The Charities of the Duchess of Cambridge

[Limabeany]

if we compare him to his wife, he is a dynamo.  :happy15:

[TLLK]

^^^Pink energizer bunny banging on its drum just popped into my head.

[amabel]

Sophie is indeed pretty great, and she's associated with a variety of maternal health initiatives (including one related to infant mortality and low birth weight, and as others have mentioned several hospitals and the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists). 

true I imagine she does some good work but she and Edward were pretty much ordered to give up their business interests when the fake Sheik interview happened IIRC, because the queen got fed up with their business lives causing embarrassment and told them to stop this work and get onto the royal duties roster.

[cinrit]

^^ So the Queen does indeed give orders to get on with Royal work when she feels it's necessary....

Cindy

[amabel]

I don't think its that so much, that she felt the need of more helpers as she felt that Ed's business dealings and Sophie's were liable to get him into trouble.  So she put a stop ot them.

[cinrit]

^^ That's what I meant.  When she thinks they should be doing Royal duties, she has no problem saying so and doing something about it.

Cindy

[PaulaB]

I don't think its that so much, that she felt the need of more helpers as she felt that Ed's business dealings and Sophie's were liable to get him into trouble.  So she put a stop ot them.

Not to mention the pr firm she owned wnt under owing nearly two million that was never paid.

Sophie Wessex, her £1.7m business debt - and why she won¿t pay | Daily Mail Online

[amabel]

I don't think its that so much, that she felt the need of more helpers as she felt that Ed's business dealings and Sophie's were liable to get him into trouble.  So she put a stop ot them.

She probably pays for Ed and Sophie, so it is easy to call them and tell them what to do,.  less easy with Will Harry adn Kate sicne they are supported by Charles.  (Obviously if they were behaving badly she'd tell them and put a stop ot it).

[sandy]

I don't think its that so much, that she felt the need of more helpers as she felt that Ed's business dealings and Sophie's were liable to get him into trouble.  So she put a stop ot them.

Not to mention the pr firm she owned wnt under owing nearly two million that was never paid.

Sophie Wessex, her £1.7m business debt - and why she won¿t pay | Daily Mail Online

This is no excuse for Kate. Kate would never have had an outside job as a royal since she married a senior royal (unlike Sophie). Kate does not do much royal work or charity work.

[TLLK]

^^ That's what I meant.  When she thinks they should be doing Royal duties, she has no problem saying so and doing something about it.

Cindy

HM is the head of the "Firm" for a reason. If she needs advice she'd turn to her senior royals (DoE, PoW, PR) and get their views as well. When they're ready to bring the junior team up to bat on the full time roster(Cambridges/Harry) then they'll issue that order. For the time being, HM seems content with her  cousins, sons, daughter and in-laws as her full time representatives.

I appreciate that she gave the Wessexes an opportunity to try and have  independent careers in the early years of their marriage. I'm sorry that it did not work out. I do believe that the BRF were correct in expecting the Phillips children, York princesses and more than likely the Wessex children to seek a life outside the royal bubble. Carrying out an occasional duty on behalf of a particular charity or to participate in a big event ie: Trooping the Colour is IMO appropriate for HM and the DoE's other grandchildren.

[sandy]

I don't think the seniors would prevent a royal from working if he wanted to. Why would the Queen authorize the refurbishment of KP if she did not want Will to step up. Now he has two lavish homes and one will probably be mostly unused. It is hard to believe the Queen is behind Will's not being a full time royal. This is all on William and I don't get why others are scapegoated for his laziness. The Quene probably is hoping the William problem will be resolved before there is some sort of a crisis (maybe he totally loathes full time royal duties).

The Wessexes are way down in the line of succession (at least Edward, James and Louise are) so they could have a lot more leeway.

William is not much of a junior anymore--he's a grown man of 32, married with a child and one on the way. He's a grown up now, nothing "junior" about hio year

I remember the classic excuse that the Queen was giving them a two year "honeymoon" period where they did not have to take on full time duties or even step up. Well the two years are long up and same old same old With WIll taking a gap year and decides he wants to fly copters again.

[TLLK]

I believe that she and her team of advisors believed that refurbishing Apt. 1A was the best decision at the time  when they went ahead.   Nottingham Cottage was proving to be  too small for the Cambridges and their new addition. (William apparently had to duck to move through the rooms.) Also,  they wouldn't be living in Wales after August 2013 once his SAR contract ran out.

The BRF likes to plan long term whenever possible. The Cambridges were going to need a London base for their family through the coming decades until William ascended the throne. The funds were available to begin the work needed to do asbestos removal, upgrades to plumbing, electrical etc...that would meet modern building codes. Once the walls were   open the contractors had the opportunity to see that additional work would be needed.

The couple plan to use KP for the long haul but will have AH available while he works for the ambulance service.  :)

[Limabeany]

That is an unreasonably, ridiculously expensive and ill-timed "home base" for a place they will not be living in in the foreseeable future. It was a poorly timed or ill-informed decision HM. I agree with Sandy, HM could only have done this if she thought William was going to step up, otherwise, this huge expense for a house that will remain empty most of the time simply lacks common sense.

[TLLK]

IMO the "Firm" thinks long term or decades in advance. Having the funds available to make the necessary repairs and refurbishment for Apt. 1A so that the Cambridges could use it for years was a wise decision on the part of HM and her team of advisors. However if you think that it wasn't that's okay too. :)

[Limabeany]

If the Cambridges would be using it IN YEARS AWAY, there was no need for the urgency with which it was done. The Queen and William were clearly not in sync and William won or she let him, at great unwarranted and ill-timed expense to her.

[TLLK]

On this we'll have to disagree. Those who were in charge of the plans, finances, and more for the maintenance of the palaces have far more information at their disposal than I do and came to the conclusion that refurbishing/repair/removal work at Apt. 1A was a good idea.

I do believe that the BRF was in a wait and see mode in summer 2013. Three working members of the BRF were facing significant health issues. William had completed his SAR term and was not going to sign up with it again. There was a real possibility that the roster of full time royals could change in those months.  I believe that if the BRF needed to call up William to the full time list then he couldn't be committed to something else permanent at that point in time. (Now I do believe that all royals have a "Get out of my contract clause" in all of their contracts but only to be used if absolutely necessary. :wink:) Having William in a "transition year" was the solution until things were settled. KP still remains as a London base for now and in the future.  :)

[Limabeany]

This did not look good or even coordinated, no matter which way it is spinned to make them all look good. William left the Queen with egg on her face for such a poor hasty investment at a time when it was not going to be used full time.

[TLLK]

 :truce: And once again we'll agree to disagree. I can safely predict that tomorrow we're likely to do it again. :lol: :hug:

[Limabeany]

i see all the explanations about why the Queen and Charles, who battle to have their budgets and expenses from the public and to not have it trimmed, in HM's case or taxed, in Charles' case, would subject themselves to criticism and scrutiny by spending 6 Million pounds on a house if they knew for a fact William would not be living in it, after saying, in HM's case that 44 Million were needed for urgent repairs on buildings that ARE being usedand seeing that 6M is actually a huge chunk of their budgets, and it doesn't make sense to me, this simply does not extrapolate to the real world with real people with real budgets, which they are despite the castles and tiaras. They have budgets and are smart enough to know they are under scrutiny like never before, so, I guess we will always disagree on this.  :truce: :)

[wannable]

The BRF likes to plan long term whenever possible. The Cambridges were going to need a London base for their family through the coming decades until William ascended the throne. The funds were available to begin the work needed to do asbestos removal, upgrades to plumbing, electrical etc...that would meet modern building codes. Once the walls were   open the contractors had the opportunity to see that additional work would be needed.

The couple plan to use KP for the long haul but will have AH available while he works for the ambulance service.  :)

This! Has been planned and anyone can find the news of temporary use of Notts Cottage and moving to A1 since November 2011, 8 months from their wedding of April 2011.

It was always planned, liking how much or not the amount they work, gifted or not A Hall, press noted almost one full year before September 2012 RAF departure, growing family or not.  There is 2 annual reports of money's disbursement For both SG and DOC. One expected them to have two residences, official and private.

BTW, the pow site is down for maintenance.

[Limabeany]

No one expected them to spend nearly ten million pounds on two residences, one of which they will not live in for a few years , especially given that they will not be full time royals for the foreseeable future. These are not the times when royal expenses go unquestioned and HM knows this, this expense of a large chink of HM's and PC's budget is unreasonable and unjustified and I'll-timed unless they were full time royals, regardless of their Prince and Princess status, which is only useful to them to get bodyguards.

[TLLK]

The BRF likes to plan long term whenever possible. The Cambridges were going to need a London base for their family through the coming decades until William ascended the throne. The funds were available to begin the work needed to do asbestos removal, upgrades to plumbing, electrical etc...that would meet modern building codes. Once the walls were   open the contractors had the opportunity to see that additional work would be needed.

The couple plan to use KP for the long haul but will have AH available while he works for the ambulance service.  :)

This! Has been planned and anyone can find the news of temporary use of Notts Cottage and moving to A1 since November 2011, 8 months from their wedding of April 2011.

It was always planned, liking how much or not the amount they work, gifted or not A Hall, press noted almost one full year before September 2012 RAF departure, growing family or not.  There is 2 annual reports of money's disbursement For both SG and DOC. One expected them to have two residences, official and private.

BTW, the pow site is down for maintenance.

Thank you wannable. Thank you for the news on the PoW site.

[Canuck]

Since the Queen holds the purse strings on refurbishment of Royal residences, I'm willing to trust her judgment as to what and when things should be done. 

As others have said:  once Will left the RAF, they obviously needed somewhere to live.  The cottage they used at KP was clearly not going to work once they started expanding their family.  Since 1A was always intended to be their long-term home, and the place wasn't in a state to be a family home prior to the renovations, it seems sensible to me that they went ahead with the necessary work on that apartment once the family left Anglesey.

As for Anmer, all of the Royals have a country home, and Will and Kate were never going to be different in that respect.  I think the timing was probably a product of the decision for Will to work at the air ambulance service in that area, as well as George's arrival and the desire to set up a home outside of London where there would be less press intrusion and more room to roam for him and any additional children.  Again, that seems pretty sensible to me.

Will and Kate will be Royals the rest of their lives, and in all likelihood will live in those homes at least until Will becomes King.  Whether the money was spent last year or five years from now, it was going to be spent.  I don't understand why it would have been better to keep Will, Kate, George, and now a new baby in a small two bedroom cottage for the next five years, and frankly I think that's pretty unrealistic.

[Limabeany]

I disagree. There was no need to hurry about it as they did, if living in it was not a plan for the foreseeable future, there are plenty of royal residences or spaces at royal residences they could have used as once in a blue moon accommodations until they were ready to occupy a permanent space full time. Unless all of William's decisions are made last minute, this huge expense could have waited until they would be occupying it full time, until William was ready to leave, this expense on a virtually abandoned home, for the foreseeable future, is wasteful and disorganized.

[cinrit]

William will never live in one residence full time, just as none of the other Royals live in one residence full time.  Why is he getting these perks?  Maybe because he's slated to sit on the throne after his father.  There are people who don't think this is fair, don't think this is right, don't think this is equitable.  But bottom-line, that's the way it is, whether we approve or don't approve.

Cindy