The Public's Expectations of Kate as William's girlfriend

[Heidi P.]

Originally Posted by Duchess

i think we also have to remember that even though we see a lot photos of kate doing this or that, they show only moments in her life.

Excellent point. Seeing moments strung together week after week do not offer the public a balanced picture of what Kate's life is really like.

[Luv2Cruise]

Originally Posted by Heidi P.

Excellent point. Seeing moments strung together week after week do not offer the public a balanced picture of what Kate's life is really like.

Oh my goodness you all are so right. But there are other royalty message boards where people swear that all Kate does is shop and party with William, rip her apart for doing normal things with her boyfriend. It's really quite appalling the hatred directed towards Kate Middleton based solely on tabloid pictures, snapshots in time. I'm also quite sure she is not living her life to "impress" or earn the respect of anonymous people who post on a message board, and I'm sure she'll be ok if she never earns their respect.

[TonyaR]

Originally Posted by Luv2Cruise

Oh my goodness you all are so right. But there are other royalty message boards where people swear that all Kate does is shop and party with William, rip her apart for doing normal things with her boyfriend. It's really quite appalling the hatred directed towards Kate Middleton based solely on tabloid pictures, snapshots in time. I'm also quite sure she is not living her life to "impress" or earn the respect of anonymous people who post on a message board, and I'm sure she'll be ok if she never earns their respect.

Luv2Cruise,
You are so right!!
I've seen other royal message boards also, and they do rip Kate apart.
I think a lot of those posters must be really young though, because most of what they say is illogical and silly, and sounds like a lot of jealous nonsense.

For instance, they make the assumption that all she ever does is sit in her flat during the week, and come out to watch Prince William play polo on the weekend. I don't think any of them stopped to consider the fact that

1. Prince William initiated a law suit earlier this year regarding Kate being followed and having her picture snapped during personal daily activities when she's not attending a strictly public venue, (that was in response to the bus pictures) and if you'll look back at all of the photo agency pictures taken this summer, almost every single one of them has been on a weekend. So, more than likely the press has let up on taking snapshots of her going about mundane weekly activities.

It's very silly and unrealistic for anyone to think that she would not do anything at all during the week except sit home and wait for Saturday and Sunday to arrive!

2. Kate has not publicly behaved in a manner considered unfit or scandalous in any way by the BRF, the press has not managed to dig up any real dirt on Kate OR Chelsy (except for the way Chelsy dresses, and I think she dresses appropriately for her age.) and Kate is not supported by the public or Prince William in any way. That means that she is free to do what she likes when she likes, and she seems to behave herself. I'd say a lot of the hate-mongering is jealousy and envy.

I know I'm envious of Kate!
Prince William is tall (6'3") handsome and athletic. He doesn't need to be a prince to get attention from girls.

I know if I were 10 years younger and didn't have such a cute husband, I'd go after him in a nanosecond!

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by TonyaR

. I'd say a lot of the hate-mongering is jealousy and envy.

I just read an article on German newsmag "SPIEGEL" about a scientifical study that was published by the univeristy of St. Andrew (sic!). Psychologer Fhionna Moore asked 1851 young woman about their preferences in men. And she found that if a woman had no income or only a small one, she prefered men with money and status. The more ressources women had the more they wanted good-looking men who could even be younger than they are themselves.

If you see that 1851 is a fair amount of women and thus the study can be taken as serious. Maybe we see even reflection of this in the internet forums about Royality. Let's take the choice of words in postings as a way to get a glimpse into the social position of the poster - it's not really that very accuratre, but I used "choice of words" because educated non-native speakers, even though they are not always using the right grammatical structure tend to use more formal words that others on a lower level of education.

I found that the more posters seem to be educated and/or from a secure background, the more they tend to view Kate and William in a positive light.
This goes up to a certain age when "traditionalistic" views come into it and people start prefering an aristocrat or a princess as a wife for William.
Younger and/or posters with a more simplistic choice of words tend to react negative to Kate - probably because they compare her situation with theirs.

Or so. Well, that's nothing really new but I thought it worth pointing out.... Enjoy your sunday....

[Heidi P.]

Originally Posted by Luv2Cruise

Oh my goodness you all are so right. But there are other royalty message boards where people swear that all Kate does is shop and party with William, rip her apart for doing normal things with her boyfriend. It's really quite appalling the hatred directed towards Kate Middleton based solely on tabloid pictures, snapshots in time. I'm also quite sure she is not living her life to "impress" or earn the respect of anonymous people who post on a message board, and I'm sure she'll be ok if she never earns their respect.

So true! Kate is living HER life and doesn't even know we, the anonymous message board gawkers, exist!

[ZandraRae]

Right, it's not like the media is reporting her life 24/7. Yes, she stands and watches Will play polo, but here in the US, lots of girlfriends watch their boyfriends play basketball, baseball, etc. It's normal. I see nothing wrong with what Kate is doing.

[regardez]

I think the public expects her to do what she is doing now. Look nice, don't attract too much attention.

[Incas]

Just because there are difference of opinions, that doesn't prove anyone is more or less educated.

[TonyaR]

Originally Posted by Incas

Just because there are difference of opinions, that doesn't prove anyone is more or less educated.

I'm sorry Incas, but I don't understand what a difference of opinion has to do with grammatical errors?

I was stating that IMHO the information given by Jo of Palatine makes sense to me, it does seem logical that consistent grammatical errors written (and or spoken) by native english speakers is an indication of their level of education.
(or lack of education )

[Incas]

TonyaR, I'm merely pointing out two problems with your assumption:
1. You can't tell which poster is a native english speaker. You can make assumption based on the country they register on the forum, but that's assuming the registration is correct and the person was born in that country.
2. Spelling errors are not exclusive to those without higher education. It rather points to the writer being careless about spelling. As long as they get the point across, the details are not important.

Enough of a digression, back to Kate & company.

[TonyaR]

Originally Posted by Incas

TonyaR, I'm merely pointing out two problems with your assumption:
1. You can't tell which poster is a native english speaker. You can make assumption based on the country they register on the forum, but that's assuming the registration is correct and the person was born in that country.
2. Spelling errors are not exclusive to those without higher education. It rather points to the writer being careless about spelling. As long as they get the point across, the details are not important.

Enough of a digression, back to Kate & company.

Incas you're right,
we are digressing, so I concede that I should stick to the forum topic. I would just like to point out that I didn't mention spelling errors though, I mentioned grammatical errors. There is a difference. Grammar refers to syntax, sentence structure, and can also refer to mispronounced words. I still believe that native english speakers who consistently use words incorrectly or inappropriately and (yes) misspell them on a regular basis or have trouble putting together cohesive sentences are probably under-educated, or they just didn't pay attention in school.

I agree that you were also correct when you said that you can't tell for a fact which posters are native english speakers.
However, there are some posters on this message board for whom english is a second language and their speech/writing is more accurate and more proper than some who were taught english from birth.
You can't tell me that doesn't show educational differences!

[TonyaR]

I promise not to digress anymore....

[suzy]

Lately Kate Middleton has come under heavy fire for NOT doing a single thing .Even Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy is doing something useful, she's a busy student.Alot of people feel that Kate is just being lazy while she's waiting for Wills to pop the question.She hasn't had a single job after university (wich we are all questioning ).
What do YOU think about Kate's laziness?
Is it about time now that she starts looking for a job?

[HRH Mims]

I don't think, you can say she is lazy. Newspapers don't know everything and you can't know if she is helping to her parents or something like this.
So after this I think you can't simply judge her.

[ldt20]

If there is a high probability of Kate marrying Prince William, there is a good chance that she is now being "groomed" for her future job as a princess.

Many princesses have taken protocol classes, foreign languages classes and much more to be ready for the job. Maybe Kate is starting to do that.

Originally Posted by mims111

I don't think, you can say she is lazy. Newspapers don't know everything and you can't know if she is helping to her parents or something like this.
So after this I think you can't simply judge her.

[Little_star]

I don't think the public have any expectations of Kate yet. Quite frankly, I don't think people care what Kate or Chelsy get upto. I would say people are more concerned with Big Brother celebrities than Kate Middleton.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Little_star

people are more concerned with Big Brother celebrities than Kate Middleton.

Now that is a scary thought! I have never watched it!

[Little_star]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

Now that is a scary thought! I have never watched it!

Oh, neither have I. You just have to look at most of the gossip magazines in WHSmiths these days and they've all got some Big Brother figure on the cover or Victoria Beckham or somebody similar.
I think if some sort of official declaration were made, people would be more interested, ie an engagement, at present I just don't see anyone having any real interest in her.

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by Little_star

I just don't see anyone having any real interest in her.

Yes, the only ones showing any real interest in her, are the press and us.

[TonyaR]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

Yes, the only ones showing any real interest in her, are the press and us.

Skydragon, I'm gone for a bit and come back and you're still making the most sense!! You have an excellent point!!