In May, the Duchess of Cambridge got to announce a new thing with one of her favorite patronages, the National Portrait Gallery. Kate announced Hold Still, an open-entry photography competition for images related to the pandemic. Kate and a team of judges would select the 100 best photos and they would be included in a virtual gallery on the National Portrait Gallery’s site. Kate, an amateur photographer, was legitimately keen about it, and she even proudly showed off an email sent to the other judges, where she signed off with “C.”
Well, the top 100 images have been culled and selected from more than 30,000 submissions. The virtual gallery is up – go here to see. The images really are beautiful, some of my favorites are: family members looking at each other through windows (a popular theme); a pastor preaching to pews which are empty except for photos of his parishioners; a Tesco worker looking devastated; a little girl drawing a rainbow on the window; all of the portraits of nurses and doctors; a man in a suit, attending a virtual funeral. The Queen was quite taken with Kate’s project, and Her Maj released this statement:
“It was with great pleasure that I had the opportunity to look through a number of the portraits that made the final 100 images for the Hold Still photography project. The Duchess of Cambridge and I were inspired to see how the photographs have captured the resilience of the British people at such a challenging time, whether that is through celebrating frontline workers, recognising community spirit or showing the efforts of individuals supporting those in need. The Duchess of Cambridge and I send our best wishes and congratulations to all those who submitted a portrait to the project.”
I saw some tweets and conversation about how the Queen was embiggening Kate’s project, but I don’t know, I don’t really think it’s anything super-complicated. Kate worked on a project which turned out to be really cool and pretty moving, and the Queen acknowledged it.
Introducing, the final 100 portraits.
The images present a unique record of our shared and individual experiences during this extraordinary period of history, conveying humour and grief, creativity and kindness, tragedy and hope.
Read the stories: https://t.co/yn9rmErfVv pic.twitter.com/M7PwfwKpbH
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 14, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Royal social media.
Well done, great project. this pics are amazing, and so very touching
It truly is simply lovely
Very on-brand for the BRF – nothing political, just hope and “embiggening” the British people.
Ahh…the old days.
See, this is good stuff. This is exactly in the realm of projects she SHOULD be working on. It baffles me why Kate does not choose charities related to her interests more. She could so easily do sports related initiatives involving getting kids to exercise. If photography is her thing, great, do more royal charity work around that since you actually like it!
I partly agree with this line of thinking, partly don’t. I think at the start, this was what they should have done with Kate – have her involved in specific charities/organizations that are directly related to her interests and strengths, as a way to introduce her to royal work. At this point though, almost 10 years in, she should be experienced and mature enough to know that not every aspect of her work is going to be directly related to her interests, and she’s going to have to do some things that she might not have that much interest in. But it would be okay because she would have had a few years under her belt learning the royal ropes with projects she DID find interesting, you know?
All very true!
“I think at the start, this was what they should have done with Kate – have her involved in specific charities/organizations that are directly related to her interests and strengths, as a way to introduce her to royal work.”
+1. I think that would have been much better and better equipped her than having her do basically nothing for a few years. They should have had her doing the “bread and butter” engagements so that she could figure out not only what she’s interested in and develop interest in other things but also what her strengths and weaknesses are. That way, maybe someone/Kate herself would have realised that these long term projects aren’t in her wheelhouse – and that’s perfectly okay. Or maybe she wouldn’t be so bad with the long term projects had she worked from the very beginning.
L84Tea, I so agree with you. I recall when I went to University I started as a teacher (my parents push) and I HATED it and eventually dropped, went back and found what captured my mind and heart. It shows when people are pushed to do something they don’t care for and I hope some of what we have labeled as LAZINESS for Kate may be her being pushed into charities she doesn’t really take interest in. BUT, as FQC that isn’t an excuse for her. These are all charities in her country and one her husband will be King of. The pound stops there – no excuses.
10 years ago that might have flown but she’s going to be 39 and sometimes you have to do things you don’t love 100% in life, especially when you are given a life of luxury in return for a few charitable appearances. All the other royals understood that deal and managed to do a few hundred engagements, it’s just Kate and William who couldn’t bother to meet the terms of the unspoken deal.
I think the palace knew they had a dud to start with. She’s not good at speeches, not interested in other people’s work, had a hard time with small talk. There was talk of “princess lessons” and preparations to “hit the ground running” early on, and perhaps there was a struggle within the walls of what to do with her. In the end, they created this endless cycle of “Kate is going to, preparing to, keen to” stuff to create a build up and then let her do the few things she liked.
This was an NPG project, not a personal initiative or idea on her part. They did all the work, brought in their royal patron to launch it. None of the work or effort was put in by Kate, but she’ll happily take all the credit.
Kate was MIA at her own launch, so Queen made an unprecedented statement effectively launching it on Kate’s behalf.
Where is Waity? Why is the Queen acting as a warm up act?
You know when you over-praise a stubborn naughty child for FINALLY agreeing to brush their teeth, to create the impetus for them to do it again? This is what Lizzie’s doing loooool.
“WELL DONE Catherine! Good girl! See you worked SO HARD. You get a sticker.”
Kate’s there giggling and twisting her fingers in her dress and playing with her hair.
This was exactly how I interpreted it. Yes, the queen probably did enjoy the pictures and thinks the competition was a good idea. But she’s also definitely making a very strong point in terms of the praise here in a “work more Kate” kind of way.
She’s been MIA a lot lately.
I do think its weird that Kate has been MIA this week, when the final 100 was announced – she posted that one zoom video last week or the week before, and that’s been it.
I do think it’s super weird she didn’t do an appearance for this yesterday.
Shazbot
Or record a message. It would have taken minutes.
Tinfoil tiara time: What if the Queen released this statement as not only a show of support for this particular project but also in Kate in general. There’s rumours of her husband cheating (and therefore divorce rumours) and the peerage hasn’t quite taken a fancy to her so I just wonder if this is just HM’s way of going: “I, the monarch, support Kate. She’s not going anywhere. I approve of what she does.”
This all reminds me of when Kate went dark for two months Mar/Apr 2019 when Rose rumours surfaced.
Something is going on behind the scenes.
I agree that it’s weird how Kate has been missing (and longer than just this week). It’s for sure nice that the Queen supports this initiative, but it would also be lovely of her to stand up and support OTHERS doing good jobs. Which she doesn’t do.
I think what’s going on behind the scenes and her being MIA is more than William’s cheating stories – I think its more to do with the fall out of Sussexit and the backlash she got for the church b!tchface.
I think Kate is hiding away to get some leverage with the rest of the RF.
I agree that it’s weird she’s barely worked on the launch for this. How hard is it to do another zoom video about this? I just haven’t even seen the Queen step in and do a statement like this about a charity thing spearheaded by another royal. Charles has done a ton of good initiatives and she’s never done this. It’s like she had to take over the PR because Kate couldn’t be bothered to do it.
Kate was bashed slightly in the Daily Fail comments for the inclusion of the BLM photo in the Hold Still project. There were a few “not my Queen” comments and calls that she was getting political. Perhaps KP saw those, freaked out, and said Kate cannot be connected to this project now so they asked the Queen to step in, as the general feeling is that the public won’t call for the Queen’s head.
As for the whole project, the National Portrait Gallery is a class act. I bet they used Kate to gain some publicity but did not defer to her.
Tatler is trolling her again about William’s affair. Maybe that’s why? And the Queen put out a statement just like before she gave Kate her order?
Or the Cambridges are on vacation seeing as the kids have not gone back to school. It’s a convenient time to spend a month on Mustique.
So, let me get this straight. Kate was part of a project that was organized with a large charity and teams of people to organize and judge all these submissions. She maybe sent out and email about it and it was publicized as “proof” she’s really working. Then she couldn’t even zoom in an appearance or write up something for the launch? So, the queen did to directly attach Kate’s name to it. I have that right?
She’s just done a pap stroll with Child #3 in London in the past few days. Pics published by a non-UK outlet.
She and William did some kind of “work” in London yesterday too. They’re definitely in England.
Just out of interest – is it “a pap stroll” if she knows that the photos can’t and won’t be published in England?
The pictures ARE really good, so it seems overall that the project is a success. And there’s a part of me that’s like – look, Kate, you CAN work* on a project and see it through to the end! you can do it!!! Keep it up!
*We have no clue how much work she actually did on the project, even if she DID send an email, but generally speaking I think that’s okay, even if she did the bare minimum, she’s using her name and role as patron to publicize the competition, which is what she should be doing.
I did think it was funny that KP sent out canned language for all the nominees to use on social media lol.
Canned language with the same grammar error, to make it super obvious.
I also wonder how much she had to do with selecting the pics especially given the kerfuffle over the BLM photo.
Canned language with a typo that was repeated by many. I think it’s safe to assume Kate did the least possible here. The other three judges did most of the work so congrats to them for looking at all the photos.
Kate can’t even do a PR push in person to promote this more.
This is one of her better projects (as well as the pictures she took of the holocaust survivors). I think she’s much better suited to these type of things. Advertising projects that have already been in the works. That’s what she should do as patron – advertise and promote the patronage’s efforts/schemes/projects. There’s no need for her to create new initiatives such as “5 question survey” and “Broken Britain”. There’s plenty of good work already being done, just advertise and lend your support and platform to those.
Maybe it’s bc I’m in the states, but it definitely felt like the final release was anticlimactic? I agree it’s a great concept with great results, but for a project of this scale, with an organization and patron of this scale, responses have fell flat?
Again, I don’t know how it’s been received in the UK, but even the IG engagement is poor. I def think a new appearance from Kate would have brought more attention/interest.
Very flat here in U.K., despite bbc breakfast show running it half hourly.
I didn’t notice the launch either so I don’t know if it got a lot of coverage outside of UK. It doesn’t seem like it. It’s probably more to do with me though because I don’t follow them on social media and I’ve blocked practically all UK media.
Something happening behind the scenes.
The British media know where Kate is but they are not talking about it. They are covering up something. How come she’s MIA during the final announcement of the 100 culled images ?
I bet shes pregnant.
Ha! I just said the same thing
ahhh you’re probably right.
There are a lot of news articles that have been writing she’s pregnant. I don’t place store in them, but the way they are reporting it as fact makes me think there could be some truth to it.
Wouldn’t surprise me at this point
I hope not.
Wouldn’t surprise me if because it went reasonably and isn’t controversial that Buckingham Palace just flexed their muscle and pushed Kate out because it was an easy PR thing to stamp the Queen’s name on because she isn’t doing much these days. Remind the public the Queen exists and remind Kate of her place at the same time.
I don’t think there’s any chance of that anymore.
100% agree. Seems to me that TQ is piggybacking Kate :))
She’s probably on Mustique 🤷🏼♀️
THREE engagements in London today! A visit to a Job Centre, a Mosque and a Jewish bakery. ISTM they’ve been told to make an effort and engage with ordinary people. Also to make an effort to look like a couple – Kate actually touches William. IOW they’ve been advised to be more like Harry and Meghan.
I don’t believe Kate was actually involved in this project, that is why it successful; she had nothing to do with it. We’ve seen what a Kate project actually looks like with her Early Years survey, formally Broken Britain.That was a project she spearheaded and look how that turned out. If Kate was so involved she would be apart of the launch, just like Early Years. The queen having to release a statement on behalf of Kate is ridiculous. She’s still having people pick up her slack.
Maybe she’s pregnant. . Did the queen support Meghan’s book.?
This whole mess could have been avoided. Sigh
This is really cool.
This initiative sounds great but I didn’t know Kate wasn’t there. Perhaps one of the reasons is because one of the photos picks was BLM picture was chosen and there was some flack for that. The queen’s statement was probably cover.
Poor Kate always needing the Queen’s support, but why hasn’t the Queen done anything for Meghan?
This is an excellent project with a ton of missed potential. Like an infield home run when it could have been a grand slam.
This project was quite touching and very thoughtful, so I’ll give credit where it’s due. However, the fact Kate was totally MIA for the launch really does alarm me. This project was dragged out for a lengthy period of time, with Kate’s name plastered all over it and it gave Kate a lot of potential to do something really impactful with it, but again her effort into it fell flat. I think she’s going through some sort of tantrum again where she just won’t ‘work’ or do her scheduled duties. A bit like when she went MIA for two months last year when the affair rumours swirled and Kate was given an award order for her silence at the end of it. What else explains her absence now? Hold Still was a great project. It’s just a deep shame not more was done with it.
If we compare to the garden thing, which was also well received, Kate did a ton of in person appearances for this one. It’s not like she hasn’t left the house so I’m not sure why she hasn’t even done a few zoom appearances here. And if she was pregnant and too sick to film a short video, they would have said something like every other time she was pregnant. The silence on this is weird.
Exactly. What’s stopping her from doing a few zoom calls to congratulate participants on the final 100 pictures, or to even have some socially distanced events arranged for her? We have seen her leave Anmer to fly to Sheffield and beyond. Something is definitely not right and I just can’t put my finger on it yet.
Wait now y’all *want* her to do Zoom calls? What happened to months of saying the Cambridge’s were zooming themselves into an early grave? 😒
And about socially distance events…when they did some events people here complained they should be staying staying home. Then when they did Zoom calls for a few weeks people complained saying they should be out about..seems like they can’t win.
She could have attended an open air gallery with some of the final pictures, everyone masked, socially distant, etc. Kind of like what William did with the soccer game. She made that one zoom appearance a few weeks ago (that KP has pinned on its twitter) but that’s been in it recently, its weird.
@whatever – she can and should be doing zoom calls. We make fun of it because one zoom call a week seems to be about the max she is willing to do, poor top CEO.
@whatever – My entire point is that she should be doing more, hence why I brought up the points of zoom calls and socially distanced events that she could definitely get her team to organise for her. The whole gag of Keen’s persona is the way she does one zoom call a week, then exclaims how ‘exhausted’ she is through her PR. That’s why we laugh at her laziness. I believe this project has potential to grow into something great and have a really positive impact on others. The Cambridge’s ‘can’t win’ because they’re too lazy to even try.
No, we only complained about their socially distanced events because most of Kate’s were NOT socially distanced, and she rarely wore a mask.
@whatever, when royals have launched projects in the past they themselves have promoted the launch. It is very odd and actually makes no sense from a PR perspective for Kate not to have released a video of herself or done a xoom call yesterday to announce that the gallery was up and running. As it is, KP had to pay for an ad on twitter in order to get the launch appearing on the side bar. If they are spending money like that, Kate should have done something on her end too. If we don’t see anything from her in the next few days, then something is very off here.
Love the disingenuous trolling. Zoom was mentioned because it is bare minimum and Kate can’t be arsed to even do a video on launching the final photos, which is contrary to the few initiatives she has done over the decade. And no one said she should stay home. It has been she should show up properly masked, as everyone else has been doing. But UK rules, bla bla bla, let’s ignore how the UK has the worst per capita death rate out there etc.
And they did drag her out today but she looks cranky in the photos. Something is off here.
So I’ve been saying “last week” but I went and checked and KP did release that video just yesterday announcing the final 100, and Kate is in that, but only briefly. And now she is out today in London (omg that dress) but there’s a weird feel to it. Maybe she’s mad about having to leave Norfolk?
I saw the footage from today and she looked cranky as hell. Maybe she’s ticked off because she’s had to be dragged out the countryside to do some work. Also found it weird how there was a huge crowd outside the bakery for what was a surprise engagement. Unless the locals knew about it, I don’t know. KP have form for knocking on people’s doors to tell them to come out and support 😉
If you read them carefully, these statements from the queen are not praising the Duchess for her work on this project whatsoever; they’re INSERTING HERSELF into the narrative to co-opt credit: “The Duchess and I” did this, and this, and this.
Therefore, I believe that the Queen (and/or her courtiers) felt that they needed a nice, safe PR bump, and told Kate that the Queen would be taking over the announcements here. Kate obliged like a good little puppet, hence statements coming from the Queen instead of her.
TL;DR, Kate got Cambridged by the Queen!
I can kind of see this, but it still seems weird that Kate is NOWHERE to be seen today and yesterday. The Queen could have released this statement and Kate could have still done something. The Queen doesn’t really need the PR bump right now, if she really did they could have released an old pic of the queen from 1940 (battle of Britain) with her parents or something to remind people the role the royal family played during World War II.
It’s rare to see the queen issue a statement like this basically piggybacking onto someone’s project; this project was good but not THAT good, you know? Its not like it was the top of thing that HAD to have the Queen’s name attached.
to me it reads like Kate said “I’ve zoomed and emailed enough, I’m done with this project, off to Mustique” and so the queen stepped in. IDK though. Its weird.
This makes lot of sense. The Queen Debo-ed the project for some easy positive publicity. Kate is lazy af but I think she would have out in the effort and made an appearance for this.
Yes it’s clear the Queen did send out PR to make it look like she reviewed photos as well, which is odd because I can’t recall that she’s done this to any other royal. And she’s now out today with Billy but looks generally sour.
She’s out with William now? Interesting. BP is probably using her for popular support. They see where there stupid machination went belly up.
Really neat pics!!
This is moving – they even picked a BLM photo.
It would be better if the Queen addressed the racist imagery on her award medal than sending a letter for this cause. Kate also needs to address her choice in artwork. It makes me very uncomfortable that they seem to be using the BLM movement while not addressing their own behavior.
They also need to address all the racist comment on their platforms.
The last few projects/initiatives she has been involved in (this exhibition, Supporting Baby Banks & the Holocaust survivor pictures she took) have been really great. She should continue being involved with things along these lines.
I mean… This is a really nice initiative and all but I feel that it’s not the groundbreaking event that could have been done in a nation where there aren’t enough test kits (next to me there is 100 people queue o waiting to get tested and only 50 tests left). They are sending people to Cardiff all the way from London to get tested.
Lots of people on social media had this kind of photo as well as newspapers. This is not how historians are going to find out how people were feeling, it’s in comments like these.
The “Photo Show” feels so contrived, a bit like clapping for the NHS while bus drivers were dying unrecognised as well as rubbish collectors. It’s the weepy-feel-before-I-move-on kind of photo.
I actually find this exhibition disingenuous and annoying, as if things were over and we were dropping bouquets at the feet of monuments.
“It’s the weepy-feel-before-I-move-on kind of photo.”
Exactly.
While not “groundbreaking,” the photographs are important to documenting what is going on right now. This year was the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and looking back at those photos were a stark reminder of how the government failed us and is still doing so, while showing how we survived. Memory, as we all know, is a tricky thing.
I expected the Duchess’s exhibit to be that special brand of poverty/hardship exploitation that the UK does best. But I must say, that I’m surprised that it’s turned out as decent as it has.
If Kate enjoys her photography projects (and it seems she has really picked up on this hobby), the rest of the family should just let her run with it. If her photography keeps her busy, active, and involved with her duties that is better than nothing.
These photos are are very moving – and the stories. But it’s too early for this kind of thing isn’t it? We are still living it. It’s absolutely impossible to get a test in the UK (a friend wanted her son tested, she’d have had to go to the other end of the country). The rate of infection is going up. Life is NOT back to normal at all, people are still suffering. Isn’t this all rather premature?
Re Kate, I don’t want to sound like a crazy conspiracist but I expect in years to come we will find out a lot more that went on behind the scenes. More details about the unhappiness of the marriage, or perhaps something to do with her mental health. I’ve often wondered what the rictus grin is hiding.
That said, for her to have some kick back from her sourness towards Meghan at that church service (if that is what is happening) is well deserved. Her behaviour that day was reprehensible. She’s nearly 40. Learn how to behave.
Agree on all points @kittylouise. I strongly believe that a lot of Kate’s absenteeism is due to mental health struggles that she was able to ignore/suppress when she was young, beautiful, and had her eyes on the ultimate prize. Now that she’s middle-aged (she and I are the same age and it’s a very challenging time for a lot women, physically and emotionally) and realizing her prize isn’t all she thought it would be, she’s struggling to cope. I suspect she’s also coming to terms with the fact that her health and happiness were essentially sold out by her psychopath mom and she probably feels a lot of anger.
This is not to excuse her bad behavior or mean girlness, just an acknowledgement that humans are complicated and you can be a complete asshole in some respects and still deserve sympathy and grace in others.
This statement from the Queen is very telling – she never once gives credit to or praises Kate for her “work” on this project. Instead, she includes herself and Kate on the same level: “Kate and I were inspired”, “Kate and I send our congrats” etc.
This is not the basic PR statement you put out if you want to praise someone for elevating an important cause or project, or more particularly if the queen was specifically trying to embiggen Kate. The queen could’ve easily said “I am thrilled that the Duchess of Cambridge has illuminated the strength of Britain through this initiative” or some fluff like that. The queen’s statement most certainly did not do that. What the Queen’s statement did was insert herself into the project.
I think that the Queen and/or her courtiers decided that this project was just the type of low-risk PR project that she needed right now, and kindly asked Kate to step aside and let her make the announcement. It’s a win-win: the Queen’s statement usurps any canned statement coming from KP, as it naturally would, but if there’s considerable political blowback (about the BLM photo, etc) she can just as easily push that onto Kate and be no worse for the wear.
This reminds me of one of the issues the royals had with Meghan; she wouldn’t let them take credit for her work. I guess it’s another reason why they support Kate. If the queen is inserting herself in this project for PR, it’s another reason why I don’t think Kate was involved. Why would you work someone else to take credit?
But what’s odd is that I don’t recall the Queen doing this to any senior royal prior to this. It’s a power move by the Queen to put Kate in her place, but the question is why.
@Nic – that is exactly what’s so odd about the statement from the Queen. She doesn’t issue statements like this when another senior royal launches (or completes) a project. For some reason the queen felt she had to put her name on this – and its not something she usually does.
The Queen takes credit for Kate’s “big” pandemic project & Kate is out doing an in person engagement today (so, not on vacation or pregnant). To me, this reads like the last minute decision that Will & Kate would not walk in the CW day procession. I see it as a power move by Liz & the courtiers to put Kate in her place. Whatever is going on behind the scenes does not seem like good news for Kate.
…and rumour has it she is doing these engagements today with a very sour look on her face. You might say she’s in a bit of a snit. Maybe Kate saw this project as an easy PR win, and is pissed the queen took credit too?
I think the intention was for this project to be the thing she could coast on for the rest of the year (pandemic version of the garden thing). With her little email release teasing the reveal, I think it was *not* the plan that the Queen would co-opt the exhibition. As others have pointed out, that’s never happened before. Something is up.
I thought the statement from the Queen was odd but it was a good project.
Very moving and powerful. To every day Brits, I say, Well Done.
Another problem of Kate’s is her lack of consistency. She should be putting the same amount of effort with this, as she did for the Early Years or the garden. This project is actually worthwhile, unlike the survey. She can never maintain her work schedule or her enthusiasm for projects, which would go a long way towards goodwill. I mean she has the entire BM waiting to hype her up for anything that she does, just give a little consistency.
It’s a nice little project, but it flopped. Very little social media engagenment, no breaking news when it was released, no appearance or interview from Kate, etc. No one’s talking about it. Not even the mugxits outside of throwing Meghan’s name in there. Megan’s visit to the dentist made more noise than this.
Great idea and some lovely pics! I am curious and dismayed that in 100 pictures of families and people there is not one with an animal!! Other than one small stuffed white bear. I do believe that for a lot of families and people who are alone, especially in this time, animals are an important part of our mental and physical health. A missed opportunity to show this.
If the queen stepped in to take credit Kate would have just had DM run a different embiggening story. She is either still on vacation or having a hissy fit and refusing to ‘work’.
This was a lovely project.
I loved the photos…well conceptualized and executed.
Well done Catherine!!
Kate didn’t conceptualize anything. The National Portrait Gallery came up with the idea, organized everything, and THEN brought their royal patron on board to promote it, in which she floundered at the end.
Really, really moving photos. It’s wonderful to see how the UK isn’t wall to wall anti-maskers, “this is a hoax” garbage like America. They seem to be taking care of each other and pulling together, that’s the message I got from these photos and it’s simply beautiful to see. The photo of a new mother hugging her baby through a plastic sheet broke me, tbh.
As far as all of the other opinions go, there is a misconception here that the wives get to choose their charities. The infighting over projects is insane within the BRF, we’ve seen this a zillion times over. It’s one of the (many) reasons PH and MM left. The blood royals will always get more palace protection, more Positive PR, and more desirable, high profile projects. I’m glad to see KM was allowed to do “Hold Still” and the Holocaust project. I haven’t seen where Tatler is dragging KM over PW’s affair, but it wouldn’t surprise me. They would never drag a blood Royal for his bad behavior, they will just make fun of the wives. And finally, if the wives get too much press for substance, the BRF can’t handle it.
The US isn’t wall-to-wall anti maskers either. They’re just the loudest ones. I live in a pretty red county (albeit in a very blue state) and everyone here wears masks, most people think COVID is real (the most I see is that some think its being over-hyped a bit, but heck, even Prince William thought that.)
There is fighting over charities, but lets not get into what KM is “allowed” to do. People use that as a way to remove her agency. She has plenty of control over what she does. She doesn’t want to do more, so she doesn’t. full stop.
Red state, blue county, almost everyone wearing masks.
Apparently in the UK 96% of people regularly wear masks when they go out. Yes there is anti-mask noise but that seems to mostly be a few people shouting online.
I was wafting smoke from the California fires away from me on the sidewalk yesterday in the interior of BC. Between the fires and covid-19 practically everyone is in a mask.
Thing is, we’ve all had jobs where we had to do things we don’t want to do. Work with co-workers we don’t want to work with. And you know how we deal with it? We get on with it because that’s our job. Imagine telling your boss: “Sorry I don’t want to do this project because it doesn’t interest me. Can you give me something else?”
Plus she’s married to the future future king, that must count for something as opposed to Meghan who is not married to the future future King. If Camilla, a woman who came into the BRF manages to work with domestic abuse victims and Meghan, who is not married to the 2nd in line, managed to work with Muslim women, then I’m sure Kate can work with whatever and whoever she wants.
She just doesn’t want to.
Lol, the UK is JUST now starting to wear masks. And conspiracies? What about the 5Ger in the UK?
It does seem strange not to promote the final hundred with some kind of personal touch (doesn’t have to be live – a photo of her, preferably with an adorable child, “judging” or “looking at” some of the entries would suffice). Maybe she’ll just announce the winner? Is there a winner?
Leaving Kate completely out of the picture (which feels suitable given the amount of involvement I’m guessing she had and pun intended), these images have me SOBBING. This is a wonderful project. I may be somewhat more emotional today as I should be in Scotland for my aunt’s funeral but due to Covid I couldn’t visit her in her last months or be there today but even without that these would hit me where it hurts.
We have been through so much this year and these images tell a powerful story that we need to not forget. Our government may be out to line their own pockets with the Brexit horror show and trying to push people back into offices but we are better than that.
Very sorry for your loss.
This was very moving. It brought tears to my eyes.
I’m not a snarky person usually. But I just can’t care enough to praise Kate over this, even though I do think that this site is too hard on her at times.
How much work did she put in? I know this isn’t fair but we’ve seen her do so little that when she puts out something, I can’t seem to muster up enough energy to believe she initiated this.
Also the Queen releasing the statement isn’t a huge deal to me. I highly doubt she sat there and typed/wrote this out. It’s probably just staff thinking it would be good, and she’s indifferent to it.
OR maybe this is the first time Kate actually put in effort and everyone’s all happy. The pictures are lovely, after all.
OR maybe it’s because I saw this tweets of all the photographers saying the exact same thing, with the same grammatical error which made me LOL. Not kate’s fault obviously. Someone at KP just needs to work on their emails a little bit.
Photos are nice. I don’t know. I’m not really that much of a sentimental type of gal. Which is why I grew interested in the Sussexes even tho I didn’t like them at the start. They seem to have a mix of both sentimental gestures and tangible work results which is nice.
I hope Kate keeps up with the work. I do want to love her again, tbh.
I don’t think she *needs* to put in the work to get good results is the thing. Most royals don’t. There are people who are far better suited to doing the work than they are. The royals simply need to support people who are doing the work, and need the publicity. The work they do have to put in is in finding those causes they can then support. Which Kate does not do.
Whenever Kate stops showing up I think she’s pregnant again, and really sick with it like always.
Yeah, as others have said they were out in London today on several engagements, mostly wearing masks and handling lumps of dough. William was in Ireland alone last week but not much about it in the British press.
They are thought to be living in London again which suggests the kids could be back at school.
This is good stuff. More of this sort of thing. Kate has interests of her own, but they are so rarely capitalized on. This, as well as the children’s garden thing are my two favourite engagements from her so far. The way to succeed with this stuff is to have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish from the outset itself, and to have appropriate input and advice on how to accomplish it. If Kate did stuff like this, just lending her name to good projects that align with her own interests and could use a good boost of publicity, she’d be good to go.
Great Project for Kate. Yet, could some please enroll her a speech class, her narration is not understandable at all. I understood the 90 year old Queen and not Kate.
That’s all I got.
Oh, Congratulations to the winners/the choosen.
What in the name of Laura Ashley hell is Kate wearing in that first picture?
I’m sorry I just find it funny, ironic and a little insulting to pick the two pictures ( The “I Can’t Breath” and the “Be in the right side of History’) when she and the royal family have been absolutely quite regarding BLM and all the protest and racial injustice going, Especially seeing in their own ways they have contributed to the racism against her sister-inlaw.
Guys I read that this project was in the works since April!! She definitely took over like the usual and is taking credit for other people’s work. Well done to all that participated but this isnt the only museum or art gallery that’s doing this.
So after all the speculation (divorce? pregnancy? quarantine?), it turns out she disappeared to get her forehead done. I’m laughing at myself for not thinking of this.
Cheek filler too. It’s super obvious in some of the photos.
I think the courtiers saw that the photos would generate such good pr and were so well received and made sure that the Queen got jealous. She then decided to take over the announcement and insert herself in the congratulations message.
And further forbade Kate from appearing in any videos or any direct comment regarding the project. You have to admit that the promotion for the unveiling has been underwhelming unlike Kate’s Garden project that had a Freeload of photos and embiggening articles.
Its also possible that Kate had such grandiose plans for the photos announcement that the Queen basically said “Nope lady, not on my watch. Wait till you are Queen. I am Queen of England”. Lol.
Either way something is fishy.