85 thoughts on “Royal Round Up: William leaves EAAA, Swedish summer photo, Belgian National Day”

1. Hi KMR, Thanks for the round up!

   Hmm, ok so last day on the job eh William? I’m not going to make any comments about William and the job, did he go enough to make the hours etc. What I am going to say is that the article he wrote does a good job in reminding people about the work the East Anglian Air Ambulance do. Air Ambulances are always fighting for funding so it’s good to see something reminding everyone of the importance of having these helicopters with trained medical staff on board.

   Now, the Swedish Royal family. Great to see another photo of the whole family! The star of the photo though, imo, is Oscar with his “don’t mess with me” stare!

   1. Agree Cathy. I always laugh when I see a photo of Oscar. He sure has his own personality and is like “What the hell are those people doing?” Gorgeous.

      1. And, look at Estelle. She just is so darn adorable. All the kids are. Nico is so blond now.
         Love the Swedish Royals.

2. You’re right: William never became a full pilot. You can tell by the number of stripes on his uniform in the photo if you look closely. The man standing on his left has four stripes, so he’s a pilot; William, with three stripes, is a first officer or co-pilot, no matter how KP tries to present it.

   1. So many little white lies and huge questions surrounding the whole EAAA gig – it really leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Did we ever find out which charity William was giving his salary to? Are EAAA advertising for a replacement? Was there ever a vacancy for a short-sighted co-pilot in the first place? Who had to cover the costs of William’s protection officers learning first aid in order to accompany him? Were there extra security costs in general? Did William work a normal shift pattern?

      1. According to the BBC yesterday “Pilot William Wales, as he is known at work, receives a salary for his job which he donates in full back to the EAAA charity.”

      2. Hey there, great to see you here again Future Crayon. Off topic a bit but what does your name mean? I don’t buy into this crapola about Bily Midd’s quitting his job, because I personally believe that the job was created for him; and that it was for his fun in playing hero heli co pilot. I didn’t bother to read his memoirs, maybe some of it is true but again, who else gets that kind of praise and glory for not only quitting a job, but getting it just because. I have had occasion to know, first hand, what these awesome people do and it isn’t for the fame and attention, it’s to save lives and contribute to society. Ok, that’s a bit much on my part, but this yahoo brings that out in me.
         I really believe that it is a flat out relief to the team that Billy is off to other things, rather like the boss’s nephew leap frogging over entry positions and going to the top. Doesn’t have to know anything really, and others have to suck it up. Breeds resentment, and makes it hard to put one’s entire self into the work since it’s like someone is always looking out for nephew and no matter what you do it’s always there in the back of your mind that you are working, nephew is above reproach. Because I know what these people do, the pressure they’re under I have always been angered by Billy Midd’s gig. Photographers, for the love of God he wants **his** privacy, but victims are fair game? Donated money? This alone says to me that this was a ‘let’s play normal Bill, get good press, and play with our beloved helis.’ More of a burden than a help I think. A ‘royal pain’ comes to mind.

         1. So in effect, Willy paid/bribed EAAA to play helicopters.

            1. Here’s the thing: nepotism is a big thing in this field. I would know. I work with a lot of people who are so and so’s daughter/son/niece/nephew. It’s just the reality of this field. Everyone knows someone. There are exceptions. Boyfriend and I are. We both worked our butts off to get the job. As for the flight medic thing. Where do I begin?! Boyfriend is a flight medic. I know what he had to do to get to where he is. I can go into more depth if you want. It might be different because we’re in Canada, But it still gives a general idea of what it takes. We do see some gnarly stuff. There are some images that I’d rather not see anymore, but it is what it is. While it’s a tough career, I absolutely love it and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

            2. Thank you for all you do, miss k, and your boyfriend too.

         2. William would have been paid a pro rata salary; if we had known the amount donated we’d be able to work out how much he worked – whether it was 0.2 of a full-time job or more, or less. From what his colleagues said it appears William’s work there was irregular. And he was definitely playing royal work off against EAAA aka lying. The ‘job’ was made-up for him alone and there will be no replacement. It’s pitiful that so many people have to be put to so much trouble to accommodate a not-too-bright man’s whim to play hero in a helicopter.

      3. +1

   2. How many hours of flight time are required to become a pilot ? He is 35 and if he worked any decent amount of time at this job then he should have acquired the time to qualify. The casual lies about this issue are not acceptable.

      1. +1

      2. On the EAAA website, there’s an interesting little news bit about one of their pilots. According to the EAAA, this pilot is one of their longest serving captains, but when they took on the larger helis after William came on board (needing space for his personal security), this man lost his ranking as pilot, since he didn’t have the hours required to pilot these new helis. I’m sure this also meant that he took a cut in pay. The EAAA estimated that it would take this man three years to fly the 350 flight hours in these new helis needed to regain his captain’s position, but he was able to complete it two years and one month. The EAAA attributes this to his “amazing work ethic,” which I’m sure is true, but how much would you like to bet that he was able to gain more hours than originally expected just covering for William’s absences?

         Also within this little EAAA news story, it states that “the pilots that fly for EAAA are employed by Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore who provide the charity with pilots, engineers and aircraft operations under a long-term service contract.” So William would have had to go through that company to receive his position. I’ve looked on their website, and there’s not one pilot position of any rank advertised as being open–these must be highly sought after, competitive jobs. How convenient for William then that he was able to find an “opening” so close to his country home. As royalsareajoke says above, this job was clearly created just for him. Will be interesting to see if the EAAA actually hires anyone else to replace William. I doubt it.

         1. Lizzie I was just going to post the exact same story! 

            The larger helios do seat (and perhaps require…I don’t know for sure) two “pilots.” If two are required, that increases the cost for every shift. Plus I am pretty sure larger crafts would require more fuel. So if the helio-type switch was done just for Will even if the BRF donated the helios (as has occasionally been reported) and even if Will did donate his salary back to EAAA (not sure myself since in the past KP refused to say where it was donated, just claimed it was) EAAA still got the short end of the financial stick. The only good thing and it is a good thing, flying helios with two pilots is generally considered much safer than with one.

         2. That is awful for that poor pilot, fully qualified, far more qualified than William, made to cut down his hours and pay because a royal wants to play helo rescuer.

      3. It took him far longer to qualify than one would because he didn’t met his flight hour requirement through the RAF, ever, and they shoehorned him through a special bespoke course in the RAF. He didn’t do the normal 18 month training course but did it in six, the RAF defending it saying because William wouldn’t see combat he didn’t need the real training. Appalling, everyone covering for his arse.

3. William respects emergency services so much he went out of his way to skip working and to show up even to pretend to work to burden them! Yes, I am cynical, but they didn’t need him; though I’m sure the money that came in having him there helped. I bet they’re glad to see the back of his bald head.

   The EAA thing sticks in my craw because he didn’t donate any of the salary; according to co-workers who then shut up because their new boss was someone connected to The Royal Foundation, he never showed up and was a liability (same comments from his RAF co-workers as well); and he just used it as a plaything, to play and have fun on helos and have photo ops to prove how normal he is. The PR worked but at the expense of people. Of real pilots who could have taken that job and needed that money. Of the people he supposedly helped, because he’d get out of the helo–when you’re not supposed to do that as far as I have been told since you have to stick in there and keep it ready and going–for photo ops by a local photographer who was always conveniently there. I also find it bizarre they had a KP photography team LIVE TWEETING his last day, like, realllllly?

   I expect another gap year. If I am wrong I will be glad to be so. Sometimes William can show where he really shines like at his recent event meeting veterans, he was great there and had something of the man he was when he was younger; warmer, more engaging, happy to be there. I think he is an unhappy, troubled person. Part of me sympathizes, but the whining turns me off to any more sympathy!

   If it wasn’t William I would probably have a better view of all this, but knowing how he got this ‘job’ and had them make it up for him, how it inconveniences a service that is a charity, all really has bothered the crap out of me.

   Elisabeth is so grown up and dignified and lovely! I love how they all coordinate. Mathilde and Philippe seem like excellent parents, as well, warm and loving family all of them.

   I don’t like CG at all, he’s a misogynistic pig, but his turquoise pants kill me. The children are all lovely. I love seeing all of the Swedish kiddos!

   1. Ellie, totally agree about William. How even the pr machine expects people to buy his devotion and being ‘keen’ to help others is beyond me. Keen is Kate’s word I know, but to me William is a Middleton more than a Windsor. However, that’s just me, I don’t know much about it. I don’t follow other ‘royal’ families all that much so can’t speak to the rest of your post.

4. First i hope William’s coworkers go out and celebrate his departure! As a shift worker who works holidays and weekends I’m sure they’re glad to say good riddance to his no holiday (and probably wkend) shift.
   I also wonder if in aviation world saying you’re a pilot/copilot is like saying you’re a nurse. Technically LPN’s are nurses and are callled nurses but it’s until you ask further you realize they’re not RN’s. I still think the palace & reporters need to specify that tho. He never qualified as a pilot and maybe it’s not as big as I think it is but it just shows his lack of follow thru, which the media never mentions.
   Anyhoodles on to the fun!
   I love the Swedes pic and appreciate them doing it but not to sound nit picky but did Madeleine and Sofia not get the memo to wear blue because they totally look off when everyone else is in blue and white?! Why not put Alexander in front with all the other grand babies? I also find it odd the CG & Sylvia aren’t sitting next to each other but that could explain her happy face =)
   I love oscar’s lil grump going on
   As for the Belgium’s I don’t follow but yikes the flared sleeves trend has gots to go! With pussy bows, high neck collars and lace! But the kids look nice =)

   1. And don’t forget to add concrete coloured Wedges to the list?

      1. I would add the Kikis to the list, but the write off in the Accounts would be horrendous!!

         1. Oh yes please! Retire all those horrible overpriced Kikis! Though I’m not sure what you would do with them afterwards? They may find a new role as minimalist Christmas tree decorations?

      2. Though I like madeleine’s espadrille wedges with the ankle tie; maybe I’m biased.

         1. Madde’s wedges have some pizazz, Kate’s wedges just look cheap.

   2. Talk about calling attention to herself, I found that Sofia did just that. She and Madeleine may have conspired together to go the beige route, but Sofia certainly chose a bold print to make her point. I’m sorry, guys. I try to like her, but I find it difficult to do so.

      The blue theme was a bit out of sorts for me . I liked the way Silvia broke her blue up with white. I really do not like the King . He always looks so put out by things when it comes to his family. He should be proud of them. But, their gracious manners, their work ethic, their love for family all seem to be thanks to their dear mother.

      1. In the same way I did not yell at Kate for choosing pink for Trooping, I am not going to yell at Sofia for choosing beige with some green on it for this photo, because I don’t think she did anything wrong. Sofia really doesn’t stick out that much because of how much green is in the background. Me eye is immediately drawn to Silvia because the white dress sticks out from the blues and greens.

         1. Yelling? I was not shouting in any way, KMR. In my opinion, that bolder print called attention to herself and others (sometimes, me) criticize Kate for the same thing.

            I don’t like Sofia, but others do. We are each entitled to our points of view, especially if we are not nasty and rude. So, please, I was not yelling! And, while I don’t like her, I have often praised her for her wardrobe, her public appearances, etc I’ve also called her out when I think she should be.

            Beige is not necessarily a bold look, but that print, really called attention to her.

            1. I did not say that you were yelling. I said I was not going to yell at Sofia here. So I will rephrase:

               In the same way I did not criticize Kate for choosing pink for Trooping, I am not going to criticize Sofia for choosing beige with some green on it for this photo, because I don’t think she did anything wrong.

      2. I’m so glad that Sofia and Maddie choose to wear something other than blue, it really helped break up the monotony. Also, since they didn’t wear loud, vibrant color I thought it presented a nice contrast.

         1. +1

5. Those sure are statement sleeves.

   1. Princess Elizabeth looks lovely. Mathilde looks like Mathilde: equal parts frumpy and eccentric, but doing a decent job supporting her husband (who had the worst, most horrible royal upbringing) and raising some grounded looking kids.

      1. Worst upbringing in royal history ? Why is that ?
         That Mathilde outfit is lovely, except for the seams. Natan is terrible.

         1. Around the time of Laurent’s hospitalisation, there was lots of discussions on royal boards about how distant and cruel Albert and Paola were,. This was written by babalux on royaldish:

            “The most famous story to illustrate their childhood is how they spent their Christmas when they were little: The concierge of Albert and Paola made his final round to turn out the lights and found the kids abandoned. The parents were missing in action and the kids had no idea about their whereabouts. In the end the concierge took them with him so they could have a bit of Christmas together with his family. All the while Albert spent Xmas with his companion and their daughter Delphine and Paola probably was in her flat in Brussels where she met her lovers. You can imagine how present they were during the rest of the year if they don’t consider it necessary to spend Christmas with them. And this happened at least 3 times it seems.
            There are much more and nastier stories than this one. The kids were basically raised by chauffeurs, housekeeping staff and advisors, there were nannies at some point, but according to Delphine’s mother some of them were from Portugal or so, didn’t speak French and were unable to communicate with the kids. Later they were sent to boarding schools and spent their weekends with friends of their parents. Almost never together so there was no close relationship among the siblings. There were times when they didn’t see their parents for weeks on end. Albert had his secret family and Paola was in Italy or elsewhere. Family life took place during holidays and then the parents would fight and scream with each other and the kids. Baudouin and Fabiola only took care of them in the mid 70ties when the kids were teenagers. But they could not replace the parents and the love the kids were missing. There simply was no family life.”

            It may be hearsay, but everything I’ve heard about the Belgian RF just makes it more surprising how solid and together Mathilde and Philippe are

            1. Bloody hell !! What kind of parents abandon their children like that ? I’m aghast and disgusted by Albert and Paola behavior. Truly unacceptable. I pity them and it’s a wonder Mathilde and Philippe’s marriage has survived so far.

            2. So heartbreaking and I can imagine from what I know of Baudoin and Fabiola I am sure they would have taken all those children in to raise and love them, with no children of their own and how loving and kind they were as people.

   2. That they are, those sleeves. However, does anyone know what they are trying to say? I am so out of it fashion wise, but some things are just plain not attractive to me. I’ve always thought, and it’s probably true, that I’m short and stocky so what do I know about true fashion:)
      I find Sophia repugnant, and that’s all I am going to say.

6. I love the Swedes, but not digging all of that blue.

   Princess Elisabeth is looking so grown-up and lovely!

7. A co-pilot is defined as “a second pilot in an aircraft.”

   1. As Lizzie points out upthread, the man standing to the left of William has 4 stripes on his uniform vs William’s 3 stripes.

      That tells us everything we need to know about William’s qualifications

      1. The four stripes denotes that the man to the left of William is a more senior pilot to William. It does not infer that William is not a pilot.

         1. It tells us what stage he is at.

            The issue being that he is constantly talked up as more than he truly is, when we can use things like this to see the truth.

            1. The “epaulettes” are worn by pilots. They denote rank or seniority. Three stripes generally denote a first officer and four stripes a captain.

         2. While I don’t often agree with you, spectator, you’re exactly right here. At least in commercial aviation, first officers and captains are both considered pilots, and they’re equally qualified to perform the same tasks. While the captain is the one ultimately in command of the flight, both share in the decision-making. Also, first officers can be sometimes more experienced than captains in the commercial field because of the way the seniority system works. Here’s a good explanation from a first officer: http://www.askthepilot.com/pilots-and-copilots/

            Now, it might be different in civil service, but even there a first officer is still almost certainly a pilot; he’s not sitting around and twiddling his thumbs–assuming he shows up to work at all, which is something I continue to be suspicious about in William’s case.

            1. This is William we are talking about.

               The man who regards himself as an RAF pilot despite undertaking cliffnotes version of it.

               A ‘military’ pilot who took a very long time gaining his commercial licence.

               Any insignia he wears has to be side eyed and placed in context.

            2. Bit like his 2:1 degree from St Andrews. No matter what anyone says I will NEVER believe either of them earned that qualification. Jeez, you just need to listen to Kate, sorry, ‘Catherine’ talk – there’s not much going on upstairs. They’d have failed her on Public Speaking alone.

         3. Yes, loosely William can be called a pilot, like as Sarah pointed out above that an LPN may be referred to as a nurse. And yes, it takes two people to pilot those larger helicopters. But the distinction between pilot and co-pilot remain, and it’s disingenuous for William and KP to not use William’s actual rank. Especially when William is known for being a stickler for using correct names and titles in regards to royal positions.

            Also, on some other air ambulance websites, there is a distinction made between those with four stripes (pilots) and three or two stripes (co-pilot). See the following as an example: https://ehaat.org/about-us/our-people/ Conveniently for William, the EAAA doesn’t list their flight crew names or actual positions.

8. Until William i never heard a helicpoter has 2 pilots. At least in my country they have one pilot in an air ambulance shift. Is this an EAAA thing? I don’t know what practise is Britain have usually.

   About shifts. If you works in shifts you have 3 or 4 free days per week but you also might work at weekends. I think this goes to the british shifts too. It means about 14 workdays per month. This is the law. In additional you got your holidays per a year (not national type). So for William it is normal if he worked 14 days per month. But I don’t know so much about the exact british law nor the air ambulance.

   1. Remember AnnaH when Will started the job it was announced by KP he’d work 4 days on, 4 off with adjustments as needed for royal activities. Then it came to light he wasn’t working that much at EAAA but wasn’t doing many royal events either. (At that time EAAA co-workers were talking publicly about never seeing him.) Then KP tried to claim aviation rules restricted pilots from working more than 80 hrs in a month so Will could not work much legally (less than 9 days/mon if shifts were 9 hrs as was once reported.) KP further claimed pilots were required by the rules to “rest” on days off so Will could not do royal activities either. KP had to walk all that back because 1. it’s not work time the air rules address but flight time. And neither Will nor any other pilot can be in the air every minute of a shift. (From the EAAA website it looks like the average number of missions flown per calendar day is 3-4. And that’s 3-4 divided between two helicopters and is for the entire calendar day not for one shift.) And 2. there is no rule about “resting” and not doing anything else on days off. I think KP then said Will’s job was part-time not fulltime and only a fulltime schedule required 4 days on/4 off anyway. Then the person with connections to the BRF was put in charge of EAAA and co-workers stopped talking. Perhaps the charity got attention because of Will but I agree his co-workers must be very glad he is gone.

      1. “Then KP tried to claim aviation rules restricted pilots from working more than 80 hrs in a month so Will could not work much legally” I didn’t know about this. Thank you. I just didn’t get why he had so little events. I thought they just works more days in Britain shifts. Oh my god. This is awful. How can you trust your king if he lies about almost everything? In addition to this lie is worse becouse it so obviously false that my 4 year old nephew could invent better story about why he is lazy (But he is not) So unashamed and corrupt. And he will be the sovereign. Bravo.I hope King Charles will put his foot down and clean up this kind of mess in the royal household. What kind of royal PR team is KP I don’t understand the Queen and Charles, their wallet! why tolerate this stupid people’s behaviour.

         1. I remember the kerfuffle over this lie.

            It was quite clear that William had told EAAA one thing and KP another to justify his not working much for either organisation.

            The Civil Aviation authority refused to take the lie and stopped short of saying he was a liar outright. They very publicly said tgat KP had their facts wrong because the CAA didn’t have the rules KP was claiming for William’s poor work record.

            They went as far as saying that working for EAAA didn’t preclude working for the royals because they didn’t CARE what the pilots did on their off days.

   2. Not only that but I worked at a hospital that did flight for life. One of my friends was one of the cc nurses and space is at a premium. So they bought a bigger helicopter to accommodate William and his RPO and his rpo is taking up precious space that a qualified person could have been sitting in. I don’t even think the rpo got basic emt training.
      All for William to have his normalcy

9. I am not holding my breath about William. I will believe him when I see it.

   Queen Silvia looks so happy surrounded by her grands. You can tell that Estelle is the pied piper of them all! Oscar’s face is so cute! I love a stern faced baby.

   When did Princess Elisabeth grow up? She’s a beautiful young woman!

   Thank you so much for the roundup, KMR!

10. The statement that William “wrote,” really sums up the work that the Air Ambulance professionals do. A good nod to their skills, their hard work and their high standards. Who knows what William did, or did not do while he was with them. I would like to believe that he took the job seriously and gave his all, but people have posted interesting comments about him taking so much time off. Time, that others, could not do. I hope that what he saw stays with him and makes him more caring toward the people he will one day serve as King — if he gets there.

    When I think of the people who do work like those who are in the Air Ambulance, or traditional EMS, I am astonished by their ability and their “bedside manner.” Where would people be without any first responders?

    1. It is what it is. As crass as this might sound, we just keep going on. Calls eventually all blur into one unless you have that really bad one. I’ve been on the job for about 5 years now. We all have a very dark sense of humour. We forget that what while what we see is the regular norm for us, it isn’t for others. I know when boyfriend and I talk, we forget that it might gross our friends out. But for the most part, It’s all blurred into 1. I can’t tell you what details make 1 call different from another. We just go with whatever we have. Doesn’t meant we treat patients any differently. And even now, there are calls that stay with us. I had a 6 yr old vs a truck. You don’t want to know what I saw. It’s not something I’ll forget anytime soon, if ever. But we find our ways to cope. It certainly helps that my boyfriend and most of my friends are medics too. Makes it easier when they know how to deal with the ever-changing shifts and what emotional stuff we might bring home.

       1. Fellow Canadian here. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I’ve depended on paramedics twice in the last week (I’m A-OK now) and am so grateful you all are there. I always feel I am in good hands and am always treated so well. I don’t know how you do it, but I’m glad you and BF have that gift. Rock on. I must say I’m also a little bit in awe. 🙂

          1. Glad all is okay Maven, and kudos to you Miss K.

       2. Hi Miss K, I work with law enforcement and totally understand the need for dark humor as a way to cope with all that you see. There have been times around the office lunch table where I find myself leaning back and thinking that this particular conversation would probably horrify an outsider or at the very least lessen their appetite.

          Thanks to you and your boyfriend for all of your sacrifice and dedication!!

          1. Miss K, you do deserve thanks for what you do. I can also understand the dark humor approach to the job. I have not a clue as to what William did or did not do on his shifts. I would hope that any pain and suffering he saw, perhaps, makes him a better person. I would like to see some of that in the way he acts out when not on the air ambulance job!

             1. Maven, twice in a week?! Hope everything is ok.

                Queen Lauri, but I love the dark humour! It’s how we cope. This is gonna come out so wrong, but I’ve been the grim reaper lately. I’m ready to start having some saves again. Boyfriend’s been the psych whisperer for a bit now. We’re both ready for some “regular/normal/easy” calls.
                Jenny, the dark humour gets us through. I rarely bring home anything now. I’d get upset over certain calls when I first started. Looking back now, I laugh. As sad as it sounds, we get jaded. But you have to. You can’t get attached to every patient.

             2. Oh Miss K, you misunderstand I love dark humor too, the darker the better. My thoughts on our lunch room banter were more along the lines of what you were saying, sorry if I caused any confusion. 🙂

11. I do hope full time royal means full time but not sure if I should get my hopes up.

    I do like the picture of the Swedish royal family. They always seem happy around each other and it’s nice to see the kids from time to time. But have to say a little less blue, although I like the colour, would have been nice.

    The Belgian royal children really grow up! One always remembers them little and suddenly they are teens… don’t really mind the colour coordination here. Maybe wouldn’t even have seen it as it are different shades.

12. Princess Madeleine truly has it all. Wealthy, full-time working husband outside of royal duties, children with full royal titles, and she even still has at least one security guard provided by the state. She’s living a dream.

    1. Madeleine and Carl Philip do not have security protection when they are not doing royal duties. So she has no security in London as well as Stockholm.

       It is a beautiful picture but it will look even better if there is more colour.

       1. Interesting; I thought someone said Princess Madeleine had a bodyguard while she was in New York. Maybe he was privately funded. That would make sense though.

    2. I think she actually only gets state protection when she’s “working” for them. I think the rest of the time it is privately funded security unless the current climate changed that up

13. Goodness Sofia looks like she’s ready to pop! Isn’t she due around now? I know she gets a bad press but there’s something about her I really like, plus it can’t be easy (for anyone) being heavily pregnant during the height of summer then having to dress up etc to get official pictures taken. Bet she wants to be in front of the telly right now with four day old hair, some ice cream and one of CP’s old t’s and slippers on. Wishing her an easy delivery and looking forward to more gorgeous Swedish kids!

    1. September I believe.

       Second babies you are bigger and also I’m sure her body didn’t have much time to heal and recover from another pregnancy, it’s why doctors recommend 2+ years because it really messes you up!

    2. Sofia is due sometime in September.

    3. I figured she got a pass for the beige print dress because of what you said. She may not have anything blue and summery that even fits right now. I agree that the not all blue helps give the photo a little lift.

       The second Belgian princess has on a dress very similar to what Kate wore on the last day of the tour.

14. I doubt William’s coworkers will miss him……….but they did get a new helicopter for work and so maybe it was worth putting up with him all that time.

15. Thanks for such a lovely little Round Up KMR!!!

    Awww, the SRF always brings a smile to my face, they all look so happy expect for King Grumpy Face and his young side kick Prince Oscar the Grouch, oh those two just make me chuckle! I have to say that I’m glad that Sofia and Maddie rebelled against the blue shirt fashion, it’s just a bit too much blue for my taste. I wonder if it was at the request of the birthday girl, Victoria?

    I do like the coordination presented by the Belgium Royal Family, the various shades and tones of pink work well together. And how nice to see Princess Elizabeth in age appropriate kitten heels. I too can’t wait for the bell sleeve trend to die, along with nude court shoes, skin tight skinny jeans and striped shirts at any event involving water. I wonder if Maxima has ordered her pink bell-sleeve dress yet?? lol

    I’d like to give a big shout-out to all first responders!! Thank you so much for your dedication, hard work and compassion, you can make a difficult situation a bit easier to deal with.

16. In Canada, professionals such as teachers, doctors, nurses etc., belong to public registers. The public can view credentials and if there are any restrictions. Is this the case in England? If so, William ‘ acomplishments will be there. Just a thought.

    1. Not that I know of, no. Same as most people having their university thesis online–William’s, AND Kate’s, were never released.

       1. Ellie,

          My undergraduate thesis in the UK was not published but my master’s thesis that I am currently working on will be available through the university li8brary. The same can be said about my undergraduate thesis that I wrote in the States; it was never published. In the UK the policy might be different for each university. Not all my fellow undergrad colleagues in the UK undertook a thesis. I did because I was working on an honors degree. William and Kate’s degrees might not have required a thesis.

          1. They both did a four year honours dgeree and I’ve read the title of Kate’s thesis–something about photography and Lewis Carroll. I always found it interesting HERS was hidden while you could access other people’s. Maybe from the comments from professors that she plagiarized during her uni career…

       2. Only research* post-graduate theses are published: doctoral and masters. These are available online.Kate and William did undergraduate courses comprising various subjects, where a small thesis in the final year would have been a component of their programs.
          * research = individually scoped projects/theses.

17. My fave royal family is victoria, Daniel, Estelle and Oscar. Estelle and Oscar are just for me, the bees knees. She is so bubbly and happy and his grumpy face always adorable.
    I still watch the video clip of them walking in the forest when I need cheering up, Oscars cough near the end and how it makes the others laugh, priceless.

    I’m not even commenting on W&K anymore (well apart from this saying why I’m not commenting!) I’m just so over them and their shenanigans, her spending this year is totally unacceptable to me in the current situation in the UK, people really struggling financially and she’s worn new stuff to almost every engagement, particularly as she’s spending thousands on pieces practically the same as she’s already got.
    And as for him and his faux job, the lies and the kids being paraded everywhere but here, I’m done.
    We’re being taken for utter mugs paying millions for these two and Harry to do the bare minimum and be totally open that this is it for the future. The Queen and Charles seem totally complicit too, why is this being allowed to happen? What an insult to ordinary people who are working minimum wage and being taxed to pay for another coat dress for a woman who needn’t buy another coat for years! Recent report has shown children on free school meals are going hungry in the school holidays, but not to worry Marie Antoinette is buying kiki like it’s going out of fashion.

    Vive le republique!

    1. Yes, the public is being taken for mugs and a collective cash cow. The Queen and Charles are complicit because it’s all about family. Most families want to secure their financial futures; the Windsor’s are no different. With all their resources they can cover for W+K+H and the rest because they lean on people and institutions to keep the status quo. The Queen’s longevity is the monarchy’s strong suit; once she dies, people may re-think the role and its costs (ie to society for aggrandising rather ordinary people for no good reason).

    2. Debra,

       I would love for a republic to happen here in the UK. Such waste and gluttony from all members of the royal family. There is not one with clean hands just varying degrees of outlandish expenses.

       I remember seeing a poster once that had various military weapons listing their cost and what society could provide if the one weapon was not purchased. It was amazing the number of people that could have been clothed, fed, housed and provided health care. Lets look at the 350 milling that the Queen gets a year. How many people could be provided housing, food, better grade of healthcare. (Do not get me started on health care here in the UK or the USA. In the UK the government is doing their best to dismantle the NHS so they can out source it. Some things should never be commodified and health care is one of them.) Now the money the Queen receives is for her maintenance and upkeep of her residence. Couple that with the money she receives from properties and holdings that was agreed she could receive the income from the Duchy of Lancaster whilst Charles the Duchy of Cornwall. Hence, we are talking about large sums of money which are only taxed voluntary once expenses have been deducted. There is no real over site. Lets face it Prince Charles alone has approximately over 100 staff. Does one person need that many staff? It is the same with the Queen.

18. I think William ought to take a long and thorough look at his own words about the paps. They could ever so easily be applied to himself and his family; “lost it’s way quite heavily, lost it’s sense of decency, lost it’s perspective on what was appropriate.”

    Overspending on helicoptering here, there and everywhere? Check. Pretending to be a pilot? Check. Pretending not to be able to work as a royal? Check. Having married Shopping Beauty who is so very un-keen on the job? Check. Overspending on clothes? Check. Overspending on silly pretend Kiki-jewelry when she has – one must suppose – access to a fabulous collection of really fine things? Check. Being pretentious and stuck up without anything but a birth certificate to show for it? Check.

    Sorry. That last one is perhaps out of line. But so are the Cambridges – and Harry – in my opinion. Time to drop the mic at their self-indulgent stand up-show and get to work.

    1. William is not going to change at this point. He has been indulged at every step of the way, from university, to the RAF to EEAA, the bespoke agriculture course and his doormat wife who made herself “available” when he was in the mood. He will never be a fully functional adult because he has never had to deal with being told “no”. It’s probably why he makes odd comments about George being difficult since George is probably the only one who stands up to him once in a while. Even Harry doesn’t really stand up to him and Charles seems to avoid confrontation.

       This is just constant PR to hide the fact that he is massively petulant and spoiled. Until the BRF is required to go through a radical change and cutback their luxuries, nothing will ever be different. The Queen and Charles know that they have to show some concept of duty or else the plebs will revolt. William still doesn’t really care.

       BTW Harry has visited the Grenfell volunteers. Where is Kate? She still hasn’t done anything for her less privileged neighbours. Maybe she can sell off her boring clothes to raise money for them.

       1. Unless they move Grenfell to Norfolk (or Bucklebury) don’t hold your breath on Kate even noticing, she only ever hits the high end of Kensington to go shopping then back home to Mother. I doubt she’s even been inside her 4.5 million refurbished Palace over twice in her life.
          And yes, I’m annoyed. She is set for life on other people’s money. Even if we abolished the BRF tomorrow she’s in clover. Why should she visit Grenfell? She doesn’t have to. She doesn’t have to do a darn thing, she’s never done a days work in her life. Opportunity missed on this one, here’s hoping Harry marries better.

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