Katie Nicholl’s The New Royals features a lot of embiggening for the new Prince and Princess of Wales. You’d almost think that Nicholl was simply publishing the talking points she had been issued from Middleton Manor and Kensington Palace. In some new excerpts published by the Daily Mail, Nicholl – hold on, I’m laughing as I type this – writes about how Prince William and Kate are the “new Elizabethans” and they’re also leaning into their star-power and glamour, as evidenced by Kate’s 40th birthday portraits. LMAO. Some highlights:
The long game: The Princess of Wales, meanwhile, has notably grown into her role. Rebecca Priestley, her private secretary for six years, told the Daily Mail that Kate ‘knows every decision is for the rest of her life, everything is for the long game’, and Kate’s playing it accordingly.
Kate’s 40th birthday portraits. The images were confident, bold even. It’s no overstatement to say they heralded a new age of Kate. Taken by Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi, they showed Kate in two Alexander McQueen frocks and in jewellery from both the Queen’s and Diana’s collections. It was a significant contrast to her debut on Vogue’s cover in 2016, when she was dressed in a brown country coat and a green fedora. William had been wary about her doing things that could be seen as too showy. At that time, he didn’t want her to do anything that might be compared to the famously sexy yet sophisticated portraits of his mother by Mario Testino.
William has mellowed about Kate’s consumption glamour: A former aide says: ‘William has always been very firm that his role is about duty, not celebrity, but he recognises in today’s world that he and Kate can use their global profile as there is a huge amount of interest in them. There is always something meaningful behind a red-carpet moment.’
This is what they’re teaching their kids? That is the point for the Prince and Princess of Wales, and it is what they hope to impress on their children. The family already has a unique global platform, and following the departure of the Sussexes, they no longer have to share it.
The New Elizabethans: ‘[William] certainly models himself on the Queen’s sense of duty,’ says one of his long-standing former aides. ‘There are also elements of his father’s duty that he takes into close consideration, but the values he most looks up to are his grandmother’s. ‘He knows that the institution has to be genuine, it has to be authentic, relatable, and really make a difference to people’s lives.’ That’s their Royal ambition: to be new Elizabethans. The monarchy is theirs to fashion as they see fit.
The Wales kids in the spotlight: ‘We’ve seen the children performing in front of the cameras in a way that cannot have been part of the original plan,’ observes Royal historian Robert Lacey. ‘We know that William and Kate want to bring up their children in relative seclusion and privacy, but the children have had to become a prominent part of the show.’
When Meghan was the star of that ‘Fab Four’ talk for the Royal Foundation: Nicholl claims Meghan’s first public appearance as a board member of the Foundation was a ‘wake-up call’ for Kate and William. She quoted a source who said: ‘That was a wake-up moment for William and Kate when they realised that Meghan was very impressive, very confident and very capable.’
“He didn’t want her to do anything that might be compared to the famously sexy yet sophisticated portraits of his mother by Mario Testino…” I mean, it would have been hilarious for Kate to try to copykeen Diana’s gorgeous Testino portraits but Kate, as we know, doesn’t have the range. Her range is “happy when QEII dies” to “OMG buttons” to “Victorian nanny.” Speaking of, that’s always been Kate’s default – not glamour, not glitz, but Victorian and dated. Her default is to copy someone else, even if that someone lived 120 years ago.
As for the kids… again, people act like William and Kate *have* to bring their kids out, like they’re being forced to exploit their children. It’s William and Kate’s choice to hide behind their kids. This is also curious: “It is what they hope to impress on their children. The family already has a unique global platform, and following the departure of the Sussexes, they no longer have to share it.” Ah, yes. William and Kate ran a destructive hate campaign on Harry and Meghan so that they could teach their children the valuable lesson of not sharing a spotlight.
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535447, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535468, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535476, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535494, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales, look at floral tributes, following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Sandringham Estate in eastern England, Britain, September 15, 2022.,Image: 722959801, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE UK – London, UK -20220602-Royal Family On Balcony During Platinum Jubilee Trooping The Colour Parade -PICTURED: Queen Elizabeth, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William -PHOTO by: John Rainford/Cover Images/INSTARimages.com -INSTAR_fhWL73kM7.jpg This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Instar Images LLC 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 LLC 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
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- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales at the Army Training Centre (ATC) Pirbright in Guildford, Surrey, meeting troops from the Commonwealth who have been deployed to the UK to take part in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Soldiers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand have gathered at Pirbright to rehearse their roles in the funeral on Monday. Featuring: Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Guildford, England, United Kingdom When: 16 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Lol but these two have no sense of duty and what exactly are they teaching those children scheming against harry and Meghan those portraits of Kate are so bad
9 almost 10 months in after those birthday portraits and all the promises that were made then have still not come to fruition. It’s simply never going to happen.
And on a personal note: i found those portraits incredibly disappointing
It’s very easy to have your life decisions mapped out for, er, life, when you have no plans and no ambition other than to keep doing as little as possible.
Once again announcing they’re going to do something without ever doing anything. Weren’t these portraits supposed to go on an exhibition tour? I guess the venues noped out by saying we’re booked until 2025. We’ll call you if an opening occurs.
They looked like glorified sweet sixteen glamour shots.
LOL for days! ‘Now they don’t have to share’!! Love it, even their supporters are shading them! And ‘the new Elizabethans’? What? Are they going to fund a Navy to defeat the Spanish Armada? Because I don’t recall anyone, yet at least, referring to the time of the recently-departed QEII as an Elizabethan Era.
And it’s telling they are using the phrase Elizabethan (either QE1 or 2, take your pic). They are such copy keeners they don’t even have the imagination to create a new era (“Willennium” anyone?).
Green Girl, yeah, when I read that, my first question was “What, the 17th-Century ones?” 🤣🤣
Basically anyone with long brown hair could have had their face photoshopped as much as they did for Kate and they would look the same.
Kate has never had the it factor despite the media trying for it.
And she’s barely recognizable in the photos because of the excessive photoshop.
Was that Photoshop in the red dress? She is completely unrecognizable.
Its also a really bad angle for her face. It makes her nose look huge and it really isn’t at all. I don’t think they are flattering. They also look like those photos you can get at amusement parks where you dress up in old costumes and the photo is done in sepia tones. We had those here in Canada at Canada’s Wonderland in the 90’s.
Is it bold though to attempt to cosplay Queen Victoria in one photo, do an ’80’s mall glamour shot in another and wear a single puffed-sleeved red dress in another? I mean, I guess it’s bold if someone other than an arranged pap photog or your mum takes the pics! I’m sure Khate had a great time having those pics taken even if she had to pay someone to pay attention to her. Which is sad when I think about it but not enough for me to feel sorry for her. Khate mean-girled the best person, the person who could’ve elevated her into something so much more (if only she’d been willing to learn from Meghan), right out of the country.
The Elizabethans were originally about the people of Elizabeth I’s time.
In the more elite circles, this meant highly educated, can-do types with a ferocious work ethic.
Elizabeth I spoke many languages (even told off an ambassador with too much of an attitude in Latin at her elder age) and had a wide education in other things.
As many people know, she grew up under intense pressure and damger, but managed to survive being all that by being cautious and astute.
So, what is the resemblance?
Exactly- there may be a huge amount of interest on the roles that Will and Kate have but it’s generally disappointing to realize (upon closer examination) that there’s no there there with them.
That’s what I thought she was talking about at first, and it made no sense to me LOL.
The resemblance: inflation, a wide wealth gap, poor sanitation regarding lack of sewage systems (in streets instead of waterways).
The whole trying to tie Betty to Elizabeth I is insane.
And this? “…but the values he most looks up to are his grandmother’s. ‘He knows that the institution has to be genuine, it has to be authentic, relatable, and really make a difference to people’s lives.’ ”
Sorry, I know TQ ‘worked’ much harder than W&K ever will, but she did f*** all to make a difference in people’s lives.
Flowerlake, perhaps they believe if they’re “Elizabethan” they can throw people in the Tower. The only other things I’ve got: Fails wants to wear tights (hose/stockings) or maybe it’s the codpiece; Wails obviously wants to wear the jewels. What’s wrong with these two?
Queen Elizabeth I is (along with her mother, Anne Boleyn) my favorite character in history. QEI’s story is beyond incredible and she is truly a woman of substance & strength. Reading biographies about her is inspiring. This new group? Uh, no.
They are ridiculous. I particularly loathe that they force the boys into wearing shorts because that was ” how it was done” back in the day.
Their mission is truly to bring us back to the 19Th century, right- and everything that this entails. PoC knowing their places, Middle class women walking two steps behind their husbands, etc
Will and Kate are a joke. A big fat joke. Except they aren’t in the least bit funny.
Note to lacey why must those children be part of the show
Because harry and meghan left. Not only is the firm left with very little working royals, they also face a star power problem. The glamour moved to california and the only ones that get huge amounts of attention (and goodwill) are the kids
Can these people ever write anything about the Cambridges without bringing the Sussexes into it? And thanks for confirming once again, the DoNots were intimidated by Harry and especially Meghan and needed to be exiled. Perhaps one day the notion will sink in that status/rank has nothing to do with popularity.
That’s what’s so funny about them not having to “share the spotlight”. Nobody writes about them without bringing in H&M.
When I look at Kate’s style over the years, she sure has gone from fun, sexy and relatable to closed off, prudish and I hate to say it, frigid. I’m dying to know what happened, was it Williams cheating? Was it something else? I often thought that after George was born that she was struggling with post-natal depression but obviously I don’t know for sure.
I don’t think she has the love and respect of her husband or his family. She appears to have no good friends or personal interests. I’d say she’s isolated, lonely and bored.
“ ‘That was a wake-up moment for William and Kate when they realised that Meghan was very impressive, very confident and very capable.’
And it was at that moment, they both agreed “We must destroy her. She’s making us look bad.”
They keep hyping themselves up so much, they will inevitably fall short. Couple that with their inherent laziness and their incompetent, trust fund baby staff, they will spend many years falling on their faces. They are not prepared for this moment.
@Snuffles, exactly! They went into attack mode after seeing how she raised the bar and outshone them.
yeah, interesting tidbit there, right? “That was a wake up moment for William and Kate” – what kind of wake up moment? I don’t think they “woke up” in a good way.
This little titbit in the middle of the general hagiography from KN is incredibly telling because, yes, exactly that – Meghan being “very impressive, very confident and very capable” can only be a wake-up call for someone who is NOT those things. Katie stuck some real shade in here because she effectively wrote “Kate and William are not very impressive, very confident or very capable”.
Kate was jealous of Meghan from the outset because she saw that Meghan had more charisma, was smarter and was sexier than Kate could ever be.
William realized it at the Fab Four conference when Meghan spoke up to much for his taste and made the rest looks like amateurs.
All that talk of W and K getting closer over the smear campaign of Meghan shows how empty their relationship was and how jealous they both were of Meghan, realizing that she was a threat to their popularity because she’s much more modern and relatable, and only Harry was comparable so the two of them together is quite a combo.
A normal “firm” would be finding the best way to use that. They are making the case that they did sabotage Meghan with the employees to slow her down.
Right? It is 100% absurd that the reaction to an intelligent and highly motivated Meghan was basically, “She’s so much better than us, she must go.”
Everything you said there. The green eyed monsters woke up and said nope, Meghan and Harry by proxy but especially Meghan has to go . We don’t do anything and can’t have her reminding people about the fact that we are lazy and don’t do anything.
That interview was like seeing the green-eyed monster wake up in real time. The faces on Kate and William were just gobsmacked and uncomfortable. They were so visibly uncomfortable by her shine.
All I’m getting from this is Kate has no agency and she and William have always viewed Meghan as a threat.
They always tell on themselves don’t they? I mean what institution so great than family. I know it is from that they survive but what’s the point of having a family if the institution is so important. Geez, some people go to bat for others who r not their blood relatives but your flesh n blood? For what? To keep a stiff upper lip and act like snob for a few sneers from deranged fans and supposed superiority. This family should know had not being for the abdication of the queen’s uncle, they wouldn’t be where they r now. They would have been an after thought of history. SMDH
That entire dynasty wouldn’t have been there if the English hadn’t decided that they would rather have a German Protestant for a king instead of an English Catholic. The vagaries of history.
@amybee I have always thought this.
Those portraits of Kate still seem as though she used an inferior body double; they just don’t look like her at all. As to her styling, I always see someone who tries to cosplay the 1940s. Grandfatherly types are really keen on her look.
Matching her skin to the background was a particularly poor choice.
God those portraits are just awful, apologies to Kate but they just creep.me out !!!
Yes! Every time I see them I’m like ugh the creepy-ass portraits! They are SO WEIRD. And somehow look even more indulgent now we see how little fanfare their was for Will’s 40th.
Yeah, they were trying for ethereal, but landed hard right on eerie.
The photo of Kate in the white dress in profile, showing off Big Blue, is particularly creepy. It’s the sort of thing you’d see hanging in the hallway of a haunted Victorian mansion, with the servants avoiding that corridor whenever possible. You know they whisper to each other, “She walks at night, bewailing her pegging husband, her handsome brother-in-law and his more beautiful and accomplished wife, and the fact that her kids never visited after they grew up.”
The one portrait has been called Victorian ghost and it really does fit.
Completely out of touch with modernity.
LOL
I wonder if they will take more vacations now they have been promoted
Elizabethans?? Hahahaha, more likely late Victorians… Seriously though, can this pair do anything right?
Except the late Victorian royals actually worked. It was the beginning of the modern style. And they were closely, closely involved in dozens of philanthropic endeavors that actually benefited people. The hands on lasted until QETQM really. Queen Mary, as a princess, even used to attend parliamentary debates, as did several royals of both genders. Including the ones on the divisive issue of Home Rule.
My first thought is that Kkkeen is issuing a threat to Peggington through her named, on the record, private secretary: “Kate ‘knows every decision is for the rest of her life, everything is for the long game’, and Kate’s playing it accordingly.”
To me this is Kkkeen saying she’ll never agree to a divorce. Not that Peggington needs her to agree, but she’s letting him know he can go ahead and stick his peen anywhere he wants and she’ll be waiting at home, drenched in some Elizabethan jewels. That’s her trade off.
I guess that’s how things probably have been for Peggington his entire life, but it’s funny to me that they think they can wow a global audience simply by saying they want it. It should be obvious to anyone with a brain that no one, globally, gives two poops about these two colonialists when Harry and Meghan so much as breathe or step outside. Peggington was virtually invisible with most of the queen’s death coverage. It was Meghan, Harry, and then Chuck and his temper tantrums.
I hope it burns him so badly to be an afterthought to his brother 😏 The Other Brother, indeed.
Kate’s life goal is to leach off of the royal family till her last breath. There is a reason why she was nicknamed “the limpet” (a marine mollusk with a shallow conical shell and a broad muscular foot, found clinging tightly to rocks. Used in comparisons to refer to people and things that cling tightly.)
SussexWatcher, is this a Ma Mid leak? Is she telling whomever that Wails will continue to be a good little cypher? I think we’ve all seen that Wails looks like she is DONE. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I dislike Wails and she’s pretty much made her own bed. In this scenario, she’s getting pressure from the Firm/brf on one side and Ma Mid from the other side. Will she crack?
Those portraits are still so weird to me – first, because there’s such a “civil war widow” vibe to the one or something (maybe just a Victorian widow), and second because William isn’t part of them AND we got no such portraits for William’s birthday, considering he is actually the heir. It really makes it seem like this was something Kate’s team commissioned on their own without input from William.
When CP Mary of Denmark had her 50th portraits done, there is one portrait that includes her husband. Not only is william completely excluded from Kate’s, but there was nothing similar done for his 40th, which makes Kate’s birthday extravaganza all the weirder.
As for “the new elizabethans” – assuming Katie N. means they’re going to be like his grandmother – well, for that to happen, they have to actually work. So we’ll see.
Not even her children. You would think she would include them.
Khate’s birthday photos ARE so weird and so sad. I would think she would just copy-paste CP Mary’s portraits because those are so traditional and Mary is a brunette but…the photos just reveal her poor taste.
The worst part is that the photographer Paolo Roversi is actually very talented and famous – and he has done some amazing portraits of people like Rihanna, Charlotte Rampling, Vincent Cassel and Cate Blanchett. But those portraits are very different in one crucial regard: they don’t air-brush away the little physical flaws that give character to a face. There’s an honesty about the best one – look up his portrait of Charlotte Rampling. It is magnificent! Pared down an honest – and brave.
He was entirely wrong for what Kate wanted: air-brushed cos-play. She didn’t even look like herself! And that is unusual for his style.
I do like the civil war widow one the best, I think it’s the most striking, but everything about them is so weird and isolated. Only three portraits released and none of them are interesting. She’s not interacting with anything or anyone. I wish they’d been on a castle grounds, or Amner Hall, I love those fashion shoots on a grand property. Usually the scale of the house makes the pictures so much more interesting.
Anyway, personal wishes aside, she just seems very self focused, rigid and incurious. I can see how Meghan would trigger her. I’m sure she was so busy promoting mental health she didn’t have time to take care of her own /s. Or they really do mean Elizabethan where you have your cousin or what have you executed.
I know the kind you mean. The Swedish royal family released some like that a few years ago (for Victoria’s 40th? 45th? Their anniversary? I can’t remember lol) but they were really gorgeous photos and the interior ones were stunning.
It is weird that there were no portraits with or of Will, especially because it was a milestone birthday for him too. Weren’t they saying they were going to have some sort of joint birthday party over the summer? I guess that never happened, at least publicly. Very strange.
It was very weird that since they were both turning 40 within six months of each other they did not do joint photos. But that tells you how strained their relationship is. A happily married couple of a decade would never have skipped joint photos for this occasion.
And the Victorian ghost photo is so hilarious. It is the least photoshopped so it does look like her the most, but then it is blanched to shit to hide as much as possible.
Miss art history major doesn’t realize the messages she was sending from these photos, and none of them are good.
You’re right that a happily married couple of a decade would never skip joint photos, but neither would anyone as desperate for easy, positive PR as these two clearly are. It’s wild that they’d rather stick to negatively smearing Meghan and Harry instead of doing the literal easiest thing for positive PR of their own. It’s like they gritted through their teeth to do the Voldemort anniversary shot and the Valtrex commercial and then absolutely refused to do anything like that again… or now that I think of it, maybe they saw the atrocious response to those and decided well, that’s the best we got and we’re certainly not going to learn or grow, so better throw in the towel.
Third photo down in the black button outfit. If they do yet another remake of Rebecca could she please play Mrs Danvers.
Carrie–brrrrr. Or Connie Corleone in a The Godfather redo.
Elizabethan, Victorian, whatever they want to call it, all I get are contant dogwhistles to the extreme conservative right, “family values” crowd. It’s scary.
Thought they were the standard bearers for the new modern monarchy. They aren’t? Instead, they are going to harken back to the 1800s. For real? What a load of bs! No one believes (well, there are those that do) the new P/P of Wales are hard-working, dedicated people. Those two probably break out in hives at the thought of working more than 4 hours a day. It’s too taxing for their little brains. All they care about is their image and the perks afforded by their titles. Be it women or money. Other than deference by syncopants, that’s all those two have going for them.
Seriously Kate ‘s picture looks nothing like her at all. The only thing that might prod a person to recognize her at all is the ring of doom she constantly flash n flaunts. Also I’m not surprised she has become bitter n scheming cos having to suppress your inner light and energy not to upset the “love of your life” and he constantly treating you like she is nothing without him, makes one bitter Viper.
Kate dear, Queen Elizabeth being whatever she is, didn’t take all the wealth to her grave neither did it guarantee her a place in heaven. Try as much to be happy and live your life without fear, if your in laws can’t deal with your light and energy, that’s on them. Be your authentic self and let them eat chips n fish….
Wheeew… wipes brow.
***gets off my soap box *
Cheese and bread. It’s just the same, empty doublespeak over and over again. Not once do they ever announce anything concrete. Not once do they reveal something substantial they have been working on for months and that will have a genuine impact in helping others. They are literally surrounded by people showing them how that’s done – Anne, Charles, Camilla, Diana, Philip, The Queen, Harry and Meghan. ALL of them are/were out working, making things happen, raising money, raising profiles, making an actual difference. Even when they are given the opportunity on a plate to step into a worthwhile role, as William was with the Prince’s Trust, they turn it down.
I would kill to know what the other genuinely working members of the RF think of this feckless, lazy pair. No wonder there continue to be multiple stories about how William needs Harry, how he was counting on him to be his ‘wingman’ as no other monarch has ever apparently needed.
The huge danger for the future of the monarchy is that William is not far off the top of the tree and, as dictated by hierarchy, no-one can outshine him. His jealously and pettiness coupled with his power within the Firm means that anyone who threatens to outperform him – which is basically everyone – has to be torn down because he refuses to step up. Charles is the last person left who could kick his arse into gear and there’s no sign that he will. As such, the RF are on a race to the bottom.
Even Earthshot. However we might sneer at it, it’s still a substantial prize for the winners and there are important and wealthy names behind it. But William had to screw things up by spending over a year’s worth of prize money on a single awards event. It’s no wonder the entire project suddenly became a “separate entity.”
I wouldn’t call William a danger for the monarchy, just the future of the monarchy. He’s the heir and, to paraphrase Jane Austen, he is what he ever was. The time to do something about the danger is long past.
I may have this wrong but I thought Earthshot was devised by others and Wills stepped onto it? I didn’t think it was originated and set up by him?
It may have been, I don’t know – but it was the major asset of Will’s foundation. Once the financials were published, suddenly Earthshot became a separate non-profit.
I went off to google Earthshot and in doing so found that Wills did his big speech (that was originally trailed as effectively being at the UN) DAYS ago. Haven’t seen a thing on it in the news. I know it got downgraded to a video call but still…lol.
@The Hench – yes the Big Earthshot Summit was held on the 21st, from 9:00am to 1:00pm. According to the Bloomberg Philanthropies website, they had 25 different speakers during those 4 hours, including a pre-taped speech by Will.
This doesn’t even seem possible as an event. I’ve set up events like this – people have to arrive, get signed in, get some coffee. There are introductory speeches, there are introductions for each of the subsequent speakers, there are the speeches themselves and bathroom breaks. Did the speakers show up in person just so they could say something for 3 minutes? How substantive could that have been? The only thing I can figure is they had a couple of live speakers and the rest were pre-taped in a video loop displayed in the hall somewhere. And yes, nothing in the news.
Just about the only news outlets reporting on the actual summit, or Egg’s video speech, were People and Bloomberg.com — Michael Bloomberg’s organization. And most of the news coverage was to the effect of, “William had to pull out of the Earthshot summit because his grandma died.” Next to nothing about the prize or the organization itself. I will be astonished if there’s even another, future “summit.”
I thought the picture with the red dress was Rose. He has a type.
I am beginning to question why Alexander McQueen makes such hideous clothes for Kate . Like does she draw her own design and send it to them? Or cut out pictures from historical books and say yes, yes, make me look like I came from the era before indoor plumbing.
Alexander McQueen has really hit the skids. It’s just skull after skull design on most of their stuff these days.
McQueen died years ago and would never have outfitted Kate. He hated royalty and clingers like her.
Sarah burton basically destroyed any credibility the label had when they made her wedding gown and it just went downhill for, there. The difference between McQueen now and something stodgy like Catherine Walker is nil.
Lee sadly committed suicide but his house remains. Sarah Burton churns out skull motifs on everything McQueen and it is so annoying. She has wrecked the label at a certain price point. As to her high design, she is pretty poor,
Those portraits accentuate her chinlessness. Was that the point? Did she say, “Make sure I don’t have a double chin, just one single chin. You know what, better yet, let’s be in the safe side and do no chin. None whatsoever.”
Who advises Kate? It can’t only be her mother? I would feel sorry for her if she wasn’t so vile. These portraits are every kind of fake. I’ve named them:
Home sewing pattern 1940s
Granny’s feminine hygiene wash
Saving the box my virginity came in
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nailed it!
Had to refresh my memory on those; yep, you nailed it!!
A good Aesthetician goes a long way. Kate’s got the money and the time – there’s no reason for her skin to look so sallow.
Agreed. However, don’t fear!, she will have spent loads and loads of money on the best interventions going, but it’s got to the point where her skin is beyond help. Go over to the DM today and you’ll find a photo of the skin around her eyes and how poor it is. Funny how William praises her red carpet moments, because the photos of K being helped up the steps by Tom Cruise highlight how bad her skin is and how jowly. Various factors that her cosmetic doctors are losing the battle against: sun damage, perhaps smoking; being under her natural weight, constant stress and bitterness.
Smoking, drinking, stress, and habitual running. Double jowls at 40. Yikes.
Think of the wardrobe fun if Kate goes from Victorian to full Elizabethan – giant neck ruffs! Lead based face makeup to make her even paler (and more contrast with glowing Meghan)! Many layers of underclothes, so no need for skirt weights! We MUST make this happen.
Plus if wills goes along with this I think there could be codpieces involved!
Or she could go full Elizabethan II – brightly colored coats with flowered dresses underneath, giant matching hats and sensible handbags. Plus, brooches, many brooches.
buttons are the new brooches
Lol, raindrop
Get her some farthingales and bum rolls. Pad that flat azz.
Heaven help us if this is the great rebrand, William essentially whoring out his wife for photos! They are nothing compared to the modernity of H&M.
I don’t know if this has been said, but that first pic, I wasn’t paying attention and was scrolling through posts, I could have sworn it was Rose Hanbury.
The internet really does have a sense of humour – opened up my iPhone browser to Celebitchy this AM – the cover photo from this story was at the top and the ad just above it was for “Mean Girls” production in London UK … just a little on the appropriate side! I had a good chuckle.
I read that as them wanting to party like it’s the 16th Century. I’m waiting to see them take on QE2’s work ethic.
“The images were confident, bold even. It’s no overstatement to say they heralded a new age of Kate.”
The NOISE I just made when I read that… the absolute guffah! Are these people serious?!?! They can’t be serious, can they??
It was a new age – she went from 39 t0 40.
Ew. Enough with ‘Kate grew into her role’. The royal family and the British people allowed her 20 years to learn the ropes and settle in.
Meanwhile, Meghan was more prepared and able when she joined than Kate is today, after 20 years practice, yet was not given the same curtesy. It screams of racism.
How can they be new Elizabethan’s? They are the just enoughs. They are sorely lacking in the intellectual prowess and diplomatic skills the old Elizabethan had. The Elizabethan era was also an era of cultural expansion and these two have zero cultural awareness or appreciation of the arts. Attending Bond and Top Gun premiers do not exactly signal a new golden age. Anyway, keep fluffing Katie. Keep on fluffing.
It looks like these pics resemble gal gadot. Khate sees herself as Wonder Woman? Lol 😂
Gal Gadot is flat out gorgeous. The only time Kate comes close is in the few weeks after giving birth. Kate looks amazing post delivery.
“William had been wary about her doing things that could be seen as too showy.” Translation: Baldy wanted Weasel to be as boring as possible so that she can’t outshine him, Charles, or the Queen (when she was alive).
“[William] certainly models himself on the Queen’s sense of duty.” The Queen spent 70 years making sure everyone knew how much she resented this job, how awful it was for her that she was made to take on a role where she inherited so much privilege, and how if she’d had it her way, she’d be tramping around the country side out of the spotlight completely, but she doesn’t do that bc “duty.” That was her definition of duty. Reminding everyone, like a narcissistic parent, just how MUCH she’s had to do for you all, and how ungrateful you all are for not aggrandizing her enough for it.
If that’s what Baldy and Weasel mean by “duty”, then yeah, they’ve modeled themselves off the Queen for sure. “Duty” in this case is just nothing but an overly inflated sense of entitlement, and the belief that the peasants should be grateful to them for doing a job where they get to inherit piles and piles of stolen wealth and live off other people’s money, bc, “poor sausages, they can’t do the school run anymore, they’re too busy having to be top CEO.”
“That was a wake-up moment for William and Kate when they realized that Meghan was very impressive, very confident and very capable.” This is the root of the whole issue. Meghan’s greatest crime was just to exist, exactly as she was, bc “just by existing, [she] was upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy.”
These people cannot stand the fact that a biracial black woman from America, born to a black mother, who has no title, no rank, no real aristocratic or royal lineage to speak of, who earned her wealth instead of inheriting it, who worked for everything she has, came into their world, married the lower ranked, second son of the monarch, sincerely wanting to do a good job. And not only did she do that, she did their job so much better than they ever could, proving wrong every single aspect of the royal family’s world view and justification as to why they deserve their entirely unearned wealth and privilege.
Her greatest crime was refusing to hide her talent and capabilities. She refused to help prop up the facade of this whole system by being visibly insecure, deferential and obsequious to those who “outranked” her. She refused to bring herself down to build other people up and help them feel better about themselves, bc it’s not her job to destroy herself to coddle flimsy institutions and the insecure people who inhabit them.
And it’s so laughable to me, bc the British tabloid media has genuinely spent so much time and energy screaming about everything under the sun when it comes to Meghan, when the truth is just best summarized by this one line. She is impressive, confident, and capable, and how DARE she be any of those things. How dare she make people in the royal family feel bad. How dare she make the average, mediocre, white Karen feel bad.
💯 The bottom line is that biracial and Black people are considered lesser and almost sub-human by many white Britons. How dare Meghan call attention to racism!?! She should’ve accepted her lowly place in the British class system. She should’ve endured the racial abuse silently and quietly divorced Prince Harry as they all secretly wanted her to do.
But she spoke up. And they’ll never forgive her for telling on them.
Fantastic comments! Thank you..
This is worse than if I close my eyes and wish hard enough, my wishes will come through.
After watching the Queen’s funeral, the Elizabethan was ended when the king placed the emblem on her coffin along with the removal of orb, sceptre etc.
The new king presented his new insignia, we are now under the reign of King Charles 111.
So obvious.
Did someone not tell the new Wales that William’s reign will be his era??
Where is the editor?
This is supposedly a friendly book towards the Wales??
Once more, the unbearable lightness of being. Ahhh.
I’m going to read the post, but I had to come here and say that I had forgotten how bad these pictures of Kate look
She looks like a ghost I don’t understand these lighting and photoshopping choices
She honest to god looks like a bobble-head doll, or like one of those awful caricature portraits that people get done on the side walk. Like, GIRL. What made her think the way the were edited was a good idea? I know that for the royal/aristocratic/upper class crowd, being called “slim”, or otherwise highlighting how slim they are, is seen as a compliment and a positive thing. But to take it so far to the point where your head is bigger than your torso in pictures??? Come on!!!
Those pictures were weird. Didn’t look like her.
A one-shouldered dress? How vulgar!
Lol, I didn’t recognize the photo in the red dress as Kate! These are not good photos – what were they thinking?
Oh gosh, those portrait photos! The only one I liked was of Kate in the red dress but it doesn’t even really look like her. None of them really do and who thought the Victorian ghost one was a good idea! And the idea of her and William as relatable and authentic as the “New Elizabethans” lol who comes up with this amazing drivel?
And wow the shade in the line about wanting to raise the kids in privacy but now having to bring them out in public more not being part of the original plan! I haven’t read the entire article but if I read between the lines, I’m assuming they are basically blaming Harry and Meghan not being there which is forcing them to bring the kids out. Harry and Meghan never/rarely bring their kids out and they do just fine. Kate and William are so boring and don’t have the kind of star presence as Harry and Meghan so they bring out the kids to draw attention because they are are charisma vacuums. If they were genuinely interested in other people and came across as authentic, they wouldn’t need to hide behind their kids to appear relatable and as “New Elizabethans.”
They are going to lean heavy into their celebrity in America.
My god, I completely forgot how scary those pictures are.
Greetings Everyone,
This is the first time I have felt the urge to comment on anything to do with Bill and his Mrs. Yes, it has been drummed into us if you have “nothing nice to say, then say nothing” however, for me personally, saying nothing serves us well at times but saying something can often free us.
These two have made leeching, bullying, manipulating, scheming, sneering, misleading, and pure laziness an art form and when they need to find a real job – they may be able find a ghost writer to produce a book on how to lead others to the “Promise Land of Greed”. No matter which way I look at these two it is what is “not there” and that is a genuine thought, word or deed. Even Louis XIV with his Hall of Mirrors – along with his wealth and vanity had some redeeming moments, but with these two (especially Bill’s Mrs) no amount of expensive ball gowns, coat dresses in 65 shades of blue or world renowned photographers will ever be able to show what is just not there.
Over the years Katie Nicholl has had plenty to say but it is like lint to a blanket, reading from the script that someone else wrote about two of the most useless people on the planet. Dig deep enough and all that will be found with these two is an endless supply of self-importance as well as self-promotion.
The new Elizabethan Age – doubt it – the last Queen headed to Scotland well before having those two leeches popping in from Adelaide Cottage to fawn all over her. Great Escape. The Queen spent her last days with those she loved and now is with those whom she loved most in the world.
No matter what the leeches have in mind – reading about The Elizabethan Age would have them needing a translator. They are not and never will be a role model for me – words are just words if there is no substance – of which there is none.
Have a magical day wherever you are ..
Well said Wild Rose! You sound like someone from lovelola. If you are, you’ve always had a way with words! You have a magical day too!
Greetings NLopez,
Yes you guessed it – thank you for your kind words for re-introduction to a balanced commenting forum! Greatly appreciated.
As for my absence where “commenting” has been concerned on any platform was due to the merciless bullying and being told to go “do harm” to myself when I chose to comment on a Daily Mail article especially when it was a straight up comment directly addressing the article I was reading. I grew tired of contacting the Editor of the Daily Mail, the Moderation Team who would cheerfully block my comments but let the ones that people who had less fortitude could well be unsafe – yet absolutely nothing was done about this.
Personally, I could not stand by and have the “harm” that they wished upon me heaped on someone else and so I refused to engage.
I have followed you all for quite a while and find the Community highly intelligent, well informed, with a bit of humour tossed in. This is where a lively discussion does not lead to harm, or exclusion by need or by choice.
Have a magical day … wherever you are in this beautiful world
If it’s about duty and not celebrity, why is the royal family always trying to one up each other in the tabloids?
” The Princess of Wales, meanwhile, has notably grown into her role.”
Hmmmmm….please tell me more about Kitty growing into her role.
I just went back and watched that Royal Foundation discussion again, and holy moly, Meghan truly is impressive. William and Kate talked — and mumbled — in vague and banal generalities.
By sharp contrast, in just the few instances in which Meghan spoke, she referred to the NGOs with which she worked; she talked in concrete ways about how to make a real difference; and she made a brilliant point about how women don’t need to “find” their voices — they need to be empowered to use them.
No wonder W&K were shocked by Meghan’s abilities. She dropped all this knowledge and experience without preening or coming across as superior (though she clearly is). She has a very compelling and authentic conversational style and a forthrightness that would scare off any pretender.