There’s some assorted royal news from the past few days, but shockingly few big headlines. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are still keeping a “low profile” ahead of their big six-day tour of Bhutan and India, which will take place from April 10-16. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are not going on the trip, which means that Kate is not going to do any public appearances before April 10 because she’s focusing on spending time with the kids ahead of the tour.
Speaking of the tour, the full itinerary was released on Tuesday, so we have a better idea of how many “events” Will and Kate will do each day and what those events will entail. On average, they’ll probably be knocking out four events a day. You can see the full itinerary here. While there are several glamorous events and parties/receptions, Will and Kate will also be visiting the Mumbai slums, plus a six hour hike and some conservation and preservation appearances. On the final day of their trip, they’re flying from Bhutan back to India just to do a photo-op at the Taj Mahal. They are reportedly “seeking new memories” at the Taj Mahal, because memories of Diana.
Meanwhile, William reportedly arrived back in England after his four-day holiday in Kenya for Jecca Craig’s wedding. We don’t know when William arrived back home, but I would suspect it was either late Sunday night or very early Monday morning. Whenever it was, William and Kate were on hand at Windsor Castle at some point on Monday. According to a report originating at The Sun, Will, Kate, George and Charlotte arrived at Windsor Castle at the Queen’s behest, and the Queen posed for some special portraits with Charlotte and George (but not Will and Kate). It’s believed that the portraits will be released in mid to late April, around the Queen’s April 21st 90th birthday. I have to think that the Queen was aware of all of the Jecca Craig speculation and the Queen wanted people to know that the she gathered up the Cambridges as soon as William got back. Right?
Late April will also bring Will and Kate’s five-year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, Reelz (an American cable channel) is doing a four-part documentary series on their relationship and marriage. The series is called “William and Kate: The Journey.” Better than Work-Shy Will and the Duchess of Do-Little: The Keen Waitying.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN.
Photo op at the Taj Mahal, very original.
They’ll co-opt Diana and botch this up. Probably the two of them sitting on the bench. Sheesh. And I hope the Queen gave them an earful!
I’m still betting Kate bails on the trip. Someone will be “sick.”
I’m betting that if they do the photo-op she will be wearing the same colors Lady Di had on.
Given the animosity of the press at the moment, I think the Taj Mahal photo opp is the worst possible thing they could do. Such fertile ground for an associated comparison and take-down of Normal Bill and Katie Laze Quitter. A monumentally (can’t help it, have to pun) stupid idea.
Well, they want to make new memories – yep KP *is* this pathetic in its statements……cue judgement from the press and public alike which will be met with cries of invasion of privacy from KP
Seriously, right, LAK?
Normal Bill is a wannabe demagogue, #poorjason is woefully incompetent, and everyone else is a headless chicken.
There is so much opportunity in this photo op for a spectacular own goal through articles as full of backhanded compliments as that Mail article the other day, I couldn’t even begin to count them all.
This whole line of PR is so dead in the water that everyone, from the press to the Twitterati to the commenters on news pieces, are openly laughing. And yet they just carry on regardless.
According to the royal reporters, they are taking an entourage of 11, of whom 4 will be press handlers. Yet, none of the four extra brains can see the potential danger of this photo call. And went as far as inviting prurient interest in it with that emotive statement about making new memories!
Even if the entire tour is ignored by the media, that one photocall is going to be like honey to the bears of the media, all making comparison between their body language and the sainted Diana.
They better be in a good mood that day because anything less will be interpreted as disaster for the marriage.
I suppose the small mercy is that we’ll be able to have a field day with it!
I’m looking forward to judging them. LOL
If they have to go the Taj Mahal, I hope they do so on the basis of celebrating and appreciating the extraordinary beauty of the building and its grounds and the love story that caused it to be built, and don’t just use it as a backdrop for a tasteless PR shot and glaringly obvious stab in the back to Prince Charles.
They’ll sit on the same bench and as LAK said, they better be in a good mood that day!
I loved Diana’s PR – she was the “People’s Princess”. Yet what William is about to do is *Completely Hateful* toward the Prince of Wales.
I hope Savannah and Isla Phillips and Mia Tindall will be in the pics. God knows the media is convinced G & C are the ONLY g-grandchildren of HM.
I hope so too, but the rest are private citizens. If she’s trying to send a message about future focus of Official Family Firm, it will be only those two. Could be she’s given up on W&K entirely, and she and Charles are going to try to instill a work ethic in the two kiddos. Provided they are allowed anywhere near them.
I’m sure they spend time with her, but, as you say, they are private citizens and aren’t official members of the Royal Family, which is different from just being family members. The parents likely don’t want their kids getting a ton of publicity (the Queen has repeatedly offered peerages, including to Peter and Zara as adults, and has always been declined). I’m sure there were pictures taken with the Queen all the time, they just don’t get released.
George and Charlotte, though, are official Royals, and will be leading the Firm eventually. PR wise, it’s important to stress the continuity of the monarchy across generations. I think it’d be cute, actually.
What is cute about 1%’s, exactly? I suppose it’s the 99% that they own – and the way they handle us.
That doccie will be one big propaganda snoozefest. Nothing but sugar.
Wiglet alert in pic 2!!!
I think I see the lines in pic 2, starting at the crown. In pic 3, the bottom seems very full. Maybe she has a ‘fall’, or whatever lower pieces are called?
Yep
Yes, I see it! Does she need a fall to make it look thicker? Or maybe she could gain some weight and get some luster in that skin and hair!
Wiglet is a CB created slang. Fall / half wig is it’s proper name.
She started out with extensions, but now is almost always using wiglet rather than extensions.
I don’t believe that the Queen is side-eyeing them anymore. She is as privileged as they are (although with a complete different work ethic) and the odds are better that she will defend them forever, maybe they are viewed as kids. Lovely, beautiful, adorable kids.
If Kate didn’t have the Queen’s support she wouldn’t have gushed over her in that documentary or maybe she wouldn’t have been in the documentary at all. Same goes for Will.
I wanted to believe that a person like the Queen would not be OK with lazybones like Will and Kate.
Given what spoilt children he raised herself, I’d say she’s fine with Will and Kate as they are as well. Sophie of Wessex for the Next Queen!
I agree. The Queen probably has mo problem with the way Will & Kate run their royal life because unlike modt if us who comment around royal board topics, she lives that life and she actually knows them. We are left only to speculate.
Nothing out of the ordinary for them to visit with The Queen, especially with the tour coming up. As stated they were there for a photo session (which was more than likely scheduled on The Queen’s itinerary for months ago). Plus she probably wsnts to go over their schedule for the tour and brief them even more on the people they will meet etc… Nothing out of ordinary for them…unless you’re reaching.
Balderdash!
It wasn’t necessarily a ‘visit but a work event. The Queen and Annie Leibovitz scheduled a photo shoot to mark her 90th b-day and George and Charlotte were in the photos.
The fact that the Sun labeled Kate’s participation as ‘hijacking’ the photo shoot by bringing her own camera and taking her own photos shows that her bringing a camera was with the advance knowledge of the photo shoot schedule (which was ultra rude of Kate, imo).
The theory that the Queen wanted to see W&K in order to go over the tour itinerary and brief them is just speculation, imo.
I. cannot. believe. that she did that. It takes serious BALLS OF STEEL to bring your own camera and stand behind *ANNIE FREAKING LEIBOVITZ*, taking your own photos!
What is wrong with Kate?!! Shameless. And I’m surprised Annie and/or her assistants allowed it, tbh, duchess or not. Or that even useless-ass William didn’t shut that down. SMH
Hopefully Kate was taking pictures of Annie taking pictures of her kids with the Queen. That would be a pretty cool photo to have. And assuming she asked Annie’s permission. That would be pretty rude to not ask.
W&K are in the documentary because the public and press are sharpening their pitchforks. The Firm has to put forward a united front and pretend their greatest liabilities are really assets.
I think HM and Charles have no idea how to deal with William, and KM is a useless appendage to the useless heir-to-the-heir. Charles has to play lonely grandfather in the press to get any time with the grandkids. HM’s ostrich impression means she won’t step in until things get even worse. She keeps giving them enough rope and hoping they’ll wise up. Charles’s minimizing plan will only work if W&K are beloved by the people, and that certainly isn’t happening.
KM gushed over what? HM having a staff person put chutney on a table because HM has manners? Of HM “guiding” her on an engagement because KM couldn’t act correctly unless a grownup told her where to stand? There was nothing personal in those revelations because there is no personal relationship there.
W&K are the people you hope your Firm doesn’t get — the boss’s relatives who are going to inherit everything, drive the company into the ground, and cost all the hard-working employees their jobs. Everybody does their best to cover up for them, because otherwise the Firm tanks.
You are exactly right.
I do wonder if any of them ever read the comments in the papers. The only ones still positive are American outlets like People and Yahoo stories – the British commenters are eviscerating them, as it should be. But do any of these out- of – touch royals even know? Does anyone boo k&w in public? I certainly would, but I’m American!!!
Well said, nota.
Kate wouldn’t need the Queen’s support in order to gush over her, because if Kate wanted more screen time, she knows she has to gush. And for Kate, I think screen time is more important to her than spending actual time with the Queen or getting approval.
There’s nothing much the Queen can do with W&K, especially this year with her major PR going towards celebrating her 90th b-day. Why would she spoil that with a public scandal or public jabbing at W&K and thus making it all about them this year. Or any year.
The DM quoted the Queen Mother telling QE2 not to worry about the next generation as they’re going to do what they’re going to do anyways. QE2 made her own legacy built on nearly 70 years of work and if Charles couldn’t raise his own son correctly, then I doubt she could too. And it’s too late. W&K are already adults. The only thing that can hurt them is withholding money, but William will get all the money he wants once the Queen dies and he becomes the Duke of Cornwall.
I think I said this on another thread once, but I think the real wild card is Harry’s wife. Every organization has succession plans and backup succession plans. I feel like the BRF (or their grey men) are laying the foundation for a variety of options. However, if Harry marries a boring aristocrat or KM clone….well then I think it is all for naught. If he marries someone with a bit of charisma and a work ethic though, well I think we’ll all be in for a hell of a show 😉
Kate may have the Queen’s support, but she still does not have the family order; 5 years in to the Cambridge marriage.
What is a family order?
If the Queen weren’t side-eying them, then I doubt the Telegraph and Ingrid Seward would be eviscerating them, tbh. They are staunch pillars of the Establishment, and yet when it comes to these two, they are no longer playing.
I think the Queen loves her family, no question. But she has a keen instinct for political survival and a strong sense that her duty to the country trumps that to anyone or anything else. If she thinks her grandson jeopardises the throne she will take steps to get him back into line IMO. Just as she did Charles and Diana, and 60 years ago her own sister (Townsend affair). This is a woman who blocked her husband’s taking any political role whatsoever when she wasn’t even out of her 20s. She is a lot tougher than people give credit.
If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice, do not be shocked at the sight, for one official watches over another official and there are higher officials over them. *After all*…a king who cultivate the field is an advantage to all the land(???)
This is from, Ecclesiastes. “There is nothing new under the sun”.
This is why this family infuriates me. Who the hell has “audience” with their grandchildren? By age of 90 surely it should have dawned on you that such formalities are beyond silly and actually make real family intimacy impossible.
I was wondering what their Easter dinner must be like. My family is so informal and laid back, I can’t imagine being in a family like theirs.
Actually, if you look at the photos from Sunday when they were heading to church, they seemed to be quite relaxed with each other. Lady Louise, in particular, seemed quite happy to be mingling with the York sisters (probably sees the, as the cool,older cousins)
There also have been many occasions where the Wessexes and the Phillips kids hanging out. Not a close family, eh ?
It wasn’t an audience, it was an official photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz.
Although, given the fact that the Queen works 10 times as much as W&K, her scheduling time to see them makes sense. SHE’S so busy working. At 90.
If you’ve seen photos of HM and PP with Peter and Autumn, or with their daughters, you’d see it isn’t formal. Likewise Princess Anne with her granddaughters. The way they are in private is very different from public. That’s because those people spend time with HM. I’m not convinced W&K see the other royals unless it is an official engagement.
Nothing about this couple is interesting…………….the least interesting couple in the world…….
Yet almost everyday there is a post about them with tons of comments……..
These two both have the personality of wet cardboard.
Fortunately for them, their children are extremely cute.
Hey I work in a sign shop, that is an insult to any corrugated plastic or cardboard!
The documentary could be called ‘Perpetual Petulance and Procrastinating’. Try saying that five times, fast.
OMG I tried it. That’s some serious tongue wiggling.
I guess it should include a reference to a love story, duty or honor? Lol
(Also envisioning James posing with a giant ‘5’ marshmallow and Pippa wearing her rear enhancement pads for the occasion.
How about ‘Chutney and Chum’s next BIG adventure’?
I wonder if Kate was collecting footage for W&K’s documentary by ‘hijacking’ (the Sun’s word) the Leibovitz photo shoot by bringing her own camera and taking her own photos because they don’t have any or barely any photos or evidence that the Queen spends any time with G&C, other than at the christenings and maybe a few minutes at a lunch around Christmas.
Also, would W&K respect the Queen’s timing in presenting the Leibovitz photos to the public by not dumping their own onto the press on the same day, the day(s) beforehand, or right after the Queen’s come out? Like what they didn’t do when they sabotaged Charles’ big day with the 40th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust by outing their French Alps pics.
I wonder if W&K will do interview clips in their documentary (the talking head shots). It’s probably going to be the most boring and delusional documentary ever.
The fact that she took her own photos worries me as you just know they will release the ones she took, probably before the official ones are released. Thats a PR stunt/deliberate leak just waiting to happen. And we all just know he will do it – even if it pissed off TQ and Annie L.
The way William uses Diana as an excuse to roll around in life, doing just what he wants to do is so offensive and I am not even a Diana-fan. Dude, how about copying her work ethics too. That’s how you could keep her memory alive instead of just using her misery to explain your flaws!
I am a Diana lover – and I’m offended by the lot of them! It’s too much PR for me.
imaginaryTQ: Splendid, splendid. Now, do kindly remove the infants, as We wish to chat with William and Catherine alone over Our tea, thank you, that will be all.
iDK: Mightn’t I have a Duchy biscuit to affix me orbs upon as —-
iTQ: — Now listen, and listen good, you lot. There is nothing I can do to you two officially, but look into my eyes, right, look in them! You think I’m just a granny in a hat, that’s your first mistake. I have been through it, eh, been through it! My father has to take over, then I have to take over, then I get Diana, and Fergie and your father, a grocer’s daughter, paparazzi and I’ll tell you both, this bird is done with the pearls and lace. Get the message? One more skirt fly-up, one more week off the job, one more whining little public fit or hair flip or bovine facial expression, one more “I don’t want to raise expectations” and my dears, it’s on. OH, it’s on. You know what it means when it’s on with a QUEEN? You think because I wear stockings like these, I can’t make a few calls? You think because they dress me like a tea cake for the people, I melt at the idea of giving you lot a mule kick? Well, think again, my lovies. Nothing can stop me from filming my own birthday video, can it? Nothing can stop my dear friend JK from handing my tell-all autobiography to her publishers. Nothing stops me from being a breakfast show regular correspondent on my own segment called OH NO KITTY DIDN’T! while I am seen everywhere smiling at jolly old Harry and anointing him with a gob load of medals and titles every week! nothing says I can’t do that, or that I can’t start telling the press that Phil and I call you two Duchess Spenditall of the Flinthearts, and Little Pretender Prince Pissrant, eh, eh? Press would love more of One, and One’s quotes of the day, eh? And I’m at that delicious why-not moment of my life, just like my mother before me! She had her gin boys, now One has One’s lovely press and camera people! Ah, pictures of One gamboling with beloved Harry, eh, and the new corgi puppy Harry gives One! Optics, my dears! Such fun! I shall have some fun at last! So do consider this your one-minute warning, loves. One daft Taj Mahal portrait, and the gates open. Your bodyguards will tape every gym trip and sidepiece. And just for laughs, Kitty, I want to see you eat this burger they’re about to bring in! If One hadn’t made it completely clear before, One hopes it is clear now: Never, ever mess with the Queen! And by the way, we’re going to make Harry the Prince of Thrones, just for a chuckle. Top that! Go on, eat that burger, lass! hahaha!
Lol! How I wish this was real.
Me too!!!
Love it! Can they bring in a Yorkshire pudding instead, though?!
iTQ: ….quickly ,quickly, Kitty! that’s a good miner’s granddaughter! because here comes a lovely surprise — a fine Yorkshire pudding from House of Sixer Tastee FunnEats! nice and chewy, isn’t it, with a good dollop of gravy and wedges of beef! very nice! oh dear. Kitty’s thrown her spoon. Well, One has an extra ladle in One’s bag, here you go. Tuck in!
I love you.
You had me at “granny in a hat” Liberty!
Oh, HM is going all-out Betty White!
Now imagining a TV special with Lizzie and Betty joining Harry in Vegas…
….this idea has me so excited, I think I am fainting!!! 😉
They do need a foot of their asses but the thing is that you can’t raise grown folks. Oh, wait, I’m sorry. W & K are still going thru some sort of teenage or extended adolescent phase. Perhaps if TQ called Carole over to Windsor and they had a nice little chat then we’d see some changes. I wish the Queen were a hardcore granny but she’s not. However, I imagine Carole can get down and dirty if need be. One Queen just has to recognize the queen in the other. Have a chat, cut a deal, make a plan, and I think we’d definitely see changes in the Cambridges public behavior.
Two Queens – but Granny has the power. QUIET, but deadly.
Spitting Images should be resurrected using this as a script!
“they dress me like a tea cake” !
LOL I love it!
Phil: Oh jolly good show, what!!
Liz: I say, how about a little tipple, to celebrate?
Phil: Sherry, dear diamond-decorated one?
Liz: One is not amused Phil.
Phil: After those two nincompoops, the only thing to make it better is a large Scotch, on the rocks?
Liz: Make it extra large, like Fergie’s bottom. And a nice piece of fruit cake. And pass me the tin hat.
HA!
Thanks Liberty!
I would love to see that version of QE2, the one who mind-melded with Philip and is maybe three to four decades younger and is ready to kick some ass!
“…dress me like a tea cake for the people…”
DEAD! 😂😂😂
It would be really great if the press treated Wily Willy and Workshy Kate with the same esteem with which they deal with the press. They do everything on the quiet, so that the press know absolutely nothing about their lives, unless Jason feeds it to them. Gee I wonder what would happen if they received minimal attention on their upcoming Tour to India or wherever it is they are off too. Turnabout is fair play and these two are arrogant swines! And I absolutely love Zara’s daughter and Summer’s kids too and then there is Sophie’s as well.
Autumn Philips not Summer. I admit, when I see pictures of her grinning with all those dimples, she makes me think of a kid in summer.
@Dewby, I was particularly struck by how grown-up and pretty Sophie’s daughter Lady Louise looked on Easter. I loved her coat, and she looked very poised and happy to be with her older cousins. She looks like a very sweet girl. She will probably consistently get overlooked as the media focuses on the Cambridge kids, just like her mother does, but that might be better for her in the end anyway if it affords her more privacy.
Were they there as damage control? Or for the photos? I tend to think TQ is playing a long game, allowing these two simpletons to hang themselves while she shores up the monarchy through other means. I’m sure they think all they have to do is show up with the kids and be forgiven, but they’ve pushed her too far for their simple manipulations to work again.
I’m guessing damage control. How else would we have this info if it weren’t for their PR? Yep, trot out the kiddies, pretend happy families, elevate the grandchildren’s status with no mention of the others, ride on the coattails of the Queen like they do with Harry.
I agree that the queen will always protect these gilded losers just as she’s covered for that skeezebucket Andy. She’s as corrupt as the rest of them.
I think the photo shoot was set up between the Queen and Annie long ago in order to mark her 90th b-day. I think W&K were told to bring the kids to the photo shoot. So in all, it seems as if it were a work event.
If it was a work event, it’ll show up on the CC. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past these two to count it as a work event if it was just a trip to Great-Gan Gan’s house.
It might show up on the CC if it shows up for the Queen.
Even if it isn’t, W&K still knew to show up to get the photos taken. So even if they don’t get it counted towards their tally, there must have been something else in it for themselves, like a little good PR? I dunno…
My mother is totally blind to the terrible things my brother has done and still does. I’m thinking the Queen has similar blind spots.
Grannie is QUEEN of the long game. (And so quiet – how very brilliant!) She’s polar of Trump – and therefore as effective – it’s the very same game upside down.
Personally, I can’t even imagine having another person’s visage everywhere assaulting – spare me the Middleton’s on any coins.
I would like to put in a request for a renaissance of the helicopter hair photo. Please nicely. That is all!
I second that request. Please, Kaiser, please!!
Helicopter hair for my ladies – with a couple of spares….
http://media.vanityfair.com/photos/56783c21c3098a7c3d8e40d4/master/w_1440,c_limit/kate-middleton-hair-in-review-2015-ss19-a.png
I thank you! That truly is the best photo ever!
Oh, come on, she’s just a dumb girl trying to get something for nothing by being the “good-est”. I don’t hate her for trying the easy and most clever way. Some women have to survive by putting out. Something for nothing!!! Willy was easy. All Katie needed was access. and her mom, crying “Diana, poor, poor, Diana and her babes”.
I didn’t notice until Kaiser posted the pics but Kate has only previously worn that blue Missoni coat from the charity shop visit, when around the Queen and you know how the DM likes to pull up old pics of Kate “recycling” her clothes. They didn’t do it this time so no images of Kate with the Queen for an appearance in the immediate aftermath of snubbing the Irish Guards.
Now here are these two using Elizabeth’s birthday doc to push their agenda and trotting out their kids to pose with her. Two thirty-somethings hiding behind Granny
I like that they’ve dropped the pretense that they aren’t recreating moments from Diana’s life.
She also wore it to a private wedding. Another example of her using public (Duchy) money for work clothing that she uses in private too.
True. With the Cartier “olympics” necklace, my first thought was I wonder if that’s now a tax write off.
Such a shabby looking coat, after the first wear. I hate clothes like that!
can’t wait to see the contrast between These Two stiffly and sweatily posing with various Indian dignitaries and all haughty at the Taj Mahal—-versus Prince Harry truly interacting with the people of Nepal and loving being there.
And the contrast of these grinning idiots against the stateliness of the King and Queen of Bhutan.
Hell . . . Kim and Kanye.
And Harry was honoured by a village by naming a hill Harry Hill. This shows how respect he receives from people far away from Jason’s pro-Cambridge PR nonsense.
She’s going to be away from her kids (and nannies) for six days. And she needs to take a month off to prepare? I wish I could take a month off work every time I need to leave my toddler for an extended work trip.
It is ridiculous. And who wants to bet that when they come back, she will need another month off to recover from the grueling-ness of it all and “reconnect” with her children?
I think that maybe in doing this six-days India-Bhutan tour, they’re going to be rewarded with a two-week ‘official’ Caribbean tour.
Edward and Sophie just returned from an official tour of the Bahamas, Florida, and the Cayman Islands. It was the first week of March. I think the rumored Caribbean tour for W&K was Edward and Sophie’s tour all along.
If she can rock up to the Downton set just 8 days after Sophie did with the First Lady of Mexico, anything is possible.
True, true. I didn’t remember that.
@ COSquared
Good catch!
……………………….
@ notasugahere
If only W&K were capable of being embarrassed by reality….
My guess is they’ll return to the Seychelles…………….or Maldives.
Ha! – VaVa!
I noticed that they don’t have anything firmed up for the second day–the evening, yes, but not the day. Perhaps it was originally scheduled as time off, but now think they ought to fill that time? Either way, it reflects poorly on them and their staff.
There’s also Tuesday night. They’re in the National Park for an event Tuesday night, in the National Park Wednesday morning for another event. Is there a fancy resort hotel connected to the National Park?
National Park is the name of the hotel?
🙂
Related to the upcoming tour, Richard Palmer tweeted about 3 hours ago that W&K has an official engagement to ‘meet young people from India and Bhutan studying or working in Britain at a KP reception on April 6.’
So basically they’re going to meet people more industrious than themselves. These poor busy people who are going to make way in their schedules for what they probably don’t know will most likely only be about a 20 to 30 minutes meet-and-greet. I don’t think it’s worth it.
It’s only about money, and by another name, the world says “worthiness”. PR is our friend!
Four events a day in India sounds about the same as their schedule in AUS/NZ during 2014. Six days isn’t really a long tour at all. I suppose the days of six week tours are over, but you would think once William becomes Prince of Wales, he and Kate will do longer tours than six days.
William becoming POW ,me thinks not!
And will it be 15mins-30mins each, no?
That was the norm in AUS/NZ.
There was a brief hospice visit on their AUS/NZ tour was there not? Catherine has stated she finds hospice visits upsetting. Presumably, HM finds the Duchess “weak” in that regard.
During HM’s live speech from BP before Diana’s funeral, HM stated she “admired” Diana. I’m guessing she has even more admiration for Diana now, after five official years of The Duchess of Cambridge.
I doubt HM would think showing compassion is weak. Sophie cried openly when she went back to the hospital that saved her and Louise’s life. KM didn’t have to choose children’s hospices, and she has quickly dumped that subject about which she used to be so keen.
Another snippet in the daily m today was a lovely picture of Jecca in her white wedding dress showing her slim arms. I think the newspaper couldn’t resist a photograph to carry on the storyline from last week.
Yes, it looked like a beautiful dress.
Not to threadjack, so I hope this is okay to post, but I’ve been meaning to ask the Brits here on CB for some guidance re: reading up on the BRF.
Sixer, LAK, ANNE_000, (and anyone I’m accidentally leaving out!): any recommendations? There is so much out there, but it seems that many authors have personal agendas; it is hard to know what is even *reasonably* objective and what is completely biased propaganda. For example, is Paul Burrell’s book “A Royal Duty” considered at all reliable? I know that Diana allegedly fed Andrew Morton info for his book that was originally serialized, and I’ve read some of Katie Nicholls’s more recent books on Kate/W&K, but I took her work with a grain of salt as I know there’s some questions as to how reliable she is. As I was browsing, I saw one by Kitty Kelley, but her reputation here in the US is (if I’m not mistaken) as an author of, basically, unauthorized tabloid-level trash. And isn’t there a book about Diana by Tina Brown? I thought they were friendly IRL but I could be wrong. Any suggestions any of you have would be most appreciated! 🙂
@ Charlotte15
I don’t know of any that I can recommend. Sorry about that.
I did read that Kitty Kelly book a few decades ago, but I can’t remember all that much from it. Most of the books I’ve read on the BRF were too long ago for me to name.
Nowadays, for information on the current BRF, I read articles, blog sites, social media from royal reporters/ photographers/ followers. For the older generations, I’ve been watching documentaries on YouTube and PBS.
I just finished re-reading Diana, closely guarded secret by Ken Wharfe.
Mr. Wharfe didn’t rush to write his book soon after Diana’s death and I appreciated that. His book, IMO, was credible and interesting.
Mr. Wharfe attempted to remain neutral re- the War of Wales’, however it was clear on a number of occasions he took Diana’s side.
Mr. Wharfe also wrote of his preference for Harry when the boys were young.
Youtube is a great resource for all kinds of documentaries on the British Royals.
Hey coincidence bought three Diana books in a second hand shop for a snippet don’t know why I was drawn to buying them. Then I find myself looking at an old BBC documentary on the Wales’s – strange but interesting Diana comes across much more determined and compassionate about people. With Kate it just seems like a “job”
Last move, I threw all my books about Diana away – they are all the same. I say, “No one seeks revenge for your mother, William” – and I’m tired of the whole story of people being people – especially his delicate as#.
Such poor taste. All of us.
Charlotte15: the Andrew Morton book isn’t alleged. It’s fact. The tapes that she used to supply him with information were released a year after her death. They communicated that way because she wanted to have plausible deniability. The subterfuge was that Andrew sent a list of questions to her best friends, who passed on the questions to her, she replied via the tapes, delivered to the best friends who passed the tapes onto Andrew. This went on for months. And the proof is in the pudding because when the friends were outed as the sources of information to much abuse in the media, she very publicly supported them rather than shun them as was expected ie paid highly papped visits where she would make a big show of hugging and kissing them outside of their front door.
I tend to dismiss this book due to the many fibs and exaggerations therein. Diana herself later regretted it and admitted that it was written at the lowest ebb of her life, and was both a cry for help and lashing out. She was always very destructive when she lashed out which explains the fibs and exaggerations.
Charles retaliated with his own version of events via the book by Jonathan Dimbleby.
For me, Sarah Bradford is the best author for the current set of royals. She tries very hard not to be judgemental of any of them.
No books on the QM are reliable. Her official biographers were picked from family friends, and the resulting books are hagiographies that paint her as sweetness and light. There are unauthorised biographies that give a more rounded picture although those authors can’t help their dislike showing eg Lady Colin Campbell’s books.
As for the current young generation of royals, it’s hard to pick one biography which doesn’t have major bias. If it wasn’t for royalforums/tumblrs that have been following them for decades, and or collecting news articles and pictures in real time, we’d all be blind to the true story. You just need to look at Kate’s official story which has been so whitewashed that no one can pinpoint who the real Kate is. She doesn’t appear to have left an imprint anywhere, yet we are supposed to believe the official story that she’s a ball of charisma with (unnamed) admirers in her wake.
In recent years, official biographers, with blessing of William or the Middletons have written some of the truth or true feelings about her which match up to what is recorded in the royal forums eg Katie Nichol wrote a saccharine book around the time of the wedding that anointed Kate as a saint, but has since written a new biography in which she admits the stalking aspect of the romance.
Penny Junor was given access to William’s friends, and permission from William, but the resulting book is very unflattering to both William and Kate. Given what we see of them as royals, it’s hard to resist Junor’s book.
However, I did enjoy Ken Wharfe’s book though his dislike for William is very strong.
Infact, of the new set of biographers, what comes through very strongly, even when they are supposedly flattering, is a strong dislike of William. Ditto newspaper articles.
I’ve come to speculate that perhaps this is because he has inherited the Spencer temperament.
The Spencers have a well documented mean and cruel streak that leaves all who are subjected to it cowering in their wake. Further, it’s their way or the highway, no compromising. It seems to be the dominant trait in their character. And they aren’t afraid to use it. On the flipside, they are immensely charming when they want to be. In recent years, Johnnie and Charles Spencer (Diana’s father and Brother) have been known to be very cruel to their wives and friends.
Diana admitted how cruel she (and her siblings) was to her stepmother, and when she lashed out at those around her, she was vicious.
Harry doesn’t appear to have inherited it.
LAK, it’s ironic re- Harry, since, according to Seward, Diana (when Harry was quite young) would cuddle him and call him “my little Spencer.”
A four hour infomercial disguised as a documentary for these 2 a-holes seems like an exercise in self torture.
Countess Sophie has “an audience” with HM every day. Don’t see that in the news.