The family firm.

Good post, Eloethan

I wouldn't have their lives for a gold clock !

Do people honestly think Kate was unaware of the sort of lifestyle she would have if she married a member of the royal family? If the idea of being in the public eye and having to adhere to a certain dress code was so abhorrent to her then she would presumably have nipped her relationship with William in the bud.

Most people leading "ordinary" lives have to relinquish their freedom - to perhaps do a job that they don't particularly like and for which they are not properly rewarded, to be forced to wear a works uniform or stick to a dress code, to have little control over their working lives, have restrictions on when they may take their holidays, etc, etc. Can you really compare the minor inconveniences and intrusions that the royal family experience (in exchange for vast amounts of money and privileges), with the many demands and stresses placed on ordinary working people?

In years gone by, "commoners" would have risked their lives if they expressed any negative views regarding the monarchy. Many of them - living in that culture of fear - internalised the notion that members of the monarchy were intrinsically superior to themselves and deserving of their enormous privileges. It was no doubt easier and safer to go down that road than to risk execution. I find it difficult to understand how it is possible these days for sensible adults to so vigorously support a system of entrenched and unearned privilege that sits squarely in opposition to notions of fairness, respect and equality of opportunity for all.

The thing is I dont think they or anyone else SHOULD have the "job" hereditary power and privilege such as monarchy is just wrong.Its medieval and should have been left in the middle ages .
I'd hazard a guess Katie has someone who does her hair and makeup Annie AND leaves her clothes out for her.Thats hardly difficult to live with .Some of us had to be well dressed for the school run every day because we were heading straight to work ...after all the stuff Gilly mentioned ...and we managed it fine .Without a hand in the public purse .

Yes, people think that having money is the answer to everything but it isn’t. Linda McCartney and Steve Jobs were both rolling in the stuff and it didn’t save them did it! I’m settling for good health for me and mine and a quiet life cutting my coat accordingly.

I think the same *MOnica,

Actually gillybob I would rather be rushing around getting school things etc (and I did for many years) than have to spend the eternal hours she must spend primping and visiting hairdressers, manicurists, beauticians, dressmakers, couturiers and stylists in order to keep herself so slim and so perfectly turned out and made up because of the wide spread criticism she would face if she did anything else.

Having had a perfectly ordinary background herself, she must often long to slip on jeans, sweater and flatties on and drive to children to school in the family banger, without make up or a her hair done.

Given the disaster prince Charles made of his marriage, we should be glad that his son and successor managed to snabble someone prepared to to accept the really difficult and frequently dead boring job of being royalty.

....and do not go on about the money. Personally, I wouldn't do the job were I to be as wealthy as Bill Gates, if I did..

It would have been great if they'd got the bus to school. Harry and Megan would have combusted

The teacher was not curtsying to any of them! She bent down to greet the children, and shook hands with parents. Not a bow or a curtsy to be seen!!

It would have been great if they'd got the bus to school. Harry and Megan would have combusted!

Children living in the catchment area being vetted and selected ?

Wouldn't it have been just lovely to see little Prince George and little Princess Charlotte attending their local primary school instead of some elite £x thousand a year private school with great facilities. very small classes and a few carefully vetted classmates?

nights

What very nasty posts.
I was a working single mother but I didn't find it necessary to get up at 5am to put the wash on, the packed lunches were done the night before; some of our clothes were even second hand. After I dropped the children off I had a 45 minute to an hour's drive through heavy traffic on the outskirts of Birmingham in an old unreliable car, a day's teaching plus all that went with it, marking , meetings et al, then return journey, after-school activities: ballet, cubs, swimming three night's a week, properly cooked meals apart from wonderful fish and chips after swimming and no husband around to help. Looking back I think I was amazingly marvellous; somehow I managed to run my house and job and make ends meet without having to vent my spleen on the royal family.

Oh for the "good old days" when people respected their betters and anyone who didn't stand up for the national anthem and flag wave at every opportunity was considered a dangerous revolutionary!

Seriously though, if someone chooses to start a thread of such unctuous praise of the monarchy, it is hardly surprising that others express a different opinion. Why should people be accused of "whining" and "hatred" just because their views do not accord with the OP?

If they didn't allow the children to be filmed going to school on Charlotte's first day and just put an arty photo on Instagram they'd be accused of being just as aloof and hypocritical as Harry and Meghan.

The Cambridge's are only doing what's expected of them.

pinkquartz I don't think she was bowing to the princess - she was bending down to shake her hand - don't imagine things which aren't there

pinkquartz. Would a president mean you would be financially better off ?

Thank your lucky stars that the royals are who they are. Imagine if the UK were to, in the next poll vote for a President!

I can't imagine not having to worry about housing or paying bills. I can't afford a new wheelchair and never have a holiday......yes I would swap.
A change is as good as a rest and I think the royal lives are a doddle.
Time for a republic.

I am very much anti royal but I can still see how relaxed and normal Kate looks in the photos. She is the most normal looking and also seems genuine in enjoying her life.
Huge contrast to the MM woman.

I don't like the teacher bowing to the Princess though......what does that do to a four year old ego?
Can you discipline a child you bow to or do they still have a whipping boy/girl around?

I think we’d all agree that everyone has pressures to contend with and the royals are no different. The idea that they don’t have problems and worries is naive - they just have different ones to the rest of us.

I agree Annie it's all relative. Different stresses for Kate, I would find it stressful having every move publicised and criticised. Yes I know she chose to join the Royal Family but you can't know how difficult it is until you experience it.
I'm glad to be sitting at home with my feet up on the sofa and bra off, no paparazzi peeking through the uncleaned windows.

So she will never have to steam fleas off animal skins, clean
2 sacks sprouts, check the electric readings every night.

I never had to look perfect every time I left the house, have the press and public criticise my children, have my marriage picked to bits by the media, never had to only be me in my own home.

the usual hate posts

I don't hate the royal family, but the discussion about them is valid.