"I'll celebrate her birth when..."

More than the fringes surely if the queen attends your parents wedding and is godmother to you brother, you granny is very close to the queen mother , her father was an equerry to the queen and her father. Brought up at Sandringham, holidayed in Balmoral , if there was truth that Charles was involved with a woman Diana never heard of it!

rose

The Middletons' expressions were a world away from the ear to ear grins after George was born.

Strange really because I had a grin like a Cheshire cat when our first grandchild was born.....and for the second and third etc., etc.

You're right, she was brought up on the fringes of the royal circle.
Unlike Kate Middleton.

Must read posts more carefully, I read it as 'her sister dated Charles the First'

They didn't look apprehensivve, jingl - he looked dishevelled and she had a face like thunder!

She was not from another country, she was part of the royal circle from birth, her sister dated Charles first, she didn't know what she was taking on?

I think she'll be alright in Norfolk. She seemed happy enough to sit and read in the dunes on Anglesey. Maybe she is a quiet person privately.

The Middletons did look very apprehensive didn't they. Perhaps it is all a bit scary for them.

Good point jinglbellsfrocks. I think there was a point when Diana was being seriously demonised by the Establishment where she had no option but to try to manipulate things to her point of view a little.

Diana was 'needy' and Royal men don't do 'needy'.

If Kate gets a bit wrung out by it all I think William will point her in the direction of her mother. It's all part of the plan.

However, the expressions on the faces of the Middleton parents when visiting the baby suggests 'trouble at t'mill'.

Just like any other family then

How daft and starry eyed were any of us at 18 or 19? (don't answer that - you were probably all very sensible and level-headed)

Perhaps she was - once she'd been forcibly backed into a corner. I think she was daft to marry him. She must have known there was no real love.

Anniebach how do you know Diana was manipulative?

Sorry rosequartz , lamb to the slaughter she was not, they thought they were getting a lamb though

Furst?! I left Devon years ago!

Lamb to the slaughter comes to mind (Diana).
It must have been a shock to find out that your husband-to-be didn't love you and it was too late to back out. Not what I would have wanted for my 19 year old DD. Mind you, I felt sorry for Charles too, not being able to choose his own bride, trying his best at furst but not succeeding.
There were too many manipulators with their own agenda - let's hope the Cambridges bring a more modern approach to the monarchy.

I disliked Diana because I dislike manipulators. That William and Kate are so far bringing up their children the very opposite to the way William was.

I fail to see how the middletons planned to get their daughter into St Andrews, so could not have plotted as some claim. It was Johnnie Spencer who had two daughters lined up for the heir to the throne

Jing - you would be right. If only I had thought of all these clever ripostes at the time! All this happened...... let's see, DD was born in 1978 so it was....eeek!...thirty four years ago. What a sad old bat I must be to still feel angry after all these years! It's odd, though, that one incident really put me off the royals, the whole lot of them. Well, I do have some sympathy for Diana, I suppose, although even she was somewhat manipulative I'd have to say.

My dad was very anti-royal. On the day Prince Andrew was due to be born, my dad took me up to London for a job interview with the civil service (didn't get it, thank god). After the interview I begged him to go to Buck Pal with me to see if an announcement had been made about the birth. Very reluctantly he agreed and, as luck would have it, we were standing at the front of the crowd at the palace railings when the notice was put up (no easil in those days, just the railing). Spotting a photographer my disgusted dad turned and pushed his way out of the crowd, closely followed by moi, not wanting to get left behind. In the next day's national papers was a picture of the crowd at the Palace, all craning forward to read the notice, apart from just two heads, me and my dad, facing towards the camera and trying to escape! I still have that picture somewhere.

I might have sugested that her souvenir shop was full of pricey junk rather than "valuable things".

I think the Middletons had 'a cunning plan' with regards to their daughter which culminated in her probably getting an even better catch than even they planned for. Which, again makes me sound as if I don't like her. I do. I also adored Diana, which is why I'm so fond of William and Harry and really want them to be happy. However, going back to the OP does freedom include being able to get onto the property ladder; afford to have children and, if you do, not to have to leave them in a nursery every day while you go back to work to help pay the mortgage etc etc. Afford to have a higher education ?

She was a bit of a rebel. Not a team player like Kate.

I liked Diana too. Felt sorry that she had the whole of the bloody establishment against her after the divorce.

Ghastly woman - how infuriating for you NotTooOld. You can imagine what sort of miserable childhood Diana must have had with a stepmother like that. Diana's the only one of the whole bunch I've ever had any liking or sympathy for (though these days, of course, it's not very fashionable to say so).

Followed by "Of course, her co-ordination and spatial awareness are very good for her age. She never endangers any fragile objects."

Why do we always think of these answers when it is too late? What I believe is "l'esprit d'escalier" in French - staircase wit.

Nice one, Elegran!

Suits her but I could think of a better one without much effort, rose!