I guess we’re still talking about the fact that the Duchess of Cambridge wore green to the BAFTA blackout red carpet. Again, to be clear: it did not matter to me, and I’ve never confused Kate with someone who actually gives a sh-t. The fact that she refused to take a stance on something so basic as “women shouldn’t be marginalized, abused, harassed, raped or assaulted” is keeping with Kate’s brand. The problem for Kate is that if she ever tries to claim to be keen about any mental health or women’s issue ever again, people will now say “But you had a chance to make a very simple statement at the BAFTAs and you didn’t.” But Kate’s people must know by now that they kind of f–ked it up, because we’ve got this weird Us Weekly story about how Kate is so pregnant and tired but her BAFTA appearance was a success because she felt so confident.
Giving herself a once-over before she and husband Prince William made the mile-long journey from Kensington Palace to the Royal Albert Hall, Duchess Kate felt she’d nailed it. As with the Golden Globes, there was chatter that those attending the February 18 BAFTA Awards would wear black in support of the Time’s Up initiative battling the mistreatment of women. And she felt that by tying a black sash around her dark green Jenny Packham and adorning herself in emerald jewels (one of the hues of the British suffragette movement), she could give “a nod” toward where she stood, a Kate insider reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly, “without making a full-blown statement.” As she and William mingled with nominees Allison Janney and Daniel Kaluuya, “she felt confident,” says a source. “But evening engagements get harder the later into pregnancy Kate gets.”
At seven months, appearing regal can be a royal pain. Plagued by the same severe morning sickness she endured with both Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 2, the 36-year-old has nodded in agreement as well-meaning friends “have told her it gets easier every time,” says a family insider, “but I think she’s found it challenging. It’s taken quite a toll.”
Fortunately, her future sister-in-law Meghan Markle is just a short walk away. The former Suits star often pops over from the palace’s Nottingham Cottage, where she lives with fiancé Prince Harry to share a cup of tea or offer up some advice. Says one source, “She shares tips she’s read about healthy eating.”
Kate’s charming prince, 35, dotes on her as well. “William does all he can to make sure she’s comfortable,” says an insider. “He just wants her to feel supported.”
Come late April — when she’s set to welcome her third heir — Kate will have more helpers in waiting. As they did with George and Charlotte, she and William plan to draft a few baby nurses for the first six to eight weeks, “mostly to help with establishing a sleeping routine,” says a source. But after the initial two months, they’ll whittle the staff down to longtime nanny Maria Borrallo and a house assistant. Notes an insider, “They feel they can handle everything with the same arrangements as before.”
“She could give ‘a nod’ toward where she stood, a Kate insider reveals… ‘without making a full-blown statement.’” Ah, yes, who wants or needs a full-blown statement of “Harassment is bad, abuse is bad, equality is good.” Truly. As for the rest of it… I don’t really believe that Kate and Meghan are friendly enough where Kate would just “pop over” to Nottingham Cottage. I could be wrong. And of course William and Kate “will have more helpers in waiting.” The last Us Weekly story about William and Kate suggested that they merely survived in a palace with one household staffer and a nanny. Please.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and WENN.
She’s always so boring. No charisma, no personality, no opinions, no desire to work. She’s like a wallpaper.
She’s really a nothing burger. She’s painfully boring.
The reach to sell the hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of jewels as a ‘nod’ to the movement is so ridiculous it’s comical.
Ugh.
Also how daft does one have to be to buy that the #metoo movement is political> Lols.
She hurt the movement because at the end of the night no one was talking about times up and the fact that a fund was set up for women of all walks of life to access legal aid for sexual harassment.
If she was pregnant and tired then she should have stayed home and let the attention be on the issue at hand. Of course Kate is so Keen to have the attention on her at all times.
So boring, yet so expensive to maintain!
The dress was beautiful and she looks great with the baby weight because it gives her body softness. However, she followed up that dress with a black and white one which destroyed the whole argument that Kate didn’t wear black to the BAFTAs because it is a mourning color. Then I remembered a black lace full length dress with a v-neck that Kate wore a long time ago.
I thought the same, shes meh. And likes it that way.
But i honestly thought she had the gown made before the awards decided to black out and was like meh, I’m still wearing it, add a black sash. I don’t believe the emeralds were chosen for anything other than being green. It is not like she’s an actress with a stylist pulling loaned dresses. This was custom. She should have had them add a black shawl or cape to make a more obvious wink and nod to the cause.
The original design already had a black sash. She has this same dress in a different, darker colour which she wore *with items from this emeralds set* during her Charlotte pregnancy. And at other times.
https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/12/590x/secondary/Kate-Middleton-230942.jpg
Other times that she’s worn the similarly designed dress in past years:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/10/article-2601322-06E98AC700000514-918_634x906.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bsQq6LpM3Y4/Ummka0id0vI/AAAAAAAACxo/h7WUnF31MMA/s1600/Kate+middleton+in+navy+blue+silk+gown+by+jenny+packham+on+october+24+2013+at+charity+gala+at+Kensington+Palace+what+she+wore.jpg
I actually really like that dress in blue. It’s one of the nicer ones she’s worn.
Seeing those older photos reminds me how much better her hair is at the length she’s got it now.
That is just who she is. Not much there and I am no longer baffled. For some reason, I look for meaning in people and depth, and it confuses me when it isn’t there. Until I conclude that there isn’t more to see. Then I just accept that and look at them in that context.
She spent a decade making herself available to a petulant Prince instead of evolving into a fully developed woman.
This is what that looks like.
I know! I keep waiting for more, but she never delivers. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what it is that rubs me the wrong way. LAK’s “nothing behind the scenes” comment has come closest. It seems to me that she considers herself just W’s +1 w/royal benefits. No need to do more! What a shame.
It is a shame because the possibilities are practically endless. She has access to do amazing things, but she doesn’t. I just don’t think it is in there so I won’t look for it any longer.
Time will tell when it is time for she and William become more scrutinized when the Queen dies. There won’t be any cover anymore and if the firm decides they aren’t good for the institution then who knows. It is in their interest to prop them up right now, but if that changes after HM and all the goodwill and sentimentality goes with her and turns to comparisons, then it won’t go well.
The only thing Kate has ‘nailed’ is being lazy and useless.
What was the most amusing thing about she and William’s walk to their seat was the l-o-n-g silence greeting them. There was only clapping (God knows why) when they reached their seats. You could smell the unease they felt in all that silence as they feigned a conversation. Priceless.
In watching the Crown, a common theme seemed to be that the Royal Family isn’t supposed to give an opinion on anything. I assume Kate is getting the same advice as young Queen Elizabeth did, and her advisors didn’t ‘allow’ her to wear black, even if she wanted to?
The future monarch and current Prince of Wales gives opinions on a regular basis, example is last week International Sustainability, which is an effort to save the world’s ecosystem. So this right here renders all arguments that Kate can express any opinion a moot argument.
This is the best I’ve ever seen her look!
She did look healthy and happy I don’t know what would have happened if she wore all black,she’s done it before.She does do pregnancy well though I’ll give her that.
Definitely the best she’s looked in a long time. No buttons to comment on, the dress was plain but pretty, and the jewelry, hair and dress all looked good together
I thought the same. And then I wondered if Meghan wasn’t helping her out with makeup and styling advice if not full on intervention, because this was a noticeable improvement.
I could see that. The dress was kinda Meghan’s style too IMO.
Kate has worn this exact dress in a different color. I really want to believe this Meghan, Kate friendship story but these women are almost forty and Kate has a 3rd child on the way. They both have their hands full in different ways. This smells like pr machinations to piggy back on Meghan’s popularity in the US.
Info about the dress much appreciated! Thanks all. But her makeup…. and hair for that matter, all looks the most polished I’ve ever noticed before. TV quality ready. That’s why I wondered about Meghan. I know the media is pushing the narrative and I don’t believe it either but I don’t discount tips are not being shared. Even if it’s just encouraging her to hire professionals finally for makeup and hair.
I thought so as well. Just a stunning look for her. According to my husband, she’s not really allowed to make political statements and I think that’s why she only wore the black sash.
Being against sexual harassment and sexual assault is not political and Camilla, the current spouse to the Prince of Wales and above her in rank, works publicly with survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence. She also does work with victims of FGM.
Your husband is correct, that she’s not allowed to make political statements. And if any political party was legislating against the idea of a charity providing free legal help to victims of sexual harassment then she would be wrong to participate in any way. Time’s Up isn’t political. She just didn’t want to take a stand. And that’s fine. I’m mostly annoyed that the shade of green of her dress didn’t work well with the emeralds.
I think one reason the royals’ mental health initiatives can seem so wishy-washy is that healthcare falls under the purview of the NHS, a government institution, and so the royals could be seen as overstepping their bounds if they get too specific.
It can be a tightrope for them.
She isn’t allowed, so she hasn’t.
This wasn’t political.
She chose not to wear a simple black dress. Not hard. No heavy lifting. Just a gesture as a supporter of women’s mental health and well being.
She chose not to do that.
Accept that Kate doesn’t care and move on. That is who she is, and she made her choice.
She looked wonderful.
But but BUT she didn’t care to make a simple effort to support an important movement. Even though she could have worn this gown at any other event. And that is who she is, full stop. I don’t think a black dress will change much, but I do think there are times when perception and effort matter. This was such a time, and she looked away. Sparkly things!
A childish, simple, pampered, no effort view of life.
I also 100% believe if H&M keep hauling water for the palace, Charles will dub Harry his main heir if in deed and preference only. I think they know it is time to give up on Kate, let her be a WAG, and let William toddle about like the occasional show pony, and work with the good clay they have in H&M. And see where they are in two years’ time.
I totally agree Liberty. There is a reason he is TQ’s favorite, and I suppose Diana was astute when she said it should be Harry, not William. I have children, and I know them well. I adore them with my entire heart and soul, but I know their natures and strengths and weaknesses. Just as my mother knows mine.
Knowing the TQ is protective of the legacy and the honor of duty I can’t imagine she hasn’t thought of this in some way.
@Magnolia, @Lak, @notasugarhere, @somebody please help, I’m trying to wreck my brain to remember a comment The then Princess of Wales Lady Diana made about her 2 sons. It was like William will be the king some day but that Harry will be the driving force behind this king and that without Harry supporting him, William doesn’t have it in him to make it on his own, or something of the sort. Does anyone remember a comment like that?
She looks great, but she should have stopped at one kid. Feminists didn’t fight for abortion rights just so women in their 30’s could ‘choose’ (if you can call multiple childbirths a choice, what with all the patriarchal brainwashing) bear multiple children for their husbands. What a Cool Girl. Poor thing. Who’s making her keep yet another baby? Sad. 😉
All joking aside, it was a nice dress. It’s so dark that without the emeralds, some might have mistaken it for a black dress. I don’t see a woman’s not wearing black at Time’s Up events as acceptance of assault and harassment, but the reasons given for why it would be a problem for her to wear a black were just dumb. Oh well.
@otakufairy What.
Uh, pretty sure that part of abortion rights is the right to “choose.” DF have you been smoking?
They look like a royal couple. She looks stunning.
Agreed.
Yes, and the pregnancy weight suits her.
It really does. I was thinking she shouldn’t lose all the weight after the baby is born. She looks healthy, unlike the sickly stick figure she usually looks like. And her face definitely looks better with a little fullness.
William and Kate could have easily released a statement clarifying where they stood and Kate could have stayed home with her feet up. Instead William put something in the program and Kate was left out to manage by herself which was not smart or considerate of William.
William has never been either smart or considerate so it makes sense.
Lol. Well, being royal is about stability and tradition so I guess William is just doing his duty by staying true to form.
William did not tell Kate what to wear and as a woman she should be leading the way in the relationship when it comes to sexual harassment.
Am I the only one who feels that Kate has been trolling all her haters by wearing clothes with black in them in her last few engagements to show that she could’ve worn something with black in it and just didn’t. LOL
Yep. “Care and share” is not in his wheelhouse.
William did make a statement, on stage that evening. Part of it: “As president, I am proud of the leadership Bafta have shown on this; in a year which rocked the industry as many brave people spoke up about bullying, harassment and abuse despite the risk to their professional careers and reputations.”
That was the statement he made in the foreword of the event program. Reporters have said he didn’t address it in his actual speech.
https://twitter.com/jack_royston/status/965356015964303360
who the hell would want william as the president of the baftas. I would rather have chuck and cam.
@Aurelia
Yeah right! Chuck and Cam! Chuck and Cam! Chuck and Cam!
William and Kate are gifts to the Chuck and Cam excellent love story. People will love them in comparison. Clever Chuck. lol
Give me a break. What did the queen do about the London race riots of 1968? What about the university gender discrimination protests in 2013? And the anti-police brutality situation? What did she wear to show her support for the victims of the MP sexual scandals? Did she not literally give Andrew a metal two weeks after the Epstein rape allegations emerged? Did Charles not do his best to quell the rape scandal from one of his employees? Why is Kate suddenly be a pitta me of royal apathy? Just because vapid royal Barbie chose not to wear a black dress suddenly we want to pretend like these people can adequately and eloquently speak to important causes? The whole black dress situation is a C AA cover-up anyway.
What is C AA?
In some shots it seems to me that the lights are on but nobody’s home.
It’s hard to believe that she cares about other stuff outside of her bubble but I give her props for regularly coming out now for various engagements.
Kate professes to be a huge proponent of mental health. Yet she won’t appear to address a subject that is directly related. Doesn’t make any sense unless she supports a cause when it costs her nothing.
I hope you’re right! Bc I would like to think no one is THAT tone deaf and boring. Sweet Jesus.
I think she nailed it, too. And I think she was ordered to be subtle with black. And she made it work with sufragettes’ green.
I know this site really dislikes her, but if my gradma in law was the Queen herself, I would LISTEN and OBEY.
It’s unlikely that she was given orders by anyone. The Queen is not a micromanager and William has boasted about how he likes to do the opposite of what he’s told.
This. The Queen does not bother with stuff like this.
She has done black before, but it wasn’t tied to a particular event. Black at THIS event would be. There IS a difference.
HM is not involved with them much. Hence sweetpea has no sash.
The reaching involved is gymnast level here.
If HM had her way, do you think these two wouldn’t have been working long before? She does not involve herself, and this is KATE’S CHOICE.
Stop infantilizing a grown woman. When has she shown any PASSION for a cause? There is nothing in her background to push that idea. No precedent.
IF she was truly ordered to not do all black I’m inclined to agree with you,but in the past on numerous occasions she has done all black,so it leaves people questioning what she does and why,and how much she truly cares about issues .
The answer is Kate doesn’t, it’s be painfully obvious for years that she doesn’t.
She’s the woman who wore all black to a hospice for children. I find that totally inappropriate. I don’t think she puts much thought into anything except meeting celebrities, playing with her hair and doing as little as possible. She’s only out and about so much lately because of Meghan and because she’s preggers and therefore being so “brave and glowing.”
Yes she looks amazing and it was clearly accented with a message. It wasn’t enough for some but that’s life.
Too bad Kate is pregnant and needs maternity wear. She could have borrowed Meghan’s $75000 dress 😉
I’d love to see some real numbers on how much those bespoke Alexander McQueen gowns cost if priced at market value.
She has a similar gown in a different colour. Saying the black ribbon is a nod to the movement is reaching since this black ribbon is a design feature of the range.
https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/mm/image?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn-img.instyle.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2F684xflex%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2014%2FWRN%2F121014-kate-met-dress-594.jpg%3Fitok%3DgJYsE29U&w=700&q=85
And Kate often repeats an outfit exactly the same way as previously worn including accessories. Last time, she was pregnant, wore the dress and these emeralds.
Or are you going to say that the previous times she wore the other dress + emeralds, she was prescient enough to know that TimesUP protest would happen in 2018 and she was planning her wardrobe early?
@Ollie do we have a pricing on the cost of this dress or is that privilege only reserved for Meghan’s clothes?
@Ollie
Meghan dress? Really? LOL.
#f*ckeries
@Natalie: ITA. Isn’t there supposed to be some sort of annual accounting of the royals’ spending each year? If that’s the case, can we sort of figure out how much all of these “bespoke” pieces cost?
Yes @LAK, Kate is not only an *amazing* advocate for Women, she’s also PSYCHIC!
#PsychicDuchess
She had this whole #MeToo movement scoped out months ago.
The Psychic Duchess. I smell a reality series.
Lorelai: the first year Charles published his accounts with detailed accounting of the money he spent on WK, it didn’t go down well.
These days he lists their expenditure under ‘other expenses’ item like. No forensic details given. Only a total sum sent to them.
Oh, so Meghan’s dress again that has been explained that she didn’t even pay for it. It was quid pro quo because they wanted to do her wedding gown but they aren’t going to say that. It was FREE and that would have gone down worse. Haute Couture is advertisement when it is photographed for the designer and their full range.
Someone from the designer probably leaked it in a PR misfire to make the brand more exclusive and get people to want to buy an expensive accessory from their range.
Kate’s wedding dress cost three times as much, and all those gowns on the red carpet do too. Lupita once wore a dress worth twice that. Do you think Lupita paid for it? Nope.
It was a stupid PR misstep and not well thought out. That was the problem not the reality of the situation. PR should be easy to understand and not need a full after the fact explanation.
In the long run, it WILL work out for the designers because now everyone knows them and Meghan’s infamous engagement dress. And fashion LIVES for luxury controversies. They love flagrant eff off for the sake of beauty, and they love her for doing it. Even if she didn’t really set out with that in mind.
My two cents here–the reach with the dress sash and emeralds is ridiculous. If Kate’s press person sent a statement with all the info about the black sash being a “nod” to #MeToo and #TimesUp BEFORE the BAFTAS it would have had a MUCH bigger impact. Like she conciously thought about it beforehand and was deliberate with her actions.
William and Kate won’t even visit the Queen on Christmas which is like the only day of the year the Queen takes off. But yea they totally obey whatever she says.
That is inaccurate. Some years they spend Christmas with the Royal family and some years they are with Kate’s family.
They’ve refused a couple times though. It’s obvious her majesty and Prince Philip aren’t gonna be around much longer. Who even knows if they’ll have another Christmas. Plus Kate’s family can take off other days around Christmas. They literally can’t. It’s completely unfair for them to not reserve Christmas for them. It’s the one day that the Queen has off.
This time they also refused the annual Sandringham Boxing Day shoot, which as we know might have been Prince Philip’s last. Whatever you feel about hunting, it wasn’t an anti-hunting protest, it was an FU to the Windsors. Carole booked a separate Real Royal Family (TM) shoot the same day – for which she demanded a royal discount.
@DiligentDiva
Zara and Mike Tindall usually spend the Christmas holidays in Austrailia. Where is your disgust for them?
And I do believe that the Cambridge’s spend quite a bit of time with the Queen throughout the year – we are just never told when they do. I thought it was quite telling that the Queen made that comment about Princess Charlotte bossing Prince George about. She said it with certainty like she has seen it with her own eyes many times.
Zara and Mike need to make a living. If William and Kate were hustling their arses at the Magic Millions horse sale I’d have more respect for them.
@Tina
Zara and Mike don’t NEED the Aussie endorsement money. She has other non-Aussie endorsement contracts, she’ll get yearly money plus bonuses from these contracts if she does well at competitions, her mother side of the family absolutely loaded obviously and she lives on her mother’s land so it’s not like she has to worry about paying a mortgage. This is not taking in to account anything Mike might earn which will probably be a lot as well.
So I’ll ask again, where is the disgust for Zara for prioritizing paychecks she doesn’t need over spending Christmas with her very elderly grandparents?
We don’t know anything about Zara and Mike’s finances, other than that they themselves don’t take state funds. And Zara had a very sad miscarriage last year. As far as I am concerned, a holiday, working or not, is entirely deserved.
We don’t need to know anything about there finances. What we do know is that they are not on the breadline and never will be.
Also, they have been going to Austrailia during Christmas before the miscarriage as well.
Right. They have been going to Australia to make money. Which I, for one, have zero problem with. Mike is a washed up rugby player. Zara’s career is not going to last forever. They need to make money while they can.
@Tina
Zara and Mike are independent and aren’t spending taxpayer money lavishly. They also work and see the Queen at other times. They have to make their money, and with horses it is detailed, and no one like Zara is going to hand that off to someone else. My husband’s cousins have a horse farm and are equestrians, and I have some little riders of my own.
I have two siblings that were riders, and they have young riders. Three of them are very serious about it. Those horses are costly investments (as is riding overall) and people in that world need the best horses they can afford to win those ribbons and breeders need good bloodlines. The buyers will want to meet and see Zara. She’s a draw.
Granny Queen loves horses would understand.
They aren’t just spending it somewhere else just cause.
I have issues with the horsey set about the way horses are treated by some, but that is a separate issue.
@magnoliarose, I agree with you entirely, I don’t think we disagree at all.
…You are joking, right?
There was no order. There was no protocol. There was no “nod”. And even if there was an order/protocol, she constantly ignores them.
There were how many flashing incidents until the skirts were finally weighted or the style changed? It’s pretty obvious the Queen doesn’t interfere because there would have been one or no flashing incidents had that been the case. Kate has always done what she wanted to do.
Yeah, pretty sure showing the world your ass is a bigger royal no-no than social issues. ESPECIALLY since the last couple of generations of royals are super socially active.
Can we all call a spade a spade and accept the fact that she wanted attention and she got it.
She looked radiant but the jewels would’ve looked better if she had a black dress on.
Kate has never cared about the issues and there is nothing wrong with being that kind of person. Her problem is she fell in love with/stalked (based on the version of their love story you believe) the wrong guy(A future king).
Sorry but not sorry. It *IS* wrong for a person in her position not to care about issues. More so, to show that all over again and embarrass the British people who pay for her to have an extraordinary standard of living. And her family. She is part of the BRF whose head, TQ, is head of state. Kate is the mother of the future king FFS.
Also, her then future husband, 2nd in line, expressed publicly during their engagement interview that he had given her time (a few long years) to know what she was getting into and she ACCEPTED. Her brother-in-law, soon to be 6th in line, even talked about “the job” when talking about his engagement to Meghan. Even about prep meetings prior to making public their engagement. Meghan is already light-years ahead of the future Queen Consort. The future Queen Consort doesn’t care about issues. She has to care. She doesn’t. It *is* wrong.
The Queen herself has never ever took a stand on anything. She is the first person who has made it clear that the Royals must be neutral.
Kate takes this route too.
She always dresses in blue and red, which are patriotic colors (and that is not a coincidence), so this is a darker dress for her (which is unusual), and she has put some black shades on it.
I think she did it right.
She is not a celebrity.
The Queen is the monarch. Kate will never be the monarch. She is not being neutral but lazy because she can barely attend her patronages on a yearly basis and she maybe has a dozen and only in the last year or so because 90 something Phillip finally got to retire. Camilla has already worked on issues regarding domestic violence against women and FGM and she is above Kate in rank. Charles promotes organic growing and he will be monarch. The politics rule applies only to supporting specific British political parties and not helping raise awareness on issues that help humanity in general.
She IS a celebrity. Nowadays that is what the BRF is basically. She’s not an actress, but her husband is a supposed patron, so she IS connected to it.
Except not true at all. She does NOT always wear blue and red. She wears green, brown, purple, yellow, black, white, and yes, blue and red. The idea that Kate is always dressing patriotically is laughable. I mean, really?
What a stupid article from Us Weekly
And employ some night nurses to establish a sleeping routine for 6-8 weeks,whose sleeping routine-Theirs?
US Weekly completely made this up so none of this is likely accurate, although it won’t be shocking if we hear of a night nurse being retained for baby three, as there was with the other two children.
Didn’t we just see in another newspaper that they would be hiring no extra help with the third baby. Kate was an old hand at all of this?
I remember when the tabloids said Diana and Fergie were great friends, until they turned them into great enemies. They will pit these women against each other, for sure. And the spare’s wife ALWAYS loses.
It won’t play that way this time.
New people and Kate is no Diana. She doesn’t have the star power and is nowhere near as popular and exalted. I don’t believe this will happen at all.
Fergie did herself in. There was more to it than media.
Lol, it’s not like she did many engagements before this pregnancy now did they. But here they go with the “pregnancy is making me not do any” and then when the kid arrives it will be “The new baby is making me not do any”. Honestly we already get it Kate, you just wanna live off the taxpayer’s dime and not do any work (which hardly is work).
These two are insufferable. I don’t know how a son of Charles and Diana (two people who no matter what you think were/are incredibly hard working) turned out to be this lazy.
Agree 100%
Harry is lazy, too. Basically unemployed, maybe 130 events last year. He is no workhorse either.
209 but who is counting? Yes, he needs to work more, but please stop pretending that Invictus Games and Sentebale aren’t huge things for which he does deserve some credit.
HE doesn’t get nearly the same level of financial perks and isn’t the future King. They aren’t equals in that regard.
If you’re a veteran the Invictus games is a huge thing and it has multiple other activities during the year like make your mark which is on march 5th in Sydney. Stop diminishing his work, the work isn’t only limited to what you see.
Of course they don’t work as much as a regular person but saying that ” Invictus Games and Sentebale aren’t huge things” is utter tosh.
Plus harry spent 10 yrs in the military while mr. keen was a part time ambulance worker.
anne, I worded that poorly. I was trying to say that Harry does do a great deal with Invictus and Sentebale, most of which doesn’t count in the year-end engagement totals. People like to say he’s just a figurehead, but the comments from people behind the scenes tell how hard he works on all of those without getting any credit.
Like Charles does huge work with The Prince’s Trust and The Duchy, most of which doesn’t count in the engagement totals. When people say Princess Anne does more engagements some years than Charles? Yes that happens. Then she goes home to her private estate, fixed up and secured with taxpayer money, and puts her efforts into her private estate. Charles does roughly the same number of engagements, then puts in all the uncounted effort behind the scenes on The Princes Trust and Duchy.
I see Harry as the same. Most of what he does for Invictus, Sentebale, WWTW doesn’t “count”.
Unlike some others I liked the emeralds with the dress.
I think she looked so pretty, and I also liked the emeralds with the dress
US Weekly LOL They wish they had “sources”
I think it was Maya Angelou who said it best – when someone shows you who they really are, believe them. Kate has been showing us for a very long time that she is vapid, shallow and simply does not care about much other than living a very privileged and pampered life on the taxpayers’ dime. This is her. We need to stop looking to crumbs suggesting she is evolving…and if we don’t like it, let’s get rid of these useless pampered poodles!
Yes to this. The only thing the least bit interesting about Kate is guessing what sort of coat she’ll wear next. And even that isn’t interesting anymore. She really doesn’t seem to have any passion about social issues in society, only buying new clothes and going out for attention from time to time. That’s really about it. Quite honestly I think both William and Kate would prefer to be rich aristocrats who could come and go as they please and do nothing more than that.
I’ve suggested it before, but have you seen Great Estates Scotland? That shows what it takes to keep those millstone estates up and running. The best is Kincardine, where the lady of the house gives piano lessons and sells jam at craft fairs. Anything to try to earn enough to pay the bills.
I suspect that for years, William has only seen his aristocratic friends during weekends and hunting parties. Ditto Kate Middleton, who has never worked or seen what it takes to earn a living.
They haven’t seen these aristocrats roll up their sleeves and get to work, even though that’s what most of them do when he isn’t around. Despite signing on for (and failing to complete) two different training programs about estate management? William still has no idea the amount of work it takes behind the scenes to *look* like a lazy, landed aristocrat these days.
I’ve seen the documentary @nota is talking about. Impressive. But I slightly disagree with the idea that Kate has never seen what it takes to earn a living. All that talk about her mother’s unprivileged roots and her “rise” to middle-class, plus it seems that Carole built up their family business when Kate was growing up. I am not sure what Mike does but I doubt he lets Carole to all that work. I don’t doubt they could set a decent example of people that are savvy and work hard. She’s their daughter. She must have seen her parents work, and been aware of who and how paid for her all her adult life prior to marrying Wills.
The work situation of Kate has been affected by her lack of ambition and values, but at the same time she was fully supported by her parents. She didn’t have any incentive whatsoever to earn a living. There is as much Kate and at the same time her parents’ drive to make her land William. And they spent millions of pounds for that. In a way, her parents “bought” her title. Wills only had to pop the question. Had they been private rich people, I wouldn’t say anything. Marrying in a rich family is not uncommon. But having a royal connection for a decade with the most known royal family is the world, while spending so much money and not giving a f*** about valid criticism is indeed something.
SoulSPA I think she *could* have learned from her parents example but didn’t. I think Carole worked hard to “shield” the three kids from the sordid idea of earning a living. The money was poured in to making them ape carefree aristocrats complete with the silly idea of never having money woes. Pippa is the only one who has shown a tiny bit of ambition, but it turns out it was ambition to make herself look good for the marriage market.
Kate had all the time in the world prior to her marriage to work on charitable causes and she spent time mostly on vacation and not working. She then spent time after the wedding finding excuses to not work as hard as the other royals (along with William) and to this day she has barely cracked 100 engagements per year and likely won’t do it this year either. If she truly had an interest in causes, such as her patronages, she would show up more than once a year. She has all the help in the world with her kids and household and can still barely show up an hour a few times per week. Her speeches remain superficial and meaningless and she still does not demonstrate any specific knowledge about any of the causes she supposedly “works” on over seven years later. We know she makes the time to shop because she has so many different outfits the few times she deigns to step out of the palace.
Next week when the four are together and making speeches, it’s going to be very interesting to see Megan leave Kate in a cloud of dust!
@Bethany, all I can think now is the countless numbers of hours that Kate will put into practicing a few lines. Honestly, I am not expecting much from her. Heck, I am kind of sure we’ll not hear her speak. One or two pictures and a written statement at most.
I snorted with laughter at the idea of Meghan giving Kate “tips on healthy eating.”
Yeah that was about as made up as it gets!
If that were true, it’s the first time I’ve felt sympathy for Kate in a long time. I’d hate to be a zillion months pregnant and have my tiny skinny Hollywood actress future sister-in-law give me “tips she’s read on healthy eating.” I’d tell her to shove it.
Kate has been into healthy eating since college and has seriously influenced William’s diet. Meghan had nothing to do with that but it is yet another thing that they will be able to bond over, especially if Meghan and Harry start a family.
One of the few times she was papped in Wales? The shopping cart was filled with frozen meals, frozen pizza, and wine. Not veggies and ingredients, but ready made unhealthy food. William even gained a significant amount of weight for awhile in the first few years of the marriage, most of which has now been whittled away.
Tips on eating healthy, more like models eating 101 – how to dip cotton wool balls in orange juice to take away hunger pains.
Clickbait story. I want to make it clear that is an extreme and not the norm. I don’t want anyone to read that and get any unhealthy ideas. It is a stereotype that models don’t eat and starving will not make you a supermodel. They wouldn’t be able to have babies and would look like garbage pretty quickly.
Just wanted to put that out there for any impressionable girls reading this thread.
It wasn’t meant as a slam on you Aurelia. I get the joke. I just get nervous about EDs and sites that use models as thinspiration. It is unhealthy.
Forgiven my friend.
I feel like a broken record and many have said it as well, Kate is BORING. She doesn’t have the IT factor and never will. It’s something you have or don’t. Can’t be taught or bought (As we see with Kate and all the world’s best at her finger tips and we get below average everything from her). She is boring like plain toast. And her clothes wear her not the other way around. We should come to terms with it and move on.
I will say she did look good at this event. The hair needs to be managed but she did well. That said, the bat is set low for Kate so it is what it is.
Agreed
It is okay if she’s boring. It is being lazy, selfish, and spendthrift that are the problems.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium is boring, but she shows up, acts and dresses appropriately (*), and does her job. That’s what matters – showing up and doing the job.
*most of the time because her bandage hats and love of neon outfits are odd
Notasugar, Agreed yes, but I want some glam from the future Queen.
It’s taken quite a toll.
————————————————————————————————————————
LOL!!! Good grief, this woman has people at her disposal waiting on her hand and foot 24/7 and her so-called “work” is merely showing up at events and again, having others assist her with everything and make a big fuss over her. I feel sorry for those moms in the real world who are raising kids, holding down a job and doing it pregnant.
I’m hung up on the mile long journey . . .
I laughed out loud at this article. IF these sources are real (which is doubtful) then its just that much funnier.
I think she DID look nice at the BAFTAs. The emeralds didn’t quite work, but whatever. but it was kind of ludicrous that she didn’t wear black. And it’s even more ludicrous now that its all “the emeralds were for suffragettes and the black ribbon was for times up!” It seems like she wore what she wanted, and then in the aftermath when people were REALLY REALLY reaching to prove that she REALLY supported times up, her people decided to seize on those stories about emeralds and black ribbons. It’s silly. and it treats the public like idiots.
Beyond that – LOL at the whole “Meghan pops over to share tips on healthy eating!” (is that what those two talk about?) and “they will have some new nurses for the first two months.” What happened to no additional staff? Ha!
anyway – agree with other people. This is who she is. If she felt strongly about times up, she would have worn black. She doesn’t, so she didn’t. She feels strongly about shopping and her family, and that’s just how it is, and I think expectations are starting to change accordingly.
@Becks, I had to laugh at the “night nurse for 6-8 weeks” too, after they insisted that they would not hire more staff. And what happens if the baby still isn’t sleeping through the night then? Well, we’ll just keep her on until he/she does, or just hire her permanently because, you know, three really is a lot of work!
It is kind of funny isn’t it, there’s us all annoyed she wasn’t wearing black but actually she supported TWO movements (suffragettes and times up) and who knows, maybe she wore pink knickers for cancer research too. Poor misunderstood Kate, we are just to blind to see how KEEN she really is. Shame on us. 😳
Kate is the epitome of white privilege and gets the benefit of the doubt for virtually everything. (I know you are joking, but many others are prepared to give her all the breaks despite evidence to the contrary)
The shame is overwhelming. lol
It’s amazing how boring Kate and William are.
Some people have it and some don’t. It’s not bad at all, but I just hope her new found work ethic isn’t just to build up her numbers then she goes back to being lazy after giving birth. Also I’m kind of feeling bad for her because no one really respects her. She doesn’t get world wide respect.
As she stated early on, she doesn’t care what anyone but William thinks of her. A person has to do something to gain respect. What truly has she done besides parade around in expensive clothing, and bring three children into the world? She is so out of touch with modern life, it’s mind-boggling.
Agreed kitty. And while I’m not a kate hater, I do wonder why the sudden burst of activity. I would prefer that it is to boost numbers for the rest of the year vacation vs the idea of a female competition thing.
The engagement numbers are up for waity purely because Meghan has arrived and garnered a lot of attention. Her vainity kicked in. She didn’t want us to forget her. She had tonnes of time off with her other 2 births without bothering to get her numbers up during the pregnancies. Yup, she is feeling the pressure from meghan being on the scene. She knows damn well Meghan is motivated. Waity probably hoped Harry would marry a wasteral like her and willie.
US Weekly is having a stoned daydream thinking their speculations of someone’s inner monologue is print-worthy. Fact: Royal protocol prohibits Kate from participating in demonstrations. There’s no further story here.
Please, Diana was an AIDS activist long before it was fashionable and when it was still quite controversial. Camilla campaigns against FGM and Charles against climate change.
Royal protocol doesn’t keep William from participating, because he was able to give a comment in the program. They could easily have included Kate even though it’s William’s engagement.
Please, royals have been participating in protests since the year dot. Yhere are lots of things we take for granted that are the direct result of royals participating in protedts or instigating them. Here are afew examples:
1. That patriotic anthem ‘Rule Britannia’ is a song commissioned by a royal son against his royal father in protest that said father wasn’t supporting the Royal navy AND was not British at all.
2. We got the concept of political opposition parties via the same son who made it possible for politicians to oppose the King and the government without being sent to the tower.
Further, Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was a proud Suffragette in Britain and India. As were her 3 daughters, Alice, Helena and Louise who championed education for poor women and helped create the red cross and nursing as a respected profession.
Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice, rescued jews from Nazis during WW2
In modern times, Diana = AIDS and landmines, Charles = Environment, Organic farming, Architecture, Camilla = FGM, Sexual violence, Domestic violence.
Kate doesn’t care. Let’s not blame protocol.
As you wrote so well the other day, I’m experiencing Deja vu. Excuses heaped on excuses with a dose of “did it my way, this is what it really meant, spin spin spin”.
Same as when she ditched the Irish Guards. The royal reporters were told by staff the week before that she didn’t want to set the expectation that she’d show up every year.
After the complaints started, we got the spin she wanted to focus on spending time with the kids before an upcoming tour.
She shows up to an event the day after the Irish Guards, clearly having spent hours at the salon the day before getting a new cut and colour job. So much for spending time with the kids.
@LAK: I understood if you don’t want to answer this, but may I ask what you do for a living? I am curious because you are so smart and knowledgeable on so many different subjects! I always learn new things from your posts : )
ETA: I am still drooling over the site you posted with all of the padparadscha stones!
Lorelai: l’m interested in History, particularly social history. Social history takes in so much more than dates and combined with my interest in gossip means i end up knowing unexpected information. I also have a photographic memory that means i recall stuff very easily.
My writing style can be pedantic, but i blame my parents because they always insisted on presenting anything with verifiable facts. Was tough when the subject at hand was pocket money, but it was good training for adult life.
Thank you, LAK!
I’m so glad I found this site. The commenters here are all so intelligent and interesting.
@LAK 🙂 About your parents.
They make excuses and try to make Kate into someone she is not. If someone likes her, that is fine, but like what she is, not what one hopes she should be.
Once again: That is false. There is no royal protocol that would prohibit Kate from taking part.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL. THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
There’s a protocol about outward party politics, which has nothing to do with anything. Time’s Up is not a party issue. Or a political one. It’s a social one. And various royals practically drown themselves in those: environmentalism. climate change. animal welfare. AIDS. FGM.
Stop making excuses for this vapid moron. She doesn’t deserve them.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
@Wendynerd: We can say that until we’re blue in the face but her fans will always insist otherwise. Even when they are shown photos of her wearing all black to other events such as movie premieres, they STILL claim (!!) this protocol exists.
For our own sanity we need to give up trying.
I know. This is just a fairytale.
@Lorelai
You may be right. Time to give up.
Whoever the source is, he/she should stop because it’s coming across as “it’s all about Kate”.
“She thought that by adorning herself in green emeralds” is the most out of touch, st00pid thing a royal source has said about Kate. It wasn’t about the BAFTAs or the Time’sUp movement, it was about Kate!
I will repeat what I said in the first post – the fact that she, and her team!, can not see the correlation between harassment, abuse, rape, violence, pay inequality, WITH MENTAL HEALTH, really shows how little (1) they know about mental health, and (2) how little they care about it.
Wearing a black dress was the perfect opportunity for her to show substance, to make a show of support towards her own gender, to use her platform for once. But no, she decided a black sash and green emeralds were enough.
I can’t believe I’m actually disappointed in her, as if the bar wasn’t as low as I thought.
I think it’s ridiculous that Kate is being shit on for not wearing all black. The blackout of the Globes and the BAFTAs is so arbitrary and, ultimately, meaningless. Personally, I don’t care what color you wear. It’s more important for these people to take steps to effect real change. That’s what I care about.
I mean James Franco wore a Times Up pin before getting accused. And he had been shown to be creeping on teens back in 2014 but it was dismissed by the industry and the public.
After that the wearing of black and pins should have been cancelled by the movement because abusers were trying to use it to cover up their own history.
But they were called out which is a positive step. I’m not going to speak for the overall validity of TimesUp but there is something different in general that is happening. Many serious, determined people are involved as well as opportunists.
It concerns me to see scorn heaped on because it isn’t a perfect movement and William and Kate should be concerned that their names are being included as part of the reason for that scorn. This is why I keep harping on how this was a bungled response and that Kate and William should have explicitly clarified how they felt.
They get a lot of perks because of their titles but situations like this and handling it properly are part of the responsibilities for all the perks.
Those in the industry were called out far too late. Many actors cloaking themselves in black have a history of supporting Polanski, Allen, or other known predators. Whether a person wears black or a pin is meaningless. It is their actions that matter. All the harping about the color of a woman’s dress is gross and it derails from the real issues.
It’s not meaningless because James Franco would not have been called out if it were. And Natalie Portman wouldn’t have backtracked on supporting Polanski (though the way she did it uh.. needs work), and Ellen Page wouldn’t have talked about her own regrets working with Woody Allen.
You can’t paint the whole movement with one brush. It’s unfair to the people who have been able to come forward and the people it can help.
Kate and William should have put out a statement, instead of William putting something in the program and leaving Kate out. If they had done that, most people wouldn’t have cared about her dress.
The problem is she looks like she tried to duck the issue.
If she was going to wear a different color dress, she should’ve stayed home because she was the most high profile person there and it was bound to cause a stir based on the dress code.
If you can’t help then don’t hurt.
Other high profile women did not wear black either. James Franco is still getting work and they have done nothing about Casey Affleck other than tell him to stay home.
It is fair to say it is a problematic movement. Also it is creepy that there solution is to give the women a dress code and then condemn any woman who does not conform instead of doing more about predators.
@Natalie so how do you feel about CAA’s involvement?
*the not there. It was too late to edit.
Kate didn’t choose NOT to wear black because of CAA or any of those other issues.
The validity of the movement is a separate argument. She wasn’t protesting anything to do with any of that, so it does not pertain to Kate’s situation. She isn’t that deep and certainly not that rebellious.
She chose not to support it when all it was to wear a black dress when she wears black all the time. No big deal to do. Not controversial at all.
Kate had the power to actually start a proper conversation had she endorsed the movement.
@Cee, I hear you. But. Kate doesn’t have the power to endorse any discussion whatsoever. Yet to see what impact her involvement in her *main issue* – mental health – has had, even though she repeated a few times the PR talk point of said campaign “start a discussion on mental health and the stigma”. A few bad pre-taped videos and a few appearances now and there. Not even the platform she has as wife of the 2nd in line, on her own turf, doesn’t have any visible impact. And it’s not even her own issue, she shares it with Wills and Harry, but when the two brothers don’t do much, what does she do? Wills is protected unlike his wife. Harry is the 6th in line but has done more if only for the few days he did with Invictus Games and the Sentabale and the elephant conservation projects. People can say all they want but besides TQ, Kate is the most visible figure of the BRF. Her involvement in mental health is so hyped. So there are high expectations of her because of that. She doesn’t have any prowess whatsoever. The main issues people talk about her are bad fashion, make up and hair, and from time to time her children. I hope Meghan *and Harry* will do *a lot better*. How much better? IDK. The bar is way too low. Meghan already does better than Kate, and Harry better than Wills.
Oh my god poor Katie! This is ridiculous. She’s a rich, lazy, 36-year-old. She’s a grown-ass woman! Who writes this drivel??? They’re making her look weak and whiney. Stop it.
TBH – I think they are presenting her as she really is. She has always, always LOVED the media attention both she and her family openly courted it.
She cares for nothing other than what her position can do for her and her family. William is worse, he has known all his life what has been expected of him and has thrown it all back in the father and grandmothers face for a long time. If he wants to live the life of a playboy aristocrat, by all means but at his own expense. If he doesn’t want the crown (and he doesn’t) then walk away – the establishment can take him and his children out of the line of succession. I still believe he will once his grandmother passes and I don’t think even wannabe Queen Carole could stop him. As for Kate, all she has aspired to be is arm candy to a wealthy aristocrat.
The more they try to make her look sympathetic, the more it just irritates me. This statement “But evening engagements get harder the later into pregnancy Kate gets” makes me so annoyed. It’s not like she’s working 40 or more hours a week, taking care of her kids with no help from nannies and maids, and expected to make an appearance at the end of an exhausting day. Some of us had to work, take care of our own kids and were still expected to do things in the evening even if we were super pregnant and exhausted. But please, tell me how hard it is to dress up in bespoke couture, deck yourself out in priceless jewels and spend all day getting pampered so that you can hob nob with celebrities
Didn’t Us Weekly lose their royal sources when they did all of their layoffs?
Kate totally misread how people would react. Literally, across the board every single comment i’ve seen felt she’d misplayed. Take the L, learn from it, and move on.
Exactly.
This is getting ridiculous. This is a serious issue and a personal one for many women, so it isn’t like anyone’s mind is going to be changed by throwing a million excuses against a wall.
Move on. PR misstep.
This is the first I’ve heard that emeralds and green were associated with suffrage.
They really need to tone down the “Kate and Meghan are besties now” stuff. It’s just unrealistic. Kate doesn’t seem the most outgoing of people (not a slam, just a fact) and her social circle seems limited to Mom and Sis. Meghan has a full life with many years of friends and acquaintances; she’s not some shy little teenage princess from a foreign land betrothed by her parents to a prince who needs a friend, like in past centuries. I can understand that they want to avoid some tabloid speculation that they hate each other or our rivals, but this is going overboard the other way.
@Mumbles: you can bet it’s the first time Kate heard about it, too! 😂
What I truly don’t understand is how she has so many devoted fans who will defend her on absolutely ANYTHING. I used to follow one of her fashion sites, but the comments were so sycophantic that I couldn’t take it anymore. There are people who “just love!” literally every. single. thing. she wears or does. I don’t get it.
The sycophantic, devoted Kate fans, who think she can do no wrong and brook no criticism of her, are fascinating to me. To me, they demonstrate (a) the power of the princess mystique, even in this day and age, and (b) that some people are unbelievably shallow. Kate is pretty, and quiet. That’s it. That’s all we really know about her (and maybe she isn’t even quiet behind closed doors). That this person inspires such fervent devotion really blows my mind.
@Tina, I’m glad I’m not alone because they fascinate me, too.
Even on this site, someone said they love “everything” about her and when asked for details, didn’t give any. I mean?!
@Lorelai, I guess distance plays a role? A lot of them seem to be American. Maybe they find her life a fantasy, like a romance novel.
I thought they were Brits. lol
Kate isn’t very popular in the US. She doesn’t sell magazines, so she doesn’t get many covers or headlines. She’s not a topic of discussion, and she’s never in the news. Harry is the most popular younger royal.
No one is clamoring for another visit.
Anna Wintour tried to push her but she’s a Brit who loves that sort of thing.
I think it is a mix of older/conservative women who royal watched for decades and project onto her what they want to see. Maybe they read romance novels and are mixing up the stories. Idk.
Rabid fans and PR plants aren’t open to reason.
“I’ve never confused Kate with someone who actually gives a sh-t”
Because you are wise, Kaiser.
+1
You are too, Nota.
Her eyebrows are jumping off her forehead.
This is really getting ridiculous! First of all, the idea that you need to wear a black dress in order to show your support for women is nothing more than a virtue signalling and PR stunt done by CAA to cover up the fact that they pimped women for Harvey Weinstein. Second, as a member of BRF, Kate is not allowed to show support for any political movement or express her opinion when the topic of politics comes up. That is part of a protocol and she is obliged to stick with it. The amount of hate being thrown at Kate is absolutely unbelievable.
Have you read any of the other comments on this page?
TimesUP is NOT a political protest. The only political movement that supports sexual violence towards women is in the ME and we are fighting to get rid of them.
This is a human rights issue and the sooner people stop trying to change it up to a political movement so that they can dismiss it the better.
Once again, it is not political to support the notion that women should not be sexually harassed or violated. It’s a basic human right.
As for royals not supporting human rights or even vaguely political ones, please look to Diana’s work on AIDS and Landmines, Camilla’s work on Sexual and domestic violence.
The Queen of Sweden AND the Crown Princess of Sweden have been vocal and attending meetings and protests for #metoo campaign.
They’ve spoken about it. Their monarchy is constitutional just like the British one and they understand that this is human rights NOT politics.
You do realize that some of the civil rights leaders had problematic personal lives and yet somehow that didn’t invalidate the cause? It is pretty gross to try to dismiss a movement that seeks to empower women outside of the Hollywood industry just because of the people involved may not have denounced Weinstein right away. He had a ton of power and how do we know they were in a position to do so? The point is they are doing it now. And sure CAA enabled things, but their role will be dealt with in lawsuits against them and if they are actually providing financial help to these other women, it is better than just saying ” oh well we need perfect people to run this movement or else we don’t help anyone at all”. That is a ridiculous position to take and frankly obtuse.
There are lots of theories and explanations on here as to why Kate didn’t wear black but what if it’s as simple as she didn’t do it because she thought the ‘blackout’ was hypocritical?. What if she didn’t want to be told what colour she SHOULD be wearing from a movement that is essentially, at heart of it, fighting for freedom of choice as well as fighting against oppression and harassment?
This theory could hold up when you consider the frequent talk on here about how Kate just does her own thing when it comes to her clothing choices.
She just doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t impact her tiny little wealthy, insulated and lazy world. I really doubt she spent any time considering what you just typed.
William addressed the movement in his foreword. Not a traditional royal thing to do so why expect Kate to start blazing the way? She looked radiant I thought, in those pics.
She looked fantastic. She looks a lot healthier this pregnancy. She actually gained some weight and I LOVE that green dress.
Repeat after me, everyone::
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
THERE IS NO ROYAL PROTOCOL.
That was made up as an excuse for Kate. She really is as vapid and uncaring as she appears. Nothing was holding her back from wearing black if she wanted to (she literally has before). SHE DIDN’T WANT TO.
Which is fine! I’m not here for shaming women for their clothing choices.
But I’m also not here for making up lies and excuses for vapid, useless celebutantes who DGAF.
She just wanted to show off some new baubles!!
They are not new though.
They won’t listen but bless you for trying. lol
Nope. Did not nail it. Trying to give a vague, noncommittal “nod” that can be read as one way or another isn’t support, it’s just trying to play both sides. And why on earth is women’s workplace harassment too political to fully support?
Again how does wearing black help the cause? And always in gowns that cost many thousands. Wear gunny sacks and donate the money the designers saved to the cause.
THIS!!! Wearing black does nothing. It does not support the cause and worst of all, the black dress thing was manufactured by CAA agents who acted as Harvey’s pimps. Not even Rose McG supports the black dress thing.
These gowns would have been made at cost and loaned to the wearers at the Awards in exchange for the PR boost the designers get. Often many of the gowns are then auctioned off later for charity. This has gone on for years.
The dress is so close to black that honestly I think she wanted to wear black and was not allowed by whoever. Maybe the Queen herself. It photographs blackish. She looked great. She didn’t outshine the nominees and her hair and makeup were better too. She glows when she is pregnant.
The Queen. Does. Not. Get. Involved. With. What. Kate. Wears.
She chose to wear a green gown with a giant new stash of emeralds, which brought the focus to herself and her choice *not* to wear black.
I atill think the emeralds were a gift from the Saudis. Makes it even more interesting she wore them at an event where horrible treatment of women was in the spotlight.
I hope not. That would not go over too well and would be a disaster.
But what makes you think it? I don’t keep up with the jewels so I would have no idea.
Sadly Nota is provably close to the truth. The Saudis are always gifting the women of the BRF with spectacular jewels. Camilla has received several sets as has Sophie. Kate has these emerald parure and a ruby set too. Nothing this blingtastic comes from William nor would Kate buy it for herself because she has poor eye for jewels and tends to expensive junk with no value. And her parents aren’t rich enough to blow over a million on a parure for one child nevermind 2.
Bingo, Nota. I think those jewels are from the Saudis, too. Rather ironic, isn’t it?
I learned something yet again from these threads. Thanks to the above knowledgeable ladies.
That seems wrong in some way though. What do others think? Saudi Arabia is horrible for women and on human right’s issues. THAT is a political statement. That is the country where the terrorists came from and are/were well funded.
No words.
I don’t know if most people on here quite understand but she has got to remain neutral. Our RF cannot take up standpoints over different issues because it creates a heckuva fuss. This issue was quite clearcut but there’s others with two points of view and she cannot cherry pick. Elizabeth Ii has remained completely neutral and kept out of controversy and William has said he is going to reign this way as opposed to the style of his father who does go in. She didn’t wear some pale or shrieking coloured dress so I think she did well. As for the emeralds not matching the dress, surely it is not the trend just now to match exact shades. Green is a difficult colour to wear with other colours but I would have those glorious jewels on and out at all costs.
The Queen was taught to stay absolutely neutral by grandparents and parents whose thrones were shaky. ‘Don’t rock the boat’ was their mantra. It wasn’t about good governance, but self preservation. The sooner people realise this fact the better.
Secondly, generations before and After this Queen have intervened and or supported causes. It hasn’t rocked the monarchy for them to do so. It also demonstrates starkly that showing support for public causes doesn’t rock the boat such that the public demand a republic.
This Queen has been self preserving herself and her throne for so long whilst simultaneously using PR to gaslight the public that it is the way to govern. As we saw with Diana’s funeral, she is actually out of step with the public and is completely unyielding to public unless her throne is threatened. She stays out of public concerns because it costs her nothing to stay away. As soon as it costs her something, she makes a move. Usually one that keeps her throne safe.
William wants to follow suit because he has no imagination or passions. He clearly doesn’t have the brains to work out the reasons for the Queen’s neutral stand. He has demonstratably no plans for his own reign. Has demonstrated a complete lack of brains or even simple curiosity about the world. Always falls back on his privilege as Diana’s son to get out of tight spots of his own making and never learns the lesson. Sadly for him, the world has moved on. Being a silent expensive pair of ornaments will not do. And he woll learn thst harsh lesson the minute the Queen is no longer with us.
That is my thought as well LAK.
She is the shield, and William’s lack of intelligence and curiosity will cost him in the long run. Once the harsh light is turned on him, it will be a very sharp lesson indeed.
I hope we see more of Sophie, the Yorks, and some others as time moves forward. Eugenie in particular. Her name has special personal meaning for me, so that is part of my liking I think. Lol I don’t know with Charles but perhaps once the Queen hands more over to him he will put his loathing aside for Andrew and Sarah and see the value in his nieces.
And even the Queen has not remained neutral when something was really important to her. She was so enraged with Thatcher’s failure to support sanctions against South Africa in 1987 that she considered scrapping the weekly audience.
Good ole Maggie Thatcher.
My UK relatives loathe her.
I love your comments Tina. There are so many interesting ladies and gents on the royal threads it keeps me coming back to them.
Right on @magnoliarose!! I do too (come to these threads for my daily fix). Thanks y’all good folks for your wonderful contributions.
Aw thanks guys! I can’t pretend to be as knowledgeable as LAK but I contribute where I can.
I could swear they were having a heated discussion on he red carpet. If only it had ears
Why the green dress? Remember, courtiers say she is grander than the queen. Kate has a massive ego: ‘No one tells ME what to wear! I am the next QUEEN MOTHER after all!’
Sadly, she will never improve.
Before the wedding, when Harry was still dating Chelsy, someone from the palace told that Kate was stupid, never read a book in her life the person said.
Kate is a person who is not interested in anything. She is supposedly very interested in Tennis, but when she talks about it, she clearly has no clue about historical tennis matches, like someone who is very interested in Tennis.
During their US visit a few years ago. Kate wore black to a school visit and schock pink when visiting 9/11 memorial. She is a person who doesn’t think things through.
Just think at her clothing choices when arriving at Windy Wellington and her baby pink McQueen dress from the same trip when visiting children. When you can see her bra and a zit between her breasts it’s too low cut.
Kensington Palace is now in panic mode, just like when after the Irish guards. They try to explain this away. One of the most important things that Royals have to master is to give a correct perception. You have to master the public mood around you.
One other Kate story. A couple of years ago her representatives used the narrative that she had to stay at home to take care of her children, despite having several nannies and all the help in the world. Kate didn’t joing the London 07/07 memorial event due to her children and the London WW2 event the same week again due to her children. But during the same week she was the whole day at Wimbledon.
They used this narrative every time someone criticized Kate. But Kate had no problems at being in a Vogue shoot the whole day or at Wimbledon. If there is something Kate wants to do she will be there.
You’re right!
Why do people keep expecting more from her? She’s a vapid, uncurious, uninteresting girl/woman who knows nothing but her her own sheltered life. She’s never held a real job, supported herself, lived on her own. She has no life experiences to draw on that would connect her to ordinary people. This is as good as it gets. She’ll continue to wear her boring clothes that are mostly off the mark for the occasion, say a few words in her posh phony accent & trot out the kids for some good press every now & then.
I like the dress she’s wearing though.