By AMANDA PLATELL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Taking a child to nursery school for the first time is a rite of passage for any young mother. Letting go of that little hand and sending them off into a room full of strangers can seem a daunting step.
It was no different for Kate, waving off Prince George this week as he started at his Montessori school near their Norfolk home.
It’s the latest part of her attempt to give him and baby Charlotte as normal an upbringing as possible — a plan which is to be commended, however impossible it may be.
Kate Middleton waved Prince George this week as he started at his Montessori school near their Norfolk home, in the latest part of her attempt to give him and baby Charlotte as normal an upbringing as possible
I have not always been a fan of Kate, but it is increasingly clear she could teach other celebrity mums a thing or two about raising children.
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Yes, we think it’s all so easy for them. They have money, servants, nannies — everything to make life easy. But growing up in a goldfish bowl must, at times, be a living nightmare. And most end up raising obnoxious, over-privileged brats.
Certainly, too many of them seem incapable of offering the stable, disciplined existence that is surely key to raising a well-adjusted child.
There is Angelina Jolie and her rainbow brood, traipsing around the world in private jets with a troupe of nannies in tow.
There is Victoria Beckham’s tribe, as much an accessory to her fashion career as her collection of Hermes handbags. There are Gwyneth Paltrow’s kids, raised on mung beans and self-styled sanctimony; or Kate Winslet and her three children by three different fathers.
I don’t doubt that each woman loves her offspring dearly — but I do fear for the longer-term effects of their unorthodox parenting.
For proof of that, we need look no further than Madonna’s 15-year-old son, Rocco, who refused to return home to his control-freak mother in New York at Christmas. He preferred the anonymity of dad Guy Ritchie’s traditional family home to the madness of life on tour with the mistress of pop. And who can blame him?
So I salute Kate and William for their bid to give their youngsters some sense of normality. Some have criticised them for retreating from public life. It is true that last year the Cambridges did fewer royal engagements than 94-year-old Prince Philip.
But the longer their children are allowed to grow up away from the spotlight the better — not just for their sakes, but for the future of the monarchy. And if that means seeing less of Kate and William, then it’s surely a price worth paying.
True talent is ageless, Dakota
Fifty Shades Of Grey actress Dakota Johnson is outraged that her mother Melanie Griffith can no longer find work in a Hollywood that is, she claims, ageist and sexist.
Curious. The likes of Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, and Maggie Smith have never been busier.
Perhaps Dakota should realise the secret to an enduring career isn’t endless plastic surgery like her mother’s, but talent.
Fifty Shades Of Grey actress Dakota Johnson is outraged that her mother Melanie Griffith can no longer find work in a Hollywood that is, she claims, ageist and sexist
After Prince Andrew visited the devastation in York, comedian Stephen Mangan tweeted: ‘Can’t imagine anything worse after being flooded than Prince Andrew turning up.’ I can. It could have been Fergie.
Having been away for two weeks, I’d missed social media sensations Suki and Immy Waterhouse and their sisterly selfies. But I’m puzzled by the picture of them on the beach in tiny bikinis — taken from behind. How do you take a selfie from behind? Is there some remote, rear selfie stick I haven’t heard about?
Or is the latest accessory your own bottom-snapper?
I’m puzzled by the picture of them on the beach in tiny bikinis — taken from behind. How do you take a selfie from behind?
Oh do put a cork in it!
Irritating to hear the Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, on Radio 4’s Today programme telling us that drinking anything except a sip of communion wine will increase the risk of cancer and lead to an early death.
Nanny Dame Davies’s advice on alcohol seems not targeted at sensible drinkers, but the Paul Gascoignes of this world.
Still, listening to her certainly had an impact on me — I wanted a stiff gin and tonic at 8am.
Hilarious that production of the BBC’s new Top Gear has been held up because new star Chris Evans can’t drive and talk at the same time. Try finding a woman who doesn’t!
Adele loved the beaded Burberry dress she wore for the Oscars so much that she’s revealed she’s had a custom-built glass cabinet made in her home to display it. As you do. Would this be the same Adele who insists fame hasn’t changed her?
Westminster Wars
Comrade Corbyn has just completed the longest and most humiliating reshuffle in history. One result? He installed as his new shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry — who supports his anti-Trident stance. This, in the very week North Korea’s demented dictator Kim Jong-un claims to have set off a hydrogen bomb. Makes you worry when Kim seems the saner of the two.
I know panto season’s nearly over, but the Simon Danczuk farce is getting ridiculous. Who needs the Ugly Sisters when you’ve got one ex-wife who worked as an escort but claims you’re the sex pest, another who’s addicted to bosomy selfies and a girlfriend who’s spilled the beans about you texting a 17-year-old dominatrix who sells her toenails online? The poor man shouldn’t be deselected, he should be certified — if only to protect him from this hideous harem of harpies.
Strictly Come Dancing’s husband-hoover Kristina Rihanoff is reported to have been paid £150,000 to appear on Celebrity Big Brother. Fresh into the madhouse, she revealed to millions that she is three months pregnant with lover Ben Cohen’s baby.
‘I didn’t know how to break it,’ she simpered, ‘what to say, when to say, I wanted everyone to hear.’
Not least of all Ben’s wife of 11 years, Abby, and their two young daughters.
What a monster.
The only solace for Abby Cohen is that, in the inimitable words of Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood, the union will no doubt in the lng run prove ‘a complete dis-ast-er, darling’.
Strictly Come Dancing’s husband-hoover Kristina Rihanoff is reported to have been paid £150,000 to appear on Celebrity Big Brother. Fresh into the madhouse, she revealed to millions that she is three months pregnant with lover Ben Cohen’s baby
Abuse is vile in any language
The PC brigade say we must be ‘very careful with the language’ we use when discussing the mugging and sexual abuse of German women in Cologne by around a thousand mostly Muslim men on New Year’s Eve.
More than a hundred women have made complaints to the police, two for rape. Yet we are expected to turn a blind eye to the background: that nearly a million new migrants have entered Germany in the past nine months alone, mostly young Muslim men from a culture that subjugates women.
Why should we be ‘very careful’ about our language? Whether it be in Arabic or English — a rapist is a rapist.
For some unfathomable reason, Stephen Fry is now greeting tourists when they arrive at Heathrow with a guide to British etiquette on the airport video screens.
This ridiculous parody of an Englishman explains that we all love queuing, eating in pubs, are obsessed with the weather and have a famous Queen.
I wonder if he means Elizabeth?
Elton's Little lookalike
Elton John once said he wanted Justin Timberlake to play him in the biopic of his life. Looking at those pictures of him over Christmas, being pushed around in a wheelchair at Disneyland, I’d say Little Britain’s Matt Lucas would be more suitable casting.
Elton John is in danger of having Little Britain's Matt Lucas play him in the biopic of his life, after being pushed around Disneyland in a wheelchair over Christmas
How M&S messed up
The boss of Marks & Spencer is to depart after a disastrous festive season for their fashion department. As an M&S devotee, I can tell you how they got it so wrong.
The fabulous designs we wanted, such as the much-heralded olive suede trench coat, were sold out before they had even hit the shops.
Instead, we were left rummaging through granny cardigans. It’s not the ideas that were at fault, but the supply.
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