Yesterday, I mentioned something about the Duchess of Cambridge, something I’ve noticed over the years: she’s much better and more engaged when she does events with seniors. I think it was the author Sue Grafton who said that there are two kinds of people in the world, people who prefer kids and people who prefer the elderly. Kate might prefer the elderly. The Early Years stuff is just vague embiggening and buttons to her, but give her a chance to spend time with survivors of the Holocaust, and she’s genuinely engaged. That’s what happened yesterday, when Kate took a boat ride and spent time with some of the “Windermere Children,” the children who survived the Holocaust and were resettled in the UK’s Lake District following the war. This event went exactly as it should have, like all of Kate’s events should go: Kate is engaged and kind and her visit gives a boost and a platform to the people she’s met with.
“She was absolutely delightful,” Ike Alterman, a 93-year-old survivor from Poland who was a prisoner at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt, told PEOPLE. “We laughed, she asked questions and she wanted to know the answers. We talked about her kids and my kids, and how we love the lakes. I have two girls and two grandchildren. I told her what happened to me during the war and when I arrived and how I progressed in business later. I didn’t know what to expect, but we spoke like a couple of friends. She was so down-to-earth.”
Arek Hersh, 92, was also joined by the Duchess on the boat. A survivor of Auschwitz, he lost his parents and his brothers and sisters — in total 81 members of his family perished. He settled in Leeds, Yorkshire, and worked as a mechanic and, in later years, as a landlord for students in the city. He is featured in the 2020 film The Windermere Children and the documentary The Windermere Children: In Their Own Words.
“It was very nice. She was very interested,” he told PEOPLE. “It brought back happy memories of being on the lake.” Still, “It took some years to get rid of the whole situation. I lost everybody, my parents, brothers and sisters.” Kate, he recognized, “can’t help me as far as that’s concerned. I talked to her and her husband [Prince William] in London, and we discussed certain things. I told her my point of view. The outdoor life here helped a little bit but it wasn’t everything.”
His wife, Jean, added that the Windermere Children didn’t know English. “Arek had many, many years of nightmares,” she said. “They were all very small. They couldn’t believe how beautiful this place was. He says he literally felt himself growing here.”
“This is a happy day,” she added. “Arek has had some lovely moments through his teaching about the Holocaust. It isn’t because he’s meeting important people — he’s met the Queen — but because he’s met some wonderful ordinary people too. Our life is very rich. Meeting the Duchess is obviously is a nice honor.”
Following the boat ride, Kate spent about an hour talking to the families of the survivors.
“I really felt that she was listening and engaged and genuinely interested in our stories. This wasn’t a ‘by the way I’m meeting these people today’ but her genuinely showing she cares,” David Shannon, whose uncle and aunt were Holocaust survivors, told PEOPLE.
“She is using her position of influence to engage with survivors and their families,” said Shannon. “But what about the future generations? When we talked with her, that was what we discussed. The concentration camps are the end of the process, not the beginning. It’s important that people learn about tolerance and about right-wing nationalism. I felt she gets that and her part in the process.”
“It’s important that people learn about tolerance and about right-wing nationalism. I felt she gets that and her part in the process…” I mean, RIGHT?? This is not “Kate cuddles cute kids on a vague Early Years project.” This is Kate platforming Shoah survivors and engaging them in conversation about right-wing nationalism, tolerance and how to do more. Now, will anything come of this? Probably not. But I really like this subject for Kate. We are losing the generation of Shoah survivors, and we’ve already lost so much of their history.
Thank you Ike and Arek, two of the ‘Windermere Children’, for sharing your powerful stories today. pic.twitter.com/M8GXajXW74
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 21, 2021
This group of children were called the 'Windermere Children'. I wanted to be able to meet some of the survivors Ike & Arek in person to hear their stories; about how they went on to create their own companies, write a book & to this day, still sneak in the odd round of golf.(2/3) pic.twitter.com/XNTimAxZ8K
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 21, 2021
It was so powerful to hear how their time in the Lakes enjoying outdoor recreation, sport and art therapy, allowed them to be able to begin to rebuild their lives and eventually, their families here in the UK. (3/3)
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 21, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Like everything about the Royals…this comes off as performative…..and based on their actions…it also comes off as fake AF…
The gentlemen involved seemed to find some value in the meeting. I don’t hold the Cambridges in very high regard and I don’t really see Kate doing anything more than this. But I also think if the survivors she met felt listened to and that it was worth their time, it should be acknowledged.
If only because we’re right now talking about the Windermere Children instead of how many buttons she’s managed to bring together in one outfit.
That is true, their profile might have been slightly temporarily raised, but “right-wing nationalism, only make it English” is kinda the royal family motto, so I definitely don’t see anything further coming of this.
From the quotes the people actually there and involved valued the experience, what else was supposed to happen ? Royals are performative by default, their entire purpose is … show.
This assertion that they should somehow be substantial or solve the worlds problems is directly opposite to the idea of hereditary monarchy.
Show pony shows … hysterics spend more time complaining than the pony spent showing.
It’s often talked about on here that the Royals are really nothing more than glorified celebs, and I share that sentiment. With that in mind, how many celebs can anyone name who actually do work which isn’t performative?
Sure they might be patrons of charities, even found charities, just like the Royals. They might fundraise and even be seen to do the groundwork with cameras present (William serving food at a homeless charity springs to mind), but how often are they actually out there with no camera present, doing the hands on work? It’s all performative in celeb land and then they get the praise and glory, while others actually doing the leg work are mostly forgotten about. Maybe I’m being harsh, and maybe they do exist , but I don’t know why anyone really expects more from the Royals at this point.
No, I don’t agree. First off, there are plenty of celebrities who do good work that’s far beyond Royal philanthropy even if their place is in a plutocracy. The point of a lot of their work is visibility which even the Royals fall short of. Even if they take credit for work others do I have no idea why that should be brought up in conversation in relation to where the people in question in this particular discussion do that *and* also live off the public. Second, the discussion about why the Royals aren’t doing more is the impetus to either get them out to do more or to encourage the people to get rid of them.
Saying everyone is being hysterical over a pony show obscures the point.
@Maria – We shall agree to disagree . The notion that the BRF needs to be out doing good works is fiction . Yes, it is a fiction they have constructed to look relevant in the modern age to keep the institution going, but the notion there is some standard they have to meet or level of “work” to be met is chat room fiction . We sit around every day writing hundreds of posts in what this chick “should” be doing and yet … by any measure that counts , eh, she’s doing just fine .
Anyone looking to the BRF for aspiration has bigger issues .
Today the English royals have lost the actual function as rulers of the country that they had in centuries past, but that WAS the original idea. William the Conqueror led an army (I would love to see William the Gardener try that). Even today you have (for example) Princess Sofia of Sweden going to work in a hospital during COVID. What Kate is doing, or rather not doing, is a choice. Royals aren’t meant to be glorified celebs. The concept was to be actual political, military, and spiritual leaders. We are living in an age where only the facade remains. And I think it’s important to point out this disconnect because a surprising number of people don’t see the emperor has no clothes.
@ Emma – I agree completely , they truly serve no functional purpose outside of the pomp and circumstance , nostalgia and the peerage system. Show pony …
The main difference is that the “working royals” get a portion of the sovereign grant for doing this work so that’s why it’s irrelevant to bring in celebrities in this discussion because celebrities don’t get taxpayer money for doing charity.
Kate and William don’t get sovereign grant money but they do get Duchy money for this and that basically filtered taxpayer money from Charles. They also were specifically given use of KP apartments to be in London and be central for the work. The renovations were also paid by the taxpayers so that Kate could have her two kitchens.
If neither is prepared to do the charity work then they wouldn’t have gotten the KP apartments. Beatrice and Eugenie have to pay rent for the places they stay at.
And all the other working royals have managed to do hundreds of engagements per year for decades. The entire point of the court circular is to tabulate their engagements.
So show pony or not, Kate isn’t doing a fraction of what all the other working royals have been doing for decades and yet she still gets a lot of money for new clothing and houses to accommodate for their expectations of doing engagements. If Kate is prepared to give up her residences at KP and any other place that is not privately owned then she can stop doing the charity work. Until then, she owes the taxpayers.
Same – you agree and yet you’re glossing over the point.
You seem to be sympathetic to Kate given your comments on this and other posts, and that’s your prerogative, but part of the focus on her is because of her being largely one of the most visible. The Royals are pointless, so I don’t understand why you’re content to sit back and say she’s doing fine and that conversations about what they should be doing serve no purpose. They’re drawing attention to it.
We can talk for days about this visit but l have something very clear Kate is lazy AF l wish someone shows at one of her engagements with a banner that says “KATE WE ARE TIRED OF YOUR LAZINESS AND WE ARE PAYING FOR YOUR LIFESTYLE!!!”
You said it, Lala11_7. They use people like props in that family.
For all her laziness, I think part of the problem with Kate is that they keep throwing her to do events that do not play to her interests. She obviously likes things with sports, the elderly, and nature. If you just gave her that instead of insisting she was doing Diana-lite co-splay all the time, I think she might even seem a bit more relatable to the public.
It’s crazy that after ten years, she’s still so bad at service in general that people have given up and now just want her to do the bits that she likes.
@Merricat – RIGHT? That’s what Sofia and I were discussing yesterday. Imagine telling your boss you’re only going to do some parts of your job, the parts that most appeal to you, and you’re just not going to do the other parts because you find them boring and dull.
Kate has free rein to define her own job. She can engage exclusively in work that peaks her interest.
@Mac – she can, but there are still events that get on the schedule because a hospital or a county fair or a school reaches out to the palaces and says “can we get a royal – any royal – for this event.” And I assume that some of those get shuffled to the Cambridges when they need a reminder that they need to work. But its not that often. And when she becomes the Duchess of Cornwall, there’s going to be a bigger expectation that she does more of that work.
I honestly think the issue is there is very little that piques her interest, so they try to find “fun” outdoors events for her, and that’s about it.
@mac – I agree that they have always had the ability to define what they do, which only further shows how little Kate cares about anything. The only thing Kate has been consistent about in the last 10 years is attending Wimbledon. She’s not done anything else that consistently.
@Becks1 – But she can’t be “fired”, so the manager is going to have to work with what they got, and they have someone who is fairly terrible at public speaking and doesn’t have a lot of charisma.
I’ve been a manager to plenty of people who I wasn’t able to fire for various reasons (generally political within the company), and at some point you gotta say, This person does XYZ well, but can’t do ABC, whereas that person can do AB and a little of C, so let’s dole out the work appropriately.
There’s plenty of “old people” charities around. Assign her those and maybe we’ll talk about their needs instead of how much she paid for her clothes.
@Mac: Yes but she still needs to and should do the bread and butter engagements of opening up a hospital wing and meeting cancer stricken kids. Not every engagement can be bike riding and talking to the elderly even if Kate can define her own work (yet she still works so very little and doesn’t do a lot of these engagement that she likes so…)
Right now it’s “okay” because the queen’s 80 year old cousins, Wessexes, Charles, Camilla and Anne can (and do) do them but what are they going to do in 25 ish years when they could be King and Queen and most of the people mentioned above are dead or thinking about retiring? Give them to George? Not do them?
@harperc – that’s true, the public is stuck with her so at this point its pretty much whatever gets her to work.
I think the issue though is that even with events she enjoys, she still isn’t going to do that many of them. It’s not like if someone says “you can work exclusively with these specific charities and don’t need to worry about anything else” she’s going to start doing 500 events a year. She’s still going to do her 100 events a year.
Which apparently is okay with the royal family, but people need to stop acting like the types of engagements are what is holding Kate back from doing more and if events were just more interesting for her she would do more.
So I hate to state the obvious , but as you say “after ten years “…. She’s obviously doing what the Firm expects. Could she do more ? Sure, why not, does anyone (outside of this echo chamber) expect her to do more? Clearly not.
I am wondering where the expectations of “the job” are coming from because clearly the English aren’t taking to the streets demanding her head do who wrote the job description?
@Same: I find the viewpoint of “Well the majority of the Brits don’t care she doesn’t do anything so why do people on this site do?” so annoying. So just because a majority aren’t saying anything, it means the person in question can do whatever? Not grow? Not change? Not take advantage of the massive platform they have? There’s a lot of apathy for royals in general so nobody besides Andrew really draws large scale outrage – including the Sussexes besides what the media bleats. So Kate could do 10 engagements a year and nobody is really going to bat an eyelash in terms of outrage.
And even if someone draws large scale outrage, there’s no guarantee they’ll change. Melania Trump was criticised by a lot of Americans for doing f**k all as First Lady yet did she change? Did she do more? Nope. Was that right? Are you happy with that? Is that what First Ladies should do? Was she a good use of your taxpayer money? Was she a good example? That’s something only you can answer (and the answer may be yes depending on your political leanings I suppose).
But maybe I’m just overly sensitive about this because I’m a Brit and my family’s taxes go to her in exchange for working.
@Same – the point about “after 10 years” is more about the constant infantilizing of Kate. People thought she “did well” yesterday so there were lots of comments about how “she should do more of these types of engagements where she actually seems to enjoy herself” or whatever.
And that’s the bar for this woman? It’s so low that people think “well she had a good time riding bikes and going out on a boat, she should do that more often” because the alternative is she either doesn’t work or she doesn’t engage or seem interested or prepared for her events.
I don’t think its clearly what the firm expects, i can look at other working royals and tell you its not what the firm expects. It’s just that no one can get her off her butt to actually work for some reason. We’ve seen enough of the sheer panic from RRs and “palace insiders” about how “someone has to pick up the slack” after the Sussexes left and the unsaid part is always “because Will and Kate won’t.” So clearly the palace isn’t fighting that battle with them, but they know its a problem.
Just because they haven’t forced Kate to work more yet doesn’t mean they aren’t concerned. None of the other working senior royals are as lazy as her. None. It’s clearly going to be a problem when the older ones are unable to do the few hundred engagements that don’t get much media coverage. They will have to start dropping more patronages and until Meghan arrived and was the easy target for the media, they were discussing the laziness of the Cambridges. That problem has not gone away and will become more obvious as William gets closer to the throne. Their laziness is also why it was such a big deal that Harry and Meghan left because they expected Harry and his wife to help make up for the lazy Cambridges. That’s why we got the Tatler story of the exhausted CEO.
@sofia and becks —- that’s my point . You can’t dictate that someone grow , change , use their platform etc. You are creating a standard for a total stranger to ascribe to… and bitterly complaining when said stranger doesn’t meet your goals. As I said above , by all measures that count , lazy is doing an adequate job.
@Same: Oh please. She’s a taxpayer funded individual with a public role, I think people having standards for her is fine. Nobody is saying she has to work 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year doing menial labour or do a PhD in Rocket Science in a year, all people are saying is that she can wear a pretty dress and wave to the peasants a few more times a week than she currently does. That’s it. Those are the “standards” we have for her.
Kate only stopped being called lazy when Meghan arrived and the media chose to target her instead. It has nothing to do with the family being ok with her laziness. They just tolerate her more than Meghan, because being popular and charismatic to them is a bigger sin than being a wasteful dim sloth.
@Merricat, you hit the nail on the head: “let’s bend and filter EVERYTHING so this useless piece of human flotsam is ‘happy’.” Pleaaaase. Like she ever worked a day in her useless life…
@same – I’m not creating a standard. I’m looking at the standard other working royals have set, especially Phillip, Diana, and heck even Camilla (other consorts of monarchs/future monarchs).
Saying “well everyone is okay with her laziness so why complain” is a circular argument bc if no one complains then it give the impression everyone is okay with it.
Kate is lazy. Full stop. That was a problem until Meghan came along, and I think it will be a problem again soon.
Of course it shouldn’t be she should do what she likes — a job is a job and she knew the job description going in. She was obviously not prepared with a work ethic, and the RF should have tackled that early on and worked with what was there before we got to this point.
@Jessie – yes, I agree with that. I said this yesterday but I’ll say it again bc why not lol – the time for her to focus on events that she liked and where she could ask good questions and have meaningful conversations was at the beginning. They should have had her focus on events involving outdoors, sports, elderly people – whatever most appealed to her – as a way to ease her in and get her adjusted to royal duties, but then ramped her up to things that may be less appealing to her.
Instead she just didnt work for years and we were told that the Queen was okay with that because “Malta.”
EXACTLY. Instead all we got was a load of nothing, babies and “fashion” coverage. They pandered to her shallow side and failed to broaden her interests and scope into something substantial.
I mean we are praising her for not being an asshole to Holocaust survivors? That’s a pretty low bar. If Kate truly cared about these issues she would have done far more than take pictures of them once and then talk to some a year later. Also seniors are more likely to not challenge her dumb comments because they probably still respect the position she’s in even if it’s unearned. Kids are tougher because they don’t care about social niceties. So once again Kate only does well when coddled by the people she meets.
And the praise for Kate for just being engaged for once is why she will never improve, because she’ll be given a gold star for merely asking a relevant question. She is 40. People should treat her like it.
@Nic919 – Exactly. If they want her to do Diana cosplay, they need to give her an actual leash to take a controversial stance or a controversial issue to work on. That is how you become a voice of change. I don’t follow her enough, but from what I’ve seen, the issues she leans into (early years, for example), her takes are really more dated than progressive, and it isn’t as if there isn’t territory in the realm of child development or motherhood in general on which she could take an actual stand.
They can’t put her int he position of being treated like he is Diana 2.0, but also keep her in line like this. They need to just let her lean into her own stuff at this point, assuming she has a personal opinion that differs from the Firm. If anything, that will get them closer to their goal.
I don’t think anybody has to let Kate do anything. If she wanted to do more “controversial” things like talking to the elderly, than she would. Does anybody think that the firm wants Kate to do less when she’s barely doing 100 events a year. When she wants to disappear, she does. Like when the Rose Who situation came up and she was MIA for nearly two months and got a royal order on top of that. When she wants to seem busy she’ll do a flurry of engagements. She’s just lazy as can be and I don’t think anybody is controlling her workload. Kate may not have a lot of power within the firm, but she sure as hell has enough to do what she wants to do, which is nothing.
And Kate does Diana cosplay all on her own, the palace aren’t the ones telling her to SWF William’s dead mother, a woman that the firm didn’t even like.
@JT I’m really not sure. If I had to guess, my take would be that Kate is probably the Royal Family equivalent of Melania Trump. Someone who signed up for a specific role, and is unwilling to do more than what is the baseline is, and who probably has views that are a bit problematic if you spend enough time listening to her talk.
However, we also saw with Meghan a real effort to take her voice away on issues, so it could be the case that Kate gets a degree of muzzling. I think her disappearance after the Rose Hanbury mess was really just trying to keep the story tamped down by not giving an opportunity for folks to take pictures of her and speculate on how she was coping.
I do think this particular event that CB is reporting on was the palace’s effort to Diana cosplay her, but the subject matter (supporting holocaust survivors) really isn’t that controversial to allow her to live up to that Keen Guevara title the media tried to foist upon her head. If the palace wants to promote her as a Keen Guevara, they need to set up a different type of issue for her to support. This just isn’t it.
Kate’s on PR is setting her up as Keen Guevara. Kate the Great, Savior of the Monarchy, is not coming from the palace. That is all on Kate. Kate’s unwillingness to do more than she feels like is a testament to the little power that she has. She hid out from the Rose situation most likely out of embarrassment and she didn’t come back until the queen facet her royal order for keeping quiet and not making waves about the affair. Kate had no voice to take, so she wasn’t in a situation like Meghan was. Kate hadn’t done it said anything important in the years prior to Meg, nor did she do anything of note in the decade dating William. The place didn’t want another Diana, which is what Kate was billed as in the first place. The cosplay is just Kate being Kate, SWFing other women.
What’s clear is that moving forward Royal Women will be expected to do basically nothing. It will not be acceptable for anyone to out work Kate. So to George and his future wife expect nothing of her role as long as Kate walks this earth. Otherwise……..
Kate will do the minimum and looks like the minimum will be praised because most have basically given up that she will go beyond the minimum
True. But she’s being paid millions of pounds. Surely she can do better. People like you and me with actual jobs that we may not like that don’t get paid millions suck it up every single day. She can’t suck it up two times a week.
The irony of Kate knowing her “part in the process” of learning tolerance. Wow.
I almost took that as Kate knows (or the man who gave the comments knows) that Kate, as a member of the royal family, occupies the right-wing, “this is the right kind of blood,” nationalist stance. That she is the type of White British Princess character that is used in right wing propaganda. I didn’t necessarily take it as this guy thinks that Kate is currently actively spreading tolerance and being a force for good. Just that she knows the position she holds as a pretty white English Princess can be used to promote right wing nationalism and racism and intolerance.
And now she needs to decide what she’s going to do about that. She might recognize that she is a face of right wing nationalism and how that does or does not relate to tolerance (it does not), but now she needs to decide what she’s going to do about it. Will she lean into it and pull it around her like a cozy comforter, or will she use her position to advocate against nationalism, racism, xenophobia, and religious discrimination and promote tolerance and more progressive (or at least less regressive) values? It seems like this was almost a challenge that this man left her with: “recognize your place in all of this and figure out what that means and what you can do.”
But maybe I’m just hearing what I want to hear and what I think she needs to be told.
@AmyToo yes! I said something about that comment below, I felt it was more directly about the royal family than People mag wants to talk about. Does Kate want to be the epitome of right wing nationalism, or does she want to try to be something beyond that? Does she want to try to do something to stem the tide of nationalism, or is she going to lean into it?
Kate dedicated her adult life to marrying a man who is the head of the most patriarchal, racist and sexist system out there so she does not care about stopping right wing nationalism. She wants to be a part of it and benefit from it. Since then she failed to support any progressive issues and couldn’t even wear black at the Baftas because “it was too political”. Kate and Melania are basically identical. They are lazy self centred people who don’t care about anything but living a comfortable life and they wanted to marry a man that would give them that, regardless of the character of that man.
@Nic919…+1000. I had to go back and read the comment again. I’m 100% certain Kate doesn’t give a rats ass about changing a system that allows her to become a future Queen Consort. IMO Kate was enjoying her day on the water and the outside sports activity. Once Kate walked off that boat the last thing on her mind was fighting white nationalism or standing up for anything of substance.
Tolerance, right wing nationalism, and Kate’s role in the process? I don’t think her role is what People magazine thinks it is.
Anyway – it does sound like a good visit, and I do think its important to record the experiences of Holocaust survivors before they pass, because we need to remember what happened and HOW it happened and WHY. I like the line about the Holocaust being the end of the process, not the beginning, that’s really important to remember.
But like I said yesterday – yes, Kate does well at these kinds of engagements. But she cannot only do these kinds of engagements and its another way people infantilize her to praise her for working and for enjoying herself and learning something and having solid conversations with people that she is meeting. She is almost 40 years old and has been a working royal for 10.5 years. She should be doing this at every engagement.
Also – is it just me or is People really starting to ramp up their pro-royal coverage? I can’t remember seeing a people article cover one of Kate’s engagements this in-depth before.
This feels like they’re treating this like “welcome back” event or a “revamp” after all the coverage this summer. Like her disappearing for two and a bit months were going to make us forget everything!
It’s the British guy doing this. I don’t think he realizes how little Americans care about Kate though.
Nic919 – It’s not just Americans. I can’t think of anyone my age here in England who gives two f*** about the RF these days.
Right @Nic919. I don’t believe these people themselves are talking to People magazine. Robert Rinder has been listed as a favorite guest on The Dan Wootton show(podcast) and in June 2021 was given an MBE. His work for Holocaust survivors is good. He is a barrister, has a column in The Sun and has his own TV show. He’s believed to have been the best man at Benedict Cumberbatch’s wedding.
It’s a nice diversion for Kate’s active participation in the smear campaign and false bullying allegations against Meghan.
Just Jared has been going in depth on her engagements too. It seems a lot of American media has been given royal rota level briefing and talking points as of late.
Okay, so I’m actually coming back to that comment –
“But what about the future generations? When we talked with her, that was what we discussed. The concentration camps are the end of the process, not the beginning. It’s important that people learn about tolerance and about right-wing nationalism. I felt she gets that and her part in the process.”
I think that’s a not-so-subtle dig at the royal family during the 30s. You don’t think these survivors have seen the pictures of Elizabeth and her mother practicing the Nazi salute? You think they don’t wonder why no one helped them or stopped Hitler before they actually did, the policy of appeasement, etc?
I know people will say “well its more complicated than that” but if I were a Holocaust survivor who had lost 80 members of my family to the Nazis -you can bet your ass those thoughts would be in my head when I met a member of the royal family. I’m sure some of those people see the same rhetoric that they saw 70 years ago and are telling Kate the time to stop it is now.
ETA I don’t know if I’m wording this right. but if I’m a Holocaust survivor in England in 2021 I’m going to want to make sure no one forgets what I experienced, because that’s when and how history repeats itself.
@Becks1: Great comment and excellent point. I’d go even further to say that the historical viewpoint of a Holocaust survivor in the UK indicts not just the RF but also the majority of the aristocracy in the 30s. Most aristos of the time saw the coming struggle as a battle between fascism and communism, and decided that fascism was the better bet to preserve their political and social positions. Substitute “socialism” for communism and “oligarchs” for aristos and it’s not hard to see the same forces at work today.
“…we need to remember what happened and HOW it happened and WHY. I like the line about the Holocaust being the end of the process, not the beginning, that’s really important to remember.”
THIS. Many years ago, I went to the Holocaust museum in DC, and I remember a wall where they posted all the anti-Semitic laws and restrictions the Nazis passed in the lead-up to the “final solution.” It was so effective in showing how little by little they conditioned Germans to think of Jews as “less than.” As I’ve seen the rise of right-wing hatred and anti-liberalism in this country, I think this should be part of the curriculum for 20th century history: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitic-legislation-1933-1939
After the intolerance the royals have shown Meghan Kate doesn’t get a cookie for this.
God bless the lady who said that but Kate gets her part in people learning about “tolerance and the fight against right-wing nationalism”? If that were the case then why is she and her family jumping in bed with Murdoch, the mouthpiece of right-wing (white) nationalism?
Kate explicitly let a right wing media attack her sister in law using racist tropes which is exactly what nationalist groups do. So miss me with pretending that Kate will do anything about stopping fascism.
Kate might have been nice to the seniors she met with that day, but the rest of the time she is part of the problem.
Funny how she can be kind and engaging to anyone who isn’t black . I guess her kindness sees colors.
@OverIt, you must have forgotten that she’s “very much not” a racist.
I worry the Holocaust is slipping into the past. Younger generations need to hear these stories.
I really dislike the use of the word “tolerance” within the context of minority rights – tolerating difference is the bare minimum of a decent society. Tolerance just means that difference isn’t outright hated and targeted. The debate should center “acceptance” rather than tolerance when it comes to minority groups. The acceptance of difference and welcoming it as part of a decent and culturally rich society. Accepting and welcoming difference is miles ahead of simply tolerating difference.
@ArtHistorian: Yes, yes, and yes. “Tolerance” to me means you dislike or even abhor something but you roll your eyes and keep the peace rather than fight it. I actually thought Mr Shannon meant “tolerance” as a negative, in that we must teach future generations that “tolerating” right-wing/nationalist ideologies is mortally dangerous.
But, the post’s headline notwithstanding, I think your interpretation of his meaning is right, because I do remember “tolerance” being an aspirational buzzword in 20th century discourse on racism. Hopefully we’re evolving beyond that.
Yep, tolerance doesn’t mean acceptance. The two concepts shouldn’t be confused.
YES! I hate the use of the word tolerance in this way.
Let’s not forget tolerance to people of color too. If not tolerance, how about outright acceptance of them has equal human beings.
All monarchies are right-wing as they embody the conservative stance of never change and inherent hierarchies and how some “blood” is better than others. So give me a break.
She never grows up.
This was a nice event. And actually really interesting too. Too bad her stans paid damn near zero attention to it. All of the content on this has gotten little to no engagement. Yesterday someone mentioned how a Daily Mail article about the Sussexes’ upcoming NYC trip got thousands of comments while the article about Kate’s event only got 59 comments. The Cambridge stans are all focused on Meghan centered content, period. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter. If it centers Meghan, that’s where Kate’s stans are. The fact that all of the Meghan hate accounts on social media, such as Murky Meg, all get more engagement that the Cambridge accounts and the royal rota accounts speaks volumes.
That’s because they’re not Kate’s fans. They’re Meghan’s haters who latched onto Kate to try and justify that hatred.
Kate doesn’t have stans, she has Meghan haters, who probably follow Meg as closely as the Sussex Squad does. It’s why the Keens are never trending, why their projects always flop, and why they can’t even stay at the top of a news cycle for more than an afternoon. 59 comments on one of Kate’s first engagements after she was gone the whole summer is sad.
@JT and I wonder how many of those 59 comments were about her clothes and/or hair. I’d guess the majority.
Kates mother is Jewish. However she still has that fake smile on her face. I don’t Ike myself for noticing her cheeks and jowls are starting to show unfavorably again, fillers and touch ups aren’t wearing well. Like I said like the times cover for some, I am not above being petty too.
Kate’s mother is not Jewish. The legend of her matrilineal side being Jewish was basically invented by a former Royal correspondent and was based on no harder facts than that her mother’s side had a bunch of “Jewish-sounding” names. A bunch of Jewish organizations debunked it.
Good engagement, but an hour is insufficient to me.
Good to know, however misinformation is out there, just ask the sussexes. I apologize for believing the British media. Thanks ladies for the correction, not that that ancestry is a bad thing.
Absolutely, sorry to be super blunt, lol.
@Maria an hour should be insufficient for everyone, especially for an engagement like this. And if she was really enjoying it, she could have stayed longer. Idk. It’s an absolute travesty that in ten+ years, the engagement at which she spent the most time was the set visit to Downton Abbey. I don’t understand how she isn’t embarrassed. An hour is a joke. (And isn’t that longer than she usually stays? I think she generally bounces after 45 minutes.)
She is truly just there for the photo ops. Once she knows a decent amount of pictures of her doing a couple of different things are taken, she’s out of there. It’s allllll about the photos for her imo. She’s not quietly doing engagements behind the scenes like Meghan was.
Carole isn’t Jewish.
Catty is showing tolerance after all these years. Yeah, right. Did she showMeghan an ounce of compassion. As someone said up thread, it’s all about performative appearances 🤦🏽♀️
She may do better with the elderly as opposed to children because, as a rule, she seems to be constantly infantilized even as a grown woman. Doing engagements with elderly people lets her stay in her comfort zone as the younger one being led/taught, even though she’s supposedly “listening” and “doing her part” to understand the lessons and knowledge the survivors impart. When she’s working with kids, she is inherently supposed to be the leader and we all know she’s not suited to lead anyone or anything.
This nails it exactly. Kate is comfortable with seniors because they coddle her.
Yep. With children she is expected to be the adult in the room. I had never thought about it like that before, but it makes so much sense.
@Swirlmamad that’s such a good point! Like @JT I’d never thought of it that way before, but it makes total sense, given what we know about her. God, she’s so pathetic that I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.
Seniors also tend to have more reverence for the monarchy than younger people.
Tilt shoulders in with an engaged serious or neutral grin on yer face. Don’t overdo it into hyena territory. Tilt yer head, sqint and nod. Throw in a cocked eyebrow if you can. Get your hands up with your fingers spread when you want everyone to see you’re emphasizing a Very Important Point! You’ll score higher on the “engagement” meter. And remember, the camera is always on. Let’s give your loyal subjects something to lap up and turn cartwheels over.
As LaLa11_7 noted above, it’s all so performative and inauthentic. May I add gross?
This is a valuable subject to highlight but – sorry – I can’t buy anything this Kewpie doll does as sincere.
I completely agree. It doesn’t really come across as genuine still. That camera is ever-present and she knows it.
The only people I know who regularly (or ever) do that hand splaying thing in front of their body are children under the age of 6 telling me “how many” they are. “I’m thiiiiiis many!!!” Kate is apparently an extremely immature 10 year old (based on all the fingers) who never got past a 5 year old level of socializing, counting, and communicating with others. She used to just do the palms facing up hand splaying thing, but now she does the full on childish palms facing out hand splaying thing. And it’s so much worse. I thought hated the elbows in at the hips, palms up version, but the 4 year old palms out/mime-like version enrages me for some reason.
I think you’re right about Kate being engaged with the elderly. She isn’t laughing hysterically with her mouth wide open.
Another option could be that Kate’s communication team final selected images that reflected the tone and messaging of the event and not just the images where she looks manic with pretty hair. Ten years later, that’s real growth…
I think it would have been better if Kate had only done the engagement with the holocaust survivors because all the reports coming out of the UK were about her going bike riding and absailing. The Daily Mail had one sentence about her visit with the Windermere children. I also think if she says a few words at these visits it would also help to focus on the visits and causes themselves rather than the clothes she wore. If I’m Kate I’m would be upset about the way the press covers me and would try to do things to change it.
But Kate doesn’t care about that. She grouped those engagements in one day so she could boost her numbers and not have to spend a lot of time at either engagement. Kate could easily have separated those events on separate days. It’s not like travel is a hardship for her.
@Nic919: Yeah, you’re right.
She really should say a few words to the camera. All of the press coverage makes the people that she is supposedly there to help and bring awareness to sell their own cause and the event. She relies on the press asking the people she visited to summarize the visit, and mention the talking points, and of course praise her for being so sweet and engaged and “really listening.” And I’m sure a lot of the Kate praise is prompted by reporters asking questions like “what was it like to meet the Duchess? What is she like?” as opposed to “tell us about your cause/charity.” The laziness that comes from leaving these events so quickly and then relying on the people you met to tell the press why you were there and what it was all about is astounding. Why would you make very elderly Holocaust survivors do your PR work for you? Sell their own cause? When you are supposedly there to draw attention to the cause and help in some way? What is Kate’s unique perspective on why this is important? What is she going to do about it? Direct engagement from Kate to the press is going to go so much further than the press getting second hand information (from people they honestly don’t really care that much about) about what they think Kate thinks about their charity or cause. The Instagram captions that say nothing, and do nothing, and link to nothing, and spur no action on the part of the reader are not good enough. She needs to do her own PR. Stop relying on the people you meet to do it for you.
I agree Amy Too but I wonder if Kate doesn’t engage with the press because there’s worry that they might ask questions about why she allowed the lie about Meghan making her cry to stand for years without correcting it or why, if she’s so passionate about mental health issues, she never offered support for her SIL or how did 2 of charities she’s patron of close down or reduce services due to lack of funding? We saw how easily Kate is rattled by press questions when asked during a visit with Dr. Biden if she had seen Lili yet, total deer-in-the-headlights moment, so could you imagine what would happen if the press asked her a serious question about what she’s done or not done?
Exactly. What was the point to the visit? We should never forget the Holocaust, and now that those survivors who were children at the time are quite old, it’s important to hear and document their stories–but what else? Why was Kate there? Why Kate?
Is it possible for her to give a little speech/statement and not take questions? Lots of people do that sort of “I want to really quickly tell you about what I did here and why but I’m also super busy so I’m going to be basically getting into my car as I’m finishing my last sentence” thing. It doesn’t need to be a traditional press conference, more like a short statement. Or even just release a statement to the press that has actual Kate quotes about why this is important and what she thinks she/we need to do next.
I’m also pretty sure that the UK press, who write about her like she’s a literal angel, aren’t going to ask what the RF would think of as “impertinent” questions. It was an American reporter who asked if she had seen Lili, and that question was only as shady as each listener interpreted it to be, and yet the British press held their breath and acted like it was the bravest thing in the world to even acknowledge in front of kate that a baby had been born to Harry and Meghan, so I don’t see them asking her hard questions. That’s not the angle they’re going for. And with the strangle hold contract thing that the royals have on the press, they can very easily make it be known that IF questions are even allowed, they must be light and easy questions about this particular engagement, otherwise they risk all access next time.
You can see how relaxed and engaged she is. Even her big smile actually looks genuine and warm as opposed to the overly fake hyena laugh she often has.
She’s been working with Holocaust Survivors for a few years now (I remember she took pictures of them in the past) so I think Kate has a genuine interest in this. And as @A said above, if the people she visited liked that she came to visit and felt she listened, that’s a good thing and should be acknowledged. That being said, I agree that this won’t go any deeper than “meet and greet” because Kate just lacks the depth.
I think it’s a stretch to say she’s been “working” with Holocaust survivors. She took pictures of them a while back and got a lot of praise for it so one of her staff got her to meet with them a second time and talk with them a little because meeting with Holocaust survivors is not an engagement that anyone will criticize. This also seems part of an ITV special so Kate will get further promotion for this short visit later on.
I give her these little crumbs because the bar is basically in hell when it comes to her engagements. And even if it’s all for her own self promotion, at least the people she’s visiting feel like they got something and that’s perfectly fine for a royal engagement.
@Sofia I’d say the bar slipped below hell this past weekend when she was praised for *attending her own brother’s wedding.”
She has to be more engaged with adults because unlike children they are capable of holding a conversation and asking questions. It’s easier to phone it in with kids
Also it’s hilarious how she doubled her hair extensions since her last appearance. I think Meghan’s Time cover “inspired” Kate.
I visited Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt when I was in Poland. The country has done its best to preserve the area and camps. To say it hurt my soul to walk through a actual gas chamber and the process is an understatement. There is an entire room with the personal effects of the victims.
It was quite a humbling experience.
Good on Kate for doing this visit right.
I think that instead of counting her buttons, now I’m going to count how many of her appearances include that splayed-claw hand “look how engaged I am, take my photo NOW!” gesture.
I guarantee that if she’s having to do her “listening Duchess” or “conversation Duchess” bit, there WILL be a photo of those hands, typically accompanied by a smile/expression with lots of underbite, for some reason. Every. Single. Time.
I’m reminded of my grandmother who was evacuated with her siblings from Vienna to London. They lived with various families in the two years it took to get visas to the US, which is how my father was born in New York and I now exist.
But what about her tolerance for her black pregnant sister in law? I am sorry Kate and kind are not two words that should ever go together
Contrary to popular opinion on this site, I think Kate does the job (lol) pretty well these days. She used Meghan as the blueprint to improve her approach to projects, social media, and clothing, but is keeping it safe and doing only what’s asked. As people said upthread, she’s clearly meeting expectations. Otherwise, I don’t think she’d get away with a 2 month vacay.
I agree with you in the sense that the bar is low and she meets it. I got slammed the other day for saying realistically her most important job was to produce two healthy heirs and she did that in the form of beautiful children who by all accounts are as physically and cognitively healthy as any heir has ever been, and we have reason to believe these kids may just be some of the most emotionally healthy the RF has ever produced. Whatever we think of this archaic standard of womanhood, that was her job and she’s excelled at it. And she seems to be finding her footing with public service. A decade in sure and spurred on by Meghan’s existence but again the bar is really low.
I disagree. I think the Cambridge children have been put “out there” to the media too much. ORiginally, William and Kate wanted to give them privacy. But since Harry and Meghan left, they bring out the children a lot. George for instance did not look happy being the center of attention at the World Cup, with cameras following his every move and looked a bit uncomfortable wearing the suit. The QUeen and Philip’s children were cute and well behaved but look how they turned out (three out of four divorced and there are the scandals…). Diana and Charles were praised for their “modern” upbringing of Will and Harry. But there were problems stemming from William being treated more “special” by some than Harry. Lots of tensions. Kate was expected to work. Her predecessors even those from way back when had families and managed to give back. Kate has plenty of help also. I am not so sure she has “found her footing.” This has gone on for years, she goes out for a few appearances, then disappears. I am not holding out much hope for her working hard. This pattern has gone on since she did not work full time all those years before she got married. Kate may have met “royal” expectations for taking long vacations. But that is not relatable to women today who work very hard, save money with their partners/husbands for their children’s education and care, and for their trouble may be lucky to get one month off. I think Kate is an anachronism.
I feel like every time I try to make this point, I do it badly. I don’t think Kate is worthy of any praise at all. My mom worked full time, managed the house, and paid the bills (she was bitter and verbally abusive, but she did all that just as many many women do). But if Kate had not produced healthy children, she would not have met the standard set for her. She did produce healthy children, and thus has met the standard. Can you imagine the quality of her existence had she not had a healthy womb and successful pregnancies?
What would be the parameters of healthy children? I think it also depends on how they turn out. The Queen and Philip’s children got the best of everything and care. But when they grew up, they did not stay “healthy” in the sense that they did wrong (not all but at least two of them). Kate’s and William’s children are cute but how will they turn out? Will George have a bad attitude toward the spares? Time will tell. In this day and age there is a much better likelihood of safe births than there was in the late 1800s when there was more infant mortality. Diana at age 20 was expected to do it all, have the healthy heirs and do work. Even Queen Alexandra who had many children was expected to do charity work. The rules seems to have been adjusted to suit Kate by the royals. Or maybe to suit William who does not have a great work ethic himself and delayed doing royal duties full time.
@BettyRose I don’t think you’re making your point badly at all…I totally understand what you’re saying and I agree. That’s just what it boils down to in that family, the ability to produce heirs. I remember some discussion about whether or not she was made to go see a fertility doctor before they got engaged to make sure everything seemed to be…in working order. It seems gross, but they need heirs to survive.
I am in no way suggesting that her performance is even adequate; the amount of “work” she’s done in ten years is shameful. But she gave them their heirs, which to them was her most crucial duty.
Sure, I’ll agree – it’s a good thing to bring some cheer into people’s lives and to listen to their stories. And I think her talents, interests and intelligence don’t go much further than this, so she should do what she can do.
As for our expectations – I guess it depends on what exactly is her job description. It seems she’s meeting the RF’s expectations, she’s had the children, she hasn’t fallen totally flat on her face and there’s nothing wrong with copying Meghan (as long as the actual Meghan isn’t infesting Britain and showing her up). It doesn’t even seem like the British public want anything more from her. Maybe it’s the press – but they seem to want quantity over quality, so they have more photos to print – Holocaust, boat rides, Early Years, tennis matches – they’re all the same thing. As long as she’s out there, they’ll call it work and throw in some praise to make things more interesting.
I don’t think she’s especially meeting the royal family’s expectations. I think if she were, Anne wouldn’t still be doing 500 engagements a year. I’m sure the Gloucesters would like to retire at this point but can’t bc the Cambridges wont step up. Just because the Queen isn’t slamming Kate publicly for her lack of work doesn’t mean she’s meeting expectations.
Remember the time they cornered her at the christmas part and made her take over one of Phillip’s charities lol. Remember how Phillip wanted to retire when will and kate got married and couldnt bc they werent working?
The royal family doesnt really care about huge projects or whatever. They need to be seen, and Kate hiding out for months on end isn’t accomplishing that. What I think is smart on Kate’s part is that she has convinced many people that she is doing her job and that she’s doing exactly what the royal family wants.
@Becks1 – The thing is that there don’t seem to be any consequences for her refusal to work. Philip can’t retire because of W&K’s laziness and the Queen says “OK”? Anne and the Gloucesters are going to drop in their traces and that’s OK? Andrew’s patronages have no patron and that’s OK? Kate’s been handed a patronage here and there, but she’s still taking the summer off. For some reason they’re letting Kate get away with lazing about – and that might as well be called “meeting expectations.” Maybe it’s Charles who’s covering for her, maybe it’s William, maybe Kate’s got the goods on William and has said, “leave me alone or I’ll tell all.” I don’t know, but if the RF really wanted her to do more, she’d be doing more.
IMO, it all traces back to William. Kate may have been the last one standing re: marriage, but I’ve always believed she was totally on board with Will’s obvious, and pretty much stated, plan to cut way way back on the amount of work historically done by a person in his position, and that was one reason she was acceptable. She wasn’t going to push, challenge, or disrupt his life plan in any way (including accepting his cheating), because she was just as lazy and self-interested as he is (though her interest was elevating herself to the position/power/lifestyle).
And the RF didn’t (and still doesn’t) want to tackle dealing with Will and getting him to work, for several reasons (e.g., guilt over his mother’s early death), but in large part, because he’s become a throughly unpleasant person. They should have done that years ago, made it clear what was expected of him and made that stick. One thing they obviously thought was, good old Harry would do the work the FFK should be doing – so they stuck their collective heads in the sand, happy to avoid making the hard decision about dealing with Will. Oops.
Now he’s 40, and for the last several years, Will has been surrounded by a group of his own equally unpleasant sycophants (e.g., Poor Jason), some with their own agendas, capable of playing political hardball in opposition to the other palaces. Good luck getting him to do anything he doesn’t choose to do.
In other words, Kate has been meeting Will’s expectations, at least up to now, and since no one in the RF has wanted to recalibrate what’s expected of Will, that’s all she’s really had to do. There is no possible way this is really acceptable for the RF, for the reasons described above. But I see no way this will change. Kate isn’t going to suddenly discover an interest or passion outside the current trifecta of herself/children/mother’s family, and at this late date, isn’t going to put in the effort to improve her public speaking, interactions, etc.
She had a good day here, where she didn’t embarrass herself, and possibly gave some pleasure to a group of other people who hopefully enjoyed seeing her. Nothing else will come of it in terms of any future work; in fact, she’s probably already forgotten about the event.
@Eurydice I do think they’re trying to get her to do more. That’s why she’s finally getting some of the orders that other married-ins got way earlier (I think that’s a way of saying “no we do really like you, you’re doing great, keep it up!”) and we joke about things like how she needs bribes with new clothes and new jewelry to work….I don’t think that’s the joke we all think it is.
I think there is probably a lot more pressure behind the scenes than we realize, that’s why we saw the scrambling over the Early Years (bc they realized Meghan was actually going to work so they had to give Kate “something”), that’s why we see some of these projects promoted to death on the KP instagram – it gives the illusion that Kate is a lot busier than she is.
But I do think the royal family appreciates that thus far, she has not really made any significant waves and after the first attempts to have Christmas separate (which was really the only thing I can think of where Kate made a very public move AWAY from the royal family), she’s pretty much fallen in line – she’ll wear the coatdress and hats and do the christmas walk and smile on the balcony etc and most importantly, she will not kick up a fuss when her husband sleeps around.
So its probably a balancing act for the queen and charles – Kate should be working more, but also, she doesn’t rock the boat and she lets William do what he wants, and they don’t want to change that.
Also, William probably protects her from having to do anything she doesnt want to do in terms of work, since he’s the same way.
@windyriver I think you have hit the nail on the head. She is meeting William’s expectations, not the royal family, but the royal family for whatever reason is completely under William’s thumb and no one ever calls him out, so while the queen or charles may roll their eyes at Kate, William was happy enough with her laziness, lack of work ethic, etc – and that was what mattered for Kate.
Is he still? time will tell.
@windyriver I agree with you 100%. William is the standard she meets and he’s lazy himself so as long as he’s not annoyed with her low work effort then she’s fine. Besides her low numbers are always less than his so he never looks like the laziest one when she is around.
But how would she not get away with a two-month vacay? What would be the consequences for doing a poor job? How could they keep her from vacationing? Hold onto her passport, like they did with Meghan? As others have stated, she can’t be fired from her job. She can be divorced, but she’ll always be the mother of the heir-to-be.
IF William divorces and remarries, the second wife would be the one getting the attention.
It’s not that people here are wrongly mean to Kate. Kate deliberately lied about her sil. Kate gets her family to put out hit pieces on Meghan on the reg (her mother, her uncle). Plus KP also deliberately puts out hit pieces on Meghan (bullying). Kate deliberately snubbed her sil and her bil. Kate also gets paid millions for this ‘job’. If you think going out a couple of days a week and doing an hour or so work each time is fine, then good for you. The only reason she gets away with it is because the media have Meghan and Harry to hate and they need a hero, like any good story. All I’ve read here is people holding Kate accountable, unlike pretty much anyone else. Kate wears clothes once and puts them away. If she wears something twice it is praised. If I were a taxpayer, paying for her in her massive country house and her 22 room apartment, I’d be pissed. She’s been the laziest member of the royal family in forever.
For once I have absolutely nothing snarky to say about one of Kate’s engagements!
Everything about this just seems nice and it’s great to get stories like Arek’s out there as much as possible. Especially to readers of People magazine who might not be exposed to it if not for events like this one. And Kate seems to have made them happy. It’s very refreshing to be able to praise a Kate engagement for going so well. It’s such a foreign feeling!
(When I initially saw the headline, my first reaction was sort of, “oh Kate, you sweet, beautiful idiot” but then I read the article, lol.)
I think she’s done a great job if the Windmere group felt she was really engaged & asking the right questions.
However the monarchy are huge symbols for right wing nationalism & that’s why so many MAGA types latched onto the royal family when Meghan joined & when it was made clear they had rejected her. A lot of new Kate fans aren’t royal fans at all- just white supremacists who show up when a poc enters an elevated previously all white space. That’s why they barely engage with what Kate or William do& are hyper focused on Meghan.
The royal family didn’t show much tolerance to Meghan& none of them condemned the racism Meghan or the kids faced (and still do). They work with bigoted tabloids like the Fail& Kate happily played up to racist tropes with the tears story. Their role is supporting racism & prejudice certainly not anti racism & tolerance.
She did ok with the visit with the Holocaust survivors. I might be petty, but if going by boat, pull your hair into a ponytail and stop with fiddling with it. This is a pet peeve of mine with her. Either she didn’t plan well or didn’t care. Also, if she really cared, she would do private follow-up visits with these wonderful people and really get to know them. What a gift that would be to her and to them. She truly might learn something.
I was also peeved that she traveled by helicopter. There must be another way.
I’m amazed at how little it takes to wash away Kate’s racism towards Meghan with the whole “the mean black woman made a delicate white woman cry” trope.
The bar is in hell.
She did not tolerate Meghan at that service just glared at Meghan and Harry.
@Haylie, I don’t think it’s been washed away— it certainly hasn’t been for me. It’s just that she barely does anything and when she does, she does it so poorly, so today was an aberration and we’re all kind of surprised. The tone of most of the comments seems to be (imo), what @Nic919 said in an earlier comment — she wasn’t an asshole to Holocaust survivors. But *for her* it was a successful day.
I think the only reason I cut her so much slack is because the people she spoke with today really did seem genuinely happy with how it went, and that’s what mattered. The way that Kate treated Meghan will NEVER be washed away, at least not for most of us here. It seems like she’s getting a ton of praise but if the bar is “not being an asshole to Holocaust survivors” — she’s being damned by faint praise. At best.
Right wing nationalists won’t believe it even they hear it directly from survivors if the holocaust. Too sad.
Didn’t Kate’s brother sell Nazi themed party stuff at one time?
He did! But she’s not her brother’s keeper.
She is, in the sense that the palace protects the misdoings of all the Middletons because of her. There’s a reason that story never gained the traction it should have.
Kate’s face is front and center in all pic’s but one. That tells me the whole thing is to get pic’s of her looking engaged. It’s a nice bonus the folks had a nice time and liked her but this is still a photo shoot for Kate. It would be nice if the people telling their stories were the focus of all of the photos.
That was exactly my impression.
You know what, I’m no fan but I’m glad the people there felt she was truly engaged and cared, because you can’t phone it in when you meet people who’ve been through what they went through. No shade here
I agree 100% She seemed to enjoy herself as did those she met with. I’m not going to hate on her.
I think she’d be more credible had she treated Meghan better. she did not even “tolerate” how the wedding attendants were dressed and would not deny the crying story..
Considering the family she married into is actually German (at least on her father’s side). I remember the documentary on PBS that said QE’s either grandfather or great grandfather changed their German last name. Some news site was actually reporting on this, how the UK worships their German Royal Family.