The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her second child, meaning she is on her way to producing an heir and a spare. While this is good news for fans of the Royal Family, Germaine Greer, the doyenne of British feminism (or should that be Australian feminism?), thinks Kate is being made to have another baby too soon after Prince George. “The girl is too thin. Meanwhile, she is vomiting her guts up and shouldn’t have been made to go through all this again so soon. It’s not so much that she has to be a womb, but she has to be a mother. I would hope after this one she says, ‘That’s it. No more.’” Speaking to Newsweek, Greer commented that “Kate is a great deal more intelligent than the rest of the royals. She has been put in charge of William. She has a bastard of a job.”
The Duchess graduated with a degree in art history from the University of St. Andrews, but Greer says that her talent is wasted, and she is stifled by a role that clamps down on any spontaneity. “Kate is not allowed to have an interest in modern culture, even in art – to collect, to attend openings. She is made to appear absolutely anodyne. She cannot do or say anything spontaneous. She has learned what she has to do and say and how to do and say it in the approved way. Spontaneity will get her in trouble.” Perhaps, but who knows? After all, couldn’t her pregnancy have resulted from a spontanaeous act? The Newsweek story included a poll of attitudes in Britain towards the Duchess. While some see her as a modernizing force, less than 20% think of her as inspiring, and only 3% would call her a feminist. Only 1% of the women asked said they wanted to be Kate. A mere 6% of men wished they were married to her.
