When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make staff changes, it’s always a huge headline in the British media. There’s always performative panic and outrage that Harry and Meghan need different people at different times, and that they’re now free to hire whoever they want for different lengths of time. The subtext is always: Meghan is difficult and a terrible boss! Meanwhile, Prince William and Kate are constantly burning through office staff too, and barely a wonky eyebrow is raised. William’s constantly being staffed by Tory political operatives, and Kate can’t keep conscientious and hard-working staff around her because they all head for hills when they see how lazy she is. Last fall, Kate’s private secretary (a lot like “chief of staff”) left for greener pastures. Hannah Cockburn-Logie stepped down soon after QEII died and Kate took her sweet time replacing her. Now it looks like Kate has found a new private secretary, and it’s someone who is unfamiliar with the royal system.
The Princess of Wales, who is looking to “shake things up” at Kensington Palace, has hired a “straight-talking” public relations guru as her new private secretary. Alison Corfield, who masterminded Jamie Oliver’s childhood obesity and free school meals campaigns, will join the palace as Kate’s right-hand woman and most senior aide this month.
Described as “loud” and “persuasive” by those who know her, Corfield’s appointment has been hailed by royal insiders as a “breath of fresh air”. It is understood the princess actively sought out a “different kind of courtier” as she steps up her public work. Corfield will replace Hannah Cockburn-Logie, a diplomat with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who left the role last autumn after 2½ years in post.
Known as “Al” to her friends, Corfield, 51, a mother of three and former air stewardess, worked as Oliver’s head of campaigns from 2015 to 2020. She led the marketing strategy for his drive to halve childhood obesity by 2030, improve food education in schools and create “a generational shift in young people’s health”. She has continued to work with Oliver on his free school meals campaign, and has also advised the Irish television chef Clodagh McKenna.
A source who worked with Corfield on Oliver’s campaigns, said: “She’s a ball-breaker, a real straight-talker, very passionate, dynamic and genuinely funny. She makes things happen and will really push things forward at the palace.”
A royal source said: “Alison is an unusual fit. She is a bit out there for Kensington Palace, but there is a move to recruit more modernisers and people with private sector experience, not just civil servants. She will run rings around the courtiers and shake things up a bit.”
A royal source who knows Corfield, said: “She will be a massive breath of fresh air at Kensington Palace. She is loud, tons of fun and full of energy and enthusiasm.”
LOL, what do you give it? I say she’ll be out of there by next January, if not earlier. If Corfield is really this loud go-getter with lots of experience in the private sector, then she will not enjoy the snail’s pace of Kensington Palace or Kate’s lack of work ethic. Please remember that Kate does not believe that she needs to “step up” or work harder now that she’s Princess of Wales. Kate’s plan was to continue to do f–k all for as long as possible. Given what we’ve seen of her latest awareness-raising campaign, even when Kate works, nothing gets done. It’s just busy-work and vague, insubstantial keenery going nowhere. Corfield will be shocked by how little Kate actually wants to DO.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, KP.
-
- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales talks with experts from across academia, science and the early years sector, at Windsor Castle in Windsor on January 25, 2023. – The Advisory Group has been created to offer strategic advice to The Princess of Wales and provide oversight of the work of her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.,Image: 751670526, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: DANIEL LEAL / Avalon
-
- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales talks with experts from across academia, science and the early years sector, at Windsor Castle in Windsor on January 25, 2023. – The Advisory Group has been created to offer strategic advice to The Princess of Wales and provide oversight of the work of her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.,Image: 751680733, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: DANIEL LEAL / Avalon
-
- MccLi0002556 EDDIE MULHOLLAND ROTA:Prince and Princess of Wales at BAFTA,Image: 752916855, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph / Avalon
-
- MccLi0002556 EDDIE MULHOLLAND ROTA:Prince and Princess of Wales at BAFTA,Image: 752918023, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph / Avalon
-
- MccLi0002556 EDDIE MULHOLLAND ROTA:Prince and Princess of Wales at BAFTA,Image: 752918024, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Mulholland for The Telegraph / Avalon
-
- Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM – Kate Middleton The Princess of Wales pictured visiting the iconic Kirkgate Market in Leeds. The Princess of Wales will meet vendors and members of the public. Her Royal Highness will briefly tour the market before joining a discussion with vendors and local people about their experiences of early childhood. Pictured: Kate Middleton The Princess of Wales BACKGRID USA 31 JANUARY 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*
-
- Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM – Kate Middleton The Princess of Wales pictured visiting the iconic Kirkgate Market in Leeds. The Princess of Wales will meet vendors and members of the public. Her Royal Highness will briefly tour the market before joining a discussion with vendors and local people about their experiences of early childhood. Pictured: Kate Middleton The Princess of Wales BACKGRID USA 31 JANUARY 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*
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales arrives at the University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she will join students on the Childhood Studies programme which focuses on a broad approach to early childhood development, during her visit to the city for the launch of the Shaping Us campaign to raise awareness of the unique importance of early childhood. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Leeds, England, United Kingdom When: 31 Jan 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Catherine, Princess of Wales arrives at the University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she will join students on the Childhood Studies programme which focuses on a broad approach to early childhood development, during her visit to the city for the launch of the Shaping Us campaign to raise awareness of the unique importance of early childhood. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Leeds, England, United Kingdom When: 31 Jan 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Interesting that they managed to find a Private Secretary for Kate but, still haven’t found a Diversity Tzar to sort out the unconscious bias/racism within the BRF. I wonder why looking after the limited event calendar for Kate is more important than showing the world the BRF are trying to address a long-standing in-house problem.
Learning is never the goal; making everything fit and bending people’s wills is more attune to what the BRF is all about.
The private secretary has already failed at her job. She had Kate open up a new Instagram account for Shaping Us. She had Kate’s ass busy last week. How did that go? exactly it was all a failure. Everything she has advised Kate on has failed. So much for that.
Yes. I’ll go ahead and assume that this woman is white, like every other person Kate and her husband have ever hired.
Black or white, this’ll not end well.
At least hiring a PR person is basically saying straight up: Whatever Kate does, it’s for PR – full stop. No more of these people from the Foreign Office or big, meaningful organisations like a university! Let’s cut to the chase and concentrate on the photo ops!
For the new Private Secretary, I hope she reads “will run rings around the courtiers”, “shake things up”, “breath of fresh air” etc and runs for the hills…No organisation as calcified as the RF wants anything to be “shaken up”. You in danger, gurl.
I wonder how long it will take for this new private secretary to be accused of bullying
We cannot have a go-getter with lots of experience in the private sector ball-breaking Duchess but we can have a go-getter with lots of experience in the private sector ball breaking private secretary???
These people (Royal Rats) make no sense whatsoever as they talk out of both sides of their mouth at the same time.
Ooh, @baytampabay EXCELLENT point
No one has ever gone on from the cheif of staff to President in the United States. They are different roles.
Agreed, BayTampaBay!!!
“Ball-breaker” is not and has never been a compliment–especially in Brit-speak.
She’s being set up to fail already–her “attitude” will be yet another excuse why Kate “couldn’t do” shit.
I am wondering that also.
Actually if Kate wants to do something meaningful, a PR person who knows how to create and run campaigns focused on children’s well-being is a very positive step. But one driven person among a sea of people who neither know or want to know how to do anything real seems like a job that won’t end well.
Kate wanting to do something meaningful? LOL. She’s looking for a PR person who will cover up her laziness, try to make her idiocy look better, and who will leave quickly once she has a royal stamp on her CV.
I suspect this woman’s first job will be to tell Cannot what her role actually is, good luck to her. I can’t figure out why people still accept jobs with ANY of the palaces, but Kitty?
Christine, one suspects either 1) lousy employees get hired by friends if they are fired; 2) those that flee screaming into the night are members of a “survivor’s club,” who get hired because employers know they can take almost anything. 😉
Juststop I had a job just like that once, in an old entrenched system nearly as old as the country I’m in that supposedly wanted to modernize. After about a year someone finally said “didn’t you know everyone is pretending and no one wants to change and the only way they want to work together is to avoid it? You’re in a no-win situation.” Well no, but thanks. I wish I’d got it all on video. It did not end well, but I wasn’t the only one-the program it was modeled after had the same end and the guy running that when I ran into him just said “it’s why I quit the whole field and went into academia.” I had to take a break myself but before I did I called out my old boss on it all. He was not happy and I’m pretty sure when I overlapped with him again on a project a few years ago he told my new boss he didn’t want me on it because he was afraid of me. I was told that old project might be a little like herding cats and there was some other language involved that I was reminded of as soon as I read this article. I also got blindsided by a similar situation in the field again. I now usually run the other way when I hear anything like this in an interview or job description, meeting, etc. That woman is not in Kansas anymore in the private sector with Jamie Oliver’s backer’s money. She’s in a quasi-governmental system and she is probably being set up to fail/be the fall guy because they know it won’t work-unless she can magically pull something out of a hat.
She’s going to be told that things are not done the way she wants at KP. I think she’s being set up to fail.
I’m calling it now: she’ll be the fall guy when Kate is hit another wave with bad PR in 6 months time.
Time to get the lettuce out and see how long this new person lasts. This will not end well.
Is “the lettuce” your country’s standard of measurement? In the States, we measure an absurdly brief tenure by the “Scaramucci.”
Debbie–the lettuce is how long the previous, sorely-unlamented Prime Minister Liz Truss lasted…as long as a head of lettuce stayed fresh. 🙂
A straight-talking, dynamic mother of 3 who actually gets shit done? The very existence of such a woman will seem threatening to Kate.
Not if Kate takes credit for all of this lady’s work!
ITA Kittenmom! Sounds to me she is being brought on to do all the work and free up Kate’s time to take credit for it.
Miranda I agree, I would love to be a fly on the wall when she tells botox barbie, “sorry love, I’m used to people that actually want to work, and a photo op is NOT work. Call me if you ever decide to get your lazy arse in gear, but until then, hasta La vista baby. I’m gonna give Harry and Megan a call 🤣
Maybe Kate and Carol have realized that William might actually divorce her. If Kate can make herself the most popular royal then it would be more difficult for that to happen. But Kates to dumb to realize she can’t hire someone else to do it for her. And she will never actually put in the work herself.
Speaking of Wills, 1) is this loud, straight-talking ball-breaker going to be sharing the same KP office space that Will’s precious snowflake employees inhabit? If so, I hope she has read Spare and realizes that nothing makes the Prince of Wales more prone to violence than his staff being spoken to above a whisper.
2) where is Willam? He has been MIA for over a week. Is he getting an intensive hair transplant, growing that damned beard he can’t get over, or finally getting some much needed anger management counseling?
3) I still think Will is planning to move Kate out officially (although he hasn’t broken the news to her yet). He is just going to have to push that back to post-coronation.
KP had people who were passionate and dynamic and complained and ran them off.
KKKate working shy ways and her love of taking vacations ever a couple of months , dissappearing for weeks at at time, might have also to do with her cosmetic procedure calanders. Normally, I think she does look good/ natural with the things she does to her face, the only problem being her trying very hard to appear engaged with all that joker smiles and so.
But girl should have waited longer for the work to seetle. She can barely open her eyes. It looks strange, like she just had cocktails before recording.
(I do not have much sympathy towards KKKate, but I never comment about her obvious cosmetic procedures because it is the one are I kind of understand being self conscious and insecure about it. I obviously broke this trend with this comment because it is just something that I noticed)
A tacit admission that KP’s current PR team is a dumpster fire.
Yeah, I was wondering; has she started yet? Has she been part of the shape up campaign or she starting now? Cuz if she was part of that campaign….she ain’t that good or she’s already being ignored.
Wasn’t Jamie Oliver roundly criticized for his public school campaign though. He insisted on criticizing school bake sales because they were unhealthy, not realizing that they were done to fund other school activities. Now Jamie didn’t seem so dumb but Katy IS dumb and lazy and I stand by that. Will this new staff person really make all that big of a difference?
He was criticized pretty heavily at the time, I think because he initially came off as preachy and did not seem to have looked at the structural issues beforehand. He really thought he could just come in and tell the cafeteria workers to make better food, without knowing that they don’t set the menu. It actually would be very useful for Kate to look at Jamie’s campaign to avoid repeating his mistakes. He, too, started out with the assumption that the problem was a lack of awareness about healthy food, when in fact there were a whole bunch of underlying structural issues, not the least of which was poverty.
On the other hand, once he learned more about the issues, he did explicitly meet with government officials and lobby for better funding – something Kate probably won’t do.
I watched an episode when Jamie took his school lunch thing to America. Specifically to West Virginia, where he could lecture the hillbillies for owning deep fryers. And triple the amount of time it took for the cafeteria workers to make a healthy lunch that none of the kids would eat.
If Kate’s new hire was involved in that debacle, then I think the colonial Caribbean cosplay will just be an appetizer to the misguided activities to come.
Corfield will be shocked by the bullshit she gets blamed for. Have fun in the snake pit, lady
Nothing will change except the level of the noise.
My bet ussher will run away after the summer .
Wondering aloud whether Ms Alison has ever watched Her Royal Keenness Princess Mumbelina McButtons of Wiglets in action.
Even if KP were to pay me four times the usual royal going rate, which is far below anything the private sector can offer, I wouldn’t look at Keen twice.
And I don’t think Khate needs a ball-breaker, but someone who’s patient and willing to teach her the basics of public behavior, enunciation etc etc, while at the same time being able to shoulder 95% of Ms Wails’s workload.
Kate might need that but she’s never going to ask for it. She wants to stay just as she is only with more buttons and jewels.
Good luck to her. I guess that explains why Jamie Oliver’s account posted a photo for the “shaping us” campaign, hmm? But that campaign explicitly lobbied schools and governments to improve nutrition. That’s what Kate should be doing, but will she?
Like Catherine Quinn before her, I think Alison is a serious person who is being used as a sort of stalking horse for Kate doing any actual work. I’ll take her more seriously if she cleans house at KP.
I’ll also quietly note that there is absolutely no way that a Black person gets to be described as “loud and persuasive” and gets anywhere near a royal job. For much less, Meghan was labelled “difficult” and “me-gain”.
While I believe Jamie Oliver was well meaning with his campaign it basically failed. Childhood obesity is not reducing, the government has refused to tax junk food or change how it is advertised. He got a lot of attention but that is mainly due to the energy and enthusiasm he put into the campaign. However, it still failed to bring about any long term changes. So basically Kate has hired someone behind a failed campaign!
In PR terms it wasn’t a failure, it was a success -plenty of people have heard about the campaign, and associate Jamie Oliver with kids and healthy food. Despite some criticism, it’s awareness of the celebrity and vague positive associations that matter. Job done.
Whether or not it was actually a success in real terms is a completely different issue and not part of the PR’s job, it’s the person hiring the PR that’s responsible for reality. That’s Kate, and….erm…well….
When his original campaign started in 2005 he successfully got the school budget for food increased by the government of the day. Turkey twizzlers got taken off the shelves after he demonstrated how it was made and what exactly is “reclaimed meat”.
I agree that his recent campaign on healthy food for kids has not been successful. Maybe we might see better things from him in the future.
I think that’s basically right – Jamie meant well, but he ran headlong into an issue that has myriad embedded interests and causes and no easy fix.
My memory of the first series he did in the U.K was very naive – he thought he would just show up and *inspire* the cafeteria staff to fix their menus.
There was a lot of shaming about the low quality food being provided and the fact that many children didn’t recognize vegetables like eggplant. Not unlike Kate with her ” many parents don’t realize the importance of the early years!”.
To his credit, I think Jamie did learn and try to bring to light some of the issues involved – lack of access to fresh food, lack of money to buy it, lack of time and skills to prepare it, as well as the influence of huge food corporations that have no interest in making their foods healthier. But at least he tried to lobby the government and got involved – Kate won’t even do that.
@Lady Esther – I was left with the impression that Oliver didn’t understand anything, that he was kind of a preachy do-gooder snob who failed at whatever it was he was trying to do. So I can’t say that this new ball buster (people still use that turn of phrase?) appears especially good at her job historically.
this new women will see how deep staff is fossilized in lazyness that she will understand Meghan. If she dares “shake things up” i guess the royal court of cavemen and women will show her how they deal with that. She’ll be gone within a year.
Can we pause and talk about the sexist language being used to describe her? I would put ££ down that a man with the exact same profile and behaviours would not be described as ‘loud’ or a ‘ball breaker’.
I can’t see how this dynamic could be successful in any way if half of what they say about this woman is true.
Yes already the misogynistic language is used for a woman who is simply not a doormat and holds people accountable.
This is going to play out like Catherine Quinn, who came from the private sector and left as soon as her two year contract was up.
This 👆. If she is really as described, she is making an awful mistake. Does she think Kate just needs better staff?
Yes! I found this so annoying! I’d be ticked if somebody described me that way! No way would they describe a man this way! (Huh, way too many exclamation points, am I being too loud?)
Let’s see if she lasts a year before she quits to concentrate more on charity work. As soon as she realizes that they only want her to make them LOOK busy, when they are actually on secret vacations. Or when she is requested to organize a hunting trip for William +1. Or when she organizes publicity around a visit to refugee children to give them a beautiful early years memory of seeing HRH Keen.
It looks like the Jamie Oliver stuff was supposed to be impactful work with actual goals and deliverables. I’m not British so I don’t know what came of it. Has it had any impact yet?
Jamie Oliver’s campaign has had no impact and the government refused to change any of its policies. He got a lot of attention but that is due to Jamie’s personality more than anything. He also got a lot of backlash for campaigning for taxes on certain foods during a cost of living crisis. Lots of people objected to being told what they should or shouldn’t feed their kids. He’s a chef not a doctor or nutritionist.
So they wanted impact and got backlash. It happens, they miscalculated stuff. However, these are two things Kate wants to avoid, so I don’t know what room Corfield will have to do anything.
Looks like Kate aspires to be the next Meghan . The new hire sounds like a person with Meghan’s drive to “shake things up”, “breath of fresh air” etc
Ding ding! In her daydreams she would be Meghan, and this new secretary would be Meghan’s brain. Now she only needs a stand-in for Harry for when she breaks in to Frogmore cottage at night to walk around in a Meghan inspired trenchcoat.
We should take bets on how long she lasts. KP does not handle “breaths of fresh air” well and Kate does not handle expectations that she should actually work well. This woman is going to be frustrated and disappointed.
Unless she’s being brought in to do all the work behind the scenes while Kate just pops around for photo ops? kate would like that.
Anyway my guess is she’s out by summer 2024, if she lasts that long. But we won’t hear that she “left,” we’ll hear that she was brought on to help with Shaping Us and now that Kate has shaped everyone in the UK, she is no longer needed.
I think they make the secretaries agree to two year contracts, because that is how long the previous ones have lasted.
I think you’re right, the timing is just too coincidental to be anything else.
It’s notable when you consider how long the Queen and Charles held/hold on to staff, especially high-level staff like private secretaries.
William and Kate’s previous Comms Secretary last 9 months. I don’t think they have to stick to the two years contract.
My thoughts exactly.
“She’s a ball-breaker, a real straight-talker, very passionate, dynamic and genuinely funny. She makes things happen and will really push things forward at the palace.”
Imagine this statement being used by Royal sources to describe Megan… or her staff.
EASTERN VIOLET, if she is a ball breaker, likes to shake things up and is a real go getter, then why the hell is she joining this clown circus who think WORK is a dirty word
Kate will not get along with her. Kate is lazy.
She’ll get along fine with her – Alison will do all the work and Kate will get all the credit.
What if Kate ignores her advice.
Kate is not just lazy, she’s famously lazy. A go-getting “ball-breaker” would know that before taking the job. The advice Kate seems to regularly ignore is “do more work,” but she’s fine with advice like “buy a new outfit, go there, smile for the cameras and repeat these 2 sentences.”
I have doubts that she’s a “go-getting ball-breaker.” I see no real indication of that in her job history.
@Kara – it really doesn’t matter if she is or she isn’t, or whether she succeeds or not, or if she stays or goes. Nobody has ever expected Kate to follow through on her projects – there’s no reason to think this time is any different.
I take that back; I didn’t look far back enough into her LinkedIn history. She seems to have created herself into a marketing/branding professional using her own initiative. She went from “cabin crew” at Virgin Atlantic to Brand Manager in a few years.
Most of her recent work seems too… publicly conscious for KP. But that may be what they were looking for. Perhaps she’s good at making things appear more like that than they are.
The successful healthy eat campaign with Jamie Oliver was where he went into school and show how the budget restrictions by the UK government ended up with school kid eating highly processed meat and chips was started in 2005! Jame did a series where he went into his local primary schools to introduce kids to vegetables, tried to support kitchen staff to make cheap healthy meals and realised that it was really hard. He then successfully lobbied the then Labour government to increase the amount of money to be spent on each meal. He did really well, but also really cared.
This lady got onboard after it had been running successfully for 10 years?
I’ve not really heard much about the campaign in the last 5-7 years. Maybe this lady is a match for the royals.
Kate never had to support herself and has no real work experience
She probably has people who are experienced with hiring staff.
Lord. So any competent women must be terrible according to the RR. I can see why they hated Meghan.
They don’t mention that she’s been a self-employed consultant for the last 18 months, and that during that time she’s done work with the MotheRED foundation, which was created by Labour MP Stella Creasy to encourage more mothers to join parliament. I’m assuming Kensington Palace wanted to leave that out because it’s political, especially because it’s associated with the Labour party (they have no problem touting the credentials of their Tory hires). Previously, she worked with a UN partner called Project Everyone that’s mission is to “accelerate progress towards a fairer, greener, and more just world.” It appears to be a legitimate organization.
Also, her longest job was with Jamie Oliver, which lasted about 4.5 years. Her work appears to have been solely centered around his campaign to ensure every child has access to nutritious food. (She didn’t “mastermind it,” but she worked on it after it was already in play.) Her other jobs have lasted around 1 to 1.5 years.
My bet is that she’ll hang on for at least a year and a couple of months because she won’t want a short stint on her resume, but she won’t last much longer than that because her recent resume is chock full of meaningful work; she’ll leave once she realizes Kate’s initiatives are empty.
My bet is April 2024.
I suspect this ball-breaker has already started and that is why we got 8 straight days of Keenery with ShapingUs. Kate has never put out content so many days in a row in the history of her royal life. Even so, Kate clearly kept her boundaries of not overdoing the in person part of the job by filming a bunch of items in one day and releasing them one by one to give the appearance of dedication and hard-work. Ms. Ball-Buster even ordered Burger King to accompany Kate to her Bafta evening one-minute speech but all he managed to do was mope ala Ben Affleck at the Grammys. I wonder if this straight-talker means Kate is going to hear the much-deserved criticism of her shallow campaign? That will not go over well.
I think so, too. She “liked” all of Keen’s videos on LinkedIn as they came out (I just checked), so that would indicate to me that they are part of her campaign.
I agree..she’s already started that’s why we have so much content of Kate during the last week… the new Instagram account, the photo under 5 idea, the videos that dropped day after day indicate a more aggressive approach for Kate’s “promotion ” campaign… unfortunately, that’s all it really is.. PR.. no substance.. anyway, despite the “content ” posted, I’m sure that it was all pre- filmed in 1 or 2 days and released in order to show a busy Kate…(although she’s probably on vacation again, it’s a school-break , isn’t it yet?)… so, the new secretary is successful because nobody wonders where Kate is…
I give it 6 months. We’ll know she’s left when she changes her Linkedin account.
We need to save our ideas for work Kate can do, realize she is not interested in doing anything, than she’ll be like Meghan and look what happened to her…William can’t have that, because that would make his job hard. I remember reading a book from the 60s that said there’s only three suitable fields for marriageable women, nursing, teaching…and I can’t remember the third, maybe clerical. So I guess now she is posing as a teacher of some sort.
And really why do William and Kate keep playing up to poc, what have the royal family done for poc besides sometimes give them and sometimes take away their basic human rights, what have they done to be called your king your queen. Smh
Interesting that she’s a former flight attendant. Wasn’t Carol Middleton also one?
I’m not saying that really means anything. But she sounds kind of similar to Carol in other ways too. A go-getter type. Not like Kate.
I looked at her LinkedIn profile. She was a flight attendant (which she lists as “cabin crew”) for Virgin Airlines less than 3 years in the mid-90s, and prior to that she was a recruitment consultant. Right after the flight attendant gig, she works herself into another position at Virgin Airlines in marketing. They obviously plucked out that “flight attendant” out just to make people create the mental comparison to Carole because she’s done so much else in the 28 years since.
Agreed, the highlighting of her stewardess background is an attempt to link her to Carole, and not in a good way, given the usual intentions of the BM. How long before we hear “Royal sources” or “palace sources” recite “doors to manual” jokes among the courtiers, or give her funny-yet-hateful nicknames, as the British upper class love to do?
I’d agree with other posters that it’s misogynist and disgusting how they’re already describing her, except for the fact that I’m sure her very first move after accepting the role was to draft the press release describing her appointment and briefing the press on background with those very keywords.
Plenty of people have made career transitions with gaps in their CV and IMO that shouldn’t be a reason for finger pointing or shaming. Let’s see what she actually does first, given the hype….Personally I’d rather crawl over broken glass than work for Kate, but it will be an interesting next year or two for sure!
That makes sense. And it’s very typical of them.
Also, they called her an “air stewardess.” Which is a term that hasn’t been used to describe air service staff for years. Get with the times! JK, they never will.
Back in my parents’ day, and that’s the World War II generation, ballbreaker was used as a pejorative. I remember saying it one time to my father, and he got so offended. So l don’t think they’re being too complimentary of this lady. Also Collins dictionary describes that term as a person, especially a woman, whose character and behavior may be regarded as threatening a man’s sense of power. Note the “especially a woman.” Shades of Meghan who shook them to the core, so I feel this woman is going to be in for a very rough ride if they’re already using a misogynist term for her.
Wait till Al tries to delegate her ball busting plan to rest of Kate’s staff, and they look blankly at her and say, “But we haven’t had tea yet. That’s not how we do things here. We’ll get to it on Thursday, maybe.”
Lol. Exactly my thoughts on this too. Unless the main body of palace staff and their embedded cultural ‘civil servant – hobby job’ culture changes then I don’t care how dynamic the PR woman is, nothing will alter. Changing the mindset of a group of people who have done things a certain plodding way for many years is like reversing a super tanker. It takes a lot of time and a lot of energy. That’s not even taking into account those, inevitable, staff members who will be deliberately (but secretly) obstructive toward any change in the status quo. I wish her well, as I would wish anyone well, but I think this will probably end up being a name-dropping, CV booster job more than anything else. I just hope her new-fangled, business-like, efficient working practices don’t lead to her being accused of bullying staff. That would be really unfair wouldn’t it 🙄.
BW, or God forbid she e-mails them before 10 30 am
I would love to be a fly on the wall when the “ball busting straight talk” hits the wiglet wall.
6 months tops
I find the use of this phrase interesting, ‘…as she steps up her public work’. Seems to be a tacit acknowledgment that previously Kate ain’t been working much.
Agree, it’s a joke.
I suspect that ‘Al’ has been given the Private Secretary title but is coming in purely as an experienced PR to improve & to flatter KM’s image, which has taken a battering. And to attempt to make KM fit for purpose and appearing to work more.
The media will be inundated with spun stories.
The tactic is dangerous.
Upon latest revelation one can evoke Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a limited way as a response.
” It is a tale, (not applicable), full of Sound and Fury, signifying nothing”….
This doesn’t bode well. Taking orders from a “commoner” isn’t Kate’s style. I can hear her say in her poshest of faux-posh accent…”You don’t know me well enough to give me advice!” I give it 9 months top.
Upvote
Former flight attendant and mother of three…wonder what role she’s trying to fill in her life.
ABFAB, sounds like a surrogate mother for Khate, job tick, kids, tic, forward thinker and we all know how forward thinking khates mother was!!!
Neither “loud” nor “breath of fresh air” have a long shelf life in those circles.
Well, finally something interesting to watch in the brf. This poor woman. She is going up against Edward Young, isn’t she? He’s going to help get Wails front and center? Whatever will KFC and the Escort think about that?
She’s going to be roadblocked every which way, because the palace courtiers are going to be putting her in her place–the one they will allow her to occupy. As far as being able to make Wails’ public image better? I wish her luck. Let’s remember that all the brf can do is smile.
This could be a real sh!tstorm. I’m going to need more popcorn.
I remember back when another newcomer to royal life was described as “a breath of fresh air.” And we all know how Sarah Ferguson ended up.
I can’t let the phrase “barely a wonky eyebrow is raised” go by without applause.
This new phase in the Chronicles of Keenery is a disaster in the making — I cannot wait.
Unless she has hiring and firing authority over the other staff then nothing will change. If she’s been brought in to clean house… I’m ready with popcorn.
My take…
Kate is literally FLAILING due a slew of bad press. (Earth Shot, Spare, and Spending : Events ratio). Even the Mids are taking some hits. So she enlists a tough cookie PR person who she needs due to her POW title to up her game (but not too much to dim KC3) and to overhaul her disaster of an image.
Last month, she :
– went to food bank and played with cans
-met some experts on Early Childhood at KP for a sweet 45 minutes and held her “Notebook”
-trotted out an awareness campaign which received lack lustre reviews.
-wore a snazzy red suit to an event to “raise awareness”
-posed for photos and said some words of praise.
-tweeted some words of praise about early years are important. Etc.
-met vendors / parents at a market but didn’t buy anything to support the economy but Early Years are important
-tweeted a baby photo to show how faces to babies are important
Tomorrow- she’s meeting trekkers from Antarctica (which is what Harry would have done had he been here …. obviously!) Expect more redundant chit chat and photos.
It’s so bad it’s EMBARRASSING.
Lady doesn’t take orders from anyone let alone a commoner. I’m like the rest of you lot… I give it 6 months.
Because you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. And I think CHARLES LOVES THIS!
“She’s a ball-breaker, a real straight-talker, very passionate, dynamic and genuinely funny. She makes things happen and will really push things forward at the palace.”
Sounds “difficult”. Jason Knauf is probably getting HR on speed dial already.
I have an image in my mind of her swapping the West Virginia kid’s lunch tray with a British kid’s lunch tray and solving both problems.
A go-getter might get Kate’s work done for her or she may be hitting the exit early. Whose exit though? This could flip several ways with very different results.
What if she’s there to put the brakes on Will’s ideas for their split? Or fight for a bigger slice of the Cornwall pie if she’s put out to pasture? The idea that Kate needs a ‘ball buster’ just sounds very divorce-y in her situation.
The King and his heir have primacy, they wouldn’t welcome a productive woman to get in their face…unless they are the ones hiring her. Which is a possibility.
Maybe she hired some of the ball breakers on Trump’s team while he was in office, the ones who yelled at the press and told lies brazenly and non-stop. That would suit her just fine.
What happened to Kate’s right eye??? 😮
(HER right)
Carol Middleton will have a pal to chat too about being an Air Stewardess and climbing the money ladder to power. Come Fly me……………… I love Jamie Oliver and his passion projects for getting food to improvished children in UK and fighting the sugar lobby but this association with Kate is not going to go well for him. His instagram is now tagging princeand princess of wales in their shape up campaign for early years. Sad. Hope he bails out and does not go for a medal instead like the Beckhams. He will lose followers.