I have genuinely enjoyed all of the conspiracies about the current People Magazine cover story, “The Making of a Queen: How Kate is shaping her role for the modern world and modeling herself on the reigning queen.” Incidentally, both of those things can’t be true at once. Kate can’t “shape her role for the modern world” AND “model herself” on QEII, a 96-year-old woman who wishes it was still 1953. As I said, I’ve enjoyed the conspiracies about why People put Kate on the cover and the timing of it and what it says about the Cambridge marriage. The thing I wish people would remember is that Kate isn’t actually capable of playing four-dimensional chess. Her PR is so simplistic, it’s actually kind of funny. This People cover story was meant as nothing more than sugary keenery about how Kate is perfect and “just like the Queen.” Now, I do think the timing is interesting. This cover came out immediately following the blind item about William’s alleged sexual proclivities and the persistent rumors of Will and Kate’s separation.
Anyway, People Mag continues to release the cover story in drips and drabs, which is why I almost missed this hilarious excerpt. Apparently, Kate needs to remind everyone that she’s super-duper prepared for all of her meetings, and the Queen treats her like a prime minister!!! LMAO.
Kate Middleton is well-prepped for her royal role. The Duchess of Cambridge has had a lifetime to learn from Queen Elizabeth — first as a subject from afar, then as a member of the royal family for 11 years.
Although her roots aren’t royal (as the oldest of three children of entrepreneur parents, she grew up in an affluent but not aristocratic family), her instincts are —including a natural affinity for connecting with the public. Kate, like the Queen, is “able to make each person feel that they are being seen for the three seconds she talks to them,” author and historian Amanda Foreman, author of Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. This quality, adds Foreman, “projects immediacy and makes it feel intimate, which is amazing — there are people who simply can’t do that. It is training plus innate talent.”
And diligent preparation. “Catherine always does her homework and doesn’t go on visits on a wing and a prayer,” says an insider. “She has read the papers and puts in the effort. She is a hardworking person.”
As patron of a number of charitable organizations, Kate stays informed on key projects and initiatives and spotlights their work through her various engagements. Kate is also a modern woman who is nonetheless amenable to the centuries-old power structure of the family business.
“It’s a personal willingness to conform to the requirements of the institution,” says historian Sarah Gristwood, author of Elizabeth: Queen and Crown. “That sounds like an unappealing, unglamorous virtue, but it’s an important one if you’re going to be a successful cog in the royal wheel.”
Not one to hand down explicit “lessons,” it’s unlikely the Queen has ever formally tutored Kate. Instead, Gristwood tells PEOPLE that the Queen may have approached her relationship with Kate the way she does with prime ministers.
“The Queen has always preferred to do rather than to say,” Gristwood says. Adds the Queen’s biographer Sally Bedell Smith: “Catherine has learned by observing. She knows what resonates. She will have absorbed a lot from this Queen.”
So, what is Kate and the Middleton PR machinery actually trying to tell us? They’re trying to tell us that Kate is in it for the long haul, that she’s not going to be thrown over for any of William’s side chicks, that Kate will be Queen even if she has to peg grind away, day and night. to make it work. Plus, there’s the heavy emphasis on Kate pretending to be “credible” and “smart,” which is something that’s come up a lot in recent years. I dare say that it would be difficult to find a woman more incurious, less intellectual or more ill-suited to the role of Queen Consort, but the Middleton PR demands that everyone see Kate as some kind of deep thinker who has binders full of data and pie charts. Please. I’ve seen the “work” handed to Kate and she should be embarrassed. The fact that she thinks she’s pulling off this charade should tell you how deeply unserious she is.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Backgrid.
-
- North America Rights Only – Copenhagen, Denmark -20220222-Catherine Duchess of Cambridge Visits the LEGO Foundation PlayLab at the Carlsberg Campus, University College Copenhagen, Denmark, on day one of a two-day working visit with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: PA IMAGES/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220616- Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood host a roundtable at the Royal Institution in London, attended by representatives from the early years sector alongside the Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Minister for Families Will Quince and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: PA Images/Chris Jackson/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220616- Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood host a roundtable at the Royal Institution in London, attended by representatives from the early years sector alongside the Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Minister for Families Will Quince and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: PA Images/Chris Jackson/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220616- Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood host a roundtable at the Royal Institution in London, attended by representatives from the early years sector alongside the Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Minister for Families Will Quince and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: PA Images/Chris Jackson/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
-
- BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to SportsAid House at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on August 02, 2022 in Birmingham, England. The Duchess became the Patron of SportsAid in 2013, Team England Futures programme is a partnership between SportsAid, Sport England and Commonwealth Games England which will see around 1,000 talented young athletes and aspiring support staff given the opportunity to attend the Games and take a first-hand look behind-the-scenes.,Image: 711488130, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
-
- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Catherine Duchess of Cambridge visits the team leading the Playful Learning Programme, a partnership between the six university colleges in Denmark and the LEGO Foundation with a vision to enhance children’s creative and experimental approach to learning. Her Royal Highness will be given an overview of the program before joining a group of students taking part in activities as part of their learning. The PlayLab is a creative learning environment for students who are training to be early years professionals. The idea of playful learning is based on the concept that children who play develop the essential skills which will help them navigate through adult life, including problem-solving, negotiating, adapting, and thinking strategically. Pictured: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 22 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club in Windsor. Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge BACKGRID USA 6 JULY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Windsor, UNITED KINGDOM – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the Out-Sourcing Inc. Royal Charity Polo Cup at Guards Polo Club in Windsor. Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge BACKGRID USA 6 JULY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attends The Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 10, 2022 in London, England. Pictured: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 10 JULY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Kate could not even be bothered to get a degree in her great so called interest in child psychology and development she had years to do this and people making it seem she will be monarch is a joke
I think Williams latest mistress is clever. Hence the Middletons Pr in the last couple of years claiming Kate is smart, and educated, which they never used to say.
And whoever said she was hard working was either Carole or well paid.
I agree because Carole had no issue saying that being good at speeches wasn’t required back when it was just Meghan excelling at that. So there is someone else triggering this “let’s pretend kate isn’t a shallow mannequin” attempted rebrand.
Middleton camp never talks about her roots – I find it very strange that they are bringing up how she’s from an influential not aristocratic family, that she isnt born royal.
Also weird that they in this case they wouldnt bring up her university diploma, I guess that doesn’t weigh enough…
What’s even funnier , she doesn’t really need a degree, just tell your staff to reach out to couple of organization and ask what is needed and then tell the staff to do it in cooperation with those organizations! If she went to a couple of meetings and really listened to them without focusing on making faces and hair flips she would find out basic things. She just cannot be bothered and never will be. When her kids are grown and she really has to let go of “hands on mummy” I bet we’ll hear about a vague illness that prevents her from working.
That pie chart will never not be hilarious. As the old saying goes, show don’t tell. They keep telling us she’s hardworking and prepared, but it certainly has never showed.
reminds me of the pie chart that has two sections with captions “people who think ‘x”” and “people who think “x” but in yellow. it would be funny if it wasn’t so stupid.
The question also has as much relevance as asking how many people like cake and how many like pie.
Pie chart was hilarious. Questions were obvious and were written in a way to get the answer they’re looking for from people with half a brain, like “do you think early years are important?” Or “do you not think that early years are not important?” lol
That meeting with Health Ministry where she was wearing a pink suit, the DF had pics of Health Minister and others. Not a single person took any notes ..yes, they showed the writing pads. The meeting was pure fluff, because Health Minister resigned 48 hours later along with a few other ministers.
“ able to make each person feel that they are being seen for the three seconds she talks to them,”
Oooh! Three WHOLE seconds!? Seriously, who wrote this? Do they think this is a compliment? 3 seconds is the length of time she can engage with an adult before she exposes herself as a complete light weight.
A total lack of self-awareness in that comment.
Royal dish forum used to constantly criticise Kate, then something changed and it turned into sugary praise, don’t know why? Anyway when it was still against Kate, there was a thread titled “Kate sees you, yes she really does….” Which was dedicated to photos of Kate meeting, or shaking hands with the public, whilst her eyes or entire head were turned the other way, not looking at them at all. Usually looking at the cameras.
There was another thread called Kate camera hungry eyes. Full of photos of her turned to look at the camera, whilst everyone else around her was looking in a different direction.
Did the change happen around the time Meghan came in the scene? Even the tabloids used to be more critical, but after Meghan, she became the jewel of the monarchy who never put a foot wrong.
Haha wowow now I want to find that!
Chiming in to say the change in RD’s tone over the past five years has been so stark, that it almost seems as though they’ve been bought out by KP.
They changed once Meghan arrived. The Harry and Meghan part of that forum was disgusting, to the point where it kept getting shut down (when your hatred for Meghan is so extreme that a forum for snarking about the royals bans mentioning her, you know it’s bad). They hated Meghan so much that somehow Kate got painted as a saint in comparison. Even among the wider royal fandom, Kate doesn’t really have fans, just Meghan haters.
The change happened when Meghan arrived and especially once the engagement was announced. Then suddenly everything they criticized Kate for they ignored and turned on Meghan. They also kicked out anyone who tried to defend Meghan or at least point out the hypocrisy of what they were doing.
Threads were constantly being locked because of the few who tried to run against the kate is a saint narrative.
I don’t even think it was KP that changed this because the original moderators stayed the same. I suspect it was xenophobia and racism that did it.
After RD shut down that section, the racists moved to RoyalInsight and destroyed it. The moderators are on board with the hate, embrace it, and delete any comment that mentions the racism of the posts or posters. ‘We are very much not a racist hate forum’ is their new mantra, even though that’s exactly what they are. Thankfully another public hate forum (many are hidden deep web), RoyalGossip, has closed too. They’ve reincarnated a couple of places but don’t have the big presence they used to. TRF is off the rails too.
A double dose of pathetic from the keen nitwits this morning!
The whole constantly prepared, doing her homework and not going on engagements on a wing and a prayer is a slight at Billy who is notorious for not putting any prep work for engagements.
These stories and the whole not wearing her ring and “leaking” Keen arrived separately at a joint engagement engagement w/their daughter to me sounds like they’re PR (notably Middleton PR sanctioned by the Courtiers) trying to squash the pegging rumours which came from their camp in the first place to put Billy in his place. The fact this is in People is Billy’s tabloid magazine (that is what People in the US is nowadays) so he def sanctioned this.
Billy himself is not popular. Not only does his resemblance to Diana lessen as each day goes by, he’s like his dad he doesn’t have the looks nor charisma. The fact that after The Queen, Keen is the most popular shows how there is no star in the RF. I don’t think W wants to marry someone like his mum (looks and charisma) b/c they will overshadow him. The fact Keen consistently polls higher than him b/c she’s an aristo barbie shows just how bad he is at his job. Charles at least does his homework and can engage in conversation which can charm folks but that he exudes natural charm, no.
She doesn’t prepare any more for her engagements than he does. Hell, she’s cancelled short notice before more times than he has.
Kate is popular because she’s married to him and people can project some Cinderella fantasy, but if they were separated nobody would care about her.
The Middletons put out articles all the time where they make swipes at William and he doesn’t seem to care, I would bet it’s because he knows she has no real power to do anything and if he chose, he could easily drown out this nonsense.
I don’t know if I buy the rumors came from them. UK journalists have said more than once they wish they could talk about William but can’t. And I can’t think that Kate would want her name involved in this kind of discussion in any way – how unregal!
William does not come off as a mumbling fool when he has to give a speech. He’s not great at it but at no time does anyone cringe in embarrassment as when kate speaks. She’s useless and a dimwit. When you have to read your own name off a cue card for a brief introduction you are super lazy. We don’t see William read cue cards like this.
And she looked like an idiot in front of Dr. Jill Biden because she has no idea what she is saying about children’s issues. She repeats talking points over and over again even if they don’t make sense. I don’t recall any comparable situation where William looked as foolish as she did.
@C I’m also not sure rumors of Prince Pegging were Middleton leaks. Their PR has always been about what a “solid marriage” (or partnership) they have and how Bully leans on the Keen rock and that they’re stronger than ever. Yes they’ve shamed William before, but Kate being unfazed by physical affairs, only emotion ones (per the Deux Moi) is not a good look. The rumors also allude to Rose, which makes me think it’s not them—Camp Middleton was never behind the reveal of the Rose affair. Kate knows she will lose badly if she comes for Rose as her thorns are more far-reaching than Wisteria Lane.
I’m more in the mind of the BP knowing what they know and leaving little breadcrumbs for their own amusement, as they’re officially muzzled from reporting the real news.
To me it was also way too well written to be from Middleton camp. I mean, look at Uncle Gary’s interview, “best heaven sent” it would be nonsense. I think an enterprising reporter tired of not reporting is my best guess.
There’s been a few other Royal related tips sent to deux moi, and I think they were from Middleton/KP camp because they were almost unintelligible and sloppy (Got the names of the ppl they supposedly saw W+K palling around with wrong, emphasized they snogged, etc.)
I do think Charles has charisma and is very caring.
Probably in the late seventies and early eighties when he was action man (dubbed by the media). I don’t see Charles as having charisma, he does work and is interested in causes but I don’t see him as very caring. If he were, I think Meghan and Harry would still be in the UK with their children.
Being charming and having charisma are two different things. And as for caring: charles has shown callous disregard for his wife and the mother of his children; as well as callous disregard for his own son and the entire world saw this. These are unforgivable infractions for the laws of decency for a man who wants the world to see him as a decent human being so I doubt anyone could accuse him of being ‘caring’ – no matter how hard he’s tried, over the decades, to pretend that he has this ability.
Charles can be charming when he wants……not always; (he’s shown in public that he can be a nasty charmless snooty bore and he becomes super sarcastic when he’s annoyed.) He can play the charming prince to perfection. But then, pretentiousness is his superpower.
Charisma? First of all, its a rare trait; and importantly, its born from certain innate qualities, the primary one of which is being genuine/sincere/having natural charm…etc. So…..charisma? charles? No.
Charles has spent a lifetime being resentful: first, towards his parents, based on his perception (real & imagined) that they were cold and treated him harshly; and secondly, he’s been resentful for the length of time he’s had to wait for the crown.
So in conclusion: charles has perfected the art of being princely (in public); he does this very well because he’s a great pretender and is super aware of his birthright and heritage.
But beneath his pretentiously charming displays, he’s full of resentments which is very typical of men with “small man syndrome” aka Napoleon complex.
How can you say he’s caring when he nearly destroyed Diana’s life? She became depressed, bulimic, and suicidal because of his ongoing affairs with Camilla and others. Was he caring when he gaslighted her, was jealous of HER charisma, and demeaned her again and again?
How can you say he’s caring when he was part of the efforts to push Harry — his own son — Meghan and his grandson out of their lives and work in England? How he ignored Meghan’s obvious distress at the intolerable, iron-fisted control by the Firm and dangerous amounts of racism and hatred she faced?
How can you say he’s caring when he pulled security for them, knowing that Harry has a target on his back because of his tours of duty in Afghanistan?
You must be a deranger to make comments like that.
I never saw the queen slide down a slide I guess sliding was Kate ‘s idea
If she read her notes and prepared, then she would be able to talk coherently about the things she wants us to believe she’s knowledgeable about. She’s not.
If she read her notes and prepared, then she would have added some value to her charities in the decade that she’s been a royal. She’s hasn’t.
If she read her notes and prepared, then her meeting with Dr Biden wouldn’t have been embarrassing. It was.
Do these insiders realise that they’re making her look worse to anyone paying attention? If this is her after preparing, then dear lord she must have been a mess before. (The answer is that they’re banking on people not paying attention.)
That meeting with Dr. Biden still bothers me! Does Kate have any sense of shame to see how bad she looked? I know we all know the answer…
I also think it’s interesting that if one didn’t know any better, one would think William is ascending the throne any day now. Like I get that Charles won’t have a super long reign, but it might still be 25+ years before King William. If nothing else, the Middletons need to cool it down with the future future queen PR.
Exactly, Belli!!
Who thinks she is popular in those surveys
Are those surveys even true?
76% doesn’t know the first few years are that important? I don’t even have kids and know something as basic as that.
Very old Tory folk.
If it was a survey on a card that got mailed to every UK resident with all the royal names in the line of queen, Charles, cam, will, Kate, Harry, Meghan. And you only had to list 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 in order of who you like the most. And you can not mark next to a name you don’t like at all. Well, that would be an honest survey.
Like a census.
Is there an organization that hands out awards for ‘best photo selection’? You really deserve that Kaiser. Perfectly complementing the story everytime. Chapeau!
I think most Americans have no idea what her voice sounds like. She literally never speaks on anything of note.
I wish American media would call her out for once. What exactly has Kate accomplished? What is the goal of Early Years?
So…is the “always prepared and always reads her papers” a dig at The Other Brother, who has bragged about not reading his briefing papers because he thinks he’s the smartest egg in the room?
Other than that, this just seems like the usual Midds bull that gets recycled every year but we can all see with our own eyes what a lie it all is. Ms ‘can you test the smell by smelling it’ can’t even string together a few words or pronounce the names of her charities. I was just watching that video where she thanked Dr. Biden for coming and had to look at her notes about 15 times to say…thank you for coming and I hope you’ll enjoy it. She’s a literal idiot whose only interests are shopping, working out, wiglets, and flirting with yachtsmen.
Seems like more Keen colonising so attributing things that Meghan was known for (being super prepared & focused on who she was meeting)
to Kate.
I even saw a headline the other day about how Meghan & Kate share a favourite shoe brand aquazarra as if Kate wasn’t more well known for LK Bennett heels before Meghan came along.
Well according to Carole being good a giving speeches isn’t important for a princess so I’m not sure why being prepared is now something she pretends to be good at.
The Meddletons trying to make kkkate look smart while also saying she molded herself into the role is telling. Maybe the newest mistress is really smart, talented, and stands out. I think Baldimort, if truly done, would be fine with having a wife that was much better than him at royaling especially if he gets to take credit. I do wonder why the emphasis on her intelligence and work ethic is being highlighted, when it’s so easily disproven.
I think it’s mostly a reaction to Meghan being intelligent and very prepared and good at speeches. She is pulling her single white princess nonsense here. But also wouldn’t be shocked if he’s seeing that lawyer we have heard about and this is a response to that as well.
I have a few Kates in my orbit at work. They dress well, seem nice, and can play the part of a good worker. But when you ask them to do anything more than surface level stuff it falls apart.
People Magazine put out a puff piece about Kim and Pete on Thursday and they were done by Friday…just something to chew on!
Oh, we can dream! It’d be nice to watch the castle of cards crumble in real-time.
This is the laugh I needed to start my work week. People actually believe this?
Only those that wish it were true.
Word.
“able to make each person feel that they are being seen for the three seconds she talks to them,” lol the historian’s mixed Meghan with Kate
Remember one of Meghan’s last senior working royal engagements during the UKCHABB tour where M wore that beautiful Scanlan Thoedore dress? The 3 reporters that invited all mentioned how Meghan took her time read about the accolades achieved by everyone she was meeting in the room. There’s multiple accounts of M doing this by lots of people.
Also just to point out another hole in this so-called historian’s point, 1) you can’t be seen in 3 seconds and 2) if everyone feels welcome, why are more people more eager to see M than K? Remember that cute little girl from the Robert Clack school (one of my all time fave engagements of M’s)
Kate gives three seconds to people she meets how generous lol
You’re right. Right back from one of Meghan’s FIRST engagements to a youth-run radio station. This was before H and M were even married, but the people there mentioned afterwards that she already knew who they all were and what they were doing and had obviously done her reading before she got there.
Kate is an idiot. They would be better off sticking with her “hands on mum” spiel, than trying to sell her as some hard working diplomat who always does her homework.
The thing I find puzzling is that we all know CarolE is the force behind Kate and much of her puff PR. Theoretically, CarolE actually founded and runs a business. She actually is an entrepreneur – albeit not as successful as the media would have us believe. She must know Kate couldn’t run a bath. She definitely knows she has never had a job, doesn’t prepare for a damn thing ex stalking William, couldn’t read a briefing paper, can’t even say ‘hello’ without notes. Why on earth would CarolE decide to draw our attention to her daughter’s weakest areas?
CarolE, love, I should go back to the ‘Kate loves babies and is a very good mother’ stuff STAT. At least that’s less obviously utter nonsense.
And it’s a 180 from Carole saying you don’t need to be good at speeches for princessing. Pretending kate has any intellectual heft is a joke and collapses as soon as Kate opens her mouth. Even Dr. Biden could barely pretend she wasn’t dealing with a shallow dimwit.
But there’s several issues with the whole “hands-on wife and mother” PR tack as well. They are trying to use it to make Kate seem more modern and relatable to the middle-classes, but it doesn’t do much for her in that sense at all. For one thing, it’s largely expected of someone from Kate’s position and generation by this point. The whole “royal parent driving their kids to school THEMSELVES” was groundbreaking when Diana did it, because it was such a deviance from what people would have thought is the accepted norm. But Kate “should be a focused and hands-on parent compared to the previous generations of royal parents.
For another, what “hands-on” looks like for someone in Kate’s position is completely different from what “hands-on” looks like to literally everyone else. The sorts of things her PR tries to say to make her seem like a relatable and hands-on parent actually come off as seriously cringe and kind of annoying! There’s nothing relatable about much of it, and a lot of it also seems like the sorts of ideas that people who have no clue what actual parents in much of the rest of the country would find relatable! “Oh her kids are very polite and down to earth,” was one story that came out a while ago, and I remember thinking to myself, “Well yeah, no freaking duh.” Like, shouldn’t every kid be polite and down to earth? I got the distinct impression her PR people were trying to make a huge point that oh no, these are ROYAL KIDS who are being raised to be very polite and down to earth, as if that’s a huge deal when….yeah no shit, if anything, children born into that position should have caregivers who take an extra effort to ensure they’re brought up to be considerate of others and aware of their own privileges.
If Cambridge PR really wanted to go out of its way to get some good parenting PR–have Baldy spend some quality time with his kids. Have him talk about actual, specific parenting challenges that he’s faced. That would be an interesting break from existing tradition, especially if it’s done with sincerity on Baldy’s part (which, tbf, he’s managed a few times here and there).
But when you’ve got a couple of their status and rank, with three kids, an army of nannies, a largely absent aristocratic father who flits off to indulge in his own affairs, and a mother who sits at home to deputize and delegate the upbringing of the children at their country estate…it’s very difficult to spin any of that as “modern”, or “relatable”, or “groundbreaking”, when none of it really is. It’s just same old same old return to tradition that much of the British aristocracy follows to this day. Heck, even some of them have moved on from these sorts of regressive traditions.
Every time a piece like this comes out, and they do so frequently, I’m reminded of how glad I am that I canceled my People subscription.
The editor at people changed and for a second it seemed like it was going to be more balanced. Idk, this feels like a throw a dog a bone type article. Assuage the cambs.
Nothing in this piece says I know what a Counsellor of State is, you know, my future job. The fact that Kate is not on the Privy Council after 11 years in shows the Firm thinks Kate is a lightweight.
So many lies. This 40 yr old woman child is lazy. L-A-Z-Y! This goes back to college. She doesn’t have a work ethic so we’re to believe that she spends each engagement (there are sooo few) studying her notes, preparing herself with detailed information and facts so that when she’s in the presence of professionals she’s there with them on the same knowledge level? Really? The same woman who had no knowledge of the current status Faberge eggs, who couldn’t string together 10 coherent sentences with Jill Biden? That Kate? GMAFB! The only thing this vapid, incurious, lazy woman knows how to do and do well is exercise and shop. I will say her PR works on most non-royals. But that’s because they give women like her credit for the barest minimum of effort.
The opposite in this piece is more likely to true. How is Kate a hardworker and does her home work when the KP had a problem with Meghan’s work ethic?
Well clearly, this was written for an American audience. The sweet country girl with the million dollar wardrobe doesn’t play well here. Not with Meghan meeting with people like Gloria Steinem and writing and speaking about important political and women’s issues.
I’ve been reading the Palace Papers and I’m about twenty pages into the Kate “section.” Clearly Brown spoke to Kate’s authorized sources (or Kate) because the parts about her so far are the exact same kind of sugary keening as this twaddle. My goodness, do her people think we can’t see? I mean I guess I don’t keep a real close eye on her; this is the one gossip site I frequent. But lord, she’s obviously unprepared and, worse, doesn’t care.
Kate is smart, she is able to absorb through osmosis the lessons that the queen unlikely trained her on, since the queen prefers to do rather than say, lol.
Today, I saw another gem in the media about Kate that she ‘knows” how to pose so every photo of her is “picture perfect,” not mentioning the photoshopping that goes into her portraits.
This all seems like typical sugary keenery on the surface, but it’s all *incredibly* unflattering. She makes “people feel seen” in the 3 seconds she spends with them? Wow, 3 whole seconds, how generous! She “reads all the papers” before engagements, meaning that (1) she doesn’t do any actual work/research herself, she just reads the cliffs notes her team puts together and that (2) the mumbling, jazz handing fluff is what the public gets when she’s actually prepared – this is the best it’s gonna get. No, the queen didn’t actually mentor Kate, Kate learned from afar like the rest of the Queen’s subjects? And to top it all off, the Queen treats Kate like a prime minister… meaning their meetings are bureaucratically required and largely ceremonial? To the Queen, hanging out with BoJo and her actual granddaughter-in-law are basically the same thing?
Are you sure this was published in People? It’s reading more like Tatler to me.
@Sunday sorry, didn’t mean to reply on your comment. Not sure what happened.
Well of course she’s in it for the long haul. She’s been groomed by her mother for this. Her entire identity from (likely) her teen years onwards has been shaped by this desire to bag PW and become QC.
It would be sad if she wasn’t so lazy.
You’d think she might actually want to prove people wrong and do some serious work – that early years initiative could have actually been something great with the right person behind it.
Rant over, I’ll get back to my cuppa
We know and we have seen how dim and painfully incurious Kate is for well over a decade. There is a reason the press dubbed her “Cannot”. This PR makeover to re-brand her as a smart, hardworking, empathetic diplomat only occurred when Meghan joined the family because Meghan is in fact, all of these things.
This is a horrible PR look for Kate. I know she puts a lot in Carole’s hands but this is dumb and they should let professionals trying and shape her positioning because this ain’t it.
The People magazine in my grocery store (St. Louis) yesterday has Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on the cover. Where is this one with Keen on the cover being sold?
Clearly it’s Opposite Day in the UK today. Yes, she works hard and does homework. I doubt she can even help her kids do their homework.
Needed a good laugh today…
I also think this is meant to throw some shade on Megan too… The article praises Kate for her willingness to conform to the Royal institution… and from what I can see, most of the critiques about Megan, wish to re-write her history into the narrative “Megan refused to conform and convinced Harry to abandon his family” (as opposed to the story with H&M shared!).
Well considering the reputation of the BRF currently, I think that “shade” cuts both ways. Plus isn’t this the complete opposite of all the earlier stories about Kate “modernising the monarchy” and she was the “modern queen”? This piece was clearly written for the dullards in the room.
Good thing I don’t read such pablum. I’d go into sugar shock.
It slays me the way the Middleton PR machine is all about Kate being *Queen* as if she were the next Monarch instead of merely the FF King’s consort (in public & in name only) She won’t ever be The Princess of Wales either, I don’t think Charles is going to make Bill and Cathy P&P of Wales, largely because he’s a spiteful d**k and because I truly believe that there won’t be a United Kingdom or Great Britain for much longer and the people of Wales have made it abundantly clear that they do no want another P&P of Wales. So all this embiggening is an absolute hoot
Totally agree. What with the obvious rift in the Cambridge marriage, their utter bumbling of every flop tour and diplomatic roundtable disaster they do and their workshy ways, there’s no way Charles is going to give them the PoW titles. He’ll dangle it over their heads for a while to try and make them step up to the plate, but it would be like giving a couple of tempermental toddlers the keys to the kingdom. Furthermore, Scotland and Wales have been unequivocally clear in their antipathy towards the useless royals.
This is absurd. This woman is a show horse not a work horse. Even the queen complained years ago during the 10 years she waited for William she was doing nothing. What happened to Charles and Camilla? Aren’t they next?
The picture above with the pink jacket looks so much like a pleased as punch puppy who retrieved the stick successfully after 7 tries.
Is this the same Kate who, when meeting a child who slept by the train tracks and (as I remember) had been mutilated, said, “How interesting?” The same Kate who attended a Bollywood event and said she’d never seen a Bollywood movie? Oh, sorry. That was William. I guess the article is right. These two, particularly Kate, are just brilliant. On another site, someone praised Kate to the skies and used the People article as proof because People Magazine is so credible. I think people are losing their minds.