William and Kate: engagement and relationship rumours and musings 2005 - 2008


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Yeah, it was Sarah & Andrew's wedding but I don't think it was William, it was a pageboy.

But you're right, the Queen sure ran fast! :D

I could swear it was William. I know we had to wake up too early in the US to watch the wedding but by then I had a few coffees.....Can anyone help?? I can never forget the Queen's reaction. It was so human, unlike the usual facade.
 
Well it was just coincidence that when the subject of Prince Charles paying Camilla´s expenses was due to come up the wedding plans were made public straight after. OK I believe in coincidences.
I think he did exactly what he wanted to do and I think he did the right thing. Camilla definitely is the right person for him. Who said, by the way, he was paying for Camilla´s security from his private funds? What is being said now is that Prince William and Prince Charles will be paying for Kate Middleton´s security from private funds..... I thought that Camilla´s security was the same as Prince Charles´s I won´t argue about it as I am not sure, but that is what was said at the time.

> The accounts for the Duchy of Cornwall and the annual review of the Prince of Wales' household indicated that certain of the costs associated with CPB (as she was then) were met by the Duchy (i.e., the personal income of the PoW)
> Camilla's security now is the same as the PoW and has been since they were engaged. This is normal practice for members of the royal family, and is not funded by the Duchy of Cornwall but directly by the government
> "What is being said now is that Prince William and Prince Charles will be paying for Kate Middleton´s security from private funds" - lets be clear here that this is not an official statement of fact (or something highlighted in the annual review of the PoW's household), merely conjecture on the part of one newspaper or wherever the story may have originated. We don't know for a fact if Kate is going to get security at this stage and if so, who will pay for it.
 
Well it was just coincidence that when the subject of Prince Charles paying Camilla´s expenses was due to come up the wedding plans were made public straight after. OK I believe in coincidences.
I think he did exactly what he wanted to do and I think he did the right thing. Camilla definitely is the right person for him. Who said, by the way, he was paying for Camilla´s security from his private funds? What is being said now is that Prince William and Prince Charles will be paying for Kate Middleton´s security from private funds..... I thought that Camilla´s security was the same as Prince Charles´s I won´t argue about it as I am not sure, but that is what was said at the time.

Before they were married Charles paid for a husband and wife protection team for Camilla. His accounts from the Duchy of Cornwall are public and this expense was listed. Charles receives no money from the state, neither does William, they only have private funds. Before Camilla was a royal she was protected not by Protection Officers who are police officers paid by the state, but by retired police officers who worked as private protection agents.
There was no coincidence in relation to Charles and Camilla's timing of their marriage and criticism. Here's the relevant timeline.

In November 2004, Charles and Camilla were both invited to a large society wedding between Lady Tamara Grosvenor ( daughter of UK's richess landlord the Duke of Westminster) and Edward van Cutsem ( Charles's godson) Also due to be present were the Queen and the DoE. Since QEII and the DoE were going to be present, guests would be seated according to protocol which meant that Charles and Camilla wouldn't be able to sit together. This incident pushed Charles into deciding he and Camilla should be married and got his staff to sort through the various issues. Hence the statements, "will be known as the Duchess of Cornwall' "is intended to be called the Princess Consort" Christmas 2004 he discussed getting married with his sons, they gave his support. Over New Year 2005 the official engagement photo was taken at Birkhall ( later used on postage stamps) QEII gave Charles historic ring belonging to QM for engagement ring.The engagement announcement was planned for Valentines Day 2005 and wedding in April.
Mid January 2005 came the newspaper stories about what Charles was spending on Camilla ( all private income, none came from the government) When the stories appeared the wedding preparations had already begun, Charles and Camilla were privately engaged. Their official announcement was advanced by a week as the media found out and were going to publish so they got in first and made the announcement.
The criticism stories had no bearing on Charles's decision to marry Camilla, that decision had already been made and plans were already advanced when those stories appeared.
 
I didn´t say he decided to marry because of the newspaper stories and pressure about his expenses, I said that he decided to advance his announcement of his plans in face of the growing criticism, and that is what he did.
I believe that it was the publication of the Duchy of Cornwall expenses that drew attention to the fact that he was spending a lot of money on his not yet wife.
It may be of no one´s business but his own how he spends his private funds but in times when people are having to tighten their belts it is bound to draw attention if vast amounts are being spent. Now that Camilla, and I am very glad about this, is his wife he can spend as much money he likes on her and no one will say a word.
 
I didn´t say he decided to marry because of the newspaper stories and pressure about his expenses, I said that he decided to advance his announcement of his plans in face of the growing criticism, and that is what he did.
I believe that it was the publication of the Duchy of Cornwall expenses that drew attention to the fact that he was spending a lot of money on his not yet wife.
It may be of no one´s business but his own how he spends his private funds but in times when people are having to tighten their belts it is bound to draw attention if vast amounts are being spent. Now that Camilla, and I am very glad about this, is his wife he can spend as much money he likes on her and no one will say a word.

I think both Charlotte1 and I have pointed out (in our respective, independent opinions!) that the wedding was not advanced because of press criticism about expenses - the immediate impetus was reported to have been the Westmninister wedding!
 
I didn´t say he decided to marry because of the newspaper stories and pressure about his expenses, I said that he decided to advance his announcement of his plans in face of the growing criticism, and that is what he did.
.

But he didn't! The criticism was in January, the engagement announcement was planned for Valentine's Day. Since the engagement photo was taken over New Year's then the plans were well advanced before there was any newspaper criticism. The only thing that changed was that a tabloid got hold of the information about the engagement a week before Valentine's Day and was going to publish in their next edition. Charles and Camilla that night were hosting a Princes Trust fund raiser at Windsor Castle so the engagement was announced then and there. Camilla already had the ring. The criticism ( which wasn't growing) only lasted an edition of the newspapers, by the time the engagement was announced it had already become old news, early February papers had no critical news of Charles's expenditure in relation to Camilla.
 
I am sorry but I wish you would read what I said. He announced it before he had planned, because of growing criticism. What I said had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with his plans to marry Camilla, he probably had these from ages ago, and like any other royal event it was planned long before. What he did in face of criticism, and the invitations to the Duke of Westminster Wedding although not voiced was one too, was give out the announcement before schedule.....nothing more.
 
I am sorry but I wish you would read what I said. He announced it before he had planned, because of growing criticism. What I said had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with his plans to marry Camilla, he probably had these from ages ago, and like any other royal event it was planned long before. What he did in face of criticism, and the invitations to the Duke of Westminster Wedding although not voiced was one too, was give out the announcement before schedule.....nothing more.
Please reread what I have written, the criticism about how much money Charles was spending on Camilla was in the newspapers in January 2005, the wedding plans were put into place November 2004! Check the newspaper archives of the British papers. There was no criticism of how much money he was spending in relation to Camilla earlier in 2004, again check the newspaper archives.
Charles was not forced to announce his wedding plans early because of criticism, he had already put them into place before the criticism appeared in the public arena.
 
[Guardian Thursday February 10th.] The nuptials were announced today and also their engagement.....
(It then goes on to say !) Last June, Mrs Parker Bowles was mentioned in the prince´s accounts, moving her into a new realm of acceptance. This week, there was FURTHER controversy over the cost of her lifestyle and how it was funded by the prince..."]

Do you know I couldn´t care less how long before they had made plans for their marriage, now they are married it doesn´t really matter, you think he didn´t announce his engagement earlier because of criticism, I think he did, but as I said "who cares?"
I think this is rather silly to go on an on about this.
I hereby give up on this rather ridiculous, in my opinion, discussion.
 
Before they were married Charles paid for a husband and wife protection team for Camilla. His accounts from the Duchy of Cornwall are public and this expense was listed. Charles receives no money from the state, neither does William, they only have private funds. Before Camilla was a royal she was protected not by Protection Officers who are police officers paid by the state, but by retired police officers who worked as private protection agents.
There was no coincidence in relation to Charles and Camilla's timing of their marriage and criticism. Here's the relevant timeline.

In November 2004, Charles and Camilla were both invited to a large society wedding between Lady Tamara Grosvenor ( daughter of UK's richess landlord the Duke of Westminster) and Edward van Cutsem ( Charles's godson) Also due to be present were the Queen and the DoE. Since QEII and the DoE were going to be present, guests would be seated according to protocol which meant that Charles and Camilla wouldn't be able to sit together. This incident pushed Charles into deciding he and Camilla should be married and got his staff to sort through the various issues. Hence the statements, "will be known as the Duchess of Cornwall' "is intended to be called the Princess Consort" Christmas 2004 he discussed getting married with his sons, they gave his support. Over New Year 2005 the official engagement photo was taken at Birkhall ( later used on postage stamps) QEII gave Charles historic ring belonging to QM for engagement ring.The engagement announcement was planned for Valentines Day 2005 and wedding in April.
Mid January 2005 came the newspaper stories about what Charles was spending on Camilla ( all private income, none came from the government) When the stories appeared the wedding preparations had already begun, Charles and Camilla were privately engaged. Their official announcement was advanced by a week as the media found out and were going to publish so they got in first and made the announcement.
The criticism stories had no bearing on Charles's decision to marry Camilla, that decision had already been made and plans were already advanced when those stories appeared.

That's how I recall it as well. I doubt Charles bothers much about media reports concerned with how he spends his money - he is used to them.
 
Hello Everyone - The last I checked, this was a discussion about William and Kate, not Charles and Camilla. Could you be so kind as to stay on topic please?

Thanks

Empress - TRF Administrator
 
Did she really have to go to university to end up working for her parents in their party business taking photos of cakes etc? If this is is as far as she, with a degree, wants to stretch herself then I think that her Waity-Katy label may be justified after all.
 
I doubt she went to University thinking that she'd end up dating the future king of England. She obviously had something she wanted to study when she first went there, but I highly doubt she could even begin to imagine at that point that it would soon be impossible. Obviously we've seen it was incredibly hard for her to maintain her job at Jigsaw so, I think for now working in the field she studied for in university is out of the question. That's why working for her parents is alot easier, what with press control and all. Plus as we've said before it's not bad, I mean I do it, I work for my parents in the summer but still count it as work.
 
I doubt she went to University thinking that she'd end up dating the future king of England. She obviously had something she wanted to study when she first went there, but I highly doubt she could even begin to imagine at that point that it would soon be impossible. Obviously we've seen it was incredibly hard for her to maintain her job at Jigsaw so, I think for now working in the field she studied for in university is out of the question. That's why working for her parents is alot easier, what with press control and all. Plus as we've said before it's not bad, I mean I do it, I work for my parents in the summer but still count it as work.

I am not sure about this, and no doubt there will be someone to correct me quick smart, but wasn´t her problem with jigsaw all the time off she wanted?
 
I am not sure about this, and no doubt there will be someone to correct me quick smart, but wasn´t her problem with jigsaw all the time off she wanted?
I think it was more likely to be the 'stories' invented by one of her co workers, along with the constant harassment. When she was taken on, it was IB in a part time capacity.:flowers:
 
I am not sure about this, and no doubt there will be someone to correct me quick smart, but wasn´t her problem with jigsaw all the time off she wanted?

Do we have any basis for suggesting any reasons why Kate left her job at Jigsaw? I just think it is one of those things where it is easy for people to speculate as to reason (especially one that might make her look bad eg: the reason she left was because of all the time off she wanted!!!) but we are not going to know what the real reasons were. It may well be that she did not enjoy the role / could see no future in it for herself / was fed up by the press following her around as she tried to get out of her front door / thought living on her own in london was unsafe / William and she secretly got engaged and he told her to stop working / Camilla said that if Kate continued to work at Jigsaw, Kate would not be served prawn cocktail at Clarence House / kate had alread got all the free clothes she wanted for Jigsaw and did not want any more.........
 
Kate's recent PR strategy or whatever poeple call it is a complete desaster IMO, very very amateurish. Her problem is that she never followed kind of a red line in her life but went zigzag all the time, at least from when she got her degree. She has followed several "career paths" (Jigsaw, photography etc), none of them worked out, then had some strange attempts to do charity (sisterhood, roller disco etc) which can be considered poor at best, now this desperate but embarrassing "involvement" in party pieces, with her picture on the website and naming items after William and Harry as if to visibly confirm, yes, I really do work. To me she seems completely lost, not knowing to run in what direction until William please please will release her from this dilemma by popping the question. Kate is never acting, always re-acting = giving in to the demands of the relationship or public opinion and I believe this is a reason why people don't respect her. Always pleasing everyone, first William now the media, never showing some attitude towards her own life and to blame the paparazzi for preventing Kate from living a normal life with a normal job is not more than a sad excuse in this context. If Kate had gone down Chelsy's path, simply continuing with her life and education / job instead of transforming into Waity Katie etc for many years, with her public reception all over the place, she would be in an easier position now with William doing his thing and Kate doing hers and not Kate waiting and waiting and waiting for William to react, and it turns out almost impossible for Kate to fill this waiting time with something substantial, as we all have seen for months and years now.
 
Camilla said that if Kate continued to work at Jigsaw, Kate would not be served prawn cocktail at Clarence House / kate had alread got all the free clothes she wanted for Jigsaw and did not want any more.........
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Kate's recent PR strategy or whatever poeple call it is a complete desaster IMO, very very amateurish. Her problem is that she never followed kind of a red line in her life but went zigzag all the time, at least from when she got her degree. She has followed several "career paths" (Jigsaw, photography etc), none of them worked out, then had some strange attempts to do charity (sisterhood, roller disco etc) which can be considered poor at best, now this desperate but embarrassing "involvement" in party pieces, with her picture on the website and naming items after William and Harry as if to visibly confirm, yes, I really do work. To me she seems completely lost, not knowing to run in what direction until William please please will release her from this dilemma by popping the question. Kate is never acting, always re-acting = giving in to the demands of the relationship or public opinion and I believe this is a reason why people don't respect her. Always pleasing everyone, first William now the media, never showing some attitude towards her own life and to blame the paparazzi for preventing Kate from living a normal life with a normal job is not more than a sad excuse in this context. If Kate had gone down Chelsy's path, simply continuing with her life and education / job instead of transforming into Waity Katie etc for many years, with her public reception all over the place, she would be in an easier position now with William doing his thing and Kate doing hers and not Kate waiting and waiting and waiting for William to react, and it turns out almost impossible for Kate to fill this waiting time with something substantial, as we all have seen for months and years now.

why should she have a PR strategy she's a private citizen. and if she wants to wait for william to propose then why shouldn't she? as for the the involvement with the charitable causes, at least she's lending a hand to some causes that obviously mean something to her which is more than a lot of people do so it's never a disaster...the media just wants people to think they are and from the looks of things people that believe they were a disaster were sucked into believing exactly what the media wanted you to believe. the employment....she can't win...she gets a job and it's seen as a lame attempt at finding something to do. they may not have worked out but there are millions of people the world over that start a job only to leave because it doesn't work out....she's no different.
 
Given the current discussion, here is the article published in Vanity Fair
Will's Cup of Tea: Style: vanityfair.com
Upon reading the whole article, I have the following to say. This article has been prompted by concerns of certian parties about the surge of negative publicity surrounding Miss Middleton, which tends to tarnish her image. "Miss Middleton has been working for her family company" is a mere reaction to articles portraying Miss Middleton as a lazy individual, who just waits for an official proposal. I would say that this article attempts to deflect all negative comments and criticisms levelled at Miss Middleton.

... [snipped] It is telling how she does work and why she didn't work before. It is says that the Queen apparently likes Kate a lot suggesting that the Queen criticising her is wrong. It also takes the time to go through William and Kate's relationship again painting it like a fairytale and telling the public just how far these two have come and how close they are. It also tries to put to rest the suggestion that Kate went to St Andrews on a mission to bag William. I agree with some of you about it trying to portray Kate as a victim by suggesting that anyone that ever had a negative word against her like bullies in a playground. By also having words from close friends and Kate's lawyer it is making the article seem very plausible. It is a very clever, manipulative article. ... [snipped]
Reference: Lady_In_Waiting, retrieved October 2, 2008, from Will’s Cup of Tea.
To Moderators: If the above quote violates any rules of this forum because this analysis has been posted on the other Forum, please, feel free to modify this post. I do agree with Lady_In_Waiting's assessment on the matter and find her/his comments to be an apt and precise refection of main points of the article in question.
 
Her problem is that she never followed kind of a red line in her life but went zigzag all the time, at least from when she got her degree.

snip rest of post

and it turns out almost impossible for Kate to fill this waiting time with something substantial, as we all have seen for months and years now.

You seem to contradict yourself here, at least I read it that way. On the one hand you imply that Catherine never followed a red line by her own choice, OTOH you claim that it's impossible for her to follow one. So what? Is she so incompetent or is it just that people believe her to be so?

But: for me, as far as I can tell from the very few information about her we have gotten so far over the years that seem to be reliable IMHO, she follows a very red line and if she splits with William, she will have a very clear path to follow from there.

It was written about her that she wanted to open up her own mail order business with children's clothes shortly after she finished her degree. She obviously did not find the right partner for this enterprise. Then she started working as a buyer for a fashion chain, learning IMHO a lot about how the fashion business works and how to buy (which includes to sucessfully evaluate the market, find suppliers and negociate with them). Okay, she was only with Jigsaw for a year, but that's two complete seasons. Enough to learn what she needed to learn. Now she works for her parents in a successful mail order business whose customers are parents shopping for their children. Plus she learned a lot about charity and dealing with the media.

IMHO she has now a lot more practical knowledge towards doing something on her own one day, should she not become The Princess William of Wales.

I don't think we need to bother for a moment about "Poor Kate"'s future. I bet Catherine Elizabeth Middleton will be a success in life, as a single or as a married woman.
 
i thought it was a well balanced piece...it pointed out things that we've all discussed here. i think she's handled herself exceptionally well to say the least.
 
I doubt she went to University thinking that she'd end up dating the future king of England. She obviously had something she wanted to study when she first went there, but I highly doubt she could even begin to imagine at that point that it would soon be impossible. Obviously we've seen it was incredibly hard for her to maintain her job at Jigsaw so, I think for now working in the field she studied for in university is out of the question. That's why working for her parents is alot easier, what with press control and all. Plus as we've said before it's not bad, I mean I do it, I work for my parents in the summer but still count it as work.

True.But then you're not hanging on the arm of the future Monarch and the position that goes with it.Kate is a simple nextdoor kind of kid,your average Anny,who's main interest seems to be to have fun,and run around idle.She is not Royal material,yet,or ever,she just doesn't have the pazazz,she misses something,the style,well,everything,all she has are good looks but it takes way more then that to be a future Queen -Consort.

He isn't much of a lightbulb either btw imnsho,and that gawd awfull accent or what is it he speaks?Incomprehensible,and absolutely not understandeble no matter how hard one tries.There's a lot of work ahead for these two.

An engagement?A wedding even?Don't be ridiculous,Kate will never marry William,nor can the british pulp they call press force them no matter how much they scream the craze of the day and no matter how many brits scream along with them.It won't happen.Too rediculous for words.
 
You seem to contradict yourself here, at least I read it that way. On the one hand you imply that Catherine never followed a red line by her own choice, OTOH you claim that it's impossible for her to follow one. So what? Is she so incompetent or is it just that people believe her to be so?

Hi Jo sorry thought I was clear in my post. I don't see a contradiction. She never followed a red line although it was well possible for her if only it had been her intention in the first place. Because she never did her own thing but only went from here to there and finally ended up "working" in her parents' business - and only after the media pressure came up - she is struggling now with selling her waiting time as doing something substantial. All she does is try to please the media who said she did nothing and now she's desperately trying present something, party pieces, charity. Had the papers never cared about her lifestyle she would still be partying and shopping around. But they have, what left her in a weak position. Had she followed some red line in her life by now she would be established in something, work, get on with her life, the same way William does, Chelsy does, and the pressure would not be on as much.

I don't have anything against Kate herself as I don't know her; it's the whole circumstances of this relationship that I find very unfortunate. This whole waiting thing is damaging, going on for much too long, and I have said before that I find it much more likely that William will present a fresh girl in his thirties or so, giving the monarchy a boost. It's not healthy to date for such a long time as CP because the public already knows far too much about the possible consort-to-be, in Kate's case her identity as private person and royal consort is being mixed up in people's minds what is damaging on both ends.
 
...She is not Royal material,yet,or ever,she just doesn't have the pazazz,she misses something,the style,well,everything,all she has are good looks but it takes way more then that to be a future Queen -Consort.

she doesn't have style???!!! maybe not the kind of style that you like but the kind of style that's acceptable for a woman that will probably one day become queen consort....oh yeah...she has it.

He isn't much of a lightbulb either btw imnsho,and that gawd awfull accent or what is it he speaks?Incomprehensible,and absolutely not understandeble no matter how hard one tries.There's a lot of work ahead for these two.

i'm not from the uk and i can understand him without any problem. is english your first language?

An engagement?A wedding even?Don't be ridiculous,Kate will never marry William,nor can the british pulp they call press force them no matter how much they scream the craze of the day and no matter how many brits scream along with them.It won't happen.Too rediculous for words.

you can't be so serious as to think that these two won't one day be married because it's "too rediculous for words."? it's a very real possibility that they may not marry however, it's not because it's too ridiculous for words but more likely because they've fallen out of love.
 
Given the current discussion, here is the article published in Vanity Fair
Will's Cup of Tea: Style: vanityfair.com
It's a shame the article seems to quote Katie Nicholl extensively, rather unfortunately. The lady used quite a bit of imagination, such as what takes place in Kate's Chelsea apartment, “he could have a bath, dinner, put his head on her lap, and just relax.” Whisps of Barbara Cartland, perhaps! I always thought Vanity Fair has extensive list of excellent writers. They might as well have asked Christopher Hitchens to write the piece.
 
Is this article on the paper version of Vanity Fair??
PS Christopher Hitchens has not been the same since he let them wax his legs.........LOL
I agree. Now how can anyone know what is going on in anyone's house/apartment whatever?
 
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