Kate Middleton sends her regrets

I'm a young, tall and beautiful woman who has been dating a prince for several years. My problem is that I'm having difficulty trying to live up to every single persons expectations about how I should behave/act/work/dress. Currently people are complaining that I didn't reply to an invitation to a charity function. How can I handle this situation in the future.

Dear modest princess-in-waiting,

This must be a difficult situation for you. How to graciously decline various invitations sent or not sent to you. You can't win, can you? There's only so much time in the day, better spent asking me for advice. It's almost as if you're the only 'young, tall, beautiful woman who has been dating a prince for several years' who has ignored an invitation. Come to think of it, you are.

However, having pointed that out, you're not the only person in the whole entire world who has ignored, backtracked or come up with some clever excuse to decline an invitation - [ahem, YOU know who YOU are]. There are many ways to creatively decline: you could claim illness, a sudden death of a beloved pet, or a previous (read: more interesting) engagement. For instance:

'I cannot attend because I'm unwell due to the death of my beloved pet and missing the funeral would look insensitive'

Add the word 'devastated' and you may get some flowers and a casserole out of it to boot.

Anyhoo, according to Google search results, proper etiquette states that you should, at minimum, acknowledge the invitation. This will, hopefully avoid those vindictive, do-gooder, charitable-types who sell their story to the press. Acknowledging could have bought you some time and it would have made you look good. As well, it would have deflected attention away from your parents X-Factor debacle. Where is Uncle Gary when you need him?

Remember, you are never safe from public opinion and you really should have known better. You can only coast on the wave of an imaginative wedding hat for so long. 

© Marilyn Braun 2010