The family firm.

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

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.

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?

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.

nights

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?

Children living in the catchment area being vetted and selected ?

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

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..

I think the same *MOnica,

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.

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 .

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.

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

Good post, Eloethan

Walk a mile in her shoes.
I’m glad she said yes to William, she’s doing the job that most of us would hate really well, IMO.

Meghan is still finding a pair of shoes to fit.

Thinking of the leaders of the political parties we have the thought of electing a president doesn’t appeal to me.

And a president would be wealthy, he/she would need to be wealthy to fight a campaign.

It all comes down to the attitude to the 'job'. Kate and William had a long engagement and after their marriage she eased herself gradually into royal life. There was just as much interest in her public appearances as there are now for Meghan but apart from a few fashion errors (skirts far too short) she handled everything with dignity. William has something Harry will never have - loving and supportive in-laws so hopefully their children will grow up with a balanced approach to their privileged lives.

What kind of future will Archie have? He's only a baby at the moment but it looks like H&M are going to bring him up straddling royal and celebrity life while isolating him from any source of normality and refusing any contact with half his family.

I doubt we'll be seeing any pictures of him rough and tumbling around with his Tindall cousins. He may not even be living in the country that has paid for his father's lavish life style.

When Meghan gets her way and they re-locate to Los Angeles, can we have our money back renovating Frogmore Cottage?

So Meghan and Harry are not going to Balmoral this summer as Archie is “too young”.
Given how much the Queen loves Balmoral and having her family around her, I see this as a bit of a slap in the face. If I were Harry’s Granny I would be very disappointed .

Too young for Balmoral but not for Africa or Elton John’s holiday mansion.

My thoughts exactly Annie two foreign holidays in 2 weeks, flying off to Africa but too young to go to Scotland.
Hardly an arduous journey with staff on hand to pave the way.
When my GS was 6 weeks old my D flew to Antigua with him to join her H.
She had all his stuff, changed planes at Gatwick and then an 8 hour flight all on her own.
Somehow she survived.

Country life is part and parcel of being a royal. Diana struggled with it and hated Balmoral. Meghan will have been told all this and the problems it caused so she should make the effort to support her husband and his grandmother, not kick against the system.

She has no intention of fitting in. She got what she wanted and now wants to exploit it.

Sad isn’t it?
Harry was/is very close to his grandmother but things are changing.
Also I thought the Balmoral holiday was a three-line whip for Royals, but Meghan clearly has her own agenda.