General Chat

Who on earth does Hilary Mantel think she is - Sophia Loren? Who is she to make such swingeing criticisms of the lovely Kate - and why? I don't think I am alone in thinking Kate is delightful in every way

Just another nobody thinking they're somebody

Roy

I agree Ann and, as I heard on the radio to-day, Hilary Mantel always looks as if she's dressed in a pair of old curtains, so she's just jellyous. Silly moo :-|

Has anyone got a link to the whole of her article.

Would like to read it all in context before I comment....

I thought what she said was appalling. Who asked her anyway. I think Kate is a delightfully young lady.

I'll see if I can find it Muffy

Thanks Ann x

kate is beautiful and so natural :-D

Even OH shouted at the TV screen in disgust...lolol

She sounded like a bitter old woman and I would guess she'll regret spouting that. I'd like to see her coping with the pressure of being royal. Her clothes sense isn't exactly 'a la mode' is it? Can't see the fashion mags following her around.

Has she said "it was taken out of context yet" that's the usual excuse.

Acclaimed writer Hilary Mantel, who is known for her novels revolving around the Royal court of Tudor times, has given a damning assessment of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton labelling her as a “mannequin with no personality”.

The double booker prize winner has penned two novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies on the failure of King Henry VIII's ability to produce an heir, gave her thoughts about the future queen during a London Review of Book lecture on Royal Bodies at the British Museum – and she wasn't exactly over flowing with compliments.

Describing Kate as a “a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung,” she waxed lyrically about her first impression of the middle class beauty.

According to The Telegraph, Mantel said: “In those days she was a shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore.”

“[Kate's] painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character."


Kate Middleton's A Painfully Thin Mannequin, With Dead Eyes: Author Hilary Mantel Hits Out At Duchess Of Cambr …
The Duchess of Cambridge at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations last June (WENN)

Comparing her to her famous mother in law, the late Princess Diana, she went on: “She appears precision-made, machine-made, so different from Diana whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in her every gesture.

“[She] appeared to have been designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished.”

Mantel commented on the breeding of the Duchess, who met and fell in love with William at St Andrews University, saying: “Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary.”

But added that in her first official portrait unveiled last month at the National Portrait Gallery, “her eyes are dead.”

Comparing her to Henry VIII's second wife the ambitious mother of Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Mantel went on to claim that while she was “a power player, a clever and determined woman,” the purpose of the queen is always to produce an heir.

She claimed: “In the end she (Anne) was valued for her body parts, not her intellect or her soul; it was her womb that was central to her story… a royal lady is a royal vagina.

“[Royal women are] persons but they are supra-personal, carriers of a blood line: at the most basic, they are breeding stock, collections of organs.”

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies

You can read the whole of the diatribe here. Sit down with a drink first ;-)

and>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


She even went so far to compare royal females as pandas, saying: “Our current royal family doesn’t have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment.

considered buying her book - glad I didn't bother - have no desire to contribute to her bank balance

Muffy - I was going to say the same thing, but couldn't be a**ed :-D.

Good old Daily Mail...

l must admit l had'nt seen/read the whole ridiculous report, pleased l did'nt really as from what l have just read here and l have'nt read it all now (no need).......Mantel is talking out of the back of her head, could say another word but won't!!!!
Kate is a really nice young lady, with a very difficult job ahead of her, and so far she's doing just fine!!!!

Mantel on the other hand is'nt doing to well....LOL

jude

nite nite x

The Daily Mail isn't the only source of info

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9879875/Hilary-Mantel-wasnt-attacking-the-Duchess-of-Cambridge.html

What a very disjointed article....gives the girl a hard time throughout then calls upon writers to be kind to her at the end.......hmmm

(thanks for the link Sue) x

I can't think how Hilary Mantel doesn't realise how faultlessly and elegantly she has coped - doesn't she see that the whole public relations side of what she and the Duke do requires a lot of effort - and homework? No wonder he is hesitating about leaving the forces, with the prospect of nothing but that for the rest of his life? May be at some time she will want to take some strong personal line on something - but meanwhile she is establishing herself so well and acceptably.

Forgot to say......I think Kate is a very positive addition to the Royal Family.

I wonder how much work Ms Mantel does for charity???? for the country????

I give up