Kate Middleton may be lauded as a debonair Duchess and renowned the world over for her stylish and simplistic frocks, but the bizarre looking pram Kate was using at Princess Charlotte’s wedding almost threatened to steal the show, and not in a good way.
The media gushed that Kate Middleton looked like a dream in her cream Alexander McQueen dress, and the Daily Mail heralded Kate’s dress, “with its sharp shift-style silhouette, dramatic inverted neckline and exaggerated lapels,” as the reason why the Duchess is still “reigning as a global fashion icon.”
That’s all well and good, but why was Kate Middleton pushing Princess Charlotte in a prehistoric pram that would look dated even in the 1920s?
Obviously the British Royal Family like to reinforce their association with a more eloquent and stately age.
Yet is forcing poor Kate to push a gothic looking pram – that looks like the sort of contraption Damien the antichrist would have been lovingly pushed about in by his satanic nanny in the Omen trilogy – really the answer when it comes to lulling the world’s public into a state of hypnotic nostalgia for a bygone, more refined, and civilized age?
Talking of nannies, the Cambridges’ Spanish nanny, Maria Teresa Borrallo, was on duty at Princess Charlotte’s christening. Dressed like she had just walked off the set of Downtown Abbey , the 44-year-old child minder almost threatened to upstage Kate’s pram with her impeccable and antiquated appearance.
Apparently, Miss Borrallo was sporting the beige uniform of a 1945 Norland Nanny – complete with a matching hat and sensible flat brogues. There’s no glamour for those whose job is to change children’s diapers you know.
Reportedly, Miss Borrallo – who is a martial arts expert and trained in the envision technique of “pram dodging” – was asked to wear the Norland Nanny outfit at the bequest of William and Kate, who probably thought she would compliment Princess Charlotte’s pram perfectly.
Which brings us nicely back to Kate’s pram. As buggies go, although Princess Charlotte’s wheels wouldn’t look out of place in a Mad Max film, it’s not really on par with the urban crawlers that young moms seem to favour these days.
Princess Charlotte’s cumbersome and oversized pram doesn’t appear to be built for speed, comfort, utility, or equipped to deal with the necessity of tackling the cut and thrust of the big weekly shop.
For all its stately design, Kate’s pram looks like its wheels would fall off after trying to mount the first curb on the way to the weekly moms’ meet at the coffeehouse.
And as for trying to get it in the trunk of a car. Well you can forget all about that. Kate pram isn’t for folding. It’s for showing at state occasions only.
Did royal etiquette dictate that Kate Middleton wield such a bizarre looking pram at the christening of Princess Charlotte? And would the Duchess have rather opted for an urban stroller?
[Photos By Chris Jackson/Getty Images]