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Mouth open duchess

(196 Posts)
Baggs Wed 02-Feb-22 13:16:28

I expect to be told I'm being unreasonable for saying that I wish there were fewer pictures in the press of Kate Middleton (oh yes, you can complain about that too ?) with her mouth open. Today's were accompanying news of her taking on what used to be Harry's rugby patronages.

I think she'll be a great ambassador (is that the word?) for the sport and, as usual, she looks a model of forty-year-old fitness. She even looks elegant in a track suit.

But the gaping maw? (no offence maybemaw; your maw is a different word).

Josieann Thu 03-Feb-22 09:44:56

Spelling mistake "expression" ... I was drinking a strong black before work.

Josieann Thu 03-Feb-22 09:45:52

Josieann

Spelling mistake "expression" ... I was drinking a strong black before work.

Sorry that was to Alegrias.

Must go, my charges are waiting.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 03-Feb-22 09:46:22

True. Lucky them. But it’s not a crime.

Josieann Thu 03-Feb-22 09:48:06

And it just occurred to me I meet even be teaching the future wife of George this morning!

Alegrias1 Thu 03-Feb-22 09:48:28

Josieann

Spelling mistake "expression" ... I was drinking a strong black before work.

It wasn't the spelling mistake that I was pointing out. Those happen to all of us, all the time.

It was the assertion that you think I'm a bit out of touch.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 09:49:33

Sago

Alegrias1 I would say the D of C was born into a privileged family.
Her multi millionaire parents run a very successful business and paid for their 3 children to go to public school.

Her Mum started the business from her kitchen table.

It wasn't inherited wealth.

Anyone with a bit of intelligence, ambition and oomph could do the same.
(I don't have the oomph before you ask)

GrannyLaine Thu 03-Feb-22 09:50:54

Sago

Alegrias1 I would say the D of C was born into a privileged family.
Her multi millionaire parents run a very successful business and paid for their 3 children to go to public school.

Privileged?

The Middletons were a pretty ordinary family who set up a small business and worked hard to get where they are now? It wasn't handed to them on a plate. How they chose to invest their income is their own business.

GrannyLaine Thu 03-Feb-22 09:51:49

Sorry *Callistemon, you beat me to it.

Mollygo Thu 03-Feb-22 10:11:55

Callistemon21/GrannyLaine, thé Middletons certainly did what you say.
Out of touch? That means you only know things by hearsay-newspapers, media etc. So I’m out of touch with all bar 2 on GN.
No, I’m sure the posters criticising are intimate with the RF so their criticisisms are based on what they personally know and know exactly what the RF have to do.

Sago Thu 03-Feb-22 10:17:55

Wealth is wealth it makes no difference how the Middletons made their money!

If being born into a family with two incomes, living in a nice house in the Home Counties and having a public school education isn’t privilege then what is?

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 10:23:26

Sago

Wealth is wealth it makes no difference how the Middletons made their money!

If being born into a family with two incomes, living in a nice house in the Home Counties and having a public school education isn’t privilege then what is?

I don't think the family had all that when the children were small.

Anyone with a bit of ambition, initiative and brains could do it.

Parsley3 Thu 03-Feb-22 10:30:42

Germanshepherdsmum

Makes a pleasant change from that wee witchy you have up there Alegrias.

Do you mean Princess Anne who is a patron of Scottish Rugby Union? I take it you are still referring to Catherine and her new patronage.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 10:34:25

Prince William is patron of Welsh Rugby.

I can see a family feud in the offing - there'll be a right old scrum for possession. Who's going to score the first try?

Sago Thu 03-Feb-22 10:51:59

Callistemon21 I cannot think why I didn’t use my initiative and brains to set up a business when my children were young.

Ah! I’ve remembered now, childcare was ridiculously expensive, we could only afford one car, I had no parental support as we lived hundreds of miles from family.
We had no spare money to invest in any kind of business.

Our first home cost 17K in 1982 in the North of England, we were so proud, in 1986 we bought our second home for 28K, we we’re over the moon.

Carole and Michael Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's parents, bought their first family home West View in Cock Lane in Berkshire for £34,700 in 1979.

I don’t think they were doing badly.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 11:10:55

Carole and Michael Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's parents, bought their first family home West View in Cock Lane in Berkshire for £34,700 in 1979.
About the same time we paid £40,000 for our second home in a leafy London suburb - normal prices for that time.
It was a small semi.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 11:13:24

I don't feel at all resentful of anyone who works hard and does well for themselves.
Good for them!

I'm not business-minded.

Dickens Thu 03-Feb-22 11:18:00

Sago

Wealth is wealth it makes no difference how the Middletons made their money!

If being born into a family with two incomes, living in a nice house in the Home Counties and having a public school education isn’t privilege then what is?

If being born into a family with two incomes, living in a nice house in the Home Counties and having a public school education isn’t privilege then what is?

... being born into one of the stately homes of the British aristocracy whose wealth was sometimes gained, historically, through theft, violence and unrepentant greed?

If Mrs Middleton sat down at her kitchen table and started a successful business earning an income - husband Michael leaving his job as a flight despatcher to help out with the growing demand and the children pitching in - that's hardly in the same category of 'privilege' is it? They did what most people do, worked for a living, but set up their own company instead of working for someone else's.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 11:22:32

Hear hear, Dickens

You don't need to pay a childminder or nanny if you work from your kitchen table. It wouldn't be easy either.

Ah! I’ve remembered now, childcare was ridiculously expensive, we could only afford one car, I had no parental support as we lived hundreds of miles from family.

Ditto - and perhaps I should have done what Carole did!

Beswitched Thu 03-Feb-22 11:28:38

Michael and Carol Middleton didn't come from privileged backgrounds but they certainly gave their children quite a privileged upbringing. A beautiful house, expensive boarding schools, ready made jobs in the family business.
Yes they worked very hard for it and good for them, but Kate and her siblings did grow up with a lot of privileges due to their parents hard work.

And I don't agree that anyone with a bit of initiative and a good work ethic can build a successful business. Far more new start ups fáil than succeed every year. It requires a certain talent and business nous, which most of us don't have.

Callistemon21 Thu 03-Feb-22 11:31:09

It requires a certain talent and business nous, which most of us don't have.
It does, yes, and I recognise my limitations grin

And I am thankful that my DD didn't marry into the RF too.

Bridgeit Thu 03-Feb-22 11:36:00

You may have a point if it was a ‘ selfie that she herself posted’
But it isn’t & she didn’t.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 03-Feb-22 11:50:47

I’m sure you know who the wee witchy is Parsley. And it’s not Princess Anne.

Dickens Thu 03-Feb-22 12:05:47

Beswitched

And I don't agree that anyone with a bit of initiative and a good work ethic can build a successful business. Far more new start ups fáil than succeed every year. It requires a certain talent and business nous, which most of us don't have.

I think you're right. And it also requires a certain 'frame of mind'. If you're impoverished - worrying about where the next meal is coming from, or disabled / sick, or have mental health issues - all these things would make it difficult to start up a business.

Kate was 'priviliged' - or lucky - to be born into a family who had the ability to become successful business owners (who knows, she might appreciate that fact herself), but she's hardly in the category of the elite aristocracy whose wealth and estate is handed down through the generations.

Beswitched Thu 03-Feb-22 12:37:22

No, but there are different levels of privilege and Kate definitely had a more privileged start in life than the average person. Which is, I think, the point Sago was making.

Alegrias1 Thu 03-Feb-22 12:57:01

So I've expressed this observation before, but I'll have another go.

There are some posters who, irrespective of the topic of the thread, look for some roundabout method of introducing a way of getting at the Scots and their elected leader. If misogyny can be included, so much the better.

Which means to me, either they are trying to wind up some Scots posters, or they are so obsessed and terrified of a country on their borders which is being run by a woman, that they try to bring it up at every opportunity.

Either way, its a sad state of affairs.

Apologies for being off-topic. I'm away for my haggis and my wee deoch an doris before my bagpipe lesson.