A small child waited four hours in the cold to hand flowers to Princess Kate

Here are more photos of the Prince and Princess of Wales in Anglesey on Tuesday, their first trip to Wales with their new titles. They kept everything pretty low-key, just visiting a boat and doing a little walkabout. Upon their arrival – which happened after noon – both Kate and William knelt down to speak to a little Welsh boy who was waiting to give Kate flowers. The catch is, he had been waiting hours. Apparently, someone arranged for him to start standing there at 8:30 am. The child was shivering in the cold for something like four hours, waiting for Will & Kate? Yikes.

As I’ve been reading the excerpts from Katie Nicholl’s The New Royals and Valentine Low’s Courtiers, I’ve been thinking a lot about the incompetence of Kensington Palace staffers. We’ve seen that in a million ways over the years, from Kate’s Five Big Questions to her whole stupid “Early Years” initiative, to William’s boredom with Earthshot, and on and on. The staff can’t even make adequate and appropriate arrangements for a small child to hand Kate flowers. They organized the Caribbean Flop Tour and they really thought it was going to land. In Low’s book, there doesn’t seem to be much mention of the actual flaws within KP’s staff and why that might be. Probably because KP’s staffers are Low’s sources.

Anyway, just a reminder that it’s kind of weird that the new Prince and Princess of Wales are likely keeping their rogue’s gallery of morons, sycophants and embiggeners on staff, and they probably aren’t taking on new people who would actually challenge them to do better and work harder.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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96 Responses to “A small child waited four hours in the cold to hand flowers to Princess Kate”

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  1. Beenie says:

    “Parents make their small child shiver in the cold for 4 hours just to hand Kate some flowers”

    I cannot imagine agreeing to this 🤦🏼‍♀️

    • Naomi says:

      This poor kid! Strikes me as an issue with the parents who would do that, and not KP’s fault in any way. There’s a crap-ton of stuff KP do wrong, but a child waiting 4 hours in the cold is on the parents, not KP.

      • MeganC says:

        Surely KP knew what time they would arrive. There was no reason for the family to arrive four hours early.

      • SussexWatcher says:

        I agree it’s on the parents to see to the comfort and safety of their child, however I can also imagine that through the incompetence of the KP staff that the Wailses could have been several hours late. So I do see KP to also be at fault. I could see Peggington and Kkkeen just running late and not giving a sh-t that people/children were waiting in the cold and/or the crowds being so small that KP staffers kept saying, let’s wait for more people and so (again), Peggington and Kkkeen showing up later than planned.

        But yeah, if I had a kid, I would have taken them home (well, I never would have been out there in the first place for those two dolts).

      • Jessy says:

        100% correct

      • BeanieBean says:

        Willing to bet KP told the parents when to have the kid there. K&W very likely arrived late; they certainly never show up until everyone’s already on-site & waiting. But yeah, that the parents agreed & actually kept the kid there for four hours–that is hard to understand. I don’t wait four hours for anyone or anything.

    • sunny says:

      Correct. What a mess. I blame the parents for sure but again it is wild to witness how terrible the KP staff is at their jobs.

      • Ann says:

        It is the parents’ decision to wait and wait and wait, yes, and it is the Rota’s decision to brag about it as if it’s admirable. It is not. Kids as props, yet again. If the prop child had been crying, there would have been no photos.

      • BeanieBean says:

        @Ann: right? They’re writing about this as though it were a good thing. It’s not.

    • SarahLee says:

      Agree. It’s not KP’s job to take care of other people’s kids. And that’ is a great picture of Kate and the little boy. He’s adorable and she’s gorgeous when she is just being natural and not forcing the smiles and jazz hands.

      • Lizzie says:

        Who do you think arranged this photo op if not KP? It is KP’s responsibility to make sure children are safe and well taken care of when they are being used as props for Kkkate and her fly catcher pose.

      • Tan says:

        It is when KP arranges the photoshoot

      • WiththeAmerican says:

        In response to all of the “Kate is so gorgeous! everyone is so jealous of her!” She was so stunning in school!” Stuff that’s been littering the comments, I googled Kate in school, and she very clearly had a short bulbous nose, long upper lip and underbite with recessive chin.

        I don’t think anyone here would have cared to get into her physical looks, but since she’s been pushed as so gorgeous constantly now, it should be noted that however you see her now, isn’t natural.

        I personally don’t find her attractive at all, she looks tight, checked out, and mean spirited.

      • goofpuff says:

        KP arranged the photoshoot so they will make sure it looks good. Probably had their own photographers and photoshop at the ready waiting for the right light.

    • MakeEverydayCount says:

      Let the Trainwreck called the British Royal Family BEGIN. KP is William. William is CLUELESS.

    • Meghan says:

      Yep. My first thought was “why would the parents agree to that?!” I could see waiting outside for 4 hours for someone my kid is dying to meet, but I’m going to be right there and with all appropriate clothing/snacks/whatever kid stuff.

    • Becks1 says:

      As a parent, I can’t imagine agreeing to it, but its the overall headline that KP wants. “Child waited 4 hours to see the princess! She’s so beloved by the Welsh children!!! The People’s Princess 2.0!!!!” They probably LIKE that this child waited for four hours because of that.

      It’s not anywhere near as dramatic if the story is “child shows up, gets photo taken, child goes home.”

    • vertes says:

      It cannot have been the kid’s idea. Pushy parents wanted a photo for their holiday card?

  2. Tessa says:

    Kate big grins again

  3. ELX says:

    Lots of lovely money and a permanent vacation…

  4. SomeChick says:

    poor bb. it looks like they at least paid him some attention. but yeah, perhaps the whole “incompetent staff” things has some truth to it. in any case, it’s a convenient excuse, no matter what has happened.

    that fourth photo. Duchess of Gurning!

  5. Noki says:

    So Anglesey is where they spent their newlywed years when Wills was a pilot? At this point there was no KP office correct? How did Kate not die of boredom!

    • c says:

      She was never there, or there rarely. They papped her in London a few times a week.

      • Flower says:

        C – Kate was also frequently papped in Anglesey when she wanted to remind us that she was a Duchess….

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383965/Kate-Middleton-goes-shopping-Waitrose-Anglesey-pushes-trolley.html

        I’ve long suspected that they were PT in those early days so that Kate could learn how to Princess. A lot of her early engagements and tours were very soft landing.

      • Becks1 says:

        She wasn’t “frequently papped in Anglesey.” she was papped once or twice at the grocery store, and there was once or twice when she was papped walking along the beach (once was with Pippa, I think there may have been another time but am not sure.) Basically IMO she was papped just enough so people would believe that she was living FT in Anglesey, when she wasn’t.

      • Nic919 says:

        Kate was papped with a shopping cart in Anglesey after she had been papped in London shopping several times prior to that. There are maybe two separate sessions of kate being “caught” doing grocery shopping and not mentioning how there was household staff in Wales with them.

  6. girl_ninja says:

    She looks manacle in that photo. Like she’s gonna take big chomp out of his little cheeks. It’s no wonder they won’t get staff who makes them better, they think they’re fine. The Sussex’s aren’t right in their line of sight to show them how pathetic, lazy and greedy they really are. Will and KKKate are completely lacking vision in all areas of their pampered lives.

    • Chloe says:

      I don’t know. I saw a video of this encounter. Her mannerisms were very “meghan”. Seems to me like kp been taking notes and passing them along for kate to study. Bending down to their level and hugging is something kate never used to do.

      • Tan says:

        Kopy kat Kate strikes again

      • girl_ninja says:

        Really? And it still comes off as KKKate looking like a demon.

      • Becks1 says:

        Didn’t we say that after their walkabout at Sandringham or something? that it seemed obvious she was given instructions from her staff on what to do to act more like Meghan?

      • Dilettante says:

        I noticed the squatting down to kids’ level too, something they never used to do.

      • Erin says:

        A very quick google image search says it’s just not true that they didn’t kneel down or get down on a kid’s level to talk to them. Both William and Kate have done this since the start, but especially after they had their own kids.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      girl_ninja, when I saw the picture, I wondered if she had an over bite or something because of how the jaw looks in that picture. I don’t know if I can explain it, but the smile is off. It’s a big smile that looks tight. That’s the best that I can explain it.

  7. Aigroeg says:

    “The princess of the children” was all over my Twitter feed yesterday. How kind she is, How much kids love her.How great she looks.
    That is why this kid was there. Photo opp.
    And basic bot marketing. One very cold kid waiting for her for hours to give her flowers and now she “is Diana”.

    • equality says:

      Makes you think they hire people to greet them. Who would normally keep their child waiting that long in the cold?

      • KATHLEEN WILLIAMS says:

        The crowd, I mean the group looked straight out of central casting. W&K did not publicize their exact itinerary so as to avoid the boo birds.

    • RoyalBlue says:

      you need to curate your twitter feed. i have done so and there are no MAGAs or royalists. a breath of fresh air.

  8. Tessa says:

    Diana was a natural she did not have to go In for the exaggerated grins and laughter with the crowds and she was popular with the public

  9. Flower says:

    I feel like there is a war between the Cambs and the RR’s.

    They might feel aggrieved that they didn’t get a heads up on the Wails title.

    Notice the story which broke about George yesterday overshadowed this PR piece.

  10. The Duchess says:

    Shame on the parents for letting their child be used like this. The child isn’t KP’s responsibility, but the blame still mainly lies with them for still doing these nonsensical flower ceremonies. They’re even more responsible for subjecting that poor child to Keen’s maniacal grin. Scarred for life, I bet.

    • Nic919 says:

      The parents are mostly to blame, but the people waiting in Wales for the lazy duo would have been given a time estimate as to when they were arriving. It is unlikely that the parents knew it would take four hours for their arrival. It is much more likely that Wails were running late and the child had already waited so there was no point in leaving at that point.

  11. Becks1 says:

    I feel bad for that kid. This was a total photo op, which is fine, that’s what most royal visits are, but this one was clearly designed to get Kate and the kid on the front page of the papers to distract from the other news in the UK. I was looking at the front pages for today last night (I think BBC posts them?) and I was surprised actually at how many papers did NOT have this on the front page, but for the ones that did it was clearly meant as a distraction. “look at the pretty princess and the child! ignore the headlines!”

    But I guess that’s what the royals are there for, right?

    • BeanieBean says:

      I’d watch the news in the evenings when I went to grad school in England and I always found it so bizarre that the BBC would talk about what’s on the front pages of the papers. Is that reporting? Is it journalism? What exactly is it?

      • Becks1 says:

        I don’t know! I admit I like it from an outsider’s perspective to see the difference in coverage once in a while, but it seems weird to me as an everyday thing.

        Like I remember when I was studying abroad in Spain, one of the first things our lead professor had us do was consider a recent thing the king had done (still Juan Carlos at that point) and consider how it was discussed in the newspapers, without him telling us the slant of the newspapers. Just reading the headlines was fascinating! the pro monarchy newspaper compared to the more leftist/socialist newspaper etc.

        But that was a one time thing to help us understand media bias in a foreign country. Not every night LOL.

  12. Harper says:

    Standing and waiting for four hours or more in cold weather increases a young child’s sense of balance and endurance and provides a foundation in discipline. It is thought that this experience provides almost as many benefits in the early years as being born into a white, in-tact family with a rich uncle and no diseases, addictions, or other bad stuff (see Middleton family as example; p. 11-15 in the Journal Of Early Years Data and Things.)

  13. Brassy Rebel says:

    I wonder if his cheeks are always so rosy or if he suffered windburn.

    And Kate is forty years old. When is she going to learn how to smile with her mouth closed?

    • Gerda says:

      Why does she have to smile with her mouth closed? Why are you policing a woman’s body?

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        Far be it from me to suggest she might want to develop a more sincere smile. For all I care she can go on looking like she is laughing hysterically 💯 of the time. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

      • Pam says:

        Didn’t you know? It’s ok to police everything Kate says, wears or does but how DARE you comment on Megan? This site is vey hypocritical, pitting women against each other is wrong, except when it isn’t.

      • First comment says:

        Pam, you’re absolutely right..but have you ever made a similar comment defending Meghan (and women in general) in the multiple sites which criticize every move,speech of her? I really hope so…I read several sites that they attact Meghan constantly and I haven’t noticed any comments or complaints about pitting women against each other there and how wrong it is…

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        The difference is that Kate worked her arse off to become part of a deeply patriarchal, misogynistic institution, then used her position to undermine and sabotage a mixed race American who gave up a lot to marry another man born into said institution, not because she wanted status but because she LOVED the guy. Yeah, I’ll police her all day long because she does nothing for other women and hurts them when she thinks they are a threat. Kate hasn’t earned any respect from me or any woman who cares about the treatment of women. She is phony and so is her smile. 😁🤮

      • Beverley says:

        @Brassy Rebel, you better come through! People who are so quick to defend Kkkate and women’s bodies but have no such energy to defend Meghan definitely show their ass. There’s always been a double standard, one for Kkkate and one for Meghan.

        Besides, who can possibly defend Kkkate’s behavior towards Meghan? She is a racist and a toxic person who helped pile abuse after abuse on to a pregnant woman in an effort to drive her away – or drive her to suicide – yet people continue to defend Kkkate. It definitely speaks to the mindset of many Britons.

        Billy the Basher and Kkkate should avoid coming to America, since the BM insists that they despise Meghan’s American-ness, not her Blackness. P&PoW, do us a favor and stay away. We don’t want your kind here.

    • Jennifer says:

      I dunno, I’m a natural closed-mouth smiler and everyone is ALWAYS bugging me to smile BIG and show TEETH TEETH TEETH!!!!! She’s just giving the photographers what they want, I suppose.

  14. Amy Bee says:

    Low tweeted that he’s critical of both Meghan and the staff. The excerpts say otherwise.

    • aquarius64 says:

      He’s afraid his book is going to tank like Bower’s as an unnamed source Sussex hit job,

      • Amy Bee says:

        His tweet was response to Catherine Meyer’s tweet thread about his book. She acknowledged that there were problems with staff but she said Low omitted to explain the racial dynamic for example white people’s perceptions of black people which would lead to Meghan being accused of bullying.

      • Nic919 says:

        Catherine Mayer had done a few tweet threads that are the most reasonable things about the attacks on Meghan out there. Her book was about Charles but she has not been a sycophant like all the others.

  15. sparrow says:

    I really hoped that this fawning over royalty had diminished. She has no interest in these people; she’ll forget all about this visit as soon as she’s in the car and on her way home to that oh so grown up gin and tonic. What good has this particular couple, now in their 40s, ever done? She has come up with some early childhood rubbish that a child in early childhood could have written for her. He has come up with Earthshot, while jumping into private helicopters every five minutes. Their achievements are forgettable. Their charity patronages add nothing in financial terms to those groups, this is researched fact. Diana at least worked hard, and with people meet and greets her beauty was a sight to behold, as was her natural engagement.

    • First comment says:

      I’m pretty sure it’s their team who came up with both earthshot and early years as life projects for these two. I doubt they ever had any notion or care for either.

  16. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    I would NEVER! I’m clutching my pearls, can you see me? I don’t care if Jesus Christ was arising out of the gas leak in the Baltic Sea. I wouldn’t allow my shivering toddler to stand in the elements to hand someone flowers. And if he really really wanted to stay, we’d wait in the car or somewhere close … inside.

  17. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    The one staffer that they had who wanted to do more, Cathryn Quinn (I think that’s her first name) left to go do actually work in the charity sector.

  18. Rapunzel says:

    This child will be lucky if he doesn’t end up ill. Even if the child wanted to meet Kate, the parents should not have allowed him to wait for hours in the cold.

    • First comment says:

      I seriously doubt that any child in his age knows and wants to meet with Kate! A cartoon hero, maybe..but Kate? No way…but the photo op fits the narrative of Kate, the children ‘s princess therefore, we have this sort of titles… I don’t know if there’s some sort of exaggeration of the amount of hours the child had to wait but I personally wouldn’t let him standing there for someone no matter how important.

  19. Over it says:

    I won’t ever do this madness to my children. Kate and Willy are just not worth it. This reminds me if how black parents allow their children to be used time and time again by the monarchy so they can prove they are very much not a racist family.
    I would wait to see Harry and Meghan thought, however I go sit in a cafe with my child and get them something warm to eat and drink until Harry and Meghan reached nearer to where I was.

  20. Haylie says:

    Poor kid. He has incompetent loser parents. Maybe they’re auditioning for a job at Kensington Palace.

  21. Eurydice says:

    Kid out in the cold – bad.

    But just a comment about the KP staff – it’s up to them to be efficient, but it’s not their responsibility to make W&K better people.

    • Jennifer says:

      Thought same. “Managing up” is not a thing, nor is dictating to your boss(es) what you think they should do. They pay you to do as they want you to, not they pay you to boss them around. Not their staff’s job to make them be better/do better.

  22. Pumpkin (Was Sofia) says:

    I blame the parents for this. 4 hours in the cold for a small child is a lot. But glad the kid at least got to meet Kate and the parents now have a photo they’ll love and brag about for the rest of their lives.

  23. SisterKristin says:

    It was 52 degrees yesterday ffs. He was in no danger.

    • Pumpkin (Was Sofia) says:

      That’s 11 degrees celsius. Not low single digits or negatives but it can be quite cold for a child. Especially one who’s been outside for 4 hours.

    • Barbie1 says:

      Exactly. These comments lol. That darling little boy was just fine and in good spirits. I’m sure Kate’s reaction was genuine. As it would be for anyone who loves children.

      • C says:

        Except Meghan’s, it seems.

      • goofpuff says:

        If it was genuine she would be concerned about her staff asking a 4 year old to stand out there for 4 hours for a photo op.

      • WiththeAmerican says:

        I have never gotten the impression that Kate loves children. I actually think she’s a distant, checked out mother who uses her kids as a shield.

      • Nic919 says:

        How can you say Kate loves children but also see that she was able to ignore her actual nephew and try to keep Louis away from him?

        Normal people who love children don’t tend to be distant from the children they are actually related to.

    • Saucy&Sassy says:

      Wow! 52 degrees–they should have put that kid in shorts!!!! How balmy. Let’s see you all stand out for four hours in that temperature just waiting for someone to arrive. You’re not walking. You’re not jogging. You’re standing for four hours. You must be able to handle the elements better than I, because I would be COLD. I wonder how well this child is able to handle a temperature of 52 degrees?

      You know what I think? I think if anyone had had one working brain cell left they would have gotten something to wrap around that child. I wonder why the parents didn’t do that? I wonder why the early years expert didn’t do that?

  24. CindyP says:

    Why is she always gritting her teeth?

    • sparrow says:

      She has a mild underbite. She pulls her bottom jaw forward in certain positions and it can look like a grit of teeth. If she had wanted to fix it, it’s something that would have been done as a child; if she did it now, she’d be in braces for a long period of time. I read somewhere that it’s thought of as an attractive feature, sort of cute, by some Americans. Please don’t ask me for the article!

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Sparrow, thank you! I mentioned in a post above that there was something about how she’s holding her jar which affects her smile. An underbite would definitely do it if she’s correcting it when smiling.

  25. Cerys says:

    The sanity of those who wait in the cold for hours to see the royals is always questionable to me especially the ones who spend Christmas morning waiting at Sandringham but each to their own. Ultimately, it was the parents’ choice about keeping their child hanging about for 4 hours to meet Kate. The photos were nice.

    • Mary says:

      @Sparrow, Kate Juts her jaw out when speaking. She developed this when she went through elocution and fake accent classes just prior to or around the time of her marriage. She is faking what she thinks is a posh accent. You can compare before and after marriage clips and photos of her and see that her “underbite” shows up not long before her marriage and becomes more pronounced during the early years of her marriage..

      To see what I’m saying experiment yourself with this. Speaking in a normal voice, without moving your jaw unnaturally, say: hello, darling. Then, jut your bottom jaw out as far as you can and and say the same thing: hello, darling. You will see a huge difference and this is how they got Kate to slow down speaking, stretch out her words, in effect drawl, and sound to their ears more “posh.”

      • Nic919 says:

        This underbite issue also matches up time wise with when she got veneers that are too big for her mouth.

        Her front teeth in teen photos are not the same large teeth she has now.

  26. tamsin says:

    Having a child wait 4 hours to hand flowers to someone is nothing to brag about, and borders on child abuse. It obviously was not freezing cold, but four hours is a very long time for a child. He seemed pretty happy and chipper, though. However, I don’t think I would agree to have my child do that.

  27. AnneL says:

    That poor kid.

    I actually like Kate’s coat? Yes, it has buttons and a chain but I don’t mind that since the buttons are not purely decorative. There’s just one row down the front so they are there to fasten the coat. Buttons can be nice sometimes. I’d lose the chain but I like the color and the simple lines. It looks good on her.

  28. sparrow says:

    That’s not a cold temperature but it is a boringly long time for anybody, adult or kid, to be waiting around for these two idiots. But hey that’s their choice (maybe not the kid’s) – royalty still brings out the stupid in some people.

  29. HeyKay says:

    This would be the parents bringing a small child along out to wait in the cold, to see Kate.
    Parents are wrong, IMO. But, many make decisions I don’t agree with, every.single.day.

  30. poppy says:

    That little boy is absolutely adorable. What a sweetheart.

  31. QuiteContrary says:

    He’s an adorable child with terrible parents.

    Remember when Meghan gave her coat to a mom with a baby at the Invictus Games? Can you imagine Kate doing anything like that? (She wouldn’t part with her buttons and her Diana costume.)

  32. Over it says:

    Sorry to put this hear but your comments section seems to be closed or missing at least on my devise for the story about George. I could not sleep for some reason, so I decided to reread that post. It’s actually really sad that these three kids can’t be treated as such. Equal brothers and sister. Just 3 siblings. After all , at the end of the day that’s exactly what they are 3 brothers and sister. It’s really sad that the parents and those around them can’t just let them be regular equally loved, and cared for on the exact same level . I feel for all 3 of them .

  33. RoyalBlue says:

    yawn. has kate saved broken britain as yet? has william solved the homelessness problem yet. ok, i’ll believe their sincerity in their roles when their actions speak more than their words.