amazing library and artefacts stored in Windsor Castle. Prince Philip had an interest in space and amassed an amazing collection of books.

I would sell my soul for access to all that!😄

It's another reason why them wanging on about how hard done by they are gets my goat. They have absolutely no idea..

I know, I often think - just one afternoon to look at the archives! When they host heads of state, they put out books, letters and items from the archive that they think would be of interest

Oooooooo

If that was the case, Aprilfountain, I'd have expected a house like Givenchy to guide her towards something more suitable, though whether she'd have accepted the guidance is anyone's guess

Of course it was also Givenchy who caught a cold on the dreadful wedding dress, and we don't know what went on there either

Come to think of it, have they dressed her since Megxit? I can't find anything but imagine one of the fashion mavens on here will know?

I wonder if that outfit did come with an undershirt, Puzzled. But Meg’s decided she didn’t need it.

I would have been absolutely pecking Philip’s and TLQ’s heads about their experiences during the Second World War. I love oral history, and I’ve always loved listening to my own grandad’s stories about the war. There’s something incredibly special about hearing history from someone who actually lived through it (although I can well imagine Philip telling me to naff off after one too many questions).

I think Charles would be fascinating to talk to as well, he’s clearly very knowledgeable and has such wide ranging interests. And I’d love to have a little book club with Camilla over a G&T or two 🤣🥴

Camilla is very well read, I'd love to discuss books with her. Like you, it would have been amazing to learn about QEII and Prince Philip's earlier life experiences.