Thursday, June 2, 2011

Princesses

I am not really all that bothered about royalty or princesses. At lunch today with two colleagues, one Italian and one from the US, they asked my opinion on the British royal family. To be honest I am somewhat ambivalent. I don't think they do any harm, they don't cost much money and they are good for British tourism and charity work. I don't care much for their births, deaths and marriages and the Boy and I spent most of the aftermath of Diana's death wondering what insanity had gripped the country. Although I felt sad that two boys had lost their Mum, that was about it.

In HK it has been pretty easy to ignore the Royal Wedding. There was an etiquette class in a local shopping mall run by a Kate-look-alike shipped over from the UK, but if one didn't watch the BBC then there wasn't much about it. We forgot it was even happening until I popped on the news after Eve had gone to bed and saw "the kiss".

Eve is obsessed by Princesses. I rather like the Disney version because they tend to be pretty positive role models, witty, feisty, independent and often the prince has to work pretty damn hard to win his princess. Eve has numerous dolls and books, and although she has had a slight flirtation with Tinkerbell and the fairies (similarly very positive role models), she tends to revert back to her Princesses.

I have been reading a bit about Kate, or Princess Catherine, lately by virtue of the aforementioned Italian colleague introducing me to the online version of the Sun (I know, I know but how would I otherwise know the crucial information about TOWIE?). She seems, within reason, far more like the Disney princesses than any did before her (does her own shopping, buys from high street stores, does her own hair, flies in a normal plane - although I'd be REALLY impressed if they fly economy) and for the first time I find a small sense of pride in my royal family.