The Duchess of Cornwall Current Events 6: March-May 2007

[sirhon11234]

Coverage on Camilla in the U.S. is very rare. Most of the time when you hear about the royals it is either about Wills , Harry and Diana. And once in awhile Charles.

 

[ysbel]

Well CNN refers to her as the Duchess of Cornwall. She and Charles have gotten decent coverage from them during their first trip and then their trip to Philly.

They were both on the front page of CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News when the visits occurred.

But royal coverage here in the States is sadly lacking in general.

 

[Avalon]

I'm so happy the operation went smoothly.
Hope the Duchess will recover soon.

 

[Jo of Palatine]

I think so, too. Camilla is a very private person and Charles or the staff wanted to spare it her. Ok, arriving to hospital she´d probably beared. But departing I think not. Can imagine she didn´t look at her best. And in groggy health to bear the flashlights...? It was a good decision from Clarence House.

Normally hospitals have a courtyard where the ambulances arrive - or even an ambulance entrance into the building. I guess she left in a car with darkened windows and entered the car in some place where pics can't be taken.

 

[Skydragon]

DAILY MAIL
Assault on our womanhood

Whilst accepting that some women see it as an assualt on their 'womanhood', I believe a lot of them see it as a relief. Do infertile women feel less like women, do all menopausal women feel like committing suicide and manly? Of course not.

Some people seem to need trauma counseling for having driven past a minor car accident, others just get on with their lives. I am horrified at the amount of 'support' groups that are springing up.

 

[RubyPrincess168]

Some breast cancer survivors may feel the same way about having a masectomy (spelling?) - without breasts they no longer feel like a woman. Since when did we let a uterus or breasts define us? I think this article speaks more about the state of healthcare in the UK than about one particular procedure. It's not like Camilla went in for a little nip-tuck and came out without her uterus.

 

[Skydragon]

Some breast cancer survivors may feel the same way about having a mastectomy - without breasts they no longer feel like a woman. Since when did we let a uterus or breasts define us? I think this article speaks more about the state of healthcare in the UK than about one particular procedure. It's not like Camilla went in for a little nip-tuck and came out without her uterus.

I don't even think it is even about UK healthcare, we seem to have spawned a 'victims group' mentality for just about everything. I saw in one of the local shops, a poster inviting people who had failed their driving test, to come and talk about the trauma they may have been through!

 

[Carolyn]

The coverage of the British Royals is not very thorough in the U.S. unless there is a visit by them. There are just too many other people and things to cover. A lot of folks just don't care about royalty.

People who are interested in them have to check out sites like this one if they want to keep up to date on what the Royals are doing.

Carolyn

 

[milla Ca]

DAILY MAIL
Assault on our womanhoodBy LUCY ELKINS

As Camilla has a hysterectomy - one of 40,000 women to lose their wombs each year - do doctors realise the shattering emotional impact of an operation that is often utterly unnecessary?

I found this article interesting...it seems a lot of the time the tabloids seem to be of the opinion that the Royal Family are stuffy and cold because they don't cry at the drop of a hat and therefore, they can't possibly have the common touch or know what everyday normal people go through.

Yet Camilla is going through an operation that thousands of normal, everyday women go through each year, and her experience has prompted this writer to use the occasion to talk about women's experiences in general when going through this increasingly common procedure.

There was another article in The Times yesterday:

Why the Duchess of Cornwall has done all women a favour
Hysterectomies may be less often performed than in the past but they can still be the right course of action for some.
Dr. Thomas Stuttaford

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/Print.do?articleId=1489371
___________
It seems as if the whole UK is discussing hysterectomy now....
Like Skydragon, i think, that some women have mental problems after the op, but most women feel better.
I also know that there are often the husbands how have problems because they fear that their wives feel a loss in libido..
Okay, the Duchess recovers well, i hope...

 

[ysbel]

It seems as if the whole UK is discussing hysterectomy now....

You may be right milla Ca and I think it can be a good thing.

I really didn't intend to make an argument for or against hysterectomies. I haven't had one yet, knock on wood.

I just meant that Camilla's surgery because it is happening to more and more women is a subject that touches a lot of us 'common' women and makes Camilla very relatable to us women that are not in our teens and twenties anymore.

Camilla is associated with another malady that strikes older women - osteoporosis.

Camilla didn't have to release what she was going under the knife for; the fact that she did was quite open.

 

[bbb]

i've had a radical (both, w/lymph nodes) mastectomy and complete hyterctomy (take all the parts) a year ago. this is just stupid journalism, yea i guess if i had defined myself by my body parts i'd be a a really bad place right now. but i never did so i blightly went on being the divine diva princess that i am. i had some friends (ex friends now) that doomed and gloomed my husband would leave me, i'd stop being the essense of myself blah blah blah. whats so funny they are the ones with the body issues, sitting there with their fake boobs and perfect noses. i wish i'd had the hysterectomy 20 years ago i feel so much better!!
as far as the support groups, i've gone to the cancer survivor one and the mastectomy group, just once- i felt so guilty when i left because they were so much worse off than me, felt like a big baby when i compared my problems with theirs, so i'm all for them to help seriously ill people but i get plenty of support from my friends and family sharing with strangers isn't for me.
i had a laposomethingsomething hysterectomy, made 3 little incisions (scars totally gone now) went into hospital at 9AM left next day home by noon. couldn't drive for 6 weeks or pick up anything heavier than a 6 pack of cokes. followed the docs intructions to the letter, no complications. hope the duchess is being pampered and taken care of but i doubt at this point she is in any real pain, more discomfort and frustration not being able to do anything. she's getting great care she spent longer in the hospital than i did for the radical mastectomy.

 

[Elspeth]

From what I read, it looks as though for some sorts of hysterectomy it's standard to have a longer hospital stay than for radical mastectomy, so she may not be getting special treatment. Hospitals aren't the most restful or hygienic places to be these days, and she'll have top-notch care at home no doubt, so I don't suppose she stayed in hospital any longer than she needed to.

I assume that for women who are already postmenopausal, a hysterectomy is a lot less emotionally stressful than for those who lose their childbearing ability as a result of the surgery.

Congratulations for still being a divine diva princess, bbb!

 

[foiegrass]

Ah The duchess of cornwall is very brave to do the operation. Hope that she recovers well! xD

 

[cde]

Ysbel
You really don't think Camilla was practically forced into admiting why she was going into the hospital? IMO Camilla wasn't dying to share her health problems with the public,she didn't have a choice. Camilla, just saying she was having surgery and it was nothing to worry about wouldn't have stopped the press. The UK press are brutal. The amount of articles they did on hysterectomies and Camilla, everyone can pretty much guess at the reasons she had it done. Although I am confused why she was so weak/tired on the tour? They would have started cancer rumors,she's dying, more speculation she is lazy and is refusing to work.

Camilla was at a private hospital, aren't they considered good? I know the NHS hospitals aren't in the best shape but I would assume someone who paid for private health insurance/hospitals that standard of care would be considered 1st class.

 

[Skydragon]

Camilla was at a private hospital, aren't they considered good? I know the NHS hospitals aren't in the best shape but I would assume someone who paid for private health insurance/hospitals that standard of care would be considered 1st class.

Most private hospitals offer excellent care and attention, King Edward VII is considered second to none.
If it had been an NHS hospital, there would have been serious cause for concern!

 

[LadyK]

Well, I'm glad that it wasn't cancer-related-I hadn't heard that before. I hope all goes well for her- especcially after reading that hysterectomy article!

 

[misselle]

Coverage on Camilla in the U.S. is very rare. Most of the time when you hear about the royals it is either about Wills , Harry and Diana. And once in awhile Charles.

Coverage is indeed very rare;I've been checking this site for news about the Duchess of Cornwall since CNN reported that she was undergoing the operation.CNN hasn't mentioned anything since the announcement that she was going to have the operation.I'm glad to read that she is back at her residence and is doing well.

 

[hornsen]

Camilla's high heels leave a huge carbon footprint | the Daily Mail



I´m sure it was a scheduled flight. What´s the problem?

 

[cde]

Horsen

Read this version. This sounds more likely what really happened.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...huge+carbon+footprint/article.do?ito=newsnow&

Although I have to agree with on you The daily mail version of course is being spread around.

And Camilla's favorite supporter is at it again. For some reason I insist on reading his column even though he does want me to when he does an article about Camilla.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...le_id=441853&in_page_id=1772&in_author_id=230

Charles does the exact same thing when he goes into hospital. He was worried about her obviously he would make her as comfortable as possible.
If he does it for himself why shouldn't he have it done for his wife?

 

[milla Ca]

Camilla's high heels leave a huge carbon footprint | the Daily Mail



I´m sure it was a scheduled flight. What´s the problem?

I think the first source who wrote this article was ´News of the World´.
They make their money with journalism like that.
Some years ago they had the same story with some mayonnaise, Charles wanted to have on his sandwich abroud, and a tube of it ´´was sendet by chatered flight´´ from the Uk to the Czech Republic.... Clarence House said it was not true...
So, think what you want about stories like that...again and again and again....

 

[milla Ca]

´Hospital was dismayed´

The Duchess of Cornwall took her own mattress with her when she went into hospital, it has been claimed .

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1255620,00.html

 

[bbb]

good for her! better than it all showing up on ebay!

 

[Skydragon]

´Hospital was dismayed´
The Duchess of Cornwall took her own mattress with her when she went into hospital, it has been claimed.

What, not an unnamed source or hospital spokesman. I can't see Charles giving up their super king size, even for four days! When she left the hospital in the evening, what did she lay on all day?

 

[RubyPrincess168]

good for her! better than it all showing up on ebay!

It's extremely hoighty-toighty, but you have a good point about ebay.

 

[milla Ca]

Sorry, but i don´t think that something from a Royal visitor at that private hospital would find a way to Ebay.
I understand that Camilla wanted to have her stay there as comfortable as possible.
But first the article about the ´flighing shoes´ and now the one about her own mattress and home cooked meals in hospital...
Okay,there is no serious source, so i don´t want to comment serious.
But if the stories are true, it is a bit to much for me...and too much for a Duchess ´down to earth´...
Or maybe this kind of reports are made to support Channel 4 and others?

 

[hornsen]

Even if the stories are true, where is the problem? If they are paying for their luxury everything is alright, I think. The shoes were flying by scheduled flight, it was payed for sure. The room at the hospital was 500 pounds a night, why she shouldn´t get it as comfortable as possible? If I had the money for that, I would do the same. I hate to sleep in hospitals or hotels, even if they are best categories. Charles has the money and he loves to give Camilla everything possible. For me it´s okay.

 

[cde]

IMO Richard Kay (which was the original source on the Camilla bed story) has good sources/gossip but his stories are like a puzzle. The events did happen but not necessarily in the way Richard tells the story from what I have noticed about his stories over the years.. Somehow I suspect Charles either suggested it to Camilla or he just had it done. Charles always does that for himself when goes to hospital.(the bed, lines food etc.) And Charles is very protective and caring of Camilla, he wouldn't think twice of making sure his wife was given the same comfort.

But Milla Ca has a very good point. Who is doing all these anti- Camilla/Charles stories, it almost seems a theme lately? Is it due to CH.4 or someone else?

 

[milla Ca]

I said, i understand, that Camilla wanted to have it comfortable in hospital, and i know that Charles has the money to pay for it...
But the two stories paint the pic of a wasteful or extravagant Duchess, and the people just start to love Camilla for being more down to earth...
I love her dearly, that´s why my alarm bells are ringing when i read these articles.
But again: We don´t know if there is something true about it, so maybe we shouldn´t dicuss it so seriously.

 

[ysbel]

´Hospital was dismayed´

The Duchess of Cornwall took her own mattress with her when she went into hospital, it has been claimed .

Sky News: 'Hospital Was Dismayed'

They also mentioned that this is the privilege that was also granted the Queen, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret during their hospital stays.

So do we know that Camilla herself requested the special treatment or rather was it standard agreement between the hospitals and the Royals which Camilla may or may not have known about before?

If it was standard operating procedure, I can't believe the hospital was dismayed but perhaps an employee of the hospital was dismayed and spoke to the press.

 

[Warren]

For Australian members who will know who I'm talking about, it was said that Kerry Packer had similar arrangements as to bed, meals, valet etc when he was in hospital in Sydney (at both St Vincents and Royal Prince Alfred), so it's no big deal in the scheme of things.