Mermaid1962
Majesty
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It's classic "them and us."
How many people close to Diana have sold her out? Is this a reflection on her judgement of people or did she just have the unfortunate fate to die before the blabber mouths?
When I read that William and Catherine added a family kitchen to their KP apartment I wondered if this was William's wish because of his mother's reported problems/being banned from the kitchen.I read about this incident in the first Stephen Berry book. It's been a while since I read it, but I think Mr. Berry felt Diana visited the kitchen because she was lonely. She was apparently very uncomfortable in her home and didn't feel free to invite old friends over. Charles wasn't there and she wasn't comfortable with his aides. Perhaps she felt that the kitchen staff would be friendly to her. Maybe because Althrop's staff was friendlier.
Mr. Berry described the kitchen as being a mad house, with occasional rough language, and they didn't think it was appropriate for the Princess to appear asking for an apple. They first tried to stock a small refrigerator in her suite with food, but she kept going to the kitchen anyway. The head chef apparently abruptly told her that the kitchen was "his" part of the house and pointed to "her" part of the house. She was apparently pretty upset.
When I read that William and Catherine added a family kitchen to their KP apartment I wondered if this was William's wish because of his mother's reported problems/being banned from the kitchen.
Plus we know that Kate enjoys cooking so it makes sense that she would want cook for Will and George which is easier to do at the family kitchen. I would think the other kitchen maybe more bigger/industrial to handle feeding more people.
The White House has the same thing- a family kitchen in the private residence even though their are chefs standing by to cook whatever they want , sometimes they want to do it themselves.
When I read that William and Catherine added a family kitchen to their KP apartment I wondered if this was William's wish because of his mother's reported problems/being banned from the kitchen.
I think the notoriously private William is keeping the number of staff to a minimum because of the tell-all books that have been written by his mother's (and father's) former staff.
I realize that, having lost a parent at a young age myself, however, since this is a thread relating to his mother, I limited my comments to that possibility and even erased additional factors (Catherine cooking, Middleton heart of the home influence, etc.) that I'd originally typed as I didn't want to go off topic. Plus, I'm a bit tired of the tabs assuming that Catherine was the sole reason for the second kitchen.Not everything William does is related to his mother...
I think that Diana was used to a more relaxed situation regarding the family and the staff. According to various descriptions of her childhood years, it was normal for her to visit the kitchen and talk to the staff. Perhaps she thought that the staff at the royal residences operated the same way. She was apparently relaxed with Stephen Barry until he walked into her bedroom one morning while she was sitting on the bed in her night-dress. I'm not sure whether it was in his own book that he mentioned this.
How many of the books written by the staff came after Diana's death? I know that Wharfe the bodyguard, Burrell, the Chef and Jephson, the Private Secretary all wrote books. The only staff from Charles I remember writing a book was Stephen Barry, the valet. I remember reading that one when I was little . It was very tame.
I think this kitchen has nothing to do with Diana or Middletons. It's all about modern style of life and modern standards of life. Nobody in Europe or UK would rent or bye flat without a kitchen. Nobody wants to share their kitchen with other families (or with people who rent Kensington Palace for their events).
Modern wealthy people have less staff and know how to cook something for themselves.
Now having said that, can we all whip over to the thread covering the homes of the Cambridges and let this thread return to it's stated purpose, namely Social Norms: Diana and staff, which not surprisingly, does not include William and Catherine's psychotic kitchen?
Awww geeez. Guess we'll never get to the topic of "will Lupo be allowed table scraps or not?"
Now that I think about it, I don't recall reading whether Diana had any dogs.
I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why on earth people are speculating, at great length and depth, about the Cambridges kitchen. The in-depth psychoanalysis is unbelieveable.
Folks, as several posters have pointed out, not everything William and Catherine do is a direct consequence of William's mother who has been dead for more than half his life. And, sometimes, a kitchen is just a kitchen.
Now having said that, can we all whip over to the thread covering the homes of the Cambridges and let this thread return to it's stated purpose, namely Social Norms: Diana and staff, which not surprisingly, does not include William and Catherine's psychotic kitchen?
I must admit something, I've always felt it was a little sad that Diana couldn't have long standing friendships and she instead had to confide in her staff like Paul Burrell. I wonder if she knew some of the staff could not be trusted and would leak stories and she thought Paul wasn't like that.
In Diana, Sarah Bradford wrote:
An immediate consequence of the separation of the two households was the division of the staff. At Kensington Palace the charming, loyal and discreet head butler, Harold Brown, remained with the Princess; the Highgrove butler, Paul Burrell, was assigned to Kensington Palace against his wishes. With his wife, Maria, and two sons, Burrell was happy in his cottage on the Highgrove estate and was extremely unwilling to be transferred to the Princess's service.