What do you think of what Hilary Mantel said about Kate Middleton (Duchess) ?

She's getting a lot of negative press, but are there any views that aren't negative ? I'm interested to think about this differently from the judging masses.

Reply 1

the bear

20

I think that this is a case of "the pot calling the kettle black"...

Ms Mantle has no business insulting Princess Kate.

I started to read "Wolf Hall" ...i put it to one side as it was not very gripping... now it is going in the bin

If you want to read genuinely interesting Tudor fiction you should try AJ Sansom... much better than Ms M

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

desdemonata

19

What did Mantel say? Who's getting the negative press, the Duchess or Mantel for what she said? :confused:

Reply 3

Eveiebaby

12

Only my personal opinion, but I have little interest in royals. I don't find what I've seen of Kate to be particularly interesting and don't really get how she's supposed to be inspirational or whatever else I hear people say.

I'd agree with Hilary.

Reply 4

heirloom

14

Well I'm not a big fan of Kate as she seems to be constantly on holiday, even before she was pregnant. If she did a bit more with her charity work people wouldn't have these opinions of her. There are hardly any articles in newspapers about the charities she supports but so many about what she's wearing

Reply 5

Martyn*

13

The thurst of her argument was that Kate was being used (or forced) by the monarchy to ensure that they were left with an heir to the throne. She did use the words "shop mannequin" to describe Kate or something. What do I think? Meh. Not that important really.

Reply 6

TheMagicRat

15

I think she's so caught up in the Tudor monarchy that she has failed to realise that the role of the monarchy has changed since then.

Reply 7

Redolent

10

I haven't actually read what she said but I found the big explosion of indignation coming from the Daily Mail, The Sun and so on completely farcical and ridiculous. I don't see why "woman isn't a fan of the Duchess of Cambridge" should be considered even close to a front page story, though considering the general quality level of those papers it's hardly surprising. Apparently the DM even wrote in their article about how Mantel must be bitter because she's infertile or something. I mean what kind of nasty, shameless cheap shot is that?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 8

ArtGoblin

16

What she said has been taken out of context and twisted to make a story out of nothing. She was not insulting Kate - she was pointing out the problematic role that she is being forced to play. This article covers it very well: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/19/hilary-mantel-duchess-cambridge-scandal

Reply 9

Drewski

19

Original post by ArtGoblin

What she said has been taken out of context and twisted to make a story out of nothing. She was not insulting Kate - she was pointing out the problematic role that she is being forced to play. This article covers it very well: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/19/hilary-mantel-duchess-cambridge-scandal

This.

Her words have been spun a bit. She should have had more nouse to know that was going to happen, but as an historian has an obligation to "tell it how she sees it".

Reply 10

122025278

15

I don't think there marriage will last anyway, he's already dumped her once!

Reply 11

Jack93o

15

I'm not surprised that the rag papers are doing everything to protect their most valuable subject.

No doubt the masses will buy into it like the good lapdogs they are to the royals. Scrolling through the DM comments is hilarious, the lengths these peasants will go to protect their masters :rofl:

Reply 12

anarchism101

17

Seen lots of criticism of Mantel; haven't yet seen anyone explain why she's wrong.

Reply 13

madders94

18

I'm kind of neutral on the whole subject, although I did laugh at one of the things that's been doing the rounds on Twitter.

It's a bit rich of Hilary Mantel to be calling someone else plastic when she looks like the reincarnation of a chucky doll -

Reply 14

ladymarshmallow

16

Original post by Jack93o

I'm not surprised that the rag papers are doing everything to protect their most valuable subject.

No doubt the masses will buy into it like the good lapdogs they are to the royals. Scrolling through the DM comments is hilarious, the lengths these peasants will go to protect their masters :rofl:

Oh, indeed!

Reply 15

Aramiss18

14

Kate's not an impressive individual at all (neither is William, actually) but an all out personal attack when she knew it'll be picked up in the media was perhaps uncalled for. But we should have a debate about the royals. What I like about William, Eugenie and Beatrice is that they show just how bog standard that family is. Not a successful or intellectual person amongst them. When you consider the education offered to them they would do much better if they were actually that intelligent/determined/motivated.

Harry is different, he's more grounded and has actually achieved something. Although he probably got a push up as well.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

ArtGoblin

16

Original post by Aramiss18

Kate's not an impressive individual at all (neither is William, actually) but an all out personal attack when she knew it'll be picked up in the media was perhaps uncalled for. But we should have a debate about the royals. What I like about William, Eugenie and Beatrice is that they show just how bog standard that family is. Not a successful or intellectual person amongst them. When you consider the education offered to them they would do much better if they were actually that intelligent/determined/motivated.

Harry is different, he's more grounded and has actually achieved something. Although he probably got a push up as well.

Except it wasn't an all out personal attack at all. It was an attack on the person she is forced to be, or at least pretend to be.

"...I saw Kate becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung. In those days she was a shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore. These days she is a mother-to-be, and draped in another set of threadbare attributions. Once she gets over being sick, the press will find that she is radiant. They will find that this young woman’s life until now was nothing, her only point and purpose being to give birth."

It's a criticism of the royal family and the media who don't care about who Kate is - they only care about making her into who they want to be. It's a criticism of a woman being seen of as nothing more than a clothes hanger, and then a mother in the 21st century.

Reply 17

uktotalgamer

13

Can't stand the royals therefore I don't care. The one thing I will say judging by the gist of what she said, she's right. Using Kate to bring the dated royals into the 21st century.

Reply 18

Emily115

14

I think that she's entitled to her own opinion..
People are saying she has no right discussing the Royal family and that she's 'wrong', etc., about Kate, but if that's how she feels then so what? She was expressing her opinion (an opinion that many people share) which is perfectly fine, she wasn't saying that everyone had to agree with her..
I don't get why everyone is so horrified when people have negative opinions about Kate, if it was anyone else, I bet there wouldn't be this much of a fuss.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19