Sunday was Mother’s Day in the UK. The Royal Family usually marks the day by posting photos or messages on their individual social media accounts. Last year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge posted photos of a young, chic-looking Carole Middleton, a photo of Princess Diana, a Mother’s Day card from Prince George to Kate, and a photo of Kate, William, George and Charlotte (and no Louis). It was fine last year and I actually enjoyed seeing the old photo of Carole, and I enjoyed seeing Carole included on the official Kensington Royal social media. This year, William and Kate are desperate for a different kind of subject-changing headline. So they ignored Carole and leaned in heavily to the Diana nostalgia. They posted photos of George and Charlotte’s cards to “Granny Diana.”
I mean… I won’t say all of the thoughts running through my head. There are lots of people who lose parents and holidays like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day hit them like a gut-punch. People are allowed to grieve however they want, and people are allowed to remember those loved ones however they want. All that being said… yeah, combined with Kate’s blatant photo-op at Sarah Everard’s makeshift memorial, there’s an exploitative edge and “clownshow PR” to this too.
Four hours after KP posted the cards to “Granny Diana,” they posted this. So Carole was represented on the royal social media once again.
Celebrating two other special mothers today ❤️
🎂 made by George, Charlotte and Louis pic.twitter.com/r6SiqW0FPr
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 14, 2021
Clarence House posted two photos for Mother’s Day – the Queen and Prince of Wales (that’s a great photo, honestly) and Camilla with her late mother Rosalind Shand, who passed away in 1994.
Wishing everyone a happy Mothering Sunday 🌸
📷 1 – The Duke of Rothesay attends the Braemar Highland Games with his mother, Her Majesty The Queen, in 2010.
📷 2 – The Duchess of Cornwall at home with her mother in 1990. pic.twitter.com/LZI4pAvOqG
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) March 14, 2021
And here’s the post from Buckingham Palace – Queen Elizabeth (then Princess Elizabeth) with her mother, who was then the Queen Consort.
To all Mums everywhere, we wish you a very special Mother’s Day.#MotheringSunday pic.twitter.com/kf0tBZF4rI
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 14, 2021
AND I OOP- (Prince Harry arranged for someone to lay flowers on Diana’s grave at Althorp on Mother’s Day.)
A spokesperson for Prince Harry says that he arranged for flowers to be laid at the grave of Princess Diana on the Spencer family estate in Althorp, Northamptonshire for #MothersDay in the UK today. pic.twitter.com/ckO9qDG52F
— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 14, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Nice diversion William but we still see you and your bullshit.
The surprise for me was reading tweets from so many non royal fans calling out their stupidity and cringe worthy attempts at using another dead woman to cover their collective arses in one weekend. Who does their PR?? At this point it is beyond laughable.
I noticed that as well. A lot of comments under the tweets from News outlets either asking who cared or pointing out the obvious PR.
I think if they had just done what they normally do – a picture of Diana, a picture of Carole, and a picture of Kate with the kids – it would have been fine. Or even something about how they wish their kids knew both their grandmothers, or whatever.
These cards though are such an obvious PR ploy that everyone can see it.
Everything I so amateurish! That’s what you have when you hire only yesman.
I posted on Twitter “obvious PR stunt is obvious” and got people defending W&K! They said Harry wasn’t the only one who walked behind Diana’s coffin and Harry obviously doesn’t understand his role but Will does. And they didn’t seem like bot accounts, so the PR fools some people, apparently.
Just the ones who are desperate to believe, dogmom.
These cards and that cake were not made by George, Charlotte or Louis. This is another one of Kate’s art projects. Nothing wrong with adults making cakes and cards and putting their children’s names on it because lots of parents do it, but we all know if Meghan’s son was their age and she had claimed he had written a card for her, “Granny” Diana or anybody, the press would have had expert handwriting analysis done to prove the writing was actually hers and what a “fraud” and “liar” she is. Will and Kate used not one but two dead woman to clean up their image in one week but the press will never call them out on it. There is no level they won’t stoop to.
I call bullshit. Her kid is younger than mine, who is still working on printing letters. This card from “Charlotte” has a lot of cursive. I don’t care how good their tutors or schools are, there’s no way a kid that age has the fine-motor skills to write cursive letters like that.
Agree- the one from Charlotte in particular- total BS. Not a 5 year-old’s work.
No way that was done by a child in 2021. The whole handwriting style is wrong, and it’s more competent than Kate’s scribblings on the whiteboard in the Trainwreck Tour. I don’t even believe Kate did it, not with that correct apostrophe.
It is TOTALLY normal to have a child dictate a letter, write it out, and then carefully (and with coaching) rewrite the letter. Do I think this is photoshopped with the guiding lines removed? Yes. Does that make me hate these people? No.
Honestly, Diana is William’s mother. He is allowed to have his children pay tribute to her. THIS is totally fine. His other behaviours – no. But they can post their kid’s cards to his mother. She doesn’t belong to us. We don’t get to cancel him out of loving his mother or even using that relationship for sympathy. He’s an adult and responsible for his adult reactions. But he’s also Diana’s son. She loved him.
It could well be their handwriting…remember that these kids are getting the very best education around, and l am sure that they have private tutors too, that we don’t know about.
But they were given instructions on what to write.
Why did they only post the cards to Nanny Diana, and not nanny Carole or Kate? It’s not a coincidence that William was evoking the memory his mother through his kids for people to come defend him and say “oh it’s his mother”.
That no cards to Carole were posted tells you exactly why he did this.
@PrincessK hand writing at a certain point isn’t to do with tuition but the fine motor skills that take a while to develop in children.
Their desperation is so laughable now, they really have to stop . ” Thinks about you everyday ” 😀😀😂😂😂as if.
Someone said on Twitter that William wants to remind us that he too is diana’s son because he has realised that majority of people see so much if Charles in him due to his actions
I know they read this blog, so I will give them this advice for free. Lay down your pathetic weapons, keep quiet, stop staging pathetic stunts, stop briefing the press and reconcile with the Sussexes properly. You will come out much better for it. Instead what we are seeing is a prop using racist house divided against itself. Even your right wing supporters can barely hold their noses from the stench of your many public failures anymore.
I knew it was fake when it said ‘papa misses you every day! 😆’ Willy definitely added that in there to make sure everyone knew *cue incandescence with rage* HE was ‘Diana’s son too! Like he keeps bitterly banging on about in the press like it’s a competition loI SCREAMED with laughter!
Their biggest PR fail to date. They never learn.
Feel almost like William & Middletons are personally directing PR now, not merely accepting advice of inept courtiers; neither of them can stand being outshone by the Sussexes, and William in particular does not strike me as someone who is capable of planning ahead and thinking through consequences, given that he has been shielded from consequences his entire life.
The two pronged approach: William going in full strength to assassinate Meghan’s character and pull strings with major, supposedly reputable print media sources, while Carole & Co. try to take a somewhat softer approach. There was already that story from Carole re the Cambridges taking a US tour in “Diana country.” This mother’s day attempt to again reconnect the Cambridges in general to Diana’s legacy doesn’t have William’s rage behind it.
It’s quite clear there are no competent professionals calling the shots. Anyone with a lick of skill would know that exploiting two dead women is going to be met with outrage.
Literally for anyone even vaguely doubting Kate turning up at Sarah Evards vigil was a PR stunt, this was a DEFINITE confirmation 😆😆!
Since the Kate leaving flowers at the memorial backfired so fast and so hard they had to bring in the big guns: the kids. At one point they will grow up and the keenings will not be able to hide behind their cuteness. Will they be throwing them under the bus then to save themselves? As a news anchor once said “What a family”.
If William has learned anything from his father , then unfortunately yes.
Poor kids.
I swear, 10 years from now at least one of those Cambridge kids are going to blow up Will and Kate’s spot SO hard, it will make Harry’s rebellion look tame.
I’m thinking Charlotte.
I really worry for Charlotte. The royal spotlight shines so bright on its female members and especially being Diana’s granddaughter… It’s going to be a lot of expectations and pressure from the press and public.
Oh spot on – Charlotte is going to escape too and spill tea. I’m call that now.
Think about all the possible ways the tabloids will come at her to protect George like they did with Harry and Willnot. They’ll come after her looks, her weight, any man or woman she dares speak to in a romantic way. God forbid she ever goes out – they’ll side by side a pic of her and young Kate falling out of a club 🙁
I hope she sees her uncle’s example, calls up Eugenie, and get his number for advice on an exit plan.
How has Kate leaving flowers gone down in the UK? Are people buying in to it? Or does it just depend on what camp you’re in at this point?
Judging from twitter alone people are seeing through her BS. At first I thought people would fall for it but the comments quickly called her out for her pr photo-op. But the British media will continue to praise her.
She was getting dragged on Twitter for it before the police started arresting people – from then the dragging only got worse, some were calling out for her to be fined for breaking COVD rules for not wearing a mask.
The predominant reaction has been negative, for several reasons.
Not good. That’s why we got stuff about the kids. Whenever there is bad publicity about the Cambridges watch them bring the kids.
No doubt he will, he’s a nasty piece of work and he’s already sold them for 5 pieces of silver! Louis and Charlotte in particular watch out! It see,s he’s gonna make George be the same way!
One day George will be throwing Will under the bus for good PR.
Exploitive is right. Repulsive people.
The Cambs saw people refer to Harry as Diana’s legacy and said: “I don’t like that”. They are desperate to keep her linked to them.
Yeah, a lot of people came away from the Oprah interview saying that Harry was just like Diana or that he’s Diana’s son so I can see William wanting to be linked to her.
Or Meghan being compared to Diana. Even my husband who barely knows all of their names, was watching the Meghan and Harry Oprah interview with me and he was like “this is another diana. They’re treating her just like Diana.” I think a lot of people made that comparison. I heard it on NPR coverage of the interview too. There was a whole segment this weekend about the Oprah interview and what it means for the royal family. And Diana was brought up a lot in direct comparison to Meghan and Harry and their situation.
👆🏻👆🏻This👆🏻👆🏻
Jealous, petty assholes.
Agreed.
They want the connection without doing *any* of the work or showing *any* of the compassion that made people care about Diana.
This was so obvious. It read like “How dare you accuse Will of racism! He is Diana’s son!!”
I am glad they were getting called out. Again.
People are not buying it anymore.
People were willing to turn a blind eye for years. Now they are not having it. The RF needs to read the room.
I’m howling. I have 2 kids the same ages as G and C and no way their handwriting or artwork looks like that. These were produced by adults full stop. WE SEE YOU, FOOLS.
Kate writing with her left hand.
I disagree. She wrote it with her right hand. We all saw her joined up writing on the board of a train station during their covid express tour of doom. LOL!
@ER – she even made a spelling error on it too!
yeah I didn’t even think of that. My kids are the same age too and their handwriting doesn’t look this good either!
How old is Charlotte? I remember learning cursive in second grade, but I don’t think it’s really taught anymore in the states. Do they still teach it in the UK? I’ll have to ask my UK relatives.
I think she’s 5. My 5 year old is about to start kindergarten but Charlotte is a few months older. She writes a bunch of letters but it’s not really recognizable, and it’s mostly still all capital letters.
It is still taught in the states (my third grader is learning it, he would have learned last year but COVID) but I’m not sure how widespread it is.
At any rate, Charlotte will turn 6 in May, so if that is her handwriting, she is super advanced…..
5? My little cousin just turned 6 and her penmanship is not like that card at all. It’s more like what you described your daughter’s to be.
I believe a child wrote it. They attend the best schools and have help. This isn’t a stretch.
We live in France and they teach cursive in kindergarten. My daughter has amazing penmanship but that said this looks like an adult’s writing. Since they are so keen on cursive when my daughter writes in it, it’s ALL cursive. The letters are very round and it looks like it took time (because it did). This writing is a mix of cursive and standard. The « I love » is twice not in cursive and the letters are very narrow and look quickly drawn. All the s’s are also not in cursive. This mix of penmanship and slant definitely looks adult or at the very most someone wrote it (in bad cursive) and Charlotte copied it the best she could.
Also the colored artwork was probably done by a child but imo a heart was cut out (the heart is too exact in shape for a child) and used as a frame. The sticker placement also looks like an adult did it.
Hi Zaya. Yes, cursive is taught over here in UK primary schools. Which can be to the detriment of kids like my son, who had a really legible and comfortable printing style, and was then pretty much forced to write cursively. It ruined his handwriting and it is now messy and at times unreadable, after a good year of being forced to do it, sometimes to the point that it hurt his hand. We were disgusted with his teacher, who insisted it was best.
Normades
The heart was a template, definitely. Cut out by the adult that helped with this.
All the education and intensive tutoring in the world doesn’t make up for the level of motor skills and finger dexterity that children have at their ages.
These children are getting a top class education with private tutors at home. I believe it is their handwriting but they were told what to write.
But making these letters public has made William and Kate look ridiculous and now many more people can understand the level of manipulation behind palace walls which Meghan endured.
It’s definitely fake. Someone on Twitter compared the first “you” with the third “you” in Charlotte’s letter. They’re literally identical https://twitter.com/ninaleaoishi/status/1371438180675809288
That’s what I noticed. Even in terms of fine motor skills development Charlotte would not be writing cursive the same as George at this point, even if she learned cursive this year.
Also, when you look at how she wrote “Charlotte” – that’s definitely her, and the handwriting is very different from most of the rest of the letter.
Same thing with the word “love.” Everything else is in cursive but in both letters “Love” is printed. Maybe they both incapable of spelling “love” correctly, and it was photoshopped in, which would be Freudian.
Even if it was written by the kids, it was definitely dictated by the adults.
Are you familiar with the children’s book “The Jolly Postman”? It’s a marvelous little book about a postal carrier delivering mail to various storybook characters (and it has little letters to take out of envelopes to read!).
Anyway, one of the letters he delivers is a note of apology from Goldilocks to Baby Bear and the handwriting looks SUSPICIOUSLY like this.
I love that book!
I love that book too! So that means this is a font that hopefully someone can track down. Also, some of the letters look like calligraphy, and you know Meghan can do calligraphy so Kate had to be a copying her.
Isn’t Charlotte 5? My goodness. I feel stressed about my 5 and 7 year olds’ penmanship after looking at these cards.
I was surprised, too, but as Wiglet Watcher said, they have had best education possible. And what would be so bad about the parents/teachers helping them? In general, perhaps we should avoid saying things that *could* be interpreted as insults about the children…. Remember the kerfluffle about North West’s painting?
I said the same yesterday on a post. I too have kids the same age and unless Charlotte has been taking private lessons on spelling, handwriting, and cursive since she was three there is no way a five year old did that. Also my son is in second grade and around the same age as George and they haven’t learned cursive yet, maybe they have at their top notch school? But it’s hard to believe that it’s that good already.
My 2nd grader goes to an excellent school, he writes short stories everyday, and his handwriting is nowhere near as good as this. Even accounting for different skills because every kid is different, there is just. no. way their kids at those ages wrote those cards.
This is laughable and they must think we are idiots to think this will distract from the fact that they are all racist, abusive, gaslighting a-holes. It just confirms it.
Without a doubt, that is adult handwriting. Source: mom of three.
I too have kids this age and there is no way they write that way. My 7 y.o. calls cursive “fancy writing” and adds a few swoops and flourishes to his work once and awhile, but it sure doesn’t look like these cards.
In Louis’ card the stickers are so precisely placed also which I have never seen young children do. If they did part of the work it was with a lot of drafts and/or help/advice. I feel bad for them because their parents don’t let them do messy artwork like children do but micromanage the results. Even if the photo of Louis where he was finger-painting it was obviously very well managed and staged because there wasn’t a drop of paint on his clothing.
Yes! And incredibly, we are supposed to believe that a five and seven year old have identical handwriting. Such shameless and brazen lies from Kensington Palace.
Whoever wrote it might be somewhat unbalanced as various letters are reproduced with two or more different versions.
For me, everything that they do now is an attempt to get good PR and they have the press’s support to do it.
I said it yesterday that while the cards are very cute, if this was 2014 with regards to the Cambridges attitude towards their press regarding their children, the cards would have never been posted publicly.
I remember the many headlines asking for privacy for the kids. Now they are dragged down the red carpet during a pandemic and their letters and artwork published in national newspapers. Full blown strategic crisis management is much needed now.
Exactly. This is part of the invisible contract that Harry talked about though. Now they both need it – the press and the Cambridges – the Cambridges want to shift the narrative and its failing, and the press wants to be able to show that the Cambridges are the “true royals,” unlike those California renegades.
Back in 2014-2016 the Cambridges weren’t as willing to play ball with the press, which is when we were getting stories about them being lazy, Kate bringing her hair stylist up a mountain for the photo op, dad-dancing, etc.
Those kids will be on the British Baking Show before they are ten with such exacting cake decorating ability.
Yeah at most they helped stir the cake mix and put sprinkles on the icing.
Yep, I can see it. The line was officially crossed when they basically did promo for Attenborough’s Netflix documentary. They’re going to be child stars. The family is desperate and the kids are their only hope at this point. And they have to act quickly before George and Charlotte age out of the cutie pie phase.
“Papa is missing you” 😒 I’m supposed to believe this is NOT about PR? Jesus Christ Cambridge, get it together.
So gross to exploit kids and your dead parent for good press.
Gross is an excellent description. This is cringe worthy
Ewww does it say that? I didn’t read it closely, but that is gross.
My prediction is the statue unveiling will go ahead without Harry.
1) Kids will cosplay Cain and Harry.
2) Kate will cosplay Diana, maybe rope Charlotte in.
3) Kids will read or make something for the awwww factor.
4) Cain will make a speech of how Diana inspired him blabla.
5) One family shot of unity so that they can try to erase the fact Harry is Diana’s son.
Harry doesn’t need to attend the unveiling just to give the tabloids a photo. What he’s doing with Archewell etc. and his support for Meghan already show he is his mother’s son.
In a few years, George and his siblings will read about this and draw their own conclusions. Good luck to them.
Yeah I think the “Harry is absolutely coming for the statue unveiling” is the “Harry is absolutely coming in person for the one year review” again. They will write confidently about how he’s totally coming and will have article after article speculating on the tiniest detail: will he stay at frogmore? Will he visit his grandma? Will he speak with his brother beforehand? Will Kate hand deliver a personal note begging the brothers to burry the hatchet, and will Harry fall into her arms sobbing and say how much he misses her and the kids? Will he speak at the unveiling? Speculation about the Queen and Charles dragging him into their offices by the ear to personally tell him how very devastated they are by his hurtful behavior and accusations in the interview. And then, a day or two before he’ll release a statement saying that he’s not coming because Covid and he has a newborn at home. And then the reporters will pretend they never wrote their “an insider source says Harry is for sure coming” and will pivot to “Harry snubs Diana” for weeks.
I hope Harry surprises them, that is if he is to make appearance at all. If he plans his attendance with them, they will sell his location, every information abt his stay, his whereabouts, flight etc to the highest bidder (newspaper). I wouldn’t even doubt they’ll plot a mystery lady to talk to him, twist a story, get photos taken for every tabloid front page in attempt to damage his reputation, which will be irreversible. Seeing their desperate attempt this week to repair their image, I wouldn’t trust them in the least. The interview has really damaged them and the claws are out to get him.
He should be extra extra extra extra careful with these snakes.William making contact with him is also a trap. He should be careful in his communication with William. Harry holds the cards and William knows that if Harry exposes him as the one who questioned Archie’s skin colour, it’ will be huge blow and a permanent stain on his reputation and his future (remember everything they’ve done to Harry and Meghan so far is all in attempt to preserve the heir, monarchy and make william without blemish)
I wouldn’t even doubt they’ve thought of eliminating H after the interview. I will never trust that family, they’re evil. He should cite Meghan is due anytime and not go.
LOL. What a joke!! who will read these cards? Diana died 24 years ago, they are children… they don’t know her .. How can they miss someone that they never met?? so embarrassing
Your comment is kind of offensive. My grandmother died before I was born and yes, I missed and still miss her. Even when I was very young I would ask about her and wonder what it would have been like to have her as a grandmother.
Hi Chaine, I have a genuine question and mean this with no harm at all, how can you miss someone you never met?
I feel heartless sometimes because my grandpas died 14 and 6 years ago and I don’t really miss them? They were so sick and It was so hard on both of my grandmas that it was almost a relief ? Anyway one of my grandpa was also a huge homophobic and racist so 🤷🏻♀️
Hi Chaine. I can fully see Oh’s point on this. It’s a hard concept for people to understand, ie a grandparent who died before a grandchild was born being missed by that child. But I also see your point. My kids talk about their dead grandparents because we talk about them. They do it in a really sweet way, because we miss them and we regret they’ve not been around to meet their grandchildren. My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer the day I found out I was pregnant with twins. I don’t think the kids miss them miss them, in that they had a personal relationship with their grandparents, it’s that they’re aware they’ve missed out. I suspect in William’s case he has had to talk quite a lot about Diana with his kids because she was hugely popular, famous worldwide, and at times controversial, and he might have thought they’d be better forewarned of her existence. Then again, would I be plastering this all over the media? No. Would I be aware that I accused my brother of using his dead mother for publicitiy and now I’m doing the same? Yes. Do I think it was staged, like pretty much else they do at the drop of a hat? Yes.
@Chaine — honest question here: how can you miss someone you have never met?
What I get is: I would have loved to meet the person; the person must have been an amazing person; you can wonder of course that’s normal
If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, well, not everyone’s emotional story is the same, and some of us experience our ancestors differently than others.
I remember a poster on here when the story was about KK’s incredibly swollen feet while she was pregnant. The og poster said her mother would have come running with a pair of slippers for her and insisting she put her feet up. I started crying when I read that. I lost my mom at one, and got the stepmother from hell. Psychiatrists have described my childhood as the same as a POW’s, with daily starvation, torture, abuse and death threats. I miss my mom, the mom I don’t remember. Partly because of the mother I lived with and partly because I badly wanted/want what so, so many of you have and I’m never going to know. I hope I’ve made my mom proud of me, and I really wish she could have met my son.
@Robin, “My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer the day I found out I was pregnant with twins.”
It is outrageous that you would have such incredible news and such horrific news on the same day. I’m so sorry, I don’t know how you would even begin to cope with that day’s emotions.
@Lady D-
How awful. I’m so very sorry.
Hi, Lady D. Thank you for your kindness. I had a scan, and it was twins, which I wasn’t anticipating at all. Then I phoned my mum to ask what the doctors had said to her (we knew she had cancer) and she told me it was terminal. It was a horrible time. I got bigger as she got thinner and thinner. The doctors let her come to some of my scans, which was wonderful. I don’t know how to reply to people directly, so I hope this makes it to you!
Chaine – it is understandable to long for something that isn’t there. However, longing and missing are not the same.
@NotSoSocialButterfly, Thank you, it is very kind of you to care. I did turn out okay, mostly. I don’t trust very many people, I tend to push them away and I prefer my own company, but I can function.
@Robin, I thought about you all day. Life is not fair and we all know this, but sometimes it almost destroys you. They say God never gives you more than you can bear, but I think he badly overestimates our strength.
@Oh, This is kind of a heartless comment. My cousin K’s twin sister died while K was pregnant. Although K’s daughter has never met her aunt, they talk about her all the time and she is growing up “knowing” her. They make cards and tie notes to balloons to “send” to her aunt in heaven. I’m sure she will feel that she “misses” her aunt even as she grows older. It’s very possible to feel the loss of someone so important in your family life, even if you never met them.
They had to go back to 2010 to find a photo where the Queen and Charles are a) together and b) smiling at each other.
This is the kind of thing that should never be published. It should not be for public consumption. I just had a visceral emotional reaction to it.
I lost my mom before either of my children were born. And them not knowing her is one of the greatest sources of grief of my life, even today. We talk of her often, to keep her memory alive. But my kids (now 7 and 5–same ages as George and Charlotte) would not think to make something like this on their own, year after year–this was coached by someone. And especially if they did it on their own, I would not post this for the entire world to see.
This puts an unfair burden on these children. It feels manipulative and gross.
I’m really sorry about your mom. I’m also sorry this was a painful reminder for you. <3
Thank you Jennifer and Niopez. Mother’s day (later here in the US) is a really hard day for me. I’m so happy to be the mother of my two kids, but I miss my own mom so much, even after 10 years gone.
I just can’t fathom using my children and the memory of my mom this way.
100% agree with you ABBY. Sorry for your loss.
I agree. My husband’s sister’s first child died when he was two, of Tay-Sachs Disease (infant version of Lou Gehrig’s disease, basically). She was four months pregnant with her second when he died, and would later have a third. My niece and nephew were told about their brother of course, and they have pictures of him in the house etc. But she would never make her kids do something like this, write cards to him saying how much she missed him, because she knows how painful it was and she wouldn’t want them to feel that pain or be reminded of it. It would have to be their idea and even if they did it, she would never use them to help her image. Ugh.
This is how I feel about the HIlaria Baldwin comments about her children still grieving her miscarriage. Kids do not naturally do that unless you create that environment and put those thoughts in their heads.
A couple of words are written by Charlotte, dear granny Diane and her name.
Look at ‘mother and missing’ and then look at the different ‘Ls’, don’t have to be a handwriting expert to see two different handwritings.
Look at the first and third “you”. They are IDENTICAL.
Yes, Diana is William’s mother also and he has the right to honor her but if this were H&M doing this with Archie the hateful comments by the media would never end. What annoys me is how many times William does mention Diana for good PR but the media and their stans seem unable to see it. As pure speculation, I wonder how close Will would have been to his mother if she were still alive and doing things counter to how the royals do them, especially if she had married somebody he didn’t approve of. All the Meghan haters claim that Harry wouldn’t have married her if Di were still around. I think he would have never been a working royal if his mum had still been around to support him.
Unpopular opinion, but I don’t think William would’ve turned out any better. He’s been Windsorized since he was very young, with all of his private conversations with the Queen Mother and Betty herself. He was already pretty mean to Diana as a teen. He screamed at her, shoved her, and excluded her from events. I do agree that Harry would’ve never worked for the RF had Diana lived. He would’ve had someone to advocate for him.
@JT
Diane wasn’t exactly parent of the year to William. She made him her confidant and used him to get at Charles. That’s a shitty thing for a parent to do to a child.
I have to agree. He’s been bratty and obstinate since he was a child-I don’t see how that would have changed as that got older. Diana famously fell out with pretty much everyone in her life at one time or another-I could completely see that this would have been the case with William at times too.
Linda, William was away at school a lot of the time and Diana was busy with her royal work, I don’t see her as a bad mother at all and I think Charles sympathizers like Junor labeled her as the “over confiding” mother. If anything she was tougher with William than Charles, she had Harry and William work for their allowances washing cars, She did not want them pampered by servants so they had to make their own beds. After Diana died, Charles just cossetted William and apologized for what William did and did little to protect Harry. Charles used William and Harry in his Camilla campaign less than a year after Diana died. The “boys” were seen smoking and drinking at the party Charles threw for Camilla in 1998 and invited his sons. I think William behaved badly as a child and both his parents should have gotten together to correct him. I don’t know why he got away with not allowing his parents to go to an Eton event. That was very bratty. IMO.
MaryContrary, I think William is more like Charles. Charles blames others for his choices and never admits he is wrong. I see a pattern, William is getting more and more like his father as he gets older.
My personal opinion, I don’t think William necessarily would’ve married Kate had Diana still been alive. She might have had a say in the women he was being exposed to/introduced to. I can’t say his personality would’ve been any better, but he would’ve at least had a fighting chance to turn out to be a more decent person if he’d continued to have his mother’s influence. It still would’ve been a constant struggle for his soul with Charles/the Firm. He probably would have been an ass to her over dating non-WASPy men (i.e. Dodi Fayed, etc) among other things. We know he was not very nice to her at times. Harry might’ve continued on the same path as I think a lot of why he turned out the way he did was to honor the mother he loved and admired so much and wanted to make her proud. But again….all speculation. We will never know.
I really wonder how it would all be different if she had lived. If she was still a big public presence, everything would probably be so much messier and William and Harry wouldn’t have gotten such a sympathetic public opinion in the same way. There probably would have been splits and picking sides much sooner. But as you say we’ll never know!!
You make a great point that that public sympathy and sense of “ownership” the British people seem to have over both brothers wouldn’t really exist in the way it does today. It’s more likely there would’ve been a big split between the sons’ loyalty — I could see Harry unconditionally backing his mother and there being a tug of war over Will, with him ultimately being pulled to the Windsors’/Firm over Diana. I suspect she would’ve constantly been fighting for her older son’s affection and it would’ve been all a huge mess, especially with Charles marrying Camilla.
One of Kate’s selling points, as admitted by William himself, was Carole spoiling him like she would her own child. He wouldn’t have needed that of Diana was around and it’s unlikely the Middletons would have gotten anywhere near him.
Lacey talks about the get togethers that William would have with the Queen, afternoon teas and what nots. I think he was getting indoctrinated and he may well have turned out the same way if Diana had been around. He probably would have gone to another University and married someone else.
This is just gross. I don’t have my children make cards for my late brother (who also passed away long before they were born) to post them on social media for sympathy. Jesus.
Yeah, this is what it feels like…The sort of cringe-y “influencer family” type of call-to-action to their followers to grieve for them in a particular way. I think this was their social media manager’s idea, and everything about it sings falsetto.
And William’s transformation into Charles is complete.
It seems like they keep using dead women for PR. First it was Sarah Everard, then it was Diana. Who’s next? Those top notch advisors are really earning their keep.
One day these poor kids will be telling this to their therapist. They are on the road to being exploited for their cuteness and when they are grown up and no longer cute will be used as diversions.
That’s cute and all but someone wrote both of those letters and they aren’t 5 or 7. Royal or nah, manual dexterity isn’t that advanced at those ages and is the same handwriting in both.
This is a gross in my opinion. It’s such an obvious PR move and its so exploitative of Diana AND the cambridge kids.
First – they didnt write those cards. No way.
Second – if this is something they do every year, why is THIS year the year they chose to share? Oh wait that’s right. This is the year they are in the midst of a PR crisis.
Third – I see some people saying that Harry having someone lay the flowers is the same, and I think its completely different. The same would be a photo of Archie holding a flower with an announcement about the flowers at Althorp.
What Harry did was really classy in my opinion. He’s honoring his mother in a tangible way by laying the flowers. It also took him some effort to set everything up, he had to call Charles Spencer, call up a florist, and arrange for someone to place the flowers. Harry just puts in 10x more effort into everything he does and it shows.
I agree with you wrote Becks – and gross is not a strong enough word.
Harry keeping his practice of sending flowers to his mother’s grave, on mothering day, will they blame him for using his mother, chances are he may also send flowers on her birthday.
Yes — I think Harry does that every year, no? So this is nothing different. Even if the Cambridge kids “making” these cards is tradition, blasting them out to the public is a new twist. Wonder why. /s
Didn’t both Harry and William say they hated walking behind their mother’s coffin in front of the public when they were children? So how is this different–William having his children bandage the BRF’s exposed inhumanity by performing grief publicly for the same dead woman?
If these cards have been written ever year, why publicize them now?
If this is the first year these cards have been written, why publicize them now?
As an adult, William can grieve or pay respects to his mother as he chooses. But I sincerely hope the children were not actually involved in creating these cards. Charlotte’s message in legible, neat and line-level cursive was certainly not written by her 5-year-old hand and I doubt George was involved beyond the use of his name and the insinuation of his familial tie.
While this stunt is disgusting, it is more so very frightening. So many people are choosing to view this as a simple, lovely tribute to a deceased grandmother. They don’t merely accept the treacle, they are cheering the deception and ignoring the grave robbing. Why? What have William and Kate done for them to merit such an abandonment of morals. Is their blind hatred really this strong that misusing children is applauded?
I think it will only get worse. I think the children will be trotted out even more than they were last year.
I believe that plan was already made public. George and Charlotte are expected to tag along on more engagements once restrictions ease and their parents do more in-person appearances.
These fake cards + the Richard Kay “Middleton blood” article + Kate’s staged visit to the memorial … 🤷
Will and Kate are ghouls (Charles is no better). They don’t seem to understand how emotions work.
They’ve been accused of being users and manipulative so maybe someone should tell this family of rocket surgeons that they shouldn’t respond by being manipulative and using people.
I lost my dad at age 12. Around the same time as w and h lost Diana and I’ll say this…
You can grieve, but at a certain point the grief turns into something else and it’s not about the loss of the individual anymore or cherishing the memories. It IMO can turn 2 main ways. You live a life to make them proud and honor their memory. Or you live a life to exploit their memory and throw yourself a selfish pity party.
Harry honors. William exploits. Prove me wrong.
@WW – “Harry honours. William exploits”. That says it all in 4 words.
This is really in bad taste. They’re using Diana’s memory to distract from the negative attention Harry and Meghan’s interview brought. Are the Cambridge children even old enough to understand who their grandmother was? Like truly be able to grasp who she is/was to them?
I also keep thinking “Would Diana even have wanted to be called ‘Granny Diana’?” It just seems weird to me they’d tell her kids to (or send the message they’ve told their kids to refer to her as such). My grandfather died when my mother was a teenager and my mom never told us to refer to him a certain way.
I’ve been reading down the comments waiting for someone to say this 😂 I don’t care who wrote the cards but am positive that Diana would not be ” Granny”!
Yup. I thought the exact same thing. I liked Diana, I mourned her loss, but she was a human being. I don’t see her embracing “granny” anymore than my own somewhat vain grandmother would embrace it.
I feel like Diana would have been a Gigi.
I can see Gigi for her!
vomit. someone please put these guys back in their boxes and find the receipt.
The Kate visit to the vigil has left a very bad taste. It was so obvious that she had been deliberately dressed down and shoved out into the public as quickly as possible. And no mask? She was wearing a mask in her own car – and decides against it in a public arena? It was planned and staged. To take advantage of a woman’s murder for their own PR is disgusting. Please. And imagine the Daily Fail’s reaction if Meghan had done it. It’s hugely doubtful that Kate went of her own volition or out of any deep-seated feeling to make a difference.
Agree. It was the most audacious thing she’s done, most likely in her life, which reflects badly on her. It was in poor taste. It was her moment and we’ll not see it again.
Whereas if Meghan was still around I feel like she would have hung around for the vigil-turned-mess and probably gotten arrested because she actually cares about the issue and not just the PR.
Kind of scary the Queens has looked rather old and mouldy ever since she was a child, by the time she was in her mid 20s she already looked 40
And just a reminder. It was Mother’s day, not Granny’s day!
“Papa misses you”, yep, that brought the attention to Williams “pain”, made us feel sorry for him and of course he had to use the kids. Two birds with one stone! Of course it’s staged!
Is it that hard to put something personal and touching about your beloved mom, Willie?
This is gross because it’s so obvious what they are doing. Sidebar – I chuckled a bit when I read that the kids call William “papa”.
Pretty sure that’s what they grew up calling Charles, and Charles calls his own father. Now that they’re older Harry and William have referred to him as “Pa.”
My mother died much younger than she should have and I was only a teenager. Mother’s Day is always a hard day and makes me sad. I talk about her with my kids because I want them to know her in their own way, but the last thing I am going to do is make them draw her cards and post them on social media. Even for a nobody like me, it would be completely attention seeking. On a world stage, it’s even more gross.
The act of posting that on your work social media can only be interpreted as attention seeking and for PR purposes.
Yes. Why can’t they post a card of the kids addressed to their ACTUAL mother, Kate Middleton??? Why skip a generation?
While they’re at it, let the kids post a card about Nanny Maria too. After all, there’s no International Nanny’s Day that I know of.
1000% agree.
The Duke of Rother..what? Is that a new title?
It’s the Scottish title he has when they travel and tour in Scotland. The photo was taken at the Highland Games.
What is bothering me more from this weekend than the cards bit is Kate’s appearance at the memorial—with no mask. That is such a power move; I’ve been vaccinated, so I’m not following the guidelines (and/or I cant wear a mask and risk that you won’t recognize me). And I won’t do anything to protect you either, or to model good behavior. I’m amazed that she is getting away with such a “Let them eat cake” moment.
William and Kate have claimed they want their children to have as normal a life as possible. Publishing the children’s private letters for the whole world to see is an unnecessary violation of the children’s privacy for an especially desperate and vile PR attempt to bathe themselves in a positive light. I have the utmost contempt for this pair of hypocrites.
Another gross pr gesture from the Cambridges. Didn’t have to publicize the cards. Even if they were colored by the kids, the words are all William. Probably Nanny Marie. Obvious PR is obvious. Where is Kate’s tribute? Is she not their mother, and therefore important? The flowers were a nice gesture since I doubt Harry will be back for the statue reveal.
Please leave the children alone.
No one is criticizing the kids. We ARE, however, criticizing their parents’ crappy choice to use their kids as pawns to make themselves look good.
No one is criticizing the kids for this because it is obvious that William and Kate are the ones to exploit their kids for good PR. Which is very despicable for parents to do to young children.
We’re criticizing the parents who are exploiting their kids.
We are – however it’s open season on the parents for doing such a transparently fake thing for a PR stunt.
That card from Charlotte is making me roll my eyes SO hard. While the overall sentiment is sweet — paying tribute to a grandmother who has passed on and was beloved by many — she is five. Admittedly I don’t know about schooling in the UK but in the US you don’t learn script till at least 3rd grade, which is 8/9 years old. Kids simply don’t have the dexterity to write in script at 5 years old — they can barely write in lowercase print! Give me a break, Lamebridges. We see you and your “let me write this in my left hand and try to play this off” BS.
So “I am my mother’s son” is exploitative, but “Papa is missing you” is not. Huh. More hypocrisy from Camp Cambridge.
My mother was 15 years old when she lost her mother to brain cancer. My grandmother was gone in less than a week. To make things worse, my mother’s maternal grandfather died a month later, out of the blue, from a heart attack (or broken heart, as he had lost his only child)
My mother is an only child too, so she really lost half her family in the span of a month.
Losing a parent so young is traumatizing and it takes a lot of things from you. My mother spent decades grieving and telling us some anecdotes and stories so that we, her children, could know a grandmother we never met. But this Camb PR really does take the cake (pun intended). It is attention seeking and self-centered and I cannot believe they tried to pass it as “oh, if you also lost someone because of COVID, we’re just like you, except not, and here are some cards our kids “made” even though they deserve privacy except when we need them”.
Gross.
Granny Di would not be dead, most likely, had it not been for the future King (Granpa) and Auntie Cammie.
These people. We aren’t supposed to think about that?
Boy, you took the words right out of my mouth! Was thinking Sweet Cammie and Pedo Andy have been told to lay low for awhile until this thing blows over. Maybe, even until the queen consort 👑 is placed. That island and these people so deserve each other.
What’s going to happen when Ghislaine Maxwell goes on trial? His mother will have to do some damage control.
I can’t wait to see what their next PR move is. It’s one stupid thing after another.
It gets worse and worse right? Like a clown car of stupidity at their PR shop.
Using 2 dead women in the same weekend to do PR damage control – thats low even by their standards.
That Kate visit has not gone down well in any way shape or form, esp after the police’s behaviour later on. Several people at worked commented on it and they all said it was a bad move and obvious PR stunting – they all agreed she should never have gone and that she’s never shown any interest in women’s issues. And these are people who don’t normally pay attention or comment on the royals. One commented that Kate should have been arrested or fined as she wasn’t social distancing or even wearing a mask.
Their ineptitude and tone deafness is their undoing – more and more people are seeing these 2 for what they are.
I was thinking the same thing in my comments below. It is horrible. First by Jack a memorial for a murder victim. Then bring up dead mummy to exploit. My God.
I don’t even get what they THOUGHT they were doing sending her to the memorial. Was it:
A) Kate and ma Middleton PR to make Kate look good and like she cares about women
B) William, Charles, KP, BP idea to get Kate out there so people would talk about her and not will and Charles
C) some kind of idea by all of them that they would just keep doing stuff every single day in an effort to push the Harry Meghan Oprah interview stories out of the papers by giving the papers something, anything else to report on
None of them are good ideas.
sorry, the 5 year old did not write that. if she did then her penmanship is excellent as is her spelling.
also, papa is missing you is a gross way of using your kids to capitalize on your dead mother willileaks. you speak for yourself and stop using your children. i am surprised they didn’t publicize the one they made them write to their living great grandmother the queen.
When I heard about this yesterday, my eyes rolled so hard. I’m glad others feel the same (that this was a blatant “let’s pull the Diana card for some sympathy” act). But to pretend that a 5 and 7 year old wrote those letters?? I don’t care if they do have “the best education,” there is no way they wrote those letters themselves, either content-wise or physically. Ridiculously embarrassing for their parents to put this out there.
Imagine the outrage if Harry, Meg, and Archie had written cards to “Granny Diana!”
Imagine….the uproar!
THe usual “bots” would make the usual accusations on social media. Harry is trashed for talking about Diana by the ‘bots’ and William praised to the skies for his “sincerity .” LOL
Phew. They literally brazenly exploited two dead women in two days. They scream desperate. It’s sick and really really gross. But also, for their own stupid selves maybe be quiet?!? Every time brilliant PR strategist Incandescent William does something like this he digs their hole even deeper. You lost a lot of the US over your racism and cluelessness? Are you trying to piss of the world? I mean, gross just gross.
Hahaha! This is hilarious. I have pretty bright kids who are older than G&C. Having been accused of exaggerating their (real) accomplishments on occasion, I’m super careful about doubting the talents of other kids.
That said, there is NO WAY those cards are real!!!
At most, C&L colored in a pre-cut heart and someone else pasted it on. (Nothing wrong with that! They could have left it there.) *Maybe* Charlotte put the stickers on herself, but there’s no way Louis did. (They’d be half upside down and not so perfectly spaced.) I suppose George could have drawn the picture, tracing something for the perfect circle sun, but it’s so well-balanced that it’s more likely that an adult drew the outlines in light pencil and he colored it in, if the whole thing wasn’t just drawn by an adult in the first place. And Louis? No, a 3yo can’t write letters like that, can’t really even trace them. The fine tremor is that of an adult trying (poorly) to fake a kid’s printing. Possibly an adult guided Louis’ hand while he traced the letters in his name (and that in itself isn’t terrible, it’s the cumulative deception that is.) Don’t get me started on the “handwriting”.
The most charitable I can be is to say that C&G dictated what they wanted to say, and then an adult transcribed it with improved organization. Or possibly they all made cards themselves and then an adult created polished versions of them.
Also, the kids didn’t touch the final version of that cake! Maybe they made prototypes of the pipecleaner hearts, which are admittedly cute.
Man, I’m salty today.
[ETA: if they’re going for “relatable,” it’d be so much more effective to just have the kids color in the hearts, slap on the stickers randomly as kids do, and sign their names or write the messages themselves. Then post them in all their imperfect, backwards-lettered, misspelled glory. Even my stony heart would melt!]
Charlotte is 5. Am I really supposed to believe the wrote this in cursive with no spelling errors?
I was so stuck on the “cursive script by a 5-year-old” that it didn’t even register that every word was perfectly spelled. These people are an absolute trip!
You are right. Everyone is allowed to grieve in their own way. But I still think they’re using their kids as a PR shield. Why is this not a tribute from William to his mom? Isn’t there a Grandparents Day in the UK too? Wouldn’t this fit better with the kiddos making cards for their grandmothers then?
On another note, I think it’s great if kids are still learning cursive. I heard that’s being phased out in a lot of schools.
Perhaps perfect parents should be examining that prophetic black hole in the top pic. Nothing escapes.
I know they go to a top notch school. But I do have a tough time believing that a 7 year old and a 5 year old’s handwriting is that good..
Jung would have a field day with that pic! I didn’t even see it till you mentioned it, but there’s an exercise in Jungian training that has you draw a picture of a memory and then someone draws a line down its middle and the group analyzes it. I personally put limited stock in the exercise but … a true believer would draw a vertical line and interpret the hell out of the fact that the flourishing tree, healthy rain clouds, and birds are all on the right, while the left has an enlarged and too-perfect sun, two plants that look like prickly cacti and a yawning black hole.
Maybe George did draw it. 🤔
Writing cards to your grandmother in heaven—someone you never knew because she died decades before you were born? Who would even conceive of having their children perform such a bizarre act?
Maudlin.
I think it is nice that Diana is remembered by her family and grandchildren. That said, this was a shameless PR plug for William. It is Mother’s Day. It is not let’s make William the focus day. This is the problem with William. It ALWAYS has to be about him. It was not about celebrating “GrannyDiana” it was about making William feel better. Just no. On a day that is about the Mother’s and important women in your life the next post KP made was “Celebrating two other special mothers.” You just called the mother of your children an “other.” I would feel bad for her, but she and her mom actively created this mess with their Victorian era family cosplay. This is also why her visit on Saturday rang hollow. On a day that is supposed to be about celebrating women, she is happy being an “other” and giving all the emphasis to her husband.
All of my grandparents were dead when I was born. I never made cards for them on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. I actually find it a little bit morbid. The only grandparent my children ever knew was my mom and she died when they were 8 and 11. We do talk about her and remember her but we don’t make her cards. I go to the cemetery, usually by myself because I like to linger. I just find it all odd. Very odd.
And goodness, these children have amazing writing abilities, artistic abilities and cooking abilities. Is there anything they can’t do? Do Can’t and Won’t not realize the pressure they are putting on these poor children down the road by showing these falsehoods now? The first time George or Charlotte sign their name in public they are doomed!
Thomas’s doesn’t teach cursive at such young age. My friend’s child went to Thomas’s until last year, he was a year ahead of George albeit in a different branch of Thomas’s. Said friend told me about the lack of cursive when we were discussing how my child was being taught cursive from the get go. And yes, definitely not a 5 year old’s handwriting.
Diana was robbed of a rich, full life watching her sons grow up, marry, and have children of their own. We’ll never know what she would’ve thought of Kate and Meghan, or what kind of granny she would’ve been. But based on what she said during her short life with the RF, I think it’s fair to say that she’d be very disappointed and dismayed with William, and how the brothers’ relationship has deteriorated.
The root cause of all this is Harry being treated as the spare, the f**k-up the RF can toss under the bus whenever it suits them. I have to believe that, had she lived, Diana would’ve lobbied hard for Harry to have a well-defined, prestigious role in The Firm. Certainly not the court jester role they tried to foist on him. She was on record as saying Harry had the better temperament to be king. She may have envisioned Harry as being William’s right-hand man and trusted advisor, much like RFK was to JFK. It’s too bad her influence was tragically cut off.
Considering how William treated his mother while she was alive I doubt her influence would have gone far with him. William leaned hard I to the bs the BRF and courtiers spew about the heirs being better than others.
And he’s continuing the “custom” by treating George as “more special.” With George being the only child to get a present from Attenborough
A five year old understanding how or when or not to use a possessive apostrophe! Amazing.
They keep sinking to lower and lower depths. What a crass display.
Next they’ll be releasing the cards they made for Mommy when she was sad because the mean black American lady made her cry 😭
I thought emojis were unroyal…
Who the hell is the Duke of Rothesay?????
Charles. It’s the title he uses when he’s in Scotland.
Aaah…..pandering to the Scots I see
William’s highest ranking Scottish title while in Scotland.
My first thought was WTF! It’s one thing for them to write cards BUT then to post it is really messed up and not good. I don’t know if it’s even ok to encourage a kid to write to a dead person they never knew, I don’t have kids but posting this publicly on Instagram makes me feel very uncomfortable. Why not just visit the grave and leave flowers.
Diana would never have been called Granny…..Nana, Grams, something else…..just not Granny.
black hole at the center of one drawing and an apparently broken heart in the other, maybe about Diana, or maybe something’s not right in the family — my guess, increasingly, is William’s rage…