The Princess of Wales covered last week’s People Mag, all about her “life in remission.” It had the feel of something organized by Kensington Palace, full of vague statements about Kate’s solitary bravery and how she’s “drawn a line under the last year” but will not be back to work as usual for the foreseeable future. There was also that weird suggestion that Kate always went to chemotherapy alone, with no support from her husband, mother, sister or friends. Well, I guess Us Weekly also got a call, because Kate is a “Princess Under Pressure” this week. The pressure? People want Kate to work and she doesn’t want to. I sh-t you not. Some highlights from the cover story:
Kate has become “Britain’s most revered royal”: But adoration also breeds expectations. And now that Kate is in remission, jubilant news she also announced on January 14, the pressure is on for more face time with the public. “All eyes are on Kate for when she returns to work,” a source tells Us Weekly in the latest cover story. And that could become stressful. “Part of the issue is she’s so popular and gets so much attention. It’s like any royal event she attends has a halo around it and goes well, so the public wants as much of her as possible.”
The palace wants more Keen: The palace may also be keen for more Kate time for strategic reasons: Her star power is a publicity bonanza for the embattled sovereign family, which is still reeling from Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 death, the defection of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, to California and the taint of Prince Andrew’s connection with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Charles’s uncertain health: There’s also the shadow of uncertainty over King Charles’ health. His shocking cancer diagnosis in February 2024 cast a new sense of urgency on William, 42, and Kate, the reigning monarchs-in-waiting. “Knowing that Catherine is available, supporting William and also supporting the monarchy, is, I think, really important to him right now,” royals expert Ed Owens tells Us of Charles, 76. “He knows the institution is only as strong as the personalities that front it.”
Kate’s steel will: According to royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, the massive focus on Kate could be a two-edged sword. “There’s enormous support and public sympathy for Catherine,” he notes. “However, nothing alters the pressure in the ‘royal goldfish bowl’ of the world’s most high-profile monarchy.” Still, royal expert Christopher Andersen tells Us Kate has “a will of steel, and the palace knows it. So they are wisely sitting back and letting her determine when and how and at what pace she is returning to public life.”
Kate’s not actually under any pressure: While some insiders fear that Kate may be too quick to jump back into the royal fray, she appears to be using trademark good judgment and taking things slow so as not to jeopardize her ongoing recovery. (A second source agrees her return is gradual and that the princess isn’t feeling “under pressure.”)
This is completely false: However, Kate is “not a person who likes to sit on her hands,” royal historian Marlene Koenig tells Us. “She’s shown such grace. Even in her illness, she recognized the responsibility of her privilege and did what she could, whether it was just a word of comfort or a message or speaking to people involved with her different charities.”
Kate still lives at Adelaide?? At Adelaide Cottage, the tranquil four-bedroom home in Windsor where she and William moved in 2022 to escape the chaos of London, she’s settled into a steady post-crisis routine. “They’re spending this time to give their three children a foundation of stability for when they’re far more on the public stage,” says Koenig. “They will have responsibilities that they don’t have now.”
The longevity of the role?? As she prepares to step into the role of queen one day, Kate also relies on her husband to keep her best interests at heart. “William has always been fiercely protective of [Kate], and if anyone is going to slow her down, it’s going to be William telling her to take it easy,” notes Koenig. “He knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And the longevity of her role as the Princess of Wales is most important.”
“Her star power is a publicity bonanza for the embattled sovereign family.” Yes and no. Kate is by far the most well-known and well-liked royal woman over there. That’s what happens when you wage a racist hate campaign against your only real “competition.” But what astounds me is that Kate’s “star power” has never been valued by the royal establishment whatsoever, and even less so these days. In fact, there have been several moments where it feels like Kate is being purposefully benched and hidden away because they hate how much attention she gets. Alongside that… Kate isn’t under pressure. No one in the Firm is demanding more Kate, and the royal rota has been successfully placated by a handful of public appearances and a purposefully vague-yet-still-shifting cover story.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, cover courtesy of Us Weekly.
-
- LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 14: Catherine, Princess of Wales during a visit to The Royal Marsden Hospital on January 14, 2025 in London, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales have today become Joint Patrons of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust following a visit by Her Royal Highness to the hospital’s Chelsea site. The Princess’ own personal cancer journey saw her receive treatment from The Royal Marsden. The Royal Marsden opened its doors in 1851 as the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.,Image: 953490122, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson/Avalon/Avalon
-
- The Prince of Wales attended a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and.the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in London. The event brought together faith and civic leaders as well as survivors of the.Holocaust and more recent genocides.,Image: 958090756, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Arthur Edwards/Avalon/Avalon
-
- The Prince and Princess of Wales attended a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and.the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in London. The event brought together faith and civic leaders as well as survivors of the Holocaust and more recent genocides.,Image: 958095716, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Arthur Edwards/Avalon/Avalon
-
- The Princess of Wales talks with Katherine Field during a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, where she received her cancer treatment, to personally thank staff for her care. The Prince and Princess of Wales have become Joint Patrons of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the specialist cancer hospital which treats over 59,000 NHS and private patients every year. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales talks with Katherine Field Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- The Princess of Wales talks with members of staff during a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, where she received her cancer treatment, to personally thank staff for her care. The Prince and Princess of Wales have become Joint Patrons of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the specialist cancer hospital which treats over 59,000 NHS and private patients every year Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- The Princess of Wales during a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, where she received her cancer treatment, to personally thank staff for her care. The Prince and Princess of Wales have become Joint Patrons of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the specialist cancer hospital which treats over 59,000 NHS and private patients every year Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 14 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- The Princess of Wales during a ceremony at London’s Guildhall, to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 27 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- The Princess of Wales meets Rachell Levy during a ceremony at London’s Guildhall, to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Rachell Levy Where: London, United Kingdom When: 27 Jan 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Kate has no will of steel more like stubborn and lazy. She never wanted to work
Her will of steel ended when she bagged her man. She will kosplay that kancer story till the end of time.
@Tessa … Agreed.
I disagree with Kaiser on one point. I think Queen Elizabeth II wanted Kate to do more. Didn’t she comment once that it would have been helpful if Kate had held a job prior to marrying William? In my opinion, that’s when Kensington Palace stared those ‘Kate can’t work because she has such difficult pregnancies and needs to recover’ statements once William and Kate began having children.
QEII put all of her extended family to work. Her surviving uncles and all of her cousins worked for the Monarchy. And she supported and provided places to live to them as well. Much different from her eldest son.
King Charles III seems like a special brand of miser to me, clinging tightly to the special spotlight of his title and his coin purse while standing in front of a safe overflowing with gold. I wonder if his parents would be surprised by his miserly behavior? Well, that is his miserly behavior towards everyone except for Camilla and her brood.
Sophie almost died giving birth to Louise and still never clocked low engagements like Kate has done from day one.
The Kate cove r stories are not flying off the shelves
Wait…what? Kate doesn’t want to work is now breaking news? GTFOH!
Yeah, shocking, isn’t it! 🤣🤣🤣 I want to know where to sign up for this “work.”
It seems that tricky cancer that she alone has is keeping her from “work” unless it’s something she wishes to do. Expect more of these ridiculous articles to come out about the great Can’t.
But but but apparently! She knew her privilege and was reaching out to support charities WHILE SHE WAS ILL? That’s the most laughably obscene lie I’ve read. Straight back because everyone’s been saying couldn’t she zoom or do something. After 12 months of too ill for anything, suddenly she was doing something.
I’d love do whatever I want and have 100 or so reporter’s lie for me every day?
The breaking news is apparently princess under pressure. The more I think about it the more annoyed I become. She’s in remission! That’s a very joyful thing. How many cancer patients would like to be in that position? How many cancer patients would have loved to have recovered while not having to worry about taking time off work? But instead we’re getting a narrative of princess under pressure.
Where is the gratitude? The grace? She’s lucky to be healthy and instead it’s still all woe is me and feel sorry for me bc I’ve been pressured to do around 3 events in one month. This narrative is not it.
Right!!
The winning narrative here from KP would be that Kate is relieved and happy, and that gives her a renewed sense of purpose as she realizes how lucky she was, not just health-wise but also from a socioeconomic perspective. She is ready to dive back to a full schedule because she is so thankful and wants to give back. (and then include a caveat something something doctor’s advice.)
Kate coming out from the past year working more than she ever has (which would still be relatively little, lets be clear) would be the winning move here.
Kate continuing to use her cancer and her “steel will” to get out of work is not winning.
Right? Dive back into a full schedule? Lol. Honestly, at this point the rota has been trained to be happy with 3-4 events/month bc they’re lucky if they get that. I’m not foreseeing more. 3-4 event /month is the new full schedule. So she she should just get in with it and do it. Without whatever the heck this is. Bc this whole going to American magazines with this poor princess under pressure is really gross. She is lucky to be in good health. She is lucky in a way few others are. But her team is going to publications and doing this poor princess routine. Ugh I feel like I just repeated what I said before but it’s sooo grosss. There’s a lot going on in the world right now and someone in remission is a very lucky person. Wish that for anyone else with cancer.
I think courtiers are pressuring Kate to return to work but she is refusing. I think courtiers use this magazine and other us based tabloids to vent their grievance because for one who one will take this tabloids (us based as true facts) and two they can say whatever what they without fear . Because I long believe some rota work as insider for royal family and carole and co has close relationship with them. So courtiers are very aware of that and they dont bitch about Kate to british press.
Kaiser, I agree with your assessment. I also think that KC3 is responsible for her very limited exposure. I just cannot wrap my head around why they keep sending out these updates about her non-working cancer-free life. We get it, she wants to take it easy, the kids are the most important, and William lives with her in Adelaide and massages her shoulders that are tired from the balancing act (??), blah blah. OK, we get it. They can rest their case now and only come forward when something changes.
These articles are ridiculous.. go to work or don’t the world doesn’t need weekly articles on the subject.
Kate and Will should make plans for the kids to have real careers doing real work. William is unfit, but he won’t walk away from the wealth and privilege. Monarchies belong in the last century. And who would want to be a walking anachronism? Cut their budget, pay them by the appearance and then watch them walk away from their so-called duties.
I like the outfit she’s wearing in the top photo. She looks nice.
‘People want Kate to work and she doesn’t want to.’
When the time eventually comes this would be an sufficient obituary.
I’m no fan of Kate (deeply despise her), yet this line is also very relatable. (But she’s not!)
I thought she would make a good but boring Queen, but since Meghan came into the family I have changed my mind, Meghan made Kate look inadequate, and then she was so unfriendly to Meghan that it was clear that Kate knew it. The concern about Archie’s skin tone was the last straw.
Most of us work to finance our lives and many of us are lucky to derive satisfaction out of building a career and enjoy working at something worthwhile. Okay Kate has no need to work to pay the bills and she has never had either a permanent or fulltime job so has no tried and tested work ethic. She is the complete opposite to KC whose own wife described him as a caged lion when he was forbidden from public facing activities at the start of treatment. He has a work ethic and consititutional duties to perform. She has neither but there is an expectation of public duties and charitable visits now she is PoW. She has made a number of annoucements about completing chemo in September and is now in remission. A phased return to work is understandable and in UK lasts about 4 weeks during which hours are built up on a weekly basis until employee is full time. Kate is very unique in being able to choose when and where she returns to work given the Firm’s machinery and the calendars usually being fixed 6-12 in advance. The late Queen would not have tolerated such indulgence and lack of uncertainty.
What’s the purpose of this article? To garner sympathy for her? To get people mad at her for not “working”? Do they just want people talking about her because she’s not actually doing anything and Meghan is volunteering in L.A. and has her show coming out in March?
What is the point of these articles?
To make money.
Lots of people love and hate both Kate and Meghan so lots of articles get written about them and the clicks of fans and haters count the same and make the same amount of money.
They’re making it sound like she reached out to her charities last year.
Yeah royal historian Marlene was stretching it there if not outright lying. At most, her visit to the hospital would be considered her first act reaching out. Which was just a few weeks ago. In January. But otherwise, no, over the past year, there has been no evidence that she has reached out to her charities. Maaaybe, they mean checking in with early years when it was given as a reason for why she couldn’t attend one of those tiara events. But it’s pretty misleading to say that she has been doing that.
Actually Kate has sat on her hands since her marriage. I don’t know where Marlene is getting her facts but they are not based on reality. Anne can be described as this, but Kate is the laziest senior royal in modern history. The numbers tell the tale. Also the years of not getting the family order from Elizabeth also tells the tale.
Agree. It’s just blatantly not true. And as you say, not based in reality. There’s an alternate reality in which Kate was zooming and staying in touch with her charities but that’s just not what happened. But I doubt the readers of this magazine have any idea. So if Marlene Koenig wants to get in on the propaganda train for Kate, okaaay? If they say she was they’ll believe she was. But SHE WASNT. 🤷♀️
‘Royal Historian’. 🙄 Where’s that degree from, anyway?
It’s the “work behind the scenes” line. All smoke and mirrors.
I feel like maybe there was some CC stuff about early years but that isn’t quite the same as reaching out to patronages and charities.
The late queen had let Kate get away with it. She did indicate some concern about Kate not working while she was dating William. Kate took that very brief part time job . The queen also indulged William letting him take that air ambulance job where he skipped out of. Work. William balked at full time royal work
Since the moment they married, it’s been the same message. Not today, maybe someday, how dare you ask!
“Enormous support and public sympathy” until the tabloids unleash the truth . That tidbit alone is enough to keep the RF on a leash.
These cover stories don’t happen overnight, usually. This was probably pushed by the palaces a few months ago, to coincide with Meghan’s since-postponed show and Invictus.
So are most people, and they still….work. and take care of kids. And take care of aging parents. And cook. And clean. And worry about money. And fight cancer.
GMAFB
They have 60 people on staff. Who are the keens trying to kid
I think the palaces are fully aware of the online chatter that Kate is suspected of faking her cancer and using it the to hide problems in the Wales marriage and as leverage to get out of work. The stories are to tamp down speculation but it has the opposite effect. And they know US media will not pull its punches on Will and Kate if there’s a juicy money making scandal to unfold.
Yes, Kaiser – that’s an interesting point. The bar might be low, but Kate is still the most glamorous and approachable of the royals. Charles already kicked out his major assets, why bench his minor asset? Why not let her wear a tiara once in a while? I’m sure she’d be happy to show up for that kind of work.
The most glamorous and approachable Royal is in Montecito but they will never admit that.
You gave me an idea, @Eurydice. Why not just let her wear a tiara ALL the time, even to the tedious bread and butter events? I cannot think of a better way to motivate her out the door, short of promising that Harry would be there.
Let her visit military bases and rugby teams so she can flirt in jeggings and a tiara.
I cannot think of a better thing to make the proper monarchists, who only write sweet nothings about Kate because they have to, start foaming at the mouth and tearing at their own clothes while they howl at the moon about ‘TRADITION!’ and ‘PROTOCOL!’ and ‘ETIQUETTE!’.
Let’s do it!
I like that “Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 death” implies she may also have died before 2022 or may die after 2022.
This was just her 2022 death, there could be more of them
🤣🤣
Brilliantly said!
I woke up today and didn’t want to go to work. I really really didn’t. For really no reason, I just did not want to go to work.
However I am under pressure from deadlines. And my home insurance, car insurance, phone bill, internet bill are due soon. And I need to stop and get groceries and gas soon.
So I’m at work. She can miss me with this glossy story.
Agree
Yeah. I woke up today feeling like sh*t from my last and hopefully final chemo session for some time and didn’t want to get out of bed, but here I am. I’ve got to get groceries, do some housework and laundry, so I do it with the assistance of Mr. Jaded. Waity has a legion of people to do all this and more for her so playing the cancer sympathy card just won’t work anymore. Sorry, not sorry Waity.
Feel better, Jaded. Best of luck to you.
If Kate had good judgment she wouldn’t have leaked that false story about Meghan to the British press and she would realised that Meghan was an ally not a rival. The pressure on Kate comes from the press and fans like Marlene Koenig and Richard Fitzwilliams not the Palace.
If she had good judgement she wouldn’t have worn bright pink to a 9/11 memorial. She wouldn’t have worn florals and open toed shoes to Auschwitz. She would have weighted her hems on her flouncy dresses. Her so called “good judgement” has been in play for years before Meghan.
If she had good judgement, she would have went the same route as Pippa and married a rich private citizen. She’s clearly not cut out for the fame she so obviously craves.
I think we can blame Carole for that.
Kate was 29 when she got married. That is even beyond the full development of the pre frontal cortex. She fully chose this life and could have ignored her mother, especially after William had humiliated her during the many breakups.
Kate needs to live with her choices and do the role that all other senior royals are expected to do, especially the princess of wales. Or she can leave, as Diana did.
@Sunnyside Up – absolutely Carol to blame for a very large part of the mess. She pushed her daughter into a life she must have known the girl was not suited to. A domineering mother and a vacuous daughter.
Holy Photoshop, Batman! That cover gives Kitty a face she’s never had.
So I’m back and forth here. I do think some in the palace want her to work. I think part of the reason she is being benched from tiara events is that she is refusing to do the more basic events. And the fewer events she does, the more attention each event gets. so I feel like for some at BP, there might be a sense of “you can either work regularly or not at all.”
also, that cover photo is very very touched up, lmao.
Charles clearly is excluding her for tiara events. But I also think he would be fine with a public separation.
It is probably the other senior royals who are much older and working triple the amount she has been who are rumbling about it.
I have to wonder how much of that is part of the issue – Charles being like “either separate or don’t, but she can’t live like a divorced royal while being married.” Kind of like how QEII finally pushed charles and diana to divorce. or if Charles is figuring – if Kate wants to stay married for the tiaras and the crowns and the jewels, he’ll make sure she doesn’t get those.
I can also see Anne and Edward and Sophie being reallllllly unhappy with W&K.
That’s it! Kate’s hagiography!She’s so perfect, perfect mother, wife,princess…are there really any people who believe this kind of fiction?
Yup. Lots of people I know have bought the ” Perfect” fiction, just as they were meant to do with all the Saint Kate articles.
Who dis on the cover? It can’t be Kate?!?!!!
I think it’s an old photo of Princess Diana with Kate’s face photoshopped in. I mean, look at that jacket! That’s a Diana jacket! jk, sort of.
It looks like a costume, but it was one of Kate’s 2023 Wimbledon outfits. One of those “inspired by Diana” looks she loves.
At this point I just want to know if it’s Kate refusing to work or if William/Charles are the ones preventing her from working. I suppose it could be a mixture of both, Kate’s reluctance to return to her former light workload and William and Charles happy to keep her out of the spotlight. But given so much of the messaging seems to be coming from Kate’s corner and that she will decide on her own terms when to go back to work/start working “regularly” again, I think it’s mostly coming from her. Therefore she’s just refusing to go back to work. Charles can’t do too much with his cancer treatments so I doubt he’s managing any of this.
Kate obviously had to take time off to prioritize her health in 2024, no matter how sketchy they’ve been about what’s been going on. But we know she finished her cancer treatments. It’ll be nearly 6 months since she’s been done with chemo. Unless she has a recurrence of cancer, she is running out of excuses and her former laziness is showing through again.
Kate should have never done all the photoshoots and that stupid video running in the meadows. She confirmed she was able to return to work once that went out. But her ego got in the way.
She should have stuck with a written message and then the few in person appearances.
So really she’s caused this mess herself. You can’t dance in the fields and expect people to believe you are unable to return to the low energy royal work done before n
Whew. Your last sentence is real.
Absolutely. This is a mess of her own making. Her ego got in the way, as per usual.
Charles “knows the institution is only as strong as the personalities that front it.”
LOL, this is such reassuring news for those of us who want to see the monarchy abolished.
People at times may not feel like working but still work. Kate gets cover stories about not wanting to work. Can’t these magazine editors find real stories?
Just how does the writer “know” there is much support and sympathy for Kate?
Apparently she is using the “cancer on demand” trick. I wish I had that luxury, like every time she’s castigated for being Princess Lazyhead up pops another cancer story to counter the insinuation that she’s too effing indolent to do even a modicum of work. There’s been a modest uptick in her public appearances of late, her staff must be reading Celebitchy. My last round of chemo left me feeling pretty battered and I’m not bouncing back as quickly as when I first started 6 months ago, but I soldier on anyway without an army of servants and nannies to do my bidding. At least I have a husband who is more than happy to do whatever it takes to help out and provides constant loving support. I doubt Slumlord is that kind of husband.
I remember in the first week when she was reported as home from hospital following her supposed planned abdominal surgery, some fawning newspaper stating that Willy was by her bedside constantly.He is busy ”changing bandages” and sitting at her side ”holding her hand as she heals”, also she will be ”working from her bed”
Hahaha
My theory: The “Kate is lazy “ stories are a cover for the fact that in reality there’s no public demand for her appearances. This is why they’re sometimes announced as a surprise; it’s to explain away the low turnout. Boring or lazy? I’d rather have the public think I couldn’t give a stuff about doing my fair share of engagements.
Now, what in the photoshop hell is happening with that cover ?
If Kate was a nice person I would almost feel sorry for her .
Imagine living a lie all your life and knowing there is no way out of it .
No wonder she looks like she does .
What else is new