Kate and William holiday for two !

Sorry, if one has a child, one should look after it. If it is not appropriate to take a small baby to a specific country for whatever reason, one should not go. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

Who are they leaving the baby with? And how long for?

Could be Granny and Grandad M are delighted!

Must admit I was slightly surprised , have also read that they will be having a night away from him when they are on their New Zealand tour !!
Ho Hum eh ?
Are they turning into "Royals" if you get my drift !

Plus her tan could hardly have faded after the last holiday at end of January in Mustique .
Hmmm

I don't care whether they leave their baby behind or not (and I have read that it's with granny and grandpa so I'm sure they are indeed delighted). What I do care about is the fact that their life seems to be one long holiday at our expense.

And I feel a little bit cynical now about the fact they are taking him on the tour of Australia in a few weeks time. I wasn't a particular fan of Diana but I genuinely believe that when she took baby William to Australia it was because she couldn't bear to leave him behind, and she broke with royal protocol to do so. William and Kate obviously feel differently about leaving George behind so I can only assume they are taking him to Australia as a PR exercise. I am sadly disillusioned by this young couple.

Is this holiday at 'our expense' nightowl?

As a Granny and Grandpa looking after the future king of England I would be scared witless of caring for him whilst parents are away. I bet there will be professional back up though.

They exist at our expense Lona. I don't mind that, I would prefer a slimmed down monarchy to a republic but I do expect value for money and I'm not sure any of them should be having so many expensive holidays in times of austerity. They should perhaps follow the Queen's example.

That's not fair nightowl. They have got a gruelling tour coming up. Why should n't they have a holiday beforehand? They took the baby to the last trip away, which was a family thing to celebrate Mrs M' s birthday.

Carole M doesn't strike me as being someone to be nervous of very much at all really. Bet she will love it.

I'm actually really shocked and disappointed to hear this. I mean, she can't be exhausted looking after a baby with all the help she gets. I wouldn't have been able to physically travel so far away from my baby; it would have been tantamount to cutting one of my arms off.

Gruelling jingl? Really?

To be fair, the official tour to the Antipodes will be much longer than their jaunt to the Maldives and it would be far more damaging to leave George at home for that prolonged period.

It wouldn't have entered my head to go off on holiday without either of my children, especially at 8 months old!

I certainly don't think they are doing themselves any favours in the popularity stakes.

* Lona* Yes , it is partly at our expense e.g. security staff.

Jing Hardly gruelling, basically doing what many of us do on holiday but everything arranged for them and first class.

Taking George to Aussie, yes , certainly a PR exercise as they are obviously not that bothered about leaving him.

I think having to parade around smiling and shaking hands, and looking happy evenif you're not, must be pretty awful. And all that sitting watching parades, and aborigines and the like prancing around, with all eyes, plus tv cameras, on youwould definitely be gruelling.

Like I say, lucky granny.

And how anyone can say it's a pr exercise taking him to Australia is beyond me! They would be away from him for much longer.

But it is part of their job for which they get plenty of perks..

I'm pretty sure there are millions who have to do very boring and difficult things to earn a living and look after every other aspect of their lives too.

And other people have holidays too! Why pick on them?

I went away for a week when DD1 was 11 months old leaving her with my parents. They had a great time and our batteries were recharged. In those days, no mobile phones so I found a public phone each day and checked in that all was well - it was. There will always be the argument for and against what the royals should or shouldn't do and who is paying for what. George is safe with his grandparents and the parents are, like me, recharging their batteries . Let them have their holiday I say. I don't suppose the fact that a load of grannies are tutting about it all will bother them in the least.

No, I don't suppose that are in the least interested in any opinions.

If it's not at our expense, whose expense is it at? Neither of them has "proper jobs".

Don"t suppose when we go away , our holiday is partially funded by the taxpayer[security]
Should imagine even when Kate went to Mustique , there would have had to be security in place !

I have been thinking about this and about William and Kate in general. I think they had a lot of support at the time of their wedding and I know I was not alone in thinking they might bring a breath of fresh air and almost normality to the institution of royalty. Unfortunately I think a lot of us have felt disappointed by some of their behaviour since then, and I don't think it's just because we are grumpy grannies or anti royalists.

I suspect that after Diana died the queen and Charles felt very protective towards the boys, understandably so. I'm sure many of us with children of similar ages at the time were haunted by those poor boys' faces at the funeral. However I now wonder if that led them to be rather spoilt by the family out of guilt and over protectiveness.

I think kate has perhaps been similarly spoilt. Her parents have undoubtedly worked hard for everything they have, and they have been able to indulge Kate and her siblings as a result. I'm not sure this has done them any favours and I think it's odd that not one of them seems to have ever had a proper job.

I think the result of all this is a young couple who may be perfectly pleasant people, but who have no sense of duty or work ethic and every sense of entitlement. I think that as they are now in their 30s it's time for them to forge a role for themselves. It could be a very long time before William becomes king (if ever) and I think that in the 21st century he needs to consider what he wants to do with his life until that time. Do they really want to be nothing more than celebs?

I don't think it is any of our business! It is their life and they should do what is right for them. I would hate to have every part of my life examined by the media knowing that whatever I did someone would object.

Many years ago we looked after a friend's 10 month old for 10 days while they went touring with their 4 year old. No mobile phones and all we knew was they were somewhere in Europe. They had a great time and so did we.

The only time any of mine stayed away without me was when I was in hospital but that was our choice.