First pic: Princess Kate conducts German orchestra

First pic: Princess Kate conducts German orchestra

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norman lebrecht

July 21, 2017


Photo: Roland Magunia/ Senatskanzlei Hamburg

The Duchess of Cambridge conducted the Hamburg Symphoniker at the Elbphilharmonie this morning.

We think it’s the first time she has been seen with baton in hand.

 

 

Comments

  • Analeck Kram-Hammerbauer says:

    Is there any video showing what she was actually doing with the the baton and which pieces she conducted? I am curious.

  • Thomasina says:

    My attention is rather attracted by the double bassist. I think that it’s fresh to see them from this angle(that’s why I like DCH).

  • Jaybuyer says:

    So, if you marry a prince, you automatically become a princess! (Norman knows it doesn’t work like that.) More clickbait

  • geezer says:

    She is the daughter of an air hostess and a party planner so I guess the piece might be either Teddy Bear’s picnic or something from the Wooden Tops!

  • Elizabeth Owen says:

    She isn’t a princess, just a Duchess!

    • Una says:

      Same thing – privilege! She’s still Kate Middleton and she’ll be good Queen before too long – life is so short to worry about British titles.

      • John says:

        So ignorant! She is no longer Kate Middleton and is definitely not a princess.

        • Harpsi says:

          Actually, since the woman takes the rank of her husband, she is Princess William,
          Duchess of Cambridge.

          • Elizabeth Owen says:

            Not true! e.g. Prince of Wales wife is a Duchess. Queen’s husband is a Prince not a king etc.

            Maybe one day she will be Queen we’ll have to wait and see.

          • John says:

            Harpsi, I wouldn’t try and correct someone else when you are so incredibly wrong.

    • Anon says:

      Elizabeth has it, I think.
      Prince & Princess are titles, given to those born of the Monarch, of the son of the Monarch (etc.), or where title created by the Monarch. Thus the young George and Charlotte have courtesy titles of Prince and Princess extended to them.
      Marrying a Princes does not make one a Princess. Kate probably could use a courtesy title of her husband, i.e. Princess William, similar to using Mrs. Anthony Other.

      Prince William’s highest title is that of the Duke of Cambridge… so Kate takes that: hence
      “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Lady Carrickfergus”.
      At some point, one expects that Prince William’s title may be ‘upgraded’ (a principality ruling over a duchy) to “Prince of Wales”, and at that point Kate would take the highest title, and so be “Catherine, Prince of Wales”.

      (NB, Diana was Diana, Princess of Wales, but not Princess Diana, the latter a moniker used incorrectly by the press. Only those born of the Royal Family are “Princess [christian name]”)

      • Jaybuyer says:

        Did you know that Prince Michael of Kent is a grandson of George V and his wife, a Silesian/Austro-Hungarian Baroness, is always known as ‘Princess Michael of Kent’. Also the Queen pays for their apartment in Kensington Palace out of her ‘own’ pocket. Just saying….

        • Nelson & Bronte says:

          Look and read this, she is not a proper princess like Anne, for this reason.

          She is styled as Princess Michael of Kent, taking on the feminine form of her husband’s title. As she is not a royal in her own right, she was not entitled to be styled Princess Marie Christine at the time of her wedding.

          HMQ refers to her as our “Val” as she resembles one of Wagner’s creations!

  • Cyril Blair says:

    Was she able to find her inner man?

  • jim says:

    Ugh all the royals are bollocks.

  • rita says:

    sycophantic rubbish

  • Maria says:

    Cue SlippedDisc outpouring of bile, as usual.

    • will says:

      The ‘bile’ comes not from ‘Slipped Disc’ but mostly from the nasty trolls who congregate on this board!

  • Father Ted says:

    Edward VII and, in turn, his son, George V, were members of the German ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by virtue of their descent from Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria.

    High anti-German sentiment amongst the people of the British Empire during World War I reached a peak in March 1917, when the Gotha G.IV, a heavy aircraft capable of crossing the English Channel, began bombing London directly and became a household name. In the same year, on 15 March, King George’s first cousin, Nicholas II, the Emperor of Russia, was forced to abdicate, which raised the spectre of the eventual abolition of all the monarchies in Europe. The King and his family were finally convinced to abandon all titles held under the German Crown and to change German titles and house names to anglicised versions.

    Hence, on 17 July 1917, a royal proclamation issued by George V declared:
    Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor.

    The name had a long association with monarchy in Britain, through the town of Windsor, Berkshire, and Windsor Castle; the link is alluded to in the Round Tower of Windsor Castle being the basis of the badge of the House of Windsor. From 1917 to 1919, George V also stripped 15 of his German relations—most of whom belonged to the House of Hanover—of their British titles and styles of prince and princess.

    Amusingly, upon hearing that his cousin had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor and in reference to Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, German Emperor Wilhelm II remarked jokingly that he planned to see “The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha”.

    Fancy that!

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