As we discussed over the weekend, Prince William played up the single dad thing on Friday evening by taking Prince George and Princess Charlotte to Taylor Swift’s Eras concert. Charlotte and George both looked ecstatic to meet Taylor backstage, and there was a video of William “dad-dancing” to “Shake It Off.” Selfies, dancing, two out of three kids looking happy, and arguably the most famous pop star in the world. William actually scored a pretty big win, image-wise, although I enjoy the conversations about whether any of this was a win for Taylor Swift. Personally, I think that’s why Travis Kelce was included in the selfie Taylor posted – she was almost using the “Instagram-official with Travis” thing as a deflection from whatever criticism she might receive for posing with a colonizer.
Again, the Taylor Swift selfies were mostly about William’s image-management more than anything else. But I’ll be generous to William – I think there’s a good chance that Charlotte and George are both Swifties and it was nice that he made a point of talking them to an event they would enjoy. That’s what I thought at last year’s Wimbledon too – it was clear that Charlotte is actually a tennis fan and a huge fan of Carlos Alcaraz. She was crossing her fingers for Alcaraz and really cheering for him. Bringing the kids to events THEY enjoy is preferable than the often-strained formal events they’ve had to attend in previous years. Still, William’s people can’t help but brief the media about how “taking the kids to a concert” makes him father of the year.
Prince William’s visit to the Taylor Swift concert with Prince George and Princess Charlotte was “a fantastic illustration of just what a brilliant dad William is,” according to one friend of William and Kate speaking to The Daily Beast.
The friend said: “It’s been an unbelievably difficult year for the entire family. The children have been amazing, and it was a fantastic illustration of just what a brilliant dad William is to see him there.”
The friend added that the adorable Father’s Day photograph of William and the children jumping off a dune in Norfolk taken by Kate was another sign of William’s devotion to his children. “It’s great to see this side of him publicly,” the friend said.
I was a kid when Princess Diana and Charles separated and then divorced, but I remember how Diana ran circles around Charles’s PR constantly, because she would do things like this. She would take Harry and William to amusement parks, concerts and movies. She was constantly emphasizing that she was “the cool mum,” the normal parent who wanted to expose the royal kids to a life outside of palace walls. She really was that person and it was authentic to her, but it was also a brilliant move in her divorce strategy. I’m not saying that history is repeating itself or anything – I think the current situation in the Wales family is a totally different beast – but I find it interesting that William is pulling from the past and effectively copykeening the mother he recently called paranoid.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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- Prince George, Prince Louis, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte on the palace balcony following Trooping the Colour on Saturday 15 June 2024 at Buckingham Palace, London. Trooping the Colour is a traditional parade held to mark the British Sovereign’s official birthday. This year the colours were trooped by The Irish Guards. .,Image: 881850906, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Julie Edwards/Avalon.Red, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis photographed on the palace balcony following Trooping of the Colour on Saturday 15 June 2024 at Buckingham Palace, London. Trooping the Colour is a traditional parade held to mark the British Sovereign’s official birthday. This year the colours were trooped by The Irish Guards. .,Image: 881899091, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Julie Edwards/Avalon.Red, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis photographed on the palace balcony following Trooping of the Colour on Saturday 15 June 2024 at Buckingham Palace, London. Trooping the Colour is a traditional parade held to mark the British Sovereign’s official birthday. This year the colours were trooped by The Irish Guards. .,Image: 881899137, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Julie Edwards/Avalon.Red, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Denmark v England Euro 2024 20/06/2024. Group C Prince William in the stands ahead of the Euro 2024 match between Denmark and England at Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt, Germany on 20 June 2024. Editorial use only , Copyright: xNigelxKeenex PSI-19851-0047,Image: 883367470, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Nigel Keene / Avalon
Again with the low bar for PW. There are many “brilliant” dads who had to scrape together the money for a child to attend that concert I’m sure and who had to be in among the crowd and be online for quite a while to get those tickets and who don’t have the leverage to get their child a backstage pass and who aren’t important enough for TS to bother posting their picture on line with a happy bd message. If she had treated him like others and left it to PW to post the selfies online instead of making an exception and posting them on her account, it would be one thing, but TS posting the pictures was a choice to elevate the patriarchy.
By agreeing to post that picture she was boosting the patriarchy.
💯💯💯
she can get the stadium to chant about bringing down the patriarchy, but its meaningless when she posts a picture with the epitome of the patriarchy.
Weird, the above comment was from me, I don’t know why its saying “anonymous.”
Is she, though? There’s no denying who the star is in any of those photos–it’s Taylor! Peggy brought his kids as the excuse he needed to actually be at the concert and flap about like a bald albatross. They came to see her, not the other way around. So, two future kings and Charlotte, who inevitably will do better in life than her parents and brothers, got to pose with Taylor and Travis. I hope Charlotte got TayTay’s number because she’ll need a strong woman in her life. Please, keep Mr. “I’m a Scientologist” as far away as possible! I know Travis is probably thinking, but I love Top Gun…no, Travis, just no!
The children got to go to a TS concert and looked like they were having fun. Nothing else matters to me here. To see young smiling faces says it all.
I agree. Those kids got to have fun for a change. They were doing something they wanted. Loved Charlotte in her sparkliness and beaming smile.
Even if Willie is a really terrible dancer even he got to “shake it off”
And I even have no grips with the selfies.
I did find the Taylor negatives over the weekend posted on this page sad though. Doesn’t matter who we are anywhere anymore .. we are all subject now to conjecture and heavy negativity regarding our choices. Are we all so perfect in our own lives ?
I think the “Taylor negatives” came from people who have seen who she is for years now. Her brand is white feminist and she’s a billionaire who’s constantly in our faces. (Couldn’t even do the NYT crossword this morning without hearing about her! smh)
We can critique her and how she uses her platform. Will is using his kids for PR. The kids appear to be happy in this photo. All of these can be true.
Also agree – sometimes kids just need the moments in time memories they will cherish and they do look happy.
This is literally the happiest picture I’ve ever seen of George and Charlotte. It’s good to see them looking like kids.
No suits or sailor dresses!
My mid-20s daughter grew up with Taylor and has a rabid Swiftie group chat. I know Huevo was hoping that Swifties would say: Taylor posed with Prince William? He must be cool–I need to find out more about him! Instead, the genuine reactions were:
Taylor posted with Travis!
What is this? AI?
Prince William? Ewwww gross.
The kids looked like they had fun. Good for them! Though that video of their dad “dancing” may cause embarrassment for them in the future, lol.
The bar appears to be just a little tavern in Hades.
Ha!
The privilege of this piece. So if a parent can’t take their children to a concert does that mean he/she is not a fantastic parent? Anyway these same people told us that going to concerts was unroyal, what’s changed?
Exactly ! Given the prices that common peasants have to pay to see Swift in concert I think that the least William can do is take his children to see her. He most certainly didn’t pay anything for this PR stunt and got the VIP treatment. I don’t see why he should be getting any cookie for that.
I mean, he’s a father who took his kids to a concert by one of the biggest artists currently performing. They seemed like they had fun, all three of them.
This is always the issue with embiggening PR. It looked like a fun night out…..does it make him father of the year? hardly. But the Wales PR is going to do its thing and tell us that he’s the most brilliant father to ever father because of this.
This puffery is very American, isn’t it? At least what the British criticize about Americans – that they’re too loud, too big, self-congratulatory, bragging and immodest. Not at all Old Britain, tut, tut, tut.
I know it was pre social media days, but Harry and William did go to concerts and see famous people. I don’t think the cameras were always there to capture the moment. At least not publicly. It becomes PR when the supposedly private family moments are put on the official social media account.
It’s interesting to me that there were 88k people in that stadium and we got one super short and blurry video. Nobody else took pics or anything? That’s weird right? Considering all the celebs that are being photographed at these concerts?
They also never get photographed at other places- like when Kate took Charlotte to the ballet. It’s kind of amazing how locked down they are and can somehow control literally anyone taking pics?
They do this all the time, in the past their team would send candid pics during engagements to deux moi and pretend it was snapped by a “fan”. I won’t be suprised if a staff or even Chris Jackson ( he was there) took this video.
William especially as bald as he is isn’t worldwide recognizable especially from that distance, it had to be someone in the know that took that video
Let’s sell single dad Peg. He is great with the kids. He took them to a concert wow.
Sorry this story is giving PR stunt. KP should have left it with the Swift selfie.
They can’t help themselves.
So far, 2024 has been a stunt-fest for Willy. Wonder what he and the brains’ trust will come up with next.
What a toothy family. This was a PR stunt for William but the kids looked happy so win win I guess, I wonder why Kate wasn’t there or why he didn’t hang out with his dear cousins Zara and Mike? too bad everything William does is in direct reaction to Harry and Meghan and this PR moment will soon be overshadowed by articles stating he hates his brother.
On Taylor swift, I don’t hate her and listen to some of her songs but something about her just reads manipulative to me, it’s like she knows what she’s doing, I also don’t buy her and Travis’s relationship, watched some stills of him at the concert and he came across as playing to an active audience.
Yeah, Z&M were there with her children so why weren’t the cousins all bonding and why didn’t PW get them an invite backstage for a selfie. I’m sure Z&M’s children would have loved that also.
they’re a bunch of grifters hanging on to William out of necessity and I don’t think they’re close . He attended the wedding of Hugh with Eugene and didn’t interact, in Jordan during the royal wedding he stood directly in front of Beatrice and her husband with Kate and they didn’t interact at all and didn’t even look at each other, Mike told a “funny story “ about him and still ended up addressing him as “sir” . I genuinely believe they’re paid in clothes / jewelry/ money to show up to these royal events in support of William
The one thing about Taylor and the little girls who love her- multiple celebrities have talked about introducing their daughters to Taylor, and how Taylor was kind, attentive, complimentary to the little girl/young women. Parents remember that.
Stephen Colbert was like- i would go to war for that woman- b/c of the way she interacted with his 13yo daughter.
Whether that is manipulative or just who she is- I love that about Taylor.
And frankly that is what i was looking at in the royals photo- i bet she was lovely to Charlotte and George and they probably had a good time at the concert.
My comments about Taylor have nothing to do with how she deals with children.
A star being nice to their fans seems like the logical thing to do.
Was Tom Cruise just there to get papped? He certainly wasn’t there with his daughter.
What about “commoner” children? Being nice to celeb children is no surprise.
Yes, good for the kids to have some fun. BUT: I am done with people glorifying dads for doing one simple, fun thing with kids. This is not real parenting, heavy lifting like bedtime, meals, supervising school, providing emotional support is still on nannies. Taking two kids over 9 to a concert is basically easy and fun thing to do (and here: someone booked it, someone drove them, someone showed them to their seats so Baldy basically did nothing, he was just there), and calling him brilliant for that goes on my nerves so much.
This has long been a pet peeve of mine, along with anyone saying a father is ‘babysitting’ his own kids.
I posted something about this yesterday, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself.
It would have looked loads more genuine if Pegs had just posted the selfie with Taylor Swift. Instead, what was posted was the photo of them posing for the selfie.
So instead of it looking like a fun in-the-moment experience, it comes off as what it was-super staged.
These people get complimented for the most mundane things. My father took me to concerts all the time when I was growing up. It’s like the bar is set in hell for the royals.
Dads taking their kids to concerts is cute. It’s an instant win. But other dads don’t have a tabloid propaganda machine proclaiming how brilliant they are for it. It was nice to see the kids looking like they had fun. Imagine if we hadn’t seen the photo though? How would William get his cool dad embiggening stories?
Had the selfie simply been posted by the Taylor account and that’s it, it would have come off more natural and less like PR. They are over egging the pudding with all this.
Did KP post first and then Taylor? Maybe she was annoyed KP didn’t post the one with Travis😂. But there was no way William wasn’t going to post himself with his kids and Taylor Swift. Though Louis is gonna look back at this pic and ask where the heck was I?
Prince Bill using TS, the Swifties and his kids for PR.
I’m glad Charlotte was included, she (and George) both looked like they were having a blast.
I guess I’m glad the term “lesser mortals” wasn’t used to puff up Huevo’s stature as a dad.
But overall, this combined with the recent photos of Will with the kids, Khate’s appearance at the Trooping, and CarolE at Ascot is giving me huge “an arrangement has been agreed upon and negotiations are over” vibes.
There’s an old saying, “The best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother.” William should take heed.
The bar is just set so low for Will-not and keen. The rota really owe Hilary Mantel a posthumous apology and really need to apply adult expectations to willy and keener. He is a 42 year old adult man who goes nowhere without staff and royal protection officers. He is not an infant and can be expected to work and do things with his kids.
The bar is just set so low for Will-not and keen. The rota really owe Hilary Mantel a posthumous apology and really need to apply adult expectations to willy and keener. He is a 42 year old adult man who goes nowhere without staff and royal protection officers. They are not infants and can be expected to work and do things with their kids. I hate seeing the kids used in media campaigns like this. They looked so happy and normal there. I hope this coverage doesn’t register with them.
I must be a terrible mom, because there’s no way I’d take my 9 year old to this concert. I’m not over the top strict or big on censorship- but there’s a lot in this concert and off Tortured Poets that I’m not ok with for a 9 year old.
I was kinda wondering about that… I’m not super familiar with her songs but the vibe of her TPS photos doesn’t say family friendly, which seems like that’s how she markets herself??
A parent taking their child to an event isn’t some parenting miracle no need for celebration 🙄.. I do often wonder if they give Peggy gold stars ⭐️ for wiping his own 🍑.. that is if he does wipe his own🍑🫣🤷🏻♀️.
Dude, you took two of your children to a concert. You didn’t solve homelessness nor did you solve the crisis in the Middle East. You can’t even stop rage briefing against your brother. I am not impressed.
Will wants to be the bestest dad ever
I took my daughters to see the Eras tour last year (fantastic concert). And, like most people, I had to navigate Ticketmaster using two computers and my phone to score tix. I also had to budget for it (and still I recognize my privilege in being able to afford it).
Where’s my puff piece?
My orthodontist took his 8 year old daughter to see Taylor in Scotland the other day. She was randomly selected to meet Taylor and received a hat, I think, and it made the local news. I’m sure that whole trip cost a pretty penny.
I have a friend who is in England now and went to two of the shows. She was able to get box seat tickets the day of the first concert for something like 300 dollars each. Expensive, but compared to the US prices it almost sounds reasonable, lol. I think because the ticket resale market is different in England it helps make ticket prices more reasonable.
I thought it was nice Charlotte got to wear a sparkly dress. It’s not super clear in the pic but the royalfashionpolice insta post about the dress shows it is. I usually feel sorry for how they make those kids dress so I was glad to see she got to wear something at least kind of fun for the concert.
I took my daughter to the eras tour in April ‘23 and half the fun was deciding on our outfits.
I don’t mind this. I think the kids enjoyed themselves, which seems nice at this point. George looked esp happy, which seems rare? I don’t like commenting on other people’s kids, but he always appears burdened. And who can blame him.
Charles did the great dad photo ops after Diana died. He took harry to a spice girls concert and was pleased for great parenting. Harry wrote of his experiences in spare and he got no great parenting.