For the record, there was not a peep from Kensington Palace when the first round of quotes came out in Tatler. The first round claimed the Duchess of Cambridge is such a keen hard worker, she “works as hard as a top CEO,” and how dare Meghan and Harry throw three children to the wolves and make William and Kate pick up the Sussex slack! The Cambridges were fine with all of that. Almost as if they were expecting it. But then the full Tatler story came out and holy sh-t it landed with a gossip explosion. Suddenly, the palace released a denial: “This story contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication.” So much for never complain, never explain, huh?
So, for the first denial, Tatler released a statement: “Tatler’s Editor-in-Chief Richard Dennen stands behind the reporting of Anna Pasternak and her sources. Kensington Palace knew we were running the ‘Catherine the Great’ cover months ago and we asked them to work together on it. The fact they are denying they ever knew is categorically false.” Which is still hilarious to me. So Bill and Cathy got their panties in an even bigger twist and ran to Vanity Fair, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay, the Daily Mail’s Emily Andrews, and I assume some other outlets as well. Emily Andrews reported on Sunday that the Keens were threatening “legal action” against Tatler, and that they want the Tatler piece taken down from Tatler’s site (lol). The Cambridges sent a “legal letter.” And Tatler remains unmoved:
Society bible Tatler today dismissed a legal complaint by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in an ongoing row over a controversial article, saying it has ‘no merit’. Kate Middleton, 38, and Prince William, 37, may take legal action against the magazine after it published a ‘string of lies’ about the Duchess. In a highly unusual move, the couple have sent legal letters to the magazine demanding its profile of the Duchess – headlined ‘Catherine the Great’ – be removed from the internet.
It comes after Kensington Palace issued a fiercely critical statement on last week’s article which it said contained a ‘swathe of inaccuracies and false representations’.
Today Tatler hit back and released a statement that said: ‘We can confirm we have received correspondence from lawyers acting for the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge and believe it has no merit.’
I wish all gossip stories were this fun, OMG. I really hope everyone at Tatler is laughing as much as we are. Yes, Katie Keen, the Tatler peeps got your lawyer’s struggle letter and their lawyer says you’re full of sh-t. I’m shocked that Tatler’s spokesperson didn’t LAUGH ON THE RECORD and say something about closing the stable doors after the horses have bolted – the Tatler story has been online for a full week, and Cathy and Bill have no idea how the internet works. I’ve seen the theory that the Cambridges are trying to get Tatler to “reveal their sources,” but… um, again, the Cambridges really don’t understand how this works. If it ever got to the point where Tatler would, like, have to reveal their sources, that would mean it would be two years from now, after a lengthy court battle. The Keens don’t have the patience for that. Plus, they know who’s behind it.
Also: “In a highly unusual move, the couple have sent legal letters…” William threatens the press constantly. He does it at least twice a year. He just had an absolute fit about 13 months ago regarding the Rose Hanbury Affair stories. His lawyers – probably the same ones who sent this letter to Tatler – were threatening lawsuits and shutting down media outlets for weeks.
Photos courtesy of WENN & Avalon Red.
“Highly unusual move”?! Threatening a lawsuit is their go-to move and has been for years lol
I too laughed when I read that line!! LOL
We are in a pandemic. Do these two have any decent advisers?
And all the other royal reporters are embarrassed for Will and Kate because they’re too dumb and arrogant to just take the L and move on.
At this point their lawyers probably have a form letter that they send out. Tatler is living for the attention and it makes the Cambridges look weak.
Many people have left their sinking ship in the six months.
Catherine Quinn left, the one who made it look like Kate was working more. She wasn’t working more, but at least Quinn rescheduled events Kate kept cancelling.
They lost two of the directors at the Foundation within four months.
They fired the head of the office staff when she came back from her honeymoon.
There are at least two of their current or former office staff advertising themselves to try to get new jobs.
William’s new private secretary, after the other one left, has been temporarily seconded to No 10 for COVID-19 work.
Now we know who Princess Anne May have been referring to when she commented about young royals trying to change things.
Case’s transfer is permanent now. I read that a few weeks ago. He’s not going back.
Haha haha!
Comedy gold!
omg KP. As ArtHistorian said yesterday – they need to learn to Let It Go, Let It GOOOOOOO!
But this is kind of a random bright spot of gossip lol. I always “know” its true but I am always kind of taken back when there’s a sharp reminder like this of how bad the Cambridges are at PR.
This article was the perfect time to “never complain, never explain.” Sure some people were laughing at it, I’m sure the Turnip Toffs were having a chuckle, but….it would have completely blown over. We’ve been talking about this article for what, a week now? almost? they could have 100% prevented that by just ignoring it.
They could have turned it around and made it a win with the general public. Something like -Yes, it’s hurtful. The Duchess of Cambridge is upset for her family but they don’t want to detract from the important work happening right now. The Duchess is a strong person who cares deeply about the work she is doing. Part of public life is taking this kind of meanspirited behavior on the chin and moving on- They would get to criticize Meghan and Harry and it would have been a huge win for them with everyone but the Toffs. But they care most about their image and the Toffs and not so much about their “work.”
I don’t think that would have been a win. Because IMO the Duchess is not strong nor cares about work and she and her husband already demonstrated the antipathy to the Sussexes.
The thing is, Kate doesn’t care much about what the public thinks – the things said in the Tatler article weren’t new, they were in fact very old, older than her marriage.
It is BECAUSE it is the Tatler printing these things that Kate blew her lid – this magazine is the society bible of the people she’s desperate to accept her. She doesn’t care what ordinary people think of her but she does care what the aristos think of her. She and her family have spent decades trying to break into this upper crust of the British class system, despite them being nasty snobs.
She probably thought she had it made as William’s wife and the Future Future Queen Consort – turns out, these people still don’t think she belongs and they’ll never accept her. However, Kate will most likely never stop trying to get their acceptance because self-respect doesn’t appear to be a Middleton virtue. It is pathetic and I’d pity her if she wasn’t the kind of mean girl who would use the racial abuse of a new family member to elevate herself.
It’s possible that William is pushing these “legal” threats. The comment about the psychic may be what set him off. It’s not a flattering article to him and it’s not the first time he’s gone to lawyers.
@ArtHistorian, it’s going to be difficult for Kate to face her Norfolk neighbors now that she knows what they really think of her and her family. I wonder if this will keep them in London more or will they demand another country pile in another area?
At the time millions were spent at Apartment 1A and Anmer (Seven Kitchens Kate)? We were told they would be keeping those two homes as their permanent residences even once Charles is king. We’ll see.
When the Queen passes, they will have the option to move to Highgrove House as their country pile. Charles will no longer have any claim on it, as he won’t be the Duke of Cornwall anymore.
They could move to the Duchy property Charles fixed up for them back in 2007, Harewood Park. One of their many breakups happened soon after. Instead that property was restored and rented out to someone else. It could be made available if W&K wanted to leave Norfolk and be closer to Zara and Peter’s kids. They’d be about an hour from Gatcombe Park if they moved to Harewood.
I think they can’t let it go because they’ve been so used to getting their way. It’s almost like they can’t believe a media outlet dared to challenge them…almost like Trump vs Twitter!
They really do not know how to do this. And while the Royals have a lot of tone deafness (the Queen regarding her pedophile son, for example), they are generally not so incredibly stupid at this half of it. Willnot is ALWAYS jumping to the nuclear option.
I wonder if Charles just shakes his head, solid in the knowledge the monarchy will be dead after he’s gone.
I feel like they are usually tone deaf in the other direction – being TOO slow to respond to some articles or allegations, etc. Like with Andrew – he should have been removed from public duties the INSTANT that interview aired (well before that, but the interview was the final straw) – not after several days. And his honorary military appointments should also be removed. The queen moved too slow.
The Cambridges are too quick to react sometimes and it ends up being so messy.
The real damage is, that after months/years of vile mudslinging at Meghan by the media with NO reaction from the RF, here’s one negatively slanted article about Kate, and not only are they immediately on top of it, it’s full bore for a week with warnings, and filings, and multiple attempts to spin it via RR.
I barely remember the denials about Kate’s hair extensions and botox, that was some years ago, but this is now, and the fact that the RF didn’t care one whit if Meghan was completely thrown to the wolves is crystal clear.
Yeah, should have let it go. Learned absolutely nothing from last year’s Rose garden. And fighting like this isn’t going to make the toffs like Kate any better, probably the opposite, so what’s the point?
This is all just Will and Kate reacting to the article. Charles and the Queen have been entirely silent. It’s no different to Harry and Meghan. In fact, the Queen and Charles are probably annoyed that the Cambridges are throwing fuel on the fire.
@Ainsley7, you can try to argue and counter till you turn blue in the face but one court represents AAAALLL the entire BRF. If one court issued any rebuke to what the Sussexes were going through, it wouldn’t have been attributed to that one court, it would have been a rebuke from the BRF. This is the same, queenie Petty Betty and Chuckie boy staying quiet holds no frigging water, same thing all around, the BRF said absolutely nothing when biracial Meghan (and Harry by extension) was being racially bullied and vilified nor when biracial baby Archie was called a monkey. But the same BRF that stayed silent and was complicit in the Sussex smear campaign is the same BRF that is twisting their selves into pretzels because the facts about how white Kate Karen is lazy were printed in Tatler. The BRF are hideous people, well except for the Sussex family.
Once I saw that ig story from Richard I knew Tatler didn’t care. Cambridges can huff and puff all they want to but Tatler won. I know (and they know) that their aristo friends are laughing at them. I’m interested to see how their relationship progress from here.
Richard has the receipts. And that IG story confirmed that he knows exactly who spoke to Anna Pasternak and he’s not worried about it.
The Tatler knows who their audience is and they wouldn’t put something out there that wouldn’t sell. That’s why they feel free to put Meghan down, it’s what their readers believe. And it’s also why they put out this article bashing Kate as a ruthless social climber with an equally pushy grasping mother and tacky family. Threatening legal action won’t change that perception. It also makes the Cambridge’s look as thin-skinned as Trump.
With all that’s going on in the world, this seems so petty and such a waste of time.
Could the Cambs look any more out of touch? They are so far up their own asses it’s disgusting. #AbolishTheMonarchy
‘‘Legal letters” haha those fools. They really are pathetic aren’t they?
I was thinking of the time years ago (I think for Heads Together) where Meghan shone with confidence and bright ideas, and Kate sat there with a constipated expression, clearly jealous of how Meghan appeared in comparison with her. Kate has been doing this ‘job’ for years and has never really progressed and is dull and inarticulate, despite what I presume has been extensive support. It’s pathetic really. And yet ‘she is really shy and is trying her best’ – absolutely ridiculous in a woman nearly 40. Shy? Give me a break.
Oh, it’s her ‘time to shine’. AGAIN.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Tatler ran the article through their lawyers before publishing. And as I’ve said yesterday, defamation lawsuits are hard to win. A lot of the information isn’t new and has been gossiped about for years so Tatler’s lawyers can go “Well if you’re so offended by it why didn’t you sue a few years ago when the information first appeared?”. The longer the information has been out there, the more the case basically weakens (that’s what google is telling me)
In order to prove defamation, the Cambridges have to prove that what was quoted or inferred was detrimental to Kate’s reputation. Uh…Kate is lazy. Fact. Kate cried in frustration because she tried to hijack Meghan’s wedding/throw her weight around. Fact. Kate probably did infer/suggest to someone that she’s been so busy since Meghan & Harry left. Opinion. It’s all so silly. They just should have left things alone and it would have blow over.
Because this issue of Tatler is for June/July it will be on newsstands even longer than usual… lol. What a great way of drawing everyone’s attention to it. Excellent job, Cain & Unable.
They are giving the Tatler so much free publicity.
WHITE PRIVILEGE! I try to stay away from Cambridge stories but this is the height of ridiculousness! Delusions of grandeur at its peak! The world has more important issues to deal with at the moment…I can’t believe that these two will one day head Britain’s monarchy!
I’m hoping the monarchy will be long gone before they get to the throne.
Headlines currently is that the UK has the second highest Global coronavirus death rate – nearly 50,000 deaths. And these two snivelling fools write a ‘legal letter’ because they’ve been hurt about a story (by a known hack journalist) which says their country house is decorated like a Buckinghamshire hotel, and the poor Duchess is exhausted by approximately one Zoom call a day.
I join my hope with yours Kitty…
Has Richard Dennen deleted his Instagram or was it always blank? I wonder if Princess Karen’s trolls have got to him or is it a legal thing – why not just make it private for a while?! Yikes
He deleted his posts after Camb stans trolled him with homophobic comments.
I find it amusing people like Richard and Anna can trash other people but once it happens to them they shut down, close shop and hide.
If anyone hasn’t read it yet please do, it is amazing. SO SHADY. For example talking about how Kate has taken on SO MUCH since the Sussexes left –
‘Kate took on 11 royal engagements in a month’.
Yep. ELEVEN. Three in ONE DAY (so nine spread across the rest of the month…). She must be exhausted. Apparently it was ‘gruelling’. Honestly I’m laughing so hard and this is my second time reading it.
https://www.tatler.com/article/the-duchess-of-cambridge-is-the-julyaugust-cover
Nothing would make me happier than if the monarchy topples before William gets to be king.
That would make William and Kate happy too. Still have all the riches and glory but would have to do nothing for it. That would be their perfect life.
I think that might very well make William happy – not so sure about Kate, she seems to really want the Consort’s Crown.
I really hope that if/when the monarchy is abolished all the land that they stole centuries ago will be confiscated and given back to the state, along with all their mansions and palaces. A girl can dream, right?
In some ways he’d be happy to see it go, but only after he inherits the wealth. If the monarchy ends before William is king, he has to pay minimum 40 percent on the inheritance. William the penny pincher would hate that.
He’d lose the ability to bully the press into hiding his affairs. It would be a free-for-all with William unable to control the spin, and every time he tried, he’d have to spend money to solve the problem he created. He would have a very hard time spending his ‘own money’ to pay lawyers, staff, and people to kiss his a$$.
What he would also lose is people automatically kowtowing and kissing up to him. He goes ‘incandescent with rage’ when he think people don’t give him the proper deference now. He would hate a life where he has to EARN respect and would be openly mocked constantly.
No, it would obviously only make William happy. Kate and her mother, on the other hand, would be deeply disappointed and resentful. Kate didn’t chase after William for a decade for true fairytale love. Carole didn’t constantly pick his side in their fights and play the mediator because she thought he was a loving gentleman to her daughter. The Tatler article highlighted this in such cutting ways too.
I read it, it’s a short read thankfully. I can see why they’re mad. It’s interesting, she says something nice sort of then something nasty LOL Even the swipes at Megan and Harry make her look very petty. I know those comments about them were supposed to garner sympathy for her plight but to me they do the opposite. All this over tights and hems? She obviously doesn’t work as hard as a CEO since everyone knows how many engagements she does a year. Calling her Mom a snob, I can’t. This piece is definitely not flattering to her or her family or William. Of course I know nothing about them but this piece rings true to me. All this over reacting is making them look even worse though especially under the circumstances we’re all facing.
Due to the silence of the Cambridges, Charles and the Queen while Meghan, Archie and Harry were harassed and abused daily, the British tabloid press knows that they can trash any senior member of the royal family with impunity. The collective silence of the royal family set a dangerous, for them, precedence and now they get to reap the benefits of their silence.
“Lawyer’s Struggle letter.” OMG, there goes my coffee. Lol!
These actions by W&K are actions from people who have never been told “no” a whole lot. If at all.
They do realise that the article is already online? Screenshots have been taken?
Numerous other papers have commented on the article and taken the piss?
It’s literally in the physical copy with Kate on the front page!
Taking it down now isn’t going to do anything. They haven’t been able to buy an entire blackout on reporting like the Hanbury affair last year.
Maybe the success of that has made them cocky?
I think you (or was it another poster?) were onto something the other day when you suggested that the Rose mention was the tipping point. Until now, William has successfully forced the media to keep his name/the affair out of the stories on Kate and Rose’s fight. Sure, people on this site AND throughout social media have known about it for a long time, but a lot of people still have never heard about it. Tatler just blew that protection out of the water by linking his “apparent closeness” to Rose with the fight. Even without saying “William and Rose had an affair” point blank, that’s still going to be the conclusion of everyone who reads the article. Will’s probably freaking out about that part, while Kate’s freaking out about that AND everything else.
I 100% believe its the Rose mention that’s got them into a panic. They don’t just mention her but comment on her becoming too close to William and that’s why she’s fallen out with Kate.
Social media is a bubble. The majority of Brits, especially conservative older Middle England (the Royal supporters) rely on the press and the daytime shows for their gossip. Once mainstream press starts printing about Rose, it’ll be no time until the daytime shows catch on and then everyone will know!
It’s funny that everything is rebutted, but Rose is never mentioned.
They are so thin skinned. OMG! They just can’t let sleeping dogs lie. The story would have blown over in the mainstream. Yeah, people like us would have continued to chuckle over it, but the majority of folks would have ignored this because there are so many other things to obsess over. But…they couldn’t do that. Their image is so carefully cultivated that any blemishes in their happy, perfect, middle class cosplay life is unbearable. So, since they can’t let it go, I’m going to enjoy every single bit of this.
Thin skinned narcissists. Very much like Trump and his inability to take even the slightest criticism.
This whole issue reminds me of Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong was not fully exposed until he threatened a friend who knew his secrets. Will we get more exposure from Tater in the near future?
Nope. Because at the end of the day, Tatler is pro royal.
Tatler is also pro-Tatler, and pro-Tatler making money. Much bitching can be had in Camp Aristo before one hits republicanism.
The fact that THIS is what the Cambridges choose to focus on, while their countrymen are dying in a pandemic, is really telling. They could’ve ignored the story and done a few photo ops of them helping people. But no, their reputation is more important to them than anything. Really sad
They have never focused on anything but their image. Nothing.
and they’re too blind to see that ignoring this story and being seen helping others would help their reputation
I guess a pandemic isn’t as serious to Kensington Karen and Keven as being told you don’t work hard and your boring. Karen the great article is a gift that keeps on giving. I hope Meghan is by the pool with her family having a laugh over this.
…and sipping one of her cool, homemade fruit drinks.😘
ALERT! ALERT!
The Streisand Effect has been detected in the vicinity of Kensington Palace.
All citizens are ordered to pop popcorn and munch accordingly.
*This has been a test of the royal broadcast system*
LOL!!! Brilliant!
@Ruby Woo, yes you’re right. This hit job against Kate touched a sensitive nerve. It’s definitely primarily because of Rose Hanbury’s affair with William that the Cambridges are so incandescent with rage. They could take the Waity Katie angle, the social climbing Middleton family, Kate not being accepted by the aristocracy, William sucking up to Carol, and Kate’s laziness. They could take all that and more. But not the Rose story; not a hint of an affair with the future king. Every time she’s mentioned there is always a threat of a legal action. But this time the Cambridges found their match. Tatler is not backing out. It finds their whining letter no merit.
@Ruby Woo, yes you’re right. This hit job against Kate touched a sensitive nerve. It’s definitely primarily because of Rose Hanbury’s affair with William that the Cambridges are so incandescent with rage. They could take the Waity Katie angle, the social climbing Middleton family, Kate not being accepted by the aristocracy, William sucking up to Carol, and Kate’s laziness. They could take all that and more. But not the Rose story; not a hint of an affair with the future king. This is the one thing the Cambridges find unforgivable. Every time she’s mentioned there is always a threat of a legal action. But this time the Cambridges found their match. Tatler is not backing out. It finds their whining letter no merit.