If you couldn’t tell by now, everything coming out of Buckingham Palace is half-assed. They could not get their stories straight about what Queen Elizabeth decided and when, when she spoke to Prince Harry, who initiated those conversations, and why everything seemed to be thrown together just after the Sussexes’ pregnancy announcement and Oprah interview reveal. As we heard last week, Buckingham Palace wasn’t even informing the Sussexes’ patronages that they were about to lose their patrons. The National Theatre – Meghan’s patronage – was kept in the dark and they were following the news reports like everyone else. Then journalists kept calling up National Theatre board members to ask them what they thought:
National Theatre board members were split over whether Meghan Markle should be forced to give up her patronage of the organisation, the Mirror understands. There had been “huge differences of opinion” around the decision, with board members divided as to if they should ask Meghan to stay on or accept a new royal patron, such as Prince Charles or the Duchess of Cornwall.
The role will now be handed to a new member of the family. A source told the Mirror: “There was great excitement when Meghan took over from the Queen but now it’s tinged with a great deal of sadness over her lack of action for the theatre and the industry as a whole which has suffered so greatly throughout the coronavirus crisis.”
The National Theatre tweeted: “The National Theatre is very grateful for the support offered by the Duchess of Sussex throughout the course of her patronage. The Duchess championed our work with communities and young people across the UK, and our mission to make theatre accessible to all. As Buckingham Palace have stated, the process of appointing a new patron is ongoing and will be announced in due course.”
That answers my question about whether or not the National Theatre could act independently and ask Meghan to stay on. They probably could have, but decided not to fight the Palace. And I don’t understand what Meghan was supposed to do? It’s a pandemic. People aren’t going to see live theater. Was Meghan supposed to cure the coronavirus? Anyway, the National Theatre likely decided to go along with the Palace’s decision because they were promised a new patron: the Duchess of Cambridge. Or maybe the Earl of Wessex.
Prince William and Kate Middleton may have to take on more royal duties after the Sussexes quit the Firm, it was claimed today. As part of the deal, Meghan lost two royal patronages given to her by the Queen in 2019 at the National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities., also giving up her role as vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
The Sunday Times today reported Kate Middleton is in the running to be the new National Theatre patron after former actress Meghan lost the role. The 39-year-old is already patron of the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A.
However, it was reported that the Earl of Wessex would be a more diplomatic choice for the position. Edward, 56, has previously worked for Lord Lloyd-Webber’s theatre company in the late 1980s. He also launched his own TV venture, Ardent Productions, a TV venture, in 1993 before it was ultimately closed in 2009.
It’s now being said that the Palace is leaning more towards Edward than Kate, which is pretty interesting. I wonder if the Palace is even in contact with the National Theatre about this? On one side, Edward would probably love the patronage and he would do tons of work around it. On the other side, Kate clearly wants it, but she would probably not be able to do anything to “solve” the pandemic and the crisis in live theater either. Plus, Kate is lazy as hell. I don’t know which way they’ll go!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and WENN.
Wessex is the better of the two .
Definitely. And CEO Kate knows she is not adequate for the role and will not want to be pressured and compared to what meg was doing/ could do/ would do. Like, you know, speaking without cards, or have an opinion.
Not so sure about that. Soon as news hit social media about Edward being floated to replace Meghan at Nat Theatre, the hashtag #EdwardWho started trending. LMAO.
BRF are drowning in their own irrelevance right now, and keep telling on themselves with every desperate “put the focus back on us” leak. As long as they insist on keeping Harry & Meghan’s names in their mouths, badmouthing the Sussexes to anyone and everyone, they are the ones who help keep the Sussexes in the media.
They keep trying to mount new battles in their “War against the Sussexes”, but what they fail to understand is the war is over, THE BRF LOST. They lost big. They used misogynoir to alienate and ultimately exile a couple who were loyal to the family and prepared to work hard for The Firm. They tried to Wallis her, but this isn’t 1939 – it wasn’t ever going to work.
They’ve lost two of their best team players as a result.
I hope William gets outed in the interview for the years of abuse heaped on Harry. We’ve seen glimpses of it before – the interview where they were both in flight suits, the Ant & Dec interview at Highgrove w/ their dad…we’ve seen what nastiness Workshy Wanderdick is capable of on camera… I really hope Harry throws Will’s arse under the bus, and goes into what William did before & after Harry & Meghan’s wedding. I also hope the courtiers of the three Palaces get outed for things they did. Name names!
I’m expecting Edward to take over the National Theatre as he actually has got an interest in theatre.
Would Kate actually want any of Meghan’s patronages? She might be wary the direct comparison. Ok, the papers would give her another sainthood, but the organisations might actually expect her to do something. Isn’t the poor dear already exhausted enough?
Nobody wants Waity. Her patronages don’t do well and in fact evidence shows that two of them closed down due to lack of funds. Even the fashion brands she favours close down too. Her visits are also nothing more than photo ops with no one caring about the charity but her many buttons. The National Theatre should go to Edward. He was the only one worthy in that family.
@belli, I’m not sure Kate’s laptop battery could handle the strain of yet another Zoom meeting. That would make, what, one a week?
@Noodle – Hahahaha omgggg!
They’re better off with Edward than Kate.
I agree. At least Edward tried having a career in theatre.
Yeah, that NT is right up Edwards treehouse. And TBH this could be TQ’s way of punishing the Keens, keeping H&M’s patronages away from them.
I can see Sophie potentially picking up a few of Meghan’s. In fact I can see either Sophie, Edward or both picking up with Commonwealth ones.
I can see Sophie getting ACU and both the Wessexes getting the QCT
Lol why would Top CEO of Exhaustion take on more responsibility. Let’s not forget how nearly impossible it was for her to take the children on their school run when the Sussexes first dared to be less than full time royals. She’s keening the hardest she’s ever keened! Give her a break y’all keeping Future King Incandescent happy is hard work!
“Edward worked in theater thirty years ago” is his qualification. Jesus.
I would choose Edward. Kate needs a break 😆
Give it to Edward. He has a genuine interest in theatre and he works.
How much do the Wessexes actually work? Were they sidelined for a good decade after Sophie’s scandal or were they pretty active before Will and Kate got married? It seems they haven’t, until recently, been put forward since the Sussexes joined and were being attacked, more so of course when they left. Are there Edward and Sophie watchers who know?
Covid year being the exception, the Wessexes have both been solid in doing hundreds of engagements once they were considered full time. Edward’s was usually closer to 400, around what Andrew did and Sophie was closer to 300.
Even when they were considered not full time, they were still pulling off numbers that exceed what Billy and Cathy currently do. Sophie almost died giving birth to Louise and even during that year she exceeded one hundred engagements.
Sophie has also been linked to women in business events, that Kate once tried to do but looked dumb. And she’s done overseas trips on her own that were more than just looking at a painting. Considering that only now her children are teens, she’s been doing enough engagements while being a hands on Mum putting the lie to Kate’s sad excuses for doing so little.
Even last year Sophie showed up to help at food banks which was considered “on her own time” and not an engagement that counts because the Cambridges were too lazy to do anything but a few zoom calls a month.
While the media hasn’t covered Sophie much because she’s not the “young Royal” and she never amounted to being the “next Diana”, she does at least do what is expected of her and she is competent when it comes to giving speeches and knowing the cause she is there to support. Sophie is reliable but that’s not exciting to cover. It’s too bad she gets overshadowed by the superficial Cambridges because she’s far more competent and she has a bit more spark than Anne.
(Not defending the behaviour at the commonwealth service, but that I think is a function of knowing the cambrats need to be coddled for future interests)
It doesn’t matter, give everything to the keens and they won’t work one minute more than they do now. They set the lowest bar in the firm and they are determined to keep it that way.
This!!!! You called it Lizzie!!
Well – I guess NT will have to do since “rescuing” Scotland is out /s
Honestly I except a bunch of fluffy notes about how Edward single handedly saved the West End when this is over. Those articles will quickly be followed by actual ticket counts as were still in a pandemic. Also I’d bet even money that all H&M’s signature charities will post great year end numbers and those they left will have a small number this month followed by a decline. The rest of them just don’t draw eyeballs or checkbooks.
Edward has an interest in theater and is the sensible choice. William has had BAFTA for a decade and has attended its biggest events only half the time with Kate accompanying him only on a handful of those occasions. This really is not an area of interest for her. The pandemic has put thousands out of work and National Theatre Live has been working to raise money to support the behind the scenes people through fundraising broadcasts on YouTube and Instagram. They need a patron who will do the work; that’s not Kate.
I slightly disagree that she’s not interested in BAFTA – she is when there is an opportunity to hob nob with celebrities, we’ve seen before how she loves it. If she was the President of BAFTA, she’s be at every event where there were celebs.
People keep saying that but I do not see it. William has had the BAFTA patronage for a decade. They have a huge event every year – the BAFTA film awards and multiple events leading into that that William is supposed to host. Huge opportunities for hobnobbing with celebrities but she has only been to the awards show maybe four times in a decade and to the pre-events maybe twice. In fact, even though the pre-events have been held at royal properties, the royals usually blow them off completely with people like Emma Watson, Julie Waters, and Tom Hiddleston having to fill in for William and Kate nowhere in sight.
Well you have to balance two things @Lightpurple – Kate’s lack of interest in work and her interest in celebrities. So she doesnt want to work in general, but if she has, she’s going to choose the glitzy awards show where she can wear significant jewelry and get a new designer dress and then gets lots of praise for said jewelry and dress.
Neither she nor William want to work in general, but if they are forced to, they prefer that there are celebrities there and lots of cameras.
But as I have now said several times, she RARELY attends the glitzy awards show. He has been the patron for over a decade and has only attended five or six times = he started showing up when prominent actors started pointing out that he never there while his Eton school mates were either winning awards or substituting for him at the pre-show galas – , and she has only shown up with him for the glitzy awards show four times and has skipped the glitzy pre-show gala events with only one or two exceptions. She’s far more likely to show for something involving tennis or yachts.
Its Williams patronage so she’s technically his plus 1 (as in she only gets to attend if he wants her there) – as for her patronages am not sure any of them have those kinds of celebrity filled gala events.
As for the yachting ones – she only lights up with a certain person is in attendance ;). Wimbledon doesn’t have any galas/big glitzy events for her to attend.
William doesnt always attend the BAFTAs and she cant go without him, since he’s the president, not her.
Attending the glitzy awards show four times is pretty significant considering that there isnt any other event besides Wimbledon that she has attended that many times. Thats why I said its a matter of balancing and priorities – they dont work in general, so saying “well she’s only gone four times!” actually means that she goes a lot – for her.
ETA also I’ll point out she doesnt do that much with yachting either, its just that she does so little, the yachting and boating engagements stand out. And Wimbledon is the only tennis-related thing she does as a royal.
Handing that patronage to Kate would be such a bad look and I think someone at the palace realizes that.
Edward is the better choice anyway, for a variety of reasons, but I think the fact that it would be so bad, optics wise, is what is going to confirm that he gets it.
I think Kate really wants it though.
Why? Has the woman shown any interest in the performing arts whatsoever? William has had BAFTA for a decade but she has only attended the big awards ceremony about 4 times, him only 5 or 6 times, and they shirk off most of the events leading up to it, leaving others to host events in his place. She seems far more “keen” about posh sporting events like yachting.
She likes these kind of patronages because she can go to one performance every two years and the press fawns over her etc. It’s an easy way for her to “work” without actually working, because she wont actually do anything to help the NT, she doesnt do anything to help any of her patronages.
Becks1, I think Kate wants the English National Ballet patronage. ENB threw Andrew out over a year ago, but he had taken the patronage over from Diana. Year or two to let things cool down, then Kate wants it.
Kate is desperate to associate herself and her kids as the ballet-loving Diana grandchildren. That’s why they didn’t protest the behind the scenes pics of CC at a Nutcracker practice a couple years ago, and why they floated the ‘PG Tips loves ballet but he’s bullied for it’.
Yes I think she definitely wants that one too – that way she can really work the whole “Diana did ballet and I am also interested in it and so is Diana’s granddaughter” angle.
I think though that some people are interpreting “Kate wanting” as meaning that Kate intends to do something with these organizations. She’ll do what she always does – the bare minimum. It’s not a matter of what Kate will do work-wise with these orgs, because she wont really do anything besides an appearance or two every year or so, if they’re lucky.
I hope Ed Sheeran is on call for the next fundraiser, because Cathy sure won’t do it.
Just to be clear, Prince Edward had a for-profit theater company from 1993-2009 – while he was a working royal? If so, sounds like one foot in and one foot out to me.
Mostly tv documentaries from what I can remember and Sophie was running a PR company. She and her business partner got caught trading on her title by a tabloid and they promptly gave up their businesses and moved to being full time Royals. She also got recorded being somewhat indiscreet about the government of the day and it was game over.
I suspect the reason she got away with it RF wise is because there is no doubt she was tricked (no deliberate revelations) and her personal opinions aligned with those of the Queen (very pro-Tory).
While I think Meghan and Harry have been treated appallingly, the palace had much the same attitude towards half in / half out with the Wessexes. They just had less leverage so had to cave to Palace pressure.
I think Meghan could have done something for the National Theatre. I also think Meghan knew that the organization couldn’t even fake a united front in appreciating her as a royal patron while she was one, so why do more?
I don’t know if royals would be able to promote the subscription service NT at Home as it’s a paid service, so barring that, I would think Meghan would have waited until more actionable initiatives could be taken to promote the organization and its members.
I’m sure, but there has also been a pandemic so she has been severely limited in what she could do over the last year, and I doubt she got a warm and rousing welcome before that.
Exactly. I think, if given the opportunity to work with people who wanted her there, she could have come up with something. She’s pretty creative and/or finds people who are creative. But, I believe she was stalled by the Bitter Bettys who did not want her there, Bettys who probably outranked the people who did want to work with her. She can’t solve the pandemic, and I’m sure anything else she came up with was dismissed. Why waste time being shut down when she has a bunch of other pots on the fire.
If Hollywood with all its big wigs had to shut down, what was Meghan supposed to do?why didn’t they call up petty Betty and ask her selfish ass for a donation to keep their doors open.
I don’t think it’s that strange that they are assigning it to edward. Out of the MAGA 7 he is the only who has something with acting. The national theatre is going to miss the media attention tho. Since the RR don’t even cover edward.
Maybe if they give it to Kate she can reinvigorate the industry by zooming, live, a one woman show starring herself called “Catherine – how to do the bare minimum and how I get away with it!!”
Kate will not take up the theater patronage because she cannot even ACT as though she cares when doing her work. I see the irony of this patronage being given elsewhere.
So the choice is between keen and dull.
The Daily Mail has been campaigning for Edward to get the National Theatre. I think the Royal Family will accede to their wishes and give it to Edward.
The nerve of accusing Meghan of not doing enough during a pandemic and at a time when we know she suffered a miscarriage. Kate gets a pass when she is pregnant and has kids, but apparently Meghan doesn’t. I hope they get stuck with Kate.
I say because I am petty give it to keen Katie. After all the theatre people were being a bit bitchy complaining that Megs wasn’t helping during the pandemic, so take Kate as well deserved punishment for being asses. She won’t work and due to her lack of interest in anything other than buttons, ruffles, wiglets and Botox, s
Her laziness would make the pandemic look like a walk in the park.
However when I stop being petty about they complaints. It’s clear Edward is the best person for the job.
I’ll be surprised if NT doesn’t go to Edward; he’s the most logical fit and unlike Kate, he’d likely have some enthusiasm for their work. I don’t think Kate would want any of the patronages simply because she doesn’t want the extra burden. William on the other hand would definitely want QCT. He was reportedly pissed that the Queen appointed Harry as president instead of him.
You never know. I thought Wimbledon would go to Edward, because he and Sophie love tennis and that’s how they met. But QEII handed it to Kate as one of the few ways she could get Kate to show up for ‘work’.
I agree, William was incandescent with rage over the QCT and he wants it now.
They’re both poor choices. Edward was a failure and Kate is useless. When Meghan first left the theater made a point of saying Meghan would continue as their patron so the royals must have taken it out of their hands.
They should just give it to Edward and be done with it. He’ll be well received, although why he wasn’t given it before Meghan showed up is very strange to me. He was the only decent one during the Commonwealth service. Also, them saying that Meghan did nothing to help them with how the theatre industry is being impacted was not necessary and not a good look. Maybe she didn’t do enough in their opinion, fair enough, or whatever was planned was shelved. I think her last appearance with them did not get the amount of news coverage they wanted because of the powers that be not wanting it to overshadow something Camilla was doing that same day, so they were pissed. They have other problems that go way beyond her reach. There was an article that they’ll now have to pay for work visas for any productions they want to tour the EU, which is extra red tape, costs and time delays. I think it’s best they move on from the royal patronages.
Are there celebrities at the National Theatre? If so then Kate wants it. After all this is someone who makes sure she’s at Wimbledon every year, mat leave or not and she spent hours at the Downton Abbey set, something she never did before.
Granting Kate the patronage will seem like the Cambridges won the one-sided competition and they are the favorites.
Even if this were true, BP would hesitate to make it so obvious although Kate would revel in the fact that Meghan no longer is the patron.
Doesn’t Charles love theater? Or he’s got enough to do? (Serious question)
So Kate’s got too much to do? (Sarcastic question)
“Prince William and Kate Middleton may have to take on more royal duties after the Sussexes quit the Firm, it was claimed today.”
This sentence is my favorite, of all the royal media sentences today. I peed a little, laughing. “May they”??? Good luck with that, thoughts and prayers.
Kate cannot be given additional patronages. She’s easily exhausted. A lazy patron she is.