Here are more photos from the Duchess of Cambridge’s event on Wednesday. It was her first event and first public appearance since July 11th. She had two full months off and she came back to “work” rested and tan and subtly tweaked. There were conversations about how maybe she had gotten a facelift or something major. She didn’t. It looks like she just got a sprinkling of Botox and fillers, and it was well-done. The photos were taken by Chris Jackson, her go-to photographer, and released to the public. Which is a tad curious as well – I guess Kensington Palace didn’t want to open the event to the Royal Rota? Interesting. Maybe that’s because it doesn’t sound like Kate was able to talk to Afghan refugees and military personnel about anything other than her kids:
The Duchess of Cambridge, 39, visited the RAF Brize Norton airbase on Wednesday to thank members of teams who’d helped evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan in recent weeks. During the visit, as she heard stories from civilians and servicemen and women, she also shared her children’s continued passion for all things aviation.
“She did mention that her children are very interested in aircraft,” Loadmaster Sergeant Mark Curtis told PEOPLE.
That was the big headline, I swear to God. Kate mentioned that her kids like planes. Is that disrespectful to the work these men and women did with getting people out of Afghanistan? You can read that full People Mag article – the servicemen basically used Kate’s visit as a chance to talk about what they did in Afghanistan and there was no mention of “Kate was devastated when she heard this story or that story.” She just waltzed around in her new clothes, flapped her hands around, mentioned that her kids love planes, did a lil’ photoshoot and that was it. Kate and William continue to be such lightweights, but it’s not like they’re getting pressure from the public or from the palaces to do more.
Because of her two-month-and-four-day absence, there was speculation that Kate was possibly pregnant. I’ve thought for years now that Kate would like to have a fourth child, that if she had her way, she would keep having babies. I tend to believe (at this point) that William is just refusing. Us Weekly has a story where Nick Bullen (their in-house royal expert dude) said that Kate and William “feel that they’ve got a pretty perfect family. I think Kate was always keen to follow… her parents, and have that sort of family of five.” Yeah, I still think William said “no more babies.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
It really is amazing how the Cambridge kids always seem to have an interest in whatever Willy or Kate’s visits happen to be about.
Definitely more interested in the work than their own parents!
The kids are already sailors, i’m surprised they’re not already piloting the aircrafts. This is totally insignificant headline to such a heavy subject. They just f-up everything. But her tan after over 2 months is not bad
I think she does it (either consciously or subconsciously) because she knows that 1) her kids will be the main thing people will focus on so no one will really care about the rest of her engagement so they won’t care if she’s doing “well” on the job and 2) her kids are the only topic she can really talk about with some knowledge/interest. So she circles back to them in these events so she can talk about something she’s comfortable with. And to that, she says her kids have interest in whatever she’s currently doing as that’s an easy way to do it. Whether or not they actually have these interests, idk.
hahahahahaha I laughed out loud. So true!
That’s because they have “the right ingredients”.
In that case, she has a brief window of time to visit natural history museums and dinosaur digs.
Given that they regularly fly in private planes and presumably by helicopter too it’s no huge surprise.
As for the fact that THIS is the takeaway from her visit, I mean I’d be disappointed, horrified that this is what my taxes pay for, etc. etc. But at this point I’m just clinging on to the dream that we’ll be shot of them in my lifetime.
Wow she’s doing public duties again. Does anyone else think she lost that spark she had years ago?
When exactly did she have a spark?
Well, she had a spark when Meghan was around. Kate was at her most “sparky” during the Meghan years.
Sometimes she looked like she was on stimulants With a huge grin at somber moments. Was that the “spark?”
I dare anyone to name me an event where Kate thoughtfully engages with someone about a cause.
Even her events with children have them rolling their eyes at her.
I think she was most interesting in the first 3-4 years of their marriage. After Charlottes birth, I think it was a mix of she started phoning it in (I mean, to some degree she was always phoning it in) and most of the shine had worn off.
She was better in some of the early tours when she didn’t look medicated or bored. But then again William also seemed more into them as well. Once he couldn’t pretend to like her in public it went downhill. And I agree that it started to happened after Charlotte was born.
She was never Diana though. Just less dull.
Agreed. She fashioned herself as a pretty little doll. Polished, perfect, zero personality. Now she’s an aging doll. She’s literally given herself nothing to fall back on.
“I dare anyone to name me an event where Kate thoughtfully engages with someone about a cause…”
Anyone remember the India tour, when she was listening to someone describe childrens’ bodies being mutilated in order to gather sympathy from tourists, and her literal response was “Gosh. How interesting.”
It’s offensive, actually.
Or when an artist spent months preparing a showcase of his art, carefully crafting the set up and selecting specific pieces that he thought best represented his work. And Kate only wanted to talk about his beard, and about how her brother has started sporting a beard, and isn’t that just very funny? There was visible disappointment in the man’s face.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
These are either insecurities or narcissistic qualities, where she is uncomfortable with any conversation that isn’t about herself.
@Weatherby, it’s an unfortunate combination of her being incurious and ill-equipped. She’s not interested enough to try and learn more or ask more questions, and even if she were interested, she’s too out of depth to figure out how to skillfully speak and ask questions. Kate has completely wasted her role.
She seemed to have more spark in the earlier engagements because they were TRYING to ease her into royal duties, I think hoping that it would end up with her being another Anne or even a Camilla or Sophie. So they had lots of fun stuff for her – remember their first trip to canada and the US, they went to a concert, she got to cosplay Anne of Green Gables, there was a rodeo (was that the same trip? I think so, right?), she planted a tree, there was a cooking class, then they came to LA and met celebrities and went to some sort of BAFTA event.
Same with their trips to the Solomon Islands (you know, the ones where William and Kate were carried about on the shoulders of the native people) – there was dancing and food and it was just kind of a fun vibe. Of course she had “spark” then. the serious events on those kinds of tours were scattered throughout these other more fun and laidback engagements.
Looking back, its so obvious the palace was trying to schedule more fun events to get Kate used to royal life, but I think it backfired because then when it was like “and now you’ll visit this hospital and interact with parents whose children are very sick” she could not make the switch. Indeed I think she still expects all her events to be more of the fun kind and resents having to do the more serious ones, especially on foreign tours, and I think that’s what we are all picking up on.
That and the fact that she’s ticked she has to work at all.
Early on, at a planned visit to a tea shop, Kate asked whether you can test the smell of the tea by smelling it. And at a planned visit to the royal collection, she asked the queen whether they still made those imperial Russian Faberge eggs. She is clearly too lazy to do ANY research or planning for her visits, and she cannot come up with anything intelligent to say unless a speech writing scripts it for her. Kate is only interested/capable of blow drying her hair, applying fake tans, having her teeth capped and the bags under her eyes tucked, and flashing Diana’s cursed ring. And some monarchists insist that Kate is what a princess should be (which makes Britain look ridiculous and misogynistic).
Kate is incurious and emotionally sort of empty. She’s totally out of her depth with other adults and especially anyone involved in trauma. While Diana never had an education, her depth was in her special emotional connection to people. Diana’s instincts were mostly spot on.
I never paid attention to these people to be honest, however she looks like she can’t be bothered. Like she is counting the minutes till she can leave. I am sorry but for someone who is being supported by the public in exchange for the occasional interaction with the public she puts in zero effort. And she always gets away with it
From the age of 19 when Diana made her first appearance after the engagement she had that extra something and could relate to people Kate OTOH to me was rather vacuous and did not have that ” connection” Diana had with the public.
Diana was a genius in public, charming, magnetic and beautiful. But in real life, which I think is what really matters, she was a mess. She feuded with everyone, barely spoke to anyone in her family and got involved with married men. I wonder if it’s possible to be good at both but somehow I doubt it.
I screamed a little when I saw that piece yesterday. I love how People inflated her with “she also shared her children’s continued passion for all things aviation,” and then the Sergeant deflated her with, “She did mention that her children are very interested in aircraft,” like he was trying hard to remember why she was even there.
I can only picture the woman in the green outfit and her expression. PERFECTION.
Does People normally cover her engagements? Usually this stuff is only covered in the UK papers. Looks like someone wants an entry to the US market.
Didn’t People start a specific magazine/blog/whatever recently geared towards covering all things Royal? I seem to remember Kate being on the first issue.
I wonder what People would have paid to have Meghan and Harry on their first cover?
People normally does lifestyle articles about them. They don’t tend to get specific about engagements. This seemed like something the DM or other Uk tabloids would provide.
THe People Royals Magazine does not exactly leap off the shelves. The newsstands have a lot of them left.
@Eurydice we could probably script People’s articles before the events even happen at this point.
@Seraphina I feel like there is always at least ONE person in the photos from Kate’s engagements with that look on their face. Very often it’s a small child, lol. But there’s always one person who just cannot fake it for the entire photo-op.
I think she always refers to the kids because she hasn’t got anything else to say. Even for an event like this. If your takeaway from hearing about the evacuation from Kabul is “oh my kids like aeroplanes” then I think you have a chip missing. (It reminds me of the time in India when she was told about children being deliberately maimed so that they could beg on the street, and she responded “how interesting”).
On a more superficial level, those trousers are annoying me. They’re too long and are ballooning around her feet.
The trousers look terrible on her. They make her look like she has cylinders for legs especially with her slouching. Would it be so hard to trailer them so they would at least not be literal floor sweepers but floor length.
Agreed. Instead of looking professional, they make her look very sloppy. Definitely should have tried them on before buying, lol.
Kate has been a shallow dim bulb from day one. This isn’t a woman who took any of her free time between going on holidays with William in the dating years to do anything charitable for others and she only does the bare minimum now because she has to. And she’s reduced the amount of work she’s done compared to the other royals since day one. She could at least match William’s numbers and she can’t even be bothered.
So does she care about anyone but herself? No. And that’s why we hear about her kids so much even when it’s not relevant, but she doesn’t care about anything that doesn’t relate to her directly.
I mean she should be setting up something to help the refugees, especially the children, because that would help their mental health, but they aren’t white so she doesn’t care about them.
And that’s her story. She has not developed any critical thinking skills – which leads to me to ask how did she get into uni? One has to study to pass A levels. She has no life skills because she never had to work a real job, and deal with real work interactions. But, the worst of it is, she lacks charity. She does not see nor feel beyond her own experience.
How hard would it have been to ask how they were coping given the rapid deterioration on the ground? Her brother in law did tours in Afghanistan for heaven’s sake.
How about asking about how their children and spouses coped and are coping knowing they had a loved one that was in harm’s way?
How about asking about their mental health? If they were making use of mental health services even if they didn’t think they needed it. They were in a fight and flight experience of the highest order.
These are part of the work that she supposedly already did and relationships in her own family. For heaven’s sake have some charity for others. It’s not all blowouts, botox, and dress-up.
They aren’t white so that would be considered too “political”
Why doesn’t her staff give her talking points, and if they do why doesn’t she follow them? It’s not that difficult. What’s the point of having a staff if no one wants to prepare for a standard engagement. I’m sure everyone on that airbase probably went out of their way to prepare for Kate’s visit and she could care less about how unprofessional she presents herself.
Exactly, talking points would be very useful for Kate & her husband. But then, the rest would be up to her so….
Would talking points even be useful for someone so utterly clueless about what’s happening in the world, though? I guess maybe it would help a little, but the only way we’re so knowledgeable about different things is because we lived through them, paying attention all along.
You could explain to someone what living through the Trump administration was like, and give them a page or two of talking points, but if that’s the extent of their knowledge about something, they’ll never truly get it, and I imagine it’s the same with Brexit. Or the summer of the BLM protests. I don’t believe Kate ever read as much as one full article in a reputable publication about *any* of these issues. Or climate change? Please. She simply does not care.
I mean, imagine sitting in the back of your chauffeured Range Rover, on your way to meet these men, reading a page or two about everything that happened in Afghanistan this summer. But never having seen the awful, traumatizing photos and videos coming out of there for days on end like many of us did. She might be able to nod at the appropriate times at some comments made by others, but she couldn’t contribute anything substantial (and we know that William has publicly bragged about not reading his briefing notes, so she might not think she needs to either, who knows.) Apparently she doesn’t even realize how trite it’s become for her to mention her own kids every. single. time. she has to talk to anyone about anything.
And it’s hard because Kate doesn’t seem to care about ANYTHING. Sailing, maybe. And gardening. But absolutely nothing more challenging than what the average second grader has probably already mastered.
She was becoming more and more of a liability to the BRF as she became more visible; the Jill Biden fiasco was embarrassing for the monarchy “on the global stage” was how I read it described. Who could they even sit her next to at State Dinners, etc.? She absolutely cannot hold her own in a roomful of adult conversation.
I agree, I would find it very insulting coming back from Kabul and they send you Kate. I mean, the article shared the highlight – that was it. And she had on her usual grin the whole time, does she not get that this was a serious topic and to come prepared, professional? Afghanistan was a topic out of her depth, who on her team approved this visit and thought it was a good idea?
This is the type of engagement that was Harry’s bread and butter when he was a working royal, and it gives the impression that the only purpose of this engagement was to show up Harry on his birthday. It was petty and she was incompetent. I don’t know why they won’t stop embarrassing themselves. William doing this engagement would have been a better fit.
I agree William would have been a better fit for this. But Harry would have been amazing – he is so good at interacting with people and putting them at their ease.
Events with Kate just always look stiff and awkward, and the photos often show people grimacing in the background. In that photo with the red-haired woman, Kate looks like she’s stifling a yawn and, let’s face it, she probably was. I suppose we should be thankful she wasn’t doing her “grinning like a maniac (look, I’m *such fun!*)” act, for once, but it does look like the flappy hands made an appearance, despite the little handbag.
@Tabitha I think even GEORGE would probably have been a better fit for this. He probably would have actually asked some interesting questions.
She really is a lightweight. There’s just no other way to put it. she’s never going to change at this point. And that’s okay, but someone at KP/the royal family needs to pivot and stop sending her on engagements that require someone who is not a lightweight.
As for her face – yeah, definitely fillers and some Botox, I know some on here speculated that she gained some weight but I think its just the freshening up.
Exactly…..it is what it is with her at this point. They need to get with the program and stop sending her on these engagements with heavier subject matter, because it’s just insulting to everyone involved.
They should at least send her with a list of legitimate questions to ask and some major talking points to discuss. I used to figure they did that but now I doubt it. Something to at least help fill in the blank spaces in her thought process.
I think she looks even thinner than usual but maybe its the oversized pants and boxy jacket.
That was my thought – I saw a pic that KP posted yesterday on IG and even with the pants and boxy jacket she still looked super thin and that was when I thought “ah so it was botox and fillers.”
I thought fillers as soon as I saw her face. She definitely has had some work done.
I agree, and I don’t see any evidence that’s she gained any weight. She’s had stealth work on her face for sure…
@Becks1, I have given up hoping this woman will be a breath of fresh air. She has shown who she is and was. And her face has changed – I think you are spot on with the tweaking.
I don’t even understand the point of this “public duty” – basically, everybody has to drop what they’re doing and disrupt their lives so some royal nitwit can use them for a photo op. This must have been the most “interesting” thing she had to say – you know the media would have quoted something better if she’d actually said it. So, no focus on the people and what they experienced, just how much did her jacket cost and her kids like planes – zoom, zoom.
We need more pictures of that lady in green from yesterday because she exemplified the real worth of this dim bulb interrupting their day so she could tour a plane and say basically nothing.
Yeah she’s floating in the trousers so that’s not a sign she gained weight. But the face is fuller and that’s pure because of botox and fillers.
So I guess the question is why did she hide that much for so long? Are there more moving to Berkshire stories coming up?
@Becks, I wonder if— for all of the screeching many of these people did about how they hated Meghan so much because they are racists and she was not only biracial but an American (the horror!)— some of them subconsciously saw the kind of work Meghan did, and are now realizing how much their perfect English rose who hides away most of the time pales in comparison? Because at no point would anyone watch Kate and think, “wow, she’s really got IT.” They know THEY could be the ones Kate was visiting and that they wouldn’t have to worry about being outmatched in conversation, or as Harry said, realizing they needed to “up their game.”
They’d never admit it, obviously, and part of the reason many of them couldn’t stand Meghan was exactly because they couldn’t handle seeing someone who they viewed themselves as superior to out there being more articulate and useful than they could ever be. But I wonder how many have “niggling” (😒) feelings now that she’s gone.
I don’t think people could help but notice the difference. For all the tabloid sneering at H&M’s Archewell post on Afghanistan, it was outward facing, toward the victims. The same when Harry speaks about the wounded veterans. They don’t make it about themselves – my kids like airplanes, I love Scotland because it’s a great place for us to go on holiday…
I think they absolutely know what they lost and know how bad Kate is at the job (both in terms of laziness and in terms of her actual “work”) and I think that’s why they continue to attack everything H&M do – for being too woke, too earnest, too “California”, whatever new term they come up with on any given day to attack one of their initiatives or videos or interviews. It’s not because they actually think those things about H&M, its because they know how much better they are at what could have been royal work compared to W&K and they have to cover for it.
(“what could have been royal work” – ie initiatives to help those in disaster areas, stocking diaper banks, mentoring, etc.)
The little cutesy handbag that matches her blazer is so wrong for this visit. She doesn’t need to be holding it at all during the fifteen minutes she spends at the base. I think the outfit was hideous to begin with and the little bag front and center of all her interactions read that she was viewing the visit as a fashion shoot and she managed to match two of the items! Nothing about her expression reads “I understand you undertook a harrowing evacuation–God bless you and thank you for your hard work.”
The twee bag has taken the place of Kate’s folded hands in covering her crotch.
That first photo is so awkward — it’s like she wanted to copy Meghan by casually putting a hand in her pocket (awkward) but then her other hand was like, “NO NO NO MUST COVER THE CROTCH!” and held her bag even more awkwardly almost but not really in front of her crotch. After all these years, after all these engagements, I don’t get why she can’t stand like a normal person when she’s talking to people. I get that’s it’s so uncomfortable when you know people are watching/taking pictures, but she literally has nothing else to do and all the resources in the world to figure this very simple thing out.
It’s just bland and boring. The bag being the same colour as the jacket makes this whole outfit look dull, shes trying to copy Meghan but she doesn’t have the innate style M has to pull it off.
The fact that she’s clutching a bag makes her look unapproachable. Her body language isn’t as “open” as it could be. (This is the sort of thing that Megan knows how to do right even though she spent way less time in the RF than Kate has.)
Yes, let’s parade the poor kids again (whose only sin was being born to a family of clowns) because we’ve never done that before!
Literally all she kept asking every group she talked to was “have you ever experienced anything of this magnitude” and anything else she said she either mumbled or was too quiet 🤨. Does she even know what’s been happening in Afghanistan? It’s not just a name-drop to make yourself look good. Do your f*cking research!
Why are we still paying for these a**holes?
You’d think at the very least her PR team could write some thoughtful questions for her. But no, they’re all lazy a-holes at KP, every last one of them.
If I were Kate, even if my PR team could absolutely write some thoughtful questions, I would probably be too scared to ask them, because what if someone had a follow-up question or comment that wasn’t on my little cheat sheet?? She knows she’d only panic like a deer in the headlights, so she sticks to talking about her kids.
All those refugees and she can only talk about her children. No questions or queries as to what the refugees need, who the refugees were. No interest in the men and women who helped rescue them. No interest in anything beyond the photo-op.
Apparently it is too much for her to show any interest in the refugee children even! For Pete’s sake, contrasting this to Jennifer Garner’s visit to the refugee children living at Dulles really shows how completely void of anything meaningful Kate is.
What’s she going to talk about when her kids are are adults?
Help us all.
Her grandkids and how they like airplanes, or maybe spaceships by that time, lol.
Her outfit is a bad fitting replica of what Meghan wore on one of her last engagements with school kids. I find it creepy that she copies people like that.
Glad to see she rolled out of bed to make half an effort at an appearance. Slow clap for Duchess Buttons.
I always thought she wanted four because she loves having kids and because she wanted to invite comparisons to the queen. But to give Will some credit, I think he was smart enough to realize it would probably upset the taxpayers to be paying for four children.
From what I understand, Charles is paying for the children.
They will be paying for them eventually to be all working royals. Assuming there is a still a monarchy.
I think they do get some taxpayer money even now (or sovereign grant money) – like I don’t think the cost of their RPOs comes from the duchy of cornwall. Charles pays for things like their clothes, vacations, etc.
Lol william is not that smart. He doesnt even want louis. He wants only two kids heir and spare. Having many children is not good for a family even they can afford million nannies. The kids needs parents and two kids is good choice because each kid will get attention from either one of the parents. More than two kids , one or more kids where left alone. In cambriges charoltte rarely get attention from her parents. Will mostly to george and louis to Kate.
I don’t think that Louis would have happened had William not been caught with the women at the ski trip. That gave Kate some leverage. But at this point it seems a little too long after the rose affair for a fourth child to happen. It likely would have happened during the lockdown in 2020 when they were supposedly together all the time but as we learned he got covid and she did not. I guess the Victorian order was the compensation for that dalliance. And I suspect the hiding away this summer and talk of a new home is further compensation.
Its not a very well thought out outfit, that’s all I have to say. It just looks thrown together. But maybe its the new “casual and modern” Kate. But the light colored jacket and navy pants just don’t seem to go together. Either the jacket is too structured and the pants too flowy or maybe the jacket is too long for the flowy pants but something is off.
The pants need to be hemmed and tapered in a wee bit. And the purse, as others have mentioned is all wrong for this visit.
@Msiam, I don’t know yet whether or not to believe a Cambridge divorce is imminent, but if there is and she knows it, then it makes sense that she wouldn’t bother putting as much effort into her appearance on official engagements. She’s just buying time until the palace decides it’s the right moment for “the announcement.”
On the other hand, she’s incredibly vain, and we’ve already seen her go down the “Look what you’re missing!!” path with William once and it worked, so who knows.
Stimulating conversation as always, Kkkate, I am sure everyone was surprised/impressed that little children find airplanes cool.
Very relatable stuff, especially when speaking with people on an air force facility around planes.
Lol.
In defense of Kate, I wonder if she’s told to stick to topics like the kids? It reminds me of the old movie Roman Holiday where Audrey Hepburn’s princess character is told to say ” Pleased to meet you” “Charmed” and “Thank you” to just about everyone like a robot. No wonder she breaks down screaming! I’m sure Kate is schooled never to say anything that could come back and bite her so she comes off as an airhead.
Funny because I was typing that one of the most common defenses of her lightweight behaviour is that she is trained to stuck to what is considered polite talk and here you go with it …
I mean, Kate does not need anyone defending her IMO. She is fine. Her audience is not asking for more
But hlin this space we can be honest and say ” Jeez, it never occurred to this lady that is terrify tone deaf and unpolite to speak about children enjoying airplanes with people just evacuated from warzone”
She could have asked them about the rescue without causing offence. No one cares what her privileged kids like and dislike.
Diana had a gift when she met strangers and she could ask them questions that made it look like she cared about them. Kate just doesn’t care about people and that’s why she sucks at even the most benign questions.
I’m sorry but I can’t bash her for this one. All of the royals say inane things in public, it’s just who they are. Remember Charles “say hello to the Africans for me” or whatever he said or William’s dumb COVID remarks? They paid the price for that, so Kate probably sticks to what is “safe”.
I’m not going to defend Kate being so bad at her job ten years in. We don’t hear stupid comments from Anne or Sophie or anyone else really. Kate just doesn’t care enough to try to be better, as with her inability to give a speech. We all know if Meghan had said a fraction of the stupid insensitive things Kate has said she would have been destroyed in the media. Kate doesn’t deserve a pass a decade into the position she chased after for years.
@MsIam Then my point still stands. Kate does not need any defense. She is fine. We are just a corner on the internet that sees and discuss the RF in a critical manner.
Sometimes it descends into bashing? Absolutely. The site is called Celebitchy for a reason. I also think the comment section should be more open to voices of the other side, as long as they are not trolls. And I think people here do have a hard time discerning between trolls and people legitimaly having different viewpoints.
to which, I am very curious about people here in celebitchy that sometimes feel the need to actively type a response “defending” Kate. Again, she does not need defense. We all know the RF is a bunch of privilege people that see us as inferior. Of course they can only make inane remarks most of the time. But why do you think their overall lameness is an excuse for Kate to be the lamest of them all? Not criticizing your take, just genuinely curious what prompted you to cape for Kate?
Do you think I was bashing her? I just made a snark observation…
I honestly don’t think she is told to stick to inane comments, I just think she does because that’s who she is as a person.
Charles says stupid and racist things at times but at least he can also usually ask legitimate questions about the actual site he’s visiting, the work that’s being done, etc. I’ve also started watching some clips from some of Camilla’s work and she actually asks some good questions and has interesting, engaging conversations with the people she’s visiting. Now of course that’s what Clarence House is sharing, they’re not sharing any of the stupid inane stuff she might be saying – but KP can’t even pick out a 30 second clip of Kate talking to share where she sounds interested and engaged.
Probably she has a few talking points. But none of the royals are smart and it appears most of them lack empathy. It’s not like she sticks out as exceptionally bad compared to the rest of them. William horsing around in a wheelchair was pretty repulsive. C ams seems passionate about some things.
I have a theory they’ll have a fourth child next year to try and pull focus from Harry’s book
If that’s their go-to strategy for H&M, Wills and Kate will be having kids every year.
However I’m with you on that’s been Kate’s strategy so why give up now.
Nah, you have to be intimate to have children and I think William is too busy pollinating other gardens. I think they live separately and will not have any more kids.
Then again, sex for procreation is a proud RF tradition so I could be very wrong.
I doubt it. William complained about the first two “keeping him awake”. ANd Kate said he did not want another child after Louis. They trotted out the children a lot after Harry left and it did not seem to make a difference. The children just looked uncomfortable. I doubt a new baby would distract from Harry’s book.
There has been chatter in some the red-tops here in the UK that Kate is keen to have another child. Not exactly in sync with Prince Earthshot and his lecturing others about limiting the size of their families.
That’s pretty obvious. It’s not even chatter amongst a few, it’s pretty well known amongst royal watchers that Kate would love another child.
Usually her insipid, nothing self just amuses me, but this story makes me genuinely angry. That she could respond to the fear, horror, violence, and ultimately heroism that helped get these people out of a life-or-death situation with “my children like planes, too!” makes her sound so moronic, so vapid, so devoid of any human feeling that the British public should protest her place in their “royal family.”
Can no one give her a list of canned replies that could help her sound like a real person? DO they give her such a list that she ignores?? No one can be this bad at that job.
Exactly. She could have focused on the need for the service personnel to take care of their mental wellbeing in light of the harrowing conditions during the evacuation and the feelings of helplessness in having to leave people behind. Again, another chance to make a difference; another chance wasted.
Honestly, I would object to having to take time out of my working day to prop these eejits up.
At the very least Kate should stop grinning at these professionals as if she is visiting a pre-school.
I saw Chris Ship on Twitter complaining that the headline in Harper’s Bazaar was that she wore a cream colored blazer. But what else did he expect when nothing came out of the visit. If she wasn’t so much of a lightweight she could have given a few words thanking the RAF for their service. Then there would’ve been something to report on.
Oh my, when your BIEGE jacket is the most interesting thing about you.
Oh good Lord. Is Chris Ship on something? When has Kate ever said anything of note on any of the engagements she has done in a decade? He must have her confused with Meghan or something. Lol. He’s over here acting like Kate has substance.
He only complained about that because he was retweeting Omid’s tweet sharing the article. It was Chris’ obnoxious way of taking a swipe at him — because apparently he was too lazy to actually check to see if Omid wrote the article. He did not.
Yeah, it did feel like a swipe at omid in that harpers bazaar cannot be the only publication that discussed what Kate wore to this event but he just so happened to single out the one that omid writes for.
After Chris Ship’s swipe, I decided to look at how ITV covered the event which was more In depth than the coverage in People. Still funny though in that they used the verb “meets” to describe the visit. The word must have been used at least 5 times throughout the article to describe how Kate met military personnel. Which I mean that’s what she did; she met military people. Not much more to it than that.
The article did have examples of questions Kate asked and comments that didn’t have to do with the kids. It was possibly more cringe-inducing. She asked: “and in terms of flying the aircraft like that, in those sorts of conditions, have you been put in positions like that before?” This is what kills me. There’s a really weird stiltedness to this question to the point that it’s hard to make sense. The ITV article literally paraphrases this question for the audience by saying: “ the duchess asked them about the flying conditions and whether they had ever experienced the circumstances they were in before.” Idk they have more of her questions and they are all so stilted and/or meandering that it’s like she doesn’t get to the point. Don’t know why this is driving me crazy.
That being said, the pilot, Andy Bell, sidestepped the inane question and said the hardest moment for him was seeing 200 people in the aircraft, with their lives packed into one suitcase. Like he knew how to focus his answer on the humanity of the people suffering as opposed to the silly question about how hard was it to drive the plane.
Chris Ship is such a passive-aggressive little pr!ck. He tries to act as if he’s above the fray, but he’s just as bad as the rest of them.
Kate looks very like her mother here, maybe it’s de fillers !! Seriously, l ask this question genuinely, how is Kate so bad at this job, she has a team helping her, how is she not embarrassed , she is de future Queen and she hasn’t got a clue, from what lve seen in de press, she looked completely uninterested here . Bare in mind, these people are giving up their time to meet her for what, a photo op !!!!!!! Why didn’t William do this visit, wasn’t he a Co pilot ????
William is with whichever one of his mistresses he’s chosen for the day.
“aint it good to be the king?” (Mel Brooks, History of the World)
Really hope something knocks him off that pedestal.
My god even I would look amazing and refreshed if I could have two months off from work.
I am no body language expert, I only like to play one on CB.lol. Anywho. Katie keen seems to be getting the zero interest from these solders that she is putting out to them. She should just stay home and order buttons because she has zero to offer anyone
Each photo consists of K with animated hands/expression/”saying” something and the people shes with appearing either uninterested or bored but trying to be polite.
SHE HAS HER HAND IN HER POCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where is all the discussion about protocol ???????
Diana: walks through live minefield in former war zone; calls for international ban on land mines; international landmine treaty signed later that year.
Kate: sits on chic puffy chair at local airbase to tell refugees and combatants returning from conflict how much her children like planes; children everywhere continue to like planes, except those who live in active war zones where planes are bombing them.
Well said!
Chris Jackson is her go-to photographer because he obliges her with photoshopped pics. Had other photographers been allowed we’d see more wrinkles.
Also isn’t Jackson’s wife Kate’s stylist?
Idk about stylists, but KP has officially stated Kate has no official stylists and also she’s had job openings for them.
I think Kate takes extreme control of her image because the BM do take dogs at her. They do show her gray hairs and deep wrinkles because the Cambridges do not hold up their end of the deal.
So, she selects who can photograph her and that must also infuriate the BM further. They’ll revolt soon enough.
@Aurora. Yes his wife works for Kate. Her official title is Personal Assistant but most people believe she’s Kate’s stylist.
I thought the purse holding was an actual protocol thing to indicate she is not going to shake hands. Maybe that’s why her hand slipped in her pocket, too. And this was the protocol before COVID. The queen has a way of holding her purse and hands to discourage those wanting to shake her hand- and not in this weird crotch-covering display Kate does.
At first I read this as witchcraft and I’m telling you I immediately thought this article was going to 1000x more interesting 😄
That’s funny because I read it as witchcraft too. Which made me wonder what is going on in those Norfolk forests? Are Kate and CarolE forced to resort to casting spells on Billy Middleton or perhaps his new friend of the moment, now that he’s cut Kate out of his public life?
Oh my the imagery there! I’m glad I’m not the only one who read it wrong.
The lack of prep for this was appalling. She asked one of the pilots if he had experienced anything like this. FFS. This was an unprecedented situation. The only thing remotely similar was the fall of Saigon and thay was over 50 years and the UK didn’t participate in the Vietnam war. Either she doesn’t read her briefs or participate in briefings or the staff is grossly incompetent. In general, the silence from the BRF as events in Afghanistan were unfolding was horrific. Yes there are political aspects that couldn’t be addressed by them but what unfolded was a humanitarian crisis. That aspect was acknowledged by many. It’s makes it so clear that engagements like this and Charles’ with the Parachute regiment are just photo ops. I also thought it was interesting that KP limited access to this to just Chris Jackson and ITV cameras. Given it was outdoors they could have made it a more open event. But the tabloids are getting their revenge. Very little coverage of the event. Not even the Cambridge sycophants in the carnival gave it any attention.
Has anyone here ever met Keen or Baldy personally? What kind of vibes do they give?!
I remember someone here saying Keen was “zonked out” once but other than that crickets.
Way way back during Kate’s first year since the wedding an acquaintance of mine met Kate while her and William walked and shook hands of people at railings. Her impression…
That Kate was wearing theatre makeup it was laid on so thick. She was much, much too thin. And she did not engage beyond walk, smile, wave.
At the time I have a pass because it was probably overwhelming, but nothing has changed so that was just her.
There are interviews and quotes out there from people that have. Former teacher said seemed like she never cracked a book.
Her own cousin tried to defend her by saying she never really cared about people outside of her own family.
“… she never really cared about people outside of her own family.”
Hmmm… that sounds like great qualifications to be in a role where one needs to at least appear to be a humanitarian… 🤔
I haven’t seen her, but she is MUCH thinner in real life. You can sort of glean that from videos, but it must be straight up shocking to see her in person. I have heard that from a few people. When the Today show covered the Jill Biden visit, you could tell Savannah Gunthrie was speechless as Kate walked out of the school and her frail body was so noticeable. I was watching it in the living room with some family and nearly everyone mentioned it. I’m surprised that it’s so readily swept under the rug and rarely mentioned.
Oy, that’s sad! I still haven’t finished reading the old gossip posts about the Cambs but before I was even interested on royal watching, I always thought Keen was portrayed as bizarrely dull, these tidbits just cemented that lol
I always found that comment from her own cousin to be the most damning. And while everyone has a family member that might slag you off, the worst part is that the cousin wasn’t even trying to be mean about Kate. They were just trying to explain why Kate just seemed so uninterested in most of the world around her.
Um…. I think Jaded met her on their second Canada tour? I remember someone meeting here there and saying she was really really really thin.
Someone who posts on here occasionally went to college with her and knew her, she said she was quiet enough but not really that nice, one time in a small group she gave a presentation and never looked up once the whole time.
I think it was that same person who also confirmed that the entire school knew that Kate was William’s girlfriend pretty early on and that it was a status she banked on in a lot of ways. St Andrew’s seemed to have a lot of super rich kids attend there and they were generally separate from the peasants in social events.
I didn’t meet her but saw her from pretty up close and dear lord that woman is a bone rack. She was very over-made-up and other than smiling vapidly and shaking the odd hand she did not engage with the crowd like Diana did at all. A total mannequin.
I’m around the same age as William and Kate and I studied art history in college and back in 2001, I looked up the St. Andrews art history program out of curiosity. Classes were structured so that each week a student would make a presentation of the week’s topic to the rest of the class. It’s surprising how bad Kate is at public speaking because it was a mandatory part of her education.
I think there is something seriously up between her and Wills
Staff know she cannot hold a conversation so they tell her to bring up the kids. What a Dud she is and these folks deserved a lot more.
To me she looks like she always does, fussy hair and weird big grin.
They really focus in tight on Kate’s face in these photos because when they have other people in the picture, we see their un-enthused reactions to her.
She looks like she’s guarding the royal biscuit in those shots with her purse held so awkwardly in front of her.
*this was a reply to BeanieBean below.
Still holding her handbags in front of her crotch, I see. What a funny duck.
Does Kate have a team who prepares her for these visits? Is there a folder with basic information that would give her background information? The Afghanistan crisis was headline news did Kate even pay attention to the news stories? Anyone who followed the news would have had a ton of questions, anyone with any interest in what goes on the world would have had questions for those people who were on the ground.
I’m assuming Britain will take some of the refugees, isn’t there an opportunity here for Kate the humanitarian, the philanthropist to show support. Instead it will be this one visit with no follow up, similar to the Blackmoor visit. I’m saddened for her if that make any sense.
Yes,@ Athena, your sadness does make sense. Her presence invites comparison to another Duchess who would have shown up with a folder of research and some intelligent and useful questions which would have elicited a thoughtful response. We cannot be the only ones who are seeing the difference.
It’s obvious Kate doesn’t watch the news because I agree with you that she could have come up with better questions just by having causally watched the news in the last few weeks. There are a ton of questions that someone with a passing interest in world events could have asked them. But Kate is not that person.
I don’t think Kate watches the news. Like, at all. I don’t think she follows headlines, I don’t think she looks at a paper besides to see if Meghan is on the front or not. Or she goes straight to the society/gossip and fashion sections. Even if her staff prepared something for her about the Afghanistan crisis, do you think she would read it? understand it? Ask questions based on that? Nope, nope and nope.
Someone probably told her there was a crisis in Afghanistan and that’s all she knows.
I bet she doesn’t even know where Afghanistan is located on a map. The longest she ever spent at an engagement was when she was on the set of Downton Abbey. That pretty much tells you her interests right there.
@Becks ITA. This came up in some conversation here a few weeks back and I said I doubted that Kate even knew what was going on in Afghanistan. It doesn’t appear that she keeps up with current events *at all.*
The images we saw coming out of Afghanistan were so traumatic to even see—if I was Kate, I don’t know if I necessarily would have even had any meaningful questions, but I think I would have reiterated how closely we were all following it, how upsetting it was to even watch it from the safety of our homes, and that I can’t imagine what it was like for them to actually live it, and the bravery that took.
None of these are particularly groundbreaking observations! But no, all she had was that her kids like airplanes, too. Sigh
@Lorelei if she was seeing some of those images she would have been meeting with any refugee families as soon as she possibly could, we would see pictures of her doing things like Jennifer Garner is doing, she would have been posting more about it on their IG (you have 10 million followers, even if half are fake, think of what an impact you can make with asking for donations to Save the Children or something?).
Instead she had to finish up her vacation, go to the south of france, and just pop by the airfield for an hour on Harry’s birthday.
She is underprepared and there is no excuse for it. It’s disrespectful to the people there and is a missed opportunity to better inform the public. The focus should be on them, not her and her fugly blazer.
I think her and William are spending as much time apart as they can before the school runs and their regular schedule catches up to them. In the past, they would have 100% done these events together.
She does so love that open-claw hand gesture these days. It’s her “I’m SO keenly invested and saying something important here, take my photo NOW” pose.
I think Kate is using a stylist here as I think that this is a good look, she has awful personal style usually, all little curls and headbands and lace eek .. just fussy and twee !
This is much better, it’s cool a bit slouchy and deconstructed, the hair is on point done but not fussy, her makeup is also better, more natural, less with the fussy pinks
Interestingly , William also looked 100x better on his first outing back in the velvet jacket
They have both upped their style game ( from below zero) so it’s not on fire but much better
In a way I feel sorry for Kate, she’s stuck in a job that she’s not good at , it’s stressful seeing her do these engagements because she clearly hates it and is terrible at it..
She never really updated her hairdo since University. It is too long for her now that she’s pushing 40 and needs a trim I don’t feel sorry for Kate after the way she treated Meghan.
Oh god🤭🙈the poor officers don’t look pleased AT ALL!! Her crazy grining considering the topic of her visit just makes this even more disturbing. Her & willy are shamelessly using veterans for PR😤meanwhile the one who served (& whom they bullied to leave) has not only privately thanked service men & women but also put his money into helping the evacuation efforts.
The silliest part is her odd outfit & full on makeup as if she’s going to a wedding or something(I guess she got tanned in france). Even daily fail users were pointing out her odd long trousers & how silly she looked carrying a tiny handbag around whilst the poor officers had to explain their experiences. I noticed that she likes to play with her hair alot too!!
A keen eye noticed that Kate’s ensemble was similar to Meghan’s cream tweed jacket, over a white inner sleeveless, black dress pants and cream & black shoes. She also carried a cream mini purse. Meghan wore this particular outfit when she visited the school in Islington.
What are the chances that Kate wore the same combo (with different results)? It was duly noted that she tried to wear her hair in a similar manner.
Remember yesterday was the Duke of Sussex’s birthday, his sister-in-law tried to mimick his wife’s persona. Is it a cause celeb for psychoanalysis? or mere coincidence?
Cosplay as a coping mechanism, when relying on comparative never works, Kate can afford to have a style of her own. Think of the wellness factor involved when one is the best version of one’s self.
Whenever Kate pulls a stunt like this, all I can think is Kate is not happy with her life. Happy and content people do not behave like this.
Why does she need to carry a purse?
She wants an excuse to not have to shake hands with the peasants
Every time I see a picture of Kate, I always think how I really want to see her with a short hairdo like a bob or something. 🤷🏻♀️
She’s like walking on stilts.
Her handlers thought “hmmm… we need a picture of Barbie posing with planes” and so they thought this up. They’re so annoying.