News and photos Prince and Princess of Wales

[anneboleyn]

Even if Kate does have grey hair... even if she is colouring her hair... SO WHAT??

I hate this discussion around women's hair and the expectations society places on women to remain looking young. Women aren't allowed to age and it's just so frustrating that in 2023, there's still so much discussion and discourse on women's bodies.

Reminds me of how a Canadian news anchor Lisa Laflamme let her hair go grey and essentially got fired for it. The uproar was huge and rightfully so. Women are tired of men (or worse, other women) telling us how we should look or commenting on our bodies.

[Barrie]

Also, grey hair grows faster than all other hair colors. I have read that some women, including beautiful actress Andy McDowell, just embrace the grey because keeping up the color isn’t that easy. But whatever color Kate or any lady wants to keep her hair, it’s their business.

Andie took huge amounts of flak online for going natural, and as she has so rightly pointed out, no one says anything about George Clooney being grey.

[Diogenes]

If you see a woman over 40 with dark hair and no grey, she is coloring it.

Nope.  Not true.  There’s a gene involved.  It’s rare, but some dark-haired women never go grey.

[anneboleyn]

Also, grey hair grows faster than all other hair colors. I have read that some women, including beautiful actress Andy McDowell, just embrace the grey because keeping up the color isn’t that easy. But whatever color Kate or any lady wants to keep her hair, it’s their business.

Andie took huge amounts of flak online for going natural, and as she has so rightly pointed out, no one says anything about George Clooney being grey.

100%!!

I'm only 22 and I'm already worried about going grey - how dumb is that?! Society is so hard on women and even though it's 2023, we still have it rough.

[hrhpita]

Meh…it’s their Christmas Card photo…same outfits. And the photos were old even then.  I’d like to see something new but I suppose we have to wait until May.

ITA. gosh kate is going gray so early

G

And Leti has been grey for years!

Well she is 40 years old. I started getting grey hairs in my 30s.

I started go grey at 25/26 yrs old. I am now 49, and it's a pain keeping up with the dye schedule.

[Oh_Caroline]

I went through a box dye phase in college and total fried my hair…after that I vowed to just embrace what God gave me.  I’m 35 (well next week I will be) and have a few grays but nothing much right now and I don’t care. 

Screw society and own what the Good Lord gave you.

[TLLK]

Ditched the dye in February 2020 during lock down. It had been coming in since my mid thirties but I was tired of the upkeep. It took about two years to grow out completely and I just kept my hair a little shorter to keep the grow out phase to a minimum.
Mine is mostly concentrated around my temples and hairline. Otherwise it's still mostly brown.
Since Catherine is a brunette, I'm not surprised that it's easier to see on someone in their early forties.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Love these two photos

It's a striking photo for sure, but then I looked too closely and because the hat is perched on top of her head, and her hair is SO LONG, it looks like she has a giraffe neck, especially since those are such flat and angular shoulder pads!  It looks like there is far too much distance between the top of her head and the top of her shoulders! 

[Skirt Queen]

So maybe after the Coronation W&K's workload will pick up??? Feels like we're constantly saying this..."Maybe once this happens..." They're fortunate they can take so many breaks when their kids have off school...

[Miss Marple]

Not sure if it has to. They are working as much or more than Frodo, Hakoon, etc. They have to be careful not to overshadow Charles, just because they are getting more press. And -in fairness- nobody knows if Charles will stay as healthy as his parents. He is in retirement age, so Will and Kate might have to pick up their work soon enough.

[anneboleyn]

Their workload will never pick up, imo. Even once they are King and Queen I feel like they'll do less than the Queen ever did. They have proved they are content with lesser engagements.

[ralf103]

Yes I think we have to accept they just aren't ever going to pull in the number of engagements like Charles and Anne and the even the late Queen did.

IMO they don't see the need -they are still the most popular members of the RF without doing it and neither have the drive to work hard IMO, William did when it involved getting to fly helicopters but it stopped about there. Catherine has never had a full time job in her life. Its great she has raised her children and I do think she has done it well but now they are all in school even that really isn't an excuse to me.

Quite frankly, we have run out of excuses. First it was Charles' wouldn't pay for their duties - yet Anne gets away with presumably a much smaller budget and does 400-500+ engagements a year. Cost wise- they get to bill the Sovereign Grant for all the trips by helicopter to Norfolk so I can't believe they can do that but weren't allowed to do so for official duties. That excuse no longer exists as William is now Duke of Cornwall so has the same income that Charles did as PoW doing 500+ engagements a year.

I don't even buy overshadowing Charles as an excuse to be honest. I think that is just a convenient explanation to explain away all the other excuses.

The cold hard facts suggest they just don't see the need to do the sort of numbers the RF use to. They interpret the late Queen's mantra of "I have to be seen to be believed" as so long as they are seen in the media or on social media they are doing alright. They have the Royal Foundation as a back up, they can use the meetings for that to go in the Court Circular to ensure they have something listed most weeks except when the kids are off. Yes I think they do good work through it but I don't believe for one second they are working full time for the Royal Foundation behind the scenes. They don't see the need to go for away days to rural communities in the North West, North East, Scotland etc because in their minds they reach more people by having a large social media team posting all the time. Maybe it is the future and maybe they'll be proved right. Personally I doubt it but that is just my opinion.

[fairy]

And I second your opinion!
I have never bought the "can't overshadow Charles and Camilla" statement.
As I have explained, I don't believe that Charles is the jealous egocentric some make him out. Such a person would not be so very generous with his money. And he was extremely generous in granting Kate enormous amounts of "needle-money" to get her decked out in a new blue coat every time she stepped into the streets. He would have known that a fair amount of interest would come with a young woman beautifully clad in new designer gear, yet he apparently never restricted this.
I think the Wales and to an extent Camilla do as much as necessary, but not a bit more.
And with the ever increasing demands on "work-life-balances" in our western societies, they are pretty much doing what most people aspire to.

[Nappyolean]

I agree with these opinions. It’s not like Will can be fired for doing a bad job so he does minimum. Kate is not ambitious except when going for Will. I think she used up all her ambition there.  And while I do think they are lazy, I also think that the huge advancement in social media has helped them “be out there” more. And while W and/or K should visit every part of the UK more often, security is very expensive, and royal visits are inconvenient for everyone else, when those two roll into town.

[getafix]

Yes I think we have to accept they just aren't ever going to pull in the number of engagements like Charles and Anne and the even the late Queen did.

IMO they don't see the need -they are still the most popular members of the RF without doing it and neither have the drive to work hard IMO, William did when it involved getting to fly helicopters but it stopped about there. Catherine has never had a full time job in her life. Its great she has raised her children and I do think she has done it well but now they are all in school even that really isn't an excuse to me.

Quite frankly, we have run out of excuses. First it was Charles' wouldn't pay for their duties - yet Anne gets away with presumably a much smaller budget and does 400-500+ engagements a year. Cost wise- they get to bill the Sovereign Grant for all the trips by helicopter to Norfolk so I can't believe they can do that but weren't allowed to do so for official duties. That excuse no longer exists as William is now Duke of Cornwall so has the same income that Charles did as PoW doing 500+ engagements a year.

I don't even buy overshadowing Charles as an excuse to be honest. I think that is just a convenient explanation to explain away all the other excuses.

The cold hard facts suggest they just don't see the need to do the sort of numbers the RF use to. They interpret the late Queen's mantra of "I have to be seen to be believed" as so long as they are seen in the media or on social media they are doing alright. They have the Royal Foundation as a back up, they can use the meetings for that to go in the Court Circular to ensure they have something listed most weeks except when the kids are off. Yes I think they do good work through it but I don't believe for one second they are working full time for the Royal Foundation behind the scenes. They don't see the need to go for away days to rural communities in the North West, North East, Scotland etc because in their minds they reach more people by having a large social media team posting all the time. Maybe it is the future and maybe they'll be proved right. Personally I doubt it but that is just my opinion.

ralf, excellent post

perhaps this is indeed the future: a smaller number of royals doing smaller number of looker-moi engagements. the rest retired from the troth and trying to earn a living selling their memoirs..."I was once a Princess and cut a ribbon somewhere"

they are truly struggling to stay relevant in this day and age.

G