Royal Carols: Together at Christmas aired on Christmas Eve (Friday) in the UK, on ITV. I didn’t see many people talking about the actual broadcast event, but maybe that’s because all of the energy was going towards the Duchess of Cambridge. On Friday, the Kensington Palace social media announced something no one knew about beforehand: Kate was actually taking part in one of the musical performances during the program. Kate took piano lessons as a child, and she apparently kept up with it, enough that she was able to play along to a song written and performed by Tom Walker. Here’s the performance:
I saw people complaining about this, that or the other, so let me just say what I think about this: it’s fine? I would even consider it “good” and “sort of cool.” I’m saying that as someone who is not musically gifted at all – I’ve always admired people who can play the piano or even just read sheet music. Was it the most complicated song for an amateur pianist? No, but Kate did better than I would have done and better than most of us would have done.
According to the official reporting – meaning, Kensington Palace briefing the Rota and People Magazine – Kate came up with the idea of performing alongside Walker, because she heard her perform a song about addiction in October at an event for the Forward Trust. She liked his song “For Those Who Can’t Be Here” because of the pertinence in the time of the pandemic, and she suggested that they perform together at her carol special. According to sources, Kate has taken “great comfort” in playing music throughout the pandemic and a royal source told People: “Music was very important to the Duchess during the lockdowns. She also recognizes the powerful way in which music brings people together — especially during difficult times. For these reasons, she was keen to be part of Tom’s performance in this way.” KEEN!
The one sort of odd thing about this is that Kate didn’t perform with Tom Walker at the actual carol service on December 8. They did this one day earlier, on December 7th, and they did a few takes on it. Which means Kate got all dressed up in that red coat and sapphire earrings and her doll wiglet TWICE on consecutive days. Which begs the question…why not just wear something different for the performance? I have other questions too, like why isn’t Kate involved with any music charities? If she cares about music and music is so important to her, hello, a music therapy charity? Anything???
Also: she could have been putting out charity singles this whole time!! They should release this version of the song as a single and raise money for charity. These are free ideas, Jason.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar and Alex Bramall/PA Images/INSTARimages.com.
This would have been a WHOLE lot better if she’d done this live, rather than pre-recorded. At least the audience might have thought they were getting something special.
As it was, the audience looked bored and freezing cold, and quite a few of them didn’t looked thrilled to be there.
Viewing figures weren’t great either. Meh.
Duchess Milli Pianilli part had to be prerecorded because it took many days of practice, different rehearsals and several takes to get her looking the part. Even then we could tell that she was faking it! They had to try so hard to make her have a skill and decided to go back to parlour tricks reminiscent of the Pride and Prejudice era. Despite all the publicity and pulling out all the stops the viewing numbers were appallingly low with the channel losing 80% of its viewership for that timeslot.
“Duchess Milli Pianilli part had to be prerecorded because it took many days of practice, different rehearsals and several takes to get her looking the part. Even then we could tell that she was faking it!”
Not “Duchess Milli Pianilli”!😂😂🤣 Good One Elizabeth Regina!! That name for her is so spot on! And yes, anyone who plays professionally or has taken piano lessons could tell that home girl was faking the funk! That’s why it took several (heavily edited) takes to make it look like she was doing something.
“Our CATHERIINE is quite accomplished on the pianoforte!” 😂
Yeah, this will be touted as her new skill. In addition to Kate the Professional Photographer, and Kate the Mental Health Expert, we will now get endless stories of Kate the Professional Pianist.
I need the details as I’m not a piano player. How could you tell she was faking it?
The hands move a certain way when notes are played and Kate’s movement doesn’t always match the piano sounds that are being played. She was keeping her hands near middle C and playing the same notes over and over again, but it didn’t always sound like that.
@Nic919, wait a minute — is it possible that Kate’s piano playing is as fake as her taking business notes on the blank piece of paper, with her non-dominant hand, while supposedly talking on the phone? LOL!
I thought I was the only one who noticed this was faked. I’ve been playing piano for more than 50 years, including professionally.
Have folks forgotten that Diana did an impromptu piano playing on that Australian tour? No sheet music etc. I think she did it again somewh else. This is Diana cosplay
The keen will never get it that she will never be like Diana.. Diana was spontaneous, unscripted the opposite of keen
Yep, she just sat at the piano, tossed her purse to the floor, and belted out a complicated piece with no sheet music.
@Chic, I pretty much agreed with Kaiser’s assessment and thought it was the most interesting thing Kate’s done in years — until I was reading an article about the time Diana played the piano, as and soon as I read this one sentence, it alllllll made sense:
“It was Diana’s second royal tour of Australia, taking place five months after her first visit, which was recently fictionalised on Netflix’s The Crown.”
So Kate didn’t even have the idea herself, she freaking saw it on The Crown (which we all probably would have guessed she secretly watches, even if they deny it publicly). But unlike Diana, she didn’t have the courage to do it live, let alone spontaneously. If it had actually been done along with the rest of the performances at the concert, I think it would have impressed people much more.
I’ve always wanted to play the piano but never had a chance to learn, and thought that Kate did a great job. But then we learned it was pre-taped the day before, with another pianist present, then (likely heavily) edited. I’d have so much more respect for her if she just did it live and made a few mistakes. (It’s not as if most people would even notice mistakes unless they’re pianists themselves; I certainly wouldn’t.) Everything about her is always so micromanaged as to appear as flawless as possible, which ends up making it all so boring.
Did Diana piss off Charles again like she did when dancing because she pulled focus from Charles and he thinks no one should do that? I wonder if Kate feared doing that here too or didn’t care next their relationship is so cold at this point?
William would be melting in his seat from embarrassment if she played live.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this performance. It could have been grandiose live and we would have been so proud of her, but no, she had to let us down and prerecorded the whole thing. Booooo! I initially thought that she was live and lyppianoing the whole thing so we wouldn’t know if she missed a note.
She did it because she knew the UK press would blow smoke up her butt. It’s manipulation (that would be used derisively against another) that the UK tabloids overlook in order to embiggen Kate. The fact that it’s so brazen is interesting because it again proves she (or her handlers) obviously think they have the tabloids in their pocket.
Also, the lack of involvement in any charities relating to music is down to that involvement means more “work” and we all know she can’t have that.
I bet all the different rehearsals will be counted as different engagements on the court circular. According to initial figures she STILL has the lowest number of engagements, which begs the question the queen asked years ago, ‘what does Kate DO?
It’s sad that this comment from the queen close to 20 years ago still is so relevant today. It’s clear that family knew what they were getting with kate and she’s never changed. Just more sycophantic press to cover up the laziness and mediocrity.
I wish we could know Kate and Williams work numbers prior to H&M departure and now after. Because there was, and still is, so much whining about how W&K had to take on more work after Harry and Meghan left. I suspect W&K numbers did not go up or very little because they still don’t seem to work much. I bet Charles, Anne, Edward & Sophie took up the extra work.
So she basically accompanied while he was practicing for the actual concert? And how does anybody know how well she played? I couldn’t tell from the video. All I could hear was the singing and guitar. She’s getting keen points yet again for not really doing much. And basically all the comments her nasty fans make about M inviting herself to anything, are really true about K instead.
Exactly.
I can hear the piano quite clearly, and I think her playing was fine. I do think it would have meant more if she’d played live, during the actual concert.
Tom Walker gave an interview and said there was another pianist there. Who knows if what we are hearing is actually Kate.
Yes he did say there was another pianist there. Very shocking the lengths to which Duchess Mcmutton Liberace has been propped up. Thankfully the BBC dogged a bullet having previously learned their lesson from her husband’s terra cacas fiasco.
@Ginger… another pianist was there? So was any sound coming from when she played? That quite a level of deception on top of pretending that she was playing this live at the service.
I thought it was fine. She plays as well as I do who had about 10 years of lessons. I’d do about the same. It was nice gesture but folks are treating as if she was Lang Lang or some up and coming prodigy. She was just fine … which is on brand.
So was her accompaniment piano synced?
@ncdancer this was my thought. So many people play about this well after about this many years of lessons. It’s not uncommon. So how many are truly, in their hearts, going to be that blown away.
I don’t play piano but even I can see this is, at best, the piano-playing equivalent of my broken high school Spanish.
I think she is playing fine and that it is a sweet gesture. Whether she was or was not willing to play in the live concert, I would imagine the band preferred to have their pianist for such an important concert. It is one thing to be able to read sheet music and play, it is another thing entirely to be able to compose and be able to improvise with other artists, and too risky to have someone who never was in a band playing the piano for this particular song, where the piano is paramount to the art coming together and it is a higher profile concert.
@Feeshalori – I think she actually played, there was a slight error during the final chorus.
Thanks, superashes, l didn’t pick that up.
HAHAHAHAHA! I made a comment the other day in CB’s, or was it Kaiser’s, Twitter about this, and I said that unless I hear her piano isolated, or see that the strings weren’t cut (she’s just banging keys and not producing sound), I won’t believe SHE is actually playing. NOTHING else will change my mind that she’s pretty much faking it; I sure as hell wouldn’t put it past her/them.
Oh really….A second pianist. Hmmmmm.
As someone who can play what she did from memory with some practice (it was entirely repetitive), I would say that she did an ok job and kept time, but knowing another pianist was there changes what I initially believed was her playing. Also, the part where the chords and fingering changes was obviously edited; the transition in sound and image was not smooth.
@ginger I found the Tom Walker interview where he mentioned there was another pianist there along with strings players at the rehearsal / recording.
There are like a million lit candles on top of that piano. You wouldn’t have been able to hear a single note she played if she did in fact ‘play’. As others have pointed out, both her hands were at the middle C, the fingers on her left hand don’t appear to have even touched the keys and on her right it looks like she was depressing the same two keys over and over again, while the piano you actually hear is a little different and out of sync with the video which shows Kate’s hands.
Yeah it’s projection on their part. Always has been. I’d love to hear an isolated version with just the piano but if it was recorded over multiple takes they’ve probably edited out most of the errors. But probably not all because it’s KP and they can’t manage to get the easiest of things right.
@Exactly. ITA. The camera cuts away from her most of the time and focuses on the other performers. One can hardly see if she’s done a good job or was made to look like she did because of the editing. Her performance wasn’t live so it could have easily been “doctored” in the post production to look like she did well. I also noticed that she lacked passion while playing. She was mechanical. It was so much unlike Princess Diana who played live
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No 2 in front of an audience in Australia. She was passionate and fantastic at the piano .
I believe the camera spent most of the time focused on the singer, which makes sense to me.
I could hear the piano. Her part was simple & repetitive, but so was the song, in general. She was fine. It’s her Diana moment, a combo of when she sat briefly at the piano & played something during some school visit & when she danced with the ballet dancer at Royal Albert Hall. Kate just did it in a taped session, rather than live. I’m with Kaiser, it’s fine. She played a piece with professional musicians, so good on her, but it would have been nicer during the event to have played lived rather than be shown this video.
Diana playing Rachmaninov impromptu required a significant level of skill. Advanced pianists can play a piece but it would take years of practice. What kate played is slightly above beginner level but now we are hearing there was another pianist at the taping session, so it’s hard to say if any of the sound even comes from when she was sitting at the piano.
Yet what’s missing from her “Diana moment” is authenticity and spontaneity. Everything was very carefully stage managed and perfected, and that’s ultimately why she’ll never be able to truly connect with broader audiences like Diana did. I think it’s fine to call it a “Kate moment.”
Liberace at least had the comments he made to the audience (about the rings he wore et al) at his concerts. Kate has no charisma. IMO.
@ginger do you have a link to there’s walker admits there was another pianist there? I have a kate Stan I need to shut down 🤦🏻♀️
I used to work as a professional accompanist, and I think she was playing pretty much all of it. The reason I think that is because she didn’t sound as good as a professional piano player!
She played very nicely, there was nothing wrong with what she did, but it was a little stilted and there was very little dynamic variation in what she did. She was also not really following what the singer was doing, she was playing her part and he almost had to follow her (which isn’t how it should work!)
There were some lovely runs at the end, and she may have had someone dub over them if she fluffed them up.
I don’t really shade her for pre-recording this. She was probably nervous and didn’t want to stuff it up on the night.
Wearing the same dress as the day of the service was deceptive though. If she was that nervous about playing live she should have acknowledged that and not pretended she did it the night of the service. And of course she let the media pretend it was done live and didn’t correct the false impression.
There are thousands of people around the world who have played weddings, funerals and church services live and they aren’t getting praised like kate, who simply pretended.
@Nic919
Exactly it is deceptive-same outfit to make it easy for people to not realize it was pre recorded
I would actually be more impressed if she did it live and owned any mistakes. This pretending that she is perfect is getting old. It’s also setting her up for a big fall eventually if they decide to turn on her.
How come no one knew that Kate could play the piano before last week? I also have the questions about her not being involved in music charities. This would have been a great role for her. Instead she’s stuck with that non-starter early childhood centre. Apparently Meghan was trending because the royalists couldn’t just praise Kate for playing the piano. Also after all that talk about Kate not making the concert about herself, she made it about herself. I also agree it would have been great if she wore a different outfit for her performance but I think KP wanted people to think that she performed on the actual day of the concert. Her PR is just terrible.
But Kate didn’t trend at all for this, so what was her fan’s point? They’re just proving that they cared more about Meghan than they do about Kate. This entire Christmas holiday was basically about the Sussexes, between their holiday card and Meg’s victory. Kate playing the piano was an afterthought, that people have already forgot about. Meanwhile Meg is still trending for her victory and there has been a 700% increase in red hair dye searches because of Archie.
Thankfully her fans hate Meghan more than they love Kate, so Meghan ended up trending for 5 days straight. Love that individual members of the Sussex family trended on their own which may make this a royal first. I also commend Sussex Squad members for their role in bringing attention to the statement the fail tried to bury on the front page of their rag.
Her piano teacher said she took lessons for 2 years when she was 11-13, then dropped the piano in favour of the flute. No mention of any recitals – I took lessons at her age and had a solo recital every year. First was The Nutcracker Suite, second was Danse Macabre, but nobody compared me to Pletnev or Horowitz!
Here’s what bugs me. Meghan breathes and it’s ‘all about her’ even including holding her own children. Khhhate makes the funeral all about her, this concert all about her, and apparently, she’s so beautiful, talented, compassionate and amazing and fabulous! And Meghans soooo jealous she had to leave for the whatever reason about beautiful talented compassionate Khhhate. Ugh. These people are gross.
It reminds me of a cross stitch pattern I’ll be doing in 2022. It says something like: “Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man”.
Ha!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
@Fanciful agreed. Its fine if Kate wants to play the piano to look accomplished, and even though the chords were super basic, she’s making an effort. But this entire concert has been about how great she is, and then we get comments on twitter like, “so nice to see regal and elegant Kate not make it about herself, UNLIKE MEGHAN.” Do people not hear themselves?
By making the event all about Kate, she now gets to own those embarrassingly low viewing figures.
I wonder how the choir and other performers feel about the entirety of the promo for the event being centered on Kate.
What were the ratings for this? And I noticed that the queen’s speech aired where it normally does.. So much for the royal family boycott of the BBC.
The ratings were low (1.52 million) compared with shows airing at the same time. The Repair Shop on the BBC got over 4m and Home Alone on channel 4 got about 2.4m. I think the BBC will be breathing a sigh of relief that they missed out on this one. Didn’t even make it into top 10 most viewed of the night.
The repair shop is such a great show! I would have watched that too.
LOL. A festive flop to match the festive glance.
Nice she tried something new.
But umm…this isn’t exactly a showcase piece. My Asian friends who were forced to play piano would look at this and go “Girl, no. Just no”.
Actually not necessarily new. She was cosplaying Diana. Again. And poorly at that. She doesn’t have an original bone in her body.
Yes, I agree this is fine, but how insecure is this woman that she couldn’t pre-record a welcoming message and could only “perform” this easy piece without an audience, where as many takes as necessary could be recorded so that she didn’t embarrass herself? If she weren’t so complicit in the vicious, incessant treatment heaped on Meghan (Harry, Archie and Lili), I could almost pity her. But she was and is and I don’t.
+1
Well, it’s also less work. If you know there are going to be multiple takes and edits, then you don’t have to practice as hard to get it right for a live take. Not to say there isn’t insecurity also involved.
@Jais — you’re exactly right to point out her laziness here. I believe that’s why she did *not* record a message (one that someone wrote for her because the thing in the program was clearly a script) because she’d have to belabor that cockamamie accent over and over as they filmed multiple takes until she got it right. This way, all she had to do was sit there, put her hands on the keys, play a few chords, cross her legs, slouch her shoulders, and smile her vapid smile. God, she’s a waste of wiglets.
It’s not easy to cheer for a mean girl.
+1
100% this and why I refuse to give this lazy woman any kudos.
This is exactly right.
Insecure or untalented? Which is more likely it was pre-recorded?
How Hollywood! Didn’t know she played the piano but it would have had a better impact if she had performed at the service but I wonder how many takes it took as we know she needs a lot just for speeches.
As usual an interesting idea has been badly executed.
Also it’s becoming more obvs that her events r only Ines at one thing – improving her image and completing with Meghan.
It’s VERY Hollywood. I thought it was “against protocol” for royals to behave like celebrities. 🤔🤔🤔
KP even asked the public to live tweet the event, and post pics of them watching it, as if it was must see TV. How very Hollywood indeed. 😑
Kensington Palace asked the public to live-tweet it?! How very “regal.”
She didn’t play at the concert because her actual playing ability would have been discovered. There were probably multiple takes and some interesting editing as well. I’m sure she is fine at playing but she is no John Legend. People are acting like she is a classically trained pianist when really she is just proficient enough for this hobby. It’s also kind of selfish because the singer had to come out twice to make sure Kate can play in private instead of doing it once for the concert. I doubt Kate was rehearsing with everyone else.
I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but pre-recorded means that the actual sound track with the video may not be her playing.
They are very vague in her training which appears to that she can read music and play some chords along with the music. That she did it pre recorded and not live suggests she wasn’t very good even at that.
Meanwhile a clip floated around of the time Diana just happened to sit down in front of a piano and played a bit of Rachmaninov without help. That’s the sign of a highly trained pianist because Rachmaninov is not an easy composer to play and knowing the piece without sheet music and playing it spontaneously is impressive.
This reminds me of the empty plane stunt. Apparently, according to Tom, there was another pianist present!
My friend whose taken piano lessons since childhood texted me ranting about Keen’s crossed legs and about how—to anyone who plays piano—this is a dead giveaway that she’s not playing. Apparently there is a certain posture, and no compromise.
Lol, the crossed legs are hilarious. What a waste of oxygen and textiles.
So this was basically just a stunt then? Like everything else the Keen’s do. If it’s true she wasn’t playing, than that’s why her performance was separate from the actual concert.
Her legs aren’t crossed. Her right leg is forward with her foot on a pedal and her left leg is back under the bench.
Hard to say in the videos, but they certainly appear to be in some of the still photos.
It’s not at all hard to say – it’s obvious. I’m happy to make fun of Kate all day long, but here she’s sitting exactly as she’ supposed to.
Well that was … underwhelming. With all that hype, I thought we were getting a piano solo. I thought Kate was actually going to impress but her hands barely moved on the keys and I couldn’t hear it. Anyway, the ratings were low for the special …. 1.5 million. The BBC will not be trembling over any more threats from the Burger King.
As with everything Kate it was aggressively mediocre and only impressed the sycophantic British press. Only people who don’t know how to play piano at all think this is something but really any child who had to do piano recitals could have done her part live. And she made this all about her. Wasn’t this supposed to be about thanking the front line workers but there seems to have been more focus on kate and her need for attention than the actual people who did something over this pandemic.
They made it a point to say she didn’t give a speech during the service because she didn’t want attention, but then she does a taped accompaniment with the camera focusing on her more than what normally happens when someone accompanies the solo musician.
The hypocrisy stinks. Plus there was another pianist there according to Tom which is very reminiscent of their previous empty plane stunt! The low figures time and time again prove that even a captive audience has no interest in the Cambridges. The press may embiggen but ordinary citizens do not particularly care for them at all.
As someone who has played more live (classical piano) recitals than Prince William has hairs, I can tell you four things. One is that her left hand doesn’t touch the keys. Two is that she does not move her right hand and only seems to depress two keys. Three she is not reading from the sheet music (she’s looking down at her hands the entire time). Four is that those two keys she’s ‘playing’ with her right hand aren’t the piano part I heard.
Maybe she can play piano, but the reveal that the segment was pre-recorded and there was a second pianist also playing in that session (I only heard one piano) means whatever she was doing, it wasn’t what they are trying to trick people into believing she did. Again.
Somebody mentioned that Diana could play the piano and we do have evidence as she sat down impromptu at a piano on the Royal couple’s Australia tour and played a bit of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (with mistakes). And even though Diana was an avid, and it seems pretty competent tennis player, nobody pretended that the mixed doubles play against Stefi Graff was actually competitive (even though it was, in fact, an honest to God celebrity match). But here again with Catherine you’ve got the set-up – a barely adequate player returning a few easy volleys for the cameras, while the champion waxes lyrical about Catherine’s ‘incredible’ forehand. You be the judge:
https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/gallery/2020052790429/royals-playing-tennis-best-photos/3/ https://www.insider.com/kate-middleton-wears-sneakers-tracksuit-for-tennis-2017
It’s great that Catherine wants to participate in things but why try to make her into Superwoman?
Thanks Marilee for the breakdown because I too was wondering was she was doing with her left hand since it didn’t seem to be much related to the music that was supposed to be coming from the piano.
It was definitely mediocre but knowing Kate can play the piano even mediocrely lol is still one of the more interesting things about her we’ve heard in years. Why do they hide the things about her that make her seem like she actually has a personality?
I think they focused on the sporty things during the engagement roll out to make her look active because she did spend almost a decade simply waiting for a proposal and not doing much else. Clearly playing piano wasn’t something she did often or with significant skill as it would certainly have been mentioned at the time. And as others have mentioned, learning music is significant in the early years of childhood and her silence on it is telling.
(Traditional piano tends to start later but you can start the Suzuki method as early as age 3).
Yes, this is what I find strange – how would you hide this, if it was actually a constant in your life?
Here, suddenly, she’s a music lover and now we have Moody Artistic Kate who finds solace in “difficult times” with her piano. I can imagine her drifting into the music room after a rousing day of hysterics over Meghan’s bullying – a few bars of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star will soothe those savage emotions.
I don’t think they’ve been hiding it. I’m guessing it’s something she got back into after Louis started school in the fall. She needed something to do and it’s clear that it wasn’t more work related engagements. They’ve worn out the photography hobby stories. So she needed something new. I think that is why she had to practice as much as the singer claimed she did for such a basic arrangement and why they couldn’t trust her to even attempt it live.
There were comments on the DM (probably deleted now) by people who weren’t impressed with all that embiggening kate got.. people pointed that she played 3 keys over& over again people are just sick of kp games trying to make kate great in everything she does when she’s just ordinary ..
Upfront apology: this post will be long. I posted a comment on the Cambridges’ YouTube video, and that comment is now deleted. Also deleted are some of the comments I was referring to in my own post (which made it worse, because I think they just confirmed those other comments were bought and paid for). I pointed out how, as I scrolled through the comments, so many of them said the exact same thing, in the exact same words (how they thought Kate couldn’t be more perfect, yet she one-ups herself; how she is the future of the monarchy; how the poster lost a loved one to Covid this year and Kate is helping them heal; how regal and inspiring she is, etc.). I screen-captured some of the identical comments so I can laugh about them later. Here is one of the comments that repeats itself (which have since been deleted, but again, I screen captured these):
“Julia Banana Fish” said, “I love how the Duchess didn’t perform to a usual Christmas song but to a song that’s so meaningful. So blown away.”
“Mamie” said, “I love how the Duchess didn’t perform to a usual Christmas song but to a song that’s so meaningful. So blown away.”
“Elena” said, “I love how the Duchess didn’t perform to a usual Christmas song but to a song that’s so meaningful. So blown away.”
Etc.
You can read every post I ever made on Celebitchy, and I have NEVER taken a position on whether the royal family pays people to follow them or to post positive comments about them. But I will from now on . . .
You mean the Daily Fail deleted comments that weren’t fawning over Mutton’s McMutton? Do tell…
She is so pathetic! Really! It would have been better had she played live but she couldn’t even be bothered! As usual, she failed at the very minimum!! The fact that she arrived last is was pisses me off!!! Kween wanted ALL of it to be about her, and it was! I am certain that the BBC was thrilled they didn’t air this!
Mrs.Krabapple they are definitely paid another sign if comments aren’t deleted they voted down because all the unimpressed negative comments I saw have lots of downvotes (dislikes) like who would go on Christmas eve and Christmas day read every single comment on the DM and specifically vote down any negative comments about keen it got to be more than stans it’s PR& content removal agencies working for KP.
Those bot profiles with the same repetitive comments are pathetically obvious. There was one about how FFQ is such a great role model to today’s youth — the same generation who could give a rat’s ass about the Cambridges.
Plus, many of the bots are fake cam girl profiles that lure people to click thru to questionable sites. I am not a prude, but it was hilarious seeing profiles with avatar pics of nearly naked women — some even in compromising poses — praising Kate for her grace and sophistication.
@Mrs Mckrabble…Thanks for taking screenshots. More evidence that this support for the Cambridge’s is very fishy.
Mrs. Krabapple: I just went over to their youtube channel & noticed the same thing! Wow, they make it so very obvious!
The event was never meant to be a ratings success. It’s purpose was just for positive PR and creating less work for the Cambridges. With this event they could “see” most of the charities they work with in one visit. Like William’s earthshot thing, all the PR focused on Kate. Nothing really resonated with people until the piano performance. I know TV specials do tapings all the time, but she should have not tried to make it seem like it was live. It really takes away from the performers, readers and speakers who actually did perform live, including an amazing 5 year old cancer patient. While Kate is getting all the credit for the views on the song and I am sure there is a lot of curiosity about her playing, I think the song itself is generating the hits too. This Christmas has been hard for so many people and the song reflects this. But is it all about Kate. The same reason many give for disliking Meghan so. Telling on themselves.
It would not be so bad if she had not behaved badly to Meghan and Harry. She does not come across to me as a particularly warm person.
I’m not sure I agree that this was not meant to be a ratings success. The tabloids promoted the heck out this with multiple stories and huge photos of Keen. I think they badly wanted a ratings success to compete with H&M.
Exactly. This was supposed to be Will’s big showdown with the BBC for airing the Princes and the Press. The 3 Palaces we’re going to shun the network as punishment and ITV did heavy promo, all for a ratings flop and for Buckingham Palace to include the BBC in the Queen’s Speech telecast.
Every time these royals try to ice someone out, they make them more popular. It’s why I know who the Marchioness of Cholomdelay is and how she too is more impressive and liked than Mumbles Mozart. And why Meghan can blink and get worldwide coverage while Mumbles will have to twirl plates while wearing a Jenny Packham sequined bikini for her next act to trend – in the UK only.
It this was a ratings success, the BM would be blasting it from the rooftops. This was supposed to compete with the BBC’s concert as a superior alternative because the FFQ was involved. They absolutely wanted this to be a hit. Is the spin that they wanted this special to flop because it’s for charity?
If it wasn’t meant for ratings, why were they begging people to tag them watching the concert? Oh, It was for ratings, it just backfired. They also bought Instagram views and what gave them away was the ratio the fact she didn’t trend for the night. If you get 10 million views you will trend in different countries. That was a dead giveaway. They buy views like they buy bots.
The royal rota and ITV were promoting the hell out of this show so they definitely wanted good ratings. It must actually be worrying for the establishment that things like this & earthshot didn’t do well & then there were all the complaints about OTT coverage of Philip’s passing.
What’s also funny is so many commentators about KATE playing the piano needlessly brought up Meghan & how is she going to top that etc. The royal family’s smear campaign really has made Meghan the main character
Lovely gesture and nice fit with the theme of the concert. I can’t really judge her ability since my 5th grade orchestra lessons are the limit to my musical talents.
I agree with Kaiser’s comments that if music meant so much to Kate, she could be doing so much more with music charities, especially those that encourage music education for kids. There are lots of studies that show how important arts education is for children, along with music therapy. But you are right, that would mean that she would have to actually work, and we all know that apart from the V&A and the National Portrait Gallery, she barely visits the charities that she’s a patron of. As for her playing, before I read this article, I was under the impression that she played live like Diana did when she performed with Wayne Sleep. I’m less impressed knowing that a) this was recorded and b) she’s basically playing the same chords over and over again. It is the equivalent of playing chopsticks. I would have been more impressed if she had played a solo.
And Diana got criticized for playing the piano (and she was a whole lot better at it) and dancing on the stage. But Kate is given over the top praise for this.
This is what bothers me about Kate. She has so many missed opportunities. She could have done something with HG since she had it while she was pregnant and did… nothing. She could have done some really amazing things with photography since she is hailed as the most amazing and wonderful photographer ever, and… nothing. Now, she could do something with music and I bet she does…..nothing.
As a professional pianist, all I can say is – she was impressive. And whoever said “she just accompanied, big deal” has never understood how HARD is to accompany.
I am impressed, and the song is beautiful.
Merry Christmas
Sure, Jan. Sure.
I second that!!
Um, many of us know exactly how hard it is (or isn’t) to accompany singers, since that’s what most amateurs do in social settings. Like the holidays, for instance.
LOL
A real professional pianist said it was playing chopsticks, warming up.
Wait, hold on you said you are a professional pianist and this was impressive? I read the real professionals say this was liking playing chopsticks. She played the same pre-recorded note for 20 sec and, that was enough for a Professional pianist like yourself to say that was impressive? Yall play too much!
LOL. I took piano lessons from the age of 5 till I was about 13. I admittedly don’t play now that I am an adult, but that was something I could have done back then. That was not impressive nor pro-level, but go off, I guess.
The singer said there were TWO pianists. So which one was playing what we heard? A mystery that may never be solved.
Laalaa, if you are really a professional pianist there is no way you are impressed by this very basic level of playing the same few chords over and over. I do not believe you.
Ha, I am not a professional pianist, but I did train formally from age 7 until 16 and I say that in order for it to BE impressive, she would lose the sheet music and play live. Nobody who is actually good needs sheet music for this simple song. It’s not like she’s accompanying multiple pieces on the spot. She has ONE song. It would be if a guitarist needed sheet music on a stand for one performance…would you look at the lead guitar and say wow, he’s impressive???!!
@lyds and someone with decent musical training would be able to take the chords the guitarist is playing and then just play a broken version of the chord to match the rhythm. I.e. if they were playing G you would play around with GBD and then switch to CEG if they moved to C and then C7 you add B in the mix. Anyone with a decent amount of musical training and knowledge of musical theory would not have to focus on their hands so much or even the sheet music because you could improvise enough to match the chords.
@Lyds – I think the sheet music is just a prop, it’s what she thinks people expect to see from a musician. I suspect (admittedly, I will never know for certain) that she memorized her meager notes. Her playing is very simple and short, so I would question why anyone with a modicum of musical talent would need sheet music for THAT.
You mean it wasn’t live?, and she played basic notes over and over, glad she could do that. However I really couldn’t understand some of the words of the song. Cudos for effort.
By the by if that mouth and look on willys’ face is one of love, well spare me, looks downright creepy.
William looks annoyed but trying to mask it and not doing well at hiding his feelings.
Yup, George probably had to teach her this basic lesson so she could pretend to be Mozart. My best childhood friend could play circles around this amateur when she was 8.
All so Keen could get praise for being a big girl who is definitely better and more loved than the other Duchess..
Shame that Whites Only Royals (and Middletons): Together At Christmas was a bigger ratings fail than Earthflop.
Why is she wearing wigs? Is there something wrong with her own hair?
She wears wiglets, which are just tiny wigs to add fullness to the hair. Kate’s hair is naturally kind of thin/fine, so she wears them to enhance her hairstyles.
Pippa’s hair is similar to Kate’s but without the extensions. In the other post there is a photo of the Middletons and you can see what Kate’s hair would look like without the wiglets.
I would have no problem with this if there hadn’t been so much Kate doesn’t make it about herself PR propaganda. Rebecca English actually excused Kate not speaking at the service by saying she wanted the focus on the charities instead ig herself unlike “certain ex royals” . It was BS and absolutely unnecessary. After all that KP releases the “festive glance” video/photo; Kate’s pre-recorded “speech”; photos of her “decorating”, a teaser promo video of her playing and then a full video of her playing. Not to mention all the stories that came before the concert. Have they released any info about the charities they were supposedly supporting. I haven’t seen any. So again it’s just performative. Also, she wore the same outfit because people who don’t know better will think she actually played live at the concert and praise her for that. Ignoring the fact that she couldn’t manage to speak live.
I am still dumbstruck that ITV released that “festive glance” nonsense as a means to pump up this special. I was scratching my head, trying to think if ITV was throwing shade at them because Will twisted their arms to air the carols special? It did nothing but call attention to the coldness between Will and Kate and subjected them to hilarious online trolling. Maybe ITV does have someone crafty running their social media and saw that the engagement numbers for their traditional promos were low and said, okay, let’s have some fun here instead and see how it goes?
I think the festive glance was tweeted by Chris Ship who said he couldn’t bring himself to write loving look but also the word festive was for Christmas lol. I mean it was funny. Like a Die Hard festive glance maybe? Mic Wright had my favorite comment about it when he said “festive” like an ice-pick to the face.
Then he added that earlier in the evening Kate was given a Jonie Mitchell cd instead of the necklace she’d been expecting, a Love Actually reference insinuating that William gave a necklace to someone else…
Chris Shipwreck from ITV, said at least he didn’t say loving.
@Jais and @Jan – Wait, Chris Ship actually said that “at least he didn’t write ‘loving'”? That’s hilarious if he openly called out the RRs’ ridiculousness about that damn “festive glance”. 😂
So I think Chris Ship technically coined it when he wrote an article saying they shared a festive glance at the concert. Unless festive glance came from somewhere else first idk?People on Twitter were commenting about the phrase and so he responded: Still better than having to write “loving look” Which I couldn’t bring myself to!! Everyone should calm down. It’s Christmas.
Did Becky English know that kate was going to do this piano thing? Because her comment about not giving a speech since kate didn’t want to “make it about herself” really makes Becky look like a fool at this point. There was nothing about that piano thing that wasn’t an exercise in ego because people who accompany the main performer normally don’t get all the camera angles like they did for her.
And of course kate has done nothing in her life about musical therapy. She doesn’t ever care about anything but herself as she has shown time and time again. This was just like the time she attended the vigil “undercover” which was done with the same level of fake humility as this was.
Catherine your posts always nail it. I immediately thought of English’s snide comment when the piano clip started circulating. I wonder if she feels stupid.
I found it cringeworthy, especially that picture of her grinning at the piano. She makes it all about herself. I hope she does not try dancing on stage to “channel” Diana but it would not surprise me.
Oh I hope she does try dancing on stage and I hope there is video shot from every possible angle. I’ll bring the popcorn!
Don’t expect too much. It will probably be prerecorded and there will be many takes, plus a body double doing all of the work.
If this was 10 years ago where I didn’t just see Regina George every time Kate does anything I would have loved this. However, I struggle to enjoy any of these ,what should be, enjoyable Royal things, when all I can think of is how viscious the media would have been in attacking Meghan for this AND more importantly how house Cambridge would have assisted the media in doing so. They have a lot to account for. It’s like watching the high school bully receive a reward.
High school bullies and mean girls at KP. The kind you avoid at reunions bc they’re so embarrassing and still reliving their glory days.
This sums up my feelings pretty well. I genuinely don’t understand why I’m supposed to be impressed that a grown woman, who works 60 days a year, picked up a hobby during the pandemic. Like, I know it’s noteworthy bc of it’s novelty, but how does this clearly self-serving action make her a better person? Guess I can’t see past my bias.
It was fine but as always with KP, they mess things up in the details. They are so determined to “win” this one sided competition they have going with MM, it’s really sad. MM and Harry just seem to live rent free in KP’s head. Oh well.
I’m just shocked that she took initiative to do something that takes time and effort. Usually it’s just her team basically forcing her to work
I have the impression that she likes events where she gets center stage more than actual work. I think she did “practice” because I actually think she believes her over the top publicity.
I felt this way too when I first saw it, but as we learn more — it wasn’t done live/done in multiple takes, there was another pianist there, it was literally the same chords being played over and over — there actually wasn’t as much prep put into this as they’d like us to believe. This is Kate’s typical MO — put in the bare minimum and let others do the heavy lifting of propping up, massaging, and coddling. And I simply cannot give this woman credit knowing what a nasty piece of work she really is. She does not deserve it.
I agree with you @ swirlmamad! It’s hard to look at Mumbles McMutton without knowing who she truly is and give her any positive affection for her when we know she and her equally lazy and vile husband drove Meghan to suicidal thoughts.
To me, Mumbles McMutton will never be held in any regard except contempt. She created this characteristic on her own free will, as well as the Bitter Brother! They don’t deserve an ounce of empathy or congratulations.
I thought it was nice when I first saw the video but finding out that it was pretaped and she wore the same clothes makes it disingenuous for me. There are lots of people who probably don’t realize that she wasn’t performing live and had multiple chances to perfect her part (which is ok) which seems deliberately misleading.
There’s nothing genuine or authentic about Kate and her odious husband – and that is actually a HUGE problem for them. They – or their KP handlers – seem to know this and thus relies on manufactured popularity (bot buying, etc.) and deliberately misleading stunts like Kate wearing the same clothes. William and Kate are an example of the emperor’s new clothes with their staff and the RRs in the roles as the devious tailors and the sycophantic courtiers telling all and sundry of how great they are. The rest of us are like the child who said “but he has no clothes on”.
William and Kate don’t sell on their own, they don’t appeal to the very demographics that represents their future audience. What is really embarrassing for them is the fact that they barely sell with all embiggening that is done on their behalf by the national press. They are still moderately young and they can barely sustain a highly manufactured and artificially inflated interest. How are they going to do when they are older and Kate has lost her looks? (William lost his ages ago – and I actually do think that is a significant factor in the way interest in him has plummeted).
She even wore the same earrings, did the same hairstyle& makeup as when she showed up to the service
The deception was planned. Did they really think no one would notice? It just shows how lazy they are and how much they underestimate the intelligence of their audience. And all of it done to manufacture an “accomplishment” for a less than impressive clothes horse.
They can’t pretend she pre recorded it only because of nerves when she wore the exact same outfit. Kate never repeats anything that quickly so already we know she meant to deceive. Where are the multiple articles on that as her deception was clearly planned?
I did Piano years ago when I was younger. I only did it for a few months and then quit lol. I’m not very musically inclined. I thought this (Kate playing the piano) was fine. Even simple pieces can be quite hard depending on who you are and doing this would have taken some practice aka work on Kate’s end. I know I struggled with piano so maybe I’m just speaking from my own experience and this is in fact “easy” to do? Honestly, if I were KP, I would have been advertising this like 8 years ago lol. It’s the first time in what? years that we’ve gotten a decent personality trait about Kate. Or make it tradition that Kate accompanies someone every year for Christmas.
But I don’t think she’s some brilliant expert and that’s OKAY! Not everyone can be great at everything and it’s okay to be a hobbyist/average at it. I think that’s something KP needs to understand.
what was off putting was the DM having countless negative comments about Meghan and how “perfect” Kate is. It was as if she were campaigning for Miss America with a Talent Competition. It takes a lot more to be a good future consort than that.
It was a very simple accompaniment, but she did a good job with it. Is this really the first time we’ve heard that she plays the piano and music is her solace in dark times? I wonder if this isn’t one of those Covid hobbies – like, hey I took piano lessons when I was little, let me try it again. The ability she showed in the video seems about right for year or two of intermittent lessons.
What I really want to know is what’s up with her hair? In the video it lookes especially “wigleted” like almost all of it is a wig.
Yeah. No criticism about her playing. Whatever. If she was a better person, linked her performance to charity, linked ANY event to charity, showed she cared (works) wasn’t a racist bitch to her SIL, and didn’t pretend she doesn’t want the attention, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be slammed so hard here. But 🤷🏽♀️
I love that she played the piano. I’ve not listened but when I read about it I thought it was cool & was Kate showing some verve and personality. And she looked stunning in the pics I saw by the piano with the candles.
But I think I predicted here that after Meghan did the sketch on Ellen that a royal would follow up with some stunt/performance & would be widely praised & lo and behold. So not surprised to read that Kate reached out to do this performance with Tom just a few weeks ago. And considering her royal sycophants claimed KATE didn’t do a speech as she didn’t want to be the focus- their reporting of the carol concert piano is all about Kate. I think the Mary Berry special they did was better at highlighting the charities they worked with.
I also think considering the carol concert was meant to be about thanking the various orgs it was a bit off to film the performance rather than perform it live for the audience & then pretend for the special that it happened live (that’s how it has been reported) by wearing the same outfit etc.
BBC’s Christmas carol show performed much better -apparently the royal carols got approx 1m+ viewers & didn’t win its time slot – so can see why they didn’t make room for it. I genuinely thought it would do better considering it was awful weather in England on Christmas Eve and most people would probably be at home watching tv.
She has an amazingly light touch on the piano. I didn’t see the piano keys move at all.
Hmm.
🤭😂😂🤣
I am not impressed with her “talent” and she is so embarrassing. And like Kaiser shared, why not lean into a project that incorporates her “musical ability?” Music & the Arts would have been MUCH better than that nonsense first steps of Keen Whatever she has been pushing for a decade. It is staggering how incompetent she and the team around her are. STAGGERING.
I just can’t get over how horrible this song is. Like, truly awful. It’s dull for the first half, and then he’s basically screaming “For those who can’t be here” at the end, and it’s just depressing.
She is so pathetic. And look at her wrinkled hands 💀💀💀 eww
As someone who plays and teaches piano professionally, what I saw was fine and basic. I’m not ripping it to shreds, but it was a basic piece she did fine on. I’m more annoyed by the acting like it was the second coming of Beethoven for playing a fairly elementary piece. I also feel like a lot of the coverage has veered into Jane Austen world where we discuss an accomplished woman by her hobbies.
She should have hobbies she is good at! She works very part time, has multiple nannies, and doesn’t have to work around her house. Why shouldn’t she be good at her hobbies?
This is a fair assessment. Although I wonder having read that Tom Walker mentions another pianist being present if the sound we heard is even hers.
what was off putting was how she mugged for the cameras, like that picture with her hair pulled back grinning away.
I had an instinctive “no” reaction to that photo when I first saw it. For me it reads as such an orchestrated (fake) image. It’s such a shocking contrast to the Sussex holiday card photo.
This!! Even people here are always impressed when she centers her work around her hobbies bc she shows “passion.” The standards for royals are so weird.
This was an expensive event to put on. Who benefited? Anybody but Kate’s image?
I thought the song was moving and the performance was lovely. Nice job by Kate. But yes, it also revealed how much more she can be doing. Great idea re: the charity singles.
As everything Keen does is highly edited there is no way to know if we are actually hearing her or the other pianist play. When your known for pr stunts this just seems like one more. Keen dressed up in the same red coat and tried to make it seem like she played live at the concert. They might let her think she is playing on the recording but it’s probably a professional.
Duchess Milli Vanilli.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Okay, I’m the asshole who doesn’t give two shits about this song. The only thing I’m commenting on is how hilarious it is that every look her husband gives her is a barely concealed grimace. I sense zero warmth between these two and I have to really use my imagination to think how in God’s name they conceived three children together. My husband is always smiling and kissing on me. Kate’s husband looks like he can barely tolerate her presence.
Does anyone know why the Instagram of xxposhslosh89 is no longer running? there was great commentary on that page concerning the Cambridges and now it’s gone. Also, it says a lot about this Carol service when the news is all about a piano playing copykate who had to pre-record but at the actual event she warmed her seat for an hour. I agree with other comments that they are desperately trying to keep up with California and doing everything possible to keep their names in the spotlight when California just sends one picture of their family.
Things to look for:
Daughters-lilly will be looked at to see If she takes after Diana especially since she’s has the Spencer red hair. Now Charlotte takes after the queen who does lilli look like
Will California go to the memorial service for Phillip? Will they go to the jubilee? Will the earthshot tour look like their new York trip? I think Harry only goes to the memorial service but they won’t do nothing else, but the headlines for days will be on California. Also sad note, if they go to the funeral of Tutu do you think Charles will go or get invited?
COVID is rampant around the World, flight time from LA is over 20 +hours.
Her Instagram account was gone some last month as well. I think the Kate Stan’s report her and it’s probably suspended. Her account isn’t like the Meghan hate accounts ( that never get in trouble) she just calls all of the royals out for their hypocrisy. She might be back. The last time is was gone for a week or two. Hopefully it will be back.
Oh man, I REALLY liked that account. Like Ginger said, I would bet it was the Kate fans who kept reporting it and got the account taken down.
The UK number one Christmas single is a THING, and it has been used before to raise funds and bring attention to good causes.
My hunch is that if Kate’s event were really something that had been in the works for awhile (as opposed to, ahem, not), there could have been a single released beforehand that topped the charts by the end of the year, raised money, and drew attention to the ongoing crisis in addiction and mental health. It doesn’t really matter how well she played (I thought it was fine), the focus would be on the cause. As it should be.
Think of all the fun the Cambridge social media manager could have had making sheet music come out if an antique fax machine!
That could have been her entire December of work right there, with a competent team. Ah well.
I suspect that the only cause Kate cares for is her own public image. She’d never work hard for something that doesn’t center her?
She wouldn’t have had to work anymore than what she’s done here – from what I recall of past successful UK charity Xmas singles, they are often real people or celebrities “singing”, and often cheesy af. People apparently buy them to support the cause, not for the music.
She could have had good press for years, topping the charts for charity! A woman of secret talents, so keen, so modest, not pushing herself out there, our Kate And for such a good cause!
A lot of people I am friends with are incredible piano players. At almost every party I’ve gone to over the past few years, everyone gravitates toward the piano and we’re all singing and playing showtunes.
I’d also think that growing up as Kate did, piano lessons would be mandatory and a rite of passage! Most of my friends took lessons and we were rural simpletons!
My thought on the idea Kate lacks confidence is she sure didn’t lack confidence to chase Bill for years or wear see through clothes to get his attention. No, everything is prerecorded to cover for her lack of ability. She excels pretending to be accomplished. That’s how the lazy roll.
she had orchestrated nightclub appearances during the 2007 breakup. Amazing how the press knew when she’d be there. LOL. She would wear shorter skirts and be seen with other men to get Will’s attention. She also sat at the center of the boat during Dragon Boat race (before she bolted when William wanted to get back together) while the other young women did the rowing work.
But all that chasing only required her to look good, not open her mouth or exhibit any talent. Let’s face it, neither Will nor the rest of his family ever wanted Kate because she was talented or intelligent. They wanted someone pretty who would keep her mouth shut, tow the corporate line and do as she was told.
Now Will is stuck with someone he has no respect for, and he can barely conceal his contempt.
So with this one event she managed to count each day as a separate work event, did she also count each take as a separate event too? That could be why no one saw her after that, she really did meet her numbers goal for the year and didn’t need to do any more, lol!
Another missed opportunity: Kate could have found an essential worker or child who used music to help them get through difficult times, and have them perform instead of her. Remember Lori Key, the nurse who sang Amazing Grace at the Covid-19 memorial before Biden’s inauguration? That was truly moving, and put the focus on someone who deserved to be recognized.
Exactly. That truly would be the move of someone who really didn’t want the focus to be on her, eh?
Saying someone is slow is very mean.
But she had spent nearly 20 years to be good or atleast mediocre for the job that she is crazy about.
she fail and yes she realy slow on the uptake in every think that she does so far.
sakura kate is in history books is typical of kate stan’s arguments. Does queen mother in the history book? philip? queen mary? Diana? Also when they look back why would anyone show interest in another pale white mediocre queen when they have first biracial in the family? Correct me if I’m wrong that most in the UK learn about Tudors than queen victoria because learning abt victoria opens pandora’s box because of her German connection. I hardly doubt anyone in the future will learn about queen consort Catherine. Other than white Karens nobody cares abt being queen. This pandemic more and more people wake to the fact of these lazy aholes stealing their money. In Uk only the old generation like kate most young women hate her (yes kate) because all women work for their living and are feminists and kate is an 18th-century woman.
Kate will be in the history books but for all the wrong reasons. Meghans time in the royal family will be remembered, talked about, have documentaries, tv shows and even films made about it in decades from now. But Kate and William are the villains in that story. Today’s press may cover from them, but in the future once time has passed, and perspective has set in, we will remember kate as the jealous insecure duchess who collaborated with the press to smear her much more charismatic, smarter, harder working SIL out of jealousy ,insecurity and racism.
Other than that Kate has no other narrative other than being a stalker. What documentaries are going to be made about her life, she’s done nothing.
I’m glad she did this but I’m appalled at how little faith the RF has in her.
If I understand this correctly, the performance was prerecorded and edited and completed (and confirmed the performance was done) before the RF even publicly hinted that Kate would play the piano….
And then they had her wear the same red dress….to give the effort some extra level of courage by indicating she did it live during the public carols event.
I just find this depressing.
They can’t honestly celebrate what she did…
The RF must know that she does not like work, Camilla who is about twice her age does more. The RF just let Kate get away with it. The spin and excuses made for her started from the get go. The classic was that the Queen “wanted Kate and William to have something like the Malta years.” The thing is HM did not stay there with Phlip for two consecutive years. She also spent time in London, in the run up to Anne’s birth and she and Philip would have to leave Malta so they could pinch hit for her ailing father doing royal tours. The RF enabled Kate. I think she enabled William also not stepping up to royal duties. I can’t celebrate anything about her after the way she treated Meghan.
@Tess. I think Kate is under treatment for serious health issues that’s being covered up by the British media.
Pre-recorded and another pianist there? Yikes
How many takes? That’s what I want to know.
Tori Amos, she’s not.
I don’t find it bad, but it’s not impressive and is really just stealing the spotlight from the others that should have been the focus of the event.
If this was not performed live in front of an audience, Kate may not even be playing. It’s essentially a music video. And if she did, that’s great, but she is trying to fool us into thinking that this was performed live in front of an audience, and I’m not cool with that.
The deception in wearing the same dress to pretend it was done live is just another example of Kate being great at lying to the public with aid of the establishment media.
I liked it. It was a nice, warm Christmas moment. Not everything they do is a conspiracy.
Also, I like Meghan and Harry, just to be clear! 🙂
I saw a clip on twitter and she did fine but why are they acting like it’s the second coming of Jesus. Her fans and the British media keep saying she isn’t attention seeking yet everything about this is so contrived.
Dressing up the same the day before the carol to make it look like she was playing life is disingenuous. They call Meghan fake all the time yet Kate is one of the fakest person in that family.
And of course Meghan name is in their mouth, they can’t even praise her or give her attention without mentioning Meghan. Newsflash, Meghan doesn’t care.
Was this performance taped just for the TV broadcast?
I watched it on youtube, and the lyrics of the song were moving. I thought musically everything was fine, and Kate was fine, if a bit wooden. I would love to hear the song sung by a really fine vocalist. Looking at the whole thing in retrospect, I think the promotion was very disjointed and didn’t really reinforce the sentiments which the title implies. By dropping little trailers all over the place with Kate as the focus, it just became a Kate promotion. How about short tributes shot of the actions of the people who were being honored. The whole purpose of the whole was lost I guess because the real purpose was to promote Kate. She certainly got enough fawning press. So this thing wasn’t about Kate; they just made the whole promotion about her. I thought it was a very good idea to start with. We’re they trying to do something like the Vax concert? That had a specific purpose- to raise funds to provide material help to people, and it was an opportunity to honor health care workers.
Meghan has said that Catherine is a good person. I’m going with that and not going to criticize her for something I would have been too nervous to do.
I thing Meghan tries to see the good in people.
But a good person wouldn’t have been trying to bully her pregnant sister-in-law to suicidal ideations and a later miscarriage using a racist lie.
Kate is not a good person. She’s a monster.
Kate should have denied the crying story to begin with. Meghan was being nice.
Meghan had no choice but to say that. I believe she looks for the good in people, but she would’ve been crucified even more than she already has been had she even hinted at “attacking” the perfect white English rose duchess. Point blank period. Kate is NOT a good person.
Any excuse to defend a racist white woman, eh Linder? LOL.
When you don’t experience anti-blackness and so you don’t catch the nuances. Every black person knows exactly why Meghan said that Kate was a “good person” and it’s not because she believes it.
Word, @Nyro.
👏🏽👏🏽Nyro.
Didn’t Meghan say that Kate is BASICALLY a good person? I can’t quite recall. But that would imply that on top of the thin layer of basic goodnesss (afterall, she is not an axe murderer!) there are many more layers that definitely are not good.
And this is why I was kind of annoyed at Meghan for saying that, Kate stans taking it and running with it. I don’t know Kate but what I see of her is NOT a good person.
Meghan was way too generous there, but what do I know I’m a petty bitch, I would of went to town on the racist cow!
Meghan also said that Kate let a lie fester when she could have refuted it, but you all never remember that part.
I think that was a veiled way of telling us that William is the problem and Kate has to put up with that hypocritical man and go along with his shenanigans.
I agree.
@ PrincessK said:
“… that was a veiled way of telling us that William is the problem and Kate has to put up with that hypocritical man…”
^^ Uh, no. It’s as plain as day that Kkhate switched universities and stalked William for ten years because of his heir-to-the-throne status (at her mother CarolE’s behest), until she finally got Diana’s ring on her finger.
None of the young women in the aristocracy wanted William nor ‘married-in to the gilded cage’ status! So Kate got what she was after! But as it all turns out, did she? Will she? She shoulda been careful what she was wishing for and stalking after.
Upshot: Kate deserves William, and William deserves Kate. They deserve each other. From how W&K both treated Meghan, especially during her pregnancy with Archie, and also how W&K always piggybacked on Harry’s ideas but couldn’t be happy for him when he met the love of his life, I think we all know Cain and Unable are NOT ‘good’ people. Meghan said what she needed to say during the Oprah interview. Nothing more, nothing less.
ITA with @Nyro, @Bex, and @swirlmamad!
What a poser – deceitfully misleading the television audience into believing she played during the live recording by dressing up in the same clothes! I am disgusted how the reporting on the program focuses on Kate as the star, making it all about her. But that seems to be exactly what she wanted.
What we saw was masterful delusion, not a masterful performance. Her hands remain glued to the position all beginners start in, which is at middle C. Like this she can’t get lost on the 88 keys, safely sticking to ten white keys and avoiding all those ‘difficult’ black keys.
For someone who has apparently been playing piano for 29 years, she has sadly never progressed from elementary level. This was nothing but a cheap stunt. Her true talent lies not in music, but in the art of deceit.
spot on comment. I started playing piano as an adult last January and took most of the past 6 months off. granted I have a good teacher but Kate’s performance shows little to no musicality, her arms are stiff as hell and she’s clearly not watching the singer…
who are they kidding? this b does not play piano on the regular
wonder what was the reaction from people sitting in the Church seeing her recorded performance dressed in the same clothes. People must realize she’s about to fool the audience at home
I suspect she took lessons for a few years as a kid then never played again after that. She was staring at her hands a lot and no one who has consistently played piano for decades, even infrequently would be staring at your hands for a basic song like that. And I agree she should have been looking at the singer because that’s when you get your cues to start the verse or chorus, etc.
Two years, from 11-13, confirmed by the family’s piano teacher (she, her mother and siblings all took lessons – they obviously had a piano in the house).
I had previously said she did a passable, competent job, but upon reviewing, I’m starting to see what others are saying: in the last refrain, when the right hand is supposed to play the same notes but a few octaves higher, her position stayed at middle C and what she was playing did not match what we were hearing (for those interested, it’s at the 2:46 mark)
It saddens me that a simple piece of music meant to uplift has turned into a (rightful) investigation into what is or isn’t authentic. And the fact that a second piano was there and the pianist not featured? Who does she think she is? Natalie Portman in Black Swan??
LOL! Duchess Milli Vanilli; Natalie Portman in Black Swan ROFL!
Oh my … I gotta laugh! Laughter is the best medicine. Thanks you guys! Celebitches are the best!
Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks for keepin’ it real!
While Natalie Portman trained a lot for Black Swan she didn’t actually dance the big solos – and the ballerina who did actually complained that her contribution to the movie was basically unacknowledged by the PR due to the Oscar push for Portman. I found that completely fair. That ballerina is an incredibly accomplished artist (the principal solos in Swan Lake are famously some of the most difficult dancing in classical ballet).
So happy to be blissfully ignorant of this event. None of this nonsense, apart from a bit of scoffing, came across my timeline.
If she wasn’t getting so much praise for this performance, it would be easier to like it or at least, not to be annoyed by it.
40 years old woman played (or not really played, we’d never know) piano. Good for her, I’d say. Though, I couldn’t bring myself to hear it. I felt kind of aversion (maybe too strong word). Why I feel so: firstly, the deception – her handlers made it look like she played live. Seconly, the hysterical undeserved praise she got for this video. Thirdly, the lack of purpose apart from self-promotion. At last, her personality. I can’t believe she is capable of empathy for the other people suffering.
All these Christmas “performances”, the Queen’s speech included, reek of copying Sussexes. It’s like PR people told RF to be “human”, to show some feelings, to expose some everyday traits or skills (not that they have many).
Willy in shorts bringing Keen gin and tonic, Keen playing piano and making chutney, Queen suddenly being personal and speaking about her feelings – all this is just an attempt of PR professionals to “build image”, IMO. All this started after Sussexes’ success.
^^ +1,000!!!
Re: Kate vs. Diana playing– I’d forgotten that Diana once played impromptu. Clearly Kate hadn’t.
It’s interesting that I’ve yet to see any articles comparing the two. Kate usually likes to hit us over the head when she copies Diana. I’ve seen nothing on piano playing (correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s been no comparison articles?). That seems off brand for Katie Keen. Could it be she knows any comparison will result her looking lame and is thus not going there?
Diana’s grandmother Lady Fermoy had trained to be a concert pianist. She made sure her granddaughters learned to play piano, from the sample playing of Diana, Diana learned her lessons well.
The ibtimes has an article about fans comparing Kate’s playing to Diana’s. eyeroll.
A lovely performance of a very moving song. I enjoyed it.
honestly, I loved it.
Director: No, Duchess, remember, we talked about this. We’re not filming the end of a shampoo commercial, you’re playing the piano…no, we’re also not filming a commercial for women’s shaving cream. Piano!
I saw the whole concert and it was nice and Christmassy, I think the contributors like the performers, choir and civilians taking part were all very nice. Kate playing the piano was ok, I don’t think she can actually play the piano, because that takes years. but she kinda of reminds me of when I used to play as a kid, and I would practice the same song over and over again, then I would perform to an audience. If children can learn to play songs on the piano at a basic level then anyone can.
I think she’s someone who probably hasn’t played in years, but has probably been taking a lot of lessons for this ‘performance’. I did jokingly think that her piano teacher is a good looking handsome man, that’s she’s crushing on, hence her actually showing up to lessons.
But she was literally smiling during the performance, probably thinking about how much the press would embiggen her for it.
The bar is beneath the floor for this woman. I only watched a short clip but no, I wasn’t impressed with what I saw. Charlotte could have done that. It was a cheap and brazen embiggening stunt. And I’ll never praise or give her credit for anything that we all know the biracial duchess would gave been dragged to hell for. Absolutely not. I’m delighted to see that the show completely flopped in the ratings.
Milli Vanilli/Karen Pianilli…she faked and played 2 chords throughout while another pianist played…
https://twitter.com/ntsikasaunty/status/1475523378102644737?s=20
100%. I played piano for 20+ yrs & I agree with that tweet @merrycat. All of it. The chords were akin to Pachelbel’s Cannon in D. Easy. This is movie level staged playing. 3 chords. Zero wrist movement. And I snickered at the comment of a light touch. Definitely Milli Pianilli
They called her Kale in that tweet and I’m crying 😂 (Although I do enjoy a good kale salad so don’t do my greens like that either! They are more likable than Milli Pianilli, lmao)
@Ginger
PLEASE can you share a link to this interview?
I’m not allowed to post the link but it’s from the Independent.
The interview with Tom Walker talks about the rehearsal and the taping and in it he mentions that there was another pianist there along with the strings players.
Those repetitive chords were not always in tune were they? And did you see the camera cut away when the key changed?
All this fuss and heavy promotion about this concert (the Kate show) where she played chords and it was a ratings bomb. Meghan taking down the Fail is a more impressive feat.
I chime in with everyone who pointed out the Victorian-era rich woman with hobbies vibe. I wonder how many tens of thousands of pounds (or worse – people providing their services for free under pressure because a Royal is asking for it) she has spent on lessons for all the hobbies we have found out about years after her marriage. The piano. The sketch of the church at Pippa’s wedding. The 2 week cookery course that cost at least 2500 pounds and she skipped most of due to illness. How many $5,000 2 week camps for rich people have there been? All these silly little nonsense hobbies that super wealthy married women did to pass the time before the 60s. Next it will be watercolors like her father in law. And, she absolutely made it all about her.
Oh get over it. Some people have hobbies.
But not everybody can spend thousands on them when there are cheaper alternatives like free online videos or just tutoring under one of the chefs already in a palace.
If she’s such a keen and skilled pianist I like how it has taken them 10 years to come up with the idea to do this
Good idea about a single to raise money for charity. Hmmm, would the actual piano player have to be credited?
Are we being set up for SNL to mock this so Harry and Meghan are “forced” to highlight bullying directed at the Duchess? And what will they do?
Stay tuned…
This is terrible. I feel that Kate has terrible anxiety but still, the infantilizing of this 40 year old woman continues.
Kate’s handler: So you said you play the piano, right? On the duchess resume you submitted when William was looking for a companion you said you studied up to Grade 5 theory. Brilliant.
You have GOT to play at this concert we are setting up to embiggen you. Wait what? You can’t? Ok, how about if we let you play last, will that work? No? Ok, we can pre-record it the day before out of the public eye? What? Still too nervous. Ok, we can arrange to have a backup pianist who may either play along, or step in if you really can’t do it or we will use to dub the really bad parts you play. Still too nervous? How about we have your mom, dad, sister and brother there in the rehearsal to support you. That works? YAY!
My GOD. If she is too anxious, nervous, uncomfortable to do something why the HELL do they keep forcing her to do this shit. William went to Eton and I am sure they spent a fortune on some music lessons, why aren’t they pushing HIM to do some public playing of an unused skill, which is primary level at best. The way they put all the pressure on the married ins is just sickening to me.
Kate is supposed to be doing royal appearances and working on her charities (though she pays more attention to sports related). Princess Anne never went in for “entertaining” people. She was serious about equestrian sports in her younger days though, but she still managed to get good work numbers. Kate never seemed uncomfortable in the days when she was campaigning to marry William, she was right out there in the media. She could have been doing more work over the last ten years. Kate really had little pressure on her. She was enabled for years at doing very little work with spin offering all sorts of excuses. She and William over the summer “returned” from a long vacation, did some appearances including a film premiere, then off they went on another trip. I don’t see these two pressured. I think both like a lot of attention on them but putting in little work.
@Tessa. I think Kate is under treatment for some serious health issues which is being covered up by the British media and the Royal family.
@Marivic people can’t mention the subject of her weight without being accused of body shaming even though it’s obvious something isn’t right..
I don’t think the entire decade of being lazy can be explained away by a potential health issue the entire time.
Is it all the pressure being put on her or was it her own idea? Charles has played the cello publicly before and performed on stage.
sooo many royals posts! i remember this site as being more spicy. so much gossip online is about the UK royals, and it seemed to amp up after trump won the election. i suppose we wanted something else to think about -but are just not that compelling to be read about daily – her buttons, her piano piece, Wills is grouchy about Harry, again. who decides what is gossip-worthy? ugh.
There’s plenty of non-royal content on Celebitchy. Not to mention a ton of other sites out there to get celebrity news from also. This is the one place I know I can come to get fair-minded info on Harry and Meghan, and will tell it like it is in regards to the ridiculousness that is William and Kate. Clearly there are lots of us here who find this royal gossip interesting.
yes : ) that is a good point, you will find william and kate held up to the light here.
Well my first thoughts were good for her, l was actually quite moved by the music and singing and even though she is no concert pianist it still takes guts to perform in front of a live audience.
But now l am hearing that it was pre recorded. Where is the proof of this? So what happened during the actual concert? Did they all watch a video of Kate playing the piano? I cannot believe that happened. The singer actually said that they were both nervous about doing it, so l think she actually did it in front of everyone. The singer was present in the Church surely? If she didn’t do this in front of everyone she fooled me and a lot of other people and she shouldn’t have worn the same clothes because that is being deliberately deceptive.
But it is still the most interesting thing she has ever done in my opinion.
https://www.vogue.com/article/kate-middleton-royal-carols-piano-performance
Read halfway down — it says that it was “recorded earlier this month on the day before the service under strict secrecy” and notes she wore the “same sleek scarlet coat dress with a bow detail”. She did not play the piano in front of that audience. What’s the saying? Fool me once….
The Tom Walker interview also confirms that there was another pianist present when they pre recorded this as well. So we have many layers of deception here.
I thought the performance was “fine” but wow, if she’s really into music and performing, it’s really a missed opportunity for her to make our part of her mission. She could champion getting accessible music and theater programs to children and youth. It would tie in nicely to both mental health and early years, and keep her safe from inadvertently getting too political.
…Are you listening JASON??!
So the “festive ” glance William and Kate gave was an acknowledgment that she was pulling off another prank. Her fans went wild, believing that she had delivered a painful blow to Meghan. Why can’t the courtiers accept the truth; Kate has limited skills. She could have benefitted most from Meghan’s presence in that family, but jealousy and envy blinded her. The only time Kate was who she wanted to be was during her wild and carefree college days. Everything else was for the sake and pleasure of someone else, preferably her mother or her husband. If she doesn’t find an outlet soon, she may
have a nervous breakdown. The show flopped; there were less than 2 million views. If the viewing audience was informed that it was pre-recorded, I don’t believe the criticisms would be as harsh. But since she tried to “pull a fast one,” she got what was earned. My advice to her is to pick a lane and proceed with caution.
Kaiser, your “wiglet” comment did not go unnoticed by me – LOL
There was nothing wrong with her performance. I have played piano all my life and her playing was fine. She looked nice, the song was nice, she was on the background (didn`t try to overshadow the main musician or anything, if that`s what troubles you all). The prerecording was done because any actual musician knows that anything could go wrong during a live performance. If she was nervous then prerecording was the way to go. Get over yourselves and bitch about something worth bitching about.
I don’t think the problem is that she pre-recorded. It’s that she dressed entirely the same way and tried to make it look like part of the actual concert. It’s the misleading. Tell me that everybody on SM wouldn’t be commenting on that fact instead of any talent displayed were it Meghan. The double standard of praising one woman for what another is severely denigrated for is the main problem. It’s dishonest like the Flybe stunt.
Nice try. Actual musicians practice significantly to ensure they can play live. That’s the whole point of being a musician. Weddings, funerals, church services, recitals happen around the world without pre recording anything because in the real world things happen on the day they are scheduled and musicians with any skill can perform on the day they are required to since they took the time to practice and be ready for the event. And it’s clear she wore the exact same outfit and jewelry for the pre-recording because she wanted to deceive the public on this and have the media coo about her piano skills. She’s never worn anything two days in a row so this wasn’t an accident.
These people are bankrolled – by the British public – for a life of service. That’s their role. We don’t pay them to be performers, so that they can have the spotlight shining on themselves, their ‘talents’. Yes, the event was for a cause, but did Kate desperately need to pull focus? Just more ego stroking for Keen and Keener.
How fuvking embarrassing. As @mariposa mentions above you can see where she’s playing – the early simple section of repetitive chords that are played mechanically. The way you play if you’re just trying to play the correct notes so it sounds ham-handed with no modulation. Then there’s a shift mid way when it’s very clearly a professional pianist we’re hearing. You feel moved because this pianist is actually able to convey emotion in the playing. Also the section is much harder to play. Then back again to princess chopsticks. I only listened once so I don’t know much more switcheroo went on.
It’s so embarrassing that ALL THESE PEOPLE had to be in on it – the other pianist, the singer, the backup singers, the camera guys, the lighting guys, the sound guys (saying guys gender neutrally), the footage editors… They ALL had to know that she was simply not playing the harder parts and/or heard her butcher it.
I barely play and I would NEVER let myself get recorded in a home video playing the part she played … It’s like “look at my macaroni art! Aren’t I talented?!” from a 40 year old woman who has so the time and money in the world to become proficient at it.
This woman isn’t shy. She’s shameless.