Kate Middleton: Family, Wealth and Background

[kimebear]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

Hmmmmh can't think of any royal bride or groom who did not work before marriage. In the new generation anyone I can think of had a job eg Masako, Letizia, Maxima, Diana ... except Kate but she's not a royal bride yet. Even in the older generation - eg Prince Philip in the navy, Queen Sofia as a nurse, Queen Silvia as an interpreter, Prince Claus as a diplomat ... this is the generation I was referring to and all had jobs before they married a royal, some of them are even royals by birth.

Well that was the point. This is the new generation of royals. You were speaking of the old values. Kate is also a candidate to marry into the BRF, not the other houses. I was speaking of their traditions for royal brides. Diana worked about as much as Kate did for Jigsaw, no more. The previous future Princesses of Wales did not work at all. As far as Prince Philip is concerned, (a) he wasn't a royal bride (b) a military career has never been that far of a stretch for a male royal, especially a poor one.

Originally Posted by Menarue

I wonder what is really meant by modernizing the royals? It is such an ancient institution that only exists because it is so ancient, a blood line directly back to the first kings giving them rights, and now in modern times duties to their people, this giving them duties seems to be already modernization. They used to be able to chop off people´s heads, perhaps not as easily as it may seem in history books, as there were courts and law. Does modernization mean becoming "one" with their subjects?
The Queen already pays taxes and the civil list has been reduced considerably, there is talk that royal titles are going to be rationed..... It still startles me a bit that a Royal Prince has two children who have no titles.... If the royal family gets even more modern it seems it will be doing itself out of a job.
Parts of the Palace are open to the public, we can now view a good part of the art collection, I wonder what Queen Victoria would have thought about all this?
I am not saying I approve or disapprove, it wouldn´t matter to anyone anyway.
Perhaps I am just thinking out loud on a site dedicated to Royalty!

I agree with you on this. The more the RF is pushed to "get in touch" with the commoners, the quicker they will become commoners themselves. I'm not saying that the RF shouldn't concern themselves with the welfare of their subjects, but we shouldn't expect them to relinquish all that puts them above the average Joe.

[Elspeth]

Kate's in a different position from a lot of these other wives of heirs to the throne because I don't think any of them met their future wives while they were still at university. If a person is established in a job, like Maxima and Masako, that's rather different from trying to get into the workforce when you're already the subject of media scrutiny. Prospective employers may well not want to deal with the upheaval of having the paparazzi around all the time and also might not want to take on an employee who won't be staying around after marriage but whose presence in the meantime could be quite disruptive.

Plus, William doesn't have the reluctance some other princes have had to be seen with Kate in public, so she's out and around with him during the work week sometimes and also of course in all those nightclubs. I should think she'd be a bit of a nightmare for prospective employers what with one thing and another.

[Menarue]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Plus, William doesn't have the reluctance some other princes have had to be seen with Kate in public, so she's out and around with him during the work week sometimes and also of course in all those nightclubs. I should think she'd be a bit of a nightmare for prospective employers what with one thing and another.

How true, it may be that William expects her to be available and so it is not entirely her fault.
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[Lady Ann]

Now what i am about to say is my opinoin only... but i think no matter what Kate does she will be damed if she does, damed if she don't... as was Diana... If she works it will never be enough or never a good enough job, and there is always the chance of geting PR or some special treatment for being a royal girlfriend! If she does not work she is waity-kate.Which is a horrible thing in the frist place. It seems to me that all we know of this women is what the press tells us. she is not the wife of a prince or a king yet !!! So if she don't want to work who cares her parents are paying the taxes on that flat and probable everything else too, Athough they are not old money, they are new money and can well aford to pay thier daughters way....she has not asked to be anyones role model. She is just a very lucky lady or as the press Quotes her "He is a lucky man to have her" who ended up landing a prince...and one-day MAY Be a royal bride. Untill that time let her be.... She will have enough stress when and if that day every comes.

[Duchess]

Originally Posted by Warren

It's quite a leap from being "exposed to public scrutiny" to people wanting to know who pays for her hairdresser [see previous page]. That's not "scrutiny" but more akin to unhealthy obsession.

i wouldn't call it obsession. people, in the spotlight, made a conscious decision to be there. with all the technology today, people know far more about celebrities than ever before and, want to and will in the future, i'm sure know more. catherine may be a private citizen but she can't for a moment think that some people will not want to know personal details about her. whether it's anyone's business is a moot point because things like who her hairdresser is and how much he/she charges, among other things would be easy to find out if a person really wanted to know.

[Menarue]

My hairdresser told me that for years he was asked to give his clients a cut like Princess Diana (impossible without her gorgeous hair he said). Nowadays the women want a Victoria Beckham hairdo, no doubt soon they will want a Kate Middleton.
I don´t think it is much different to some years ago when mothers were trying to have their little girls have curls like Shirley Temple, if someone is in the public eye there is sure to be an almost unhealthy interest in every detail of their lives and the magazines cater to that interest/obession. Wanting to know how much or who is paying for it is just part and parcel of fame.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Duke of Marmalade

-snipped - It would be a different story if Kate would lead a low profile life but she decided not to. You can't have it both ways in the 21st media century and no need to feel sorry for her - if she didn't like the heat she wouldn't be in the kitchen I guess.

She is not seen out at 'events' very often, most of the media intrusion has been as she has tried to live a normal life. Many girls of her age go to nightclubs at least once or twice a week, come to that I appear to go out more than she does! She hasn't chosen to be in the kitchen, in fact she doesn't appear to do anything to call the hounds down on her.

I should think poor Catherine wishes the chap she has fallen in love with was lower profile or that the laws in the UK were able to deal with the stalkers!

[zembla]

Originally Posted by kimebear

Zembla, the thread is "Kate Middleton: is she rich or not", not "Kate Middleton: How she spends her money". Also, all members are allowed to post in whatever thread they like as long as they observe the community rules.

I'm aware...I just thought some posts chastising people wanting to know about her expenses was over the top in a thread about her money.

[cd_1]

they are well off, sure, but i wouldnt catagorize them as rich...Im from a third world country, and middle class people send their children to universities that cost them around 12000 pounds a year (4 year degrees plus livign costs etc)...and these are people me and my family call merely well off...for people like me, I could go to any private school in england and people in my country woudl never catagorize me as "rich", but merely well off...even in my country (which doesnt have very high standards because its a 3 world country), people have 2 homes, farmhouses and a few large pieces of land and still belong to middle class. I think Kate too, belongs to the upper middle class, certainly not the upper class, no. Those peopel have trust funds worth atleast 20 million pounds. Kates networth would, in my humble opinion, be around 5 million pounds, but def under 10 million. Sorry, i meant her family's worth....dotn forget they have a flat in london where she lived with her sister (or still lives?)...btu the newspapers have reported no other property belongign to her parents...plus they drive good, practical cars...no sportys for their daughters or son...

[cd_1]

also, i think if wiliam marries after 25, he doesnt need the permission of the government at all, am i right?

[Ella Kay]

Originally Posted by cd_1

also, i think if wiliam marries after 25, he doesnt need the permission of the government at all, am i right?

No, any member of the royal family has to get the Queen's permission to marry, I believe, regardless of their age.

[branchg]

Originally Posted by cd_1

also, i think if wiliam marries after 25, he doesnt need the permission of the government at all, am i right?

He still is bound by the Royal Marriages Act to seek permission of The Sovereign. If you're older than 25, you can marry without permission, but only if you declare your intention to do so to the Privy Council and wait one year. If Parliament declines to take action by passing a bill signaling opposition, you're free to marry.

[felicity8782]

Sorry cd_1 but there can be no doubt that Kate's family can only be described as rich financially. Only 10 % of the child population in the UK go to Independant [fee paying schools]. So Kate's family must be in the top 10 % of the UK population in terms of wealth. Marlborough's one of the most well known in Country. Her parent's have paid around £24000 an academic year for each of their 3 children to go there.

Compared to Boarding schools University in the UK is relatively inexpensive costing only £3100 in England (and £1500 for and English citizen [not a Scottish citizen] to go to a University in Scotland) a year. Since Kate and William started University before the 2006/7 academic year they would not have had to pay any fees, just living expenses.

[Little_star]

I went to private schools and there were many people there who were not from wealthy families, some were on assisted places, scholarships etc. Others came from families where their parents had to make sacrifices to ensure their children went to that school.

[felicity8782]

But Kate wasn't one of them.

[Little_star]

Unless you know the Middletons personally you have no way of knowing that.

[felicity8782]

Actually I do! It was well documented in the papers that Kate's family started their company to pay for their children's education. It has been mentioned that Kate's father is a Multi-millionaire. Also it is unlikely that all three of their children all got scholarships to the same public school. The question this thread is asking is "Is Kate Middleton rich?" my point was the answer is yes. If she had received a scholarship for some exceptional talent it would have been mentioned extensively in the press.

These three articles mention her family as being millionaires.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20529253/
http://news.scotsman.com/themonarchy...ldI.4176797.jp
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...e-royalty.html

The same year, Carole and Michael launched their successful mail-order party-planning company Party Pieces.
The rise of the internet helped them make it more profitable and they could soon afford to buy a five-bedroom detached house in the village of Bucklebury, near Newbury in Berkshire, and send their children to top public school Marlborough.

[Little_star]

Originally Posted by felicity8782

Actually I do! It was well documented in the papers that Kate's family started their company to pay for their children's education. It has been mentioned that Kate's father is a Multi-millionaire. Also it is unlikely that all three of their children all got scholarships to the same public school. The question this thread is asking is "Is Kate Middleton rich?" my point was the answer is yes. If she had received a scholarship for some exceptional talent it would have been mentioned extensively in the press.

Busineeses do not become successful overnight. The family businesss is successful now and no doubt that is due to the hard work of Mr. and Mrs. Middleton. However, from what I understand it was set up in the late 80's so I think it is fair to say that while the family may be relatively wealthy now, they probably would have struggled during the earlier years of their childrens' schooling and that is hardly a negative thing.

As for the "millionaire" thing, there are many more people these days who are classed as millionaires than in previous years thanks to rising property prices etc.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by felicity8782

These three articles mention her family as being millionaires.

Is Kate Middleton the new Diana? - TODAY: People - MSNBC.com
Generation why-should-I? - Scotsman.com News
The making of the Middletons: How Kate's family rose from a condemned flat to the verge of royalty | Mail Online

I wonder if the wealth they talk of is based on the company wealth, the turnover or tax returns... It is unlikely anyone but the Middleton's would know their personal worth, which is probably vast!

Many private schools do have assisted places, scholarships etc, but very few of the top public schools. It seems very easy for anyone to 'set up' a private (independent) school - Grow your own | Education | The Guardian

[Incas]

I noticed a lot of the news websites copy over articles from other sources. If you ever go to Unofficial Royal News Pages which lists articles on royal families each day (well, almost everyday), you can find pieces from The Mail or The Sun reprinted almost word for word in M&C, a lot of the US news sites (including MSNBC.com or ABC.com), Newscom, Scotsman and so forth the very next day. It's almost like each of the news agents are too lazy to come up their own sources or just rely on others to check the facts.