Kate Middleton, we truly love ye. Your grandmother-in-law? Different story. Hers is a tough love. Really tough.
The new Life & Style cover story claims Kate is being "humiliated" by Queen Elizabeth. What it's referring to is the Queen's recent revision to some royal rules and guidelines and other mumbo jumbo forcing poor Kate to have to curtsy before any other princesses who were born into the family. You know -- blood princesses like Princess "What Crazy Hat Will I Wear Today?" Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and a whole bunch of others I'm sure you've never heard of.
There is an exception, though. Take heart, Kate. You don't have to drop to your knees before snotty women who are younger and sillier than you -- as long as your husband Prince William is at your side.
Ouch. Did we just step back to 1895?
Gossipmongers make it sound like the Queen is insanely jealous of popular, poised, beautiful Kate Middleton and changed the curtsy rules in the Royal Household's Order of Precedence out of spite.
But maybe, possibly, the Queen might have a point here. The whole special thing about the royal family is that you're born into it. That's how you get to wear a tiara and do that beauty pageant wave and be an unofficial head of state and live in a palace and all that. Either that, or you can go Kate and her late mother-in-law Diana's route and marry a prince.
So what if Kate has to show respect for the blue bloods every time she sees them? I mean, sure, it does sound suspect if it's true that Queen Elizabeth actually did change it recently -- and maybe it was to keep her grandson's wife in her place. But that's what royals do. They go around puffing themselves up and acting very important and adhering to strange antiquated rules of yore. They even use words like "yore." It would be weird if they were suddenly down-to-earth and reasonable. And compared to what Diana had to deal with when she was married to Will's dad Prince Charles, Kate's run-ins with the Queen seem like child's play.
Do I think it's fair or nice of the Queen to do this to Kate? No. It's kind of petty. But is it the worst thing in the world? No. Kate's smart and classy. She knew what she was getting into when she signed on to be a princess. I'm sure it's a major challenge sometimes, but she wanted this life and if anyone can handle it, she can. Extra curtsies and all.
Do you think the Queen is jealous of Kate Middleton? Do you even care?
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Comments 45
the publication of these already established orders of precedence simply echo the status of the people involved within the royal family. Catherine is a commoner who married into the royal family, and thus has to courtesy to everyone royal except when in the presence of her husband, and even then, her husband has to acknowledge his father, grandfather and grandmother as above him in rank. She's now above all of the current wives who have married into the royal family except Camilla. She will rise above all of the royal princesses, including the Princess Royal, when her husband ascends the throne. Then they will have to courtesy to her. Probably they will have to do that when her father in law ascends the throne as well, except for the Princess Royal, perhaps, but maybe she, too, will drop below Catherine. So in the end, you see, Catherine will have the last laugh. None of the others gets to ascend the throne unless something happens to William before he is king.
If anyone can handle it, it's Kate...and she'll do it with class! She's absolutely stunning. And the queen probably is jealous of her.
These 2 have very little to recommend them other than the fact that they're royal.
The queen wants to remind people of that so they might have a chance of getting married.
Frightfully ignorant saying the queen doesn't approve of her family marrying ''commoners''. Diana Spencer, Camilla-Parker-Bowles, and many of Henry VIII's wives could, among other, be considered ''commoners''. Frankly, I like the monarchy in Britain, even though I wouldn't want one here in Ireland. The monarchy actually brings in more money to the British economy than it costs, and provides something to celebrate in ridiculous style!
mustbeGRACE, I'm LMAO. I have had that picture in my mind for days now. Thanks for the laugh.
And, Jay, I don't claim to know everything about Brittish protocol when it comes to the royals, nor am I going to run out and buy a book on it. However, now that you mention it, it seems even sillier that all subjects (from what it sounds like, that includes you) would not be forced to bow/curtsy to the royals, but Kate would. What a double standard.
Oh, and as far as not wanting to live in a place where Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern are given their own shows, aside from the many other obvious freedoms, it beats living in a place where grown men bludgeon defenseless baby seals for sport once a year. Oooops, did that offend someone's tolerance checklist.
Who says she's humiliated, or that it was intended that way. The monarchy has been trying to tone down the amount of formality that is going on.
The Queen is the Queen, Beatrice and Eugenie are the daughters of a Prince, grandaughters of a Queen, and Kate is, in the grand scheme of things royal, not in the line of anything without William. My guess would be that Kate really couldn't care less. She's a Brit, raised in the culture, married into -into- royalty. She gets it, and if she's not crazy about I'd lay odds that she live with it with grace and good humor if for no other reason than a.she's a smart cookie, mature, and not likely to make the mistakes Diana did, and b. she loves Will, and so will respect the Queen not only 'cause she's the Queen, but because she's William's grandmum. What we Yanks can't seem to get is that celebrity isn't royalty. These stupid, petty, silly, scandal-mongering headlines make that clear. Our 'royalty" comes and goes with popularity, ratings, scandal. They have Kate... we get the Kardashians... <sigh> When Charles or William reign, they can change the protocol of precedence with a penstroke. And that's royal reality, too.