Royalty Thread #16: the best of times, the worst of times

[Cachoo]

George and Charlotte are far more dazzled by meeting Taylor than all the royalty and heads of state they've seen - it's reassuring that they're still normal kids despite everything.

William is going to get so much grief for his Dad dancing!

So the Kelce brothers commented on meeting them on "New Heights"....just keep in mind they are not so familiar with protocol:

The Kelce Family linked up with the Royal Family across the pond

Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter and Ti...

youtube.com

 

[Kruss]

I am not a huge fan of the Burmese Ruby Tiara. I think it's got a very strange design to it. While I love rubies and diamonds, this design isn't all that appealing to me. I was thrilled, however, to see Sophie in the Lotus Flower Tiara. It is nice to see her being able to wear something different other than her wedding tiara or the aquamarine tiaras she's been wearng.

Camilla seems to be bringing a lot of older jewelry out of the Royal vault like the many varied brooches she's been wearing lately. I'm hopeful that means we'll see some more and different tiaras instead of just the usual ones that everyone has been wearing for years.

I was also surprised to see that the Lotus Flower Tiara was "on loan from Camilla", until I read that is the prerogative of every Queen whether regnant or consort.

I watched Allan Barton's video on the creation of the King Charles III family order, and I like the traditional feel of it hearkening to his grandfather and great-grandfather. Similar uniform and design. It will be interesting to see who will get it next.

 

[taf2002]

Mean comment: Camilla seems determined to get her hands on everything QE2 ever touched.

 

[jadingirl]

Camilla is definitely the cat that got the cream!

It must be the life to have to decide which tiara to wear today.

 

[barbk]

Mean comment: Camilla seems determined to get her hands on everything QE2 ever touched.

Well, you're right that it is mean. My question is why make that comment? QE2 is dead. Is everything supposed to stop or be frozen in stone until the righteous one comes along to break it free?

 

[taf2002]

Well, you're right that it is mean. My question is why make that comment? QE2 is dead. Is everything supposed to stop or be frozen in stone until the righteous one comes along to break it free?

No, but it's my opinion that Harry was right in his assessment of her character ie evil stepmother. I hate it when wrongdoers end up with everything they ever wanted & got because of their wrongdoing. I don't dislike her because she cheated while she was married. I dislike her because she taunted Diana with it. Discrete was not her MO.

 

[MsZem]

No, but it's my opinion that Harry was right in his assessment of her character ie evil stepmother.

Is Harry a reliable narrator?

 

[Karen-W]

No, but it's my opinion that Harry was right in his assessment of her character ie evil stepmother. I hate it when wrongdoers end up with everything they ever wanted & got because of their wrongdoing. I don't dislike her because she cheated while she was married. I dislike her because she taunted Diana with it. Discrete was not her MO.

How do you know it's all Camilla's doing? Charles is known to be a fan of jewels and gemstones - maybe he's told Camilla to go dig into the vaults and bring it all out for the public to see and to share with her sisters-in-law and daughter-in-law - all of whom have been seen wearing pieces from the vaults, some not worn in a long time, others worn a lot by QEII, since he became King.

Honestly, I think the simplest answer is that Charles isn't nearly as stingy with sharing from the vaults as his mother was.

 

[MacMadame]

Is Harry a reliable narrator?

Even unreliable narrators are right sometimes though. [Not saying he's right here but just that not everything he says has to be wrong.]

 

[skategal]

I’m just going by what the taxi driver in the UK told us.

They all love the Queen, they like Charles a lot but everyone hates Camilla.

However I still maintain that the best part of the Royal family are the spouses that marry in.

 

[ballettmaus]

Mean comment: Camilla seems determined to get her hands on everything QE2 ever touched.

Because she uses the older tiaras? Maybe she just likes them. Or maybe she likes to use them since they haven't been used in a while, kind of like a kid who hasn't played with a toy for a while and then plays with it excitedly again because there's a sense of novelty to it. (That would likely be me, if I liked the pieces anyway). Or maybe she doesn't want to use items Queen Elizabeth used recently as to not be compared/give the impression that she's copying her. Or maybe her advisors are of any of the above opinions. ?‍

 

[barbk]

No, but it's my opinion that Harry was right in his assessment of her character ie evil stepmother. I hate it when wrongdoers end up with everything they ever wanted & got because of their wrongdoing. I don't dislike her because she cheated while she was married. I dislike her because she taunted Diana with it. Discrete was not her MO.

Pretty much everyone in the Charles-Diana-Camilla-QEII-palace courtiers saga bears some responsiblity for the various messes they created. I think the whole bunch of them behaved despicably, including Queen Elizabeth. And yet, somehow, the majority of the blame gets placed on Camilla.

It is a lot for William and Harry to bear. They were the innocents in the whole mess. I feel for them.

Decades have passed. Camilla is hard-working and if anything, seems to smooth over some of Charles' less pleasant demeanor. I find it odd that the woman is always the one who accrues the public blame.

 

[attyfan]

... I find it odd that the woman is always the one who accrues the public blame.

Since the monarch's chief minister no longer has to bear the blame for any decision of the monarch that people dislike, it has become the consort's job to bear the blame. It is a habit from the Tudor era, where no one who wanted to keep their head would blame Henry VIII for anything ... so it was his evil advisors (Wolsey, Cromwell et al) or his equally evil consorts (specifically Anne Boleyn)

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Fine with me if everyone wants to blame the self-confessed wannabe feminine hygiene product and his dysfunctional parents.

 

[Vagabond]

Because she uses the older tiaras? Maybe she just likes them. Or maybe she likes to use them since they haven't been used in a while, kind of like a kid who hasn't played with a toy for a while and then plays with it excitedly again because there's a sense of novelty to it. (That would likely be me, if I liked the pieces anyway). Or maybe she doesn't want to use items Queen Elizabeth used recently as to not be compared/give the impression that she's copying her. Or maybe her advisors are of any of the above opinions. ?‍

The Queen is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't, but certain people must get their rush of endorphins by saying mean things about her.

 

[airgelaal]

I am very surprised by the discussion. The vast majority of fans of the royal family that I know are very much looking forward to some "new" jewels and are very upset when they see the usual ones. For most prople, this is the only way to see these beautiful jewels not in historical photos, but in real life today.

 

[taf2002]

Pretty much everyone in the Charles-Diana-Camilla-QEII-palace courtiers saga bears some responsiblity for the various messes they created. I think the whole bunch of them behaved despicably, including Queen Elizabeth. And yet, somehow, the majority of the blame gets placed on Camilla.

It is a lot for William and Harry to bear. They were the innocents in the whole mess. I feel for them.

Decades have passed. Camilla is hard-working and if anything, seems to smooth over some of Charles' less pleasant demeanor. I find it odd that the woman is always the one who accrues the public blame.

People like to forget that William also viewed Camilla as evil until he remembered where his bread was buttered. idk, he may really like Camilla now but he was his mother's confidant so it would be strange if he no longer has any resentment. I do think his attitude is mature. She's there, he can't do anything about it, so why butt heads? Apparently Harry thought he had the luxury to say what he really feels. The fact that Spare burned a lot of his bridges is his own fault.

I never was a Diana-fan (she was ok but not on my radar) but I despised both Charles & Camilla back when she was alive. I'm 3 yrs older than him so I've been reading reports on him most of my life. I've known a number of men who cheated on their wives but the way C&C rubbed it in her face was despicable. Does time erase their behavior? He's more likable now but forgive me if I haven't changed my opinion of her. Or him really.

 

[canbelto]

I think William treats Camila like any stepmother. He has his own life and his own family, so it's probably cordial. But him being Diana's confidant doesn't mean he thinks Camila is evil. If anything, he apparently felt burnout being Diana's confidant at such a young age. He might understand why his parents' marriage was an unmitigated disaster in a way no one else can.

 

[ballettmaus]

If anything, he apparently felt burnout being Diana's confidant at such a young age.

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. No child of child age should be their mother's confidant and that Diana considered him a confidant doesn't really speak for her.
It's just as wrong in its own way and likely left as much of a mark as other things did.

 

[Parsley Sage]

The Burmese Ruby tiara reflects the colours of the Japanese flag. I think the only other ruby tiara in the BRF is the Oriental Circlet.

The lotus flower is a symbol of purity and enlightenment in Japan so it's not a surprise that Sophie wore the Lotus Flower in Kate's absense.

 

[canbelto]

I think any woman who marries into the royal family has to face this feeling that she's Not Royal Enough. The only one who didn't have to face those sorts of accusations was Diana due to her extremely aristocratic family and upbringing.

 

[MacMadame]

He's more likable now

He is?

 

[once_upon]

I'm immensely tired of blaming the woman.

 

[puglover]

I certainly have read a lot of comments about how dysfunctional the royal family is and they have certainly had their share of scandals, divorces and upsets. I question if these are really more than most multi-member families and think in many cases they are just a real family in modern times. They often have shown a remarkable ability to patch things up. I was surprised to hear how genuinely bereaved Sarah Ferguson was at the death of the Queen, her former mother-in-law. For those of us who remember the whole toe-sucking incident, which was quite revolutionary in it's day, miraculously seemed not to mark that relationship forever. Princess Beatrice and Eugenie were very close to their "Granny" and obviously their parents still live together although not a couple. Andrew Parker Bowles remarried after Camilla and he and his wife were apparently frequent guests at Sandringham. He is a Brigadier and is called upon to represent the King and Queen at official functions. Queen Camilla has seemed to build her own fans who find her down-to-earth and funny and believe that she is stepping it up because she genuinely loves her husband, not because this is her chosen role. I get the sense of "life is messy but carry on".

 

[canbelto]

When I was reading "Spare" the drama between Meghan, Harry, William and Kate was remarkable for its mundaneness. Just typical petty in-law stuff with a side of normal wedding drama. Stuff that could have sorted itself out were there not reporters and book publishers wanting to pounce and milk the drama.

 

[ballettmaus]

^This is what I was thinking when reading puglover's post. I'm pretty sure that large(r) public families have always been dysfunctional, like every other family. However, they were able to pretend they were functional in public while it's becoming increasingly impossible in the age of social media.
However, as we're so used to public families looking perfect, this now is seen as unusual when it's really not. It's just more public.

 

[taf2002]

He is?

As I recall he was in the news constantly as a young man for his hijinks & his public comments. And then after his marriage to Diana he was criticized for his public infidelity. So in comparison he is more likeable now.

 

[MacMadame]

As I recall he was in the news constantly as a young man for his hijinks & his public comments. And then after his marriage to Diana he was criticized for his public infidelity. So in comparison he is more likeable now.

I still don't like him. ?

 

[once_upon]

As I recall he was in the news constantly as a young man for his hijinks & his public comments. And then after his marriage to Diana he was criticized for his public infidelity. So in comparison he is more likeable now.

I'd put it in reverse.

 

[taf2002]

I'd put it in reverse.

Put what in reverse?

I still don't like him. ?

Me neither.