As we discussed yesterday, Duchess Kate was in Scotland to do some rare royal work. I said yesterday that it seemed like her Scottish events were thrown together at the last minute, because of some really bad press over the past week, and I still don’t know if that’s true. It felt like this Scottish trip was literally announced this week. And maybe it was so last-minute, Kate didn’t have time to check the train schedules to get up to Scotland. Because following the widespread criticism about her excessive and wasteful helicopter rides to and from Norfolk and London, Kate once again took a helicopter to Scotland.
The Duchess, who had worn a green Max Mara coat and £440 skirt by new Scottish brand Le Kilt, changed into a white Nike top, Monreal London tracksuit bottoms and Asics trainers for her tennis coaching session with Mrs Murray.
The Duchess risked a row about royal spending by taking a helicopter from Anmer Hall to Edinburgh for a day of engagements that started at 11.30 and finished at 4.15, at a cost of more than £3,000, rather than taking the train or a scheduled flight costing less than £200.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace said: “The Royal Household makes careful decisions about transport plans and always seeks to travel in the most appropriate way possible considering the arrangements for an official engagement.”
The Telegraph is not a tabloid. It’s one of the most respected newspapers in Britain, and it’s usually pretty pro-monarchy. So it’s sort of a big deal that even The Telegraph is calling out Kate on her helicopter usage, right? If you go and read the Telegraph’s full story, they also made a very pointed comment about how Prince George and Princess Charlotte won’t ever have to slum it on public tennis courts because they have a private tennis court at Anmer Hall.
Meanwhile, Katie Nicholl – writing for Vanity Fair – pointed out that the conversation is still happening about how little the Cambridges actually do. She even quotes some sources saying that the celebrities who came to Kensington Palace for the pre-BAFTA dinner two weekends ago were very disappointed that William couldn’t be bothered to show up for anything. And almost on cue, there are photos of William “hard at work” at EAAA – go here to see.
One of those horrible tabloids (actually a broadsheet newspaper) has written about Kate taking a helicopter instead of the train today.
— Richard Palmer (@RoyalReporter) February 24, 2016
Photos courtesy of WENN.
her teeth…are they veneers??? they look like chicklets to me. the header photos that you guys choose are always so freakin funny….lolzzzz😂😂😂
Veneers that she wears with great pride!
She’s lost an enormous amount of weight on her face so the chiclets are even more magnified. She has no choice but to unleash the phony smiles because her resting bitch face is worse.
As a former dental assistant,, I can say her veneers look fine. They are NOT over sized like a lot of celebrities are. (Snooki, and I hate to say it because I love her…Hilary Duff. Although she has smaller ones now) She can close her mouth completely and don’t cause over jet. They are very nice.
I’m pretty sure someone the night before could have looked up the train schedule…or even two days before. However I bet the special snowflake did not want to be amongst the public.
That or William drove the helicopter to add to his royal working numbers? *adujusts tin foil hat*
Rubbish! No one in the history of Britain has ever made train arrangements on merely two days notice. It can’t be done.
The headline at The Sun “Will’s at work shock” and “Willie Watch” have made my day.
Can comedy headlines count as “work” for these two to plump up the court circulars?
These twits. They NEVER learn. For all that Marie Antoinette’s held up as the epitome of clueless royalty, she saw the writing on the wall a damn sight faster than these idiots seem to. Now’s the time to roll out a barrage of engagements, reused clothes, and a heck of a lot of public transport – and what do they do instead? Poor Jason must be tearing his hair out.
I would love to be a fly on the wall when someone tries to advise these two.
If these engagements were thrown together at the last minute, wouldn’t it have been a lot easier and cheaper to get something more local? She could add to her work totals with very little expense, and probably could have squeezed in another engagement, too.
I am quite sure any of her local charities would be *thrilled* if they got a phone call that Kate was stopping in, and would they mind a bit of press, too?
Lol…
She makes Marie Antoinette seem in touch and down to earth…
Marie Antoinette also didn’t have cable news or the Internet to keep her informed of up to the minute shifts in public opinion.
It’s almost a five-hour train ride from London to Edinburgh, assuming no delays. So I could see why she’d want to get there and back sooner.
I believe it said she was at Anmer, so maybe 2 hours or so?
It’s less than an hour and a half on a commercial flight.
She could have taken a plane and it would have cost nowhere near $3000. She wanted door-to-door service without having to deal with the plebs at the airport. I bet this chick has never even earned $3000.00 on her own but she (and her lazy Willnot) think nothing of spending and wasting other people’s money just for convenience. Entitled twats the pair of them.
Taking the train to Norfolk is a bit of a b!tch as you have to come into London to go back out again or go to Norwich and change train.
The easiest route was to fly and I’m NOT condoning the use of the ‘copter. The nearest airport is Norwich which is a 45 min drive away and the flight itself is just over an hour – a 2 hour journey each way at most. The heli ride would have been a couple of hours at least but these 2 have previous for using any excuse for jumping in the ‘copter, something that Willy treats as his own personal plaything.
TYPO: I meant to say ‘taking the train FROM Norfolk’.
They all use that helicopter and that’s what it’s there for, so I don’t have a problem with it either.
This is the second helicopter, which while it can be used by any member of the BRF was leased primarily for use by these two. I see it as another carrot when they should be receiving the stick.
As NOTA says there are 2 – one that was ‘given’ the W&K as a bribe to get them to do more royal work and the other is for the rest of the BRF to use. I don’t have a problem with them having one as it serves a purpose and everyone uses it but i do have a problem with these 2 having one to themselves, as you just know its being used for their personal trips i.e. visiting Mummy in Bucklebury, using it to pop down to KP to shop in Peter Jones or Lulu Lemon? Given that he has previous for using the an RAF one to visit her at her parents (during the GF years) says it all about their attitude.
It may have been leased with them in mind, but anyone can use it. I think we need to pick our battles. How can we say she needs to work more then complain when she takes a helicopter to work?
I checked the train schedule on British Rail. To get from Kings Lynn to Edinburgh is about 5 and a half hours one way. That would be difficult to do in a day with two engagements and a return trip, so then you’ve got a hotel. Yes, maybe cheaper than a helicopter, but you have overnight security too.
Betti: If they use helicopters for purely personal trips they should be reimbursing for the cost. As they would probably need to do that, my guess is they don’t. They may have an entitled attitude, but as people here point out all the time, William’s tight with a pound and they take public transport when they have to pay personally.
@notasugarhere,
Really??? I don’t have a problem with taking a helicopter to Wales or Scotland but if the helicopter is primarily for use by the William and Kate then I get why Kate took the helicopter to London and why it was OKed by whatever palace official who OKs these things.
How the heck did that happen? So when it was determined that there were funds to add a helicopter, it was not allocated to Charles and Anne, who don’t live too far from each other (I think), and between them did over 1000 engagements last year, nor Andrew and Edward, who don’t live too far from each other (I think), and between them did over 600 engagements last year? Instead someone thought that the William and Kate, who between them did less than 200 engagements last year, should get first dibs???!!!
Thousands of pounds on helicopter vs. a flight on a commercial airline. You folks keep defending the ridiculous expense, I’ll keep pointing out that they are spending far more money than they should while doing less than the bare minimum.
nas: Every royal uses those helicopters not just Kate. She doesn’t work as much, we agree there, so that means she shouldn’t use them? That argument doesn’t wash, as work is work.
I will defend that “ridiculous” expense. They all use them, so I don’t know why we should shake our fingers at her and tell her no. That’s ridiculous, IMO. I look forward to reading your cricitism of Charles, Camilla, HM, DoE, Sophie, Edwawrd, etc. for using them too.
Didn’t Dolittle visit the scouts one year and then grab a chopper afterwards to attend a polo game? You’d have to be pretty naive to believe that the Cambridges aren’t using the copter at every opportunity which has nothing to do with their meagre amount of (largely) fun engagements.
I agree with you NOTA- it’s amazing how their spendthrift ways are justified, that it’s acceptable, and that they ought not be scrutinised.
I do think personal use of those things should be restricted or eliminated. In this case, she went to and from work.
I don’t have a problem with it THIS time, because as easy as it is so say that she should be taking public transport, there are security concerns that have to be managed when these two travel and it is VERY difficult to secure a train with other passengers – at the last minute no less. Same for air travel.
Meanwhile,
on the same day, the other women of the Firm:
The Queen:
– this morning visited Crossrail Bond Street
The Duchess of Cornwall (2 engagements, in London)
-this afternoon visited the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre,
-afterwards visited Queen’s Gate School to mark its One Hundred and Twenty Fifth Anniversary and opened the new science laboratories,
The Countess of Wessex: (2 engagements in London)
-as Patron, the Royal School for Deaf Children Margate, this morning held a Meeting.
-as Chairman, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Women’s Network Forum, this afternoon chaired a Meeting at Shell Headquarters.
The Princess Royal (3 engagements, in Ypres, Belgium AND London)
-this morning arrived in Belgium and was received by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium (Her Excellency Miss Alison Rose).
-this morning attended a Headquarters Household Cavalry Laying Up Standards Ceremony at St. George’s Memorial Church and Town Hall, Elverdingsestraat 1,Ypres.
-later arrived in the United Kingdom from Belgium.
-as Patron, Livability, this evening attended the Staff Awards Ceremony and opened the new offices, 6 Mitre Passage, Peninsula Central, London SE10, and was received by Dr. Pieter Van Der Merwe (Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London).
-as Chancellor, University of Edinburgh, this evening held a Dinner at Buckingham Palace.
Oh. Wow. That’s a striking difference.
Thank you for posting this. Also, if you’re going to spend that money to travel by helo, at least stay over so you can do another engagement that evening and then a breakfast appointment with another charity.
This says it all. Why don’t the newspapers publish this against whatever miniscule engagement Kate & Wills concoct?
Wow.
The writing is clearly on the wall with these two.
I know Diana worked quite a bit especially during the 80s to early 90s but I was just wondering if anyone knows if Diana worked more than Anne during some year (s)? I suspect the answer is no, but perhaps someone may know for sure?
I don’t think so. Diana worked a fair amount (approximately 300 engagements a year if I recall correctly) but Anne has always been in a different league. In 1989 she did 737 engagements, so she’s actually slowed down from her peak.
And I read someone say that the Princess Anne did all her events in a day without using a copter.
If the Queen can take the train, Kate can take the train.
I don’t know if she’s with it enough to read her own press clippings. She clearly doesn’t understand the conversation happening around her.
Even if she did read them, I really don’t think she cares. She’s not the type to take the train, ever. She waity’d a decade for these perks — she thinks she’s earned them.
I was thinking maybe it was security concerns (securing a train and stations might be more expensive than a helicopter ride) but I just saw in that article that the Queen did it without issue.
I think you’re right about security concerns. Presumably when the Queen travels there are security sweeps of the train and train stations, furthermore she takes over the entire first class section making the overall costs of her train trips far more than £54. If Kate would have taken the train to Scotland I am guessing that there would have been security sweeps at not only at the departure and arrival stations but at every stop in between.
I think that it is good that the media reports these kinds of things but of course that does not mean that certain segments of the media are not going to sensationalize things or that once all things are factored in that some may understand that there is a practical side to certain “perks.”
I don’t get this. If she takes a frickin’ helicopter, why repeat clothes? At least then these events would be a bit more interesting. It can’t be about the money, that much is obvious. Does she have closet space issues? Because that could easily be rectified with yet another renovation. So what’s the deal? They really do think we’re stupid, don’t they? Ugh.
ETA: I just looked at the pics from the tennis thing, she looks right at home whenever she gets to do something sports-related. And slightly out of place in formal settings. WHY not play to your strengths and make that the thing you’re energized about? Combine it with mental health or whatever to give it a more serious note if you must but if you ask me, exercise and health in general is pretty damn serious.
I don’t think she’s put much thought into how to make the best of things besides doing as few things as possible. I agree that given all the possible charitable activities available, she should be able to come up with some combinations of things that both combine issues that interest her and events that suit her strengths. I would never want to be a princess and would probably be quite a failure at it, but even I can come up with something – I’d probably try to work in things involving animals and with children’s arts programs, so I at least occasionally got to hold kittens and listen to concerts or watch plays.
Does anybody here really believe when they take the occasional train they are under privileged or normal people? These guys will always live in the lap of luxury and will always have the best of everything and in excess. The only way negative press could make them nervous is if the monarchy could be abolished somehow . I don’t believe that could happen.
I think this is just her way of getting us to realize it would be cheaper for all if she did not work (or make pretenses to).
Think of all the money she’s saved the taxpayers so far by only working twice a month! (Poor Jason explains)
I think you’re right. I think she does the same with her work performance too. Comes to work unprepared with no pre-work chores done (like the editor job and her speeches), with expensive new stuff to wear, and now an expensive way to travel to ‘work,’ so if the powers-that-be ask her to ‘work’ more, they’ll be sorry, won’t they…
For crying out loud, she didn’t even practice the short song for the classroom visit. It was so cringe-worthy to watch her royal fakeness. Her laziness and apathy know no bounds!
What a surprise, said no one ever. She does NOT like being away from Amner when Willy is at home – he might get himself a mistress or end up breaking more teeth while drunk if she’s not there to ‘look after’ him. As i said in the other thread she’s a clinger – its in her personality to be like that. She clings to her family, Carole in particular, the same way she clings to Willy. Pips and James are at least a bit more independent than she it – it was often said that Kate would often run home to Mummy when things weren’t going well with Willy and given that they seemed to be on and off like a light switch, she was often reported as staying with her parents.
I agree. I think William is a world class douche but my vibe on her is slightly less sinister. She’s no Mother Teresa, mind you, I just see her as a spineless insecure woman child that is clearly buckling under the pressure of living with William, this scrutiny, the Firm, etc.
It is illogical to think it costs £3000 to take the helicopter from London or Norfolk to Edinburgh, when we were told it was a £3000 helicopter trip from London to Anmer. Cost of the fuel alone would be much higher to Edinburgh.
William’s 150 mile trip from London to spy headquarters in Gloucester was priced at £8,000 (RT). Her London to Grimbsy (200 miles) was £3,500 one way (£7000RT). London to Edinburgh (400 miles) or Norfolk to Edinburgh (340 miles) would have cost much more than £3000. Who does fact checking for these publications?
I think you’re right. It probably would have cost more to fly to Scotland than it did to fly to London. Just lazy journalism, I guess.
Could we leave boring Bill and Kate behind for a more dynamic royal family please? Sweden has a ton of stories this week. Princess Estelle just turned 4, Princess Madeleine (in a tiara and ballgown) hosted a fairy-tale theme party for sick children at a royal palace, and both CP Victoria and Sofia are pregnant and still working.
Not reading this crappy. She’s a ROYAL. With 2 children! Needs to be safe FFS
What makes you think a single helicopter flying direct from Norfolk to Edinburgh is LESS of a target than her being on one of MANY commercial flights flying north?
The airports. More opportunity.
There isn’t more opportunity to harm her inside an airport when she’s in the secured wing and everyone else has to go through metal detectors to get in the building. A single helo going between those two locations, on a day it was announced where she’d be? That helo is a bigger target than a commercial airliner.
You asked for why a helicopter is less of a target, nas. I gave you one. More travel time in a car, in a facility with a lot of coming or going, including packages being shipped — there are a lot more opportunities to bugger something up flying commercial, not to mention more people in harm’s way if something was attempted. Door to door in a helicopter, not as much.
” there are a lot more opportunities to bugger something up flying commercial, not to mention more people in harm’s way if something was attempted.”
I wonder why they didn’t take a helo to Mustique then or any time they flew commercial. And why Willy has been shown to fly budget in that one photo-op a while ago.
Because Mustique is personal time and I don’t think helicopters have that long a flight range even if they wanted to pay for it. They flew budget when they had to pay.
What’s not safe about train and plane travel? I guess helicopters never crash.
What about all the other royals, who work far more than her?
They deserve security too.
Because when the Queen and Philip take trains from publicly-used stations, that’s an automatic foil against evil do’ers?
Like anyone believes she makes her own travel arrangements. This is another opportunity to pile on.
Does this mean that the Queen and Philip are forced to take trains against their will with no say in the matter?
What likely happens when she finally agrees to do a few hours of work? She dictates to the staff how many hours she’ll put towards it AND that she wants to take the helicopter. They might advise her that for PR reasons she should take EasyJet, but if she wants the helicopter she’ll get the helicopter.
It certainly explains her smugness. I am sure she gets whatever she wants when she wants it, unless Willy says no.
They are £220 Monreal London ‘tuxedo’ track pants.
………..
W&K have taken commercial flights during the marriage. They didn’t get kidnapped or killed off. They came out of each flight safe and sound and saved the taxpayers loads of money each time.
Last summer, the media posted photos of William and his RPO taking Ryanair to Scotland. The flight was delayed by 20 minutes, presumably to wait for his ass to sit down.
While in the US in Dec. 2014, William took first class seats on a commercial airline to travel from NY to DC.
In May 2014, William took a coach class flight home from Memphis, TN after a friend’s wedding.
In 2011, W&K took an economy-class flight with Flybe after attending Zara & Mike’s wedding, from Edinburgh to Manchester.
They don’t need to take the helicopter, even from England to Scotland. William has done it before. Her royal entitledness can do it too if she wanted to.
In addition, her work schedule (11:30 am to 4:15 pm) allowed her enough time to take a train or a plane beforehand and afterwards.
Other people have long commutes to work every day. She had one just that once for an actual, nearly full day. Big baby.
definitely not smart move.. isn’t she has a PR team? or maybe dont care about public opinion ?
W&K know very well that whatever they do, they still gonna be king and queen.. so who cares about popularity among peasants.. maybe
£278,300 is the UK taxpayer expense per royal work day
The formula £334,000,000/1200 days
£334,000,000= Republican movement’s estimate for annual cost to fund royals
1200 days = Calendar year 2013 days on which official engagements were undertaken
Note – I used days versus number of official engagements. I couldn’t find days tally for 2015 but the annual average has probably not changed much.
https://republic.org.uk/what-we-want/royal-finances
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f23/annual-engagements-by-members-of-the-royal-family-2011-2013-a-32373-35.html
My time on these two is fast running out. In fact, I think William’s favour withered and popped a clog here aaages ago.
However, I can see why Kate could be advised to take the helicopter. When I was at university in Cambridge I had to go over to Norfolk quite a lot for my course and it’s actually a right bummer- there are no motorways really and it takes ages to any of the big airports that would run a conveniently times shuttle to Edinburgh. I dunno, it might all have changed by now. However, could she not have just travelled up the day before and stayed over? And then squeezed in a couple more visits? The people of Scotland deserve to see more of their ‘countess of strathearn’ (not really).
So much Royal pomp just doesn’t sit right these days- all these pointless anachronisms and gradations of pomp really annoy me. The thing that annoys me most is the flowers. Why do people bother giving them? What do they think Kate does with them?!
Yes, that’s what people were saying about the time she took the copter from Amner to London for the Air Cadet event. That she could have arrived the day before via train or car, and stayed the night at KP in their 22-room apartment, then go to ‘work’ the next day. Though she did have plenty of time to arrive and leave via train or car on the day of too.
Charles will sort it out when he becomes king grannie is too soft
When Charles becomes King George , William becomes Duke of Cornwall and gets ahold of the Duchy money, which will strengthen his position and make him financially independent of his father for the indulgent lifestyle he wants, which is more than he gets from his inheritance from Diana.
So I think Charles would have less power over him then than he does now.
@anne_000,
Do you think Charles will take George VII as his regnal name? I don’t think he will do it but Philip I is my choice.
+1 on why Charles will have even less control over William once he becomes King, Prince William, aka the Duke of Cornwall, will tell Charles to kiss his ass. Plus IMO it’s not Charles’ nature for a number of reasons but especially because Charles was a disappointment to his father. If only for that reason I think he is letting William find his own way, and I am fine with that, not that that means I endorse William’s way of doing things, however I don’t condone the Charles and the Queen’s material indulgence of William.
Holy Smokes, why did i put in ‘George?’
😆
At first I thought it may have been a typo and then I talked myself out of it, but there has been speculation that Prince Charles may not take Charles as his regnal name because of the ignominy of previous British Kings with that name and if he does take a different regnal name George is the odds on favorite.
I don’t understand this reasoning. It was only Charles I whose reign and life ended badly. His son Charles II was quite a canny monarch and is associated with a florishing in the arts and sciences.
@ArtHistorian,
I probably should not have used the word have ignominy. With Charles II it’s more about his personal life, i.e., multiple children by multiple mistresses.
God, I’m so sick to my back teeth of these two and their snaky ways.
I’m starting to feel that the Celebitchy writers put more hours of honest work into writing about how little royal work Kate and Will do than those two put into their actual royal work.
And that is maddening beyond belief.
At first glance I thought you said we celebitchy readers may spend more time reading/gossiping about them than doing OUR day jobs. Guilty as charged!! Hahah
But to your point, yes it is true and maddening.
Kate is a royal now, a present Duchess and more importantly a future Queen Consort. That comes with major perks. One of which appears to be helicopter rides to work. The British press and any of the public who take issue with that can either vote to end the monarchy or …just deal. But getting upset because she uses the privileges that are within her right to do so comes off as bitter. Her lifestyle is completely different than the majority of the world.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Camilla meets all of your above criteria and she doesn’t take the helicopter as often as Kate. (I don’t believe for a second that Camilla won’t be Queen). Camilla is in poor health and works more than Kate. If Kate worked harder, she could take the helicopter as often as she liked and no one would complain. (I don’t actually mind it too much this time, because getting from Norfolk to Scotland is an enormous pain, as others have said above).
Some believe that Kate SHOULD travel by helicopter to keep her safe. Though the way she thumbs her nose at the public with insensitive spending makes me conclude she should be kept safe in a secure wing.
Can someone please explain how she can pretend to be for organic veg (and therefore in preserving the planet) but cares so little she has to have a helicopter all to herself just to get to Scotland?
I’m ready to throw up every time I see pictures of Cammie, she looks older than her Majesty!!!