While I don’t believe every royal and royal-media conspiracy out there, I enjoy them and I like trying to work out the various puzzles of why certain things are happening to certain people at certain times. So it is with Dan Wootton’s curious relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. For more than a year, Wootton has had an inside track on so many royal stories involving the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It’s easy enough to believe that someone high up in the Kensington Palace office is leaking quite steadily to Wootton, and that he finds it advantageous to smear the Sussexes and embiggen the Cambridges.
But Wootton also did a lot to break the story of Rose Hanbury and her alleged (!) affair with Prince William last year. Some theorize that after sort-of breaking that story, Wootton helped William and KP bury it, but there was a significant tit-for-tat involved, especially given his steady stream of Cambridge-exclusives following the Rose story. All of which to say, I was eagerly awaiting Wootton’s take on the Tatler debacle, which the Cambridges can’t stop talking about (hilariously). They’ve already run to Emily Andrews, Richard Kay and Katie Nicholl to cry salty white colonizer tears, so I figured it was just a matter of time before Wootton got a call. And how! I actually didn’t expect him to pick on the “Carole Middleton is gauche” part of the Tatler piece, but there he goes, quoting from Tatler:
Tatler has every right to report on the soap opera-like behind-the-scenes dramas that have beset the young royals. Just as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have the right to push back on aspects of the society magazine’s cover feature this month on “Catherine The Great” that they can prove are inaccurate. But, having read the article, it is the truly repulsive way this bible for the elite continues to write about the working classes that makes my skin crawl.
Take these dripping-with-bile passages about Carole Middleton, who hasn’t put a foot wrong despite being in the unenvious position of being the future queen’s mother (an unpaid role) and a successful self-made businesswoman. Long-time royal reporter Anna Pasternak wrote of Kate: “She suffered the indignity of the ‘doors to manual’ jibe (a reference to her mother Carole’s former role as an air hostess) and needles about her ‘common’ family background – Carole being ‘NQOCD’ (Not Quite Our Class, Darling) for having been born in a council flat in Southall and descended from Durham coal-mining stock… Plus, horror of horrors, Carole allegedly ‘chewed gum’ during William’s passing-out ceremony at the Sandhurst military academy.”
As a working-class lad whose paternal relatives were miners in Newcastle, it sickens me that the elite in this country still think it’s appropriate to talk about us like this. Have these stuck-up snobs learnt nothing about the dangers of judging someone because of their social background? Publishing such nonsense and allowing these toffs to think it’s OK to keep talking this way is so damaging. So if anything, Tatler should be shunned because of the vile way it perpetuates a class system that does so much damage to society. Not Quite Our Magazine, Darling.
Yeah… this was shady?? This was his first “comment” on it and all he’s got is that he too is from a working class background and people shouldn’t be so snobbish? Like, that’s THE WHOLE POINT. It’s Tatler! It’s read by all the rich bitch aristocrats! Those were the same rich bitches who decided to put Dull Kate and her social climbing family “in their place.” Besides, if Tatler had taken down Meghan in this way, I’m sure Wootton (and Nicholl, Andrews and Kay) would have delighted in it, the idea that Meghan is so terribly middle-class (and black!).
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
So the Tatler article is “sickening” but not all the racism toward Meghan.
Pleas shut up Dan, you’re only one of the Kensington Palace’s puppets
That was my first thought too… Really there’s no patience to read these out of touch “journalists”. The royals and their supporters sure made something clear in the last years: their racism is showing and there’s no turning back from that. Let’s hope the next generation gets to be better
That’s what I came to say. Wooton and his cohorts are disgusting. Racism doesn’t bother them.
Am still in shock from Princess Martha Louise’s Instagram post and here is Wooton caping for the white woman. I can’t, today.
Lol, right? Qwite interesting to note that it’s ok for DDoC to push back against reporting they say is false… 🤔
God forbid the biracial duchess can also do the same.
Exactly. The “straight out of Compton ” was no biggie, but god forbid the aristos look down on the Middletons.
Which they do, big-time. Now it’s coming out and it’s delicious. Carole Middleton is a pushy, greedy bitch who didn’t care about Kate’s happiness. All she cared about was the target: Prince William. Now her daughter is stuck in a loveless marriage, nothing but a royal brood mare with no charisma and a husband with a wandering peen.
I’m 100% positive PageSix and all of the NYPost is getting something to write disparaging stories on H&M and nothing else. NYPost will drag anyone for anything, but it almost never touches Prince Andrew. And his story is the real tea. But they will write one charming sentence about H or M and the rest of the lengthy article will be bunk. Maybe Epstein is still alive and has some tea on NYPost (ok, ending the paranoid conspiracy theories now)!
The NY Post is a right wing paper, so they are writing for their base. They always have a negative slant when it comes to minorities.
The NY post is owned by Murdoch.. What do you expect?
As if anyone that inherited instead of earning their money has any right to look down on anybody.
But that’s what they really and truly believe, that anyone who earned money is not worth associating with. I’ve always found that to be SUCH a strange concept. But it’s a class system that’s clearly meant to keep anyone who is not the upper upper class in their place.
I don’t believe that is a widespread attitude, actually.
I don’t buy it either, Xo. There are too many members of the aristocracy who are out earning livings, trying to make enough to fix millions worth of leaking roofs. The main problem with the Middletons and the aristos is, the aristos saw the Middletons and their games coming. If they hadn’t tried so hard to something they aren’t, people wouldn’t dislike the Middletons so much.
What’s even funnier to me is that a fair amount of these aristos ran out of said money, and won’t earn their own, and STILL look down on everyone else.
I agree with your comment Linda, but its funny that Wootton is taking this stand considering how often he has defended the Cambridges and KP….when the only reason the Cambridges are anything important or special is because of inherited wealth. William and Kate have not earned a cent on their own.
@Becks1 – I took the article to be very tongue-in-cheek. It’s like this Wootton person wanted to” say something positive” but really did NOT want to say something positive. I am reading a lot of shade here but maybe there is just too much space between the lines and I am reading meaning that is not really there.
Speaking of Tatler, Did you guys see the subliminal shade they continue to throw Kate’s way:
https://www.tatler.com/gallery/smartest-tennis-clubs-to-join-now
Speaking of being a member of the “excluuuuussssiiive” 🙄 Wimbledon tennis club:
“ the easy way to get in, is to win it’. Or to marry a Prince for that matter, as the Duchess of Cambridge did” 😳
Also, Richard Dennen has Meghan in his Ig story yesterday 😂
Ooooh my! 😀
OMG. I think I may have to follow Richard Dennen now
What did his post about Meghan say?
He’s still trash but here for terrible people duking it out.
Wow haha
Really, one would expect Annabel Sampson to know the difference between discrete and discreet.
She was falling over herself to get that dig in; it’s way too obvious.
I much prefer popping a picture of Kate above an article on how to perk up your dull, lacklustre complexion: https://www.tatler.com/gallery/best-beauty-products-to-make-skin-glow-guide
I think you have to have lived in Britain to understand how class and race are connected in
Britain. A self-made woman cannot be accepted as upper-class in Britain. Her children are supposed to wait for their children to gain acceptance. The Middletons did not wait their turn. And why should mothers be fair game for criticism? It’s because of the bloodline obsession. And that keeps Carol out, but it also keeps Meghan out. Race and class are deeply connected in Britain.
This is true. Money and class don’t have to go hand in hand. You can be broke and be upper class or aristocratic in the UK. You could be a self made billionaire and very much working class.
In the UK, class is about lineage more than money. Who your parents and grandparents are, often going back generations. It’s connected to history and ultimately Royalty. Money is just money if the history isn’t there.
I can see both the British and the American side of the argument. It’s great to take pride in earning your money and it’s great to take pride in your family history, although I also think taking pride in something you had no part in can be a bit odd. It’s like saying you take pride in your nationality or race. You were born that way, you don’t really have much choice in it. Inheriting money or status is much the same.
That’s an American view. In the US money is king. You can’t be upperclass and poor at the same time. And, if you did inherit your money, you have to do a song and dance about having a “real” job to prove you “earned it” (even if you definitely didn’t). That’s not how it works in other places.
Exactly. In the US, “trust fund kids” are the ones people usually look at with disdain, particularly if they don’t go out and work to balance out their handed priviledge.
All these people can just choke on a crumpet and drown in their weak ass tea. They tore down Meghan for months, belittled her for everything, used subtle and even overt racism to paint her as being a lesser royal, and now this guy wants us to feel bad about No Top Lip Linda’s feelings being hurt? Boi, bye. I’ve had toilet paper lint stuck up my ass with more substance.
Lmao
I get your point but there’s just no need to be rude about tea and crumpets!
I love tea but crumpets are trash😝.
He has some nerve to complain about the article being classist (I mean it is) when he and his colleagues constantly made jabs towards Meghan being middle/working class (along with jabs about her race)
I think he like the Middletons took the Posh elites agreeing with them in their hatred of Meghan as them actually accepting them into their ranks. Now that Meghan is no longer there as their punching bag for their classist and racist barbs they are directing their classicism at the Middletons and Dan as someone who probably identities with them is taking it as a personal affront and is having as hard of a time as the Middletons at coming to terms with it. Tatler really hit them where it hurts and I feel like they’re all gonna cry about it for a while. I’d feel bad for them but none of them felt bad for Meghan when she was on the receiving end of hate from Tatler, who they thought were their friends, so I’ve got no empathy to extend to them.
I think Dans taking a jibe and mocking the Middletons, he basically repeated all what was written in the article of which he claims disgust him. If you’re so appalled why repeat it? Deep down I believe he’s making fun of them too but portraying a faux concern. If it’s true the middletons are hurt, then it serves them right. You can’t spend your entire life manipulating and plotting to “belong” and have your daughters marry into higher circles and not face some consequences. They’ve shattered her illusions pretty badly, the mere mention of Southall was pretty bad enough. Anyone from London who knows Southall (mentioned in the article as where Carole was born) know is one of the shittiest of shitholes in London.My work takes me around a bit so I know the place quite well. Im sure digging that up was the bit that broke the camels back for Carole, and the fact they also mentioned council flat, oops😂 might have hurt pretty badly considering what she assumes her ‘status’ to be now. I’m thinking Carole’s attitude used to be like one of those kids who gains a scholarship into an elite school and brag/lie about their background to please her friends but disappear when their parents show up for parents evening in primark clothes and a rickety car.
yeah, I had a similar reaction. It’s TATLER. Of course its going to “perpetuate a class system” and encourage the toffs to keep talking that way about people. The people reading it are the ones who benefit from the class system. This reads like Wootton is taking that part really personally, and also like the barbs aimed at Carole hit home, reminding her of where she stands in the class hierarchy.
Classism is BS, but this seems like Wootton has just realized it still exists.
That’s EXACTLY what it is, I think. He’s taking it as a personal slight and jumping in to complain about it because it hit too close to home for him.
Very on-brand for right-wingers. The only “-isms” they object to or even see are those that affect them directly.
Carole isn’t tacky because she comes from a middle class background, she’s tacky because she’s openly manipulative and her ambitions for her daughters rivals the Baroness de Ghent in Ever After whole simultaneously propping her son in law up above her own daughter in her affections. It’s transparent and creepy.
They totally overplayed their hand. They relished in leveraging Meghan to embiggen Kate, forgetting that she isn’t really considered as “one of us” by that stuffy racist crowd either. Now they’ve lost their scapegoat and are clearly starting to panic about it.
Excellent points about Carole, JaneDoesWerk.
@JaneDoesWork, exactly. I’ll bet $10 that Kate and Carole were completely silent and didn’t say anything in the face of the open classism they were privy to while hanging around the aristocratic crowd. The way these people talk in private about the middle and working class in Britain, not to mention non-white people, immigrants, etc, is absolutely vile, and my guess is that neither Carole nor her daughters ever once bothered to stand up for these people where it actually mattered. In all likelihood, they probably expressed those sentiments themselves or at least demonstrated a silent agreement with them for the purposes of furthering their ambitions.
The worst thing that happened to the Firm is having CH, BP and KP with separate PR teams. KP needs to be under BP or CH. The ffk and his wife are a hot mess.
The worst thing that happened to the Firm is having CH, BP and KP with separate PR teams. KP needs to be under BP or CH. The ffk and his wife are a hot mess.
This. All of this. Right on.
Are they trying to humanize Robot Karen, make her look more relatable by this self-victimization? The embiggening did not work, so let´s play victims now?
Now Karen is shy woman who does her best, a sensitive, dutiful wife whose mother never set her foot wrong despite being born in a council flat, a victim of social bullying, or evil aristocrats, of evil biracial woman Meghan, of evil former friend Richard Dennen, of evil, classist writer Pasternak?
What happened to never complain, never explain? What happened to sue the press is so tacky?
I would say give us a break, but this is hilarious. Just the distraction e need from you know, the real-world problems.
I’m sure carole might have gotten a heart attack after reading the article from her monthly Tatler subscription. Her lawsuit against Tatler is laughable. The toffs can single handedly bring down and abolish the monarchy to quash Kate’s dreams. All they have to do is to pay one or two of the newspapers/tabloids to run an anti monarchy smear campaign. The middletons should tread carefully
So this is the hill Wills and Kate are willing to die on, interesting. It’s going to be a very long next 30-40 years for them if this one article gets to them so badly.
“If you can’t stand the heat…”
Kate does have 7 kitchens to choose from! Lol
The aristocrats and royal family are the “natural superiors” to others in Britain. This is the point of an aristocracy and royalty. Their “blood lines” are superior to you and the class system systemically enforces this. This is why Carole Middleton and even Karen, sorry, Kate, will never be their equals.
The aristocrats look down on the Windsors as German upstarts.
But still curtsy to them.
Many of them do not, and it isn’t a requirement. No one is required to curtsy to the queen or any member of her family.
@Bella DuPont, in this case, the gesture doesn’t have as much meaning as people think. The aristocrats are a stickler for things like etiquette as a rule. They might bow and curtsy, but that is not an indication of their attitude as a whole.
Case in point: Diana quipping to Prince Philip that her title as Lady Diana Spencer is older than any the royal family could have given her. It’s a jibe that reflects the beliefs of the British aristocracy–that they are more British, and in possession of a more prestigious lineage, than these fancy German upstarts.
Yes, because in addition to being racist and classist, the British aristos are also xenophobic and therefore consider calling someone German an insult.
I think the other denials weren’t working, so they’re trying to deflect to make the classism an issue. I legit think KP has seen the criticism of the media’s racism against Meghan & thinks they can make a similar argument about classism to shut down Tatler. They really think this is clever. I can’t….
LOL
Who would of thought the royals would complain about classism.
The classism that permeates the Tatler article IS gross. However, Dan Wootten suddenly acting all affronted is hypocritical considering that he has very actively participated in a racist smear campaign against Meghan as well as blackmailed a gay man into coming out on national television. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Wootten may have working class roots but he’s punched downwards on other other people due to their race and sexuality. He needs to shut the fuck up.
I can’t stop laughing at Dim Woollen, miffed in parenthesis, describing being a mother in law to the FFK an ‘unpaid role’.
That is such a weird thing – mother-in-law to future future queen consort is not a role. Is he trying to imply that Carole wants a role in the monarchy? Is it a dig at her interfering?
Those are good points!
To me, it seemed to imply, here is Carole, doing all this work for this family, and she’s not even getting paid!!
Carole has been angling for a royal role all along. They floated the idea of Carole moving into KP for awhile, which was soundly mocked and shot down. They floated the idea of Pippa getting a role as Kate’s lady-in-waiting, complete with taxpayer-funded clothing budget. Carole wants to be the new Queen Mum in the Windsor family.
She might be angling for an official royal role but she’s not getting one as long as Charles is alive. She’ll most likely get one if she’s still alive when William becomes King.
By that time she may be happy to have remained unpaid, as long as she also remained the mother in law.
Another promoter of the poor Cambridge’s and how they have been treated and portrayed in The Tatler. I guess that W&K have called everyone that they know to come to their defense of their despicable behaviour. Who are they going to call next? Piers Morgan who they would have to sell their soul to, as he is the devil?
I may be wrong but I really do not see this Wootton person taking up for the Keen Cambridges and Ma Middleton in this article as much as I see this as a hit piece on his competitor, Tatler.
The two publications have very different readerships.
This mess continues to be hilarious.
Lisa…we need some comic relief with all the disasters going on in the world. And these people somehow believe they are of superior blood. sheesh
I don’t think it’s smart to keep taking shots at Tatler….they should’ve just let this blow over. Classism is a really issue but in this instance I laughed cause both parties are in the 1%.
Doesn’t this fit the Sun target audience though from what I understand? It’s the white working class that buys it? So the Sun will punch up at the upper classes, but punch heavily down at black people etc. Similar to the Republican playbook of attacking liberal elites, but also feeding white supremacy so that the working class population is divided politically.
Nobody would’ve cared about this story considering everything that it going on but these media lackeys keep making it worse. I guess they’re trying to make Kate relatable by making her seem like a martyr for the the middle class sector. These PR spins are horrid and cringe. I guess they realized that Meghan blame game wasn’t getting them the reaction and clicks they wanted. Oops 😂
Dan Wootten and Katie Hind revel in attacking Meghan. Like like pigs on a hot day rolling in the mud.
Dan Wootton will attack anything or anyone that generates clicks and/sells print copies of The Dim. Many in the BM and the RRs attacked Meghan specifically because she is biracial but I believed Dan Wootton attacked the Sussexes because they were “attackable” and sold newspapers-generated click$. The fact that Meghan was biracial was just the added bonus of a “cherry on top” to further stir The Dim readers into a frenzy. Many of my fellow CB cyber buddies will disagree but this is my humble opinion.
The Sun is a Murdoch paper so think “Fox News” and the frenzy they must constantly stir to ensure viewership.
^Agreed. God forbid Meghan actually was from Compton (she is not), they’d have added that as a cherry as well.
But who cares what their motivations are? The people who are willing to be racists-for-hire spew just as much poison as the ordinary racists. Arguably they are worse. Because they are also mercenary, in addition to being racist.
@BayTampaBay, I agree. Racism sells, and Meghan was perfect in that they could quite easily cast her as a villain in the eyes of the Little Englander crowd. She was biracial, a woman, an American, visibly not white, and married into the RF at a time when tensions about all of those things + Brexit were at an all time high.
I completely believe that Kate threw a fit about “protocol” because only people who are insecure in their positions strive so hard to conform to what they think will bring them status. It’s the old saying that the poor are crazy but the rich are eccentric – the Princes can be casual about protocol because their credentials are unassailable. Kate brings nothing BUT “never putting a foot wrong” so of course she places high value on the outward indicators of belonging. Meghan didn’t have the “birth” of the Princes but all of their confidence, and that has to drive Kate crazy. If Meghan can have the confidence and grace without the birth and without the attention to performative mores, then Kate has to wonder why she has to try so hard. She and her family tear down Meghan to validate that their own lives’ purposes of trying to fit in with the upper classes have value and meaning. How dare Meghan have all that beauty and regal serenity without selling her soul?
Quite. It was interesting to observe, wasn’t it?
Kate has put many feet wrong for 10 years. If she has a new obsession with protocol regarding children’s tights? Funny she didn’t worry about protocol when
1) constantly walking in front of Charles and Camilla and having to be dragged back by William
2) refusing to weight her hems or wear a slip for 10 years because she likes flashing on the job
That’s what is really ridiculous to me, she had no problem flashing us her front and back for YEARS but suddenly NOW she’s worried about dress protocol?? Okay Kate, sure. Would you like to speak to a manager about it??
I would say she put a foot wrong: on the wrong rungs of her social climbing ladder. and now how can she say she put a foot wrong? it’s her royal MO
Lol…… sure Jan
He’s really going to go in on snotty classist comments and ignore the racism that has permeated all the media coverage including his own? He’s a fool.
The problem with trying to garner sympathy for Carole Middleton regarding the classism is that she spent her entire adult life chasing the aristos and trying to move up into a higher class because she did not value the class she was born in. This goes beyond just trying to make your life more comfortable and having a better job, nicer home, etc. She purposefully placed her daughters in the right schools and got them to hang out with the right families because her goal was for them to marry men from that class. Her daughters didn’t get jobs like other women their age but instead consistently devoted their social life to hang out with the aristo class. And once Kate was engaged to William, Carole parlayed that influence even more.
The Middletons don’t give a shit about the working class because they are clout chasers and while the snarky comments in Tatler are mean, it doesn’t undo the fact that Carole dedicated her entire life to trying to become one of them and does nothing to show that she acknowledges she wasted her time. She’s still hanging out at Wimbledon and Ascot as much as she can as if those things are meaningful events.
The Middletons would have been more like, or less disliked, if they hadn’t spent 20 years trying to be what they aren’t. They also lost a lot of everyday support when William started floating the idea of giving the Middletons titles.
Remember how they all started wearing signet rings?
A few years ago there was a Pseudo-reality show on BBC America called “Almost Royal” where two British comedians pretended to be brother/sister aristocrats. The show was broad and a little dumb but they got a lot of things right – their dimness, their cluelessness about the real world, the inbreeding, as well as the American fascination with British aristocrats (most Americans meeting them treated them like royals). Anyway, on occasion they would make snide asides about the Middletons. For all of Carole’s aspirations – the fancy picnics on school open-house days, the labels sewn into the clothes, sending the kids to the “right” schools, the occasional friend with the three-hyphenated name – the upper crust of this set was NEVER going to accept them and this article just says that out loud, after being whispered among them for almost two decades now.
Like yeah, the comment was snobbish and classicist, but like, AND? As said, it’s TATLER. That mag is the ariso society bible. And Carole Middleton has wanted to be in with these people and society her whole damn life. She pushed her daughters to have goals to marry in with these people, so SHE could join in their ranks. They’ve been saying this stuff about her for YEARS before now, and yet she STILL wanted to be in their group.
So am I supposed to feel some kind of sympathy for her over this? Because guess what? I don’t. You chose to dedicate you life – and your families life – to trying to get “in” with the aristo set. That after everything you’ve done to achieve that goal you still don’t like when people in that group are still snobby and classicist towards you? That’s on you Carole. They already showed you before what they were before now, and this was it. *shrug*
I think we now know the real nerve that has been hit – Willileaks is ‘incandescent’ over Tatler slagging of his Surrogate Mommy Dearest, rather than calling his wife a lazy mean girl. It also puts some truth to the rumours that Carole was behind the IPSO complaint over the article.
I fully expect that after this weeks shenanigans from the Mids/Cambridges, Tatler will up the ante. They are just warming up.
Oh, they did. Check out Dennen’s IG, and the nice little Tatler article about Meghan’s commencement address.
Yesterday they said MM behind the tatler piece, but now they implied that aristos behind this. But seriously, Tatler wrote that “Cate The Great” article, but the one who keep that story alive are KP PR team.
She should just keep calm and carry on, it’s only a bit of press after all. What a thin skinned family of Karens
A bit of Darjeeling for you all: a friend of a friend dated Pippa and says that Carole is indeed pushy and utterly unbearable. Tatler was spot on.
🤤🤤🤤 Anymore tea?
I’ll report back when I have some more…
Getting the contractors to comment on how difficult she is to work with doesn’t make Carole look very nice either. And there have been many stories of how she’s been very difficult with the staff at Anmer and KP.
@Nic especially since that was about Anmer Hall. If it was about work being done to her house – well she still sounds like a piece of work but maybe she’s just a perfectionist or something. But it was about Anmer. It adds to the idea that she is overly involved in the Cambridge’s lives and is STILL stage managing Kate’s life, even though Kate is 38. now one can argue “well she was just helping” and sure, my mom would be there to help and give advice if I was having major renovations done to my house, but it would still be MY house and I would still be the one in charge of the work.
so it was basically a two part dig. Anna Pasternak really knew what she was doing with that article.
What? And W and K don’t have the funds to hire a decorator?
The way she cheated the dressmaker out of the outfit for the royal wedding comes to mind. Last minute, she pulled the commission and went with Diana’s late designer, Catherine Walker. Creepy as hell, seeing as the widower is using the same exact patterns he used for Diana on the outfits for Carole and Kate.
There’s a tweet that gets passed around every once in a while, where someone who apparently lives either near KP or Bucklebury Manor made a comment like “if you don’t have to go to the same coffee shop and dress shops as these women you dont know what they are like” – I’m getting it wrong but basically implying that the Middleton women are not “well behaved” when it comes to shopping etc.
Pushy and full of themselves no doubt. The way they invited complete strangers from Bucklebury to the wedding was telling. They didn’t have friends to invite so they invited the local green grocer or fellow who owns the pub.
All this drama to distract from one key paragraph in that article that Dan dare not discuss….
‘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.‘
As one journo put it, ‘ Suing over a silly Tatler story but not over the Rose Hanbury affair. Can’t imagine why.’….
Ingrid Seward, author of The Queen’s Speech, told Newsweek: “I think it’s far too close to the bone for comfort.’
Exactly. Keep whining about everything else in the Tatler article while fervently praying no one picks up on that section of the story…though I can and do believe that Kate and the Middletons ARE seriously upset about the gibes. After all, those comments and quotes were a firm rejection of their hope that the aristocrats would ever accept them. But William’s probably far more worried about that little blurb connecting him to the Real Housewives of Norfolk fight.
“Over rose’s apparent closeness to William”. There we have it, that’s pretty much confirmation right there. It gets lost in the whole article but it’s right there in print. They are so determined to trash Tatler, Meghan or literally anyone who they can pin it on, before this one little sentence starts being talked about. Everyone should head to twitter and get it trending just to be petty lol.
Is Kate using classism to conjure up sympathy, like she too is being discriminated against? Is this a way of copying Meghan and the racism she’s endured? ‘Exhausted gate’ didn’t get her sympathy, ‘tightsgate’ didn’t get her sympathy, the whole ‘tatler is picking on me’ didn’t get her sympathy, ‘Meghan is slandering me’ isn’t getting sympathy is only believed by trolls. Why is kate so desperate for sympathy? I don’t get why people want to play the victim all the time.
I guess it must hurt that those aristos put her in her place and are siding with the mistress.
Nailed it, February Pisces. KP (and mouthpiece Wootton) have (stupidly) decided that classism is the defense to go with. The real, actual fact that Tatler and the toffs/aristos ARE elitist and ridiculous means literally nothing when the people to which you are comparing them are LITERALLY THE FUTURE FUTURE KING AND QUEEN CONSORT OF ENGLAND. IDGAF if uppercrust British culture looks down on the royal family; whether or not that idea flies with the rest of British society, it sure as hell sounds completely out of touch (at best!) to claim that the FFK&QC are being bullied because they’re not rich or connected enough – at least to this non-Brit.
This article smells like KP saw that their previous deflection attempts had all backfired spectacularly, and so they went to Wootton to negotiate a new angle. While the subsequent Tatler comments and other content on their site has been unequivocally shady, this piece didn’t really scream shade to me. Rather, I think that Wootton has undoubtedly worked out a quid pro quo for himself, in which he publishes this in exchange for a new exclusive. Time will tell…
Yeah, this always blows my mind. Considering the Royals are fighting a constant, uphill PR battle to prove their own relevance, I was originally surprised they didn’t embrace Meghan with open arms–it was an opportunity to make it seem like opposing Royalty = racism. They didn’t choose that route, but I think they’re going to have an even rockier time with a PR approach of “Oh, poor Kate and William: they’re so overworked AND their neighbors look down on them for not being the exact right kind of rich!!!”
My eyes, they roll.
@Julia, I think the other royals “might” have embraced Meghan more if Carole and Karen didn’t get in the way and make Meghan wash her hands of all of them. Look at it this way, if I’m Carole and I’ve spent the last twenty years clawing my way into the aristocracy, knowing full well they are all snickering at me behind my back, there’s no way I’m letting some American outsider have an easy time getting in. Especially an outsider who makes my flesh and blood look like a bag of turnips. I think the thing that really galled Carole and Karen is the fact that Meghan didn’t even care about fitting in. I also think seeing the press Meghan got from her baby shower and the way celebrities fawned over her just killed them. Even now, any good thing that happens to Meghan or even Harry leaves them full of bitterness.
@Msiam I totally get what you’re saying, and you might well be right. But I guess I’m still surprised that the Royal Family (TM) brain trust–such as it is–didn’t insist upon everyone at least publically embracing Meghan. Picture it: she becomes a magical symbol of open-mindedness and modernity to millions of people! And all without requiring the RF to actually BECOME open-minded or modern! They could have kept on being the same fundamentally ridiculous organization they’ve been for several hundred years, and Meghan’s mere presence could have bought them years of “look how inclusive we are!” good press… if only they had handled the surrounding PR properly.
A big thanks to Wooten for taking his time and in doing so, keeping the Tatler article alive 2 weeks later. The thing I’m stuck on is:
“ Take these dripping-with-bile passages about Carole Middleton, who hasn’t put a foot wrong despite being in the unenvious position of being the future queen’s mother (an unpaid role) and a successful self-made businesswoman.”
“an unpaid role” – WHY is making a point of this? Why even include it? What is he trying to say because highlighting that bit does nothing to help the Cambs. Lololol
(an unpaid role) That’s the money shot here. Poor poor Carole is probably near bankruptcy in real life, yet she’s an advisor to the future king (ish) and has some of her DNA in the one after that, AND DOESN’T GET PAID! The humanity!
The “never putting a foot wrong” is such bs. There is no one in this world that is perfect. We ALL put our foot wrong from time to time, even the Queen does. And often.
I hate that Kate and Carol try to come off as perfect. We don’t want perfect. We want real.
And that is why so many people ( including the Toffs ) find them so incredibly annoying.
Aren’t there a lot of rumors that the Middletons got a bigger house or an upgraded house after Kate married Will? Maybe this is his lame attempt to try to put that to rest. Although money doesn’t need to exchange hands in order for someone to get “paid”.
They weren’t rumors, its factual that they got a new house right after Willy turned 30 and recieved his inheritance. He helped them pay for the £3 million home. For me that is what confirmed that the Middletons are not as wealthy as they claim to be.
It was more than 3 million iirc. There was also the issue of taxpayer money being used for the security upgrades. And the rare expansion permission to their previous home they were granted when they stated it was for ‘royal protection’. Once they got those permissions, they sold the house for much more than it was worth.
As I wrote above, the Middletons have been angling for a royal role. First they wanted to move Carole into her own apartment at Kensington Palace so she could be the non-royal royal granny. Then they tried to get Pippa on as Kate’s lady in waiting. The housekeeper and groundkeeper at Anmer quit after five months. The Middletons moved in en masse before Christmas that year, wouldn’t leave, and the staff couldn’t deal with their pseudo-royal demands. They ran back to employment with the Queen.
Oh, boo hoo!
Hypocrisy without end.
“despite being in the unenvious position of being the future queen’s mother (an unpaid role)”
Eh? Why on earth would she be paid? It’s not an official role.
What I find endlessly amusing is the tabloids, who are aimed at a totally different readership from the Tatler — people who would not buy the Tatler — in their ostensible defense of Karen and her mother, are quoting many of the good bits of the “Great” article so their readers are getting the content anyway. Many will be moved to feel offense on the Midd’s behalf, but some (royalists?) will feel that the RF has been badly served by Willileaks’ choices.
The only one who came out of that piece looking good was Mike Middleton. I bet Will is angry because it made it seem Carole drags him around by his royal jewels. It’s interesting all the comments I read about how the aristos tolerate the royal family but consider them German interlopers. William is still Diana’s som and she was part of their circle. If they haven’t truly embraced him it could be something about him they don’t care for (just speculating). I don’t understand why Will hasn’t figured out that stomping his feet and yelling about the insults in this article are only going to make it much worse. They want to be normal Will & Kate but when something goes wrong they easily fall back on the, “how dare you, don’t you know who I am?” Attitude very quickly.
I am just sitting here, eating popcorn whilst reading first the Tatler article (boy oh boy) and now the reactions. Seriously, if ANYONE actually thinks Meghan somehow *made* that Tatler article happen then they are more stupid than IDK. That article smelled soo much of coming straight from High-Class British society cliques and circles and most of the hilariously written shade pretending to be praise has been around looong before Prince Harry even met Meghan.
agreed. tone-wise these snickering at Kate, her mum and her sister has been around since forever. it’s embarrassing if anyone blames Meghan for this article.
Hmmmn, all this says to me is that Carole is (one of) Wootton’s source (conduit) in the Cambridge camp.
Exactly.
The focus on defending Carole gave it away. She’s definitely a key player in Wootton’s interactions with their team. At this point I wonder if it’s safe to say that she has a hand in virtually ALL of Camp Cambridges media connections. I assumed she was primarily focused on the Fail and the Telegraph, but this piece is a little too focused on cleaning up after her for her not to have any involvement with Wootton.
I would not be surprised if Carole were the Cambridges’ chief leak to multiple tabloids. I also interpret this article as an attempt to soothe a pissed off Carole – Wootton will have to keep his golden goose happy!
This is too funny. Carole has never put a foot wrong except chewing gum at William’s graduation. Well, she looked like a cow chewing that gum and her smugness was striking, even 15 years later.
If they would stop with the outrage, people would forget. There are more important things to be concerned about, but… this story is a great distraction. It’s catty and petty and pokes fun at the perfect English Rose/FFQC and her sad wanker of a husband. It calls out the social climbing nature of her family, reiterating that the Wisteria sisters did nothing but chase status for years. It’s delicious!! So, thanks KP for your continued ineptitude!
Her interview slagging Meghan was also putting a foot wrong. You can’t cry classism when you crap on another woman for having a work ethic. Especially when she’s your daughter’s sister in law.
That’s true, Nic! I’d forgotten about that article. We should have known Carole & company saw Meghan as a threat when they forced Harry to leave her in London for Pippa’s wedding.
Angling for the Coat of Arms to be for all of them, not just Kate. Their silly signet rings as mentioned above. Floating the idea they should be elevated to the aristocracy because they are grandparents of a royal. Using the idea of royal security to get rare permissions to expand their previous home, then used those permissions to charge far more than the house was worth. Trying to move into her own apartment at Kensington Palace to play non-royal royal granny. Trying to get Pippa as Kate’s LIW. Being awful to the designer of her wedding outfit and cheating the woman out of the cost of it. Merching Pippa’s wedding. All the convenient pap photos of Carole out playing with her first grandson, not protested.
Carole has done plenty wrong.
I remember there was a weird little Telegraph article, a little while after either the wedding, or George’s birth, that talked about the Middletons receiving some type of title, because it was “ridiculous” that they’re so closely related to the future Queen and the monarchy, but don’t have aristocratic titles to go with it.
I’ll see if I can find it again. It would be worth knowing who the author of that article is.
Christopher Wilson, Fail on Sunday, 27 Jan 2013
The Earl of Bucklebury and Countess Carole! How the Queen could give Michael Middleton a title ahead of the Royal birth
Of note. Fail on Sunday’s two past editors (including the one on the job in 2013) were the paid PR hacks for the Middletons for a decade prior to the engagement.
Wilson also wrote the one for the Telegraph after George’s birth.
Christopher Wilson, Telegraph, 26 July 2013
The Middletons deserve a title – step forward, the Earl and Countess of Fairfax
Their grandson – Prince George of Cambridge – is a future king. High time to ennoble Kate’s parents
Are the Cambrigdes planning on Streisanding through this whole thing for the next six months or so?
I mean, I am game! *gets more popcorn*
Oh I hope they do. This has been a most delicious distraction during these crazy days. Pass the tea, please!
Apparently. This story should have died out last week. Instead….
I feel like he’s maybe being a bit snide here:
“the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have the right to push back on aspects of the society magazine’s cover feature this month on “Catherine The Great” that they can prove are inaccurate.”
But the Cambridges CAN’T prove the insinuations and quotes from their friends are inaccurate, that’s why Dan had to write this piece in the first place!
And all this does is keep the insinuations alive for yet another week when they could have been buried long ago. Someday this whole ridiculous debacle will be studied in media/public relations courses as an example of what NOT to do.
Oh get over it, this is what you spent 10years helping your daughter attain this fame.
With so much going on in the world right now, we all would have forgotten about the Tatler article by now if they didn’t keep bringing it up 😂 They are their own worst enemy.
Why are they referred to as “young royals?” They’re in the end of their 30s. Do you need to be a senior and/or grandparent not be considered young anymore? I figured that designation would be for the actual kids.
When your sovereign is in her 90s, her husband is nearing the century mark, and the heir himself is well past the normal retirement age? End of your 30s is indeed rather young. I would imagine the ‘young royals’ torch will be passed to George & co. once they hit their mid-teens and are expected to do some work, for some reason most people I’ve seen talking about various royal families tend to at least wait until puberty before they start paying attention to the kids.
Wooten is calling for Tatler to be shunned because they are judgmental and keep perpetuating the class system that is so damaging to society? This is a very creative take on the article. I imagine Wooten called up Will for his weekly leak on the Sussexes, but all Will wanted to rant about was the Tatler, and Dan said our readership doesn’t pay attention to that rag. At which point Will decides Dan has to come up with some angle to trash the Tatler anyway, and so we get this half-column about snobbishness damaging society. In a week when frustration with racism has boiled over, Wooten decides to take up the cause of snobbery? Obviously, Wooten doesn’t care about this story, Wills.
And whoever said we’ll be getting photo ops of the kids called it. There’s a new pic of Pippa strolling in London with her little boy. She hasn’t been seen since lockdown, apparently. Now we just have to wait for the happy family pics Will owes Wooten.
I’m sure Pippa has missed having all her pap strolls.
So that asswipe Wooten now thinks it sickening to write negative stories about Khate’s mother. Where was the hypocrite when those racist vipers were terrorizing Meghan and Doria. The ahole.
“Carole Middleton, who hasn’t put a foot wrong despite being in the unenvious position of…”
Blah, blah, blah.
So here’s the thing: In previous pieces in the Daily Mail, “anonymous sources” have used *these exact same words* to describe Kathy in contrast to The Black American Duchess.
Anonymous sources. Yeah, I’m pretty sure Danny was quoting himself and hiding behind “anonymous sources.”
It’s okay Danny. We see you. Keep talking. You just keep outing your shitty journalism – which, by the way, is precisely why you’re working for the Daily Mail: No legitimate newspaper would hire you.
The Cambridge’s and the courtiers realize that no one is feeling sorry for them the poor over worked kate story didn’t worked the tight gate story didn’t work . And now the Cambridge’s are trying to play the victim of the elite crowd that their being bullied because they come for the middle class . No one but the Cambridge’s fans are buying this no one feels sorry for carol she just as much as a snob as the crowd she and her dimwits daughter wanted so Desperately to be apart of . The Middleton’s helped bullied a newly married in woman into the royal family they were more than happy to leak untrue stories about Meghan help sow the hatred that Meghan still continues to receive to this day now they want people to feel sorry for them the social climbing family who live in a manor .
After all that has happened with George Floyd, Brienna Taylor and the global response, I doubt anyone (even people in the UK) with a real life really gives a fat rat’s clacker about the Keens, Ma Middleton or Dan Wootton.
Aw, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men still can’t put the daffy Duke Bill’s chosen narrative back together again.
Right on schedule. The go to Kensington mouthpieces is the last to write about “poor Carole” being mocked by the snobbish rag. He and his ilk have shown their BIAS towards the cambridges. Any gossip writer wouldve at least gone through the other claims in the issue. Notice how they are all ignoring the attacks on Meghan. I guess that doesn’t help their claim that Meghan had something to do with this
“Have these stuck-up snobs learnt nothing about the dangers of judging someone because of their social background?” — You mean like the RP constantly judging someone for being an actress? Weird, huh.
Bit rich coming from a “journalist” who writes for the Sun too, if you ask me.
Those beady eyes. Is she looking at her son-in-law lmao
Oh poor Ma Middleton. Cue the tiny violins.
This guy is such an idiot. He totally missed the tone of that excerpt. It was a bit of a piss pull but also a wink in it, like” can you believe people get bothered over gum”. Also, WTF, Dan? “Carole Middleton, who hasn’t put a foot wrong despite being in the unenvious position of being the future queen’s mother (an unpaid role)”?!!! Does this bitch Wooten think thirsty Carole is the future Queen Mother? Is he trying to write a new job description with salary requirements? The woman who was papped all over St. Barts for Christmas with the rest of her basic family. She has zero role in the royal family, except the one she sees fit to impose herself on. She’s not Charles’s wife or William’s mother. She’s not a part of the Royal Family, her daughter is, but old Carole seems to have forgotten that. This is why the aristocracy can’t stand her and why this Tatler piece upset the Middletons. Because people in their toff set who they fawn over so much don’t like Carole and find Kate and her family annoying and pushy, and needed their graspy little hands smacked. Don’t know why they’re still trying to keep this story alive. It’s just comical and does them no favors.
Some posters have noted that this article seems a little sarcastic/mocking. I’m on the fence but there’s definitely been a lot of faux concern from the British tabloids covering this mess. I’m curious to see if they’ll continue in this vein or eventually go all out with hostility. The last time Will and Kate dealt with an unfriendly press was in 2016/2017, and it was valid criticism rather than the nastiness unleashed on Meghan.
Regardless of whether the tabloids are being snarky and mocking, the fact is, their audience is unlikely to pick up on that tone.
However, the most telling aspect of the “outrage” is how liberally these journos have quoted the original Tatler article, starting with Richard Kay. I was able to read Tina Brown’s book on Diana recently, and it talked about this exact thing. She had written an article for the Vanity Fair about the rumblings in Charles and Diana’s marriage which caused a huge uproar in Britain. Quoting from the book, “The ruckus was all the tabloids in concert pretending that what I had written was a scandalous pack of lies in order to justify repeating every juicy detail.”
That, I think, is what is happening here. They’re using the “outrage” as an excuse to repeat the most damning portions of the Tatler article. It makes me wonder, then, if the whole response from the other royal reporters was in fact prompted by the Cambridges (because very few of them have effectively refuted the claims tbh). It also puts Dan Wootten’s week long silence in context–he might have very well been trying to help them by not talking about it to help the public forget about it much quicker.
I think The highest power in Monarchy (lilibeth) is using the Royal Rota to deflect story about Andrew by throwing the cambridge. Since Meghan cannot be used as a shield anymore.
It was pretty clear to everybody that Wootton did a sort of quid pro quo deal with William, to bury the Rose-story he first ‘proudly’ broke. Probable in exchange of access to and positive reporting about the Cambridge family vs selling out/leaking about the Sussexes.
It literally took him a week to decide how to approach the Tatler story without endangering his chequebook journalism-contract with William, to end up writing this silly piece.
So, Tatler is definitely playing with them. Whereas, the “Catherine the Great” article was moved out of their Royals section and virtually hidden so you have to search for it, their nice little article yesterday about Meghan, HRH The Duchess of Sussex, and her inspiring commencement address to Immaculate Heart grads is clearly listed under “Royals,” with a gorgeous pic of Meghan.
https://www.tatler.com/article/duchess-of-sussex-meghan-markle-george-foyd-black-lives-matter-speech
Thanks for sharing – that was quite a flattering article
Yes, it’s definitely flattering just to p*ss off Catherine the Great.
Thanks for that link! That article was positively glowing.
Oh please! Tatler can piss off! They do not give a shat about Meghan and that has been proven time and time again.
Carole looks good for being Camilla’s mother, a/k/a “the future queen’s mother.” LOL. Seriously, the Middletons have tried to be part of the aristo class for decades and couldn’t get signet rings on their pinkies fast enough. They always play down or ignore their working class roots and that Carole was born on a council flat. To this American, it doesn’t matter, but obviously a huge deal in the UK. The aristos can spot a “wannabe” a mile away and the Middletons’ thirst just oozes from them. I hope the working class sees through them as the aristos have: you can’t deny your past then rely on it for sympathy.
“you can’t deny your past then rely on it for sympathy.” Precisely.
ARE THEY STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS? Who’s next? Will Ingrid Seward come out next week to defend Pippa Middleton’s right to speak like she has rocks in her mouth?
Also, did he really have to mention that being Kate’s mother was an “unpaid position”? Like, obviously bro. Do you really expect people to fall over themselves to pay Carole so she can stroke the bald head of her son in law while he naps on her lap all day and help her almost 40 year old daughter do everything but wipe her own arse?
I really just cannot with these people anymore, not after this week.
I originally wrote a much angrier comment that didn’t get posted, so here’s my second (calmer) try. I think it’s enormously rich for someone like Dan Wootten to proclaim that he’s “a working class lad”, considering the paper which he writes for goes out of its way to demonize and destroy peoples’ perception of the working class in Britain.
It’s especially funny that he claims his paternal relatives are miners from Newcastle, considering he writes for and enriches a paper that most likely portrayed them as scum during the 1984 miner’s strike and supported the police as they brutally put the strike down during the Margaret Thatcher years. The fact that he, or anyone over at that garbage kitty litter liner of a paper, think they can lecture anyone or thump their chest about the classism endemic in Britain, is laughable given that the Dim makes its money by gleefully stoking racist and classist tensions at its convenience.
This includes Carole, who spent her whole life trying to shed her working class image and only brings it up in the context of classist bullying from aristocrats. Carole, who tried to smarm and glom her way into the aristocratic crowd, by trying to reinvent a posh image for herself in order to fit in, who probably aped their aristocratic classism herself when it suited her. She either takes up or sheds her background at whim depending on what suits her public image the best or when it’s most convenient for her outrage. If she cared one whit about classism, she would have known how to put those aristocrats in their place when they first brought up these attitudes to snub her and closed ranks against her. The Middletons only care about this stuff when it threatens their PR or their ambitions, and never at any other time.
Is Kate taking victim lessons from Taylor Swift?
And what is this obsessions with never putting a wrong foot forward. The repetition makes it seem like the same source every time (maybe it’s a common saying in the UK?).
Tatler is so classist. I cringed at the word “stock.”
Kate needs to learn from Taylor, that everything comes out in the end. When you act like the most perfect wholesome woman on the planet, you will never survive controversy, because it make everything about you look like a lie. Taylor image never really recovered, and neither will Kate’s.
The Byline investigates Twitter has a very interesting story about Wootton and it addresses links to KP we have already discussed along with other players no one had mentioned. They state Wootton has threatened to sue over this story.
I saw that – this is a very interesting development. Though the article says that it was the KP employee’s partner who was paid for info on the Susessexes. So there’s plausible deniability on the part of both the Cambridges and Christian Jones. However, Jones most likely gossiped about the Susessexes private life to his partner who then sold the info. The question is whether Jones knew and whether KP knew. I think it will be hard to prove that William knew about this – but I have to wonder whether he refused to have his staff investigated. I could see Harry blow his top if William refused to even try to find the source of the leaks.
Since two years we’ve been saying were all the leaking about the Sussexes is coming from: KP. Willieleaks will be a real name in a legal/investigative case soon, at least if queenie will live to see her dear monarchy survive.
It was Harry who sent legal letters to The Suns and Wootton. And it looks like Wootton basically has lost his editorial position and is banned to only do radio broadcasting. Harry is not playing anymore. He is suing the hell out of all these rags and assh*l* RRs and so called journos, one by one. Probably that’s why Piers has changed his tone on Meghan lately: legal letters must have been dropped at the ITV CEO’s desk as well, and/or in his personal mailbox.
If Harry’s lawyer knows the details then it’s impossible to say William doesn’t know now and frankly the knowledge that Jones was part of the leak was out for months now. We even knew about this. William cannot plead ignorance when it gets to the point where people following a gossip blog know the parties involved in leaking the stories for several months.
Unless they have some hard evidence or testimony then it will be almost impossible to prove that William was behind this. I think it IS very likely that he was – but I also think that they can’t prove it. It may even be difficult to prove that Jones deliberately gave out information with the intent for his partner to give it to the press. I’m something of a pessimist and I doubt that this will blow back on William. Jones’ partner will be scapegoated since it was him that received money from Wootten and The Sun.
Technically, we didn’t know that Jones was the leak – we suspected it and it turned out that this suspicion was true (Harry’s laywers would have sent out letters if they didn’t think that they had solid evidence). I think people have a tendency to state their suspicions and speculations as truth. People here kept saying that Dan Wootten was dating Christian Jones. Turns out Jones had a different partner. People were right about one thing – Jones was involved – but wrong about another (Jones and Wootten weren’t dating). I know I’m being a bit fussy here but recently I’ve seen people repeating old gossip where they’ve misunderstood some crucial things (I’ve been royal watching for a long long time) as simple fact. In a way that is how gossip works – if something is repeated long and often enough people think it is truth. A lot of people have fallen prey to this regarding Meghan but I’ve also seen the same here regarding the Cambs and the Middletons.
I’m just saying that as it stands, unless there is more evidence, then you can construct a plausible narrative that Jones was indiscreet about his employers’ private life to his partner and that his partner took advantage. I would be great if more evidence comes to light but I doubt it. If this was indeed a concerted effort to smear Harry and Meghan then they have set it up in such a way that William is insulated (and Jones as well to a certain extent).
Very interesting indeed. Like others, I’ve always had my suspicions about Jones, particularly because of his conservative ties. Anyway, Wootton can whine and threaten all he wants, but I think he’s well overdue for a public shunning and shaming like the one he and other media hacks waged against Meghan. It’s about time for QM Carole to get the exposure she really deserves as well.
@ArtHistorian – I agree with you (and yes we were wrong about Jones, I was confused when I first saw this story because I kept thinking “but Jones is dating Wootton!” and turns out that was not accurate). I doubt there is hard evidence linking this to William. I will say the longer Jones remains employed with the Cambridges the more obvious it is that William (or Kate or both) knew about it, because IMO leaking private information about the royals, especially something as big as the (supposed) move to Canada, should be grounds for immediate removal. But I think the narrative that will be pushed in the press will be that it was just “pillow talk” and Jones didn’t mean any harm by it.
Don’t they sign NDAs though? I’m assuming sharing private info about the royals to anyone outside necessary people (e.g., other employees) is not allowed.
They’ll probably fire Christian, do one big fake apology about how they didn’t solve this situation because they “saw the best” in all their staff and couldn’t believe they would be “betrayed” like that but promise to do better (they won’t) and it’ll all get swept under the rug (unless Harry launches a lawsuit)
Bonus: And as for PR cleanup, William will probably run to Richard Kay or someone like that and blame Kate for hiring him and that it was all her idea. So he’ll probably chuck her under the bus
@Arthistorian, maybe Harry did “blow his top.” Remember the huge argument he and William reportedly had the night before last Summer’s polo game? It was supposedly about “staff.”
Clearly, Harry knew there were leaks and suspected, at the very least, KP, BP and CH staff, if not other Royals directly. Hopefully, he has now realised that William must be complicit I do think, however, that the Sussexes had been suspecting it for awhile.
As far as ties to Jones and Will, pillow talk and one ensuing leak is one thing but multiple leaks? I think you could make a case that Jones knew.
I hope the last 3 years of positive press have been worth it for William and Kate. It’s cost William one whole brother. No doubt they will throw this Christian guy under the bus with a public sacking when the time comes. It’s funny cos If the Cambridge’s are innocent then why is he still working there, after selling the Sussex’s out for the price of £4000? They will have to give him one hell of a payoff to publically sack him and make sure he doesn’t blab or expose them. The karma bus is coming.
Byline is making reference to certain accounting practices that tipped off that payments were being made. There seems to be some sort of paper trail and even if it’s Jones’s partner who officially got paid by Wootton, he wouldn’t know the information but through someone like his partner Jones. That gets most people fired and there is no way this was just recently discovered. The Cambridges look very bad for still having him around. They definitely have confidentiality clauses in their employment contracts and this is a clear breach. Meanwhile Sophie Agnew, Catherine Quinn and David Case have all left or been let go since the time period when Jones and his partner are said to have been leaking information. Why not get rid of Jones when others were leaving?
Sofia, W&K are already doing PR cleanup. Pics of the kids released today. Old pics but ones that weren’t seen before. William following in Diana’s footsteps, using pics of the kids for PR.
Nice919, you said, “Byline refers to certain accounting practices that gave the tip that payments were made. There seems to be some kind of paper trail … ”. In other words, Byline’s whistle blower must be someone from/connected with The Sun, who likely provided Byline with the paperwork that could apparently be trailed to The Sun’s accounting.
Here’s my take on this (just a thought):
We know that Emu left The Sun, and – after months of unemployment (a journo at large, as she put it) – recently started working as the royal editor of MoC, a position she really wanted when working for The Sun. She is rumoured to have left after an alleged feud with Wootty. We don’t know the reason. Some say that he by-lined her articles, stole her contacts after (very unexpectedly) became the royal editor without a formal appointment, while still being the editor of celebrities / showbiz news.
Now it comes… Could there be an Emu-Wootty whistle blowing – backstabbing thing going on here? According to the Byline article, Wootty seems to believe that someone played him.
“If you knew, what I know…”
Prince Harry
Makes sense why “journalists” like Piss Moran and Elizabeth Holmes “apologizing” for their treatment of Meghan. The Tatler story makes even more sense now.
Everybody wants to get out of the way, because it’s about to hit the fan.
As I recall William used to set up “stings” to catch friends that were leaking information about him to the press and then he would end that friendship. Interesting though that Christian Jones is still in his employ, which would lead one to believe that William had, at least, knowledge of these leaks.
He even tested Kate with fake gossip to test her loyalty. For Jones to still be here months later and after several instances when there was an obvious breach of confidentiality strongly suggests that he was directed to leak the information.
I figured that it would be the KP staff who were mostly behind this. The very first overtly negative article that came out about Meghan was from her staff making fun of her for sending 5 am e-mails. It struck me then that much of the negative stories were from them, and as @ArtHistorian said, it makes sense precisely because it affords William and Kate plausible deniability.
My take on that is this: you’re their boss. The buck stops with you. The culture in your work place is something that you set and reinforce with your actions, attitudes and behaviours. If your staff see fit to blab sensitive information to the press about their other set of bosses, then that means that you’ve created a permissive environment where they feel comfortable being disrespectful.
As the FFK, William also outranks Harry in the hierarchy. The people who work for the RF know this. They allot their respect and priorities based on this hierarchy. It’s incumbent on William to go out of his way to reinforce respect for Harry and protect him because his staff is not going to unless he makes them do it or gives them the proper cues. There is probably a culture of undermining Harry and Meghan that’s endemic at KP and that’s absolutely William’s fault, but that’s not something that you can really prosecute or hold him accountable for.
Harry has really inherited his mother’s talent for lobbing metaphorical grenades at the RF. He’s so done with their shit – and I bet he has wanted to address the leaking from KP for a while but was pressured by the family not to. Well, he’s not working for the BRF anymore. I am all for him burning down the royal house, like his mother he has had enough.
According to the article there will be an internal investigation by HR from Buck Palace. That means William ultimately wasn’t the boss and Jones breached confidentiality. While one story might be a mistake, by the time the part time royal proposal was leaked, there should have been heads rolling. There is no way a public servant, as Jones is considered to be, would not be obligated to agree to maintain confidentiality and he breached it, regardless of who it damaged. It’s a bad look on William and Charles that no one got turfed in January or February because of the leaks.
They are only doing an investigation NOW because it has become a public legal matter. I bet Harry wanted an investigation when the leaks happened and got stonewalled by the Firm.
I agree completely. They would have brushed this aside if kept in the dark. And the only real option is to let Jones go. It’s clear he leaked confidential information. Whether or not he got paid or his partner did, it still left the workplace.
“That means William ultimately wasn’t the boss and Jones breached confidentiality.” @Nic919, what William did had consequences up the chain to the Queen, hence why Buckingham Palace is now looking into it. The whole thing was still being discussed with the Queen who was not prepared for any of it to go public at the time. It’s a whole different ballgame to having a staffer or two bitch about Meghan bringing in espresso machines and making up fake stories about how she forbade staff members from parking somewhere cuz she’s a diva etc. They messed with the top boss’s plans and there’s a chance the whole thing would have unfolded quite differently and with a lot less vitriol and bitterness on both sides if this hadn’t happened.
@ArtHistorian, I think while Diana was good at knowing what would hurt the RF the most and make the biggest statement to them and what would engender a proper response from their crowd, she was still a loose cannon in a lot of ways. I keep quoting Tina Brown’s book because I think the assessment of her was quite apt. She’s a tactician, not a strategist. She plans and responds to the short term, not the longer term.
Harry has learned to be a bit more practiced and careful with his actions in the same situations now. I’d like to think that the latest set of legal actions against the Sun and others were the result of thoughtful planning and consideration on his part. I don’t get the impression that he doesn’t care whether he burns any bridges with the RF, unlike Diana, who desperately wanted to be heard and validated by them and was furious when they wouldn’t do either, which caused her to escalate her behaviour.
All I could think about was:
“Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
/snort
Listen, rich people with rigid cultural class structures will protect them at all cost. People in positions of power they did not earn will simultaneously be defensive and in denial. Just like racism. Classism and racism are very similar mindsets and they often coeexist.
In cultures that do not adhere to rigid class structures, the people will make them up based on something else. When titles and nobility are not at hand to use as weapons, people will pick money or accent or which school you went to or what country your great-grandparents are from…or something.
You can watch little kids do this. They’ll exclude somebody based on green not being their favorite color when everyone else in the group likes green the best. Or something.
The new favorite is moral high ground. People like to fancy themselves morally superior to those who are different. Mommy shaming is a good example of this one. You take something like a decision to crib or family bed…and then twist it into an example of how one choice is morally superior instead of just allowing people to have different views on things.
Anyway. My point is: wretched people will be wretched, and the longer we go on with the Karen-ization of all of these foibles and failings of humanity, the more I think we should’ve called them the Lady Catherines.
Love the reference to Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen had a rapier wit, especially about the snobby upper-classes.
“The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.”
She was an astute woman.
On that Wootton story, knowing this could come out wonder if that’s behind the ridiculous attempts to link Meghan to the Tatler piece.
Anyway someone else will fall on their sword for this if this matter is pursued& proven. I’ve seen speculation here that if any evidence of a smear campaign emerged one of the ex KP staffers would likely take the fall. the crown& it’s principals will be protected.
But it’s not feasible that such a big story like the Canada move could leak causing this big crisis, and there isn’t an internal investigation into staff if the principals were completely innocent. And the royal reporters have been openly saying on social media that people in the royal household have been briefing against each other& that’s not been refuted at any point. You’d also think given Harry was asked to write things down& plan then leaking it would have been a confidentiality& security concern requiring investigation to root out the leakers if royals had their hands clean.
Yes, the fact that no security investigation or disciplinary action took place after the leaking of Harry’s written plans speak volumes. Why wasn’t William “incandescent with rage” at a betrayal of his family’s most intimate discussions? I have to conclude that Wills either discussed it and knew it would leak or hoped it would leak, hurting his brother. Otherwise, he would give this person the boot, right?
I wonder if he knows that someone who will leak FOR you might also leak ABOUT you?
On a side note I find the Wootton story interesting because Emily Andrews who for all her issues and sometimes made up stories did have sources and was one of the few that would break news as the Sun Royal correspondent and she thought highly of herself because of it. Then suddenly the entertainment reporter Wootton had all of these Royal front page breaking news stories all connected back to Kennsington Place. It seemed to make Emily Andrews irrelevant as a Royal correspondent and now she’s no longer working at the Sun. I would think there would have to be some bitter feelings from Andrews toward Wootton over what transpired?
Emily states in now deleted tweets that she was mislead by KP about the baby shower. They gave her incorrect information and she assumed it was accurate because it had been in the past.
That said Wootton had a more direct connection and he did have the top stories. He was also a huge jerk to work with and that was part of why she left. The byline investigates story will change things once again and it is reported that Wootton has been pushed to the background. This might explain the delay in getting this Carole story out.