Expectations
I have been reading this thread for a while and have been meaning to comment for quite some time now. I have an idea of what the girlfriend to the future King is, as most everyone in here does, and my ideas and expectation have little to do with Kate Middleton and more with a general idea of what a "royal girlfriend" should be like. While I am sure that there are those who would disagree with me, I would like to briefly share my thoughts with all of you.
There has been quite a lot of discussion about Kate's past lack of employment and whether or not this is important. Without discussing Kate specifically, because I do not know her, I would like to discuss first why I think it is important for the girlfriend of a prince, and future heir, to have employment. There are many things to be gained from employment, not just finances. There is the responsibility that comes with employment. You learn the value of working with others, as well as gaining a sense of professionsalism. Being a princess/queen consort is not a fairy tale, it is a job for life. Without some past employment experience, how can a young person be expected to know how to take on this extreme responsibility with professionalism and a sense of duty? Additionally, a young woman with a job has one thing more, independence. She is self sufficient and self reliant, two virtues that anyone would be hard pressed to argue are over rated or unnecessary. If this young lady comes from a family of means, as Kate does, supporting herself is a sure fire way to demonstrate that she is not keen to coat tail ride on the good fortune of others. For example, Princess Grace, whom I admire greatly. She was a very independent woman at a time in history when those were a rare breed. She had her own apartment, a career, and was even able to pay her own dowary, although I am not sure if she did in the end or not. The point is that in the 1950s, Grace Kelly had enough of her own money to afford a $2 million dowary, no small sum at the time. Her career, her own money, this all gave her the much needed bricks upon which to build her future as HSH. Employment, and living independently, would also help her to have a look into the lives of "regular" people. How can someone possibly know the challenges faced by those less fortunate in life if they have never been faced with financial challenges of their own. Budgeting, paying bills, saving for the future, these are all things that as a teenager living in the safety and comfort of my parents' home I did not fully understand. Now, as a young woman barely making it through the month, I know. If someone is going to be in a possition of influence, they should have a full understanding of the issues of the day, both of the people like themselves and those most unlike themselves.
My ideal "royal girlfriend" would also have some experience with volunteering and charitable works. I believe this is important because, as a royal, her job would be 99.9% meeting people, spending time doing chartity work and putting duty before self, and there is no better way to learn this
than through charitable works.
The third and final element I believe is important, is that she must have interests outside of her boyfriend's life. Ideally, her interests should be varied, including sports, arts, scholarship, etc. Her job as a royal would mean spending time with a varity of people, in a variety of atmospheres, and if she has interests in many things, this would make many tiresome events, less so. It would also provide her with the practice of making small talk with diverse groups of people. Now, this is where I get a little feminist and I may offend some, as a young woman living in the 21st, I frankly find it pathetic when other young woman my age have no life outside of their relationships and when they completely give up their own personalities in favour of being "someone's girlfriend".
It is hard to make an accurate assumption of whether I think Kate is meeting these items I feel strongly about. We know so little of her life. However, what I have seen has left me less than impressed. But, I am refraining from judging too critically because, as I said, I do not know her and we have seen so little of who she is. I can only hope that, if she is the one to become more than William's girlfriend, she does embody these qualitfication, as nothing would make me happer than to see a strong, intelligent, independent and compassionate woman become our next queen consort.
Sorry if this is long winded or rambling, but it is late and I wanted to get it all out at once.
but slowly I get the feeling that for me the time for looking ironically at those of "us" who, well, you know what... is past. I find that more and more it saddens me to read posts where members are bragging about how they judge their books by the cover...
