The video: Kate Middleton isn't the only one getting primed to be a princess. A London hotel is offering lots of little girls a crash course in how to become consistently regal. At the one-day Princess Prep course, pupils learn about royal history, how to curtsy, polish up their table manners, and — yes — balance books on their heads. This summer, the program will expand into a series of $4,000 week-long camps for girls age 8 to 11. "It gives girls the ability to know that they can be in any situation — whether it's with the queen, their parents, their teacher, a friend — and know that they're behaving the right way," says Jerramy Fine, the American-born founder of Princess Prep. "I think that's important, royalty or no royalty." Watch an AP report on the program, below.
The reaction: "We have quite enough of the princess motif in our lives" already, thank you very much, says Sierra at Babble. I'd prefer for my daughter "to grow up with visions of being president, or Nobel scientists, or famous chefs, or a thousand other near impossible daydreams" instead of just focusing on being a princess. Yeah, and I'm not sure how fun this is for the little would-be princesses, says Megan Gibson in TIME. "Manners and etiquette are great, and this course would probably be useful to someone about to marry into the Royal Family... but how are these little girls not bored out of their skulls?" See for yourself:
