Members Sylph Posted December 22, 2010 Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 Yes, it's all so vanilla. Everyone was so all over those photos of William and Catherine and even called him the Prince of Cuddles, I was just... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted December 22, 2010 Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I know. OMG, look, he's holding her! His fiancee! Who he has been living with for, like, 8 years! For crissakes. We aren't in 1886 anymore. I guess we can sort of blame Charles for this, as he was a man who despises public displays of affection (and good for him), wasn't really into his wife and was a rather awkward, excentric individual when he and Diana announced their engagement. Hence the formality of their wedding photos, which was at odds with Diana's more emotionally outgoing, physically affectionate approach. Charles has grown on me in recent years. Putting aside the affair and Camilla -- for which he should entirely be blamed, especially after marrying Diana as a halfhearted afterthought -- he is a man who is now 100% dedicated to the causes close to his heart -- helping dispossessed youth, rural affairs, environmentalism, architecture. 20 years ago, he was seen as a crackpot. Today, some of his views seem very prescient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I think that's generally part of what sells them to people. A lot of UK celebrities around their age are really trashy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted December 22, 2010 Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I have seriously tried, I really did, I wanted to prune out the sarcasm, but I just couldn't. In Testino's informal photo, he looks frozen, she looks glad she finally made it to be the future Queen of England. And that's all. These two have to speed up the pace and become people with personality. Will isn't a young, charming man anymore and being a kind in the 21st century asks for a whole lot more than just good looks and charming manners. You have to establish yourself as a credible ruling monarch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I actually think that being a credible monarch would be the least of William's problems. It's the media stuff I'm not sure of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted December 22, 2010 Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I tried to be... fair, too and not be snarky just for the sake of being sarcastic. But I was so excited as a kid when the Charles-Diana wedding was announced. The wedding itself was this big 80s extravaganza, too. Diana came across as shy but with a fun little glint in her eye. I think the British royal family has struggled with being relevant, Sylph. The upper classes here sneer at the "bicycling" royals of the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The irony, of course, is that the Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish royal families on the whole occupy a place in many of their citizens' hearts which the Brits do not, precisely because they have reached out and become connected to much of everyday life. I love the fact that little Prince Christian of Denmark is sent to state school with other kids his age and is encouraged to climb trees and play and generally be a well-rounded little boy. Once again, I would suggest that William look at his father's and mother's advocacy in areas such as youth poverty, or AIDS, or landmines, or environmentalism, etc., and start getting passionate about such a cause. And stick to his guns. The Brits criticize the hell out of you, but once they see that you are unwavering and dedicated in what you espouse and believe, you gain their respect. He needs to be passionate about something - anything. As a military man, it might be good to see him working with the soldiers back from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those who have been physically and/or emotionally wounded. Care for these people is woefully inadequate in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted December 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 I thought William and Harry were both heavily involved in charitable stuff, like over in Africa. I think the culture of the UK is too different from other countries you mentioned to ever fully embrace the Windsors, but I think they are more accepting now than they were for most of the 90s. It depends on how you play the game -- even now I'm not sure how many respect Charles, who has been very honest and committed to his causes. I think that all you can hope for is to work well with the press and avoid huge public blunders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted December 22, 2010 Members Share Posted December 22, 2010 Cat, I'm glad you believed in it and that you were swept by it, but the whole Prince Charles & Diana, Princess of Wales affair remains very depressing and ultimately tragic to me. So many mysteries, so many weird characters, the all-pervasive dark mood of the tale – I don't think the truth will ever be fully known. Did she really want for him to love her, why didn't he love her, what was Tiggy Legge-Bourke's role, why did one biographer call Diana "spiteful, manipulative, media-savvy neurotic", did she really choose Dodi out of that same spitefulness, what do Prince William and Prince Harry think and know about the whole saga... What kind of a person Prince Charles really is? I could go on... The media wouldn't like him? Why? Sure, the British media and their ways are very well documented, but it happened with every royal before William and it really made no difference, in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cat Posted December 23, 2010 Members Share Posted December 23, 2010 Well, I was like 6 years old when the wedding happened! So it was like a fairy tale come true. But yes, it did quickly deteriorate, thanks to the machinations of certain people, including Tiggy LB and Camilla herself, machinations Charles knew about but was too passive to do anything about. I think that is why he is so assertive and outspoken today... And of course there is the death and the conspiracy theories. I have a hard time believeing that the driver Henri Paul was drunk on Pernod, which is very strong -- it really does knock out even the most experienced of drinkers. And yet in the video footage, he looks fine, and surely Dodi and Diana would have picked up on the alcohol on his breath when they were in the elevator together going to the car? As far as Dodi was concerned, I think he was for Diana a fun, high-spending summer adventure, and the fact that he was Al Fayed's son totally stuck it to the royals. For Dodi, Diana was the pinacle of status symbols, kind of like the way Onassis viewed Jackie Kennedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted February 12, 2011 Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SFK Posted February 12, 2011 Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 Any other fans ( ) of this ridiculous commercial? <object width="480" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/euZAecjzeKA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param'>http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/euZAecjzeKA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/euZAecjzeKA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="390"></embed></object> "Nineteen dollars ninety..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted February 12, 2011 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2011 That commercial goes on for too long, and I love the bad pitches (we WERE going to charge $119...we can ONLY let you have one per household). I think the best part is that model they try to pass off as Kate because of that dress she is in. It reminds me of all the Diana stuff that was sold after her death. Bleh. You'd try to read a Weekly and you'd see collector plates galore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted February 20, 2011 Members Share Posted February 20, 2011 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/prince-william-kate-middleton-wedding-145770 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted February 20, 2011 Members Share Posted February 20, 2011 They've invited 1,900 people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaytimeFan Posted February 20, 2011 Members Share Posted February 20, 2011 Since Joan Collins won't have made the cut for the guest list, she should be aggressively pursuing a commentator gig for one of the networks in regards to the wedding. Could be very lucrative for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.