Relationships between the members of the British royal family

[royalanthropologist]

Meghan has proved that she can survive in the outside world without any royal trappings. I doubt the Windsors can do without their life state benefits and vast trust funds. On that score alone, she is intelligent.

As for the "past", this is a family with all sorts of goodies including interesting phone conversations, rampant cheating, outright cruelty, family dysfunction, terrible "isms" (by the current patriarch no less), Nazi costumes, some drugs etc...(I am beginning to sound like the DM. LOL :hehe:) The Markles seem tame when compared to what the Windsors are capable of doing.

My point is...the hatefest for this girl seems so OTT...just so OTT. Not even a pregnancy will cause people to pause. DM is stirring for the clicks...I get that but there is a real human being behind that with feelings, hopes, fears and expectations. Thankfully, there are still people who are giving her a chance. I hope she survives the onslaught.

[TLLK]

My point is...the hatefest for this girl seems so OTT...just so OTT. Not even a pregnancy will cause people to pause. DM is stirring for the clicks...I get that but there is a real human being behind that with feelings, hopes, fears and expectations.

It's also rather obvious IMO that some DM commenters don't bother to even read the articles. Some actually boast that their sole purpose is to participate in the commenting. :shrug:

With a guaranteed source of revenue, the tabloids are not going to back down at this point. Sadly it would take a tragedy for them to switch the narrative. The BRF cannot stop the Markles from adding to the narrative either as her family has shown repeatedly that they don't really care about Meghan or anything other than themselves.  :no:

[sandy]

The key word in the headline is "rumored." I don't think it is factual and the DM made it up to get clickbait

[TLLK]

@royalanthropologist -A tricky balancing act between keeping the mystique in the later 20th and 21st century while staying in tune with the public's interest. Unfortunately the BRF's personal lives: Princess Margaret,  the War of the Wales, the Yorks, the Princess Royal's divorce, the death of  Diana, Princess of Wales  continued to be the headline news for a very long time. All of these events were guaranteed income generators for the tabloids. The advent of social media has taken this to a new audience and IMHO a new low. I'm sorry that Meghan and to some degree Harry are the primary targets  now.  :(

[royalanthropologist]

I sometimes wonder whether the BRF has contributed to their plight or whether it is just the tabloids. The Scandinavians have some interesting scandals involving the king and a mistress (I think her name is actually Camilla) but you never hear anything near the vitriol that we have in the UK.

I think there are also some fans that feel Meghan is not good enough for one of "Diana's boys" so they are taking her through her paces. Hopefully, if they see her in action they will see that she is actually a very good addition to the BRF. Kate can be the "Mary of Teck" type queen and Meghan will be the more accessible face of monarchy. No need to attack one to raise the other. They are both great women in their own ways. Interestingly I think that their personalities match those of their husbands. Harry would be bored by a Kate and William would be overwhelmed by a Meghan.

[amabel]

But that's not what is happening... it seems to me that the fans are attracted by the whole business of the Internet, to form groups supporting one or the other....
Double post auto-merged: December 30, 2018, 06:02:13 PM

@royalanthropologist -A tricky balancing act between keeping the mystique in the later 20th and 21st century while staying in tune with the public's interest. Unfortunately the BRF's personal lives: Princess Margaret,  the War of the Wales, the Yorks, the Princess Royal's divorce, the death of  Diana, Princess of Wales  continued to be the headline news for a very long time. All of these events were guaranteed income generators for the tabloids. The advent of social media has taken this to a new audience and IMHO a new low. I'm sorry that Meghan and to some degree Harry are the primary targets  now.  :(

well perhaps they are but all newcomers to a RF get a certain amount of crticisim, unless they are insanely popular.   But instead of the Press promoting a certain amount of stories about inter royal rivalry, just for the heck of it, I think that now it is the public who are acting like there are these rows and differences among the various royals and using this as a basis for attacking the rival couple/royal
Double post auto-merged: December 30, 2018, 06:05:51 PM

It impacted her work as a senior royal, she carried over low work numbers into the marriage. And even before she had the children.

She and William were not full time royal workers when they married... they are now, but she was not expected to work full time, sicne William was not.  They had some private time, when they were able to have their children, and be like a fairly normal couple for a few years. 

[sara8150]

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton end feud: Duo 'played Scrabble' after watching Queen's speech | Daily Mail Online

[Blue Clover]

So between a friendly game of Scrabble, various Christmas/Boxing Day activities at Sandringham perhaps the tabloids will give us a tiny break on the "rift" until 2019. (Which gives us about one day off from these stories!) :P
[/quote]

:goodpost:

Lol! I hope the rift between the Duchesses vanishes with 2018! :hehe:

[FanDianaFancy]

:goodpost:

Lol! I hope the rift between the Duchesses vanishes with 2018! :hehe:

Hah, no way. The media in Britain made this up and like a dog with bone, they are not letting go.

Well, DM did move on. I stand corrected.
The latest report is tha it was not Katie, but William who does not like her.

It is just not going to end.

The American shiny tabloids have jumped in. People magazine ran a cover story with the girls as not getting along. InStyle magazine has a cover story out.

I am waiting for Meggie is feuding with QEII Corgis.

Truth, Meghan is going to be under the critical microscope, all of her past dug up, her parents past, and more for a good ten years.
I am REALLY  SOOOOO PULLING for her. I really hope she makes it.
I really hope she understands her role and that life.

Ask me if I think they might be divorced in 7 years, 7 year itch?
It is very possible.
The unrelentless negativity.
The rules, confinement, and it is not what Meghsn wants, she gets.

We do not know because she and Harry have never said such foolishness about taking on the world. Changing the world.
Her platform. The media pushed that untruth too and it has stuck.

BRF does not work like this.
She will be given duties such as ribbon cutting, cord pulling to unveil the plaque, walking and staring for ceremonies, etc.
Nothing Earth shaking. Nothing new.

Add the media negative blitz at every turn even for things to do nothing with like an article about Kate, the press is always taking a shit at Meghan.

Double post auto-merged: January 01, 2019, 12:50:54 AM

She will still be Consort no matter how it is sliced

I got created way back about that Consort thing. It sounds silly because you never hear that title .
Catherine, as it is said has never been called Kate by her family, will be Queen Catherine. That is the informal title.

Queen consort, formally.

Yes, that is about 20 years off, but it will be.

[Izabella]

Scrabble and two glasses of wine

Photos or it didn't happen.  :lol: Scrabble a good non confrontational game unless a word is challenged.  :lol: No other game like Risk or Pandemic. Oh! Well... Was the wine red or white, name and vintage year?   :partaay:

[Curryong]

Of family board games played in my family when my offspring were young Cluedo was the favourite of the children and Monopoly caused the most rows and accusations of cheating. My husband got really into it! Only one child and myself liked Scrabble. The other two thought it was boring, though occasionally they could be persuaded to play!

[Izabella]

Yeah. Clue was/is awesome liked the movie too. Tim Curry!  :thumbsup: Always chose to be Ms. Peacock. The good old days. Love a good mystery. :lol:

[TLLK]

Of family board games played in my family when my offspring were young Cluedo was the favourite of the children and Monopoly caused the most rows and accusations of cheating. My husband got really into it! Only one child and myself liked Scrabble. The other two thought it was boring, though occasionally they could be persuaded to play!

I've lost count of how many versions of Monopoly are stashed in the game cupboard. We even have a version that is based on our city! Some of the games would not be finished before their bedtime, so it would continue into the next day.

[Blue Clover]

@FanDianaFancy :goodpost:

Regarding the game-playing between the Duchesses - He doth protest too much!  :D

[Curryong]

Yes, I said that about individual members of the BRF in my last paragraph of the post. And some royals aren't recognised at all, really. I remember a few Xmases ago on the Sandringham Church walk Edward Wessex said to members of the public waiting there 'You don't know who I am do you?' and chuckled to himself as he sauntered off.
And he probably wasn't recognised by some.

The Middleton name was there in the tabloids for years with Carole M portrayed as the interfering and controlling mother to Kate. So there may be some interest in her in the tabloids. But in James? In all the years of conversations with my relatives and friends in England I can honestly say that no-one has spoken about him, written anything to me about him, discussed any happenings or events in his life or acknowledged him as a person of interest at all. And that is besides the 'survey'!

As for Meghan she is polarising. There are a lot of despisers of her out there in Twitter and Tumblr land beside the cretin commenters online at the DM. There was a fair bit of interest in her in the US (comparatively speaking) from the beginning, with nearly 30 million viewers of the wedding. I would suggest that many of her online supporters are American females who are surprised at the attacks on her in the British media in the first year of her married life in the BRF and were unaware of the savagery of London tabloids before now.

[amabel]

People are intereste in differnet people. I am not greatly interested in the Middletons.. nor most of the younger RF.  but to judge by ads I see on TV, there are lots of people out there whom I know nothing about, and my friends know nothing about.... but tehre are people who do follow them.  There is an ad I keep seeing about some couple who are having a baby, he sounds "posh", she has an irish souding accent. I've no idea who they are, but there are people who taken an interest.  And I do know who James Middleton IS, and I have seen posts about him, in the past about his business and occasionally about girlfriends...

[Curryong]

Yes, of course. I would expect everyone who posts in forums connected with the BRF in one form or another to know about James Middleton and the Middleton family. It's the average British punter out there, who in many cases no longer reads a newspaper or magazine (and isn't online a lot on Royal news sites) that I'm referencing. And it is a celebrity based and social media culture now. I'm constantly coming across news on Twitter  about people I don't know who are supposedly in the public eye, some of them for a whole five minutes!

[Blue Clover]

Its great that we have an internet community where we all know the Royals and their family members! Everyone who cares or is interested can come here and discuss them.

[wannable]

Don't know why there is interest n the Middleston, but undoubtedly there is... so I don't quite see why "only 1 person in thouseands" would know about James...

Thank you @amabel other than what I said, family ties, Brother to a future POW/Queen Consort, Uncle to a future King, he DID make front page news  (*DM has a readership daily combined between UK, USA and Australia of 15 million - its inevitable when you open their site and James is plastered as front page + the clicks), and the paparazzi who lives in St. Bart's is following them if they leave the Mathews owned resort, as well as other 'famous' people who are holidaying in the island, are appearing in tabloids from those three countries I mentioned. How does the DM come to the conclusion to front page James Middleton rather than Paul McCartney, Stella, or the Russian Billionaire Abramovich?.stats, analysis, click traffic.

[Blue Clover]

Kate and William join the Queen at church in Sandringham | Daily Mail Online

Kate is in a blue Catherine Walker coat previously worn in Norway. Kate turns 37 years-old on Wednesday.
The Duke of Edinburgh was absent.

[wannable]

And friends in tow, perhaps an early birthday celebration The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive to attend a church service... News Photo | Getty Images


They will likely be going back to London this afternoon, now or tomorrow early, for Prince George Thomas?s School in Battersea starts the term.

[Blue Clover]

@wannable The guy next to the woman in the white coat looks familiar - one of William's long term friends. The term is probably starting on Monday @TLLK - the date was posted in another thread.

[wannable]

^ Yes, familiar faces, the 3 look to be old time friends, godparents to W&K children. 

The couple have participated in the past for the Epiphany Church, this picture was taken in 07 January 2017, William, Kate, the Middleton's where also there, and their friends.  Perhaps they celebrate a early birthday/house party before going back to London.  James Meade, Lady Laura Meade, James Matthews and Pippa Middleton... News Photo | Getty Images

[TLLK]

I know that the Cambridges have held these gatherings with friends on the weekend closest to Catherine's birthday. @wannable and @Blue Clover, yes these appear to be many of the children's Godparents with their spouses.

Kate is in a blue Catherine Walker coat previously worn in Norway. Kate turns 37 years-old on Wednesday.

It looks like the coat has been altered since last year and I believe that she's wearing one of the polka dot dresses that  she wore either for the Evelina hospital visit or Prince Charles' birthday photos.

[wannable]

The coat has been beautifully retailored to her thin frame now. Great way to recycle maternity clothes.

Correction, the old picture is 7 January 2018, rather than 2017...but I am told that William and Kate have been staying at their Anmer Hall or Middleton Berkshire Manor doing this type of Christmas Holiday/attached to the last house party pre-birthday since 2016.