Two full months have passed since the Princess of Wales was seen or heard from and more questions than answers remain about her condition and what exactly happened after Christmas. On the other side, King Charles has been remarkably upfront about his health issues, issuing statements about his enlarged prostate and then his cancer diagnosis. He’s been photographed multiple times since leaving the London Clinic in January, from his Sandringham church pap strolls to his one-on-one audience with Rishi Sunak to his little car ride from Clarence House after Prince Harry flew to see him. While Charles might be hiding some parts of his health issues, he has projected a calm steadiness rather than a drunk, staggering panic (cough). Well, right around the two-month anniversary of the last time anyone saw Kate, the king decided to make a nice video where he’s reading get-well-soon cards and general well-wishes.
✉️ The King has had a chance to read a wide selection of the thousands of Get Well cards and letters that have been sent to Buckingham Palace since his diagnosis.
🖋️ Thank you to all those who have written in. pic.twitter.com/Ok7YGMb3h7
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 23, 2024
Real talk… only 7,000 cards? He’s king! We’ve been told that the UK is full of monarchists who love every single thing about the royal family, but only 7,000 people sent the king get-well cards? Anyway, it was a nice video and Charles’s staff did a nice job highlighting the cards and messages and I’m sure Charles was touched. Of course, it begs the question why Kensington Palace hasn’t done something similar for Kate, a simple little proof-of-life video or photo of Kate in bed, reading the dozens (??) of get-well cards she’s received.
Charles also released a statement marking the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Despite the tremendous hardship and pain inflicted upon them, Ukrainians continue to show the heroism with which the world associates them so closely.”
A message from His Majesty The King, marking two years of conflict in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1sjJoYrcTu
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 24, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Good production showing Charles up and about. And it puts KP on the back foot.
This is a nice video. And an appropriate statement. Seems like the palace works better with K&W out of the picture.
Makes me wonder if part of this was Charles and Camilla telling W and K to stop doing those big yet empty events for publicity sake and K is having a tantrum. Like see how it is without me then… and they say yes much better, let Charles get some attention for his short reign…
I’d love to see the inside of the “At least you don’t have to wear a cone,” card.
No kidding! 😂
My thoughts exactly. 🤣
Glad KCIII is doing better but what is really going on with Keen? At this point it’s becoming more clear something serious had happened to her.
I actually think KP is just extremely bad at this and BP is delighting in showing them up, as they have been for 2 months.
I agree…it’s a nice video thanking well wishers ( no matter how small number) and showing the king live and well (despite his health problem). Double mission accomplished. This is the least KP comms could have done, especially since it was the one which initiated this kind of videos ( remember William’s and Kate’s 10 years anniversary, the jubilee video with the children preparing cakes as well as the coronation video). At this point, I believe that BP is trolling KP.
This is hard trolling lol.
At this point I doubt something serious happen to keen. I mean her sister is out frolicking at the beach! The truth is more than likely she decided to milk what was probably a minor surgery, to take an extended vacation and her pr team is simply not competent enough to explain it all way! Plus she now has this added benefit of ensuring baldingham never divorces her (hints him hitting the bottle) and can even justify getting a bigger separation house (after all she was supposed to be at death’s door). At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that her and Carole Middleton started the coma rumors themselves, just to add some sauce to the story!
Could Wm have gone along with it to milk some time off for himself and garner the sympathy vote? Agree with your comment,@ A . The simplest explanation could be the best.
I disagree that Kate has enough power to disappear to avoid divorce. William would outing her in a heartbeat. And the fact so many people think because they saw Pippa on vacation Kate is fine is beyond my belief. My first thought was they have the Middletons over a barrel with the financial problems and could easily bribe family members to get photograph.
The biggest tell is the silence from KP about her, Kate’s account not wishing the king well, no definitive statement of her current health status, nobody in the RF wishing her a speedy recovery, nobody asking about her and it goes on and on. Add to the fact that William seems to be isolated. He has not seen his father, he has not made a statement about his father’s health, I have not seen him with any cousins, nothing.
It seems more than KP comms just suck. What is happening I don’t know but it’s bigger than being lazy. The silence is concerning
Since Kate isn’t showing her face, I’m guessing that is where the surgery really took place, hence the silence from the family.
As for power, Kate has all the dirt on William and Charles knows it.
She had surgery and for sure is treating something else at the same time. Her mental health has been suffering, they probably ask her to do more without doing more, to be pretty but not too pretty to eclipse the king, or to make william look bad, be better than meg (impossible) to be and not to be, to be racist but to hire filipino nurses, etc. Gurl just doesnt want to show up anymore to work, or in public, doesn’t want to show up at home being wife of future boring not clever no sprirt eggplant furious prince william. Gurl is trying to get cancelled, william drinking away sorrow, scrambling to get their story straight. Where did they put the handsome equery? Did he and Kkkhate leave together?
Seeing as how Andrew has gotten away with sex trafficking crimes, there is nothing William could do that could be held as leverage.
Think about that stupid flower show. Could it be Kate is or was I’ll but now sequestered away by the family so she doesn’t pull focus from KC who wants the spotlight only on himself?
This is what work from a competent Coms team looks like. Clearly someone over at BP is reading the comments and taking notes.
I did get a laugh out of the “at least you don’t have to wear a cone” card when I saw this on IG yesterday.
I laughed too! It was a nice comic touch!
Yes… the first thing I thought of was “Yes, someone is paying good attention”.
So .01% of the population of the UK sent him a card? If you factor in other countries where he is still monarch even less. And likely far less when you figure that some may be from people he knows overseas and some are likely from family members.
He’s definitely not as popular as his mother. However, to be fair, most of our Christmas “cards” are no longer physical cards anymore, but sent via email. He’s definitely put out an excellent video and more people will write to him after this.
🎯 Harry gets more response.
Interesting that this is what many people were expecting to get from
KP. If we believe the official story then Kate is likely still in discomfort so I could see skipping a video and just doing a photo. Could be low key and would be able to hide anything they want to hide. Use the kids as distraction for heavens sake you’ve never had a problem doing that before. Issue a statement that Kate is recovering and looking forward to returning when her health allows. Weird weird weird.
They could do what they did before with the kids making cards for Diana. Show cards they made for Kate.
BP is high key trolling KP at this point. I knew Chuck was cold and petty, but damn.
At some point this is going to come back and bite BP in the butt.
Chucky realizes that that he don’t have much choice, youngest working royals under 45, and work shy.
This shows that BP is capable of being good at PR when it wants too. I agree 7000 is a small number in the grand scheme of things. Plus for all the praise the Palace is getting for it’s transparency it refused to say cancer in the tweet it posted. So the Palace still has some work to do but I guess baby steps. For the all the talk about William and Kate being a modern couple, I think they’re more traditional than Charles. Anyway Harry did tell us in his book about how intransigent they are.
This is how you do it KP. A video guide on how to do it.
I guess no chemo for him
That’s what it looks like.
Because he has his hair? Or is out and about? I agree that he’s likely not getting chemo. Given his age, I would expect it to wipe him out. But some chemo does not cause hair loss and he may be getting lighter doses that he is doing well with.
An acquaintance of mine just finished chemo a month or so ago. She used some sort of cap that was supposed to help her keep her hair and it seems to have worked. Could Charles be doing that?
MinorityReport: yes there is a cap and it’s an ice cold cap that is supposed help keep your hair. I was offered that option but m insurance wouldn’t pay for it so I didn’t use it. I had to use ice gloves and socks to stop neuropathy but I bought those on amazon.
The idea is that your hair cells absorb the chemo (poison) fast like the cancer cells because they’re actively growing so they “eat” a lot. Cold slows down metabolism. So if you keep the scalp cold during the infusion, then you’re slowing the uptake of the chemo into your roots.
You can use specially designed cold caps but you can also kinda improvise with a hat/swim cap and a cooler full of ice packs. It’s another hassle, uncomfortable, and it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s worth a try if possible hair loss is a concern.
Chuck has always been into alternative meds and treatments. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes that route with his cancer treatment.
A panellist on one of
the UK morning shows was speculating that he might be undergoing alternative treatment, but another panellist shut her down quickly.
I did 20 weeks of chemo and I could certainly sit up and read cards. I mostly went about my life normally with one of the two types I received (the other was harsher). And I didn’t lose my hair for several weeks. There are lots of different kinds of chemo. Some are gentler than others. He could also be getting a targeted therapy instead, which is often much kinder to the body.
I have had chemo. I didn’t lose my hair till about the last treatment. I was out and about with no problems. Yes chemo is not good I was scared when I was told I had to have it but they have come a long way with it. Also you can have chemo and use I think a very cold cap on your head to prevent hair loss. It was an option but my insurance wouldn’t pay for it so I lost my hair and it took awhile because I had very thick hair. So you can have chemo and be just fine to go out and about.
I actually thought he looked like he was having chemo maybe, based on the look of his skin. From what I’ve seen, some people just simply don’t lose their hair on chemo, lose only very little, and/or it only affects the color of their hair.
Maybe he’s getting radiation first, then chemo?
That’s a possibility. Also, we don’t know when this video was made.
Why do you say he isn’t getting chemo? Because he isn’t balder than W right now? Because he’s sitting up, meeting people, and looking decent, if slightly thinner?
My uncle, who is older than KC3, finished six months of chemo in January (and got the final scan and all clear 3 weeks ago). For the entire time he was having chemo, he was up and around, seeing people and out in public – albeit fewer than and less than normal, he never lost his hair, and he never ‘looked’ off. I mean, he and my aunt MOVED HOUSE in the middle of his treatments. He was tired for the first couple of days following each treatment, but after that he was back to his normal energy levels. His final two treatments had him resting for 4 days instead of 2, but that was it. And he is a retired and on US Medicare. I promise you, it did not cover anything “fancy” or not “necessary” like a scalp cap.
Every person tolerates chemo differently. Additionally, being a King, I can only imagine he has access to tons of various thing that might help him keep his energy up, his hair on his head, and looking normal-ish. He probably has access to different kinds of chemo that are out of the price range of normal human beings with normal budgets. I’m not going to speculate he isn’t getting medical treatment just because he was up reading some cards, in a highly staged photo/video op, and still has some hair.
LynneInTX, I think Beanie Bean & Eurydice were suggesting he was having radiation therapy first and chemo will follow.
“at least you don’t have to wear a cone” – Yeah because it is SUCH A BURDEN to inherit wealth that has never been taxed .
Also Highest paid public employee in the country and you can be fired or even given a status review.
The argument that Kate is still recovering from surgery and needs her rest doesn’t hold up for sure. It’s bonkers that people are now demanding that we get proof of life. And I don’t blame this on the KP comms team. It’s unlikely they know what’s going on either. I can only conclude that Kate is unable or unwilling to provide proof of life photos which is—“concerning”, to say the least.
The way they described Kate’s surgery doesn’t explain the complete blackout. When Charles who is getting treatment for cancer can be seen walking a bit and doing short videos. It really does make the lack of anything from kate look weird. Vague abdominal surgery wouldn’t prevent her from doing something similar weeks after surgery.
I am in total agreement.
What concerns me is that the KP messaging from the get go has been extremely strange. Literally day of and following her surgery, the only off the record briefing coming from KP was that even the staff was unaware of this “planned” surgery.- even “close staff”! And those talking points were all over the media, even People mag, during the very beginning of this when she was still in her two week hospital stay. So, yeah, I agree that they may not know what is going on, in fact I’d say it’s likely they’ve never known. Someone has to be delivering these messages to the staff though, someone has to have told them that she had abdominal surgery, how long she’d be in hospital, etc, so they could put out the statements they have. I don’t know who that it unless it’s William’s staff just telling Kate’s people what to say, but…does Kate have any separate staff from William in KP at this point? Not clear.
For any physical ailment there is usually a range of recovery time that is provided and even for a bowel resection, they could do this.
The vagueness of the recovery, even omitting that she is recovering, suggests this is a mental health issue where things are not as specific in terms of recovering.
Also the references to being settled suggest this too. And William made references to nurses while she was at the hospital, not at home. Likely because she isn’t at home.
Charles is into vids now too? His heir son won’t like the competition for pubic simpaty.
Wait for a well widshing Kate video (no, no images of her, just well wishes). With the kids, maybe?
I don’t think the children will be shown for a while anyway
I’m expecting to see the kids at the church walk on Easter. I don’t expect to see Kate until at least June.
The children may not want cameras on them at Easter. Louis may act out. And those watching them might ask about kate.
I have the feeling Prince Charles’ peeps are reading the comment section of CB. Lol!
Charles’ office is doing a stellar job of controlling the narrative, ensuring lots of positivity while they can (lengthy chemo treatments are likely to take a huge toll mentally and physically, and I expect that these appearances will begin to lessen in the coming weeks); meanwhile KP, with the full cooperation of the UK media, is maintaining this silence about Kate. I’m not sure how much longer they can hold this line, especially when you have BP taking a completely different approach.
I forgot to add that it’s William’s decision not to put out any statements; the minions at KP know the continued silence is fuelling speculation and more senior aides have probably advised him it would be better to say something, yet he stubbornly refuses.
For some reason he sees no problem in withholding even the slightest information about the so-called future QC from the tax-paying public who are funding his grossly over-privileged lifestyle. This will not end well if it continues on much longer, especially if he himself is not seen earning his keep IMO. The blessed school run, which millions of parents do every day, is not what he’s being paid for!
Perhaps it’s just me, but for a 21st century woman to be so mute, is very disturbing to me. Having no voice of her own, Kate has chosen to be one hundred percent at William’s mercy. I hope her supporters can once and for all stop putting her up at Meghan’s level. A stepford wife can never be a feminist.
Kate being mute is one of her selling features for royalists. Is it abnormal? Sure, but this shows how archaic the monarchy is.
Diana spoke up and she was attacked for it until her death. Even today royalists are critical of her not being a submissive doormat.
@Chrissy and @Mads those are very good points to remember that the silence is coming from William. And the only statements were two brief KP press releases one announcing Kate’s surgery and an undated one announcing her release and nothing since.
Another thing that’s popping out is that I saw a tweet yesterday from someone saying that Kate was always in King Edward VII hospital, not the London Clinic. It then also referenced the Dec 28 video that said that’s where the motorcade was going, I did a little research and supposedly KE hospital is the traditional royal hospital. Very private with only 56 beds. Phillip and the Queen were treated there. Princess Margaret died there. Kate went there for her morning sickness.
It feels like Kate’s location was right there in front of us the whole time but William lied on the press release to distract the peasants to the London Clinic. During this whole mystery illness I have never seen anyone suggest she was in King Edward but now it makes sense.
@Harper, Charles put info out there that he visited Kate. If she wasn’t there, I don’t understand why the King would accept to be part of a lie, which will come out eventually in some stupid royal book. It is a very bold lie with no way to spin.
@sevenblue I think that is one of the little white lies the rota was willing to make as part of the deal. CRex popping in to see Kate made a nice story but the rota are keeping secrets so we can’t take what they say as gospel. If the truth eventually is fully revealed, the rota will not go after themselves for their own fiction. Most of the ire will be directed toward Burger King’s sham drive by visit.
Only one rota reported that Charles visited her. I think it was Becky English or Eden, who are both KP sympathizers and would easily lie for William.
Not one statement attributed to Kate. She can be as private as she likes and still release a similar statement. KP is inept or Kate cannot make any statements and no one dares to say she did because it will come back to bite them.
I suspect Kate is getting treatment for an ED and with that has come some facial swelling that makes her feel uncomfortable and maybe even look unrecognizable. I don’t doubt she had abdominal surgery, EDs can wreck your digestive system. I knew a girl in high school who disappeared over the summer and when the school year started and she greeted me I honestly didn’t recognize her because her face was so swollen. Regardless, I hope Kate recovers fully from whatever she’s suffering from and since England doesn’t need a princess, or any monarchy at all, it’s ok if she does so privately.
So Kate would rather there be rumors floating around about her husband committing DV or that she tried to hurt herself than to be seen with a swollen face? That makes no sense since anything like that could be explained as side effects from medical treatments or photoshopped away. The longer this goes on the harder it will be for KP to recover from this. At least Albert had sense enough to go to SA and take pictures with Charlene and the kids to stop the rumors.
I laughed at the ‘At least you don’t have to wear a cone’ card — that’s cute!
7,000 actually seems like a lot of people to send a get well card to a complete stranger. I don’t know anyone who would send a get well card to a US president they liked / voted for in similar circumstances.
Say Kate got double that amount would they announce it just to rub it in who is more popular?
I believe most of them were “sent” by his team.
(saw some of the handwritten cards and they had the same exact handwriting.)
😂 I’m sure Charles has his genuine supporters but there ain’t that many people out there writing letters to the royals, whether it’s him or Kate
Some teachers might have had their classes draw/write cards to him. It’s something my former teacher could’ve come up with.
Yes, it’s also a lot considering that people don’t send cards and letters that much anymore. It’s much easier to post “thoughts and prayers” online. In any case, it’s 7,000+ as of whenever they made this video – there may be more since.
Very well done, Charles – this humanizes Charles and brings him closer to the people (without actually having to come closer).
This is a good PR move from BP – shows how Charles is doing, and is a nice appreciation post for those who have wished him well.
Like others have said KP should be taking notes but I doubt it.
When soap opera characters are in comas or sick, they receive thousands of get well cards too. Fictional characters. So whatever Charles. Yes his PR team are excellent, but the fact he got a few thousand cards doesn’t mean much. Some people are just odd ducks.
I think soap star eric B r a e d e n May well have gotten a lot more cards during his bout with cancer.
KC and his wife and team are all doing their utmost to reassure the grateful nation that he remains very much in charge. On the other hand the heir went missing for 3/4 weeks and reappeared shakey and unsteady on his feet and unprepared to do his normal workload let alone take over from the king at a moment’s notice. No one, but no one is calling for William to step up as prince regent after the last two months. Radio silence on Kate is a personal choice of Kate and William or just William. She has not been visible but upon his reappearance William did not present a reassuring air of competence, capability and confidence. He is fronting up solo and almost buckling under the pressure. A lot of this could have been avoided with a solid PR presentation and William keeping calm and carrying on. No wonder QC has been so energized by Willy’s sinking his own ship and showing himself up by such an inept performance.
But NO hand made cards from George, Charlotte or Louis? My post should have stayed up! Easter is coming people.!!
And on another note, after the massive success of Harry and Megan’s visit to Canada reference invictus, we have had the Edinburgh couple out and about at a wheel chair centre showing how, wheelchair sports can help heal!!!! Then we had the other one at a dogs charity after Megan’s interaction with the dogs charity she supports, strange that NOT
@Mary Pester: I can just picture it! “Wheelchairs! We need wheelchairs! And dogs! And get somebody for the photo op – STAT!” Oh dear. Well…
Mary Pester, it will be interesting to see what KP says at Easter. Or, will they continue with silence.
@SAUCY&SASSY I did say a few weeks ago to expect something AFTER Harry’s invictus trip and around Easter, (according to my friend Heather) and she’s been spot on so far, so let’s see 😉😉
@Mary Pester is it the big D announcement? Divorce not the other big D (croaking).
Mary Pester, I’ll be standing by!!!
What makes me the most convinced that something else is going on with Kate, is less the lack of photo evidence (because I could see a world where she doesn’t want to appear frail/not her best), it’s the lack of fluff PR pieces and leaks about how her kids are taking care of her, how the RF is missing having her as a key member, etc. THAT can’t be explained away easily, imo. It tells me that they are worried about getting tangled up in too many lies.
It’s the lack of bland statements “from her” that really gets my antennae twitching. Either they’re not sure of her future ability to make any statements, or else they’re engaged in tense legal negotiations. My guess would be the second, simply because I don’t credit KP with the strategic sense to stay silent in the first case. A divorce might be considered significant enough that BP or Downing Street would intervene to keep everything locked down. A serious group of lawyers might have managed to convince William and his staff to STFU until things are “settled.”
This is what really has me puzzled as well. I have no idea what the reasoning is behind this radio silence, whether it’s just a massive public relations failure or a sign of something more serious than they want to convey. But even so the few fluff pieces that have been making the rounds have clearly just been completely made up by whoever was writing them and didn’t contain anything that made it sound like they had come from an actual source – let alone from Kate or William.
The lack of any real discussion about her on all the royal shows suggests they were told to say nothing. They discussed Charles and his illness far more.
@LIVINGDESERT, Exactly, they are as transparent as glass
And I say again people, stay alert because EASTER IS COMING, and invictus is fading from the press cycle now!
Mary Pester, It sounds like things are going to be very interesting soon.
Why is there a need to mention a specific number. Thousands of cards would be conveying the same thing. They must think seven thousand cards and letters is a lot, and certainly nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps they are even surprised that he received that many. He is not beloved like his mother and Diana.
I also found it curious that someone thought it necessary to bundle cards in a rubber band. Why? Why not set them into the red box loose? Did they count them by bundles? Like you do with money?
What about handmade cards from his three favorite grandchildren? I remember in 2020 when KP posted a picture of Philip and Elizabeth reading cards from William’s kids to celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary. That picture made it appear as if they were their only three great-grandchildren. Why now don’t they bother making cards for their grandfather the king?
Now I know why we haven’t seen Kate. She IS wearing a cone!
@MyCatLovesTV: OMG! Now you did it. I laughed so loud that I woke my kitties! I can’t stop giggling! I… can’t… stop… 🙂
While I think Charles team is doing a very good job of handling his illness without being specific…an alternate theory on why we keep seeing Charles on various outings might be: “If he were to die soon, what is there to show of his reign?”
He’s got to have something in the history books besides “ mummy died, I had a goofy coronation and that was that.” ( cause then they’re going to focus on Diana…)
All Charles has to do is unite his family and his popularity will easily increase and people will forgive him about Diana. Imagine if he took a picture with his five grandchildren and Lili on his lap, the Sussex Squad would become his stans just like they did after he walked Meghan down the aisle. I can’t forget when the Sussex Squad wished for a joint engagement between Meghan and Camilla lol
So What? I doubt that the Sussex Squad would become his fans. There’s too much water under the bridge. In fact, a photo of the 5 grandchildren would be looked at as a PR move only. The real question would be if H&M would want their kid’s picture out there. Let’s remember that they keep their kids out of the public eye because of security.
I doubt there would be a change in attitude by all to say the least in how Charles treated Diana. He had his chance and his friends like Seward still slam Diana
Seriously dude, are you a member of the rota? Frankly, other than Charles, those are the only people who would benefit from that staging. As a squaddie, I really find this statement by you a bit insulting, really. You think Charles would be doing Harry and Meghan a favor by their allowing him to use their children to wash himself of racism accusations? I would be far more disappointed in Harry and Meghan, to be taken by Charles, were that to ever happen. I cannot forget that Charles refused to fund security for Meghan and Archie, and later removed Harry’s security and financial support, leaving them stranded in Canada. I think royalists are so delusional about the importance of the British monarchy in todays zeitgeist. Most people around the world don’t consider it magic to be in the presence of Charles or his heir, thank you very much.
Please sure me your proof that any squaddie was pining for any such joint engagement.
Charles imo did that walk down the aisle for his own p r. He never once spoke out against the way the media treated harry and Meghan. And he allowed William to drive them out.
On one side, there’s the Prince’s Trust, and some really yummy Duchy Originals cookies. On the other…there’s a Lot.
We REALLY should be worried people because we haven’t even seen a pye chart 😂
LOL!
This makes me think Kate isn’t seriously ill because BP is trolling her hard here.
“More than 7,000”? How much more than 7,000? Sussex squad easily gets orders of magnitude more people to donate actual money, on behalf of the Sussex kids’ birthdays. This is embarrassing.
Yeah, this is a good move. Charles has never been stupid. I hate to give it to him. But I try to be fair.
My mom had metastatic colon cancer and received chemo for 8 months. She never lost her hair, but she did lose her life.
I am sorry to heat you lost your mum.
I lost both my parents and only sibling and so many friends and other family to cancer .
It’s a relentless beast that can’t seem to be stopped .
Not a Kate fan, but the core strength she would need to color her wash and color her hair; get her makeup done; put princess appropriate clothing on, and pose for a photo with today’s paper, if she did, indeed, have major stomachs surgery, she doesn’t have it.
That would be great that instead of just performing as “nice, innocent grandpa” for a photoshoot he’d actually give a sh*t about his grandchildren.