Next with both grandmothers

WILLIAM PLAYING WITH MY SHOES!

I love it, loveeeeeee it.

Love it, too... thanks Nellie..!!





Haha. Children are children after all, even for the BF.

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So he and the Hungarian girl had already split up when he died? The blonde one, that Nicola Sieff, does not hold a candle to Szuzu (???) in the looks department. Her figure looks all wrong, but I expect the picture at the airport may be a bad one.

Strange finding out about this dashing tragic prince at this stage. After reading so much about the familiy and looking at so many pictures, it really makes quite an impression (and a very good one I should add). What about Prince Richard? What is he like? Did he sort of live in the shadow of this gorgeous older brother?

Everyone who I know who knows him, says he's a really nice, down-to-earth man. However, he's a deep thinker who often has his head in the clouds (a befuddled professor type). I once described him to a chum (who, as I mentioned in another thread, went to school with his daughter, Davina) as Prince Charles on intellectual steroids. She laughed and said, spot on.

I think Prince William was no less intelligent, but from what I've read and heard he was more worldly, had a much more knowable personality than his younger brother. First off, he was a playboy like his father Harry had been in his day. Remember Prince Harry was 35 before he married, and so was his mother. It was thought Harry would never marry, because he had so many affairs -- it was said of him that he was a confirmed bachelor with no intention of throwing away his liberty for a wife, dog and fireplace (but because he wasn't bisexual like George, he didn't figure in much of the gossip of the day. You know how much people like to be titiliated).

And Richard was married a few short months before William's death to that Danish girl, Birgitte van Deurs. He was a much more settled, homey character than his dashing brother.

I respect him a lot, but I think he is the type of royal who blends into the background, in the public's imagination -- like the Duke of Connaught in his day. And for a royalist like me, I would prefer a bit more presence about him, as Prince Michael of Kent has.

I mean, if you're going to be the grandson of a King, ACT like one. Don't act like just another member of the aristocracy, which is all one blur of titled names.

Personally, I would love to hear competing opinions about this.

I see him as sufficiently removed from the main line to be able to adopt a low-profile role. Is he on the civil list or living in "royal" apartments? In that case I am sure he takes on whatever royal duties are requested from him, right? Aren't they regulars in state banquets and such?

But yes, how wonderful it would have been if William had not died. He was already showing signs of becoming a responsible, hard-working royal so I am sure he would have been a good asset to the institution.

Yes, he is in. I have a video talking about that. I hope I will show you a bit later today

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He does keep an apartment at Kensington Palace, which was mentioned during the whole Michael of Kent row with him and his missus having to pay to live there, now.

And yes, he has always been a faithful member of the royal round, always lending a hand at opening this or that event or building. His wife is always very gracious, very proper in her role as the wife of a junior member of the royal family. She even LOOKS royal, physically I mean.

I think I would contrast her common-sensical attitude to that of the Duchess of Kent, who has had shall we say, emotional issues in the past. Like Crown Princess Masako, she doesn't have many if any engagements today. The more evil tongues in her family and within the aristocracy have a nickname for her -- they use "PMKK" as a shorthand for her, Poor Mad Kate Kent.

It's unfair, of course. But it was about her emotional instability that the Queen Mother was referring when she said about Princess Diana, "Oh, not another one".



It seems the Windsors have trouble hanging on to the more dashing or intellectual princes in their family. Maurice and Leopold of Battenberg. George Kent. William of Gloucester.

It occured to me that William of Gloucester had the same kind of élan and sense of future promise that John Kennedy Jr had. And when I Googled I was startled to find this listed as "one of the final photos of JFK Jr".

Here is the video I mentioned, The Queen handing out duties.

Ps. I will leave the video on display like that for 24 hours. After that, for copyright reasons, I will revert it to private mode. You can find the password for all VIMEO videos in Té a las cinco non-public section of the forum, the first thread.

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Fabulous video, Sabbatical!

It is from the "The Queen at work" documentary right? Amazing how sharp the Queen's mind is, she seems on top of every detail!

"It's not a day we're using it. Or Anne is using it."

THE ROYAL WE IS ALIVE AND WELL.