I used to be entranced by Princess Caroline’s carriage. It was graceful, alluring, it made her stand out and look like what she was, a princess. The photos taken on National Day however make me ill-at ease. She has frozen her posture into something quite unattractive, as someone said, looking like “The Queen of the World”. But what other Princess or Queen in the world has adopted that stance? She looks positively Victorian, stiff, rigid, and people who don’t know her concerns or work can easily perceive her as arrogant and aloof. In the (even recent) past, she played with that posture in a beguiling way, she was sinuous, fluid, playfully flirtatious, with all of the complexity of a dancer always in motion, always expressing emotion. Now, she looks like a parody or caricature of herself : that attitude is more suitable to a general reviewing the troops, or the headmistress leading the girls of the School of the Legion of Honor on a parade(no offense to that school, which I admire). All the complexity and multifaceted aspects of the regal head are gone.
As for Princess Stephanie, I didn’t think at all that she looked like a busy clerk. On the contrary, she wore an exquisite suit, softly grey and feminine, she looked busy, involved, natural and relaxed, always oscillating between being herself (grooming her brother as she is wont to do, smiling and laughing) and acting the proper princess, looking appropriately poised and solemn. Spontaneity and maturity suit her very well.