William, Catherine and Family: Annual Holiday to Mustique (2012-2015, 2018-2019)


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I think this whole conversation is ridiculous. The majority of people could care less that they are on vacation. As said this seems to be a tradition with Kate's family. She will be doing engagements soon and has been working. This is not some scandalous situation. I think we all just need to calm down.
 
I think that ignoring public opinion would be a mistake. You're all followers of royalty so you know that it takes a nano-second for an small issue to take on global status.

I can remember what happened the last time the BRF ignored public opinion.

I think that when the Cambridges finally make public their plans, they need to be very explicit about the detail. If William is staying in the RAF (probably in Suffolk) then an explanation of shifts/working patterns; His level of royal duties; her level of royal duties; how they are funded and that should include security. It needs to be spelt out. I think an interview with William but I somehow doubt that would happen.

We aren't getting overexcited about this - we are seeing the gradual erosion of popularity of this couple and that is serious. It is particularly unfair on Catherine, IMO.
 
The commentators on the DM can stop their whining and complaining about W & K. It's not like they're on vacation every month. When was their last vacation with the Middletons? Everyone needs and deserves a vacation at some point.

IMO what's upsetting the DM posters are the cost of where they are they are staying + security. 30,000/week villa - sounds very nice but isn't that coming from their own money not tax money?
 
Could you explain to me why I'm not a member of the public? Or why the DM readers are exempted from this too?

I think this is just a reference that people who take the time to comment here and on royal stories are a small subset of the population, with views so interested that they take the time. Put another way, we can't generalize based on what we commenters post-not entirely.
 
I do not regularly follow the activities of this couple, so I may be wrong
but for me neither William nor Katherine are the problem. It's his situation which is the problem, being the heir of the heir and being married to a media star. William might have to wait for a long long time until he can do the job he was born for. And I happen to think he fills the waiting time with a usefull in-between-job.
And Katherine can't possibly be a fulltime-royal if her husband is not.

Since the Queen became monarch at a very young age and actually never had to go through this rather odd situation of "waiting heir" I think any comparisons with her are out of place. We don't know how usefull she would have filled the waiting time.

I have the feeling if William was still single nobody would complain about this holiday. But now that he is married to a media star everything becomes a headline / contoversy. The spotlight is on them whether they like it or not. And they will have to take that into account and be more careful about public perception and more sensitive towards the general economic situation in the future.
 
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I think that ignoring public opinion would be a mistake. You're all followers of royalty so you know that it takes a nano-second for an small issue to take on global status.

I can remember what happened the last time the BRF ignored public opinion.

I think that when the Cambridges finally make public their plans, they need to be very explicit about the detail. If William is staying in the RAF (probably in Suffolk) then an explanation of shifts/working patterns; His level of royal duties; her level of royal duties; how they are funded and that should include security. It needs to be spelt out. I think an interview with William but I somehow doubt that would happen.

We aren't getting overexcited about this - we are seeing the gradual erosion of popularity of this couple and that is serious. It is particularly unfair on Catherine, IMO.

Another great post, and I agree. Image is everything for the BRF.

I too remember 1997 very clearly indeed. What would have happened had they refused the state funeral in the end.....:ohmy:
 
I fact, what with Kate's schedule you could say they have been on an extended vacation already.

A 3-day hospital stay and mind numbing nausea a vacay? Ok...

Back in summer, when infamous pictures of the Duchess were taken, they (and the furore around them) distracted from another fact: St James Palace had said that their non-appearance at the Paralympics was because they were "preparing" for their foreign tour when they actually taking another holiday.

Granted, tho they could have been holidaying and researching/getting briefed at the same time. Also, I can't imagine doing a tour, so it could've been a 'calm before the storm' for Kate.

William appears to resent his position and seems to think that while he is entitled to all the perks that come with it, no one dares to inflict any inconveniences upon him.

I think this is unfair-he has been complained about treatment by the press, but the press have acted like vultures against him and the family.

Kate has to date been just a glorified dummy famous for her sartorial choices-only. The press gets criticised for reporting in details her cloths but really, what else is there to report?.

Really? She has done a lot of engagements and been seen as a positive force and symbol for the RF, which seems to have chosen to ease her into her role as a royal.
 
I too remember 1997 very clearly indeed. What would have happened had they refused the state funeral in the end.....:ohmy:
A bit off topic but they did refuse State Funeral. Not even the Queen Mother had a State Funeral.
The last full State Funeral was that of Winston Churchill in 1965.
 
I have never believed that Catherine is the issue, it is all about William. He, as many have said, is enjoying the perks and not doing the royal work. I think Artemesia's post explained that very well.

but it seems that he only wants Catherine to work along side him. She absolutely blossomed when he was in the Falklands and then he comes home and she does nothing by way of royal duties.

I believe her illness was genuine because he is currently working in Wales and she is in London. That wouldn't happen if she had been well. away from him, she is beginning to book engagements. He is staying in Wales because he wants to improve his flying hours, an indication that he is staying in the RAF, not turning to full time royal

when the French pictures materialised during the tour, it was Catherine that handled the situation, William sulked.

She is doing her best but loves and supports William. He needs to learn that the nonsense of wanting to be normal is just that - nonsense. And he needs to pay attention to public opinion, and the Queen and Prince Charles need to sort him out. Basically he's spoilt.

1. What's your definition of sulking?
2. His royal work has been delayed because of his RAF duties, as has happened with MANY royals before him.
3. Wow, Catherine performed fewer duties when William came back from 6 weeks away-shocking.
 
My apologies if this sounded like rant. It probably is one. But while I am a monarchist, an Anglophile and Kate-supporter, I am tired of making excuses all the time.

Artemisia, while I so enjoy your posts in general, this one made me angry. Why do you feel you have to make excuses for W&C? Why?

IMHO they try to live their life as best as they can and as we don't know much about it, we should accept simply them and their decisions. So what if they are not our "perfect Royal couple"? William earns his keep and has inherited from his mother, Catherine comes from a ell-off family and to deny them the right to use the money they own for their own purposes is a kind of trying to disown them and make them slaves of society. While I understand this sentiment of turning the tables on them, it is not just that generations of people fought for freedom and equal rights and now that we have that, the Royals in a kind of back-handed revenge should not participate at all but should be forced to live in an ivory tower due to their birth.

Here in Germany we have a president who is elected and what his family does is up to them. He surely cost the equivalent of a Royal Head od Stae, especially as we have to pay pensions (and security!)for those who had to retire to make place for their successor. I really like this - that's democracy for me. To press someone into a form casted from iron only because he or she was born into that role is wrong in our day and ages. IMHO, of course.
 
Fair enough. In my defence :flowers: I was not including the joint jubilee/olympic stuff because all the family had to up their duties in a unique situation. I still don't believe that it will continue now that the Jubilee/olympic celebrations are over (though I would like to be proved wrong).

Puhleeze-her engagements won't go up for a long time because she'll have a newborn, at which point everyone will complain that she having a baby is no excuse because women often work after having kids.
 
1. What's your definition of sulking?
2. His royal work has been delayed because of his RAF duties, as has happened with MANY royals before him.
3. Wow, Catherine performed fewer duties when William came back from 6 weeks away-shocking.

I have no problem with you disagreeing with me, but I think being sarcastic is unhelpful. I am entitled to have my say as well as anyone else.

Re sulking - take a look at the pictures on the day the news broke. National newspapers even commented on it.

When Charles and Andrew were in the military, they did not do part-time royal duties. The defining line was very clear. MAybe that's part of the issue - again, they need to reiterate what the plan is to the public again. positive marketing is about repeat messages.

For those of you who think this is a storm in a teacup - have a look at the Spanish RF threads and the furore over the King taking a holiday during an economic crisis. There has even been debate about him abdicating.

Under normal circs. a holiday doesn't matter but these are difficult times and normal rules do not apply.

I've always been a supporter of both of them, look at previous posts but this holiday is a mistake by them IMO.
 
Artemisia, while I so enjoy your posts in general, this one made me angry. Why do you feel you have to make excuses for W&C? Why?

IMHO they try to live their life as best as they can .

:applaud: I believe every year WnK go on this trip with the Mids and every year the same people complain. William is not ignoring his duties he is operating as he sees fit being the heir to the heir. Perhaps it's my culture but I admire him for not just sitting around being a prince and instead going out and doing something useful with his time. Just because William doesn't do as much royal duties doesn't mean he is not working. He has a full time job and has had 3 vacays in a year? That's about the same amount as other full time workers I know. You may not like that he isn't dressed up and parading in front of a camera for you to admire, but people need to stop denying that he is working.
 
Regarding the SRF? Why would I care about them? They 're not part of the Commonwealth. Regarding Prince William and those invasive photos of his wife ( subsequent to the events surrounding his mother's death)... that was not sulking, that was being pi##ed off...and rightly so.
 
Regarding the SRF? Why would I care about them? They 're not part of the Commonwealth. Regarding Prince William and those invasive photos of his wife ( subsequent to the events surrounding his mother's death)... that was not sulking, that was being pi##ed off...and rightly so.

I was attempting to show how these things can escalate.
 
I think that people are just complaining because Catherine does not work as a full-time Royal, nor does she work at any other profession. This then comes across to the public, who are not necessarily huge followers of the Royal family, that she is lazy and does not do anything thus not "earning her money from taxes". I don't AGREE with this fact, but I can see why the public would think she is lazy. I think that if they are not going to be full-time Royals then Catherine should have considering keeping her job for Jigsaw and earning money. Sophie and Edward were not full time Royals until 2002, and it would have probably been longer had the "sheikh" incident never happened. Of course it was said Sophie was "cashing in on her Royal status" etc. but the public praised her for the fact that she earned her own money, as well as did Royal duties. Why couldn't Catherine have done that? I do not know/understand, but it's part of the many reasons why Catherine has been deemed as "lazy".
 
When Charles and Andrew were in the military, they did not do part-time royal duties. The defining line was very clear. MAybe that's part of the issue - again, they need to reiterate what the plan is to the public again. positive marketing is about repeat messages.

You're right, I think line has to be drawn. I never understood this thing of part-time royal. If William wants to concentrate in his army career for a while before taking royal duties, that's fine (I don't think he should do that, but that's another discussion). If Kate wants to be a stay at home wife while he does that, fine. They live in Wales and have their ordinary life there, fine. But they have to define that line, so that we can know exactly what to expect from their royal "performance". Part-time royal is a very ambiguous thing: should we expect royal duties, should we not?

You seem to agree that something is wrong with their marketing, am I right?
I think it is, not only in this but also in the way Kate is leading her charity work.

For those of you who think this is a storm in a teacup - have a look at the Spanish RF threads and the furore over the King taking a holiday during an economic crisis. There has even been debate about him abdicating.

Under normal circs. a holiday doesn't matter but these are difficult times and normal rules do not apply.

I've always been a supporter of both of them, look at previous posts but this holiday is a mistake by them IMO.
Well, I cannot decide whether I agree with this holiday or not. While I think that is normal that WIlliam deserves some time off from his work (I don't question his work) and obviously Kate goes along, and that's ok for me even if she didn't work enough to deserve a holiday (as artemisia said she is in a long holiday). For me it's ok that they join the middletons in the annual family holiday BUT on the other hand I understand the frustration of those that have criticised this holiday.
It gives the wrong message when people at home are facing tough times. As it gives the wrong message when she is so sick to work and yet good enough to take such a long flight.
They failed to understand this and that's what worries me, it indicates that they don't care so much for what people may thing and that's a bad sign because as has been said, image is everything in the royal family
 
I too think everyone need to calm down and take a deep breath.

The Cambridge's taking some time off with the extended members of their family isn't the end of the world. The Crown Prince Couple, Frederik & Mary is about to do the same thing, as well as Joachim & Marie. They take a little time to enjoy some with their family and then go back home and get back to work. It's the samething other families do all over the world.

I happen to believe The Queen is okay with members of her family taking some time off. She knows they work hard and deal with a lot, so there's nothing wrong with them taking some time to relax. She pretty much do the samething at Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor.
 
I have no problem with you disagreeing with me, but I think being sarcastic is unhelpful. I am entitled to have my say as well as anyone else.

Re sulking - take a look at the pictures on the day the news broke. National newspapers even commented on it.

When Charles and Andrew were in the military, they did not do part-time royal duties. The defining line was very clear. MAybe that's part of the issue - again, they need to reiterate what the plan is to the public again. positive marketing is about repeat messages.

For those of you who think this is a storm in a teacup - have a look at the Spanish RF threads and the furore over the King taking a holiday during an economic crisis. There has even been debate about him abdicating.

Under normal circs. a holiday doesn't matter but these are difficult times and normal rules do not apply.

I've always been a supporter of both of them, look at previous posts but this holiday is a mistake by them IMO.
He may have been upset on the day the photos leaked (and who can blame him?), but he was fine for the rest of the trip. In fact, all of the royal reporters/photographers on tour, said they both did an excellent job of putting the photos behind them and getting on with the trip.

There are tons of articles detailing their part-time status and William works schedule. So I think it has less to do with a lack of communication, and more to do with the fact that people just want them to be full-time working royals.
 
It's not part of the reason why Catherine has been deemed as Lazy, since she was deemed lazy when she was working at Jigsaw and her parents company before she got marry by the same people who are saying she's lazy now.

And no, people on forums and the Daily mail saying she's lazy does not means that the public at large think she lazy or even care what she does

:applaud: I believe every year WnK go on this trip with the Mids and every year the same people complain. William is not ignoring his duties he is operating as he sees fit being the heir to the heir. Perhaps it's my culture but I admire him for not just sitting around being a prince and instead going out and doing something useful with his time. Just because William doesn't do as much royal duties doesn't mean he is not working. He has a full time job and has had 3 vacays in a year? That's about the same amount as other full time workers I know. You may not like that he isn't dressed up and parading in front of a camera for you to admire, but people need to stop denying that he is working.

Well said

Harry, Beatrice, and Eugenie took the same amount of vacation (days) outside of the UK as Will and Kate, but I didn't hear any complain
 
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Maybe Catherine will like to have a "normal job" but is maybe Queen Elizabeth and the Palace the ones who won't allow her to work outside the royal ring because of her position; she is closer to the throne than Sophie and Edward were.

We don't know what the plans are, Prince Charles situation is even worse, he's getting old and I see him more like a Royal Farmer than a Royal Highness.
 
You're right, I think line has to be drawn. I never understood this thing of part-time royal. If William wants to concentrate in his army career for a while before taking royal duties, that's fine (I don't think he should do that, but that's another discussion). If Kate wants to be a stay at home wife while he does that, fine. They live in Wales and have their ordinary life there, fine. But they have to define that line, so that we can know exactly what to expect from their royal "performance". Part-time royal is a very ambiguous thing: should we expect royal duties, should we not?

You seem to agree that something is wrong with their marketing, am I right?
I think it is, not only in this but also in the way Kate is leading her charity work.


Well, I cannot decide whether I agree with this holiday or not. While I think that is normal that WIlliam deserves some time off from his work (I don't question his work) and obviously Kate goes along, and that's ok for me even if she didn't work enough to deserve a holiday (as artemisia said she is in a long holiday). For me it's ok that they join the middletons in the annual family holiday BUT on the other hand I understand the frustration of those that have criticised this holiday.
It gives the wrong message when people at home are facing tough times. As it gives the wrong message when she is so sick to work and yet good enough to take such a long flight.
They failed to understand this and that's what worries me, it indicates that they don't care so much for what people may thing and that's a bad sign because as has been said, image is everything in the royal family

Yes I am; and I agree over Catherine's charity work.

Exactly. Its PR disasters and mixed messages. It's ok for us who follow the Royals and we know what the palace said about part-time and therefore expectations are not high about seeing these two out and about. But we on the forums represent probably less than 1% of the UK public.
 
I too think everyone need to calm down and take a deep breath.

The Cambridge's taking some time off with the extended members of their family isn't the end of the world. The Crown Prince Couple, Frederik & Mary is about to do the same thing, as well as Joachim & Marie. They take a little time to enjoy some with their family and then go back home and get back to work. It's the samething other families do all over the world.

I happen to believe The Queen is okay with members of her family taking some time off. She knows they work hard and deal with a lot, so there's nothing wrong with them taking some time to relax. She pretty much do the samething at Sandringham, Balmoral and Windsor.

If you go to another forums all you would see is how lazy Frederik is, If I only read that forum I would have thought that he was unpopular in Denmark. That is far from the case with the DRF.

He may have been upset on the day the photos leaked (and who can blame him?), but he was fine for the rest of the trip. In fact, all of the royal reporters/photographers on tour, said they both did an excellent job of putting the photos behind them and getting on with the trip.

There are tons of articles detailing their part-time status and William works schedule. So I think it has less to do with a lack of communication, and more to do with the fact that people just want them to be full-time working royals.

I don't even think that's it, It just people not paying attention to those articles because that don't fit their agenda. They much rather say that Will and Kate are wasting tax payers money
 
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^True. I think for some that's basically what it boils down to.

If Kate wants to be a stay at home wife while he does that, fine. They live in Wales and have their ordinary life there, fine. But they have to define that line, so that we can know exactly what to expect from their royal "performance". Part-time royal is a very ambiguous thing: should we expect royal duties, should we not?
From what I recall, it was announced that they would do about 2 or 3 engagements a month. Which is basically what they've been doing. And about a week ago, one of the royal reporters stated that Kate is expected to continue this schedule throughout her pregnancy. He wasn't sure about William, since he's trying to get his flying hours up.

I think that if they are not going to be full-time Royals then Catherine should have considering keeping her job for Jigsaw and earning money. Sophie and Edward were not full time Royals until 2002, and it would have probably been longer had the "sheikh" incident never happened. Of course it was said Sophie was "cashing in on her Royal status" etc. but the public praised her for the fact that she earned her own money, as well as did Royal duties. Why couldn't Catherine have done that? I do not know/understand, but it's part of the many reasons why Catherine has been deemed as "lazy".

Catherine hasn't worked for Jigsaw in years. The last place she worked was for her parents company and she resigned right before the wedding. The Middletons are constantly being accused of cashing in and lambasted for selling princess party supplies (something that every party supply company sells), can you imagine the outcry if Kate still worked for them?
 
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Artemisia, while I so enjoy your posts in general, this one made me angry. Why do you feel you have to make excuses for W&C? Why?

Most of us here are monarchists in some shape or form. Artemisia's posts seemed like a constructive criticism.

IMHO they try to live their life as best as they can and as we don't know much about it, we should accept simply them and their decisions.

When someone is in a position not only of privilege but also serves as a representative of a nation or a commonwealth of nations, it simply does not work that way. Just ask Bill Clinton, King Juan Carlos or any number of others.


So what if they are not our "perfect Royal couple"? William earns his keep and has inherited from his mother, Catherine comes from a ell-off family and to deny them the right to use the money they own for their own purposes is a kind of trying to disown them and make them slaves of society. While I understand this sentiment of turning the tables on them, it is not just that generations of people fought for freedom and equal rights and now that we have that, the Royals in a kind of back-handed revenge should not participate at all but should be forced to live in an ivory tower due to their birth.

Sorry, I think it is an insult to the many people who have lived in slavery and oppression and have died fighting for equality and freedom to suggest Will and Kate are part of their fight. :ROFLMAO:

Here in Germany we have a president who is elected and what his family does is up to them. He surely cost the equivalent of a Royal Head od Stae, especially as we have to pay pensions (and security!)for those who had to retire to make place for their successor.

You cannot compare an elected head of state to one who inherits the position solely through accident of birth, as the elected head of state is directly answerable to the people through the electoral process.


I really like this - that's democracy for me. To press someone into a form casted from iron only because he or she was born into that role is wrong in our day and ages. IMHO, of course.

This is kind of like a republican argument but with a twist; the republican form of government is the better one because in a monarchy we enslave the hereditary head of state and force him/her to bow to the people's will. I think I have to agree with this on that principle. Which is why I always thought that if the person next in line really wants to bow out, there's no shame in it.
 
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