Duchess Kate and Prince William got a puppy a few months ago. I don’t think I ever discussed it, because we didn’t have the photo set – you can see a months-old photo of William, Kate and the puppy here, talking a walk together in Wales. It took a while to even find out how this puppy came around – he’s a cocker spaniel, and sources claim that “He belongs to a litter of cocker spaniels from one of Carole Middleton’s friends near home. William and Catherine fell in love with the pup instantly and it wasn’t long before they decided to keep him.” They “fostered” the puppy for a short time to see if he fit in with their lives, and considering how little Kate does in general, I guess she had the time to spend with a gregarious little dog who happens to be adorably ALL PAWS.
Anyway, it wasn’t until yesterday that we actually found out with Will and Kate named the dog. Yes, for real, this is a gossip story. In lieu of royal babies, people will accept royal animal stories. While Kate was doing her appearance at The Art Room, she told students that she and Will named the puppy… LUPO!!! Probably after Jeremy Sisto’s character in the last seasons of Law & Order, correct? He played Det. Lupo, yes? Just name the puppy “Sisto” and get it over with! Once again, a “source” told the media, “There is no significance in it apart from they liked the name.” Here’s more:
Duchess Kate loves being Lupo’s mommy! During Kate Middleton’s Tuesday visit to two schools in Oxford — in her official role as patron to the Art Room charity — the royal couldn’t helping but gush about her newly adopted puppy, Lupo.
Visiting first with kids at Rose Hill Primary (located in one of the most deprived areas of England, with 48 percent of students speaking English as a second language, and with 50 percent special needs), Kate, 30, received doggy treats and a stuffed dog from students.
“I will call it after my dog,” Kate (wearing a brown Orla Kiely coat dress and brown ankle boots) said of the toy. “Lupo!”
Explains a source of Kate and Prince William’s chosen name (Italian for “wolf”) for their pet: “They picked it because they liked it. No other reason.”
Wearing “Duchess Catherine” apron in an art room class, Kate spoke about her husband’s current military stint in the Falkland Islands. “She was explaining how they have been speaking,” an observer says. “And William said he has seen penguins!”
Interacting with the kids in the art class, the royal was a natural, Art Room manager Lisa Hancock told Us. “She had all the right language and was very calm and gentle with the children… She is a young, independent, intelligent woman who really wants to make a difference. I have nothing but respect and admiration for her.”
After Rose Hill, Kate moved on to Oxford Spires Academy School, where was greeted by 1,000 students and lunched with Art Room staffers inside. “The children have been hugely excited and they all feel so proud she has visited this school,” headteacher Sue Croft said.
Added student Saif Omer, 11: “She asked me how old I was and which house I was in. She is a very nice woman. Seeing her here is like a dream come true.”
[From Us Weekly]
Is this a good PR strategy? I know, I know. I’m giving Kate a lot of credit for being a media specialist, but really, I think she’s very, very conscious of her image, and she and her team (and yes, she has a TEAM) are working very, very hard to project a certain image for her, and to convince people that Kate is: hard-working, diligent, intelligent, independent, and of course, a sad-sack victim (her husband missed Valentine‘s Day!!), all with a common touch. Considering I feel she’s rather a lazy, clingy, staff-dependent piece of dry toast, all covered in gigantic buttons and slathered in eye makeup, it’s debatable whether Kate’s team is any good. So how does a dog help? In lieu of a royal baby? It helps – it humanizes her. She looks caring and mothering. People love their animals, maybe even more so in the UK. She’s placating a certain demographic who are hungry for royal babies, because they’re going to have another year to wait. Lupo fulfills many PR needs, doesn’t he? Plus, he’s just cute.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She really has a beautiful face.
OMG I totally thought of Jeremy Sisto too! Loved Lupo and Bernard on L&O. And JESUS CHRIST CAN SHE STOP TOUCHING HER HAIR!!??
Touching her hair has probably become a bit of a nervous habit. People touch themselves without realising when they feel awkward, as it is a way of comforting themselves. She’s still not used to the spotlight so, give her a break 😉
Regarding the puppy, Kate should have got a shelter dog if she wanted a pet so much. That would have been a great way to draw attention to the fact that millions of neglected and abused animals need loving homes. She could have really set an example. Oh well.
ITA that she could have gotten a shelter dog. There are plenty of purebred dogs in shelters, or she could have contacted a breed-specific rescue.
Amen. My dogs are all rescues and two are purebred. Not that we went looking for purebred, although I guess we did. One’s a rescued greyhound. The other’s a Jack Russell who just happened to be in the shelter when my husband went to get a dog.
It always seems when anyone gets a dog from a breeder, that there is a chorus of “should have gotten a rescue dog”. I do think what kind of dog you get and how you get it should be up to the individual.
I once had a “rescue” cat. Horrible experience – she must have been abused or something,poor thing, but she turned out to be vicious – attacked my child suddenly ( we had always treated her with love btw). After that I went to a breeder and made sure that I knew exactly how my next cat had been treated from birth, what her parents personalities were like etc. She’s a purebred cat and a total sweetheart.
Rescues can be wonderful, but they are not always so. Not the animals fault of course.
I also agree! I used to volunteer at a dog shelter. Those were GREAT dogs, and despite everything you hear, all dogs can learn to love again no matter what they’ve been through. Of course, it can take patience and time.
I will add that I got my cat (siamese) on a day when someone abandoned his whole litter in my very busy office parking lot. They all got adopted because many of us took one home. It brought our whole team together because everyone had a little angel from the abandoned litter! We’d share pictures as they got older.
With all the homeless animals out there, breeders just gross me out.
Aw thats sweet, my dogs name is “Perro” Spanish for dog. Whenever i take him to the beach, where he make me chase him endlessly and shout his name, everyone get a good chuckle once the get it.
‘she’s rather a lazy, clingy, staff-dependent piece of dry toast…’ i could not agree more!
i really dislike the way PR teams think the general public can be so easily manipulated. does it really only take a dog and an hour spent with children? probably.
The palace said that Kate was not supposed to be doing any solo engagements until 2013. This is all damage control from her recent vacation. Why do you think these were all announced as soon as Waity and Bill got home?
Remember the fuss Will and Kate made when they were photographed on that ‘private’ beach with the dog? They say it violated their privacy. Then they go and do this, creating enough suspense for the royal watchers to find out what the puppy’s name is.
All of this serves to detract attention from that Mustique vacation.
I read somewhere Lupo means wolf in Italian and that’s why they picked it?
I wish everyone wouldn’t be so hard on Kate. She seems like she’s actually trying hard to go out there but that the royal family is trying to avoid PR disasters and a Sarah Ferguson/Diana situation. She seems to enjoy meetings like this with children. I hope the Queen realizes that this is her niche and suggests that she take up the children causes like advocating for children with special needs and low income children. I hope we see pics of Lupo soon. I always thought the royal pets were adorable.
Off topic question involving some special needs kids in the U.K.: A peer of mine out of the U.K. (Essex) told me that children with certified learning disabilities get free laptop computers in the U.K. Is this true or is he pulling my leg (he’s known to be a leg puller).
Every high school student in my husband’s home town in Australia got a free laptop or ipad to keep forever in Australia. I suspect its state-wide or nation-wide. Rather have better teachers who are well paid with good staff development but you know how it is, IT gets votes.
You certainly do for university (plus scribes to write up notes at lectures for you if you’re really in need). What bugs me is that they aren’t means-tested, so kids with severe dyslexia will need an educational psychologist’s report to apply for them. That costs hundreds, and poorer kids have to wait till they get to the university, then apply for Hardship Bursaries to fund the test, then apply for the equipment. Kids with rich parents (and it doesn’t matter how rich; the entitlement is on need, not wealth of background) get their parents to pay for the tests, then whack in their applications for freeby support months before they ever arrive. Seems a tad unfair to me.
At high school level a diagnosis of special needs doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a Statement of Educational Special Needs, which are not given out that freely because the local authority doesn’t want to have to supply all the extra help mandated once it is. A lot of parents have to really fight for quite disabled kids to get one. If you want to look a bit more, a website called mumsnet.com in the UK has a very active Special Needs section and they’d be able to advise you. I’d think seriously disabled kids might well need laptops to be able to learn in some instances – must be hard to use a pen with cerebral palsy, for example, where intellect is unimpaired but motor skills are.
I don’t get all the Kate hate either. She’s pretty harmless, and people in the street here tend to like her, as far as I can see – it seems to be overseas royal watchers who hate her guts. I don’t think the work ethic is such a huge concept for Brits, though – you work to live, not live to work, and she hasn’t the need to work so, you know. Can’t blame her… though she does need to pull her finger out now she has royal protection to justify. Still, she isn’t a mass murderer or anything, and some of the comments about her are so vicious you’d never have known. (Though that dress is hideous, to be fair.)
I don’t think it matters what she does or doesn’t do, you will always find a reason to hate her.
TA, she can’t win – she eithers tries too hard or doesn’t try enough; there’s no inbetween for her. Give her a break -it looks like she genuinely enjoys being there and plus she’s bringing more attention to the charity – wasn’t that the point?
Agreed 100%.
The photo of Lupo is adorable and cute. Duchess Hair-Touchy is an absolute dried up piece of unbuttered toast. Her contrived palace image is so far from reality. All I can think of are the photos of her when William temporarily dumped her and she was out drunkenly clubbing every night giving the entire world major crotch shots repeatedly. She’s gross.
She just seems so boring: no real sparkle, nothing outstanding in the way of personality. Diana had all this in spades, but it really got her in trouble early on until she matured and learned to handle herself in the media. Maybe the Duchess just needs time to find herself in front of the public eye as well. Perhaps she will bloom in time.
Ever wonder why there are so many articles about Kate’s dog, Kate’s hair, Kate’s vacation, etc? Because there is nothing else to write about.
Kate=shallow and vacuous
I understand why, but I just can’t believe William married this thing.
Hugely sad and disappointing choice on William’s part.
He really scraped the bottom of the barrel when he chose her. It’s very sad.
Why is she wearing palace curtains? This is one ugly dress! Ewww
I like that: Palace curtains. That was a good one!!
The fabric looks like something you would use to upholster furniture.
not a fan, but not a hater either. mostly i’m indifferent to her.
but let’s call a spade a spade – she is not independent. i don’t know why the palace keeps projecting that image.
Im so sick of Kate. She looked so awkward with those children and she couldnt look more uninterested. Of course, the media is going to make her look like a saint while she does a job that she is only doing because the palace pratically dragged her out kicking and screaming.
When Waity messes up, and she will, it will be a big one. I have a feeling that this will be even worse than Fergie. Nothing can save Kate from herself. Frankly, William does not seem to love her and even though she has known that, it will destroy her. There is a reason Williams friends call her Limpet.
WAIT! What is this all about that William’s friends calls Duchess Hair Touchy the Limpet! OH PLEASE, some one fill me in with this info!
Yes, the puppy could be a Machiavellian PR stunt calculated to make her seem more human and approachable. Or maybe she just likes puppies.