Again, from the British media’s coverage of Omid Scobie’s Endgame, you would think that Scobie devoted the entire book to smearing the Princess of Wales’s most beloved wigs. That is not the case. Scobie even compliments Kate in a few ways, while also pointing out how lazy she is and how she doesn’t give a sh-t about any of the “issues” she proclaims to be keen about. One of the funnier asides is when Scobie confirms that Kate really did have elocution lessons to give her a posher accent.
The Princess of Wales has taken elocution lessons and now sounds more posh than her husband, a new book claims. In Endgame, the royal commentator and journalist Omid Scobie details Kate’s journey from student to future queen.
In his book, Scobie calls Kate an “institutional dream come true”, writing that she has “successfully sublimated her authentic self, becoming an enigma to the public and perhaps even herself” in preparation for her future role as Queen.
He writes that the princess received “several rounds of elocution lessons” and claims that have now made her sound “posher” than Prince William.
Elsewhere in the book, he claims that the princess has had “five or six private secretaries” in as many years. One of them reportedly called the job “uninspiring and frustrating” in an interview with the book’s author.
It’s interesting to see Scobie confirm something which has been long-rumored. I think the rumors began back when Will and Kate were dating, and even then, Carole and the palace were trying to groom Kate to be the woman they needed her to be. It was all part of Kate’s very superficial makeover – the hairpieces, the new teeth, the sausage-curl hairstyle (RIP), the elocution lessons, the heavy eye makeup. The thing is, I’m not sure anyone actually thought to prepare Kate to actually do the “job” of being royal – diplomatic briefings, speech-making lessons, genuine princess lessons. It was probably like… well, we dragged this horse to water, but we can’t make her drink. Kate was supposed to figure out a way to do more within certain parameters. She didn’t.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales, holds a speech after she participated in a series of workshops which focus on emotions, relationships and community action at Factory Works in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The Prince and Princess host the forum for young people on World Mental Health Day.,Image: 812603974, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
-
- Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales, holds a speech after she participated in a series of workshops which focus on emotions, relationships and community action at Factory Works in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The Prince and Princess host the forum for young people on World Mental Health Day.,Image: 812604055, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
-
- Britain’s Kate, the Princess of Wales, holds a speech after she participated in a series of workshops which focus on emotions, relationships and community action at Factory Works in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The Prince and Princess host the forum for young people on World Mental Health Day.,Image: 812604092, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Avalon
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales visits the Design Museum where she made a key note speech at the “Shaping Us” National Symposium in London, UK, 15 November 2023,Image: 822201109, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Richard Pohle / Avalon
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales visits the Design Museum where she made a key note speech at the “Shaping Us” National Symposium in London, UK, 15 November 2023,Image: 822201197, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Richard Pohle / Avalon
-
- Prince William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales visit Aberavon Leisure & Fitness Centre in Port Talbot, Wales Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom When: 28 Feb 2023 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales hosts the inaugural meeting of her new Business Taskforce for Early Childhood at NatWest’s headquarters in the City of London where they will discuss why Early Childhood is so critical for business. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales hosts the inaugural meeting of her new Business Taskforce for Early Childhood at NatWest’s headquarters in the City of London where they will discuss why Early Childhood is so critical for business. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 28: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge gives a speech as she attends the first annual Royal Foundation Forum held at Aviva on February 28, 2018 in London, England. Under the theme ‘Making a Difference Together’, the event will showcase the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation.
Five or six elocution lessons?! Guess that’s why she’s terrified of speaking publicly. She’s afraid her inner Pygmalion authentic self and it’s “low-brow” accent will come out and she will be exposed as a fraud since she didn’t even take those lessons seriously beyond “Introductory A Sounds” and “Pursing—It’s Not Just for Handbags, It’s Also for Lips!”
What a stupid institution for THAT—her accent—to be the thing they want her to focus on.
She dropped her accent fairly recently. She was sitting on a table with a bunch school kids who asked her about Harry and Meghan. Her angty “Woht Else” response betrayed her roots. Her put on accent is mangled and inarticulate. She needs to be true to herself.
Says she’s had “several rounds” of elocution lessons and 5 or 6 secretaries.
Kate is so vacuous. It is just the sort of empty display she would do just to suck up to the aristo’s, even though those people think of her and her mother as pure trash. Facts is, the palace simply can’t figure out what they want with Kate: If, as has been reported, the firm believes that her middle-class roots is good for the Monarchy, then why are they “laundering” her accent? She’s supposedly evidence of a modern monarchy, yet they can’t take her middle class accent? Unfortunately for them, Kate seems a bit on the dense side, that’s why this Eliza Doolittle experiment will not work. What’s funny about this is that Kate’s younger sister, Pippa, is much better at the posh accent. I watched a Today Show interview she did years ago with Matt Laur. I was stunned at how poised she appeared. It seems that the media has done with Kate and Pippa, what they tried to do with Harry and William–make the younger sibling appear dumb in order to make the older one seem smarter than they are.
Well we all knew that. Her strangulated vowels so different from her own family who speak normally. The lessons failed and she tried to step it down and it all resulted in a mess, consequently she can’t deliver a speech properly.
So, the lessons did not achieve the intended results……..
Carole has the same accent, Kate’s elocution lessons obviously started a long time ago. Kate is not a victim of anything. She is very determined, her eye is always on the prize. Her laziness is only about work and doing her job, when it comes to herself it does not exist. Her constant focus on her looks, exercise, shopping, sport, me and more me. It is incredulous that she is elevated to icon status by the BM. There appears to be not much intelligence in her persona. I am not british, English is my primary language, my personal accent is considered to be “well spoken”, I find K’s accent an insult to the english language and to english speakers everywhere. Some british accents are difficult to understand, but K with her fake accent needs subtitles for everytime she opens her mouth. Perhaps its just another Middleton ploy to have the media focus more attention on her. Maybe a course of laxitives could help her, she certainly needs to remember her roots and stop treating everyone as her inferior. The palace can try to rewrite her history, but they cannot control her narcissistic attitude, sadly her victims are rarely given a voice. Nothing to feel sorry for, Kate has chosen to be what she is, she seems to believe that she is far superior to all of us and that we should kow tow to her…
Several rounds of elocution lessons to still need subtitles and captions when she is forced to speak? Someone didn’t get their money’s worth.
I need subtitles for her all the time, she is such a mumbler. They state she had “several rounds of elocution lessons” trying to make it sound glamorous, but isn’t she “just an actress” ? She is really studying for a role she has to play, she just happens to play it in a reality show. She never gets to leave this character.
I mean, I’m no Kate apologist, but don’t you think the sub-titles are for hearing-impaired viewers? Most videos have accessibility features now.
Everyone else first read that as electrocution right? Like they zapped her tongue until she was Eliza Doolittle?
I also initially read it as electrocution and interestingly enough, I thought, that tracks. Kate’s totally getting electrocuted.
Haha! Ditto~
And therein lies the explanation for her hair.
“An institutional dream come true by successfully sublimating her authentic self” is literally the best description ever of what is expected of women who marry into this family. As for sounding posh, to me, she doesn’t. She just sounds like she has a mouth full of marbles, as in Pygmalion.
I haven’t spent much time around uber posh British accents, even though the standard BBC accent sounds very sophisticated to my American ears, but Anne’s accent on the Crown sounds so hard to maintain. I mean no disrespect to the actor who is playing a part, but I feel like she probably needs lemon tea after every scene.
There is presumably study and training to become a diplomat so why are UK married in royals like KM left to wing it? No one is born adept, one has to prepare to succeed surely? Did I read here on another thread that Mark Holland took Bride of Chucky under his wing to show her the ropes? Shouldn’t the coachable Kate been coached as well? Or gulp, did she learn her skills and work effort from shadowing Will?
Of course Meghan came fully equipped in the area of diplomacy having had her degree in International Relations, where I’m sure, her studies had a strong focus on diplomacy.
Having a degree in International Relations does not remotely prepare you to be a diplomat. That’s not what you study. I think it’s more just her personality plus being an actress.
I think she was coached? Like, this is what they were going for – they were guided by a sole parameter: create the unDiana, and they did. No diplomacy, no tact, no grace, no intelligence, no empathy, no innate humanity. Just a royal doll to pose as needed for the next few decades. Of course, anyone with a functioning brain could have immediately pointed out the issues with that approach, but for some reason it escaped the firm’s notice until Meghan showed up, warm, accomplished, intelligent, a proper Diana scion, and in that contrast Kate was woefully exposed as the shallow puddle she is. They’ve pivoted to the brainiac symposium changemaker schtick (another ill-advised move), but even that doesn’t require coaching so much as roleplaying. Meghan isn’t the only actress in that family. Kate’s still doing the same thing she’s always done, playing whatever role the palace creates for her. No substance, just a husk.
At Sunday. I believe Kate is an actress but I wholeheartedly believe the royals didn’t hold her back. She is legitimately lazy. She was lazy before they married. Example, She was suppose to be a rower but backed out and than blamed the palace and William. When it was the palace and William cheering her on.
I read somewhere that the Palace concentrated on Kate (& Meghan) learning to dress like Diana, because she set the bar that every new woman needs to meet. It would have been better to teach Kate to copy Diana’s other attributes – being warm & accessible, hard work, & happy to do her bit to support the Monarchy. Even after her divorce she was still looking at ways to use her fame to support charity work, e.g. the Landmines charity she supported.
@MaryContrary: I actually don’t agree, Mary. If you research the degree, it seems that graduates are able to find careers as a diplomatic service officer.
Source: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/international-relations#:~:text=Job%20options,-Jobs%20directly%20related&text=Diplomatic%20service%20officer,International%20aid%2Fdevelopment%20worker
Those lessons were obviously a waste. They wanted a doll that they could dress and fix her hair and stand her next to the royal cult. She needed no brain and that’s exactly what they have a Royal Barbie they can plug and play. Then came Meg with charisma and style and a fully functional brain who is not afraid to use it. So now she try’s to copy Meg but because she doesn’t have charisma or a functional brain they may now feel cheated but it’s what they wanted. Be careful what you wish for lol.
The lessons failed spectacularly and she has now been left with mangled vowels.
Agreed…
The question is why focus on content, if presentation is lacking then there is content……
I like that he’s pointing out she happily stuffed her true self down until she doesn’t even know who she is. Coverage of her makes it seem like she’s such a natural princess, whatever that means, but like we’ve said, it just means she doesn’t do anything and is too focused on appearances to do more than style new wigs.
Also I can’t imagine how hard it would be to try to retrain how you speak completely. It’s one thing if you naturally pick up an accent, I can’t imagine brute forcing it. Especially when we know the “real” aristos are just going to laugh at her for it.
Is there any footage of Kate speaking pre-elocution lessons? I’m very curious as to her authentic accent. Considering that she attended private schools, you wouldn’t think her natural way of speaking could be all THAT bad.
I think in some of the videos she made for “Start Up” or whatever they are calling this years rebrand of the Early Years, you can hear her real accent.
You can compare her to Pippa who went to the same schools and absolutely did her best to try and get into those same circles-she doesn’t speak like she has a mouth full of marbles.
Maybe one day they’ll ask her to reverse back to her less posh accent so that she appears closer to common people (that would be funny).
Years ago on YouTube there was a video of Kate and Pippa being interviewed, I believe for Party Pieces, before or around when Kate joined the Royal Family and they both spoke with the same accent (as you’d expect). Kate sounds very different now, I haven’t looked for it in some time and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been scrubbed…
I know what video you are referring to, but I am pretty sure it’s been scrubbed.
Her accent was fine and didn’t need to be more posh. Whoever thought elocution lessons necessary likely didn’t understand the skills that would have been useful.
@miranda, at the end of William and Kate’s engagement interview, as shown on US television, there is a blurb at the end where the interview is ended and Kate says something to the effect of: oh I’m not very good at that (presumably being interviewed). She says that final sentence in what appears to be her normal accent. Just look for the US version of the engagement interview. It was aired on one of the three main broadcast stations. Unless this too has been scrubbed from the internet!
It’s all surface for this dummy. Taking elocution lessons to give her a posher accent instead of working on her public speaking. So unserious.
Exactly! Lessons to sound more posh but no public speaking lessons? And did the elocution lessons work? As an American, I can’t tell if she sounds posh or not. I just know that i have a hard time understanding her, which is partly her accent but also the fact that her sentences are disjointed and lack content.
I’m also American. I code switch and jumble accents all the time, so I’m used to listening to a wide range of accents — at least in English. I need subtitles for Kate. Yet I’ve never had any difficulties understanding the Real Queen, or Diana, or Harry, or even Charles. I might look up some of the vocabulary, but the diction part is fine. It’s unfortunate. — but not surprising — that the efforts to build-a-princess took such a shoddy turn.
“One of them reportedly called the job “uninspiring and frustrating” in an interview with the book’s author.”
Catherine Quinn, perhaps? It was hilarious and pretty damning that she wanted to do (actual) charity after spending two years working for someone whose role is supposed to involve such work.
I think this is coming from Quinn too. She’s the only one not taken from the usually sources and worked in the private sector. Someone as dim as Kate would have been frustrating for someone used to working with professionals.
And she took off as soon as her two year contract ended. Leaving to work on “charitable causes” which is hilarious since that’s what she was supposed to be doing for Kate.
She went through 5 or 6 private secretaries in as many years, and no one has called for her to be drawn and quartered? I remember the days when we got a running tally on how many staff left the Sussexes, as proof that Meghan was a terrible boss.
She’s the perfect illustration of somebody who spend so much time among terrible people that they actually become terrible as well.
Does anyone have any video or audio of what she sounded like before she joined the royal family? Or before her “elocution” lessons? lmaooo would love to hear the difference
I think all of the BRF should be taking media classes.
It is known that Diana practiced her public speaking and had several people coaching her in her early years of her royal duties.
Kate could certainly benefit from some coaching and her team should be scheduling her more useful appearances.
At this time, the entire BRF seems to be a cosplaying soap opera.
Either they do useful things or simply go totally into 2x a year appearances with photos of the kids.
Royalty is outdated. All of it.
I hope G, C, L all go into “proper” jobs. Art, music, doctors, whatever.
These people have Every opportunity at their feet, yet are completely useless.
William, at minimum, did air rescue flights. He should still be using those skills to help people.
Do more good than how they occupy their time now days.
A practical advise to Kate & her handlers on how to vastly improve her public speaking skills:
1. Drop the fake (unnatural to her) accent ASAP.
2. Stop doing the “Lucy Worsley speaking method”. Prof Lucy knows the subjects she’s speaking of, and can keep the smiley face and mouth on & talk at the same time. Most people can’t do that naturally. So just drop it instead focus on the words you’re about to speak.
3. Know the topics you’re speaking of inside out. Study, study, study!
Arly yahsss
I mean, we have all noticed that her accent is wonky and forced, so whoever was responsible for these “lessons” did not do a good job. And clearly they didn’t do anything about the content of her speeches or her poise! It’s actually quite insulting to think that someone thought “Well, she looks like a princess and she sort of sounds like a princess – good enough!”
I think Scobie’s take is based on pity – that Kate has ceded so much of her original personality to the palace that even she no longer recognizes herself. And I think there is some truth to that, especially when you consider the role of her family in pushing or at least supporting her in a very inequitable relationship. I think this is part of Meghan’s assessment of Kate in the Oprah interview as not a bad person – she feels pity for her.
But in my view, Kate upholds and allows this because it is easier to just do what the palace asks and not an iota more.
When she says “what else” in that infamous video, did she sound posh? I have no idea and can’t tell but I’m assuming she doesn’t use that accent all the time.
I suspect she had elocution lessons much earlier in fact, perhaps to prepare her for mingling with all the poshos at Marlborough. This seems to me like something Carole would definitely have arranged.
What is really baffling though is the terrible result. No one actually speaks like that any more – it’s like aristocrats / royals used to speak in the 1930’s. Even the Queen noticeably toned down her accent over the years (from strangulated posh to just very posh, but still). Kate’s accent is very unnatural and actually quite difficult to listen to.
Why say “it is claimed” she’s had 5 private secretaries? It is a FACT and matter of public record.
This is from the Independent, so maybe they’re trying to pretend Scobie is making things up? Or they’re so used to writing stuff based on hear-say & innuendo they just forgot a sec that they’re an actual newspaper?
Because the Independent – who wrote it that way (not a quote) – is doing the family’s bidding by introducing doubt into what Omid writes and making it sound like he has some sort of anti-Keen agenda. They could have easily confirmed Omid’s account by writing that (as you said) it’s public record that she has gone through so many private secretaries.
The new editor of the Independent used to work for the daily heil.
It makes sense now why if true, she “was no fan of Meghan” – the fear that this person would be effortless. Maybe that fear was even coached by those invested for her to fit the mole – i.e. her mom?
I think some of the current problem here is the certain fact that no one in the BRF has an ounce of charm, or grace, or talent at all.
Diana is a tough act to follow. Anne is respected for her hard work, decades of appearances.
Liz and Phil had the job for so damn long they became living history.
H&M + K&W could have easily carried the BRF forward as a “double act”. H&M have an natural charm and W,C, C have shot themselves in the foot completely by being garbage people.
H&M are fine away from BRF.
The BRF is going to have a hard time staying open until George and Charlotte age in. Poor kids.
Yikes. She so rarely speaks publicly that I still get so jarred when I see her do it. That video is so creepy. The jittering. Hey expressions not matching the topic. All so creepy!
The affected way of speaking dates back to the Uni years – the was a story that when she first met William her family teased her about how posh she sounded. She def got posher after they got married – she literally has become a stereotype.
Maybe the Royals should issue a leaflet at every event where Kate is going to speak. It should read something like,
“when the princess says Arly, she in actual fact means early”.
Or, when the princess says “meegain”, she actually means, how fkng dare that woman come into the family and show me up as the work shy, uneducated pillock I am. ”
Or failing that, just give the horse back it’s teeth and give her some normal sized ones. That should make her easier to understand!
Mary Pester, oh, I like the idea of a leaflet letting people know she’s actually saying. Although, there’s always the possibility that Cant will decide if the speech is written down she would not need to actually do it. Well, that wouldn’t be bad.
This raises the issue of how much training did KM receive as a Royal bride for the diplomacy side of the role? Just focus on the externals eg elocution and displaying Diana and fingers crossed? What about knowledge and skills eg history, geography, diplomacy alongside presentation training? Is there a training program for any Royals or is it just ad hoc and on request? This is one reason that I’d prefer a republic with trained, professional diplomats who are accountable to the UK tax payer. This lot are amateurish, untrained, unskilled yet entitled who believe divine right imbues them with superior abilities. Speaking in a posh accent give your speeches either substance or coherence.
And they failed miserably.
I try to listen to videos of Kate speaking but I just can’t do it. I can take about 10 seconds before I have to turn them off.
She is so affected and fake, it’s unbearable.
So she learned to talk in an unintelligible manner? That can’t be right. She screwed up on her lessons! I guess if they don’t know what she’s saying, they can’t blame her for it?
I have to say it’s a darn shame Kathy didn’t have time between university and marriage to polish the skills she would someday need, the ability to give a speech, make small talk with strangers, learn to converse in a few other languages, diplomatic skills. Oh wait, never mind.
Now all they need to do is pay for a traveling translator for her
At first I read “elocution” for “electrocution.” I once watched a great movie with Michael Caine and Swoosie Kurtz in which the husband had the wife “accidentally” electrocute herself. I’d recommend it highly (the movie, of course).
She needs more lessons. listening to her pronounce words with the letter s is like nails on a chalkboard.