It's undeniable that the royals make a mint for the British fashion industry. Also, there are lots of up and coming young British designers who make their clothes in the UK, and the royals tend to support young British designers. Lots of department stores - John Lewis, Debenhams - are stocking more British-made clothes... But beside all that, Meghan Markle is a woman of independent means, she may well have bought the dress herself. Who are we to police who spends how much and on what?

John Lewis is owned by the Chinese...And Debenhams in Leeds by an Islamic bank... Where is the inclusion of young British designers in these stores.. It might help for you to show me who the UK based designers are making UK produced clothes for the royals, I've looked but I don't see any.

She may have bought the dress herself, that wasn't my initial issue was it? I'm not policing anyone, just raising a philosophical argument surrounding the benefits of demonstrations of extreme wealth like this in the current economic climate for most in the UK.

John Lewis is a partnership, well known for the fact that its employees are shareholders.
The Chinese refused to give John Lewis it's rights to the trademark on its name, the same as many other well known British shops, so perhaps China have a load of British sounding shops whose names they have nicked.:shrug:

The building that Debenhams trade in is owned by the bank, not the actual business.
Debenhams are their tenants.

As with most things in the UK they only have the image of being British, but they are quintessentially not.... Bit like the royals :hehe:
As a PLC it's not a solely UK concern nor do we own the infrastructure it is housed in.

What we are being sold is a facade of 'Britishness' that just does not exist.

I think it might have been more than the church of England's rules about divorce's marrying back in 1936, although there was that issue with Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend. In 1952 whereby the Church of England refused to countenance marriage to a divorced man.

According to Wikipedia Meghan is divorced

There is an ex out there, so what kind of tabloid stories will surface from this ex? What kind of pictures are out there which could cause scandal and embarrassment to the Royal Family?

This is why, usual convention was that brides came from European royals as they would be drilled in the art of discretion and the avoidance of scandal

They tried bringing in two commoners, Diana and Sarah, and they were unmitigated disasters.

I still don't understand how Kate managed to get through, what were the courtiers thinking of, and around the time she was getting married I believe I also pointed that out, that bringing in commoners seldom worked!

For the moment with regards to Kate, they may have got lucky, but that was one large risk, especially with the Duke of Cambridge, the second in line to the throne.

Getting back to HRH Prince Harry, it seems incredulous, given what went before with Princess Margaret and Edward VIII that an American divorcee was allowed anywhere near him.

If we are to have this outdated and anachronistic system, then we should do it properly. There is still time for the old way of doing things to reassert itself, and for someone with less chance for scandal and political embarrassment to be substituted for this particular choice of bride.

Bringing commoners in lol

Wasn't the real reason he was made to abdicate because of his political leanings, we couldn't have a king who was siding with the enemy could we?

Let's all dress in sack-cloth and be joyless because other people are richer than us.

Here's the thing: If you want a well-paid career you have to start early and plan. It's no good dicking around while you're at school, leaving with few qualifications, having a couple of kids, doing unskilled jobs, gain a degree in at forty and expect it to get you a job when there are women twenty years younger than you with the same degree... and then moan because you don't earn as much as other people. I barely looked up from my books until I was half way through uni; I missed out on a lot of stuff... but now, I have a great job, good salary, amazing benefits and enormous job satisfaction. And funnily enough I don't think the world owes me a living and I have no problem with people spending their own money however they want.

That's a very unusual slant. Most people believe it was because Wallace Simpson was a divorcee... but I'd be really interested to see your evidence.

That was 1936 and the war was still in the future. At that time, Germany was not seen as an enemy, that came later after 1939 and the invasion of Poland.

So your claims in relation to young British designers being supported in the stores you mentioned can't be backed up in fact?
I'm presuming that's what the mockery was for , as a distraction from the nonsense that was your earlier post?

Instead of sniping at my personal circumstances why not look at the bigger picture here, I'm not going to blow smoke up your arse Livia we have all heard tell of your scholarship to oxbridge... in reality who get's those privileges and in what capacity were you supported in facilitating that chance?

I know you would dearly love to think that it was ALL you but in fact there was a whole host of variables at play aside from your intellect, I'm not saying for a second anyone could have achieved what you have in fact the opposite your situation is as I'm sure you're aware phenomenally rare and getting rarer.
What are the life choices for intelligent children from working class backgrounds? they were never great and now they are terrible and getting worse.

The crux of this post is as flawed as the last, you infer that others on less don't have job satisfaction, or that they feel that 'the world' owes them something, making smug comments like this only serves to show you're complacent to those not as fortunate as yourself.

I'm I surprised? Not really. Did I expect you to understand my point in relation to this dress as a metaphor?... No.

Google is your friend.

I was an intelligent child from a working class background.

And please, don't feel you have to acknowledge the hard work and sacrifices I made to get to Cambridge, and the money it cost my working class parents. You just imagine that I slipped in quietly. I worked three jobs while I was at uni. And you know, I wasn't the only one. There were other people there who were from working class backgrounds and the one thing we all had in common was that we worked hard to get where we were.

Fortunate, yes... that's me. The harder I work the more fortunate I get. Funny how that works.

And Kizzy, I wasn't sniping and being personal. Everything I stated was a fact. When you first joined the forum you were unemployed, and you stayed unemployed for years. Is that not true? And now, after leaving school with not much, and after having a couple of kids and not doing your degree until you were older, you're dissatisfied with your job. And more, you think you can belittle my achievements by imagining I had some kind of fairy Godmother... but I didn't.

You have this whole "kill the rich" thing about your posts, because if someone's doing better than you then they MUST have had a hand up and a hand out. But you're wrong.

No... it's YOUR friend.

Shush Sticks, Google told her.

I made specific reference to those variables as well as directly suggesting you didn't achieve your goal on your merit alone Livia.
I'm dissatisfied with my salary, not my job... I haven't belittled your achievements at all, what I did was highlight how lucky you were even given your ability to succeed, there's a difference.

I don't have a 'kill the rich' thing :/ That is a gross misinterpretation!
All I have suggested is personally I don't feel that given the current economic climate for most in the UK wearing such an expensive gown was appropriate... That's it.

I don't have any ill will towards her or anyone else it was just that one instance and my own personal reaction to it, your analysis is unwarranted and baseless much like your previous posts in this thread.

Mock all you like Livia.

The second highlighted comment applies to the first highlighted comment. Anyhoo... back on topic...

Yes get your last snipe in Liv.

https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/...i043938535.jpg

Ms Markle wore a Marks & Spencer sweatshirt to the royal engagement in Brixton

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42619509

:fan:

Aw why not wear the 56k dress for a toby round Brixton? To talk about the rise in knife crime.. That was the focus of the article wasn't it? Not megs jumper...

She's damned if she does and she's damned if she doesn't.

What she wears for me is irrelevant to my earlier arguments over her lack of suitability for marrying a member of the Royal Family.

She's not damned either way, it's just a very striking contrast is all, there's noting wrong with highlighting that.

I love the title of this thread

This post sounds quite reasonable if it had been your only post on this thread.

Well luckily for you nobody is charging round the forum assessing the merit of each post.

Just for you though

I don't begrudge anyone... not sure how you arrived at that from what I posted either.

Yes I did go into education late but that was for me, and my self esteem rather than financial gain. I'm sorry you missed out on so much, you're not bitter though, are you.

Read today how you have an issue with an actress designing clothes and how you won't buy them, whereas I have no such qualms with her career decision or the fact that's how she chooses to make money for her family.

Maybe you should apply the same principls to how people make money as you do to how they spend it?

Ive just addressed this for you on another thread cherie... :/

Just for you Niamh :hee:

She certainly is. :smug: