The coffee table book Hold Still is being released today, and keeping with her lowkey promotion of the book, the Duchess of Cambridge did some stuff. I’ve said before that I love this project and it turned out really cool and incredibly moving. Which is how you know Kate and Kensington Palace had very little to do with it – if they were in charge of it, we wouldn’t have had a coffee table book for ten years, but we would have had dozens of promises to be keen about a coffee table book. So the book was completely organized outside of Keen Central and that’s fine. That’s likely what the crisis managers want too, and this is part of the “turning the page” for the Windsors, post-Sussex. They want Kate and William in front of cameras, taking credit for this kind of work and not being seen holding an incandescent grudge against the Sussexes.
Someone decided to put Kate with “The Book Fairies,” who are people who leave free books for people to find all around the world. So Kate apparently went a few yards outside of Kensington Palace and “hid” some copies of Hold Still. Of course Kensington Palace’s in-house photographer AND videographer captured this. Um… she didn’t really hide it??
Also: we haven’t talked about how Will and Kate changed their Instagram handle. They used to be @KensingtonRoyal but now that account is private and you get redirected to @dukeandduchessofcambridge. Sad! I liked their Kensington Royal branding, it was a lot better than the too-long-for-IG titles. But I guess their new social media people wanted to change things for some reason?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Kensington Palace.
I dont think it is really about hiding it. When we have had local authors publish new books we do a “hide and seek” and put them pretty openly so they can be photographed by passerby’s and such and then taken. I dont know if that is what they are intending here though.
That’s my question. What exactly is the goal here and what are they trying to achieve with this “hold still” scavenger hunt?
I looked at the book fairies twitter page and they were showing where other books were “hidden” also. It makes sense to me. You want somebody to pick up a book fairly quickly before animals urinate on it or it rains and the book is ruined.
Kate could have done something so much more meaningful like giving the book to first responders, the oldest person in London or the first person to get vaccinated. I don’t get hiding books and dumbing down something that could have continue to unite their country in getting vaccinated.
How come no one thought of that! The book includes pictures of scenes or events during COVID, give the book gift a few copies to first responders, etc…
The books were given to people featured in the photographs to hide in their own communities.
Kate doesn’t actually care.
Who is the mouth breather in the video?
I have no intention of watching the video but thank you for the laugh.
Some people are saying that’s not actually Kate and it’s a body double. Which i’m willing to believe cause why not show her face? It’s like they went to lengths to do camera movements to hide it lol
Also what happens to these “hidden” books when there’s strong winds or rain?
Maybe she didn’t like her face that day.
@Merricat Maybe she had a NEW face that day. She seems to update it fairly regularly.
You two are hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.
This thread is the best! I’m going to laugh all day thinking about the comments!
Thanks for the early morning laugh you guys. 👏🏼👏🏼
That is atypical for Kate not to show her face. She always wants people to make sure they know it’s more her and to show the grin. I’m down with the conspiracy.
Wondering if they’re not showing her face is related to wearing a different mask for the other event. Like, maybe, having a sunburnt nose from “not” jetting off on a vacation. Saying this because for whatever reasons, I can cover up a sunburn except for my nose-it’s like a blinking beacon. The nose knows and shows.
Meant I cannot cover up a sunburnt nose.
True that is atypical. At other events shes worn a kids mask to cover less of her face
Ok I went and looked at the actual post and it is weird how they are going to such lengths to hide her face, but I def think it’s her. Maybe she didnt put on makeup that day or something?
I do think that this is kate. The Cambs are lazy but its not difficult to take a few steps outside of KP to lay a book.
They’re not showing her face because she has a bruise from new under eye fillers—prone to causing bruises. Just my theory!
That’s the outfit that she’s wearing at her NPG outing, so I’m sure it’s her and she “hid” the book on her way to her engagement.
MTEC that was my first thought! That book is in danger!
They are probably just trying to be “edgy” like the video of the cookie delivery.
That’s clearly Kate.
Well, the Melania double has been out of work and probably needing to pick up a few extra shifts, so…
Qanon strikes again.
They see the attention the Sussex/Archie photos get just showing his back, so they thought they’d give it a try.
This is so funny in a way I can’t articulate. Awkwardly “hiding” a coffee table book is just hitting my funny bone.
Is that even her? Or someone wearing a wig pretending to be her? Why can’t we see her face? We want answers KP!!
It’s her. She compulsively curls/bends back her wedding ring finger and I’ve always wondered if the ring is too big or heavy. She does it in this series of pictures.
Do we have another Melanie/Melania on our hands? Lol. I’m half expecting to see a, “I really don’t care, do you?”, jacket.
Bare minimum is the Cambridge brand.
Nailed it. The absolute minimum you can do and be considered doing anything
The same people who were accusing Meghan of plagiarizing the bench were real upset when someone dropped kept posting screenshots of another book titled ‘Hold Still: a Memoir in Photographs’ the hypocrisy is insane
@nomegusta, That’s awesome. The hypocrisy is insane if the haters are being unhinged about it. Hold Still for Kate’s “project” may not have been the best title after reading the description of the other one.
https://www.sallymann.com/new-page-2
Is she wearing the same red coat she wore for the Hold Still appearance in the fall? Is that her official Hold Still coat?
Anyway this was a really good project, I looked at some of the pictures yesterday and they were very moving and really brought back the emotions of a year ago.
The red coat she’s wearing today doesn’t have the black buttons so of course she needed a new red coast just to step out of the house. It would have been more thoughtful to rewear it and not be so wasteful, but that’s not Kate.
@Becks: it looks like a different coat to me. This one seems to have a belt.
Ah I think you’re right. how many long red coats does one person need lol.
Agreed that it’s a really good project. I said it yesterday that even if Kate had nothing to do with it except slap her name on a foreword someone else wrote, it is more in line of what she should be doing – promoting her patronages and their projects instead of trying to do these “big” projects
Yup. She would be much better off in the long run, in my opinion, if she stuck to this kind of thing – something with a tangible result, that doesn’t require a lot from her besides her name and writing an intro and then promoting it a few times. Not everyone can pull off the kinds of projects and initiatives that the Sussexes can and that’s okay. But do something!
Either way, she is sticking to her sister wife dress theme to try and make us forget her years of flashing.
Never forget.
The coat is new–she wore it to the National Portrait Gallery today. It’s tight, covered with ugly buttons, and bespoke so it doesn’t count toward her spending. She already has a dozen red coats that fit this exact description, but at least it got her out of the house.
Ooooh – Keen Kate Guevara got all dressed up with her maniacal Joker grin in tow to “hide” a book. Big f’ing deal.
Quick – someone make her Queen.
This is weird. Sorry. What exactly is it going to accomplish?
It’s a really nice initiative actually. I can judge Kate for many things, but not this. The bookfairies are all around the world – they place books in different places in cities and towns for people to find for free. It’s to encourage reading and sharing the love of storytelling. As an author my book was featured by the bookfairies and shared around my country and I really appreciated the effort and also the visibility it gave the book.
See, I love the idea of hiding copies, but this misses the point! This is just left on the grounds of KP, which I’m going to assume is not accessible for people. Who could find this?
This seems like a missed opportunity to have Kate travel to a few places (outdoors and masked, obviously) within London. Maybe some places that are represented in the book, or are important to her personally. “This is a park or cafe I loved when I lived here in my twenties”. Maybe that’s content for the YouTube channel?
Yes, this is exactly what she should have done, and how it is usually done.
@Jay Yeah that doesn’t make sense. She didn’t even leave the house; she just stepped into her own backyard so to speak. Traveling to a few places would have been smart like you mentioned and would’ve garnered more publicity. This is a good project but she doesn’t put much effort into the promotion. When hold still was announced I don’t think she showed up. It was the queen who released a statement I think.
Did they close off the area so Kate could place the book? Because if it’s a public park where someone could find the book, why isn’t anyone else there? I’m confused.
Books are being placed around the UK by other people, including the judges, and people involved with the final images, which is nice actually, as they were the ones who were truly part of the project. I guess Kate was just kicking off the book fairies initiative. According to IG, there’s a letter from Kate in each copy, so there’s that…
They are so, so bad at this.
Showing Keen styled casually-jeans and one of her many sweaters-at different spots would have been infinitely better. This isn’t that difficult, so why can they not get it right ever?
I was wondering the same thing. Can people go to KP and get this book or is it not accessible ? I mean, her early years garden project wasn’t for kids so this wouldn’t surprise me. Did she “hide” more than 1 book?
The Queen Victoria statue is a public park in Kensington Gardens and literally packed with people on a nice day so its not a bad spot to “hide” a book.
I’m a book fairy in London and the goal is to put it somewhere out of the way near a monument, a bench, a tree, etc. so its easy to spot. I just think it’s half-assed that she only placed one book and it was right outside her palace or “home”. Whilst other book fairies are hiding, she could have participated more.
Also the video and styling are awkward and way over the top.
Elvie, that’s good to know – I have never lived in the UK, so I am not familiar with this park. it just looked like empty private grounds to me. I still think it would be more interesting to see her hide a few books in different spots!
From your experience as a bookfairy, what are the best places you have hidden books?
I thought they’re trying to be relatable. Why did she get dressed up for this? I don’t know, everything they’re doing these days is very gimmicky.
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the video, why isn’t she more casually dressed? She doesn’t need a long coat/dress and heels to hide books in a park. The Keens are trying really hard lately to be more relatable (and, ok, good on them for trying a little something to raise themselves up other than just push H&M down) but couldn’t she have worn pants? Something more casual? Who dresses up like that to walk around a park??? So it just looks awkward and added on to me, like, “hey, lets go outside and do this thing really quickly while we’re dressed up to tape/photograph something else.”
And I think the recent videos where you only see the Keens’ backs and not their faces is their videographer’s idea of being trendy or something. I don’t like it (I hated the cookie video) because it’s coming across to me as trying to hard to be cool and polished but in the end just doesn’t work.
They may think it’s trendy, but it’s dumb, if you ask me. They don’t get the luxury of being “anonymous” — as long as it’s not footage of their kids, they need to be showing their faces and be transparent about the work they are doing. What are they getting paid for otherwise??
Why are these two SO unapproachable and weird? Who thought it would be a good idea to wear a long, bright red (and likely $$$$$) dress coat and stiletto heels to do this? A more casual, cute outfit would’ve gone a long way to making this seem more chill, relaxed, and well, human. Learn to read the situation and style accordingly, people. They have no clue how to do this middle-class thing they so desperately want to convey AT ALL.
Seriously @swirlmamad I’m with you. Getting this dressed up in clothes most young people would think fit only for the the most stately of events? To wander around your own grounds? I thought they were trying to win over the youths but this has some Grey Gardens energy.
EVERYTHING with these two idiots raises so many weird questions. Does she refuse to leave the grounds? Is she not allowed? Is this the furthest they could drag her lazy ass away from her internet shopping? Is this even her???? Whatever it means to be organic and fresh and relatable THIS AIN’T IT.
I didn’t even think about this being on the grounds of KP before others mentioned it. They really are doing the absolute most to be the laziest royals alive.
Absolutely right, gotta say.
Kate only works a few days a week, usually just one, and this is the same outfit she’s wearing to go to the hospital later in the day so they had to film her before she went to her one engagement this week.
Makes sense, I guess, but she usually changes clothes like they’re Kleenex so I still think they could’ve put her in something more casual for this and then change for the next event. She didn’t even leave her damn property so it’s not like it would be inconvenient! 😂
Yes, she has to count this as another work event, hence the video coming out on the day of the books release. She has to get her “work” points in!! Again, this was filmed as she probably scooped this book straight up and away in the same moment.
“Duchess of Cringe litters the streets of London!”
“More than 100s of trees needlessly destroyed for vanity project – baby critters MURDERED!”
Just doing my part to keeping things equitable. I’m sure British media doesn’t do double standards.
I am so calling them the Duke and Duchess of Cringe from now on.
Oh I absolutely am as well, it’s perfect
Does anyone else find the title Hold Still kind of……..
a bit.
How far away from KP is she? Cause if she’s in the palace grounds especially the parts that aren’t accessible to the public then I don’t see the point as no-one is going to be able to pick it up.
But if she’s outside KP’s gates or is in the parts that are accessible to the public then nice idea.
I mentioned above – but Queen Victoria statue is in the public park so it will get traffic.
The Sussexes shared Archie’s back photo on his birthday.🤐
Yes, Archie’s a child, so they protect his privacy.
I imagine, as said in the article, that KP didn’t have much to do with the book. The National Portrait Gallery, I’m sure, has done books around exhibits previously. It’s a normal thing at museums. To me, this shows she hasn’t put much effort into representing the gallery since she’s been patron for 5 years and this is the first you see of her even half-way promoting a book they published.
At least the national portrait gallery gets semi-regular visits, unlike the addiction patronage that had 8 years between visits.
If her so called fans support her initiatives, let it be. Let’s see how much support her fans really give. I dislike her so I’m not gonna comment much. Also I don’t see what’s the point of giving suggestions to them for improvement. They are compensated very well to think for themselves and hire a good team.
She probably had “people” do all the work on that book.
Kate’s stans would say if Meghan did this it was “attention seeking.” Kate is doing a whole lot of attention seeking here. It’s all about HER.
Agreed.
There is a picture of a BLM protester in the book but no one is linking the duchess of Cambridge to extremism. Funny that. No screaming headlines in the Mail dragging the duchess for fanning the frames of hatred and no cruel commentary from the carnival of experts. I can’t qwite understand why.
Good job new social media person. You made it. Kate and willie are finally working.
Now, make sure the BM stop talking about meghan and harry in every kate and willie articles.
Megs would be given so much grief for that, Kate is praised to high heaven.
Fail says book is already a best seller, giving her credit that it’s her book, and managing to hate on meghan.
Kate just has her name on it, but the way the Fail writes it is as if she took all the photos and was the only one who chose from them.
If these people had an ounce of creativity or interest in this project or knew what the hell they were doing they would have turned book hiding into a Youtube video on their new channel.
Throw on a cute trendy sweatshirt and jeans and a baseball cap so it’s not obvious a member of the Royal family and her team are hiding it places, run around Shoreditch, Soho, Brixton, add some cute music.
Instead we have this. She looks like she’s laying a funeral wreath.
that’s such a sweet idea, and you’re right – some music, some clips of other books being laid around London/the UK, literally anything would have jazzed up this weirdly sombre video. but that would require more than the bare minimum of effort.
Yes! A funeral wreath. It would have been a good video @Maria, if she was dressed casually like you said and incognito. If they did a video of her going in stealth mode in earlier hours (security is a concern) before streets/sidewalks are busy, and then have different people film reactions.
This video was just bland.
She takes on projects that seem like they should be done by “lesser royals”, just piddling little promo things and easy junk she can slap her name on (I still laugh when I think of her “5 Big Insights”) and it’s frankly embarassing for a future queen. When will she and Will actually start to put work in? They make it so easy to upstage them with meaningful, sincere work.
I think the Cambridges bought loads of copies to get on the best seller list and now have to dump them all 😂
That would not surprise me. They buy followers on Instagram and other similar stunts.
Emma Watson was doing this for years as part of her My Shared Shelf book club. See her collection of IG stories titled ‘livre fees’ too for a perfect example of how book dropping should be done and where, so people actually look at the monuments and take something away from where the book is placed as well as the book!
Emma was probably highlighting books that she loved reading. Does Keen read books? Camilla does for sure .,
Her stans give her credit for the whole book even saying she’s a expert photographer and “took” the pictures. Same as that garden where those who built the garden were not mentioned.
Definitely one of the best projects Kate has been associated with, along with the children’s garden at the Chelsea Flower Shower a few years back. I found the video a little awkward, why wear a voluminous red coat and heels to place a book literally in her own backyard? I think it would have been great for her to do a video in the gardens explaining what Book Fairies is doing holding the book and then turning around and putting it behind her and say something along the lines of “I hope whoever gets this copy enjoys this copy of Hold Still as much as I did.” Wouldn’t that have felt more personal and have more impact? Maybe I should be their PR person.
Ooh, that would have been nice! She never seems that comfortable with speaking on camera, but they could definitely edit that together.
And wearing yet another coat-dress, who knew?
When I think of Kate’s closet I see Cher’s closet from the movie Clueless. I can see her taking days to decide just the right shade of red to choose from her many red coat dresses to go and hide one single coffee table book.
The headlines in the UK about this are really weird. Basically it says “ take that Meghan”. Very similar to the ones about the YouTube channel and their slick anniversary video. Those basically said “eat your heart out Harry and Meghan” and something about Megflix. This is not normal and using thee events as an excuse to make juvenile taunts at the Sussexes. What message does that convey about the royals? Certainly nothing positive. They’re letting their own fawning press overshadow their work.
It actually reads as more shade towards the Cambridge’s than Meghan ( like Tatler) my 8 year old can make a YouTube channel but he couldn’t get a deal on Netflix. You really can’t compare YouTube to Netflix. Meghan’s book is available worldwide. I heard Hold Still is just UK (I’m pretty sure. It’s not on US Amazon) Meghan’s book will be a best seller worldwide
Thank you Duchess Catherine for all your hard work! Her book is on amazon’s portrait and arts bestseller list. Two charities ( The National Portrait Gallery and Mental health Center ) will benefit from the proceeds of the book.
“Hard work”? Gahhhh. Surely you jest.
Yes, all that “hard work” must have her exhausted! Lol, please. What did she do, exactly?
In the UK, I guess. In the USA it’s not sold. The only Hold Still book is by another person. I guess Kate stole her title.
It’s not “her” book. She didn’t take any of the photos in it. She just slapped her name on the foreword or whatever. But go on, I guess.
@anp, a bit more of “hard work” needs to he clarified. It’s great that the sales of a book she was a minor participant of might benefit others…but, if you could explain Kate’s “hard work” that would be great. Asking for my cat, who actually works hard and brings “gifts” to our door step carrying the “gifts” in her own teeth and not those of the British Media Tabloids (or her mother).
P.S. Our cat is a hard worker and I’m not fond of cleaning up after her. She is the gatekeeper of our gardens. Except against deer.
Kate doesn’t have the energy. Even if she tries to be upbeat and cheerful she still fails to come across as charismatic and charming. She’s stiff and wooden. Her personality has no impact. Perhaps because, even if she wears the most expensive clothes and she is the future queen, her self confidence is so visibly low and her self esteem is poor. She comes across as too self conscious and guarded.
Thanks for the BookFairies info! It’s centered in Long Island here and unfortunately their remote drop boxes are still closed. But I went and liked their Facebook page and donated money. I have a gazillion used books in very good condition that I’m putting aside for when their drop boxes reopen.
I would love the red coat with the dark-colored buttons. Um… that’s all I’ve got.
I personally think this is a cute idea. New PR guys have Kate working and out in public. Wow!
And it only took ten years!
Right?! Hahahaha
I found a lot of titles of books that say Hold Still but of course the BM will ignore that. Creating a competition is ridiculous. BM slags Meghan’s because they remember how the sales of her Vogue issue compared to the centennial issue with Kate on the cover. Kate has to come out on top; sales lower that Meghan’s book will not do.
So she isn’t allowed to make appearances without Will now? Seriously, has she been out alone since the Sussex interview?
Is this the kind of thing we can look forward to on their yt channel?
I read that as “white” (yt) channel and I chuckled.
this Hold Still book is already written by someone else. exactly the same with pics. while Meghan book the bench is different from any other bench written books. they tired to crucified Meghan cause of the title of her book. not the content. while Catherine copy another person work with the same name. and not a word was reported by the gossip press.
the facts are , that catherine just pick pics to put in this book. this was not her idea.if i remember correctly ,i thought she asked people to send inn their pics, and she choose a few. she herself did not work on this book, why she is giving credit for it is shocking.
Another thing i read which have nothing to do with this topic,on the daily fail is that the royal family only visited H/M baby 1 or 2 times. hence why they had no new pics to post. Meghan was right all along the Royal family was leaking info about her, these 2 faced people didn’t even visit her and her baby. they took the official pics, of the queen meeting Archie for the first time, and pics of the official christening .other than that no other pics, cause none of them dropped by in private to see Archie. not princess royal. no Andrew, or sarah, none of their children. no prince Edward and his wife. they totally froze out Meghan and her baby. the first 6 months of Archie life no one in the royal family cared for him. guess they was sad, they didn’t manage to kill him and his mother before he was born. no wonder Meghan was scared they will harm her and her child. she had to secretly give birth cause her plans to have a home birth ,where she control who is with her failed ,cause Archie was a week overdue. now i think all those fake ass pics the queen and Charles and William posted is just that fake, their actions are evil they never wanted Meghan /Archie. and the world is watching and doing nothing about it . in normal family if something happen like this they can be charged with a crime. they being publicly nice to Meghan after they tried their best to make her leave , or die. no care at all. this is a sick family. they abuse her in private ,but publicly say she is well loved. sick people. why are the queen and her family excused from being racist , when that’s what they are . the world is fighting right now . and the royal family with a long history of trying to be superior to other skin tones are left to keep on insulting none white people. and it seems some accept it like its their first meal. degrading themselves to fit.
to gift someone a home.but what is that gift.? its not a gift.the queen said they can live there and pay a lease. that is not a gift. they don’t own it . to gift someone a home means they own it . last yr christmas,i gifted my son 10.000 dollars .i wrote this is to pay down your mortgage. my husband gave him 100.000 when he first bought the home, i payed for all the electrical things, stove, mirowave ,rice cooker and many other electric things .kitchen plates and glasses,pots and pans a dinner sett for when he have guest. his tv,x box and so on, no i didn’t do it in one day ,i did it during the yrs on his birthday and christmas. its a gift. one don’t take back a gift.my husband payed for all the furniture.bathroom, bedroom, living room. my son works a good job ,so he makes good money . but we doing it cause he is a good person, lives a good life. so we show him thanks in this way . we debit free so .
What we are witnessing here is a woman who has been catapulted towards the “Throne” by the means of a rich, ambitious lout who knocks women out cold and tries to secure “girls” for friendly media. The whole thing stinks.
The Middletons are threatening the House of Windsor. Kate and Carole are absolutely desperate for Middleton to leap-frog Charles.
She and her stage-school momager make my blood run cold. Where the heck is Charles, next Monarch? Must have enough on him to sink a battleship
@whatever .true one can say that . but from what i seen this was a secret .Meghan joined the women in cooking food from the women backgrounds. they were women doing charity work.they cooked together from what i saw on the video . they only showed what Meghan was involved inn behind the scenes when they was about to release the cook book. the cook book was about making money to help the women to feed more people. and yes they needed professional pics and such , since it is a charity to help feed people,i think many helped out by donating their time. Catherine Hold still book,is to help themselves. helping their own cause. tons of pics online with helpless people during the pandemic. those pics are now used to help who? where is this money going? is it to help the nurses, the people who lost their jobs.who is gaining from the sale of this Hold still book? the already rich or the helpless people ? Meghan part in helping the women to feed the helpless is a good charity. by the cook book sale they made enough money to feed the helpless people for a while..Meghan put their work on the map.
Were the deck not stacked, the new PR people could really turn this around. Kate has a superficial attractiveness and wears clothes well. William… well, there’s a tougher job but if they work hard they can show his best side, such as it is. But even if they successfully positioned Keen and Mean as a nice, serious, benevolent couple, the B[owel] M[ovement] will never stop pitting them against M&H.
Harry was right. The BRF truly is trapped.
It is just so very keen and gracious of HRH Keen Kate to step out of Kensington Palace, that is worth an est. $600 million, to “hide” some books. The future future something of something managed to leave her country house, Anmer Hall-valued at $30 million, part of the 20,000 acre estate of Sandringham-valued at $160 million, that was gifted to her & William for their nuptials, or KP to hide a book or 2. Girl is tuckered out from all the work.