Last year, the Princess of Wales was given an honorary military patronage, becoming the colonel-in-chief of the Irish Guards. She took over the position from her husband Prince William. It was part of the patronage reshuffling that came after QEII’s death – William had to take on an honorary position with the Welsh Guards (as Prince of Wales), which meant he could no longer be colonel-in-chief of the Irish Guards. They did the handover ceremony on St. Patrick’s Day 2023, and I’m including some of those photos in this post. Since she became colonel-in-chief of the Irish Guards, Kate has only done one event with them. She skipped their St. Patrick’s Day parade this year (as did her husband) and she skipped the Irish Guards’ Trooping the Colour “Colonel’s Review” rehearsal on Saturday, June 8th. Kensington Palace announced that Kate would skip a few weeks ago. Well, apparently Kate sent the Irish Guards a letter, which was read out to them on Saturday:
Kate Middleton has shared her apologies for missing from a major rehearsal for Trooping the Colour, King Charles’ birthday parade, as she continues to stay out of the spotlight amid her cancer diagnosis.
The Irish Guards shared a letter from the Princess of Wales, 42, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, June 8, where she wrote of “how proud I am of the entire regiment ahead of the Colonel’s Review and Trooping of the Colour.”
“I appreciate everyone trooping this year has been practicing for months, and dedicating many hours to ensuring their uniforms and drill are immactulate,” Princess Kate added in the letter.
She continued, “Being your colonel remains a great honor and I am very sorry that I’m unable to take the salute at this year’s Colonel’s Review. Please pass my apologies to the whole Regiment, however I do hope that I am able to represent you all once again very soon. Please send my very best wishes and good luck to all involved.”
The Princess of Wales concluded the letter by writing, “Quis Separabit” and signing off as “Colonel Catherine.”
Yeah… I don’t believe she had much to do with this letter. I’m no handwriting analyst, but from what we’ve seen of Kate’s cursive penmanship, it’s not that distinctive and it would be pretty easy to forge. Once again, we’re supposed to believe two things simultaneously: that Kate is recovered enough to run errands with her family and pop into Norfolk grocery stores so that William can pick up chocolate AND we’re supposed to believe that she’s so unwell and in such dire need of recovery time that she could not send a video of support to the Irish Guards? Send a photo? Send a voice memo?? Like, Kensington Palace’s refusal to give a credible proof of life is so damn creepy. Also, since I’m sure other people will mention it, KP has a history of forging signatures. They did it with Harry in 2020. I also feel strongly that “Kate’s apology” for the Mother’s Day frankenphoto was forged (it was just a tweet). There’s such a huge credibility issue for Kensington Palace at this point, I just have a hard time taking any of this at face value.
The Irish Guards were deeply touched to receive a letter from our Colonel, Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales this morning.
We continue to wish Her Royal Highness well in her recovery and send Her our very best wishes.
Quis Separabit@KensingtonRoyal @ArmyInLondon pic.twitter.com/y95rbmaeOS
— Irish Guards (@irish_guards) June 8, 2024
Here’s a pic of Kate’s handwriting last year (she wrote this on a box sent to Ukrainian refugees).
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Wiltshire, UK, 08 March 2023: Catherine Princess of Wales during her visit to the Irish Guards on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.,Image: 761262750, 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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- Catherine Princess of Wales during her visit to the Irish Guards, on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.Picture,Image: 761371244, 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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- ALDERSHOT, ENGLAND – MARCH 17: Catherine, Princess of Wales meets with members of the Irish Guards and enjoys a glass of Guinness during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade at Mons Barracks on March 17, 2023 in Aldershot, England. Catherine, Princess of Wales attends the parade for the first time as Colonel of the Regiment succeeding The Prince of Wales, the outgoing Colonel.,Image: 763503510, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- The message of support on a box written by Catherine, Princess of Wales, after helping to pack donations of essential items during her visit to Vsi Razom Community Hub, in the Lexicon Shopping Centre, on October 04, 2023 in Bracknell, England. The Princess was there to hear about the work the organisation has been doing to support those who have arrived in the local area from Ukraine as a result of the ongoing conflict. NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS,Image: 810859531, 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, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Aldershot, UNITED KINGDOM – The Prince and Princess of Wales visit the Irish Guards in Aldershot for St Patrick’s Day. Pictured: Catherine – Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 17 MARCH 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Aldershot, UNITED KINGDOM – The Prince and Princess of Wales visit the Irish Guards in Aldershot for St Patrick’s Day. Pictured: Catherine – Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 17 MARCH 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to the 1st Battalion Irish Guards for the St Patrick’s Day Parade, at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William Where: Aldershot, United Kingdom When: 17 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales speaks on stage with the Prince of Wales during a visit to the 1st Battalion Irish Guards for the St Patrick’s Day Parade, at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William Where: Aldershot, United Kingdom When: 17 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales sit for a group photo during a visit to the 1st Battalion Irish Guards for the St Patrick’s Day Parade, at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William Where: Aldershot, United Kingdom When: 17 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales meets members of the Irish Guards and enjoys a glass of Guinness during a visit to the 1st Battalion Irish Guards for the St Patrick’s Day Parade, at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Aldershot, United Kingdom When: 17 Mar 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Forging her signature would be outrageous, not to mention illegal. But it’s come to a point, where, just like with Trump and his cronies, we all accept that there is no line so sacred that these assholes will not cross it.
Peg forged his brother’s signature on a document so why not forge Cants?
Jason Knauf wrote the letter, didn’t proof read it, used standard American English since he’s from Texas, then signed it “Colonel Catherine.” These people are so hilariously bad at what they do. Where IS the Colonel, BTW?
Agnes – to your question of where IS the Colonel, it’s giving old Columbo episode vibes where someone is trying to establish an alibi so keeps doing things from the person’s pov – sending forged letters, pretending they’re on the other end of the phone in front of witnesses, etc. It’s cray cray that it’s come to this. So many random Kate “sightings” and interactions that really aren’t proof of anything.
All these rumours about her being in another country for treatment, or holding out for a better divorce payoff, just don’t jibe with the fact that NO ONE has proof of having seen her. She has zero agency in any of these shenanigans, and when they go south, she takes the ALL the blame. She’s either in a coma or dead, nothing else makes sense.
@Agnes
💯
Absolutely nothing else makes sense to me either.
As they’d say in the game “Clue”:
” Catherine, the “colonel” is in the coffin buried in Canterbury.”
Makes as much sense as anything else in this mess.
Agnes:
You are so right about the proofreading. I’m American and can still figure out that the grammar is hideous.
Yesterday I was reminded of that weird story from a few months ago that Carole Middleton was in a head-on car accident and was in critical condition. Now I’m wondering if the BRF disappeared two women?
Wait, Carole was in a car accident??!! How do I miss all this stuff???
In the US, I don’t think it’s illegal to sign your boss’s name to something if you have permission.
Eurydice, I would always put my initials after the signature. It was clear that I signed it for whomever. That works well and made it clear to anyone reading the letter that it wasn’t signed by the principal.
Where I work, it’s somebody else signing their own name for the other person; i.e., ‘Jane Doe for Janet Roe’.
We know from Harry’s memoir that they forged his signature on a press statement, so I have no trouble believing they forged Catherine’s to this. And I just don’t see her signing ‘Colonel Catherine’; there’s something odd about that.
If Kate is locked in the dungeons under Windsor Castle a forged signature isn’t much of a crime in comparison.
@BeanieBean – I don’t doubt for a minute that Kate had nothing to do with this letter. But I can imagine how she may have given tacit acceptance over the years for others to do her work for her, including signing her name. And I can imagine staff members taking William’s orders for anything to do with Kate.
It wouldn’t have to be forged. Autopens, digital signature reuse, and handwriting fonts are not unheard of at all for public figures. In fact, they are standard procedure for the President, cabinet secretaries, Congresspeople and most others at their level in the United States, and have been for years. There’s an approval process, of course, but it does not usually require the principal’s permission, just a senior staffer.
This is so common, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that happened here.
Also, though… “Colonel Catherine”? Like she’s a character in a kids’ aventure novel? I’ve worked with many military folks, including British military and, well, no. That is so stupid. It’s always rank + last name.
I am probably galaxy braining here, but what about this:
The staffer added all the grammatical errors and mistakes to make it look authentically like someone from a hospital bed was sending out the message.
@Mario That’s what I thought too (re: Last. Name, Rank). My husband was never called “Greg” anything in the military. Always his last name. Also, my brain responded with “Colonel Catherine and Captain Crunch”.
That’s what I was thinking, nutella. Harry, who ACTUALLY served, was addressed as Captain Wales. Not Captain Harry.
Having her marketing/comms team draft & even sign her official paperwork would be completely normal, it’s sop. (incidentally, that’s probably yet another way Meghan ‘broke protocol’ by sending personal, handwritten notes instead of carbon copies from the marketing department.) It’s the same as issuing or inserting ‘quotes from Kate’ that don’t resemble anything that ever actually came out of her mouth and have obviously been written and provided to the rota for use. None of that is even unique to the royals, it’s sop pretty much everywhere, from start-ups to the white house. Unfortunately, authenticity in comms is the rare exception, definitely not the rule. (Another reason why Meghan was a threat, because she actually talked the talk, not just what comms wrote for her.)
But still, IMO there’s a huge distinction between a comms team sending out official comms for their primary and a brother forging his brother’s signature to alleviate his own guilt in a personal vendetta. The former is completely normal widespread policy, the latter is a gross personal betrayal.
The most offensive thing to me isn’t that they’re ‘forging’ her signature, it’s that the letter was so poorly written. It’s completely unprofessional and it really just blows my mind that with the level of scrutiny they knew a ‘letter from Kate’ would get, they still didn’t take 30 seconds to proofread it. It’s insulting to the Irish Guards and the public at large, really.
It was terrible but that’s pretty standard for KP.
I sincerely believe there is an element of sadism in all of this, at this point. I can hear William maniacally laughing while saying, “let them all analyze some handwriting for the next month!”
This letter is so unprofessional, it makes KP look like the clown show it is, and they aren’t even trying to improve.
It’s not a forgery if it’s her staff. I worked for a Member of Congress and it was my job to practice his signature so I could sign all his constituent mail, as well as other official documents. It’s a pretty normal thing.
You just don’t get it, do you? William signed Harry’s name to a document that Harry had nothing to do with. Cleary, he did not authorize the signature. Given the circumstances surrounding Kate’s absence from public life, it is a legitimate question to ask whether she authorize the document, and or the signature, or whether she is even in the condition to do so. Are you saying that you signed documents on behalf of Members of Congress that they did not authorize? Then you committed a crime.
I hope she’s not getting paid by the taxpayers’ for not showing up. All the expenses she’s incurring med bills, meds should be personally funded by Peg.
Perfectly legal. Lots of public figures authorize an assistant to autograph inconsequential documents like this. There may even be an auto-pen.
Yeah, that’s not her signature. She doesn’t connect her th like that. If you look at other examples of her signature going back to premarriage, the connection of those two letters is different.
Not to mention the letter being riddled with spelling and grammar mistakes and Americanisms – practicing vs practising – and other non-British phrasing.
The Americanisms make no sense at all. Wouldn’t a British computer automatically use British spelling?
Not unless you know how to set it to British English.
It uses the British spelling of honour so the spell check is set to British. The comma splice is curious though. A British grammar check would’ve flagged it as much as an American one.
The UK language setting in Word accepts both practicing and practising as correct spellings (which is interesting to me, because I’ve never seen practicing used by someone from the UK/Canada/Australia). Very likely an American wrote it and depended on the settings to catch their Americanisms.
What Americans are on KP’s staff?
Maybe an American employee wrote the actual letter. There or not, you know Kate doesn’t write what she puts out. The only question would be if she really signed it. Even there, does it prove anything? They may have employees sign off on things all the time.
I feel like one qualified editor (even part-time!) would solve all of KP’s communication issues. “Hey guys, this looks terrible, let’s not send it out until it’s cleaned up” could have been deployed dozens of times in the past six months.
How were the American spellings not caught before issuance? Clearly, the circle involved in managing Kate is very very small and I don’t think more than one person was involved in writing and sending this letter, and it wasn’t Kate. Isn’t Jason Knauf an American? I feel like he’s been up to his neck in these shenanigans just like he ran the anti-Sussex campaign, regardless of his actual job title.
Don’t tell me JKnife is up to mischief again!
Wasn’t there someone else on KP’s team that worked for NBC? He’s American too…
Isn’t their new press secretary American?
It’s even worse if an American in Britain isn’t paying special attention while writing in the persona of a Brit.
That’s a totally valid point.
I don’t believe that’s her handwriting either. Her cursive is more “upright”, the writings in the letter were “leaning” more to the right. She could put all the words at leveled horizontal line when writing long sentences. The 3 handwriting lines in the letter were quite leveled.
The only reason I question the letter is because I had no problem reading it. Ofcourse Kate would write Colonel Catherine. She wants you to know WHO SHE IS!
The second sentence is awkward but I find her speeches to be painful. I can’t listen to a – Kate speech- in one sitting.
Maybe carole wrote it. Cause if I’m carole I would be afraid of the world forgetting about my daughter.
In her other signatures, she uses the ‘h’ to cross the ‘t’ in Catherine. That isn’t what is going on with this letter.
Interesting. I do what you’re describing with my last name, and I never, ever do it another way. It’s the last two letters of my last name, though.
We use practice as a noun e.g. band practice, and practise as a verb e.g. practise your sounds. Australian teacher here!
With Peggy having no issue forging his brother signature and releasing manipulated photos as proof of life, they really think that people will just accept that is her signature? What a joke the leftovers have become.
The two Cs look different in the signature. The word practicing is the American spelling. This imo is a total farce
So, because Microsoft is an American company I’ve found that Word often comes set to US English as default, and you have to manually reset it to UK English. So I can buy that KP staffers are just too freaking dumb to do that or even to realise.
But it’s also very possible they have American staff?
I agree that they and their staff are beyond stupid and incompetent but I’m not sure I can believe this. Wouldn’t their IT person (or whoever initially sets up the computer) have changed it to UK English from the start?! And if not, all it takes is seeing the red squiggly lines one time and telling it to add that word to the dictionary.
If that were the case it would have spelled “honours” as “honors”. And that doesn’t even make sense as SussexWatcher says. Why would he not already have it set to the English version anyway.
It makes sense if Knauf wrote it as he is American – when you install the OS you should be prompted to choose your system language. On the rare occasion MS products don’t default to the OS language its easy enough to change in settings.
Didn’t Meghan just release a letter thanking the Nigerian government for the hospitality styled exactly like this letter. The way normal copy Kate is known for
She didn’t write the letter nor sign it her penmanship is not the best. Along with other things but let’s not digress
Honestly I agree with Harper on her analysis of the 🧱 from the podcast.
She’s sick and unwell however there’s also will blocking her from coming 🔙. His body language is screaming that he’s enjoying the time right now and that’s scary even from him
It’s likely an American did write this using Word is set to UK spelling.
You see, having Word set to UK spelling results in color and honor being flagged as misspelled BUT not practicing. It seems that setting in Word accepts both practicing and practising.
It’s very unlikely that someone in the UK would use practicing. It’s very likely that someone from the US would, however, and that they’d rely on their Word settings to pick up their Americanisms.
@what
I immediately thought of Meg when I LOOKED at the letter. Hadn’t even read it yet.
Since when does Kate care enough to write a letter. Lol.
The only reason she would even care about being colonel is to -stick it- to someone.
@SamuelWhiskers: “It’s also very possible they have American staff.”
🙄 It’s not only ‘possible,’ it is factual that KP employs American staffers. Jason Knauf is from Texas. Lee Thompson, the Communications Secretary for William & Kate, is an American who was formerly a p.r. executive for NBC Universal in New York and London. Both of these individuals and their royal roles have often been discussed on CB.
I noticed the different C s as well. And the C in colonel marches the C in Chris.
The Catherine part is likely saved in a program like adobe. The rest of the cursive looks different.
I noticed the same thing. The difference between the two C’s really stood out to me.
You guys are really good at this, the Cs are completely different.
“Colonel Catherine?” GMAB.
Right?
I just checked and last year, Kensington Palace called Kate POW and Colonel. And definitely not Colonel Catherine.
“The Prince of Wales and The Princess of Wales, Colonel, this morning presented Shamrock to the Irish Guards at Mons Barracks, Aldershot, Hampshire…”
So that’s a change in title on those formal letter.
The 2 Cs look different. I don’t believe this was her.
The letter was written by an American, spelling of practicing, the Dailyfail corrected the many errors in the letter before publishing it.
At least, they don’t act like she doesn’t exist. It is progress, I guess.
Welp.
There’s the history of forgery and also…when has Kate ever cared enough about missing one of these events to send an apology note? feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Could be a result of the Where’s Kate campaign.
Good point. I remember when she didn’t bother to show up for that whole handing out the shamrock event, where she gets to flirt with men in uniform & pat a dog. There was no apology for that, just a snotty ‘she doesn’t want people to get used to expecting her at these things’.
Imagine not performing your work responsibilities because you don’t want your boss to expect you to do these things. You’d get fired because that’s your job, the same way that’s Kate’s.
Right? Aren’t they afraid of us getting used to apology letters?
I shouldve scrolled. Yes, Kate is colonel now but she doesn’t care. Only reason she would write a letter is if it had a dual purpose. Roger feddera(sp) could get a letter out of her. No one else. Lol.
“when has Kate ever cared enough about missing one of these events to send an apology note?”
And Kate blowing off the Irish Guards, telling them not to expect her every year, became commonplace enough to be notorious.
Remember the one year she showed up, and KP actually gave stories to the media about how they shouldn’t expect to see here EVERY year? They said it on a day that should have just been about the regiment and pomp, blah, blah, blah, but instead became a “the princess is much too important to show up ANNUALLY, Serfs.”
I mean, they weren’t wrong. Note to KP, thumbs up on making all of the excuses while you still had healthy primaries. Nothing seems remotely weird that the messaging now is she can’t WAIT to be back with them, when it was “if you see her, you see her” when she was healthy. God, they truly are fatally dumb.
Christine – I remember that. Such an arrogant attitude. The Jamaican prime minister had the right idea firing them.
@S808, GREAT catch!! That went right over my head, but it’s the most suspicious thing about this letter— its mere existence.
@Jais, literally lol at your comment 😂
“The Princess of Wales concluded the letter by writing, “Quis Separabit” and signing off as “Colonel Catherine.”
Quit showing off that you went to Eton, random staffer.
Well, it’s the motto of the Irish Gaurds so any rando with Google can figure that one out.
Yes, that was a huge tipoff that it was not written by her. If she did have that knowledge that it is their motto, then I see Kate signing QS -CC, she likes to sign off with a C. I see that more her style. And lastly, the “I am very sorry” is not her style either. It just sounds OFF. All of it.
Lol, sure. That proves everything.
You are missing the spelling mistakes that the papers are correcting! For instance there was no ‘to’ here “unable to take the salute” Read the letter, its obvious, what an embarrassment that they sent it out like this
Yes, I saw that spelling mistake, and I see a problematic comma, what other mistakes are there? Everyone keeps saying there are multiple mistakes and the letter is “riddled” with them, but only 1 is ever pointed out, what am I missing?
That being said, I actually think she wrote the letter. The contents are very her. Trite, unimaginative, yet pompous (she will “represent” them?).
I’m an editor, and there are multiple errors. There are many commas that need to be added, a few periods could have been added, and a sentence structure error. Not to mention the missing “to,” and there should have been a “that” or “how” at “I appreciate THAT everyone trooping this year…” And I just went through one reading. As someone who edits articles for a living, it’s embarrassing that a form of government couldn’t even do the most basic spell/grammar check through Microsoft Word. Or hell, run it through Grammarly.
That ‘however’ should have been preceded by a semi-colon and followed by a comma. (Kinda embarrassed to follow Myriam, a professional, with my little bit of pickiness, but there you go.)
@Myriam
periods and commas are not spelling or grammar mistakes though, they are punctuation mistakes. The missing “to” has already been mentioned and acknowledged, the “that” would have been helpful but is not strictly necessary, I think, if she used “I appreciate” in the sense of “I understand, I gather”. Seems to be personal preference, a colleague of mine always removes mine, and I keep adding them, all my research indicates we are both right and it’s the matter of style and preference.
Hmm, the ‘however’ could have been deleted altogether and start with a new sentence: “Regiment. I do hope…” I would also try to avoid so many commas, not add more. 🤦♀️ But then, the whole letter is a poorly written farce.
See everyone is using the spelling mistakes as proof that this isn’t from Kate. I’m using them as proof that it is, LOL.
😂
😂😂😂
Yes, I agree as well
If she writes anything like she speaks, I have no trouble believing this is her handiwork.
But isn’t that why they employ a Communications Secretary! Every bit of communication with the media and other entities is supposed to be overseen, vetted, proofread, polished, and in most cases composed by their communications staff. 🙄
@Myriam, Grammarly adds commas where they don’t belong and leaves them off where they do, so I could almost believe they used Grammarly for this lol.
My complaint is with “I wanted to write and let you know” when it’s obviously “I’m writing to let you know” as short hand for “in order to let you know”. While this has become causally accepted and is even used in media now, it is unexpected in formal correspondence from a Royal office that prides itself on “protocol” to the degree that they’re sobbing in the streets over shades of pink nail polish.
It reads like it came from an American teenager.
My junior high grammar teacher would never have allowed ‘I wanted to write and…’
@Beanie right? While much of grammar past a certain point is preference, as noted above, this letter reads like an American junior high school wrote it.
Whhyyyyyy Kensington Palace. Whyyyyyy.
“.. I’m unable take the review”.
A few measly lines and they still couldn’t be arsed to proofread the thing.
Plus “Colonel Catherine” is odd. Surely she just have said “Catherine”?
Another day, another odd/incompetent PR move around Kate that, once again, raises more questions than it answers.
Why can’t whoever wrote this spell and/or do basic grammar checks? HOW BAD ARE THESE PEOPLE??
Has Kate sent a similar note to all her other charities/patronages that she has been unable to visit whilst ‘ill’? If not – why do just the Irish Guards get a note? (yes, yes, I suspect because of the will she/won’t she appear at Trooping kerfuffle – but that’s my point)
Does HRH Kate always write in felt tip?? Why did nobody give Charles this idea – he could have avoided pengate!
Do I think she actually wrote the seven words in pen? Who the hell knows. I find it equally likely that she did it as a staffer forged it.
Colonel Catherine?? COLONEL CATHERINE??!!
Sigh.
“Another day, another odd pr move around Kate that once again raises more questions than it answers” 🎯 hench. Another day, another something. I’m feeling somewhat whatever about all of it today. Wish her a healthy recovery fr. But as usual the weird shenanigans are weird. Your point about why hasn’t she sent letters to other orgs or charities is a good one. Why indeed.
putting random stories in the papers that make it seem like Kate is around, doing things.
it’s giving alibi setting.
I say that as someone who doesn’t think she’s gone or W did something to her. but this weird thing KP is doing where they are marking her to the casual observer as being present and doing things when they refuse to actually show her is VERY ODD.
Add in KP history as big liars (like North Korea, as AFP said) and this kind of thing is exactly why they are signaling cover up. Sure, maybe she wrote this, but they have a history of lying about statements and who wrote them. And if she did write this, she’s mentally well enough to be photographed opening cards. So why hasn’t she been?
Totally agree Withtheamerican. It’s all to create the illusion that Kate is mobile and compos mentis. When the truth is she hasn’t been seen for months.
I wonder if her staff are getting promotions for their ‘discretion’ in going along with the spin.
The signature is supposed to be the rank and surname, but as the Royals don’t use surnames it would have had to have been Colonel Wales. For an Irish regiment! I think.
What about your colonel, Catherine? Colonel Catherine sounds so childish.
It could just be a printed signature. It does look very dark in the pics so that would be my guess.
“Colonel Catherine”? What’s your service record, Kate? Seven tours of Mustique?
I agree with the printed signature. It’s pretty common and many people use it to send multiple similar messages, thank-you notes etc. I’m pretty sure all the royals have one….I can’t believe that they sign for example every Christmas card they send…so, no, her signature isn’t a proof
Seven tours of Mustique, hahaha. I loved that!
Me too!
I find the timing on this interesting. Someone thought it was better for the world to rhapsodize over a message from Colonel Catherine versus discussion of the poor diplomacy displayed by Camilla at D- Day observances.
Oh true! That’s one way to distract from Camilla’s uncouth and undiplomatic behavior in France.
The letter also had grammatical and spelling errors and signing it Colonel Catherine was off putting. KP is in such a mess.
Even in the version of the letter in this post, the word immaculate is misspelled (it’s written as ‘immactulate.’ Like what? The American who wrote it (“practicing”) did so in a rush and did not proof read it, despite it being an official statement on KP letterhead. 🙄
In the version of letter shown above, it’s not misspelled. Are we looking at the same letter?
It’s misspelled in the excerpt, not the original letter.
Kate fans write this is so classy of her. As if.
The handwriting on the letter and the handwriting on the box are not the same. American spelling and typos prove this wasn’t Kate’s doing.
Interesting how twice now, the letters have referred to as something other than the POW. Kate and her mother moved heaven and earth for that title. The queen was not even cold in her casket when the website was changed to reflect her title. But now they want us to believe she’d rather be called “C” or “Colonel.” Just makes no sense. Perhaps it’s an indication of things to come?
That is interesting. I wonder if there’s an official comment from KP in which they’ve referred to her as POW recently.
Didn’t she lose her personal secretary (or some such title) a while ago? There have been so many stories about her hiring a new person but it never happened?
From POW to Colonel Catherine. That is a new role. @withtheamerican, it seems her former stylist/assistant, Natalie Archer, has been promoted. I’m not sure her exact title now? She is the photographer chris Jackson’s wife.
Thanks @Jais, I knew someone here would have the details. I guess she doesn’t need a stylist right now, so that maybe makes sense. But she also doesn’t seem to be using her own secretary.
Very odd.
I just saw a screenshot about it today so I think Kaiser will cover tomorrow. It’s recent. Wanted to answer your query but not threadjack😂
@Jais thanks! I didn’t get back down here before posting above about what they called her last year, but it went to your point exactly.
Last year she was POW, Colonel.
Looking forward to the other piece being covered by Kaiser tomorrow, I’m so curious.
So Tatler posted an article about “Tash’s” promotion today (or over the weekend), making it sound like it just happened, referencing how she’s been there for Kate “unwaveringly” since she’s been sick— but someone checked her LinkedIn, and it says she’s had this position since 2022.
Incredibly bizarre, since Tatler doesn’t generally seem interested in carrying water for KP by publishing BS stories?
Curiouser and curiouser!
So, the Daily Mail posted an EDITED version of her letter. They fixed a lot of the misspellings and American spelled words. Imagine that…
The signatures are different. Her handwriting is different. Her C’s are different. The way she crosses the “th” is different. After the “th” is completely different too.
Kate didnt have any part of this letter nor did she even sign it. And since when has Kate really cared about sending letters when she has missed events?
I don’t know why but I have a strong feeling that Jason Knauf is back at the helm. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was his idea to do the AI cancer announcement and not BP.
Well that’s mortifying when the DAILY MAIL needs to correct your grammar 🫢
I don’t believe for a second she is in the US getting treatment at MD Anderson. I think this is paid persononall and derangers pushing this. She is supposedly out and about at so many different places but never any photos. Never any proof. Also, the general narrative that their BOTS keep pushing is that she is “sicker” than she let on from AI cancer video and also can’t be shown for vanity reason ie: loss of hair.
Off topic but a child supposedly asked William “where is charlotte” and he responded by telling the child she was at school and taking exams. Something to that effect but he emphasized “exams” twice I believe. I looked up Lambert and they just started back on June 3rd. I highly doubt they would be having a test much less exams right when the term starts back. I think this might have been staged set up and staged answer in response to everyone talking about whether their kids are in school or not. Everything they have done so far has been a reaction.
Tests in this term assess and decide which sets the child will be in at the start of the next academic year. I believe him. It’s a funny thing to say, though. Why not just say she’s busy at school. Another thing. No one talked about “exams” when our kids were in prep. Teachers and parents would say “tests”. Exams is an older kid thing. These are assessment tests, not formal exams. Very over the top, and quite pressurising. (Sorry, this is sparrow1!)
Within the last few weeks, I saw two things being widely shared on social media. One was a video of a veteran reading a letter sent to him by Harry. Another was a photo of a letter written by Meghan to someone she’d met during the Nigeria trip… thanking her for their time together.
When I saw these letter-related posts, I thought… yep… it shouldn’t be long now before some RF doofus puts out their own “letter.”
And here we are.
In theory, this letter is a lovely gesture. In classic Kensington Palace style, they confront you with all sorts of questions: What happened to Kate’s handwriting? Why didn’t someone look this over before releasing it with mistakes? What is it about the Irish Guards specifically that warrants K writing a public apology for her absence? Normally, K signs off with “C” as opposed to her given name. Since she hasn’t credibly been seen or heard from since Christmas, why choose to release a letter given the last apology from K was due to William’s Frankenphoto? Obviously, this letter comes across as written by someone else and makes it seem like K is unavailable. It’s amazing how poor KP is at communicating!
It’s weird that they have put out two apologies from her while not doing the expected norms earlier on and throughout her illness of thanks and updates and anecdotes about the kids, etc.
For sure that first apology for the completely fake photo was b.s. I still can’t believe Kates fans were fine with her being blamed for that when William took “credit” for the photo originally.
When I served (many decades ago!) you would always sign off an informal letter with “Yours aye” and then your first name, but not rank.
If it was a formal letter then there were set in stone formal protocols, and the motto of corps or regiment would be under the signature block.
This is a mishmash of “civvy” expressions, and very badly written.
The royals have enough serving and ex military personnel who would know the protocol, so it’s definitely been hashed up by someone who just slung it together.
Reminds me of someone I knew who joined a company where the whole ethos and employees were still in the Dickensian age, elderly Oxbridge types etc. Quite fascinating, letters would include terms such as “we remain Sir/madam at your service” etc. and the person I knew started writing “Yo! How about a discount? I can do you 20%……..”. They genuinely couldn’t understand why they were let go shortly afterwards.
“If it was a formal letter then there were set in stone formal protocols, and the motto of corps or regiment would be under the signature block.”
That’s what feels so off about this, much like that other ‘thank you’ for cards and well wishes that looked to be spat out on regular printer paper, the intention was to be formal the way the palaces ‘should’ be but barely phoning it in. The exactitude of protocol QEII’s reign was famously emphasized for isn’t just missing, it’s like the monarch is jacked up on bricks!
Yes, it’s not even consistently “Yo!”-level informal. Even Chat GPT would do a better job.
So KP thought the standard announcement telling the public WanK would miss giving out the shamrocks and swilling Guiness because of her illness was adequate, even though that same weekend was the farm video that showed ‘Kate’ heaving shopping bags and bopping about carefree. Now KP not only releases a ‘heartfelt, personal’ letter to make a formal apology to the Irish Guards it’s riddled with typos and American spellings and rather than write out her formal military role and title finished with her initial, the sign off is Colonel Catherine?
What?
What is going on? Like the Frankenphoto apology it’ sloppy and reflects badly on her staff/her. Like William’s announcement insisting Harry agreed W didn’t bully him it’s clearly not by Princess Catherine herself.
PROOF OF LIFE FOR KATE, CHARLOTTE AND LOUIS.
STRAIGHT, NO CHASER, NO MURDOCH MEDIA.
It’s possible that William’s staff, the people who put out these embarrassments, day drink as much as he does.
Idle hands do the devil’s work…🍻
Per a recent crime show where someone identified a loved one’s handwriting, I’ve been thinking about how I’m not sure I could identify writing from my partner of more than 20 years. We don’t right notes. We don’t sign checks. When do I see his handwriting?
No sticky notes around the house? No handwritten to-do lists or grocery lists? Or are those a thing of the past? Interesting point you bring up.
Ok so this wasn’t written by her–but I don’t think that’s abnormal. This is what personal secretaries and such do. The person who wrote this is American I think. We all know that the British add the u into colour, etc. but the s/c/z differences are not as well-known to us. This is why we have it sometimes British spelling and sometimes not.
I write in English and sometimes Spanish on my phone and the autocorrect works for both I think. Meaning that, if I’ve spelled something incorrectly, it will correct the word from the language that it thinks it is from. Maybe something like this has happened here? Or else the language was just set to US.
I think this is poorly done but not a sign of anything other than incompetence and being rushed/careless.
It is not that it could have been written by the personal secretary that is the problem. It is the fact that KP wants us to believe that it was SHE who wrote it, that’s at issue.
And I don’t think she did.
Other official offices manage to write multiple letters daily with no mistakes, in their country’s official language. It’s a pretty low bar to expect the “soft diplomats” of the royal family to use the proper spelling for their country in official correspondence, and I don’t think we should compare it to our own mistakes on our phones, when people are paid salaries to write these letters.
It’s not like this was a quick email being dashed off. It’s as if the White House sent out a letter shared with the press using British spelling and full of mistakes.
Also, this person hasn’t been seen since Christmas. the palace is writing a letter in her name, so being “rushed/careless and incompetent” is a choice. I think that’s what people are responding to, as they are claiming it came from her.
That’s exactly it. It’s a choice. They consistently choose to half-ass everything.
@Agnes especially because they are half a$$ing everything supposedly coming from or about Kate. It’s giving contempt.
Thank you! Contempt! That’s the word I’ve been searching for to describe all of this fakery on Kate’s “behalf.” Like they just can’t be “arsed,” as they say in Sunny Britain.
Y’all are right. It’s the half-assed/arsed contempt. Feels like a choice. Or is it incompetence. The eternal debate. Either way, it’s insulting af to the public that pays for them.
Yeah, it’s like this “comms office” doesn’t consider writing the bread-and-butter type letters their core competency. Buying bots and planting news articles, yeah maybe.
Oh for sure. I didn’t mean to imply it’s an excuse. But I know a lot of people (not on here really) see a conspiracy in everything that’s “wrong” but I think this one goes in the rushed out/incompetence column and not the four dimensional chess conspiracies. I don’t think they care enough to do that. It’s just contempt and hubris from them as per usual.
This is all so very very creepy. Why should she even send a letter of apology? Why should it be publicized? What a dreadful world the Firm is.
If anything – I’m
More inclined now to believe there is something seriously awry here and not just the KP/BP tap dancing.
20 March:
“Disturbing that newspapers like The Times are reporting this as fact. Headline ‘Kate seen in public for the first time’ when it’s clearly not her. As someone has said. Could be a couple of lookalikes making mischief.” -Sonja McLaughlan
25 March
“Of course I was in discussions with the palace all along with that. And there was no problem with us running those images. It kind of felt like the nation was desperate to see her.” -Victoria Newton
This has been happening the whole time long; KP uses a photo, message or video pushed by The Sun, NY Post or Rebecca English to “prove” Kate “is fine” and the international media amplifies this talking point with no further confirmation of its veracity or with the problems (both subtle and obvious) with the original source not only glaring but left with no correction. The recent story about being seen purchasing chocolate land this letter are the same playbook -using the world’s media to pretend Princess Catherine is conducting herself in public spaces when there is no proof that true and what ‘proof’ is offered intertwined with that same triad -KP, the BM Rota and Murdoch publications -the latter pushing bot activity into social media from the very first day Kate was reported to be at the London Clinic. Most of the initial stories contradicted almost at once and no one getting KP on the record to explain or clarify anything.
That remains suspicious even before you add all of William’s strange public behaviour.
👍 @Interested Gawker
Some thoughts: it is a reflection on both Charles and William and their leadership ability to hire inexpensive and untested comms staff and to leave them to the job. I shudder to think what the other staff are doing.
The age groups that deal the worst with dead/dying parents are people in their 40s (didn’t see the decline, expect it or have friends dealing with same) so Charles illness shocked W and K, and put them on notice that they are not going to have much time as the Wales’s with implications that George could end up a very young Prince of Wales. Also whatever life pattern (separation, etc) they had established is blown up. Ditto Charles, 70 somethings dealing with death of 90 something parents is some of the biggest drama-at some point they assume parent will live forever and because they are older and reflective much more emotional about childhood issues, mortality. Charles life work was 5 decades as PoW. Finally becoming King and then becoming ill…must be a blow. Plus Kinging definitely messed up the nice life he and Cam had with their seperate weekends and vacations.
So lots of shocks to the system/way of life to a bunch of truly out of touch folks even before whatever happened with Kate. Poor hiring decisions, leaking from Camilla and ill advised relationships with the media and hanging onto feuding and upstaging H and M. Things were a mess then they got stressed. Now poor comms. Although after watching Richi Sunak step in it so many times I am thinking the Brits are getting a little to complacent with their media and super injunctions-think they can do anything and treat people poorly.
I think everyone needs to keep asking about Catherine, but respectfully because it was obvious she was painfully thin for years-so we can surmise something has been amiss with her mentally or physically or both for years. We also know how brutal the men in the suits, the family and the press can be to wives and their concerns.
The fact that all the Middletons are quiet is because Kate asked them to be; not because they were bought off or threatened. I really believe that..so whatever it is I believe Kate is still around but doesn’t want to be seen-or perhaps be around William. Let’s not assume she is dead but is receiving treatment of some kind and is carving out something personal from a life where that is hard. I think Kate is dead stuff is playing into the hands of the H and M derangers-they are blaming the SS when in fact on social media it looks like non royal watchers are really picking up on it:)
Now if the rumors of Anderson MD Cancer Center in Houston are true-good for her, thats where I would want to be. I can also imagine that given his interest in Cancer that Joe Biden reached out to Charles and Catherine-and offered support and help.
Something is clearly going on and it will reveal itsself eventually.
George would need to be named prince of Wales by his father. It is likelyl that if he is heir to the throne William may wait until George is of age to name him prince of wales.
“Middletons are quiet is because Kate asked them to be; not because they were bought off or threatened.”
There is no way to know this unless Kate is shown explaining the situation herself.
“Now if the rumors of Anderson MD Cancer Center in Houston are true…”
More rumours are exactly what KP has brought on itself because they refuse to provide on the record statements or demand retractions for incorrect information in the media. How is Princess Catherine in America now when she was meant to be buying chocolate in England last week? If one is true the other’s a lie. If neither are true we’re back to square one. Who was Rebecca English’s source for the ‘out and about’ story that got picked up and amplified around the world?
“Something is clearly going on and it will reveal itsself eventually.”
One should hope but in absence of that unambiguous proof of life for Kate and the children will do.
1. It’s interesting that you call her “Catherine,” which usually comes from royalist and her fans. And then say that SS is being blamed for negative viral Kate stories on social media. I wouldn’t worry about that, as any real reporter knows SS didn’t start the rumors that took off about Kate, that came from KP and their fake photo. So I’m not sure why we would concern ourselves with that “perception,” since A. Not everyone here is Sussex Squad (weird assumption on your part!) B. It’s just another obvious lie by deranged British tabloids and Kate fans.
2. Not sure what you’re saying about people need to ask where Kate is but “respectfully” – I mean, no one can order the entire Internet to be respectful, but I haven’t seen people being disrespectful of Kate on any level near what they do to Meghan. No columnist is writing that Kate needs to disappear, is evil, and should have literal sh*t thrown at her, as they have about MM.
You tell people not to assume she’s dead, so maybe that’s the part you’re trying to shut down. I personally don’t think she’s gone, either, but respectfully, people are entitled to their beliefs about this weird situation, and since she has not been seen since Christmas, theorizing that she might tragically be gone is not out of bounds or disrespectful.
3. Kate said “cancer HAD been present” which means she doesn’t have cancer. She was getting preventive chemo and yet has not been seen except for a video since Christmas. It’s June. That doesn’t fit with having cancer. People will try to make sense of this with theories, that’s just human nature.
4. you claim Kate told the Middletons to be quiet. You have no basis for claiming this yet you write it like it’s a fact. I’d argue that trying to shut down questions about why her family is silent isn’t respectful.
You “imagine” a lot and that’s fine, but it reads like fan fic. Like, you’re spinning whole fake news stories here about her telling her family to be quiet. So it’s okay for you to fill in the blanks with theories but you don’t want others to do the same. You see? It’s just human nature.
It seems like you might be a big Kate fan, and so I want to express my thoughts and prayers for you and everyone else who is concerned about her and how she is being treated. I agree she is not being treated well and it’s wrong. I’m sure it’s very painful to watch. But the people who are mistreating her are KP and her own husband.
NOT a fan. Mistrustful of RF. I am old enough to remember what exactly what they did to Diana and Fergie (slut shamed her right into divorce). But am exhausted from bots name calling H and M -and think crazy theories -whether true or not should not get a lot of coverage. I do know that whatever tricks BP and KP have up their sleeve they will gaslight and shame people like they did with the bench video.
Kate seems to be “apologizing” a lot lately, while not being seen anywhere. What are the chances? She apologized for the photos and now this. It’s starting to feel like a blame Kate for everything era, which make the 2 written letters to sound so manufactured in my opinion.
That’s not her signature at all. Her handwriting in the box and the letter are completely different. Well KP do this , they did it to Harry , so not surprised. What I am surprised is that they did not check the American wording here. Just weird all around .
Has she sent letters of apology each time she has skipped ‘work’ in the past? That must be hundreds of letters by now…
She really has been working as hard as a Top CEO!