Engagement of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, 16 November 2010

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by Tarlita

Consider all the jewels the Queen wears passed down from Queen Victoria and Queen Mary. Princess Catherine will also wear these hand me down jewels one day. What's wrong with that?
It is a terrible shame that the media always look for a scandal with people and if there isn't one they just make it up to sell more mags and papers etc to fill there coffers. Kate and William will never be boring to us. We just want honest reporting which is one reason why I follow these forum pages in the first place. Because I can't trust the media.

Who is Princess Catherine? I don't remember her.

I know that William's fiancee is Kate/Catherine Middleton but she will never be Princess Catherine - Princess William yes but not Princess Catherine.

[Thena]

If Kate has difficulty conceiving, there are still plenty of other people in line of succession. The British monarchy won't necessarily die out because of one childless queen.

I also don't believe that they would have made Kate undergo fertility testing prior to the marriage, since continuation of the line doesn't depend on her having children.

I hope there's no pressure on Will and Kate to start having a family right away. They need time to settle into married life and for Kate to adjust to royal life before they start bringing children into the equation.

[Iluvbertie]

You and I might hope it but...the reality is that within months of the wedding there will be the expectation that they announce the pregnancy - particularly as the Queen will be having her Jubilee the following year so a Jubilee baby would be nice. She had one in 1977 with Peter and almost again in 2002 with Edward and Sophie's first child - the one they lost with the ectoptic pregnancy, so a direct continuation of the line in 2012 from William and Kate will almost be expected.

[irishthanhy]

Originally Posted by Kurenai

That's why I am suddenly surprise at the avalanche of articles about her fashion and taste -- as far as I knew, nobody went out of their way to comment about it until now.

Didn't she make Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List? I know it's kind of a dubious honor (Duchess of Alba, anyone?), but it is definitely an example of the attention paid to her style. Also, during my days working in a bookstore, I definitely saw the occasional comment about her style in the US gossip rags.

[MissSaga]

Originally Posted by Kurenai

This might be a bit off topic, but ever since the engagement was announced, I have seen a ton of articles on how Kate is a fashion icon, beautiful, classy, etc. My feelings on Kate had been neutral -- i.e., I never thought she was beautiful, and her fashion sense seemed presentable at best. And I thought the media, over all (to what my limited views can see), felt the same way.

But now with the engagement, people are tripping all over themselves to praise and fawn over Kate. Am I the only person who is surprised by this?

'I completely agree with you. But even though I don't agree with the praising, I can't say that it has surprised me.

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by Roslyn

... if Kate's OK with it that's really all that matters.

I agree with you 100%.
I also wonder how Charles feels about William using a ring that must be a symbol of such unhappiness for Charles - a ring he gave in hope but ended in disaster and sadness for both of them.

[4Pam]

Another article from Yahoo!

Kate's Royal Prison - Yahoo! News


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1..._n_785273.html

[Sister Morphine]

Kate's royal prison? Oh brother.


How long has she been with William -- nearly a decade? I'm pretty sure she understands what her life will entail after the wedding. That article makes it sound like this is an arranged marriage or that she has been living in a cave, locked away from the real world.

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by 4Pam

Another article from Yahoo!
Kate's Royal Prison - Yahoo! News

One of the best articles on what her life will be like for the next 60 or so years.

She has make the decision to commit herself to this life and now she must live it - opening hospitals, talking to people about nothing really and seeming to be interested as they will remember the meeting for the rest of their lives but she won't remember it later that day, unless she says something controversial.

I remember meeting the Queen when I was 12 but she certainly would have no memory of the meeting. She probably doesn't even remember the visit to the city where I was at school at the time but all my schoolmates and I do - that is what faces Kate. Remembering to say and do the right thing, regardless of how she feels or what she wants to do.

Imagine knowing exactly what you will be doing six months from now and knowing that you can't just say - I feel off today so I am not going to go to the dinner I was invited to tonight - she can never do that again.

That is what this article is about - she has just lost control of her life - but that was her decision and she has had time to realise that before making that commitment (hopefully).

[4Pam]

^ You are right. Constant media scrutiny too - for her, William & their future children.

[segolen]

this is so nicely said Iluvbertie.I love the this couple very much and wished them the best on the royal FB page and at the same time I don't really envy Kate, or Catherine( how she wished to be addressed now).Anyway, I am looking forward to the wedding and I am very curious if they gonna make a big deal of it,or just a low key with private celebration...things to wonder and see.

[windsorgirl]

Without sounding too morose, I've been thinking about her family and what a loss they are about to face. I mean, it sounds fun & exciting now but their relationship with her is about to change, permanently. It's already started really with the example given by Kate about how awkward it was keeping the engagement secret from her mother. I'm happy for her but sad for them.

[segolen]

Originally Posted by windsorgirl

: It's already started really with the example given by Kate about how awkward it was keeping the engagement secret from her mother. I'm happy for her but sad for them.

I was wondering about this too.It didn't sound very natural. Or may be it was just a poise in front of the camera.

[ZaJa]

Originally Posted by Sister Morphine

Kate's royal prison? Oh brother.


How long has she been with William -- nearly a decade? I'm pretty sure she understands what her life will entail after the wedding. That article makes it sound like this is an arranged marriage or that she has been living in a cave, locked away from the real world.

Like a lot of the stuff that is written it's more about how other people view things than the reality. Of course she will now face more scrutiny than before and it will be annoying. But these reporters act as if her life is doom and gloom. No one has a middle ground. Either Kate and William will go skipping along under a rainbow or they're doomed to be like his parents and her miserable and lonely.

[Dymphna]

Originally Posted by windsorgirl

Without sounding too morose, I've been thinking about her family and what a loss they are about to face. I mean, it sounds fun & exciting now but their relationship with her is about to change, permanently. It's already started really with the example given by Kate about how awkward it was keeping the engagement secret from her mother. I'm happy for her but sad for them.

I read where Kate won't be with the Royal family for Christmas this year because she wanted to spend her "last Christmas with her family."

[Polly]

I think that Catherine will have many opportunities to visit her parents and vice versa. Just because the public won't be aware of them doesn't mean that they won't happen, particularly as by all accounts the entire family and William 'get along'.

However, I take much of what's in the press with a grain of salt. Remember all of the kerfuffle about the Queen's not approving of Mrs Middleton because of her greeting ('pleased to meet you', not 'how do you do?' and her use of the word 'toilet'? As it transpires, it was all hooey: the Queen and Mrs Middleton have never met, even to this day.

Undoubtedly, the marriage was discussed with Charles and the Queen well beforehand and over some time; in fact, the Duchess has indicated as much. The 'two hours notice' probably refers to William and Catherine's decision to announce their plans on that particular day with only brief advance warning to his father and grandmother. There is no possibility that they wouldn't have known of his marriage proposal and its acceptance.

[Sonjapearl]

Not sure if this was mentioned, forgive me if it was:

Andrew Morton working on Prince William and Kate Middleton book | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Given Morton's reputation as a writer, this book would probably make Wills & Kate look bad.

[ghost_night554]

Kate Middleton will give up her job but won't be a working princess right away | Mail Online

[Sonjapearl]

Ugh, the negativity is already beginning:

Revealed: How Prince William is following his father's footsteps and actually marrying his nanny | Mail Online

Not that I expected the media honeymoon to last, but really people, really?

[Iluvbertie]

I don't think this is necessarily negative but I do think it is accurate.

William wants a woman who will look after him the way Diana and Tiggy did as he was growing up and Kate has been that woman since he was 20. He has even added to that idea by giving her his mother's engagement ring (will it ever truly be Kate's engagement ring? Not to me or to many others unfortunately for her) so that signals again that he wants a 'mummy' figure as much as a wife.

Are they soulmates? Only time will tell.

I do wonder if he is also thinking 'I am very like my father who gave up his first true love and look what happened. That want happen to me.' It might work for him and then again it might be that in a couple of years he actually meets 'the one' but...whereas at the age I am referring to his father married his mother but Diana was never right for Charles - Camilla always was.

I do hope that Kate is the right wife for William for the right reasons but part of me sees a man who simply hasn't looked around and simply lynched onto the one person who gave him, at 20, what he wanted - mother love.