Sometimes – not very often – life turns out exactly like a Hallmark movie. The ‘ordinary’, down to earth divorced actress/influencer marries a royal prince. She shares giggles and a gig with Queen Elizabeth II. She’s handed the keys to fairytale, 10-bedroom Frogmore Cottage and spends £2.4million on renovations, turning it into a five-bedroomed pad with two orangeries and a yoga studio.
She gives birth to a son, spurns the hostile land of her prince’s birth, relocates to marvellous Montecito, pops out a daughter and morphs into a jam-flogger. Cue schmaltzy music and fade to closing credits. Sometimes – more frequently – life turns out like a soggy soap opera sub-plot. Our heroine’s 81-year-old estranged father, in self-imposed exile in the Philippines, is rushed to hospital and has one leg amputated below the knee.
It’s not a good look for our non-HRH Duchess. She’s just released the Festive version of her ‘With love’ Netflix series focusing on the importance of family. She sends her dad an email and ‘her people’ helpfully tell the press she has ‘reached out’. Her father, looking frail, announces he’d love to hear from his daughter before he dies and hasn’t heard a peep.
It turns out she pressed send on an ancient email address he never looks at. Her people inform the waiting world she took time out from concocting her special recipe jam to ring round Philippine hospitals trying – and failing – to locate her father.
Cue dystopian music, close-up of tear stained, but exquisite cheekbones. Fade to closing credits.
No one gets a prize for spotting the key life lessons here. (1) Don’t wait for a life-threatening medical crisis to attempt a reconciliation with nearest or dearest. Whatever else happens death is inevitable, so avoid the last-minute skin-of-the-teeth scramble and build bridges early to eliminate panic.
(2) Age is a reliable guide. When the person you are feuding with blows out eighty candles, get your skates on. (3) Keep abreast of the contact numbers. You are going to need them. (4) Stay on-brand. If you are selling sweetness, flower sprinkles and the joys of harmonious relatives tucking into home-baked cookies, don’t dump your dad.
A word of warning: hasty reconciliations can be desperately disappointing. We’ve all sniffled through films featuring heart-warming hugs, forgiveness and unconditional adoration. Unfortunately, in real life resentment remains. Individuals stay true to type, and olive branches are not always gratefully clasped.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.express.co.uk ’
