As we discussed yesterday, the latest Tatler cover story is amazingly stupid and hilariously out-of-touch. The cover story is about the Duchess of Cambridge and how she is all things to all people – a top-notch CEO being wheeled out constantly, even without loads of holidays; a normal mother who cannot possibly make the school run now that her brother-in-law has scampered away; a pitiful, angry creature who is furious about her exhausting work load; and finally, a stoic Queen-in-training who even speaks in a strangled fake posh accent now. And Tatler even proudly says that Carole Middleton is the brains behind this entire operation. Tatler released their full cover story, so here are some additional quotes (plus I’m repeating some of my favorites from yesterday):
Katie the Keen Kingmaker: ‘Kate understands that the only credo of the Royal Family is duty, duty, duty. Whereas with the Sussexes it is constant uncertainty, [the Cambridges] represent stability and continuity.’
Kate was wheeled out post-Sussexit: ‘Kate knows what the country needs and wants. Championing how to raise your children is perfect.’ Yet, privately, said another friend, ‘Kate is furious about the larger workload. Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this. She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.’
Carole Middleton holds the Cambridge marriage together: In crisis, friends say, Kate retreats to the protective embrace of her family. Her commendable backbone comes from her mother. ‘They are a very close family and totally united,’ says a friend of the Middletons. It helps that in William’s eyes Carole and Michael Middleton can do no wrong. ‘He absolutely adores them. Michael is charming. Really kind, soft and gentle. William loves going to the country to stay with them. Their family life is so soothing for him as it’s so different from his own family.’ Another country grandee says: ‘I’ve heard that Prince William is obsessed with Carole. She’s the mummy he always wanted.’
Carole arranged Anmer Hall to her standards: A skilled craftsman who worked on Anmer Hall, William and Kate’s country home, and is used to a roster of prestigious and potentially tricky customers, said that he found Carole ‘the most difficult client’ he had ever worked with: ‘She was exceedingly demanding, fussy and questioned everything.’ Carole has put her stamp on Anmer decor-wise. Far from being a typical aristo abode, with threadbare rugs and dog hair everywhere, like, say, Windsor and Balmoral, it is, according to a visitor, ‘like a gleaming five-star hotel, with cushions plumped and candles lit’. Another adds: ‘It’s very Buckinghamshire.’
But what about Pippa? ‘Pippa now speaks like the Queen, too, and is absolutely paranoid about the paparazzi,’ says one of her circle. ‘She refers to her sister as Catherine or “the duchess” in public, which feels too regal and try-hard. Pippa is a bit lost now and is struggling to find her place. She’s always in the shadow as someone’s sister or someone’s wife. But they are all utterly loyal to each other. The Middleton family will always close ranks. None of them can quite believe that they have hit the jackpot, so between Kate, Pippa and Carole there is an unspoken bond. A sort of “We have to bring it to fruition at all costs”.’
Kate & Meghan: ‘I don’t think that she ever pulled Meghan under her wing and said, “I’ll show you the ropes,”’ says a friend. ‘Catherine and William were very circumspect from the beginning about Meghan, which hurt and incensed Harry. William rightly cautioned Harry to slow the relationship down. That’s why they all fell out. As the rift got deeper between the brothers, Kate, who used to be so close to Harry, tried to pacify things. But her loyalty will always be to William.’
A curious mention of Rose Hanbury: Then there’s her ‘Turnip Toff’ crowd, the Norfolk Sloanes, including Sophie Carter and Robert Snuggs, who live near Anmer Hall. And the Cambridges’ glamorous Houghton Hall neighbours, Rose Hanbury and her husband, the Marquess of Cholmondeley – with whom there was an alleged falling-out last year, over Rose’s apparent closeness to William. The whole of Norfolk was agog and the story spilled over into the newspapers. No party has commented publicly on the matter.
A Royal Family “under siege” post-Sussexit. ‘William is absolutely incandescent about Megxit,’ a courtier confides. ‘Every time the Sussexes issue a statement, it hits everyone like a fresh bombshell. The Cambridges are left reeling like everyone else. Everyone is terribly worried about how this is affecting the Queen.’
I actually have to thank Tatler for giving us this beautiful gossip gift during a pandemic. It really is a lot of fun. I still believe that this piece started out as yet another vapid Embiggening Kate project, but something happened along the way – some shade was thrown, some truths were told, and some shots were fired. I doubt that Kate is pleased with the mention of Rose Hanbury, nor will she be pleased with these “sources” making it sound like mummy Carole still runs every part of her life and marriage. Interestingly enough, “a Kensington Palace source” ran to the Daily Mail over this Tatler piece and the source apparently “dismissed the claims” and said they are “false.” Which parts? The parts that make Kate seem like a posh, bland robot slowly gaining sentience or the parts that make her seem like a lazy out-of-touch a–hole? These people are awful.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
This was a colossal error in judgment – I’m actually stunned at how badly they misjudged this. I guess Kensington palace thought they were safe to trust the editor-in-chief since he knew Kate at St. Andrews, but let’s be clear, he hasn’t hung around her in years and never will again. Tatler has always been in the business of aristocratic dish. If he wants to keep his job, he has to deliver…and he did. I believe every word. 100% Kate’s friends think she is working too hard and 100% Kate thinks the same.
As for Meghan…she comes out looking great. She wanted children to be comfortable at her wedding. Wow. So that’s it?!! And she has never had her friends bash Kate either, so there’s that.
Yes! Auntie Meghan wanted the girls to be comfortable, evil Duchess Kate wanted to force her 3 years old to follow “protocol” and dictate another woman´s wedding.
I also understood from the article that Pippa might not even be friends with her sister anymore, but since they are Middletons, they “stick together ” and we will not hear a peep.
Right? Being a b about supposed royal protocol for a three year old is not a good look.
Thing is, if Kate was sooooo concerned about “pRoToCoL” why didn’t she go to Charles and HM about it? Say “Look Meghan isn’t following tradition and I’ve tried talking to her but she isn’t listening” and let the monarch and her son decide what to do with the situation.
Pippa has always been really competitive with Kate. For the first few years after W&K’s wedding, the tabloids were constantly giving Kate advice. To cut her hair, wear longer skirts and a number of other things. Kate ignored it all for a very long time. Days after an article, Pippa would do a pap stroll with whatever improvement the tabloids were telling Kate to make. She’s always been desperate for attention and has never really gotten it despite all her efforts.
The tights story backfired. It was supposed to make kate look good by ‘following protocol’ but just made her look like a mean b*tch. They were hoping people would be outraged at meghan for not being told by Kate what to do at her own wedding.
As for Pippa, well those two are competitive. I have a feeling Kate’s issues with women stem from her relationship with her sister. I always said Pippa was the ‘kim’ of the family and I guess kate is a ‘Kourtney’. Kate was only pushed forward because she was in the same school year as William, if she wasn’t it would be Pippa all the way. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pippa threw herself at William during the dating years. There’s actually pictures online of William and the middletons on a yacht holiday in 2006, and Pippa is topless changing her bikini top and William is lurking right behind her in full sight trying to catch a glimpse. Google images “kate Middleton yacht”.
Don’t worry…. the Cambridge defenders are in overdrive saying the lack of tights would lead to blisters and Kate is a mom so she knows that and Meghan is too dumb to know or too evil to care. Her avocados start war and her choice of wedding shoes gives the wedding party blisters. She’s just evil.
Kate care about the comfort of the children!
The kids were probably wearing the type of no show socks you use for flats.
Meghan should never have involved the Cambridge kids in the wedding imo. She should’ve kept it within her circle.
Meghan did not get to know the “real” Kate as yet. However, if she left out the Cambridge kids out she’d be trashed too.
Personally, I don’t think this is from either the Cambridges nor the Sussexes. The Tatler, (and there is more to come is my belief) have saved this for when they need it and this is the time. the gossip and throwing the Sussexes under the bus has dried up and now its time to feed the beast the Cambridges created. As many on here have said before, it was a huge mistake on the Cambridges’ part to think they could outrun this monster, and everyone that said that was so right. This is the Cambridge past catching up with them and karma is coming to collect. time’s up. The Cambridges thought they would continue to slash pieces off of the Sussexes and throw them to their beast to satiate it, run a mile while the beast feasts on the Sussexes and continue to do that for eternity. It just so happened the Susses were like naaahh, uhm uhm, this isn’t what we signed up for and they got out of there pretty fast leaving the Cambridges with nothing to feed their beast. They did try and continue trying when they whip the kids out, and throw some made up crumbs about what is going on in the Sussex camp etc, but the beast is like this is not good enough, we want something we can sink our teeth into, and the Cambridges have nothing on the Sussexes now. I believe right now the beast is got one of the Cambridge legs in its jaws and its telling them, we gonna devour you first, then your children if you don’t give us more meat. The Cambridges are in panic mode now. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. They wanted media attention, now they have it.
That’s….some image, Babs, lol. but I get your point and it makes total sense.
@Babs, I love your imagery too. This post was brilliant.
This reads like the intro to a comic series. “Beast Feeders: The Royal Courses”
Great analogy. And instead of having the courage to confront the gutter press and change things, they just offered up the Sussexes. Meanwhile, the Sussexes have the backbone to defend themselves and set a new standard that will protect others who come after them. It reminds me of the E. Nesbit short story “Billy the King”: “If you all hadn’t been such sneaks, I expect heaps of your kings had sense enough to have got rid of the dragon for you.”
https://theshortstory.co.uk/devsitegkl/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Nesbit-Edith-Billy-the-King-short-stories.pdf
Babsorig…Thank you!! This had already been forecasted on this site. It’s about $$$ and as soon as access to Duchess Meghan dried up, someone else’s a** would be pushed forward.
Its a dying business that needs to feed on someone to survive. Welcome Will and Kate to being the new dish on the menu.
Read some of the Tatler piece and got bored – nothing new really except it does offer a more balanced perspective of her than we have had in a while. It is not that class itself matters but it does annoy me that she is described as upper-middle-class and for me the persistent problem with this family is how they have strived to appear like aristocracy whilst cutting out anyone who isn’t socially useful to them along the way – that’s a feature of the very middle-class more than anything. Most upper-middle-class folk are 100% more confident of their worth and background than Kate seems to be. Pippa’s cookbook, Carole’s pretentious glossy mag shoots and James’ latest ‘lord of the manor’ covid-19 shots on Instagram all speak to this family’s nauseating social ambition and wish to appear as elite, distancing themselves from their humbler roots which frankly would give Kate a lot more character if she acknowledged that more. There’s a reason why in UK there is the term “proud working-class” – this has clearly not been instilled in Kate or Pippa.
For the record, I was at University with Kate&Wills. Kate earned the nickname “butcher shop Kate” amongst some of our peers, which was catty but it was due to the fact that she put on incredible airs and graces and was viewed as trying to be someone she wasn’t. Maybe if she had been less aloof and friendlier, she wouldn’t have been called that.
” I was at University with Kate&Wills” Well you can’t just stop there do tell us more
Yeah we are going to need more details Rose. stat.
@Sofia, I commented some time ago now about being at Uni with them but under a different user name which for some reason became unusable (maybe my comments didn’t meet CB standards who knows).
I only have little tidbits of info to share as I was very much NOT in their inner circle. But At Andrews being incredibly small, it was hard not to overlap at times and I had friends who did know them and I was introduced more than once to Kate. She was polite enough to remember me but never invested enough to try to remember my name or start a conversation…and why should she really? The only reason I remember my encounters with her very clearly are due to the hype and gossip around Wills and his love life that was omnipresent at the time and the social climbing atmosphere generated by Wills’ presence was sadly quite a defining aspect of life at the Uni at that time. The key was not to let it consume you and to get on and do your own thing.
@Rosie: Well thank you. I imagine being at St Andrews at the time was difficult because it was probably a reality show-esque atmosphere where almost everyone is playing “I want to be Mrs William Wales”
I know you say you weren’t in their inner circle but what did you think of the rumours of Kate apparently cheating in her studies and ignoring most people who weren’t part of the inner circle? I know there are more rumours but these are the most persistant. Also was Kate really the mean girl people make her out to be, even back then? I mean you do mention she was polite but she also never cared enough to remember your name
I love first hand gossip
So interesting, say more!
@Sofia You are welcome and you are spot on about the reality show circus that was part of st Andrews at the time, particularly in Freshers’ year…we had quite a few American young ladies there also including a girl who bizarrely dressed in 1930’s style fashion with pillbox hat and veil and all and was known to be one of his stalkers…I think she was recreating some kind of historical fantasy all for herself. I am guilty in that I did have a huge crush on Wills at about age 13 but safe to say I was over it by the time I went to St A., Also, my mum was a former student so it also filled a kind of family tradition thing…whereas so many students who arrived that same year that Wills joined clearly had no real personal link or investment in the place otherwise. Quite a few sensible people transferred to different Uni’s including my roommate because there was an overload of girls and they couldn’t take the snobbery.
But yeah, being able to comment freely on sites like CB is like therapy for me now after those messed up times, haha!! it wasn’t all bad and as I say if anything it taught me to become very independent and invest my time in fulfilling activities.
Re rumours of Kate cheating at studies – I have never heard those but I was in her Art History tutorial once due to some kind of listing error resulting in me not knowing which class I should be in. I did AH for one semester (dropped out because I found it to be useless, pretentious and definitely attracted the rich and idle). A good friend of mine at the time was pushing for me to join this class which she shared with Kate. Same friend knew Kate as they were in the fashion show together. So yes I was there at the now infamous fashion show where Kate wore that outfit. Back to the AH class – it happened to be Kate’s presentation on that day and unfortunately she really was very dull and bland. I remember her handing out the handouts and delivering the whole presentation in quite a purse-lipped, head girl at school type fashion.
Yes she was polite but it was also quite affected, because even then she was aware of how she was known as Wills’ close friend/girlfriend whatever she was at that stage and I believe it was in her interests to come across as impeccable.. But you can’t fake sincerity and sincere she certainly wasn’t. She acknowledged me because she had to (remembering an incident in our AH lecture hall after class) and she would say something like “oh yes…you’re X’s friend”. I once went to a party with this X friend where Kate was at and she pointedly ignored this friend who was upset but only because she herself was also a bit of a social climber…you’re gettign the picture of how it all worked there!!
I had another friend who liked a guy who was kind of in their inner circle. She turned up to one of their gatherings and said afterwards that Kate had made it clear that her presence was unwelcome… I do remember that she was quite mortified as essentially Kate had very deliberately been unwelcoming in a way that had made her feel awkward.
So I would agree that Kate had a mean girl streak but she was clever in how she ensured she was very protected by I suppose deliberately remaining incredibly private and exclusive. Even though some of his friends may not have liked her, there were girls who seemed happy to sort of play along as it suited their own agenda of exclusivity, more or less.
@Rosie that is all very interesting insider info, thanks for sharing!
I can only imagine how crazy it was at that time.
@Rosie – thanks for sharing your experiences. It only goes to solidify what most of us here at CB suspect, that Kate is a selfish, scheming and actually quite cruel human being who, along with Ma Midd, manipulated her way up the social ladder by stepping on “lesser mortals”. This slowly developing backlash by the tabs is well deserved and long overdue. Keep posting!
If you’re serious about Art History as a field of study, you’d not choose St. Andrews.
@Jaded – glad it’s insightful.. I agree that KM and her family have escaped very lightly overall from the tabloids as really there is nothing admirable about “not putting a foot wrong” if it was achieved by relentless social climbing and deliberately dismissing people who were not socially useful along the way…and yes this was clearly already visible at St Andrews.
One other thing I remembered – she did waitress at a restaurant (appropriately the most generic, Sloaney type of one there) and my mum met her once went we went for dinner. Two of my flatmates were there who knew Kate, including the co-fashion show participant. More introductions were made as Kate was at the door and she greeted us very primly. My mum actually thought she was sweet or charming because I suppose what she was seeing was a young person who appeared well brought-up by being able to shake hands. But I was able to see it for what it was as by that time I knew Kate wasn’t sincere and Kate knew that her position as Wills’ girl somehow commanded immediate deference from others and my dreadful social climbing male flatmate (who does appear in an old pic with her) was so obviously oozing delight at being able to show that he knew her.
@Rosie – I’m from New York and I studied abroad for one semester in the early 2000s. I not even going to lie: I did, for about five minutes, consider St. Andrew’s because I’d had a crush on William when I was a teenager. Luckily, that whimsy went away. It was always my dream to live in London for a bit so I chose a university there. Your stories make me glad I stuck with that choice lol.
Was Kate actually nasty to your friend?
In that environment, full of social climbers trying to get in with her, perhaps avoiding them was a defence mechanism. I mean, I’d want to avoid Kate because of her behaviour and You did say your friend was a social climber too.
Is there any evidence Kate’s actually mean to people?
@Rosie: I visited St. Andrews back in 2009 because I had a friend studying abroad there at the time (I was studying abroad in France the same semester and went to visit her during my vacation). Will and Kate had graduated several years before so I knew I wouldn’t be running into them. But the town itself of St. Andrews is so charming and the campus is so beautiful! I loved where I went for undergrad in the US but I always thought I might have applied to St. Andrews had I known how beautiful it was. It made me jealous my friend got to study there for a whole semester! I think that gets lost whenever it’s mentioned that Kate and William studied there.
@Sara – Yep, be glad you didn’t go there as the place is surreal at the best of times. I’m from London and no doubt you had a more well-rounded experience.
@Carimac I cannot say that kate was “nasty” to this friend, no, and yes this same friend was generally considered a social climber and she dropped me and others along the way – that’s just how they work. I probably sound like a social climber by the fact that I kept company with some of them for a period, but at that age you’re young, quite naiive and trying to find out who you are in some ways. One thing I would say that is to Kate’s credit, is that this friend once complained about Kate’s behavior after the publicity over the fashion show when the press were publishing pics of scantily clad students. Whereas this friend did genuinely love the limelight Kate it appears did not as she reportedly spoke out against participating in some publicity shoot or interview or something with the other models. She was maybe also aware of how it could reflect on her relationship with Wills, and my own view is that she maybe only took part in that ridiculous fashion show as an attempt to impress him and kind of maximise her popularity with certain students in a certain cirlce at that time. This is all speculation but ultimately I am talking about a pretty shallow and pretentious sector of the student community.
The only “mean” reference I have is mainly from the other friend who legitimately had a right to be at that private social gathering and was a naturally friendly person. It’s not as if Kate was any more important than her or had any reason to feel threatened.
@Amelie – you’re right it is beautiful and charming and I went back to visit a friend who did a post-grad there and had an amazing time taking sunny beach walks and knowing I didn’t have an essay deadline to meet this time! I think the problem was that for 4 years it got claustrophobic and there was a genuine lack of diversity even in terms of class and background. I did meet some lovely people, joined some fun societies and academically it was good for my subjects, but it wasn’t until I left St Andrews that I really realised just how un-me it was, socially and culturally speaking on many levels.
There were some nice guys there too but I remember girls complaining a lot about the lack of “normal” guys as many of them were kind of like Kate’s Tatler friend John Dennen- very dandyish.
Wow thanks @rosie, that was very interesting. The only thing I’m actually find impressive with Kate is that she had a goal, and it was such a long shot, but she got it. I can only imagine how many girls there threw themselves at William and went there hoping to meet him, but she not only cracked into his inner circle, but actually bagged him. She knew what she was doing.
@rosie did you ever meet William at all, Or even see him around?
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@February Pisces – No I never met Wills personally but had several almost-meeting or mundane encounters with him again due to the place and student body being so small. One of his friends whom a friend of mine knew and had a crush on once invited us to sit with them during an Art History lecture. She refused as she felt embarrased by the attention thios may have drawn…so naturally I refused also as my connection was through her and I wasn’t about to look all keen and stalkerish by marching over to sit with them by myself!!
To be fair I don’t think that many girls were actually throwing themselves at him but many were there to thrive off the feeling of importance and relevance of being seen with the right people in a way that would carry them beyond. There were some wilder bohemian type party girls in his group yet I think the difference with them and Kate is that they were not interested in the long-term protocol of Royal life and didn’t need that status to feel socially elevated. I have some sympathy for Wills because whomever he dated he would be dating in a goldfish bowl, with a limited pool of girls, and ultimately he had to choose a girl he felt he could trust even if she may have had her own agenda.
This^^^^Not once have you seen anyone from Meghan’s team say anything negative about the Cambridge’s, the Royals, or even her own ratchet dad and half-siblings. The Cambridge’s are unethical and entitled. Anyone who blindly admires them or think they are down to earth, without taking a hard look at who they really are is a fool and a patsy. Meanwhile, they’re all still out there copying the Sussexes.
Even when Meghan hit back with that People magazine piece, the tone of it wasn’t malicious or intentionally hurtful. It was sorrow and regret about the fact that she cares about her father and he hurt her deeply. Same with the letter she wrote and mailed to him. There wasn’t much anger behind it all, even though it’s pretty obvious she felt a great deal of it through it all.
@Kaiser, Do you remember, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, when you predicted, that you feel something big about the royal family is on it’s way?
I don’t even think that was 2-3 weeks ago, I think it was right before Memorial Day Weekend! (which was this past weekend). Kaiser’s gossip-radar is really starting to freak me out a little bit.
MY GOSSIP MOJO IS POPPIN’
Sounds increasingly like it’s coming from a pro-Will camp. The line is: Carole is controlling and domineering but William just wants to be loved, so we can’t blame HIM for staying with Kate and not pushing Carole out. Kate is gritting her teeth to do the work she is expected to do (ie this does not come naturally to her) whereas William knows duty comes first.
Nice groundwork being laid here.
Separation in how many years?
I don’t know if it’s coming from Billy’s camp. He comes off as a naive dimwit who doesn’t see Mike and Carole’s faults. I believe there’s a line that says something like “In William’s eyes, Mike and Carole can do no wrong” or something like that
others are saying this is coming from Rose’s camp which makes a lot of sense considering tatler is a mag for aristo gossip. Also, there’s a lot of classism written all over this.
@Jess: that’s my theory too. Also agree with the classism
William isn’t mentioned much in this piece but when he is it isn’t flattering. He’s obsessed with his mother in law who can do no wrong and he consults a psychic! Conclusion, NormalBill is a naive dimwit with mummy issues.
This article is situated firmly in the camp of the landed aristocracy – and I wouldn’t be surprised if these people find the Windsors themselves to be gauche arrivistes as well.
@Jess & Sofia – I agree with you two this is coming from the Cholmondeley camp also known as the Turnip Toffs.
Mocking the nouveau riche style of Anmer Hall is totally coming from the turnip toff set. Old money loves a little shabbiness and wear. From what we’ve heard these last years, Carole has boundary issues.
Rose has no reason to do something like this. I doubt she wants to marry William, she’s content as she is. William protected her, had the Palace assist her in PR last spring. If she wanted something out, it would be through her former mentor at the Fail.
I definitely don’t think Rose is behind this, in that I don’t think she went to Tatler and ran her mouth.
I think Tatler approached her (or other Toffs) in the midst of writing this article and got more than they were expecting and ran with it.
I think it might be a group effort by the whole Turnip Toff community who have never really accepted Kate, in their eyes she’s a mere “parvenu” from a middle-class background. She allowed herself to be pushed into William’s life by a (GASP) former flight attendant and Uncle Gary’s money. It’s a very close-knit society and being royal-adjacent is meaningless to them unless you’ve got the blood-lines to show it, which Kate definitely doesn’t.
It may not be Rose who spoke to the Tatler, but many of these comments ooze of old money snobbery. Not all would be sympathetic to the parvenu princess from Buckleberry.
Art Historian!! What a lovely surprise seeing you here. Same with you, nas. I don’t hang here much any more, but I thought this site would have a lot to say about this one.
And the Middleton stuff? Straight from the woman herself.
@bluhare – if you put our comments together from the three posts about this, we have OPINIONS lol (Kaiser did a story on this yesterday and there are two today.)
@bluehare, Likewise! I did take a long break but the whole corona-lockdown situation drove me back.
OPINIONS is why I’m here, Becks!! It’s nice to see a couple of familiar names too.
@ArtHistorian from a few things I’ve read, the Aristo set in Britain DO kinda see the Windsors as, well, not as blue blood as themselves, because of the German lineage that doesn’t go all that far back. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, remember, we actually the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with Victoria herself being a Hanover, both of which were German in route and principality. I’ve read that some of those Aristos actually view the House of Stuart as the last true “English” royal house, as it were.
Diana thought she had an upper hand when marrying into the Windsors because her Spencer Blue Blood was “bluer” and more English rooted than theirs was. She didn’t, but she thought she would.
@morrigan01
The only reason the Windsors are on the throne is because Queen Anne Stuart was unable to produce a living child. Her father was literally deposed for being Catholic when his wife produced a male heir. In the 16th to 18th centuries, Britain was a hotbed on anti-Catholic sentiment and fear. It was so strong that it bordered on a collective phobia.
The House of Hanover had a smidgen of Stuart blood and were Protestant. The fact that the first Hanover King of England, George I, had no deep connection to the country and that his command of the English language was allegedly not that great meant less than his religion. He was not really accepted as English and outright mocked for his German ways. But he was the lesser of two evils. Better a German Protestant than and English Catholic for King. Ironically, the Stuarts were Scots who were the historical enemies of the Tudors, who had Welsh and French ancestors. The Yorks and Lancasters were Plantagenets who had French origins. Some people count the Anglo-Saxon of the late Viking age/early Middle Ages Kings as the last “true” Kings of England.
Insular and snobbish as the English aristocracy is, I’m not at all surprised that they may secretly look down on the Windsors. However, it is kind of ironical that they are so proud of tracing their lineage back to the Normans who came over with the Conqueror because they were invaders who violently imposed their culture (and for a long time their language, French) onto the older Anglo-Saxon culture (which in turn imposed their culture on the Celtic one, which imposed theirs on an even older one). It comes down to cultural and national identity as either heritage or choice. Both have value – both the one of heritage can become very insidious when people claim to be better because they have been there longer.
@ArtHistorian I love your posts like this!
Celebitchy – come for the gossip, stay for the history.
(But I think its really interesting how you tie the gossip back to history! and I don’t mean that in a snarky way.)
History is my jam – and historical gossip and scandal can be very interesting. Today’s royal gossip is super tame when you compare what the British aristos and royal got up to the the 18th and early 19th century. Secret (illegal) marriages, domestic menage-a-trois’, incest, you name it. Then there’s the whole witchcraft and poison scandal at the court of Louis XIV, which was just insane.
Florence-
Yep. I’m clinging to my tin foil tiara theory that William is secretly plotting to get rid of Kate. The theory that this is Rose’s doing fits in with that too. Willie boy could be working with Rose to get rid of Kate; if he’s really into Rose and wants to marry her, then this could be a plot between Will and all the turnip toffs to get rid of the middle class Middletons.
Far fetched, maybe, but. . . It would not surprise me if Will saw Harry get all he wanted in life and has had an early mid life crisis, realizing he is trapped in a marriage he never wanted for the sake of duty.
I think William married Kate because he wanted a “normal” family unit. He only married her for her parents. William clearly has a lot more issues with his own parents than he lets on. It makes the “Harry is fragile” headlines more awful. Harry sought help. William needs to. The part of him being obsessed with Carol is creepy as hell.
I’m just not getting why Willileaks would be obsessed with Carol. Are they implying anything sexual or what? I remember a while back when an article said how William goes to Carol blah, blah, blah, and lies on the couch with his head in Carol lap and I thought that don’t sound right. Now more meat is being added to those bones and the shape that’s taking (at least to me) really looks like they’re implying Willileaks and Carol are sexually involved or something!!! I’m not sure where they’re going with this but to me its ominous.
That would make it William’s doing, nothing about Rose. William laying the groundwork for how he was manipulated by the Middletons into marrying Kate. Separation and divorce to follow?
Fun tinfoil tiara idea: Charles is behind the article, and he used it to rehabilitate Meghan (the wedding story), put a check on William’s pretensions (gently, because the FFK is the truly fragile son), and begin the takedown of the Middletons.
@Jane’s Wasted – This didn’t come from Charles, KP admitted they knew about it and collaborated with it and would have given permission for people to speak to Tatler.
The fact that Tatler actually printed comments attributed to Donna Air is also very very telling – there has long been stories about how Carole did not approve of her and James was on several occasions quite dismissive of Donna in interviews.
I wonder if this will be the start of the other tabs following suit with hit pieces like this – those guys have years of dirt of the Cambridges and either they or the Middletons have pissed someone big in the media off for this to even have been written.
I have read it a few times now and the more i read it the more I think it’s been deliberately written to embiggen Kate while exposing the truth about her and her family.
Tatler have fired the first shots. Who is next?
Digital Unicorn- Thanks for the information, I can see I was late to the party there! Really interesting hit piece, I wonder if it’s a precursor of what’s to come as well.
@Ginger that’s always been my take on their relationship. The Middletons are the stable “normal” family he never had and that’s what he sees in Kate. She’ll be dutiful and drama-free – basically the opposite of his mother. He’s got issues up the wazoo!
I don’t think this is from William’s camp because he doesn’t look good in it. He looks weak and overly dependent on the Middletons.
What if he’s going for a mental health angle? How a vulnerable, sheltered young royal, grieving his mother was manipulated by Carole and the rest of the Middletons. If he wants to divorce Kate, he has to make the Middletons look bad too.
Exactly my thoughts. And when the time for divorce is ripe, camp William will butcher mama Carole and her family. It’ll be interesting to see the media war, which camp will pay which to speak on their behalf. This won’t end well, mark my words. This is when William will need Harry so badly to help him. I think Carole is very manipulative and was part of sowing this seed of discord between the brothers.carole is evil, waiting for when the chickens come home to roost.
Beth…I try not to be petty, but, this drama is getting to the popcorn and butter level quicker than I thought. Definitely believe Bill is not happy with Kate, which would make her expendable. Watch this space!
This makes sense to me as I’m one of those folks who doesn’t see Will spending the rest of his life with her. I think turning 40 is going to hit Will hard. In Will’s 40th year, he will see his younger brother thriving, living a fulfilled and passionate life, both in his career and marriage. And then he’ll look at his life, stuck cutting ribbons and married to a woman he’s not crazy about and a dad to kids he’s apparently not too crazy about either. I think he loves his family, as much as a spoiled and narcissistic future king can, but I think he feels dead inside and will decide it’s their fault and walk away.
Oh dang, that’s depressing.
Nyro, what makes you think he’s no crazy about the children?
Because he’s always talking about how he doesn’t spend as much time with them as he supposedly wants to. He’s not a regular dad putting in 40-70 hours a week, working hard to support his family. Why is he not spending more time with his kids? What’s he out there doing? He’s not doing anything, he clearly just doesn’t want to be that bothered with them.
William won’t get rid of Kate, because why should he? The ONLY thing about Kate that would upset William is that Kate is obviously lazy, not very bright, and can’t seem to engage with people, which reflects badly on William for choosing her. But, other than that, he gets to live his life however he wants, and knows Kate will put up with it. Kate isn’t high born so IF William ever wanted to, he could throw Kate and her family under the bus if the need ever arose. Kate will never outshine him, outwork him, have opinions of her own, or do anything without his approval. Why would he get rid of the perfect doormat? Kate has no bearing on William living his life as he wants to.
If William ever decides that he wants more and to be his best self, Kate’s done. Those midlife crisis years, a time of reflection for most men, are going to be dangerous terrain for Kate and her family. If they can keep William on track at least until his early 50s, I think Kate might make it to the finish line.
I don’t understand this divorce talk at all. Kate Middleton is nothing without her husband and title. She is not going anywhere. She has been with him her entire adult life and she has nothing to fall back on, or an identity or personality outside of her royal position. He could drag her up and down Anmer Hall by her hair and she’d get up, put on a smile and take it, because she will be on that throne. Otherwise what’s the point. And I don’t think she’s as miserable as people make out, but she doesn’t seem to really care for others as much as she likes to fake she does. She has it good and only hates the thought of having to get out there more once the lockdown lifts. She does not want to do anything that even whiffs of real work.
@L4FRIMAIRE oh it won’t be HER asking for a divorce.
William is, and always has been, someone who doesn’t stray very far from his comfort zone. He likes things to be familiar and comfortable and cozy. He wouldn’t do anything to upset the apple cart that is his life if he can help it. I think the stability of his marriage is what keeps him involved in it. The instability and the mess that a divorce would cause for him is his worst nightmare because he’s lived through that volatility and he doesn’t want to do that again. He’s in it with Kate for keeps.
I think this is why William knows he has the option of getting rid of Kate. She will never turn around and start making a name for herself like Diana did. She won’t start any groundbreaking charity work or even have notoriety in the press outside of being messy. She’s not rubbing shoulders with celebrities, so she won’t be a glamorous tabloid fixture. William definitely has options because Kate has always given him options.
They sure were quick to dismiss this story as “false” when they completely allowed these same people make up so much crap about Meghan. Her abuse came from the inside. No one can tell me (gaslight is more like it) otherwise.
I peeped that too Kaiser. They really made sure they didn’t specify which accusations were false. The most detailed ones in the article are for sure true. The fact that she had the audacity to tell Meghan what to do during her own wedding ceremony. The entitlement jumped out. I’m glad Meghan put this woman in her place.
“Never complain, never explain.” Well, unless we feel like it that day.
Carole Middleton running that marriage? Quelle surprise!
When I read, about Carole “he most difficult client’ he had ever worked with: ‘She was exceedingly demanding, fussy and questioned everything.”: can you imagine if it was Meghan? Gosh I cannot imagine the headline!
Imagine if it was Doria Ragland. Good lord, the press wouldn’t be able to stop for decades. I can’t even think about the stuff they’d write tbh.
Okay I’ve got 3 theories about this article:
1) As Lainey (who normally I don’t agree with but she made some good points about this) said, this was Kate’s attempt at her own “5 friends People mag” piece. When it backfired, KP ran towards the Fail and denied it. Would they deny it if it made Kate look sympathetic? I don’t think so
2) Tatler wanted to write a sugary article about Kate but the sources didn’t have sugary thoughts about Kate. So the writer tried to combine the truth with their own sugary interpretations which is why this article is a weird combo of praise and insults.
3) (Grab your tinfoil tiaras for this one) This was sanctioned by Rose and/or the toffs as sort of “revenge” for the whole debacle of last year. As @ArtHistorian mentioned yesterday, this whole thing reeks of classism especially towards Pippa and Carole. This was a sort of “Here’s what we really think of you and your family”. The “compliments” may be how they act around her but the backhanded compliments make it clear that this is what they really think about her. Also why Rose is called “glamourous” at the end and the “rift” stuff is mentioned
Will be interesting to see what Tatler do. Will they ignore the denial and continue to run their story? Will they stick to their guns and say (directly or indirectly) that their sources are accurate? Or will they quietly pull the story?
I don’t go on lainey’s site. What else did she say?
I like the third theory
I found the Pippa angle so strange – like I get that it’s her sister but it seemed like such weirdly targeted shade towards her when she’s actually been relatively quiet as of late. It just doesn’t make much sense for them to have taken a swing now – and it does have a bit of a classist vibe, doesn’t it?
I agree the Pippa thing is weird.
After the wedding and the child she has disappeared: we see her at Wimbledon and charity events, so I don’t get it.
I think the ‘being in her sisters shadow’ seems like a line from Kate. I think growing up it was kate in Pippa’s shadow, and they were competitive with each other. I think kate loved the fact that her sister got rejected by all the aristocratic men and she married the future king. But the rest is unclear, it seems like they were told to make so many key points, and Tatler ran away with it and added their own salt to the pot.
“LOL” said Pippa, as she casually pushed her baby buggy while she ran another marathon in front of the paps she called.
Pipa was being papped rather frequently on the DM right before the Sussex’s came back for that long weekend. But it wasn’t garnering any interest and the only comments where asking why there were pictures and articles about her. I think thr middletons had hoped to push her into the public eye in the wake of Sussexit, but the people just weren’t biting.
Pippa was linked to George Percy and that did not end well, so many from that group probably saw a chance to put in some digs. Other forums have said that Pippa stalked Percy. Not sure how accurate that is, but this article certainly put an emphasis on her social climbing.
Pippa only started to lay low in the press once the stories of rape committed by her father in law were printed – before that she was calling the paps daily. Pippa was thirstier than Kate when it came to media attention.
The Middleton sisters have clearly always been competitive with each other. Its always been said that Pippa was the more vivacious of the 2, the one that everyone liked – even the aristo set are said to have preferred Pippa. But saying that maybe Pippa burned bridges when after the Cambridge wedding she went on her own ‘hunt for an aristo/titled husband tour’ – people forget that James Matthews was in a relationship with a friend of hers before that ended then he and Pips got back together, and I am not implying overlap.
Let’s not forget that Pippa had a history of trying to capitalize off of her sister’s fame in the years after her marriage. First there was that column she was asked to write. Then there was that book that bombed hugely. And the notorious “Pippa tips” that people made fun of her for. They refer to her as a try-hard in the article who is doing way too much to fit in, but is coming off as a huge weird snob in the process of it all. There’s no particular intention behind the angle as much as it is a way to contextualize the whole situation with the Middleton family and give something of a history for them. Like a, “This is where they come from, this is what motivates them,” etc. I imagine the article writer just asked people what their impressions of Kate and her family were, expecting to hear some good, heartwarming things about her background and how her family is so close and sweet and encouraging and just so happy for her. I’ll bet she didn’t expect to hear any of this stuff in response, even though this gossip and these impressions are really nothing new and have been around for a long, long time.
I think its a combination of 2 and 3.
So Tatler wanted to write a sugary article about Kate, so they talked to some friends/acquaintances, and got some quotes, and then they talked to the Toffs, and the gloves came off, British aristocrat style. The toffs are sending a clear message that rose is one of them and Kate and her family are not, regardless of her role as FFQC.
But its clear that someone at Tatler was okay running with this story that does not make Kate look…great.
I said the same thing over a year ago that The Turnip Toffs (Landed Titled aristocracy and rich landed gentry) would not let this go and would come after Cathy. As more and more comes out, I am beginning to think the Turnip Toffs really do not care much for Normal Bill because he is not really one of them.
The Turnip Toffs respect the crown he will someday wear but he really isn’t part of the “cool kids” group. I also think there was a tonne of not-so-nice “tea time” and “cocktails before dinner” gossip regarding Bill & Cathy’s lack of productive work for EACH. The Turnip Toffs are many things but they are not a bunch of lazy wankers.
@baytampabay that’s so funny. American here, obviously I don’t understand aristocracy if a PRINCE and future KING isn’t aristocracy and “not one of them”… who tf is?? Lolz.
@Abby: it’s because the Windsors don’t really have ancestral ties to English nobility. Because of this, aristocrats think they are beneath them. It’s why it was kind of a big deal that Diana married in, because she was actually a “true” blue-blooded member of the nobility.
@Abbey,
The Windsors descend from the House of Hannover who only came to the English throne because they Queen Anne Stuart couldn’t produce a living child (from 16 pregnancies). They were chosen solely because they were Protestants with a smidgen of royal Stuart blood and thus had a tenuous connection to the dynasty they replaced.
The first Hannover King, George I came to the throne in 1714 (not really that long ago in a dynastic perspective). He was ridiculed by his British subjects for allegedly being unintelligent and not being able to speak proper English. He was only chosen because he was the lesser evil to a Catholic king – James II Stuart was deposed because of his Catholicism when his Catholic Queen Mary of Modena finally produced a male heir. The deposition of James II was the crux of the Jacobite rebellions in the 18th century, attempts to re-instate a royal bloodline that thought that they had been usurped. In the 1500-1700s, England were rife with an intense anti-Catholic sentiment. It was practically a mass phobia. Hence a German-born Protestant King was preferable an English-born Catholic one.
As William M Thackery wrote about George I Hannover: “His heart was in Hanover … He was more than fifty years of age when he came amongst us: we took him because we wanted him, because he served our turn; we laughed at his uncouth German ways, and sneered at him. He took our loyalty for what it was worth; laid hands on what money he could; kept us assuredly from Popery … I, for one, would have been on his side in those days. Cynical and selfish, as he was, he was better than a king out of St. Germains [James, the Stuart Pretender] with the French king’s orders in his pocket, and a swarm of Jesuits in his train.”
Long story short, one could argue that the Windsors aren’t really “British” since they descend from a German prince. It is a ridiculous argument since their House has been in Britain since the early 18th century but it was felt to be a dangerous enough argument in the early 19th century. Because of WWI they were afraid of anti-German sentiment targeting them, so the royal family changed their name from the German Saxe-Coburg Gotha (that name came through Prince Albert) to the more English sounding Windsor – after the royal castle that originally was built by William the Conqueror and later expanded by one of the great medieval English kings, Edward III who, incidentally, created the most prestigious royal Order there: The Order of the Garter. Choosing the name “Windsor” was basically a fairly new royal dynasty re-branding themselves by invoking a particularly English medieval heritage that they really only are very tangentially related to.
@ArtHistorian – and wasn’t QEII’s grandmother ( Queen Mary) not British? I remember watching a documentary (about the change to Windsor) and it mentioned something about how George (EII’s father) wasn’t actually British.
(for the record as an American I think two or three hundred years is plenty of time to become British, but I don’t live there.)
Queen Mary was technically Princess of Teck in the Kingdom of Wüttemberg but she was born and raised in England. Her mother, Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, was the grandchild of George III. He status was kind of complicated despite her royal heritage because her paternal grand-father had married “below” his social standing and thus his children lost the right to inherit his royal titles in Wüttemberg.
She was seen as too royal for an aristocratic marriage but not royal enough to marry into other European RFs. Remember at this time, it was the norm for royals to marry into foreign royal houses. Queen Victoria’s heir, later Edward VII, married a Danish princess, Alexandra whose sister Dagmar married the Russian emperor. It is only with Mary’s betrothal to the heir prince Albert Victor and later his brother George after Albert’s untimely death that the “tradition” to marry other Brits became entrenched in the BRF. Before that they always married outside of Britain because it was the norm for royals to only marry people of royal descent.
To further “tarnish” Mary of Teck’s reputation was the fact that her father was declared insane and her mother was so rapacious that the family’s economy was in ruins.
Regarding history – if an institution, a country or even just a city has a 1000 year-old heritage (or in case of fx Rome a 2000 year-old heritage), a couple of centuries isn’t that long. It is a matter of perspective. I once shared a dorm with a student of geology and in their perspective, a couple of millenia were a short period of time because the time perspective on the subject they studied were not in thousands of years but millions of years.
@ArtHistorian – thanks for the information! Alexandra is who I think they mentioned in the show (it’s Netflix’s House of Windsor lolol. First episode – Adapt or Die)
Many of the titled aristocracy trace their titles and lineage back to William the Conqueror. The “Titled Toffs” feel that the Windsor are the throne because their families (ancestors) allowed George I agreeing to be subservient to parliament (read House of Lords) to ascend the throne after they threw out James II for his daughters and nephew who had no heirs.
Here is the really strange thing IMHO, the future Charles III always has and still does get on very well with the “Titled Toffs” and is considered one of them as is the Princess Royal. My only hypothesis is the one stated above by someone else: the “Toffs” really do not care for William.
In general, with the aristocracy, the rule is to gauge by the length of their history and the number of generations back they can trace their ancestry. The more generations that is, the better.
And the Windsors are most definitely new on the scene for sure. It doesn’t get remarked on quite as much, but their relationship and descent is rather tenuous and hanging on by a thread.
@ArtHistorian, also something to mention about Queen Mary–she was most definitely looked down out and treated in a somewhat snobby way by her extended relations. First there’s the fact that she was born out of an unequal marriage between her parents, which means that she had the lesser title of Her Serene Highness (which mattered a lot). Then there’s the fact that her mother was embarrassing in a lot of ways. She was a hugely excessive spender, and the family often found themselves moving around and living off the largesse of their relatives to escape the debt collectors. Her mother was basically a proto-Carole Middleton, but without any of the finesse or money, and she very nearly nuked Mary’s chances of getting married into the BRF by behaving in such an obviously ambitious way.
She ultimately married into the family because Queen Victoria liked her a lot (not as much as her cousin, who eventually became Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, but still) and thought she would be good for the job. Her first engagement was to the notorious Albert Victor, and everyone expected her to essentially babysit him and temper his worst impulses and basically make him look like less of a sloppy mess than he was. And then he died, but it worked out for Mary since she married George V and still became Queen.
There’s a lot of stuff that people say about her that I think is interesting. For one thing, she was notoriously light fingered and would basically steal stuff she liked from the homes of the aristocrats she visited. She bought a lot of her Russian relatives’ jewelry at bargain basement prices after the revolution. She was something of an amateur historian, and did a lot of work to scrupulously categorize and put in order the vast numbers of paintings and jewelry and other objects and track down their histories etc. Her notes were so meticulous, people still rely on them today as a matter of fact. All things considered, she was something of an intellectual and read widely and cared deeply about preserving the image of the monarchy at the time.
And she was also, funnily enough, a massive snob. There’s a quip that’s attributed to Princess Margaret who said that her grandmother was so status-conscious that she would pay more attention to Queen Elizabeth rather than Princess Margaret, because Elizabeth would eventually be monarch, and that in spite of that, she still didn’t treat either of them all that well, because she couldn’t stand the fact that they were born with the HRH title and she wasn’t.
@A
I think the snobbery and inferior complex of Queen Mary (and the Queen Mother) has played a HUGE part in how the current Windsor family dynamic is so tied up in social rank that they can’t relate properly to each other as family and human beings. The intense focus on rank within the family (even within the close family) is utterly toxic and it produces resentful, emotionally stunted people who are more likely to sabotage than support each other. And it makes completely sense that this dysfunctional dynamic originates with snobbish people who didn’t quite belong but made it to the top of the pecking order anyways.
You know, your 3rd theory is out there, but it oddly makes a lot of sense. Seeing the extra bits of the article–especially the Pippa and Carole stuff…OUCH–this comes off very much like a “you and your low class family will never be one of us, Kate darling” hit piece. The shade behind this seems so intentional and purposefully cutting.
@L84Tea…agree it reads like a know your place. If the Windsors are not quite part of the ‘in-crow’, Kate will never be and it’s like they’re reminding her. What a mess. The part that holds my ‘interest’ is the continuing attempts to trash M
@ArtHistorian _I’ve never had a more enjoyable read of a topic I care so little about. I hope you are in a position where you frequently get a chance to impart your knowledge. Kudos
Thank you for the kind words. History can be very interesting – and sometimes stranger than fiction. Royal history is sometimes very scandalous and entertaining.
@sofia – yes it is absolutely classist towards the Middletons, and sexist towards Carole (the usual dog whistles about a woman being “demanding” etc when she wants a job done properly – God forbid!). It also had some swipes towards the BRF in that it used royal palaces/houses as the examples of “aristo” homes being “threadbare” and “covered in dog hair” which speaks to the classism of the toffs viewing the BRF as arriviste foreigners…A combination of 2 and 3 I think. The superfluous reference to horsey Rose as glamorous would tend to support #3. On a different note the photo of Kate in the red check table cloth dress looking sadly at William will be the photo all the papers run if they ever do split – it’s the “beginning of the end” photo.
The most sexist comments of all come from Meghan critics, the “bad” woman leading the “innocent” man astray despite the pleas of his “sainted” brother.
Diana used to talk about their German and Greek heritage. Liz grandfather change their name to House of Windsor from Saxe Gotha etc because of anti German sentiment at that time.
‘It also had some swipes towards the BRF in that it used royal palaces/houses as the examples of “aristo” homes being “threadbare” and “covered in dog hair” which speaks to the classism of the toffs viewing the BRF as arriviste foreigners.’
Actually those things are considered desirable and ‘comfortable.’ I know it’s a really foreign idea to most people.
Something else about that sentence that’s probably confusing- it’s considered the polite thing to insult your own (valuable) possessions. The idea is that doing this will set the other person at ease.
@Jane’s Wasted Talent – Sorta like letting your dogs lie on a 200 year old Chippendale Sofa because that sofa has always been there and the dogs have always slept on it.
This story was told about Dumfries House during the tenure of Lady Eileen Beatrice Forbes (1912–1993), 5th Marchioness of Bute in the documentary “Charles at 70”.
I really hope the cushions were leather, lol.
It does sound sweet though. And I shouldn’t point fingers, as kids we rolled around on the rugs with the dogs too. (But that was better than our parents- they climbed the bookcases to the ceiling and then drove onto the sofas. Come to think of it, children are a far more destructive force. Let the dogs have the sofa and at least it will still be there in 200 years, lol.)
Still haven’t seen ‘Charles at 70’ and want to, did you like it?
The whole article is bizarre and I don’t think it was ever intended to make Kate look good. It seems entirely bitchy, cloaked with backhanded compliments.
I completely buy theory number three. It seems very much like a potential scorned lovers quest for revenge but vague enough that nobody can point the finger with certainty.
For it to be one or two, it would imply that Kate has no friends and that nobody likes her enough to have anything complimentary to say. While I know that many people would like to believe that’s true, it’s highly unlikely.
I don’t think there was any particular intention or that it was motivated by anything except the larger dynamic at play between the aristocrats and Kate.
The reason Kate ticked off Rose wasn’t because she interfered with her affair. I believe it’s because Kate tried to Queen Bee her out of their local friends circle, and Rose, who had always been privy to the gossip and the general condescension the aristos held for Kate, went all, “Haha no, you don’t get to do that to me, peasant. I outrank you and my ancestors can be traced back over ten gloriously inbred generations.”
She didn’t reinvent the wheel in terms of this gossip or the article as much as she just exemplified the attitude in action. Kate doesn’t get to mean girl other people, especially people who see themselves as superior to her. She gets mean girled, always has, always will, and that’s what this Tatler article is all about.
uuuuu I totally agree with your toff theory. It makes sense. Also, did you guys see twitter catching fire – calling Kate a Karen now?
Lainey doesn’t like Meghan and Harry. She will make a snide comments usually. She seems to be leaning towards the Dolittles side for some reason.
@ Cosmo Wait, what?! Do you actually read Lainey’s takes on H & M? She’s very, very clear which side her bread is buttered on. She’s maybe not overtly throwing the Cambridges under the bus but she’s been calling out the tabloid treatment of Meghan since the beginning. Plus I remember a story where she and Sasha, I think, met Meghan once when she was still working on Suits. Lainey had nothing but positive things to say about that encounter. No, she’s quite biased in favour of Harry and Meghan. I don’t count critiquing work and publicity related choices as being on Team Cambridge. Her points read valid to me. I still maintain it was a mistake not to have had a website and the Archwell stuff up and running when SussexRoyal was taken down. I know they could have managed it, it’s not like they don’t have resources or access to a great team. There must be reasons why they chose not to do it, but we’re not privy to their reasoning. So all we – and Lainey, too – can do, is speculate and discuss on the basis of the information we have.
@Cosmo Quite the opposite. She’s not without criticisms of Meagan, but she’s also the first one to point out out the media and the Royal Family treat a woman of colour, and how Meagan has been used as a heat score to distract from the Duke of York’s scandals.
@Cosmo. I agree. Lainey will say something that seems to be in support of Meghan but she always finds a way to slip in some snide remark. I think it was last week on twitter ppl mentioned the article where she agree that H&M are right to sue the media for harassment and ends by basically calling them media whores.
you have this backwards. she initially got called out for being too close to a source to H and M, so now at least she is more neutral in her posts. if she was overly fawning, as she used to be, that would not be balanced either.
Theory four as written by others above.
William is behind this, laying the ground work for an anti-Middleton campaign. He wants out of the marriage, not to marry Rose, but to be free of Kate and the Middletons. His newfound knowledge of mental health allows him to see how he was manipulated by evil controlling Carole. He is flexing his muscle against Carole’s PR about Kate the Amazing mum (swimming story from last year), showing Carole he’ll win the PR war in the end.
You know what @notasugarhere – I don’t even think it’s that serious.
The whole article looks like it literally did go wrong on both sides. As someone suggested above it appears to be a bit of a mish-mash. I suspect that some of the quotes came from Kate’s freinds and the rest the turnip toffs (at Rose’s direction) whom have taken their chance to put the boot in.
The sad thing is that either way Bill doesn;t care and that is what upsets Kate. The realisation that her husband’s mistress of more noble birth can troll the shit out of her and (1) he doesn’t care and may even find it mildly amusing / defend her (2) that Rose can get away with it as she has more power in the circle.
Basicaly this is a coup d’etat for Rose. The Article is about ‘Catherine the Great’, but it seems that it is actually Rose who literally comes up smelling of Rose’s at the end. If I were Kate I’d find that deeply troubling bc it’s clear that Rose’s brigade know where all the bodies are buried and she lives entirely by their good graces.
I don’t see Rose behind this, she has nothing to gain and no reason. She ‘won’ last year over Kate, and with no desire to marry William, she has moved on. Kate and Carole have spent three years pushing Kate over Meghan, and pushing Kate over Rose. I see William having something to gain here, or Kate and Carole, but not Rose.
I agree that Rose probably didnt ‘go out of her way’ but I suppose I am saying that ‘she took her chance’. In any case the implication is that Kate must know her place.
William doesn’t have the gumption to do this. By every estimation, he is boring, stupid, and incapable of being motivated to do a great deal. This article doesn’t contain anything that the press and the tabloids haven’t been saying about the Middletons since day 1. It’s pretty clear that all the people who the author hit up for quotes and interviews just used the session as a way to unload all the old gossip and impressions they’ve had about the Middletons over the years.
If William wanted to be done with Kate, he wouldn’t go to the Tatler to lay the groundwork. And he wouldn’t lay groundwork for it either. It’d be an impulsive, stupid, ill-conceived decision he’d take one day and then announce his separation without consulting anybody, and all his courtiers and the people around him would be shocked and they’d run to the Telegraph to complain. We’d get two months of stories on the agonizing details and then they’d reconcile because William, “realizes that his family is important, and that Kate is the mother of his children and he should try and keep his family together at all costs.”
Tatler is standing by every word of their story.
I think it’s secret option 4), which is the aristocrats basically saying, “Hey, remember all this old shit that we used to say and think about you and laugh at you behind your back for? Do you really think we forgot all that stuff because of Meghan? Bless your heart. (:”
There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Cambridges, be ware
Kate’s roots are grey!
So are mine. What is your point?
and??? so are the roots of many other women?
Everything in the article looks like the fiction usually written about Meghan. This woman was the biggest beneficiary of the attacks against Meghan when she does not even have 1/100 of the skills Meghan brought to the table; so looks like her ‘crew’ is now going after her……..I am only happy Meghan is out of the RF shit hole
Maybe the Toffs did not really mind Meghan because they really liked Harry and feel that Kate & William got what they wanted so why are they not out-and-about shining in the spotlight that is now all theirs. Have any of the Toffs of William & Henry’s generation ever said a bad word about Meghan? If they have, I have never read it.
When you think about it, Meghan, with her connection to the entertainment industry, is really more of David Rocksavage Cholmondeley’s ilk that Cathy Cambridge is.
They are the same people who went after Meghan. It’s the courtiers and aristos. They’ve never liked Kate or her family. The courtiers especially hate Carol’s hold on William. He listens to her over them. It sounds to me like Carol is also quarantined at Amner with the Cambridges. She really reinforces the idea that they are overworked and such. So, they’re probably pissing off the courtiers who are trying to get them to do more. They only stopped going after Kate because they hated Meghan more. Kate is easier to control. That’s the main issue. They want control. They just happen to be terribly racist, classist, and sexist on top of it. Don’t forget that they blocked Harry from speaking to the Queen the entire time he was in Canada before Sussexit.
The Toffs didn’t like Meghan either – well, the aristocrats didn’t. Remember those stories about how H&M had the nerve to ask to sit next to each other at dinner parties and the like?
But, in general, Meghan wasn’t hanging out in Norfolk during her 2 years in London. She probably had little interaction with Rose Hanbury and the toffs.
My whole head is grey. It looks great too.
and? gray hairs are normal and we are in quarantine.
I noticed that too😂😂
This is the most misjudged royal story since William went running to Richard Kay over the Norfolk falling out rumour.
So true.
A PR flop from KP again.
wowwww. This piece is…. so shady. The other clips in the other post made me really mad, but this is NOT flattering to Kate or William. wow.
My favourite part of this is that whenever they mention Kate’s CEO level work, the only examples they can truthfully give are about her clothes:
“Out went safe shift dresses, in came silk pussy-bow blouses and softer blowdries.”
Everything else is speculative:
“Was it Kate who advised William on his recent modernising speeches and causes while toning down her own rigid body language? Was she instrumental in William’s jarringly woke ‘inclusivity’ Bafta speech?”
If I were Kate, being associated with that pathetic Bafta speech would make me want to correct the record. Also, that’s what passes for “jarringly woke” in some parts. Lolololol
I laughed at her work ethic being compared to a CEO. As someone who works hard long hours without a nanny and staff its insulting to the real work force and CEO’s. If she is having a hard time now, imagine when she is older and the Queen.
It seems there is no one with brains in kp to tell them how bad this will make top CEO look. Now they have sent their cheerleaders to clean up the mess 😀😀😀. Kiki and her manager should be ready cos penis with teeth will not hesitate to throw them under the bus . And it would be easy cos none of the snobs there really care for commoner kate and her greedy mum
One of the most interesting parts of the rebuttal from KP is that this story wasn’t run by them before publication (which I don’t believe). So KP sees these stories before the public does and still didn’t do shit to protect Meghan. Silly me though. Why protect when they’re the driving force behind the campaign?
As for tightsgate……the nerve of her to think she had any say whatsoever of what the bridal party would be wearing. If she was worried about protocol, she could’ve pulled Charlotte out of the wedding party. Knowing what we know now, I’m sure Meghan was fed up. Dealing with her shitty family on top of playing a royal wedding and here comes this lady crying to her out tights…..Meghan was probably nice but firm when she told Kate no, they won’t be wearing tights. Kate been in her feelings about it ever since. Harry probably backed her up too hence the “whatever Meghan wants, Meghan gets” line.
that whole “meghan wants, meghan gets” line NEVER made any damn sense to me because when that line was first reported, it was about Harry telling Kensington staff this. It made Harry completely OOC.
Now it make sense. It was never about the staff. It was about the wedding. Its Meghan’s wedding. She can do whatever she wants. Harry backed her on this, and Kate was pissed.
wow.
yeah, this story makes me think the “what Meghan wants, Meghan gets” line was aimed at Kate. and I can see that setting Kate off – because Harry outranks her, Harry is the blood royal, Kate is just the married in, and harry saying something like that would remind Kate of that. That could have soured Kate on Meghan permanently, if Harry “scolded” her in defense of Meghan.
And from what we’ve seen, I think it’s perfectly in character for Harry to draw a line in a protective way. I think some people can look at that comment and think ‘whoa, okay drama king’ but looking back on it – I think it was probably one of the earlier times where Harry has shown that he absolutely has Meghan’s back even with his family, and he won’t put up with people pushing her around. And since Meghan seems like a genuinely affable person, I can imagine she was just trying to not rock the boat too much, but it was making her unhappy because no matter what she did, it was like she lost in someone’s eyes.
I never thought that that line was all that bad. I think it was always intended to be a warning shot to all the people who he realized were clearly trying to undermine and circumvent Meghan’s wishes in every aspect of their wedding planning. It was pretty clearly intended as a, “Do what she tells you and stop trying to put up unnecessary roadblocks to make her life miserable.” What she wants, she gets, because what she wants are the barest minimum and nothing that no other royal bride marrying into the family wasn’t given.
Meghan is the bride so of course she will have her wedding the way she wants. Doesn’t every bride including Karen Keen? This line should not be used against her. They are just picking on a woc in the royal family.
Catherine, the great- what they said and what I read:
Catherine´s amazing, healthy and normal relationship with her mother and sister Lol
“None of them can quite believe that they have hit the jackpot, so between Kate, Pippa and Carole there is an unspoke bond. A sort of “We have to bring it to fruition at all costs”.
“Carole ‘the most difficult client’ he had ever worked with: ‘She was exceedingly demanding, fussy and questioned everything.’ Carole has put her stamp on Anmer decor-wise”
Catherine´s whole family treats William as a King already:
” It helps that in William’s eyes Carole and Michael Middleton can do no wrong. ‘He absolutely adores them. Michael is charming. Really kind, soft and gentle. William loves going to the country to stay with them. Their family life is so soothing for him as it’s so different from his own family.’ Another country grandee says: ‘I’ve heard that Prince William is obsessed with Carole. She’s the mummy he always wanted.’
Catherine plays for the white female audience and is proud ( Hail Kate!) :
“‘Kate knows what the country needs and wants. Championing how to raise your children is perfect.’ ”
Catherine understands the ” don’t complain, never explain” perfectly and is making sure she is the only game in town. Britain better love her, cause she is all they will have:
” ‘Kate understands that the only credo of the Royal Family is duty, duty, duty. Whereas with the Sussexes it is constant uncertainty, [the Cambridges] represent stability and continuity.’”
Catherine only cares for herself and is not interested in another woman´s struggles:
‘I don’t think that she ever pulled Meghan under her wing and said, “I’ll show you the ropes,”’ says a friend
William, the wise
“William RIGHTFULLY cautioned Harry to slow the relationship down. That’s why they all fell out. As the rift got deeper between the brothers, Kate, who used to be so close to Harry, tried to pacify things. But her loyalty will always be to William.’
INCANDESCENT WITH RAGE WILLIAM IS BACK!
William is absolutely incandescent about Megxit,’ a courtier confides. ‘Every time the Sussexes issue a statement, it hits everyone like a fresh bombshell.
William, the good grandson, worries about Petty Betty:
“The Cambridges are left reeling like everyone else. Everyone is terribly worried about how this is affecting the Queen.’
Honestely? This article is gold! For every ” compliment”, there is a sentence that makes them look like two self-absorbed, out of touch, lazy, cold, loveless, arrogant, bland and emotionless brats!
You could write a book on this alone.
Imagine Harry reading this thing? Meghan, I think, already washed her hands on these people, but these are Harry´s family and it gotta hurt!
When Louis and Charlotte grow up, we know exactly how their parents will treat them.
Ew, thanks for bringing this line to my attention: ‘I’ve heard that Prince William is obsessed with Carole. She’s the mummy he always wanted.’
The mummy
he
always
wanted
Vomit
Vomit
Vomit
What a disgusting comment to make.
That’s the comment that threw me. He had a mother, a great one by his own admission. The only thing Carole gave him that Diana didn’t/couldn’t was more years alive.
Yeah, that line was so odd. William has a mother who was …of some note! That combined with the head in Carole’s lap stories and the Diana cosplay …makes me a bit queasy
That line made me think the quote came from carol. Because she wanted to be Diana herself. When she was a teenager she had Prince Charles picture, had a crush on him, and wanted to marry him and be princess of Wales. She didn’t get to do that so she projected the fantasy onto Kate. So she wants to take Diana’s place as Williams mummy. So it actually means “she’s the mommy SHE always wanted (to be)…”
I desperately want someone to do a “best of” lists just comprised of quotes from this article. There are so many good ones.
The Sussexes were wise to leave the world’s longest running soap opera. Women marry into this family and end up reduced to these ridiculous characters out if Dynasty.
Kate was fine when the rumors made her the victim of alleged Bridezilla Meghan but suddenly issued a swift denial when she ends up looking like the bad guy.
It seems Omid’s upcoming Sussex book has triggered a whole new industry of reimagining events previously discussed by tabloids. Someone is really afraid of the truth getting out.
isn’t it interesting we know now why Kate was REALLY crying? Before any mention of this book no one would say why, only that it was “bad” cause it made Meghan look like a bridzilla. They’re rehashing all the hold stories in hopes to get ahead in whatever’s in Omid’s book. Can’t wait to hear about tiaragate.
I won’t be surprised if it was Andrew or Eugenie that were actually throwing a tantrum about the green tiara. My theory is that the Yorks already had that tiara in mind before Eugenie was actually able to choose her tiara because Meghan was getting married first. So, they made a fit about Meghan not being able to choose it to the queen, and Meghan most likely asked why the hell not.
I’ve decided to leave this comment her again…
Funny how the Cambridge camp is so desperate to copy the Sussexes and at the same time continue to take them down, with the most laughable stories, which only show how pathetic and stupid they all are. Me translating this latest Tatler attempt:
1. Let’s find some friends to portret how great Kate is, you know, like Harry and Meghan’s friends did in People magazine (even though they didn’t bash anyone from the royal family).
2. Since we can’t stop bashing Meghan, let she be the leitmotif of the story to prop Kate. At the end of the day, we nore her friends belief the high qualifications we attribute to Kate and we really don’t have much concrete stuff to back our story of her greatness, but you know, who cares. The Brits will buy it and the local media and the worldmedia will spread our story and believe if, … we believe.
3. In our attempt to create a ‘people are excited about and cheer Kate and Will’ moment, let’s create (photoshop) a non- existing photo like the ‘Harry and Meghan iconic ‘under the umbrella in the rain’ iconic photo, to put on the cover of this Tatler issue about ‘Catherine the great’.
Well, .. that backfired big time.
Kate needs a haircut. I’m thinking an angled bob, something, anything a bit more modern. And the wardrobe ugh. Would love to do a makeover on her.
She should look at Queen Letizia for some style tips…and a real work ethic.
it’s interesting I think someone was gauging reaction to this& realised it was setting Kate up for ridicule/ coming off as tone deaf so moved to distance themselves OR maybe Windsors didn’t like how they came across eg Will comes across fairly weak& like Kate& the Middletons are running the show and then of course the reference to Rose. Definitely some shenanigans in the background.
KP told the Telegraph that the article had a swathe of inaccuracies& false misrepresentations & wasn’t run by them before publication. Have they abandoned the Queen mother’s stoicism& never complain never explain?
Definitely sounds like those initial articles about Kate mentoring Meghan were the fan fiction most thought as this article& others suggest William& Kate weren’t fans from the start. This story of William cautioning Harry to slow down has been repeated ad nauseam but if he just said that-isn’t enough to cause such an apparent huge rift especially as these Windsor men are always advising on relationships. Wonder if truth of what happened will ever come out but guess that’s why the best man confirmation was quite late.
My theory is that it started with William warning that the relationship was going too fast, but when Harry didn’t really listen he said derogatory things about Meghan. Eg ‘she’s using your relationship for fame’, she’s an American actress and therefore not suitable for you, blah blah blah. That is what hurt most deeply.
I always thought this was exceedingly stupid of William. Williams ‘warning’ is the cause of all of the drama that followed. He has no common sense and no idea how to be diplomatic. What a failure he is. This stupid and thoughtless remark has driven a wedge in the family that will not be repaired.
Did Wills want his brother to court Meghan for ten years like Wills did to Kate? LOL! I think Wills thinks 10 years is the normal length of a courtship.
I’d bet my life William said something like “Americans/actresses/WOC are fine for playing around with, but you don’t MARRY them, old chap!” And then proceeded to “explain” how a multiracial American actress (politically active to boot!) is simply not quite our class, dear.
Double negative. Wouldn’t ‘false misrepresentations’ = truth?
I thought the same thing!
Ha. Said the same thing in the other post. Mdrrrrr
Bingo! It goes on to show how these people are but illiterate punks- no wonder they could not handle Northwestern educated, go getter Meghan!
Does anyone remember the tarmac drive comment about the Middletons?
“Her parents have a tarmac drive, for God’s sake,” said one anonymous member of the Gloucester polo set. Only parvenus travel to their house on tarmac; the upper classes are said to prefer to ride on gravel.“
The hotel comment is along the same lines. Toffs unite!
Haha just this morning, I was thinking of getting my gravel driveway paved…but now that I know it isn’t posh, I’ll never!
@TeamMeg – Let’s consult William Hanson as he did a three page article in Tatler (exerts ran in the Daily Fail) on how to properly decorate a posh Christmas Tree in your London townhouse and on your country estate!!!
William Richard Henry Hanson FRSA is a British etiquette expert, social commentator, and author who teaches around the world and comments on matters relating to etiquette and civility for international media. He is a tutor for the international protocol and hospitality consultancy firm The English Manner.
Stick with your gravel TeamMeg! Then they may invite you on a grouse shoot 😉
Also, don’t replace your rugs or vacuum up dog hair, apparently.
I have a dirt/gravel driveway…but I bet my gravel isn’t the “right” kind of gravel, LOL
These Toffs honestly sound so ridiculous. How shallow and small is your life, if you care so much about whether a persons’ driveway is gravel or tarmac. I find all kinds of gate-keeping petty, exhausting and ridiculous.
In the USA if you do not have a paved driveway (not talking rural farms) it is assumed it is because you cannot afford it.
For real. This and the whole thing about how the decor at Anmer Hall is too “Buckinghamshire” because it doesn’t have threadbare carpets and dog hair on the furniture is sending me.
It reminds me of another ridiculous but completely amazing Tatler article where they interviewed this lady who was a Duchess and mistress of this massive, drafty old country pile. She was asked to give tips on how to be a good hostess while saving costs.
One of the suggestions was to serve cold sandwiches for dinner, but instead of tossing the cut off crusts, save them for the next morning’s breakfast where you can fry them up for little soldiers. Another suggestion was to reuse the bath water. Cut back on heating costs by providing extra blankets. This is literally what they think is the epitome of class. I honestly can’t.
Oh dear. How ridiculous. They really do not get how absolutely ridiculous the come across. This is so funny.
God, these people are such nasty miserable snobs. So even the type of driveway you have is used as a class marker? How pathetic. When you have no real power or accomplishments or talent or even money, this is the kind of pettiness you have to resort to in order to feel good about yourself. I don’t feel sorry about Kate and her family being mocked by these people since they do desperately want to be them, but my word these people are trash. No wonder they can’t get over Meghan. She could see those clowns for exactly what they are and clearly wasn’t impressed. I’m sure that hurt them, as insecure as they are.
It is very bizarre that the majority of people that revere that class group are working/middle class people. All the people who fawn over royalty and aristocracy yet these people look down on you.
I don’t know if those snobs were self-aware enough to be hurt that Meghan likely was never impressed by them, but were more confused that she didn’t care about trying desperately to get IN with them. That likely indifferent American attitude of “eh, y’all ain’t all *that*” that I’m sure she had of them probably blew their tiny, insular-world minds . . . and had them hating her even more.
But it’s because she had that feeling/opinion of them is one of the many reasons she could walk away from all of that very easily.
*That’s* what all that nonsense talk about Meghan not having any friends was about. They meant she didn’t have friends among the aristo/turnip toff set because, in those circles, those are the only people who count.
Carole, Kate and Pippa, in contrast have spent their whole lives trying to get in with those people/that would. And they will continue to keep taking mocking like this because they still desperately want to be.
Ok, but we know everything. Nothing new is there. I read similar gossips thousand times. And Rose case, well I my opinion Kate don’t care much about Wills companions. Her target is to be Queen. And she will be.
If that’s the case why was Kensington Palace so triggered? These are the most insecure people to be so secure in their future positions. And Kate very much cares about Rose or she would not have been trying to freeze her out. Plus look at what happened to Diana. Who would have thought she would have been pushed out and never be queen?
Agreed. If Rose was just another hook-up then Kate wouldn’t have gone to the extent of trying to phase her and David out. William must’ve liked her enough to set off red flags for Kate when she found out about their affair. I do think this was more serious than Kate simply being mad about betrayal by a close friend; she probably worried that they might be serious about each other. Also, Taylor casually referencing the rumors and directly calling out Rose’s “apparent closeness to William” is likely as good as a confirmation that we will get from the British press. Words matter and the use of ‘apparent’ over a more neutral description like ‘alleged’ or ‘rumored’ stood out to me.
I think it’s a matter of degree tbh. I don’t think this is the first or the last time William will have affairs or cheat. But I think that the Rose Hanbury situation was different for a number of reasons. First, Rose was not discreet. Everyone knew about the affair in their own circle, and that reflects badly on Kate. I imagine that she takes a very out of sight, out of mind approach to her husband’s affairs, and this didn’t fit either requirement. She can excuse the cheating, but she can’t excuse the embarrassment of everyone in their friend group knowing about it.
Second, I think it brought back some memories of the lowest points of William and Kate’s relationship. William married Kate, but he had a habit of dumping her or breaking things off to chase rich aristocratic ladies if he felt like it. Rose Hanbury fits the same bill as women like Jecca Craig and Isabella Calthorpe etc.
Third, while I don’t think things ever got quite so serious as William genuinely having feelings for Rose Hanbury, I think she did encroach on some territory in their relationship that Kate felt was exclusively hers. I think William relies on Kate for certain things, including providing him and his children with a stable family life and emotional support that he lacked. Maybe William was starting to rely on Rose for that a little too much. If he can find that sort of support in someone else, that threatens Kate’s position and the power that her family has in this relationship, big time.
I really think there was some type of transgression in whatever agreement William and Kate had that made her pull out all the stops.
If William had an affair with someone in their social circle and everybody knew about it, then it was utterly humiliating for Kate. I totally understand and sympathize with her trying to freeze out Rose if this was indeed the case. Imagine having to regularly socialize with your husband’s mistress and your entire social circle knowing about it? On top of these people subtly letting her know that she’ll never be one of them? It is utterly humiliating and it is so sad that she is so desperate to fit in that she’ll never turn her back on these people who will always mock her.
I don’t care for Kate and there are lot of valid things to criticize about her. But the fact that these Toffs deride her for her middle-class background and not playing by their unwritten rules isn’t one of them. It makes the Toffs look incredibly nasty.
Sure, the toffs look nasty but Kate is desperate to be part of that nasty group. So…
I actually wonder if this was triggered by Harry leaving the UK (and by extension his aristo friends). He really was ”one of them,” and probably more popular than the Cambridges to boot.
Harry really was more “one of them” than Normal Bill. See my comment above.
I definitely think Harry is much more well-liked by this circle than William and Kate are. They might not like that he’s pulling away from them, but at the end of the day, I never got the impression that they didn’t like him or Meghan. It was always the press that didn’t like Meghan and had it out for her from day 1. If that hadn’t happened, or if perhaps Meghan had had more time to date Harry and get used to that crowd and that life, I imagine she’d have fit in with them really well and they would have actually liked her a lot. She has a ton of Sloane-y interests and tendencies if you ask me.
Meghan was not liked by that crowd.
It depends on what you mean by “that crowd.” I think there’s a crucial distinction to be made between the old school courtiers that are in charge and within the Queen’s circle, and the younger crowd that Harry is friends with and hangs around with.
My impression is that Harry’s old friends didn’t really know Meghan that well, and didn’t get a chance to before her whole character was utterly nuked by the press. There are people in the aristocratic crowd who certainly disliked her in a big way and are responsible for making her and Harry leave, but I wonder how much overlap there is between those people and Harry’s friend group.
The recent narrative of stories concerning the Cambridges and Sussexes and in particular Meghan and Kate appears to be that1) they must be in competition with each other and 2)at any given time , one 1s inherently “bad ” and the other inherently “good” .How exhausting especially for either of these women. Perhaps there is an alternative narrative –they are just people who live in an odd, confining fishbowl .
It didn’t need to be a competition until the Cambridges decided to throw them under the bus. Let’s not rewrite history here as if W&K’s camp were innocent. They were behind the attacks. That airplane stunt should have given people the clue that they were doing shit behind the scenes.
I mean the article mentions that Kate didn’t take to Meghan as people thought and she also thinks Meghan and Harry chucked her kids under the bus.
But sure, it’s the public making this all up.
Wow, there’s even shade about the Balmoral and Windsor. I’m sure the Queen will love that.
That’s not shade – not in aristo circles.
The ‘threadbare rugs’ are priceless antiques which have been in the family for hundreds of years and the ubiquitous dog hair is a signifier that living amongst priceless museum pieces is normal.
Which British aristo-politician was it who put a colleague in his place by describing him as the sort who ‘had to buy his own furniture’?
I gasped when I read Will and Kate think Harry and Meghan are so selfish because they threw the Cambridge under the bus?! I mean…eff that. Harry, Meghan, and Archie should never have been expected to lay down and let the Cambridges use and abuse them as they saw fit. I know we talk about the abuse Meghan must have endured, but I’m starting to wonder how much sh*t Harry went through at his brother and SILs expense all these years.
Nope, when someone shows you who they are, BELIEVE THEM. They are cancelled for me permanently.
The Cambridge’s have no regard for Harry’s life and really believe he needs to conduct his life on their terms.
“William is absolutely incandescent about Megxit”
Why? This is what he wanted. This is what House Cambridge campaigned for. Did we imagine the the whole exile narrative? Is it because they settled in LA? It because they still have much more media attention? They should’ve known that that was gonna happen no matter where they settled. What are you mad about William?
It’s because they’re unable to twist these headlines. Because they had knowledge of their movements, manipulating headlines to benefit them were easier. They can’t do that anymore, and it is backfiring on them.
But Harry was supposed to divorce his “degree’ wife not leave with her! What about Kate’s coffee chats and William’s workouts?
Well remember that Shipman piece suggested palace didn’t want the Sussexes in North America where they might still have a profile which is why ‘somewhere in Africa’ was apparently ideal.
The Times piece on Sunday said that Harry leaving was the tragedy. I think some wanted to drive her out or send them away as a pair& for Harry to ‘come back to his senses’ & leave her behind. So maybe that’s why William is apparently incandescent about Sussexit. I do think the quote about increased workload is a real concern for the Cambridges. Less people to do those national& foreign tours if they start doing those again eventually. Gotta be careful what you wish for…
As I said above this Tatler piece doesn’t make many of them look good so can see why KP moved to deny. Not sure why Pippa is being dragged as she’s been quiet & doesn’t seem so thirsty recently& many missiles against Carole. Isn’t it funny these things always drag the women? James& Mike are left alone.
All I get from these Tatler pieces is that these aristocratic circles are full of awful people.
Supposedly Pippa changed her entire manner of speaking- that has to be pretty jarring. Newsworthy? Meh, for a gossip rag like this, sure.
His incandescence could light entire villages for years at this point.
Hee hee!
Snort that is so true. Incandescent…the new fossil fuel
I don’t think William wanted them gone, he wanted them firmly under his control and forced to kowtow to him. Forced to do all the work while W&K took the credit and the charity money. When the Queen and Charles backed them leaving, William pushed the ‘exile them to Africa’ nonsense. What he didn’t want was Harry and Meghan free to live as they choose and be in control of their own lives.
Maybe if he would have controlled the leaks to Dan Wotton this departure would not have happened.
Do you think he was trying to slow down the relationship to lessen the chance of there being an Archie? I now put nothing past William
He’s incandescent because Harry left with Meghan. The plan was obviously to stop the wedding, but they failed. Plan B was to drive out Meghan by drowning her in negative coverage. That worked….kind of. As Ingrid Sewage boldly stated, no one thought Harry would go with her.
Which shows how much of a fool Ingrid and her RR and others set are. Because if anyone had been paying the slightest bit of attention to the things Harry has said over the years, before he met Meghan and after, then him leaving with shouldn’t have comes as any kind of surprise. More fools them.
I don’t actually think he’s incandescent, is the thing. I think he says that he is, but he really isn’t. He’s just mad that he can’t tell his brother what to do and have his dictats followed like some tin pot emperor. He fully thought his brother would listen to him about breaking up with Meghan and he can’t abide by the fact that he wouldn’t and he won’t now. That’s what he’s mad about. He’s not mad about Harry and Meghan leaving. He’s made that they won’t obey him and bend the knee like he demands and thinks he deserves.
Like I said yesterday, this article is a total hit piece.
So the interesting thing to discuss is….why? Is this Tatler reminding Kate that she’s not one of them? But why bother? Why even write the article? Unless Tatler figured, “Kate on the cover will help sell the magazine, and then we can write what we want?” Or unless someone was told to write a pro-Kate story so they wrote this, but the whole thing is snarky and TIC because the author isn’t actually pro-Kate?
I don’t believe for a second that this was 100% meant to be in praise of Kate. I was talking about this on twitter last night with someone whose theory was just that Tatler and aristocrats are SO out of touch that they could think this was positive. But I don’t buy that. There is so much shade here.
And the terminology about Kate feeling “trapped” – trapped in her marriage? Trapped in her role as FFQC?
One theory someone here floated back in January/February was that William and Kate were on the verge of divorce, and Sussexit meant they couldn’t, at least not right then. That would explain why Kate took Sussexit SO personally (per reports at least) and why Will was “incandescent with rage” and why Kate now feels “trapped.”
Anyway I’m not sure the purpose of this article, or where it came from in terms of who would want this printed, but its not from someone who is on Kate’s side.
Just yesterday the dude in charge was her old buddy from Uni and it was “embiggening”…today it’s a hit piece. The entire article speaks out both sides of it’s mouth so that it conforms whatever bias the reader has.
But it is the fun gossip oasis we needed !
No, go back and read the comments from yesterday. When we just had the excerpts, we thought it was the typical over the top embiggening where Kate always sounds a little ridiculous but that’s the nature of those articles
. As soon as the full story was published, many of us commented that it was a total hit piece. There’s no chance it was meant to be a glowing review of Kate – if it was, KP wouldn’t be distancing itself from the story as fast as it is.
It is CERTAINLY interesting that this was written with the apparent blessing and approval of her old school friend, but if he needs to sell mags he’s going to do what he has to do.
It would be William who would have wanted the divorce, Becks1. If he and Kate were on the verge of being allowed to legally separate/divorce? William would be the one taking Sussexit so personally. Which he has done.
Think of the Carole-led, pro-Middleton PR since February of last year. How Kate knows the job is more about giving speeches, how the Queen adores Kate being a cardboard cutout, Kate the mum swimming in pearl earrings. I can see that as Carole trying to stop the divorce/separation. Contributing to the anti-Meghan articles to embiggen Kate. All to stop William from getting out of the marriage.
@Nota I don’t know. I can buy the theory about the Middleton PR since last year – that definitely seemed to me like it was meant to remind will of what he had in Kate and her family, but I don’t feel like he would respond in this way, since he does look so bad in it. If the article didn’t take swipes at Will, then I would be more on board with your theory.
of course it is also possible that tatler included those swipes on purpose -we’ll do your dirty work, BUT….
This article makes William sound like a weak dimwit with severe mummy issues. No way that it came from his camp.
That’s what’s getting me confused. To me it seemed like this was never going to be another puff piece on Kate. There are far too many backhanded compliments and outright barbs peppered throughout the story. If KP or the Middletons were the ones asking for a Kate story then they certainly got more than they bargained for. If this is Rose/the toffs getting back at Kate, they did one hell of a job. If (unlikely but possible) this is William trying to lay the groundwork to push Kate out, then Tatler certainly did a good job of making him seem like a feckless moron being lured in by those awful, manipulative Middleton women. That’s certainly the narrative that Taylor is trying to push when it comes to his relationships with Kate and Carole.
“Is this Tatler reminding Kate that she’s not one of them? But why bother?”
My guess? Because they felt like she’d gotten a little too high and mighty for her own self after these last few years of having Meghan around as a punching bag, and they wanted to remind her of what they really think about her still and that it hasn’t changed. They read the same tabloid press the rest of us do, they’ve all probably seen the endless embiggening articles as well and thought, “Well, time to give someone a reality check again.”
Don’t forget, it was only a year or so ago that Kate dared presume to try and shut out Rose Hanbury from her circle. I imagine that ticked off a lot of the aristocracy’s sensibilities that they’d been dictated to by someone they’ve always seen as common and not at their level.
It’s also worth remembering that most people have very short term memories. Meghan marrying into the family brought on a ton of new royal watchers who don’t know anything except the narrative they’ve been subjected to the last few years. I imagine that to the author and to the readers who are new, this is a fresh old angle to bring to the forefront again to generate some more interest.
Who did Kate piss off at Tatler? It’s classic pre-Meghan snark, pretending to embiggen Kate while actually insulting her and her family.
Notice that this society magazine for snobs mostly avoided mentioning William. Kate should have befriended Meghan. The toffs will never fully embrace either of them and they could have supported each other. Instead, Kate threw Meghan under the bus to buy better treatment for herself.
+1
It’s like Kate never watched a single teen movie in her entire life. These people might have come to tolerate her, but they were never going to recognize her as ‘one of them,’ and she was always going to be the first one they pushed out of the circle when it suited their purposes. Much better to live your life and make strong allies.
She didn’t piss off anyone. This is what they’ve always thought of Kate. It’s just that it’s all fallen by the wayside when Meghan came into the picture and they all had someone new to target.
Ironically this article explained and confirm the reasons why Kate Middleton is so awful in her royal work and all the theories on the dynamics of the relationship between the Cambridges and the dominant place of Carole in the life of her adult daughter. But what my most angry in this Tatler’s fanfiction article is that she consider her charities’s duties as royal patron of these charities as an unpleasant and thankless task to do while in reality she prefered more luxury trips and going to shooping instead of spends time with the miserable peasants. And in her selfish mind we should be grateful for these rare shy attempts at work and also feel shamed to prevent him from spending more time with with her three childrens. I had no respect for her but there she disgusted me really, she is a horrible woman who was snob, lazy, mean, completely cut off from reality and delusional on these abilities.
At least Melania Trump doesn’t pretend to care about her first lady duty.
That is a fair point. No one can accuse Melania of faking even a moment of interest.
Kate’s goal is to be queen and raise her kids. Everything else is a nuisance.
@Line if it’s fan fiction then why are you taking it as truth and getting mad at her?
The article is a fanfiction because she claims that Kate is a great royal worker with a good work ethic to the point that she is exhausted by all the work she does, while she is lazy as hell.
I go back to how she spent all those years after college before the engagement. No real job. No volunteering record. No charity work. Nothing. I knew it wouldn’t bode well for what she would do (or not do) once she married in. And here we are.
The aristocrats really dont like Kate or her family do they? All that try hard and changing of herself that Kate did and they still see her as a middle class girl who lucked into marrying a prince.
Infact you get the sense that the more Kate tries to be one of them – changing her accent, her clothes ( copying Diana), befriending all the sloanes and countryside toffs, dressing her kids in past royal clothes etc, the more they deride her and probably chat behind her back.
They are snobs and she should have cultivated her own sense of self and given them a take me or leave me. I think she would have gained a greater media and social power, and able to create her own circle to rival theirs. Kinda like Meghan – that woman didnt care about those aristos which annoyed them.
At this point Kate looks desperate, lazy, no passion for anything and putside of royal circles the public dont give a damn. Its a shame. All that potential squandered.
‘In fact you get the sense that the more Kate tries to be one of them – changing her accent, her clothes ( copying Diana), befriending all the sloanes and countryside toffs, dressing her kids in past royal clothes etc, the more they deride her and probably chat behind her back.’
Wouldn’t you? That kind of behavior has so many red flags.
It *is* a shame- a real ‘Fabulous Four’ could have done so much good.
“They are snobs and she should have cultivated her own sense of self and given them a take me or leave me.” This, exactly. Even the aristocrats would have respected her more for it at the end of the day, if you ask me.
So the editor in chief is standing behind the story, says that KP knew about it months ago and helped with the story.
REALLY?!?!?!?! Whoa.
My thinking is KP knew this was being written, maybe gave the go-ahead to get quotes from some friends….. KP didn’t know “this” was being written.
Yup. Which throws my theory of the toffs sanctioning this out the window a bit.
So I’m going with my 2nd theory – a sugary article was intended but the sources had nothing sugary to say therefore there is this weird mishmash of Kate being praised while her, her mother and sister receive some harsh insults.
@Sofia I’m sticking with my response to your theories, that it was 2 and 3 – they were going to write a sugary piece about Kate, KP said “go ahead! sounds perfect, she’s the kingmaker!” and then someone at Tatler talked to the Toffs and got alllllll these quotes and snark and shade and the article changed its tone completely.
@Becks1 – I totally agree with your theories 100%. The Toffs may not have originated this article but they heavily influenced the article.
Royal Reporters have been hinting that they were the sources themselves. I am not surprised.
lol of course they did. but what about the timing?!?!? guarantee they don’t get raked over the coals for this tone deaf drivel, which backfired anyway.
YIKES. lmaooooooo I’m not surprised. KP only did damage control cause it landed horribly.
Oooooh the plot thickens. They would not say that without receipts.
Omg in context, that CEO comment sounds like a joke that someone was saying sarcastically. They distil her duties down to “smiling and dressing appropriately”. The rest of the quotes are clear shade at Kate and her family. The part about Carole decorating Anmer Hall like a 5 star hotel instead of a typical aristo house…😂 They are calling her and her family try-hards and otherizing “them”.
That quote sends me! Tatler is calling the Middletons Tacky Nouveau Riche.
They hate Meghan because she’s half-black but the Turnip Toffs and aristos make clear they don’t like Kate and her middling family because they are eager, social climbers.
The part of the Middletons doing whatever it takes to finish the project and referring to Kate marrying Will as hitting the jackpot? That shows a lot.
I agree. More proof that they didn’t marry for love.
Yes. And proof that it ain’t over till that crown is on her head. The wedding was just the beginning. I’m sure they all spend their days strategizing how to stay three steps ahead of Will in order to ward off a divorce.
This is why I always scoff at the notion that Kate and William would ever divorce. They won’t. Kate will never leave. She will never give up this position or the future it holds for her voluntarily. No matter how many hit pieces that people put out in the Tatler.
@A exactly. Frankly, Kate would have to actually have some self-respect to even passively let William divorce her. But she DOESN’T have any. She’s full Stepford Wife, but one with a singular goal. And that goal is that Queenly Crown. No matter what she has to do or put up with, she is going to do what she must to stay married to William and get that crown. And I suspect that she and Ma Middleton have enough of William to at least facilitate that a divorce will never happen.
So no. This marriage is here to stay. No matter what other tea gets spilled or snobby copy in gossip mags are written about her.
Well, when Betty goes, Wills breaks out with a new hair do, remember I called it first. Lol!
One other thing is Kate and Will staying mum over how Meghan was treated has ended all the outrage about Kate was treated by the press. If Meghan was supposed to quietly take it then same rules for Kate and William.
Exaclty – Kate set the standards for her own treatment and this is why KP are likely pissed.
The public want their pound of Royal flesh and with no real tangible Meghan stories, it’s Kate’s turn to deliver.
what i found most interesting is that kp sent new updates to the telegraph like 3 or 4 times (hello, incompetence). i definitely didn’t know they had that much sway in what’s published, which tbh confirms that they knew what was in the article beforehand, they were just gauging how people would respond. making it so much worse.
lucky for kate, these missteps never stick to her. funny how this ridiculous piece and that ridiculous title haven’t been directly attributable to kate like finding freedom and the people mag cover were attributed to meghan/the sussexes.
The royal family is perpetually trying to maintain its relevancy, so of course there is s campaign to sell the future queen as a saint. End of story.
Conspiracy theory alert! It was Rose behind it. Harry, Meghan, William, Kate, ma midds, and Pippa all get thrown under the bus. The article is disguised to look like a pro kate piece, making it look like it comes from her, yet throws all kinds of shade. The harry and Meghan shade was obvious, maybe too obvious. The kate embiggening Was written in a way to sound infuriating, especially the line about being exhausted during a time when people are risking their lives working the front line. The biggest shade is aimed at the middletons. Is all very passive aggressive. And rose gets a shout out for her closeness with William. Plus rose is the only other person who could have contacts at tatler. Just a theory to think about.
If Harry & Meghan return to the UK for a long visit, do not be surprised if Rose & David invite the Sussex family to spend a country weekend at Houghton Hall.
Doubt it. The aristos – which include Rose and David – don’t like Kate AND Meghan. Why would they invite her for a weekend? Didn’t they apparently complain about them sitting together at dinner parties?
Unless you’re thinking of a “enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation
As long as things could stay superficially friendly, they would probably be invited for the gossip alone. Not everyone has to get along perfectly at a house party.
Why would they do that?
The aristocrats would never ever uninvite anyone, even if they hated them. That’d be a huge transgression according to their standards of politeness. Barring a few truly extreme circumstances, you never fail to invite anyone, period. Whether they come or not is a different story. To not extend an invitation is a breach of politeness and it’s only done to send a very clear, very intentional message to the recipient.
Rose has no reason to do this as I doubt she wants to marry William. She had her fun, she’s staying in her marriage. She, William, and Rocksavage will continue to be friends.
I don’t think any one person was “behind it” exactly. There’s really no actual agenda with this piece if you ask me. They’re not trying to get Kate to leave or anything. To me, the piece is largely intended to admonish Kate, Carole and Pippa and remind them of their place in the eyes of their aristocratic peers. They’re saying, “We think you’re a bunch of try-hard fakers who will always been common as far as we’re concerned. This is what we’ve always thought, this is what we’ll always think, and don’t you ever forget that.”
Meghan and Harry, I’m sure are not laughing at the dog biting its own ass.
I think it’s time for another Zoom call! What will it be this time?
Now there is an update from Tatler calling out Kensington royal for lying.
Apparently Kensington royal knew about this story for months!!
This is great, I’m loving all the drama. This is the biggest confirmation that William and Kate have been colluding with the media to trash harry and Meghan. By Tatler calling KP out, Confirms that KP gave the go-ahead to trash the Sussex’s, to embiggen kate. Yet it back fired spectacularly. It’s a wonderful thing.
This article is worthy of framing, it is that good, that hilarious, that shady. It could be true that Carole/Kate went to Tatler looking for a friends-related embiggening piece but the friends were like lambs to the Tatler wolves.
The article brings up everything from Kate’s past that Carole/Kate try to hide. Carole is called, NQOCD (Not Quite Our Class Darling); Carole “chewed gum” at Wills’ passing-out ceremony. Uncle Gary is a boulevardier on his fourth marriage, his villa in Ibiza was nicknamed Le Maison de Bang Bang and he was part of a drug sting (set up or not). Carole must be raging at this article as they really went at her.
But that’s Tatler. It is snide and snarky and awfully funny in that British way. Carole should have picked some other publication to ask to embiggen Kate. This has to be Carole’s biggest miscalculation yet as Tatler just sent Carole/Kate a message that they will never be one of them.
now this is some good old fashioned gossip that we can enjoy!
Yes, Jules! Can’t wait to see what the next episode springs forth. And where is Betty in all this?
I wish this snarky article would win a literature prize just to annoy Petty Betty. It is nice to have some good old fashioned non lethal gossip! The tone of the posh toffs literally makes Kate’s family sound like the Beverly Hillbillies.
The Tatler is good at some things. They’re awful and snobby and the posh crowd’s personal social events page basically, but in all fairness to them, they do know how to make fun of their own ridiculous selves at times, and reading it provides a lot of good insight into how these people actually think and function.
hmmmm…..if Meghan had to turn to the “protective embrace” of her mother Doria, as Kate does with Carole, if the BP even got one whisp that said Doria was holding the Sussexes’ marriage together, the way Carole does for the Cambridges, Meghan would have been EVISCERATED six ways from Sunday.
I had really started getting frustrated with all the royal news but this was so out of touch i had to comment. if really the entire story about Meghan making kate cry is because of children’s tights & the cambridges allowed that story to continue to be used to malign meghan then she has every right to come out with a rebuttal in the Omid Scobie book.
Like WTF? toddler thights! according to the dailymail Tightsgate!
If little girls tights are going to make her cry then she isn’t quite Queen to be material. Also, you don’t get to dictate someone else’s wedding party attire.
I’m surprised she isn’t drowning in her salty bitter tears. I think someone needs to send Kate a couple packs of girls tights. Maybe that will help her get over this grudge she holds against Meghan for stealing her brother in law from her controlling clutches and ruining her charmed life where she just phoned it in and got all the jelly beans. She sounds like an insecure control freak who hates to work, but then gets jealous and resentful of her sister-in-law who hit the ground running and actually likes working. Like someone mentioned upthread, can you imagine how her patronages feel knowing this is just a grind she hates doing and feels trapped by, as she plasters on her struggle smile. So utterly disrespectful. No one, seriously, no one was asking her to take off that mask, which already started to slip at the Commonwealth service, to show her full fledged petty ungrateful self.
This will most likely continue to escalate in a passive-aggressive way as the years go by. As we see the Sussexes new life experiment succeed and they build their own brand, looking modern and fresh, the Cambridge’s will by contrast start looking and behaving more dowdy, crusty old school meh. And Kate’s resting bitch face will get worse and we know that Meghan is naturally glamorous and super pretty, her mom is aging well as will Meghan, it’s going to quietly kill Kate.
They really shot themselves on the foot here! In a rush to vilify Meghan they miscalculated their level of influence over this publication and exposed their dealings with them.
I see they released a new statement. Shows how the fake “never complain never explain” protocol was only there to SILENCE the Sussexs
Carole sounds like the mother, mother-in-law from hell. I wouldn’t have wanted my mother to decorate my house.
There’s a joke in here somewhere about Andrew thinking his disaster of an interview would help and this Tatler article being approved by the royals months ago.
Given the new series about Epstein and reports an Epstein employee has come forward with info about Andrew? Who knows.
Kate understands duty so well that she only started to work 6 years after her marriage?
And the word « work » is strong
Its an insult to people who REALLY work and don’t have nannies and a full time staff.
Kate understands duty so well that she only started to work 6 years after her marriage?
And the word « work » is strong
This was quite a read. I definitely agree with the point of view that they were looking to have a puff piece written much like the People piece from last year and it went awry. Clearly, the two camps don’t have the same publicist because this is a mess from start to finish. They need to pay people better so they can get better publicity. What a tragedy of a family.
That thing about Kate doing the school drop-off herself is bizarre. We stayed at an Air Bnb in Battersea that actually overlooked George and Charlotte’s school. They arrive in a cavalcade of three big, black SUVs.
Why is the tone of the Tatler piece so sly-bitchy, rather than straight Kate hagiography or straight Kate hit piece? It flatters and then jabs, back and forth. I felt confused. (I’m not confused about what I think, just confused about what Anna was trying to do with the piece.)
When they mean “by herself” what they probably mean is that her nanny isn’t doing it. The cars you saw were probably the security that’s with her (and they stay with her 24/7). Kate’s probably going to the school herself but obviously her and George’s security go with her, hence the black SUVs
The aristocrats very rarely ever go out and out on the warpath. They’re really good at the whole passive aggressive, sly sniping masked under a facade of polite gentility. They’re all scrupulously polite while saying the most outrageous, bizarrely insulting things to other people, but the thing is, you have to think hard to know what they’re saying because they’re too cowardly to take ownership of their own words.
I believe the Tatler editors call kate told her about this article and everyone in Kensington palace thought this was a great idea . Not only will this article make kate look amazing but they could also take shots at Meghan that’s why kate and the courtiers allowed so many people to speak on kate because they thought this article was going to be like all the others were kate is praises for nothing but being white and thin and a mother . Instead what they got was egg on their faces with a heavy dose of karma and now the Kensington Palace is trying to walk back a lot of what’s in the article notice how they didn’t deny the trash talking of Meghan but the stuff that’s makes kate looked bad is deny what every happen to the royal never ever complains or explanations anything . It’s laughable that the Cambridge’s fans and the royal reporters are doing the most to make this Meghan fault the mental gymnastics these people will do to justified their hatred for Meghan . This is karma coming for the Cambridge’s is about time the Cambridge’s gets a dose of their own making now their the ones spinning out control this article was only the first shot once the royal reporters sees how gossips about the Cambridge’s help sell they all will started to speak out .
There’s also another aspect to this shitshow, which is that the KP PR operation is just awful. I imagine that they were told of the article, expected it to be good and positive, and didn’t bother doing anything to help ensure that or control the narrative. Of course, that would involve them having to do an ounce of actual work, and we all know how they reacted to that prospect when Meghan first married into the family.
It’s just sloppy all around is my point. This is not the way to do things, period. Compare this to how Meghan handles her own PR and how effective it all was. They could have stood to take a few notes from her, but of course, no one in this posh crowd is going to take suggestions from someone they think is just beneath them are they?
Good lord, are they saying the Kate cried because of a disagreement over children’s tights? I guess it’s just as well she wasn’t queen during the Blitz. Who knows what would have happened?
Can anyone explain what is meant by “its very buckinghamshire” arriviste? Social climber? As opposed to aristo?
My take on it was old money vs new money (Buckinghamshire being the latter) but that was just based on context.
Social climber and arriviste are not aristos. Arrivistes, to my knowledge are recently wealthy, whereas aristocrats usually come from generations of inherited money.
It is not simply a matter of old money vs new money. The aristocracy is about having the right name, an old name that is either attached to a certain kind of title or descended from it. You can be an aristocrat, even if you don’t have money if you have the right name.
The oldest aristocracy descend from landed war lords. That was before kingdoms had a standing army. The king was dependent on his nobles, i.e. his war lords, for military might. That made them powerful beyond the material wealth derived from their lands. Later on, especially from the 16th to the 18th centuries, monarchs started ennobling people from the civil service. It was a good way to ensure personal loyalty in order to curb the power of the old feudal nobility (descended from medieval lords).
In short, the name is what is really important when it comes to the aristocracy. An old name and preferably an old estate filled with heirlooms. Things you inherit rather than things you buy.
This is how Turnip Toffs think:
To quote Michael Jopling a member of the House of Lords, referring to Michael Heseltine, deputy Prime Minster at the time—Jopling said, “The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy all his furniture”,
The comments about Heseltine were also hinting towards anti-semitism as his parents were from jewish families on both sides. I suspect that is why he never became PM.
Where Norfolk is full of landed gentry whose blood-lines are actually more “royal” than the House of Windsor, Buckinghamshire is full of nouveau riche, self-made gazillionaires (think Spice Girls, tech entrepreneurs, etc.). While the Norfolk toffs are generally much less rigid in their lifestyles (old worn carpets, dog hair everywhere, casual dressing), the Buck crowd spend lavishly on the best of the best and love showing it off. The Turnip Toffs ridicule this as tacky.
Lol you’ve clearly never spent much time in Norfolk. Plenty of ‘new rich’ with their second homes. And more agricultural land than wealthy estates lol
This was said of Carole years ago, when she was calling up aristocrats and asking them to force their children to befriend Kate. Carole threw money around, buying brand new expensive clothing and tennis gear, and trying to fit in by purchasing all the same brands as the toffs.
I would imagine Meghan would not care one way or another if UK aristos accepted her. They would not sneer at her as they would someone who reeks of desperation trying to ingratiate herself by copying them and begging to be accepted.
I took it as a dig of “they take themselves so seriously as royals that even their country house has to try overly hard at screaming royal. There is never a break from W&K reminding you of their position. How insecure and unaristo.”
It’s a dig that if the Cambridges (or say, Carole and Kate) were truly secure in themselves, like Rose and David, they would be able to relax and let the decor and cleanliness be a bit more relaxed.
My rich noble coworker from Paris has an apartment full of slightly shabby old things. An American was shocked at the state of the apartment. Why not buy new furniture if They are rich and noble they asked another French person? Well, the French person laughed. it turned out the things in the apartment were from the time of the 1700s. So it is a point of pride the family has maintained its wealth over centuries and the things are still functional today and in use today.
Aristocrats in England might have the same code that a plebe /middle class person like me wouldn’t understand! I can easily see myself remarking on something peeling or being broken and a toff smirking at how nouveau riche I am. And because I don’t have relatives to inherit my stuff from – I would have to – gasp- buy it.
Ladies of London also showed me how petty toffs are. The aristo ladies could not let the Americans on the show live without telling them how classless and wrong they were – overdressed or underdressed for an occasion, or slightly poor table manners or talking slightly too loud or or or or. I am sure they are or were just as mean to Kate and were to Meghan.
Yes, it’s pretty much the same way in Britain. Old money inherits furniture, new money buys.
I really hate classism and the way old money look down on new, first off a lot of new money took hardwork getting where they are that’s nothing to be ashamed of especially since some old money don’t have an ounce of talent but all the means. Also it’s bad for the economy, if you have the money why not support new businesses and new concepts instead of those who are dead and gone.
I really miss Ladies of London. That show was a hoot and a million times more interesting than any Real Housewife franchise.
@Natters5 – I really liked Ladies of London too. You can binge watch it if you Peacock Premium via Xfinity-Comcast.
I am in the middle of season 2.
@Onomo, Love the anecdote about the Paris coworker. I once worked with someone who is descended from Hungarian aristocracy, whose family was literally kicked out of the castle after the communists came in. She casually mentioned that her family dates back to the 13th century, but was never snobby and pretty chill. She was dating a guy who ran a food truck, lol. Anyway, as for the furniture, there was a time when all the 80s NY nouveau riche were into buying European antiques, like stripping whole castles. Now the antiques market has crashed and seems like the tech bros don’t care about that stuff, more into underground bunkers and smart home technologies, and fancy yachts too of course.
It’s a sneaky way of saying that the decor is basically “new money” aka too vulgar and try hard. Old money aristocrats are supposed to be aloof and above everything so pedestrian as not having dog hair your furniture.
I wonder if Kate has anyone of current day that she admires, I know she admires her dead mother in law and women of bygone eras but no woman of modern era is tellling and embarrassing.
I don’t think she admires anyone, really. You have to have an awareness and curiosity about the world for that to happen, and she lacks both.
They deserve every ounce of scorn they get. Of course the Royal, Rota are being very cautious about this and still trying to blame Meghan. Regarding the Sussexes, despite the nasty swipes aimed at them, this really has nothing to do with them. This is all on the Cambrian trying to prop themselves up at someone’s expense. I will say that for being newly married into the family, to expect Meghan to find her footing while Kate was given 8 years is just the worst sort of double standards. So to say the Sussexes were constant uncertainty is a ridiculous thing to say,especially since everyone now knows the part the Cambridge’s have in driving them out. This whole thing is so stupid, but this is so typical of Will and Kate. The part with using their kids and blaming the Sussexes for preventing them from being hands on parents is particularly low and reeks of the worst sort of dishonesty. Shady, incompetent and lazy. Should have gotten out of the way of the bus they tried to throw the Sussexes under.
I imagine that they really thought that having another person to bully would mean that Kate and the Middletons had finally ascended into the aristocrats’ good graces. That’s the level of intelligence with which they’re working. They really thought that class distinctions would disappear once racism kicked in even though both issues are tied up together and fundamentally rooted in inequality. They deserve what they get for trying to exploit and harness that sh-t. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend, never has been, never will be.
So this stuff was written by her “friends” and “peers?” Yikes!!!
If you have “friends” like these, you don’t really need enemies.
During the dating waiting years, someone in their circle was quoted as saying “Kate’s got a lot of friends, after all, being williams girl puts her in a powerful position socially. But privately, her lifestyle is viewed with contempt.”
I am loving this shit show.
I thought William said he found it hard to make time for his children way before Harry & Meghan left?
All of the sudden the Cambridges desperately need the Sussexes, because two grown adults who don’t work full-time but do have full-time staff can’t carry out their own parenting duties?
Is this what Kate’s learned from her “8 yrs of research” into Early childhood?—multiple nannies, chauffeurs, cooks, maids, personal assistants, acres of nature in the palace she lives in—none of that is enough if you don’t have your in-laws there to punch-down on?
“We have to bring it to fruition at all costs”. There are so many wonderful quotes but that one gets me the most. I just think it’s sad. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be queen or waiting around a decade to get a ring. If that’s what someone wants, so be it. I just think having a master plan dictated to you, likely by your mother and probably from a very young age, is sad.
I don’t think any of them have a real sense of other possibilities beyond that, and I find it sad.
Oooohhh, that whole section of the article on Carole Middleton is just, *chefs kiss* I have to hand it to the reporter, because they clearly struck the effing jackpot with all of those quotes and insights from all those people who are supposed to be friends. Every sentence is gold, but a few of my favourites:
– “Hyacinth Bucket aspirations of grandeur” (Owch)
– ‘It’s very Buckinghamshire’ (damn)
– ‘Carole is a terrible snob’ and ‘Carole is the masterminding force between those girls.’ (TELL ME MORE DONNA AIRE’S FRIEND)
– Calling Pippa a “try-hard”
– “None of them can quite believe that they have hit the jackpot”
– ‘The big thing in their family is control.’
A, I have very much enjoyed reading your comments. I personally find it insulting that they compare her to Hyacinth Bucket because I loved watching Keeping Up Appearances as a child, and her antics always made me laugh (in a good way, not a sneering way). Carole can only aspire to host one of Hyacinth’s candle lit suppers. 🙂
I can’t watch Keeping Up Appearances and Hyacinth Bucket makes me cringe. It is utterly exhausting being related with someone so snobby and desperate. My sister and I literally cannot watch this show because there is a snobbish person like this in our close family – though not to Hyacinth’s degree. It is super embarrassing to witness and exhausting to try to argue against.
@ArtHistorian
I’m sorry it brings up such terrible memories! For me, it brings up memories of Friday nights with my younger sister, watching PBS Newshour, Washington Week, then Monty Python, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served, and As Time Goes By. Jeeves and Wooster if we were lucky! We weren’t allowed to watch television and our parents were always out Friday evening, so we would rig together the antennae set (complete with aluminum foil!) and constantly adjust in hopes that the fuzzy picture would get clearer.
Suffice to say it has given me and my sister a very strange sense of humor, since our formative years were essentially shaped by old British television shows.
(Also to give more context, the only other channel we could get clearly was NBC and Friday nights they would air Law & Order SVU. My first understanding of sex came through that show… it led me to some very skewed perceptions, which I still cannot shake, mostly because they seem to be confirmed all the time. Hyacinth Bucket was a lot more fun to watch than a crime serial dedicated to exploring all the ways people can inflict sexual violence on each other.)
This piece is exactly written in the same way as all the other embiggening pieces kate has written about herself. Katie nicholl once wrote that Kate was ‘the most important woman in the world in regards to children’s mental health”. Kate also has a piece where she “truly has no peers” because she’s just so important. I also remember how she was called ‘perfect kate’ by people who know her.
Anyway kate embiggenIng pieces sanctioned by Kate tend to be ridiculously over the top. It’s like she’s living her dream fantasy life through the press, where her husband loves her, shes queen bee of the aristocracy, she’s a huge success, and has charisma like Meghan. Her reality is very different. Tatler wrote everything kate asked them to, they just added some sarcasm to the mix.
The main reason it backfired spectacularly is because the digs at Meghan weren’t very strong. Meghan leaves and now kate can no longer to the school run? It just doesn’t make sense.
The tights thing was also weak, and even if I didn’t care about either duchess, reading that would still make me side with Meghan, because the only argument in Kate’s favour was the ‘following protocol’ line. she has absolutely no right to tell someone else what to do in their wedding. The protocol line was expected to rile to haters, but it fell flat.
The ‘being exhausted’ was what really backfired especially when there are hospital staff dying whilst working during the pandemic. No one was gonna feel sorry for poor Kate so her getting to play the victim only made her look ungrateful and spoilt.
I think KP were hoping everyone would be losing their shit over harry and Meghan, and ‘tightsgate’ would get everyone bashing Meghan. But Nah.
All the other shade is interesting. It’s like Tatler wrote they were told what to write begrudgingly and then decided to have a bit of fun of their own. Maybe something happened between Kate and her editor friend.
The thing is, even if she was completely right about the tights, my reaction is, “So you cried and basically disowned your sister in-law because of tights? Are you psychotic?”
I hope this was a test run to see if anyone remembered the old dramas with the Middletons and Carole being domineering and the third wheel in the relationship, etc., and whether they’d click. I think that’s exactly why KP is fighting back, too, to try to “chill” the media away from pursuing those lines of inquiry again. It wasn’t so long ago!
The whole article is baffling……and it was accompanied by an absolute onslaught of fake Positive comments by astroturfers on the daily mail. For a long time the Dm has been refusing to publish most negative comments about wk and Faking the arrows so the positive comments are green arrowed and the negatives downvoted. Recently there were a few articles where that didn’t happen (were the daily mail team and astroturfers furloughed?) and people’s true opinions could be seen showing that Kate is still just as unpopular as she ever was. It was so negative the palace must have gotten worried, so they seem to have got astroturfers working from home posting more than ever. They’re obviously fake because the praise is so ludicrous – Kate’s hard working, takes her duty seriously, nobody could do her job better. Then they post fake slightly negative comments with overtop sycophancy for Meghan – long live queen Meghan, princess Meghan. So people will downvote them, as a lot of people do dislike Meghan. They used to use Pippa for that but now it’s Meghan.
I tried commenting on the Dm something like “oh no the paid astroturfers are back with gushing praise. We had a few articles without them, they must have been furloughed”. And my comment didn’t get published. It got deleted altogether. Sometimes negative comments are visible to me on my history but they have zero arrows either way so obviously weren’t visible to anyone else.
I saw on the DM the article saying how much support kate has from fans, it’s funny cos I could have sworn she was being dragged straight to hell of social media lol. And the comments are clearly edited/faked to show support too. Either way their popularity is hanging by a thread cos if it was genuine then they wouldn’t feel the need to fake so much of it. The article is very telling, cos clearly KP were looking at all the comments on social media and felt they needed to take action. The same thing actually happened after Andrews disaster tv interview, there was a story on the DM saying how pleased royal aids were with how it went, another failed attempt to change the narrative, to make the interview look like a success. Only it didn’t work.
I don’t think you can assess the general mood of the public at large from the DM comments section. The people who comment there are the absolute worst of the lot.
I don’t think KP or anyone else was worried about the hate. I think they were worried about the ambivalence. Most people, when pressed, just shrug their shoulders when asked about Kate, and they settle for the most generic of praises. Very few people care to dig deeper–she doesn’t really generate all that much interest at all. That’s the problem, especially when Meghan enters the equation. It doesn’t bode well for your monarchy or your FFQ that her exiled brother and sister-in-law generate more interest and articles and clicks and genuine affection and love than the future monarchs.
That’s largely what all the embiggening is about. They want to make her look not just good, but interesting. Intriguing. Worthy of attention and clicks and ad revenue, but all in a positive, Little England sort of way. That was what this article started off as, most likely, and well, one can say they certainly got the interest and intrigue part of it right.
If you carefully curate your public persona to be as bland as possible in order to not rock the royal boat, then the downside is that people don’t really relate to you or find you interesting – and that doesn’t really generate the public interest that the royals need to survive and stay relevant to the younger generations. Their old and staunch audience is slowly dying out and the Cambridges don’t appeal to the younger and more diverse generations. That was were Meghan and Harry were such assets to the institution but since that family produces resentful and emotionally stunted people because their entire family dynamic is tied up in a rigid system of rank, Meghan was perceived as a threat rather than an asset. They sabotaged her, which in the long run means that they actually sabotaged the very institution they are part of. In terms of long-term strategy, driving Meghan and Harry out was an own goal. In terms of family, it was utterly callous.
Lol this article just reads as fanfiction honestly, just stupid, fake, and incredibly tone deaf. If any of it is actually true, it make the Cambridges look like the biggest idiots hahaha.
Who is behind this article? Which camp or none?
This did not go well for the Duchess of Karen and Caren Sr.
ooofff! The new Richard Kay article…what the hell is happening? Scathing. Serious shots fired at the Middies.
This part does smack of framing by W: “Endearingly, following the spirit of Diana, both William and Kate consult psychics. A medium who went to Kensington Palace to ‘channel’ for them found William to be ‘open-hearted and lovely’. Kate, while scrupulously polite, was more ‘shut-down”
Ok. Everyone has commented on the content but I want to leave one on the cover photograph. Look at the crappy photoshopping between her dress and arm. They really cut out a part of her midsection to make her look unrealistically skinny. I mean, I know she is skinny, but that is way beyond normal.
Just wondering why KP and Kate have to approve the content of the Tatler article prior to publication. Doesn’t U.K. have press freedom?
And why blame Meghan for the Tatler hit job against Kate? She’s left U.K. and has long dimmed her light to shine a bright spot on Kate. It’s not her fault if Kate’s light is dead.
I just clicked on to a number of headlines on Yahoo about this Tatler piece, and OH MY FUCKING GOD Kate and Will (but especially Kate) are being utterly shredded by about 99% of the commenters. In a nutshell, here’s what they have to say:
The Cambridges don’t work even remotely enough to be complaining about being exhausted. And what about the workload they had BEFORE Meghan arrived? How has any of that changed in two years?
Harry and Meghan are not responsible for their so-called inability to do “school runs” with the children. Total BS.
If they wanted more support in fulfilling royal duties, they should have worked to create a welcoming, warm relationship with the Sussexes instead of throwing them under the bus and standing by silently while the BM tore Meghan to pieces for…being Meghan. If they had, H&M might have stayed. So suck it up and get into the bed you’ve made for yourself without whining.
The “tights” issue at the wedding? Totally Meghan’s call. Get the hell over it.
The royals sure moved fast to counter the Tatler article and claim it was full of falsehoods, and yet they let Meghan hang out to dry no matter what crap the tabs wrote about her. Double standard much?
Harry got Meghan out of that nest of vipers and good on him for protecting his wife and son.
Who the hell needs the royals anyway?
Frankly, I was astounded at what I was reading, because there’s been so much vitriol thrown at Meghan in the last two years. This article may indeed have inaccuracies and some made-up shit but it’s going to be hard to walk any of it back. The Cambridges have been burnt big time, and it’s called KARMA.
so much shade and irony. but seeing Kate pushing ahead of Wills being all me me me is just icing on the cake. so much crap thrown at Meghan for ‘not following protocol’ and no one dismisses her for doing so. The cover says it all. Wills is absolutely incandescent with rage.
What annoyed me the most was Anna Pasternak saying that Meghan and Kate had been treated the same and that Meghan was just a ‘snowflake’ for not just dealing with it.