Last week, I wrote a somewhat positive story about the Duchess of Cambridge. Which just shows you that I sometimes fall into the keen trap too, the trap of infantilizing Kate and getting excited when she does one interesting thing. Last week, she did an event with survivors of the Holocaust, and I wrote about how this probably would have been a better “issue” for Kate in general. I thought about my general positivity towards Kate on this one thing afterwards and then I was like “wait, was it this year that Kate exploited a murder victim?” It was. It was just six months ago when Kate made Sarah Everard’s murder all about how Keen Kate Cares About Women. Kate posed maskless in a crowded vigil for Everard and even brought her own videographer, and Kensington Palace issued a statement about how Kate “remembers what [it] was like to walk around London at night before she was married.”
Kate made sure to center herself in the story of a woman who was murdered by a cop. Kate exploited Everard and the tragedy of her death so that Kate could get good press. For weeks, Kate made “she went to the vigil” a centerpiece of her press strategy. It was revolting. And guess who’s at it again?
Kate Middleton shared that she is “saddened” by the murder of 28-year-old London primary school teacher Sabina Nessa. In a personal tweet on Kate and Prince William’s shared Twitter account, noted by the “C” for Catherine at the end, the royal mom of three said, “I am saddened by the loss of another innocent young woman on our streets. My thoughts are with Sabina’s family and friends, and all those who have been affected by this tragic event.”
Last week, Nessa left her south London home to make the five-minute walk to her local pub when she was murdered, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement Thursday. Authorities believe Nessa was murdered while walking through a park in the city’s Greenwich borough toward the pub, where she was meeting a friend. The teacher’s body was found near a community center within the park the next evening.
“Sabina’s journey should have taken just over five minutes but she never made it to her destination,” Detective Inspector Joe Garrity said in a press release Thursday. “We know the community are rightly shocked by this murder — as are we — and we are using every resource available to us to find the individual responsible.”
Two unnamed men have been arrested in connection with Nessa’s murder, according to the Metro Police. The department also released images pulled from CCTV of another man investigators would like to speak with, requesting the public’s help in identifying him.
It feels like Kate is trying to recycle the same media strategy with only a few minor tweaks. Obviously, she can’t go to the vigil and bring her own videographer this time, right? The Sun’s Matt Wilkinson reports that “Kate is not expected to visit the vigil for Sabina Nessa but flowers will be left on her behalf, it is understood.” So Kate will get credit for “being compassionate” without actually having to set up a photo-op at a murder victim’s vigil. Plus, it comes across as a racist dog-whistle – Nessa was a Muslim woman and a woman of color. Obviously, Kate would not attend her vigil or expend the same kind of energy as she did for Everard.
I wonder if Kensington Palace will conveniently leak that Kate sent a letter of condolence to the family, which is exactly what happened with Sarah Everard. Everard’s family didn’t tell the press about Kate’s letter – KP told the press about the letter.
I am saddened by the loss of another innocent young woman on our streets. My thoughts are with Sabina’s family and friends, and all those who have been affected by this tragic event. C
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 24, 2021
Kate is not expected to visit the vigil for Sabina Nessa but flowers will be left on her behalf, it is understood. Sources close to the duchess have previously said "Like many women today she remembers what it is like to walk alone in London" https://t.co/hLWiI92pPg
— Matt Wilkinson (@MattSunRoyal) September 24, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
The Royal Family and the Tory government will do ANYTHING to deflect the shambles of what is going on at the moment in the UK. They are absolutely shameless. This tweet is he Beitish equivalent of “Thoughts and Prayers” in the US.
*Double post!
This is the one vigil she should have gone to. As usual, they always get it wrong. We know they don’t care especially for people of colour. This looks so bad on them.
Like Jane said in the post, if she had gone, she’d still look disingenuous for attending because she doesn’t do the work to follow up on her message. We already know they don’t care about anyone but themselves.
No I disagree. Sarah Everard’s memorial became about Kate attending, not about the fact that police clashed with attendees to get them to disperse due to so-called fear of spreading covid (never mind that in all pictures I saw people were wearing masks EXCEPT for Kate). If I had been part of Everard’s family, I would have been so POEd at a member of the royal family using my loved one’s murder for positive press. She doesn’t need to insert herself into Sabina Nessa’s tragedy. It’s been getting a lot of coverage online and I hope the people responsible are brought to justice.
Now if Meghan commented as a POC, that would make way more sense.
It does. In addition to looking awful for having to publicly declare that Kate sent a letter to the Sarah’s family. They didn’t publicly acknowledge it, so Kate made certain that everyone knew. How disrespectful!!
Kate already inserted herself by sending the tweet though. Or getting her staffer to do it. She shouldn’t have sent the tweet this time. Maybe send a letter to the family directly without notifying the media. But her tweet was done to try to show to the public that she does care about WOC being murdered too, just not enough to do more than have a tweet sent out.
While I don’t think Kate does nearly enough work of any substance, I think this is a situation where she’s damned either way. If she said nothing, she’d be racist for caring about the white girl and not the WOC. If she does, she’s inserting herself where she’s not welcome and exploiting a woman’s death. If she visits, she’s making it all about her and if she doesn’t, she’s back to being racist.
@GraceB — that’s just the price Kate pays for her first stupid stunt at the Everard vigil. Now she’s boxed herself into a corner. Sure she’ll be judged one way or the other for how she acts NOW, but that’s the natural consequence of her publicity stunts.
The Royal Family and the Tory government will do ANYTHING to deflect the shambles of what is going on at the moment in the UK. They are absolutely shameless. This tweet is he British equivalent of “Thoughts and Prayers” in the US.
To be fair (I know!), 1) there has already been a ton of negative press about how Sabina Nessa’s murder initially received less attention than Sarah Everard’s because she was a Muslim woman of colour. If Kate hadn’t acknowledged it at all, she’d have been criticised for being racist and Islamophobic. And 2) she also got criticised for attending the vigil, and drawing attention to herself, and for the police waiting until she left before brutalising the protesters, and the police refusing to contemplate prosecuting her for her attendance, and counting it as her work, so if she had attended the vigil for Sabina Nessa, she would have been criticised again. This is one of those occasions where there really isn’t a right way to go.
What she could have done, and could still do, is make women’s safety, domestic violence, stalking etc. one of her prominent causes. Yes, I know Camilla and Sophie have done stuff in this area, but they don’t command the same attention that Kate does. But I doubt she will because she just doesn’t have the substance to take on such a weighty, complex, and, yes, political issue.
Agree. She’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t because she’s such a lightweight when it comes to these causes. If she was genuine, she’d follow up her call to action with actual action.
Damned if does, damned if she doesn’t by who? I don’t think anybody would care if Kate never said anything about Sabina. Nobody over there seems to care what the hell Kate does or doesn’t do. She probably would’ve been praised for quietly “supporting” Sabina’s family behind the scenes out of fear of overshadowing the victim or some such nonsense. Kate always gets a pass.
Kate created this situation herself by showboating for the Everard murder so she set the precedent herself to personally attend the vigil. Besides it’s not like she didn’t have time to go.
The main issue last time on top of exploiting a murder victim was that any gathering of a large size was not allowed because of covid related restrictions. But there was nothing of the sort this time and so it would technically have been easier to go.
And it just looks really awful that she decides to skip the vigil for the Muslim woman. Bad optics all around.
Kate wouldn’t even have to go so far as to actually embrace a cause, which would require continuous work. She could make a donation through her foundation to some organization that focuses on violence against women. Make the donation and let the charity announce it, not the KP press team.
@ JT, when has Kate EVEN been scrutinized by the RR or anyone for that matter? KKKeen has always done what she has wanted and has even been described as never having for put forth a wrong foot, ever!! I don’t know what fairytale you have been reading, but your statement only rings true for Meghan, never Kate!!
She should go to the vigil,this does not look good to go to one and not the other due to the obvious. This time she should be more low key and wear a mask.
I agree. The pandemic isn’t terribly bad in the UK anymore (and hopefully Kate will wear a mask this time!) and the police likely won’t engage in the same behavior they displayed at Sarah Everard’s vigil. So I think Kate should go to this vigil to demonstrate that she’s truly committed to fighting violence against women and that she doesn’t value a white woman’s life over a brown woman’s life. Maybe she shouldn’t bring a photog this time, though.
@Ari remember the uproar made by the BM when Harry and Meghan were photographed laying a wreath a few months ago? They were attacked for bringing a photographer. (And I have to be honest, I didn’t think bringing a photographer to a cemetery was great, either.)
But when Kate went to Sarah’s vigil, they went out of their way to make it look like “oh wow! this employee of a tabloid just happened to be there at the same time, right at the same place as Kate! What a coincidence!” and of course her stans fell for it.
@ Ari, I agree. She should show that she cares about ALL women that are victims of murderers. She should go, no photographer though, and stand there silently, off to the side without bringing attention to herself, with a full adult mask, not one of Charlottes!! She could use this opportunity to show support for WOC, but she won’t because she is clearly as racist as the rest of the Royal family!!
@ Ari, I agree that Kate should attend this vigil. Kate could show that she stands for ALL women of Britain and support all women that are victims of men. But, Kate should appear wearing a mask, adult size, with no photographers and stand to the side and try to mesh with the rest of the mourners. Kate should specifically attend this vigil to tell people that she stands with WOC as well. But she lost out on this vigil and it looks bad for her.
@Lorelai. That’s not the same. H&M’s photographer was to take a picture for rememberance day. And they didn’t pretend that it was some “rando” taking the picture and posting. It was pretty clear what it was for and their picture hurt no one. They were not in a crowd of people.
Kate brought a photog and lied about bringing one. And she brought it to a murdered woman’s memorial where she alone was not arrested or brutalized by the police which is what they did to women afterwards. Did not wear a mask in a crowd of people. The difference is stark.
If she goes she’s pulling focus from the victim and turning yet another tragedy into a spectacle for (conservative) politics. And if she doesn’t she’s clearly showing that she cares more about a white woman’s death than any other woman’s death. She’s in this position because she has not spent any serious time working or learning about the issues at hand. She can go or not go, it makes no difference to anything but her own image.
She really should have had a presence at this, the woman is a total eejit. This happened in my neighbourhood and the community are devastated. To make a show of attending Sarah Everand’s vigil during lockdown and then send a tweet when it’s a WOC is disgusting.
My heart goes out to the families of the ones who have been lost.
As far as “C” goes – I do not like the fact she signs her name with a letter. It just gives off a vibe where we all should know who she is – no, no, no. Sign your name for the love of God. Lord knows how many times we have read she goes by CATHERINE. More importantly, It’s in very poor taste to compare yourself to the ones lost – especially a Duchess who also lived a life she did PRE Sapphire ring. But the masses eat this up.
This is commonplace amongst verified accounts. The Obamas, for example, used to sign off personal tweets with BO or MO.
I get it, I guess maybe because it’s Katey Keen that I find it annoying. The Obamas at least use their initials. Plus, I feel it’s blasphemy to even put the Obamas and the FFK and FFQC in the same kind of example.
This woman really disgusts me. All she cares about is herself
Yes. What a role model🙄
Probably nitpicky but why did they need to include ‘innocent’ as a descriptor? would it not have been sad enough if just a woman had been murdered!?
Not nitpicky, that’s exactly right. Taps into some very problematic rhetoric with regard
To male on female violence.
+1. It’s good that you pointed that out. It can be so insidious.
Ok glad it wasn’t just me who was uncomfortable with that choice of wording. So unnecessary and has an undertone of ‘she didn’t even do anything to deserve it this time!’. Gross.
@CherHorowitz not just you. If the victim had been an addict or a sex worker, we would not be having this conversation because we never even would have known it had happened.
Thank you. It’s gross to qualify victims this way.
Yuck.
Her grandstanding is so gross. F that faux concern. As for the vigil, she’ll go to the white girl’s vigil, but not the brown girl’s? Even worse.
But they are very much not a racist family!
This is the extent of what Kate will do for a cause–report her “concern” and have her photo taken. No actual work, no real action taken to provide concrete assistance. Just a note, written by someone vaguely coherent, signed by Kate and then released to the public. So cold. So empty.
Agree. The bar is at the floor with her.
Exactly. This is Kate “working.” She’s probably going to list the tweet as an engagement on the court circular.
@Becks, if she gets credit for a day of work by making this statement, it would be so egregious I…cannot. It’s so wrong there are no words for it.
Is this going to be her new “thing?” She’s sooooooo compassionate that it affects her so much she needs to make a statement every time this happens? She clearly had no problem making it look like she was walking the runway at Philip’s funeral.
For weeks now, the US media has been positively saturated with coverage of a very pretty young white woman who was murdered by her boyfriend, and there’s also been a lot of criticism of how much coverage it’s been getting, while hundreds of POC are missing or killed and we don’t hear a peep from the media. It’s so prevalent it has a name, ffs, “Missing White Woman Syndrome.” It’s gross but this is how it’s always been and the change needs to come from the media. But they make so much $ from all of the ratings/clicks/etc. when something like this happens, so I doubt they’ll change it anytime soon.
If a woman who’s pretty, “feminine” enough (not my words!), affluent enough (the “right” kind of white woman, again not my words! If this had been a sex worker, we never would have heard about it), and most of all white, they will get tons of attention and end up being a household name like Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway, and in the UK, Milly Dowler and Sarah Everard. I cannot name a single POC who was a crime victim off the top of my head. Not one. And I’m one of those people who listens to true crime podcasts and stuff like that.
Sorry, I went off on a tangent there but I think it is relevant to the story. Kate never would have made this statement if she *hadn’t* publicly “mourned” Sarah Everard, but she did, so now she had to comment on this one in order to appear very much not racist.
It’s gross for her to keep doing this and it needs to stop. I would lose my fcking MIND if one of my loved ones was murdered and the headlines all became about how sad Kate was about it, instead of the investigation to find the perpetrator.
Too late to edit my post but I remember there is one that I can name— Elisa Lam. BUT that was 100% only because there were so many mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance, and people love dissecting that kind of thing.
That’s if she even signed it. Anyone can type the letter C. I just did it now
It’s likely a staff member sent the tweet and all she did was ok the tweet to be sent. She was probably really tired from playing tennis that day.
Is that what Waity did for all those years waiting for a proposal? Walk around London at night?
No, because when she wet out she either had royal protection officers through William or paparazzi after her because Carole was calling them to take pics of her and Pippa. She wasn’t like Diana, who shared a flat with three other women in Earl’s Court — Kate has never really worked nor had to worry about walking anywhere!
Kate actually got taxpayer security BEFORE the engagement! Supposedly because she was always photographed by the paparazzi who always knew where she were. Her picture was regularly in the tabloids during the dating years. Not just pics of her with William but several of her out and about during the day.
Kate got her own RPOs prior to the engagement but that was kept hidden until a few years after the wedding.
Kate got taxpayer funded security before her marriage to William but the royals said there wasn’t enough money to fund Meghan? Hm, sounds about white.
Funny how there’s money for that but NO BUDGET to protect Sussexes.
I’m sorry, what now? Kate got RPOs before she was even married? But Meghan, who was *actually* married into the family, and attacked daily for years, including during two pregnancies, was thrown to the wolves by the family, who even HELPED by leaking to people like Wooten? And they weren’t afraid of how hypocritical this would appear? Unfckingbelievable
It seems to me this was an afterthought for KP. As if they said “What can Keen Cathy of Cambridge do to grab the headlines from the Sussex’s? Ah yes, the murdered girl.”…only problem is getting her back from London for the “witnessed” family lunch where William will tuck away a sandwich and one of the kids will need consoling because the food will be to hot.
The performative allyship no longer works.
This is when keeness puts Kate in a trap. She was wrong to use Sarah Everard’s death for PR. I saw Kate stans trying to explain the difference in response to Sabrina’s death. They said that Kate lives an hour away from where the vigil was being held and that’s why she couldn’t go to it.
Another thing Kate’s visits with holocaust survivors is nothing but WWII nostalgia which plays well with the British establishment and a certain segment of the public.
@AmyBee did they mention why exactly the hour of travel made it impossible for her to attend? Because it’s not as if Kate’s schedule is so packed with job commitments that she couldn’t spare the time. Especially if she took the freaking helicopter, as usual.
Jesus Christ, the people who are such staunch “royalists” that they defend the BRF no matter how repugnant their behavior is are loathsome. There are a ton of Andrew defenders on Twitter, too. In their eyes, the members of that family can do no wrong. Except Meghan and Harry whose crime was falling in love and getting married.
(I’m not saying I think she should start attending them regularly! But that is such a BS excuse, like the time she missed an event because she “couldn’t find a babysitter.” 🙄)
When royals travel for engagements they can literally get the roads cleared for them with tons of police presence so that they didn’t end up stuck in traffic. So traffic isn’t an issue for them.
@Nic this is about as believable an excuse as the time she had to miss an event because she “couldn’t find a babysitter” — an excuse just so impossible that it’s insulting to both the people at whatever engagement she’s missing AND to the public, who they think are dim enough to believe it.
@Lorelai that ‘can’t find a babysitter’ one is so bad. We all know she has multiple full time nannies. She doesn’t need a babysitter!
Amy Bee, WW2 nostalgia are you serious? Those Holocaust survivors went thru absolute HELL!!!!!
They did, but that’s not why the royals focused on them.
Do you think that family of Nazi sympathizers actually cares? lol no
I don’t care for Kate Middleton but I feel like this is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation?
Lots of people have tweeted /attended vigils for both Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa to pay their respects, maybe the annoying this here are all the media stories to say that she tweeted rather than the tweet itself. I don’t know if outlets pick that up themselves or if they’re prompted to.
Except that this sounds like Kate tweeted about it after people started talking about the difference in coverage and how much silent people were, the lack of a similar outcry.
Has she ever cared about or commented about any women of color who have been murdered?
Kate had say something or else look like she didn’t care about the murder of a woman of color. She probably should not have gone to Sarah Everard’s vigil because it sets a precedent. But what if Kate started showing up at the vigil of every murdered woman and behind the scene ask how the investigation is going would that put a fire under the MET police to do more to ensure the safety of women? This way she circumvents the notion that she’s being political but still show support.
@Athena I had that same thought—if she starts going to every vigil like this because she’s just SOOO compassionate, that would be a nightmare. Kate stans would start camping out (don’t laugh, they do exist! She must have…tens of fans) at all of them in the hopes that Kate will show up, and that idea is so beyond offensive I cannot even think about it.
It’s sad how low she would sink for praise and attention at the expense of a poor woman’s death. Shameful
Action speaks louder than words Kate. You need to take a public stand — promote and work with organizations and non-profits to fund women’s violence prevention programs, sexual assault prevention programs, women’s shelter support and much more. Get with the program instead of having your secretary write a trite message of sympathy.
Who told her about this murder? Only asking because she has shown time and time again that reading is not fundamental.
The whole lot of them suck.
I honestly don’t think she even knows. if you mention the woman’s name, Kate will just give you a blank face. It’s just her social media manager trying to cover.
Now THAT makes sense.
Talk about a waste of air and space–the entire family with the exception of the ex-royals.
Performative to a point. She could risk gathering for Sarah Everard’s memorial, but won’t go to the legally sanctioned one for Sabina Nessa. Sounds about right for Kate.
I won’t forgive kate for her pr stunt at Sarah’s vigil, it was a new low even for her. Everything kate does is performative and about herself. And the fact she had the audacity to then sanction the keen Guevara piece after the protests at the vigil was even more disgusting. Women were being beaten by police, whilst keen had already left after bagging her photo. They were the ones fighting for women, and were punished, whilst keen was there for herself and walked off with all the praise.
Also Kate needs to read the room, claiming she knows what it’s like for women alone at night, because She USED to walk the streets 10 years ago is so tone deaf, she had police protection ffs.
Rest in peace Sabina and Sarah. X
@FebruaryPisces, I’m pretty sure that Sarah’s vigil was the same month as Philip’s funeral (?) and she had no problem bringing along her own personal photographer for that, too. She is as dim and offensive as her staff is incompetent.
TBH I think Kate only got the idea to go to Sarah’s vigil in the first place because she saw that Meghan had left flowers for the woman who was murdered while she was on tour in South Africa.
AFAIK she never publicly “mourned” anyone ever, before Sarah, who was killed after the Sussexes’ tour.
Nope. There’s no dammed of you do or do situation here. I bet the royals leave their residences for private reasons all the time and it is possible for them to go unnoticed. Can’t tell me they’re cooped up until we see their next picture or hear about their next outing. It is very possible for her to attend this vigil and offer her condolences privately to immediate family and leave without causing waves. It is. Anything else is just attention seeking
Welp, it’s ironic that Kate, the very person who broke a hundred-something years of royal tradition by refusing to give out the shamrocks that one year because she didn’t want anyone to develop “expectations” that she would do it every year, is now in the position of having to acknowledge *every* woman’s tragic death, because she set those expectations herself by going to Sarah’s vigil.
She only went to Sarah’s vigil for the publicity and it ended up biting her in the ass. A shred of karma, I guess.
double comment, sorry!
This thread … not a trace of irony 😎