Idle thoughts really…….

I never ever go out without a handbag.
Where on earth do you carry your money, your measuring tape, your shoe horn, your pen and notebook, your folding shopping bag, your painkiller/ indigestion tablets, nail scissors, hotel acquired sewing kit.
Wet wipes, plasters, the list is endless.

To get to practicalities for the royals, what about tampons or similar items, or medication. I assume a lady in waiting or equivalent carry them?

Don't you think a woman gets to a certain age where buying any item of clothing without a pocket in it seems like madness? Perhaps Kate has arrived there.
It really annoys me that my OH's pj bottoms all have pockets. Ladies mostly don't.
The one thing I wouldn't like about being royal is things like needing to blow your nose, adjust your underwear etc. You would have to be careful what you did with photographers watching every move.

annsixty

I never ever go out without a handbag.
Where on earth do you carry your money, your measuring tape, your shoe horn, your pen and notebook, your folding shopping bag, your painkiller/ indigestion tablets, nail scissors, hotel acquired sewing kit.
Wet wipes, plasters, the list is endless.

annsixty where indeed! ?
Not to mention your mobile phone, some hand cream, hand sanitizer, clean masks, glasses cleaner etc.

I always have a pack of tissues or hanky handy as I may suddenly get a nose itch and sneeze two or three times on the trot!

And, of course, your keys, especially when I give the chauffeur the day off.

If they sneeze in public they just sneeze in their hand even before covid this wouldn't be recommended. What if they were about to shake someone's hand?

Never need a hankie?she doesn’t need money or retouch her makeup so why need a bag?leaves her hands more free to shake hands only thing good at?

Peasblossom, that's where I keep my hankie if I've no pocket - in my bra! (Hankies always fall out of my sleeves.) I feel sure that the ladies-and-gentlemen-in-waiting carry everything a Royal might need, and that they have ways of administering to their needs, most discreetly.

Oh dear, another worry. Next time I shake a Royal's hand will it be germ-ridden?

Maybe she tucks one in her bra. Or maybe she has a discrete pocket in all her clothes.

Just going off kilter here, but it amazes me how we never see to see royalty yawn, I can yawn all day......and going back to the thread, I aways seem to need to blow my nose, especially if wearing a mask !!! So hankies are a necessity, but only throw away ones.

I often wonder about the royals accidentally breaking wind, I’m sure we all have at some point imagine them leaving a smelly trail ?

The Royal ladies all have Ladies in waiting to carry their essentials. You very rarely see the Queen carrying a handbag.

Very rarely feel the need to carry a handbag. I keep a couple of tissues, a lipstick,reading glasses and my phone in my coat pocket or sometimes my phone in my jeans pocket.

Rather the huge handkerchief than the hand Zoejory!

I always carry tissues in my bag or pockets when I go out. Cold air and shopping centres make my nose run. Antihistamine tablets usually help as well.

I think blowing one’s nose into a cotton handkerchief is revolting ? imagine having to wash them! Yuck!

Don't start me off on washing things I'd rather throw away. I try to be as environmentally friendly as I can recycling most things but some things I draw the line at.

Lizzie44

Oh dear, another worry. Next time I shake a Royal's hand will it be germ-ridden?

It's going to be anyway. They will have been shaking all sorts of other hands. We'll maybe not since covid but before that....

Well, I wouldn't want to be without a hanky, which is why I choose clothes that have pockets.

I know exactly how hard these are to find for women, but as members of any royal family usually have their clothes made by tailors and dressmakers, it can' tbe such a problem for them.

If I were the Duchess of Cambridge's age I wouldn't want to be seen in public with anything as old-ladyish as a handbag!

Perhaps she does ask her lady-in-waiting for a tissue if she needs one.

DH frequently asks me for one, when he has forgotten to provide himself with a packet.

Well in that case... although it's very unlikely anyway, I hope I NEVER have to shake the royal paw

Fun fact - as we get older the lining in our nose becomes thinner hence why it'll run more ?

Can’t imagine not having a handbag. As well as tissues, there’s, purse, comb, lipstick, phone, and these days a couple of masks in a clean cover.
Maybe Catherine’s lady in waiting carries all that for her but
I don’t think an outfit is finished without a bag.

I always carry a shoulder bag, quite a capacious one. It has to accommodate two inhalers and spacers, a large purse, mobile phone, tissues!, wet wipes and protective underwear (the reasons for which I won't expand on here ). I designed and made the bag I'm using at the moment to fit all these things in as discreetly as possible. Nevertheless I sometimes feel like a packhorse! Sometimes I add inseam pockets into trousers and tops that I buy to slip a tissue in rather than stuff it up my sleeve. Tissues are a bit of a necessity for sinus sufferers. I would think the Royal's clothes also have hidden pockets designed into them.

I shall now carefully avoid shaking hands with any Royals I might meet!

A hankie always comes flying out of my bra when I take it off at night. Other stuff DH has been amused by include raffle tickets, pound coins and the odd £20 note.

Zoejory

I hadn't looked at all the images but in that article but have now seen Prince Charles has an enormous handkerchief

My DH often was on duty when Chuck was visiting oop North and two things stuck with him: he ALWAYS ALWAYS. Wore that clapped out old camel overcoat , having it darned/repaired/remodelled over the years, and he ALWAYS used ENORMOUS white cotton hankies! Monogrammed? Dunno! But he says he was always a really attentive and appreciative guest, and made effort to have a quick word /joke or just a smile to those on duties for him. A thoroughly nice bloke was and still is his impression!