Remember this time last year? The vaccine wasn’t widely available, Covid cases were spiking throughout America, the UK and Europe and at that moment, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge decided to spread maskless holiday cheer on their Covid Choo Choo Tour across the UK. Good times. I was thinking about that because… I honestly expected to see more of them this month. I find it suspicious that Will and Kate have not done many events to bulk up their paltry 2021 event numbers. Part of me wonders if one of them might have Omicron.
Anyway, Kate obviously wants a lot of credit for “organizing” Royal Carols: Together At Christmas, which airs on ITV on Christmas Eve. This junk got thrown together at the last minute, but here we are. Instead of giving a speech at the event, Kate apparently showed up ahead of the event in a $1800 cardigan and a bad wig and decided to do a photoshoot. The Kensington Palace social media released these photos on Wednesday, they show Kate touching a wreath and pretending to tie bows on a Christmas tree, all at Westminster Abbey. She posted this message with the photos:
I’m so excited to be hosting Together at Christmas here at Westminster Abbey, a place that’s really special to William and me.
We wanted to say a huge thank you to all those amazing people out there who have supported their communities. We also wanted to recognise those whose struggles perhaps have been less visible too.
Tune in to @ITV at 7:30pm on Christmas Eve to see this special event 🎄 #TogetherAtChristmas
Clearly, she’s trying to milk this so it counts as, like, ten events for her. One event was attending the show, one event was the message in the program, one event was the ITV “interview,” one event was fondling a wreath and playing with ribbons. She probably counts the “organizing” meetings as events too. No Covid Choo Choo Tour necessary to bulk up her numbers.
Update: she just posted a video too. That accent…
We’ve been through such a bleak time. We’ve seen so many challenges. We’ve lost our loved ones. We’ve seen our frontline workers under immense pressure. And also we’ve been more emotionally and socially distanced and isolated from each other. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/sQOsY2OVV6
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) December 23, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, ITV & Instagram.
For someone who didnt want all attention on her as Rebecca liar English claimed, she sure is doing so much PR for herself
Kate is reeeally feeling herself these days. It’s fascinating to watch.
Well, no one else wants to feel her, so I guess she is into self gratification!! 😳
@BothSidesNow, LMAO!!!! 😀 Btw, are you by any chance an Outlander fan?
This event was at least two weeks ago, and it’s still being played for Kate’s PR purposes. I don’t know if she is lazy or desperate (or possibly both)?
She hasn’t done anything else in the meantime, so . . . gotta get her money’s worth out of those wiglets.
Oh most definitely lazy. Thoroughly, desperately and totally lazy. I am astounded that the Kensington PR machine is spending tax payer money on this load of tripe. Better to send her and her family off to Mustique so we don;t have to endure all this. It is so painful to watch.
🙄🙄🙄
Vapid is the only word that comes to mind.
Exactly. And she seems to think people are so stupid as to believe she got there early and decorated the Abbey. Please. I don’t even know what that accent is. I’ve traveled in the UK. Spent a semester there in college. Never have heard anyone speak with Kate’s accent. Any of our UK friends have any insight? Is it just totally fake? Why do I picture her sounding like Eliza Doolittle in private? “Blimey, William! Pick up your bloomin’ drawers!”
I’m not sure what the issue is with her accent (although I’ve never heard her speak before she became Royal, or even Royal-adjacent, nor have I heard her speak in a truly off-the-cuff manner). I’m a Scot with a Masters in Linguistics and a couple of decades experience teaching English to international students *and* I grew up in St Andrews (I was overseas when the Cambridges were at uni there), so, for what it’s worth, to me her accent is:
a) totally intelligible. She’s speaking standard English in a fairly close approximation of what’s sometimes called RP (received pronunciation, which is essentially the accent of middle class south-east England, with no distinct regional variation)
b) but very careful – I’d like to hear how she sounds when she’s having a conversation after one of William’s g&ts
c) not very different from the upper-class English students who used to bellow to each other across Market Street when I was a kid (they were known in the 1980s as “Hooray Henrys”). However, she speaks far more softly – both in terms of volume am emphasis – than them
d) possibly odd-sounding to a lot of people because in addition to being very precise, she has absolutely no rhotic R. Almost all North American, Scottish and Irish accents have this – think New England or Boston for an American one without: “I paahked the caah outside the baah”. She wouldn’t have had that anyway, given where she’s from, but it’s really noticeable to me because I do have it.
If you want to hear a really odd upper-class accent, listen to some of the Queen’s broadcasts from the 1950s or 1960s. They make Kate sound like Jason Statham!
Relying to waitwhat? Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us, and explaining so well.
@ Waitwhat?, thank you!!! We ALL knew she was trying to pull the wool over our ears, but now your expertise has reinforced our suspicions!!
Thank you @ Waitwhat? !! You have given us an extremely special present this year!!
Chefs kiss
that’s her sister Pipa speaking I guess it’s safe to assume that how kate was speaking before marriage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM1FI9zppoo
@ Demi, thank you for sharing. She certainly speaks clearly and has the ability to speak with purpose and clarity. I am certain Keen spoke the same as well until 5+ years ago.
Waitwhat, how interesting and instructive. Thank you! I closed my eyes while I listened to Kant in the speech above. I understood about half of it. I always understand the born in royals when they speak, so I’m left wondering why she’s so hard to understand. I wish she would stop what she’s attempting to do and just speak with her regular voice.
Demi, okay, I understood Pip without any problem, so obviously their accent isn’t such that I would find difficult to understand.
Yep. I call shenanigans!
There’s no way she stayed there and actually WORKED.
Let’s keep in mind that anything said in that clip has been edited, including the sound. When kate speaks without aid of editing, the mumble mouth is way more obvious and she is not as comprehensible to those unused to the posh accent. You don’t notice this issue with either William or a Harry because their accent is natural to them. Kate never got comfortable with the new accent. If she returned to the manner in which Pippa speaks, she would sound fine. But she is class obsessed and so that’s why we have this awkwardness in her speech in any situation that is not carefully controlled.
I would be way more than shocked that anyone with experience in linguistics , especially in the UK, would think Kate’s accent is totally fine. That’s laughable. She cannot speak off-the-cuff because her accent is SO contrived and it’s the mouthful of marbles thing. It’s not that she’s shy, she completely transformed her accent to what she thinks royals sound like, and cannot sustain it because it’s absurd. She swallows her words constantly, she cannot project in any confident way. She was supposedly ‘trained’ by an elocution expert but ended up with mumbles mcmumbles because of her lack of confidence. I tend to think the poster is claiming a little tooo much credit for mumbles. I know people who work in voice work and no one says that about kate. PR at it again, me thinks.
PS to Kate’s PR: we’ve all heard her talk naturally. If you haven’t and you claim expertise then I wonder where you have been all this time? Her accent is fine is absolutely laughable
Lots of words come to mind. Vapid, lazy, selfish, abusive, racist, spendthrift…
No pics of the choir preparing. No interviews with the choir members. It’s pretty much the Keen show.
Do we honestly think she was decorating trees and hanging wreaths? Is she the new Melanie? A more realistic shot, would have been her meeting and helping along with the actual workers? Is this her version of Meghan with the bakery ladies?
I don’t know what kind of decorating she’s doing where each and every single spool of ribbon has been opened and is daintily draped over the side of the table at the exact same length. And she’s cutting ribbon to make bows but there are no scissors in the shot. Please at least try to make it believable. Because this is so obviously a magazine shoot. It’s like they’re not even trying to get us to believe that she decorated, they’re just showing us some pretty posed photos that we will know are pretty posed photos but we’re all just so excited to have another pretty posed glamour shot photo of Kate to cut out and paste on our bedroom walls?
@Amy Too, I never would have noticed this if it wasn’t for your comment, but there aren’t even any scissors on the table 😂
Exactly like William’s inaccessible file cabinets and unplugged printer or whatever those gaffes were.
It’s not as if these details actually matter, but it just shows over and over again how they’re not candid photos giving fans a glimpse of a day in the life of W&K or whatever, but entirely fake setups thrown together for photo ops.
Whenever we saw these type of shots of Meghan working on her projects ahead of time, she was actually DOING SOMETHING with other people and while obviously she knew there were cameras there, it doesn’t appear that she’s just posing until the photo is taken so she can bounce. Even if it’s just as inauthentic as the Cambridges’ are, the shots give the impression that we’re actually seeing part of what went into it, as far as Meghan’s participation went.
It’s always was that what I find off putting with the Cambridges the acknowledgement of others people works is never shown just praised with platitudes.
@Aurora we’re talking about the absent host, she doesnt deliver speeches, mingle, answer direct questions,etc. The choir and the artists will prepare without the host stopping by. She comes in at the same time as the guests. The host was there like days prior, alone with the cameras, pretending to do something relevent to the occasion. We will get that video mashup with the choir and preparations when negative comments will get to her team and they will have that lightbulb moment and say “how about a video where we’ll just put clips of everyone preparing!” Brilliant! Genius!
She doesn’t even show up at the same time as the guests. She shows up late and last so that they can all enjoy the majesty of her walking in dressed like a 1930s Secretary at the company Christmas party. She’s accompanied by the boss’s male secretary, William, who is totally pissed off because he feels like Secretary Kate is starting to take up too much of their boss’s time and attention. That’s why he looks like *that* all the time. He hopes Secretary Kate will meet a nice fella soon and get married, so that she’ll be forced to quit her job.
Except the Host came in after the guests. Remember her big entrance with her family and others already seated.
Amy Too: your comment sent me googling. This is the closest I could find: https://ladymarlowe.com/products/s-1534
@BeanieBean I am howling! That is a great find.
The choir had already prepared their holiday concert, why show up for this Keen PR fest. The whole thing was simply a watered down rehearsal that Keen and staff tried to make all about Karen.
Why did the choir agree to be part of this fiasco?
I think we can break it down a little bit more. There are 5 bows on that tree – 5 different jobs!
LOL!
Each bow will be its own engagement.
@Heather oh my god you’re right 😭
-Kate having the initial idea to “host” this event (if it was even her own idea) will be one engagement
-Discussing it with her staff, the second (listed as “meeting”)
-Deciding upon a designer choosing the outfit’s style and color (even though it’s the exact same one she recently wore in black to A FUNERAL) and having probably one fitting, the third (“meeting” with seamstress)
-Driving to Westminster Abbey, the next (somehow)
-Greeting the peasant assistants, the fifth (another “meeting” about the event)
etc. etc. etc.
I say that she stayed at the Abbey decorating for about 20 minutes, then left to do a spot of shopping.
But those 15 minutes were spent as she tried to keep her upper aristo fake accent, which she kept f’ing up, and resulted in her complete amount of time at the Abbey. Then five minutes to take these pathetic and lame pictures!!!
Now I have to claw my eyes out due to another showing of her butt-ass ugly sweater!!
That accent! 🤣 It’s beyond parody. The Royal fam sound quite normal compared to that. Wonder if they laugh at her behind her back?
And they posted another video for it this morning 😂😂
I’m not sure if this is about actually boosting their numbers, but it is definitely about giving the illusion of more work. there was the invitation for the concert, the concert itself, two or three promos for the concert – all posted on the Cambridge’s social media to garner interest, presumably. So it makes the Cambridges seem a lot more active and busy than they actually are. I think that’s part of the plan with the concert itself too – so people will feel like they saw the Cambridges at Christmas, and will forget that we haven’t actually seen either of them since this was filmed the first week of December.
Burger King did that sit down interview where he babbled about beating Louis at Monopoly (just kidding) but Kate has been MIA since the concert. She could have picked up Omicron at the Abbey, which would not be surprising, or she is busy moving into her new Windsor-adjacent home. They keep foreshadowing the new home, and they will not post pics of the van pulling up to Anmer so we’ll hear about it when it’s done. Could be the arrangement/contract called for Kate to be in the new place by Dec. 31.
No they also photo’s her out shopping, just like meghan, so….
They’ve copied so much from the Sussexes I’m beginning to think this is the latest incidence – we hear nothing about H&M for months, then there’s an event and a flurry of activity (e.g., the NYC trip), then they go dark again. This would be right up the Cambridges’ alley, and is along the lines of what they said years ago, their work would involve fewer patronages, but more intense focus on each, etc. etc.
Except when the Sussexes do a series of activities, it’s several events in different venues which highlight the place and people they’re visiting. In typical Cambridge fashion, here Kate is doing lots of activities around the same event, and of course we don’t hear anything about the people/event itself. As usual, misses the point entirely, but I bet Kate thinks she’s doing it just like Meghan would.
The Cambridges’ also overlook the fact they are supported by the taxpayers, while H&M aren’t. So what’s okay for the Sussexes to do in terms of how often they make appearances, isn’t okay for W&K. The public deserves much more.
On another note, that woman in the picture with Kate looks like she’s trying to stay as far away as possible! No masks, again?
@windyriver, when the Sussex’s show up it directly benefits so many due to their personal generosity and how they inspire others to be of service.
@windyriver I think you’re onto something. They’re trying to mimic the Sussex style of disappearing and then creating an absolute frenzy of attention with a single announcement or interview. The problem is, when the Sussexes do one thing, it’s dropping a book, or an interview with Ellen where Meghan is speaking coherently for an hour.
What’s obvious is when the Sussex do emerge we find out that they had been discreetly working behind the scenes for months preparing, organizing & collaborating with people for ex Harry’s documentary with Oprah, Meghan collaborating people for paid leave& Children book ect.. With the Cambridges it’s obvious that whatever they do it’s been put together for them so they just attach their names and only show up for pictures
Becks I think these are all teasers for the show. So they show tiny clips of Unable the week before the show to drum up interest….or disinterest as the case may be.
@Becks, they can release as many photos and videos as they want, but all coverage and discussion will still be about the Sussexes’ gorgeous Christmas card, with a photo of Kate and the ribbon maybe in a tiny square on the bottom of the page. I’m sorry, I *know* it’s petty, but I absolutely love it because it’s exactly what Kate deserves.
Kate could skydive nude through Norfolk and I think it would still be difficult to pull anyone’s attention away from H&M’s beautiful children.
@WindyRiver, ita with your every word
That hair is killing me! How many dolls had to lose their hair for Kate’s hairpieces?
I know!! Given the access Mumbles McMutton has to the very best of the industry, she still chooses the very worst!! Those extensions are screaming for someone to rescue them!
Mumbles McMutton…I just spit coffee out my nose! That is a great start to my day, thank you!
Mumbles McMutton! Haha, amazing!
I am one of those people who has never, ever been able to tell when Kate was wearing extensions or “wiglets” when everyone else here could spot them immediately, but even I could tell right away in these particular photos because it’s so obvious.
I can literally never see them, so if even *I* can tell, that means they were EXTREMELY poorly done, like, cartoonishly so, lol.
How she’s going backwards and getting worse over the years at making them look natural instead of better — when she has access to the best hairstylists in London and the money to pay for whatever top of the line products they use — is beyond me.
I love how much praise she gets for this hair, which she did not have in university. Yes her hair was pretty and thick but it was never this thick and it never looked healthy.
People do not magically get thicker hair in middle age.
Also Wtf with the badly staged photos. We are supposed to believe she is cutting that ribbon and tying bows? Maybe I’m just faked out but I’m so tired of huge fake smiles and fake happy scenes that have no relationship to reality. She is so basic.
ETA: Ohh! Each ribbon she touches is a new work event!
I’m with you on huge fake smiles. Yes, many of us still have good things in our lives. Yes, it’s holiday season. It’s still been a sh.tshow of a year, marking two years of a global crisis. Be happy, but damn…not fake happy. Just happy enough, LOL.
I’m aware that I’m being completely unfair and Grinchy. Get off my lawn, and all that.
Just happy enough! Yes, lol. Her smile is so forced, it’s almost a grimace. The Insta Grimace, how to pretend your life is perfect while failing everything in real life
@WithTheAmerican, the only smile in these photos that looks like the “real” Kate to me is the one where she’s holding the wreath.
And that one is probably only genuine because she was amused that she was expected to actually do anything.
Yeah, the fake smile is really too much. Are we supposed to believe that the tree is telling a joke or something, and that is making her laugh? What bizzarro world do they live in?
Her hair is way too long, she’s pushing 40 she’s not in high school.
eh, women can have hair as long as they want at whatever age, but her use of wiglets is painfully obvious here – trying to copy Meghan’s Time cover hair?
I saw Drew Barrymore’s show this morning and she has long hair but it suits her better than it does Kate. IMO.
She’s praised for fake hair, just like she’s praised for fake work.
Long hair pulls her face downward. She looks old and haggard. She needs a trim.
Not entirely true — after menopause, my hair got thicker and wavier and has honestly never looked better. 🙂 But Kate’s hair is ridiculous. The wiglets are out of control.
LUCKY you!!! Mine lost 2/3rds of it’s volume, esp. in the front/top/crown 😩. My hair used to be as thick as my wrist when I wore it in a ponytail; now, it’s like two fingers 😭. I’d give a LOT to have it back! Lol
I feel like they’re so much comfortable in their position right they don’t even bother with the numbers of the court circular. They’re not gonna get called out on it as long as they keep giving the press these glamorous events the press rather cover these events too rather than an opening of a new hospital or whatever. Their sole focus now is chasing the american market.
@Woke, I commented above that she’s milking this for as many engagements as she can (which she might still be doing with this particular concert), but after reading your comment, I think that’s the real story here.
Their numbers don’t matter anymore. They have no competition, they can do whateverTF they want without criticism, and they know it. Their numbers have been lower than the Queen’s and Charles’s for so many years now that it’s simply expected; it’s not even commented on by the press anymore. The Queen will be gone soon, and they’ve never come anywhere *near* Charles’s numbers before, so they certainly won’t be expected to when he’s the monarch.
Unless or until the British press decides to go back to the “Workshy” criticisms, they have absolutely no reason to change this.
The only article I’ve seen in years that acknowledges this was just published on December 15th — but only in an Australian publication; AFAIK it was not picked up by the British press. So she can basically ignore it as a one-off and go on with her lazy ways. She’s truly the British Melania.
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/royals/why-william-and-kate-are-the-most-expensive-royals/news-story/8cb4392946a38cc11889b9694c8fa731
They are desperate. They want ratings for Keen and they are hoping that this gets better ratings than whatever is on bbc. Who knows, maybe there are millions in the UK just waiting for The Kate Show. Or it will be a flop and the fail will still have articles all day declaring Kate has won something over Meghan.
The sycophancy on the Fail is out of this world! She must have cured cancer simultaneously?
The hair is a lot!
But I’m more distracted by the sweater. The Buttons! The Peter Pan collar! The design with all the white dots! And the knit pattern along side the buttons! It’s too busy and all the elements are fighting with each other. At first I thought the white things were hearts and wondering why she was cos-playing Valentines Day at Christmas and the thinking she was going for a queen of hearts thing which doesn’t have the great connotations she might think. But then I looked closer and realized they were roses, leaving me puzzled again for a Christmas connection and still finding the pattern too busy with the roses and the black stems. The sweater is red? It matches the ribbons? That’s the Christmas connection?
But then … roses? Really Kate? *That’s* the thing you want people to have in mind, what with Will’s history?
Then I feel odd doing such superficial analysis of a grown woman instead of focusing on her substance and what she does. But then I remember it’s Kate and there doesn’t seem to be much there, there. Superficial is all she gives people to work with.
There is the Christmas Carol “Lo, how a rose e’re blooming”, but that would require more thought than she’s capable of.
Her sweater was supposed to evoke memories of Diana’s iconic “black sheep” sweater. I guess that’s supposed to get her at least two or three more stories in the tabloids.
@North of Boston, this didn’t jump out at me when we first saw the photo of this sweater the other day— at first glance I only thought that it was hideous and that she was clearly going for the Diana sheep look.
But with these new photos, it seems much more blatant, to me at least, that this is Kate telegraphing that she is the WHITE “English Rose.” Especially the photo in which her entire sleeve is more predominantly shown.
Her fans always claim that there is so much thought and meaning and messaging put into every single thing she wears, so if they subscribe to that theory, they need to acknowledge that it’s at work here too, imo.
Oh look, the bar has now completely disappeared from the ground.
Have the show air yet?
How many people watch it?
I think it shows on Christmas Eve.
I fully expect Buttons to start presenting short videos in which she uses a green screen to pretend she’s interacting with the queen.
The sweater looks even worse “in motion.” The roses and the buttons are fighting for dominance.
It makes me think of the song Buttons and Bows.
Her talking always confuses me. Is that what all English people talk like? Just open your mouth a little more! That’s how you produce comprehensible speech!
Well you’ve at least got to hand it to W&K for turning 1 appearance into 5 different ones just so they can show they’re “working”.
I think it’s funny, that Kate thinks she’s doing work by holding a Christmas carol concert. Another funny thing is that KP released these same comments in the video as a press release. Lightweights all of them.
Thanks Kaiser for enlightening me as to what HOSTING a carol service actually involves. I must pat myself on the back because annually I , have myself in a Marks and Sparks cardy , been hosting the local church carol service.
Her voice – she sounds like a little girl. Between that and the accent – man, it’s so affected and fake sounding.
She also keeps dropping her voice and talking fast. She needs speech lessons but won’t get them. She also tilts her head a lot.
Trying to do the “Diana head tilt” and failing badly.
Talking too fast is my problem too, I’m always catching myself at it. I have to really concentrate to not speed through.
And bounces up and down when she talks also struggling not to flay her arms. It’s so distracting, why does she bounce when she speaks?
The accent doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that she just spits out the message quickly with no emotion. It doesn’t sound heartfelt, just rehearsed and memorized.
Little girls are better speakers than her. That teenage Spanish princess/heir makes Kate look like a complete baby-talking airhead. That kid sounds like Hillary Clinton next to this coddled dimwit.
@ Krista, she sound like a little girl because she pitches her voice too high, deliberately. So phoney. And I’m British but have absolutely no idea where that ridiculous accent has come from. I’m sure she’s the laughing stock of the aristocracy sounding as she does.
@Killfandora I wonder if William ever told her to cut out the accent or if he just let her continue so she can be a laughing stock.
@Tara, well he always looks so pained and constipated when she speaks I’m surprised he’s not knocked that silly accent on the head….
Not her doing a photo shoot to promote the event lol. I imagine the performers would be more of a draw than Kate, but ofc how would she get the credit that way. Anyway, she has a good look but she’s a charisma void.
This lady, oh man. Her events are so insubstantial, yet have a drip-drip-drip roll-out of epic proportions as if someone is waiting with bated breath about it all. And yet, the interesting part (who was there, what they wore) has already come out, there’s no spotlighting of others’ skills and contributions, no next steps, and there’s just 5 red ribbons. Why.
What are the current rules for masks in the UK? No masks were worn inside the Abbey. The royals have gifted attendees a super spreader event for Christmas. Princess Anne’s husband just tested positive..was he in attendance?
The actual rules online for the Abbey at that time were mask-wearing was required. And yet, nobody enforced that at the concert.
People are advised to wear masks in shops and on public transport. Other places are left to the individual to decide where they wear masks. I believe the churches have maintained the requirement to wear masks because there was some discussion about the Queen not wanting to attend church because she would have to wear a mask. It seems like for this event rules for mask wearing was relaxed because when William and Kate were initially inside the church masks were on but when they sat down for the concert, the masks were off.
Weren’t there 100k new cases yesterday in the UK? Seeing as how omicron can spread to those who are double vaccinated, public health measures like masks still are a part of preventing the spread. But we can’t expect sense from the Covid choo choo train tour people and a PR photo has to be more important.
Lory, neither Princess Anne or her husband were at the concert. Doubt they were invited. No senior royals, just cousins and Sophie Wessex.
Acts of kindness and love? It’s amazing how she can talk that way after the way she and William treated Meghan and Harry.
Well, she’s praising *other* people for their kindness and love. Royals don’t need to show any of that.
She needs to fire her hair stylist because that’s got to be the most poorly blended weave I’ve ever seen. The thick perfectly formed sausage curls are the bottom ain’t real. The messy limp stuff at the top is. It looks terrible.
I just love how in the video the sausage curls stay in one place while the top part moves around. Lmao forever
OMG — I saw this after I read your comment and now I can’t UNsee it. So.Bad. 😂
Guffawing at the Christmas tree, l just can’t…..And thank heavens there was a transcript of her speech since l could barely understand a word she said.
I am curious about her accent. Has anyone done an in-depth analysis of it? Whose accent is she trying to emulate? Hermione Granger? What would her normal accent likely sound like based on where she grew up? As an Anerican, I have no natural ear for the most posh accents in the UK—but soneone must be able to break hers down for ne. Any links?
I have heard it mentioned that Kate’s normal accent growing up was a Home Counties accent. Here’s a guy on YouTube describing what the Home Counties accent is, how it sounds, and how it developed. He is speaking in a Home Counties accent he says because he went to public school in that region, although he indicates that he’s not English. It’s interesting — he actually mentions the ‘non-rhotic’ nature of the HC accent, i.e., how the letter ‘r’ is not rolled, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=318770Fx2MQ
He doesn’t really discuss the difference between an upper-class British accent and a Home Counties accent, which might be helpful. Clearly, Kate’s muddled accent is her own misbegotten creation.
Thank you so much, aftershocks!
Very interesting — Kate is clearly trying to eradicate her home counties accent but not being terribly successful at it, like saying “soi” for “sew”, etc.
I’ve noticed it has started to completely enrage me when people reference the “bleak time” we’ve been living through when I’ve only seen them living it up, not wearing masks, going on tons of vacations, etc. That goes for celebrities, royals, and people I know IRL alike. 2021 has been pretty awful for many people (for me personally, much worse than 2020 because at least in 2020 I felt like people were taking the pandemic seriously). Only in the last week have the people who started talking about the pandemic in past-tense noticed that something is still wrong.
Rant over. Kate’s not much of a public speaker, is she? :/ :/ :/
@Case, I was listening to a podcast episode last night (it’s called “Heir Heads” and I highly recommend it!) and they discussed how tone-deaf the Cambridges’ card was, especially in the current climate and compared to Charles & Camilla’s.
Like…a vacation to a sunny locale? Right now? And they questioned how they got there, because obviously we would have heard about it if they’d been on a commercial flight with a bunch of random peasants.
I’m assuming that the King of Jordan, who’s eager to do business with the UK, sent a private jet for Eco-Warrior Willnot, his broodmare and their brood. And they just happened to take official photographer along as part of their entourage.
She’s promoting this carol show the same way she did for the garden thing. It’s overdone, fake and unnecessary. She should be actually helping people who need it and not doing PR for an event few people were allowed to attend. Where are the trips to local shelters or food banks? She rarely does those. Or what about the children’s hospice? She’s got patronages she could be attending instead of a fake photo shoot where it’s obvious she’s not going to decorate the whole Christmas tree.
So many of her events seem like things a royal woman would just do socially or in her spare time as a hobby. Designing a garden? Hosting a Christmas Carol show? Visiting a museum? Wandering around to see murals painted in buildings? Even her “survey” and her new Buttons o’ Plenty for the Youngins AIRLY YAIRS Center seems like the type of research and studying that aristo people from the 1800s did in their spare time—like how everyone was an “archeologist” for awhile.
Where is her actual charitable work? When is she ever raising money? When is she ever actually helping people?
@Nic omg we got like 50 different “promotions” about that one garden that she didn’t even create herself. It went on for months both before and after the actual garden was revealed.
Her accent is so gratingly annoyinggggg
She did a *slightly* better job at pretending she was speaking off the cuff, but the fact that the camera cut away from her numerous time was to hide the fact she was likely reading from a teleprompter, I imagine. If she actually memorized that whole bit I’ll eat my hat.
She’s just such a phony. She has nothing original or authentic to give and seems to have no desire to serve the community. I doubt this Together: Blah, blah, bulls**t would have happened if Duchess Meghan hadn’t done the Together: Our Community Cookbook. She such an awful woman, along with her horrible no good husband.
Ditto.
Man, nothing she does could ever compete with the Sussexes holiday card. Like this just looks pathetic in comparison. No thousand dollar holiday sweater, “festive glance” at Will, or an extra bow in the tree is going to suffice. The Cambridges are gonna be reeling.
Everything about Keen is fussy. The hair, poses, twee sweater and fake accent. Ugh. The Sussex are just naturally cool, classy.
Kate’s thought bubble: “Wheeeee! I found a photo-op for me! And all I have to do is pose for pictures and say a few lines!”
‘Wheeeee, staff found a photo op for me, bullied Westminster Abbey to do a duplicate concert, and made them waive mask mandates so I could pose for PR!’
Shouldn’t she be putting the ribbons on some mutton, after all, mutton is where it’s at.
The hair is too much. At her age, that length just doesn’t work anymore. It might look more pro if she didn’t add so many extensions. I’ve never understood her aesthetic around having a wall of hair, it’s obsessive.
@candy agree lol. Maybe it’s a security blanket? I don’t mind hair extensions in general but the way Kate styles them is *so* creepily girlish and excessive
She never wore her hair in this type of wave before Meghan did.
I think more than age the problem is styling. Instead of fake and fussy it would work better if it was shiny and sleek. Also an up-do that isn’t Princess Margaret old wig.
There’s a clip on Chris Ship’s Twitter of William looking at her not in a nice way, Kate sensing him looking her way turns to William with the start of a smile, which turned into pursed lips and her putting her head down, in a totally dejected manner when she saw the expression on his face. That moment tells you everything you needed to know about that relationship.
I saw the video I think you are talking about. It’s the one where they’re watching Ellie Goulding sing, right? That’s where they took that “look of love” shot from, if I’m not mistaken. It’s really not a look of love.. She definitely looks sad about what she saw on his face. Not good.
And it’s interesting that when Ship posted that clip, he said to look out for the cutaway to the Cambridges. Why? Does he want folks to notice the frost between them? That’s my tinfoil tiara theory.
Good catch on Ship’s wording on that tweet — he didn’t say “aww look how sweetly they are looking at each other!” like all the other sycophants. He simply said, “keep an eye on the Cambridges.” Definitely could be interpreted as “you see this BS they are passing off as ‘love’?”
Ship also made a shady comment about Kate’s piano skills, quoting a former piano teacher who said she’s never amount to a concert pianist. (And hearing it, the teacher was accurate) I think he can only handle so much sugar for that couple and likes to poke holes once in a while.
Yikes. Saw that, not an affectionate look between a loving couple.
These are the exact same kind of actions and publicity that a Hallmark movie gets or a 4th if July special led by z-list network actors. It’s basically the Lawrence Welk show.
“The Lawrence Welk show” 😭☠️
I’m dating myself by agreeing with you about Lawrence Welk.😆
I’m really starting to dislike the way the Cambridges use the word “perhaps”
She sounds like every pseudo posh girl I work with in London.
I don’t believe she tied or placed one ribbon. Not one.
Nothing that this woman says, comes from her organically. Its all so derived. And we all know the source of her second-hand inspiration.
Each of the five red ribbons is a call out to the 5 questions in her epic survey, maybe?
Everything about this family is contrived. They might as well be actors acting their parts in a family. The stiffness and soullessness come from the parents, primarily William, I’d say. I get the feeling he doesn’t really like having a family, that’s it’s part of the trappings of playing his part. No wonder he resented having a third child when two would do. I wonder what really does or would make him happy. Not that I care. He’s a sour and bitter piece of work. Diana would be so disappointed. This one is totally Charles’ child.
I don’t know he looks nothing like Charles, looking at dental work he looks more like andrew.
He resembles Charles when he makes the same faces Charles does. He has Charles’ disposition only worse. IMO.
Can’t decide if she was reading cue cards or was up all night memorizing her lines. Aside: not sure who was responsible for the subtitles but they misspelled the word ‘separation’ (“seperation”). Maybe they were thinking of ‘desperation’… I certainly was while watching.
All this forced on Lazy, and in the meantime where is Cain? He is lazier than she is doing absolutely nothing for the holidays except plotting how to smear his brother and consolidate control of the estates.
Oh Lawd, now there’s a promo clip of her sitting at a piano that’s got people saying she’ll play the piano for the broadcast.
WTF?
ETA: Holy Moly, she actually played a song with a real musician. Recorded though. Wonder how many takes were needed.
she hit a few chords while he sang, The overpraise goes on about how she will make a Great Queen. LOL.
It was prerecorded too. And almost looked fake the way she was playing.
I seriously wonder: how many takes?
As Shania Twain would say, “That don’t impress me much. “
There are millions of people around the world who can play at church services much better and do it live. It’s so pathetic to praise this. And she centred herself on this because where was the focus on the front line workers. Wasn’t that the point of this service? Instead it was another PR show.
I agree Nic, I too have seen people who play better at church services. she made it about HER and the singer even had to take a back seat.
Oh Lord, this reminds me of Lady Catherine de Bourgh on her daughter’s piano playing: “And if she had learned, she would have been a great proficient.”
I send no compliments to Keen’s mother.
But I do wish everyone happy holidays, with thanks for keeping me entertained, Kaiser and Celebitchies.
It looks like she played the piano for one song at this concert.
And the DM is making a big fuss, with the usual overpraised comments. She was really preening for the cameras.
She hit a few chords to accompany the singer. She was grinning away. I thought she did not like the limelight or so says her spin.
Is it just me or has her teeth got even longer
She is being overpraised saying she was “nervous” about playing the piano. Yet some forget how she strutted down the runway in the see through outfit at that fashion show. And how she looks for every opportunity to pose for pictures (e.g. at Philip’s funeral). There is a great deal of desperation about her PR.
The piano playing reminds me of Pride of Prejudice. Every girl must play a little.