As we saw a few days ago, Duchess Kate’s first royal Christmas seemed to go very well. She got lots of attention in her plum coat and coordinating hat, she wore her seemingly new Christmas gift earrings (green amethysts!), and she looked happy. But all was not perfect in The Queendom of Waity. Animal-rights activists had basically come out and said that they would be putting a fatwa out on Kate if she participated in the royal family’s annual Boxing Day pheasant shoot. So what did Kate do? She went to the hunt, but she “stayed in the background,” not participating in the blood sport. Good for Kate? I don’t know. It seems like the animal-rights people are gloating, and they feel like they have leverage on her now.
Kate Middleton has declined to participate in the Royal Family’s traditional Boxing Day bird shoot. The wife of Prince William reportedly went against protocol and opted to “stay in the background” following pleas from animal rights organizations to step out of the Sandringham Estate celebration.
“At the moment Kate is very much the bright new star of the Royal Family and the Palace is keen for her to keep her nose clean,” a source told the Daily Star. “Activists have begged her not to join the shoot. No-one wants to see her caught up in a scandal so soon.”
Middleton’s move has been commended by a number of charity representatives, with the League Against Cruel Sports commenting: “We are pleased that Kate has decided not to take part in the annual bloodbath.”
PETA further praised the Duchess of Cambridge for continuing the anti-bloodsport sentiments held by her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.
“The Royals have always had a hard time adjusting to social value,” president Ingrid Newkirk commented. “Rather than emulating Diana the Huntress, perhaps the British public is seeing a new Kate who is taking after Diana, the Princess of Hearts.”
Prince Philip was absent from the Boxing Day shoot due to his hospitalization for a blocked coronary artery. He was discharged this morning (December 27) after recovering from heart surgery.
[From Digital Spy]
“No-one wants to see her caught up in a scandal so soon.” Is it really a “scandal” to take part in the royal family’s annual Boxing Day activities? She would have been criticized if she had taken part, but it wouldn’t have been a “scandal,” it would have just been a (minor) animal-rights controversy. You know I’m no Kate-defender, but I dislike how the animal-rights groups are using poor Kate. She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t, and why is only HER participation an issue? What about the other members of the royal family?
So… in my opinion, the only real “scandal” Kate is currently embroiled in is The Great Weave Scandal. I still have concerns that Kate is employing weaves and extensions. Oh, and let’s not forget The Raccoon McWaity Scandal. I wonder what her eyeliner budget is? Why doesn’t anyone think of the poor, victimized eyeliner?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame.
Waity has been photographed in prior years hunting with William. It is hypocritical of her to suddenly “take a stand” against the sport. Just more media manipulation from BP.
Yeah, it’s definitely a weave!
Thank you!!! I was just about to point out that in years past she has been hunting with William various times. In fact the media even said it was one of their favorite sports to do together and one of the many reasons they got along so well.
Exactly. She would if she could and has hunted in the past so I’m not sure why she’s being praised or even being compared to Diana (who did it once and could not stomach the pain and suffering). This is totally different to Waity who does enjoy killing small animals. The only reason she didn’t do it this Christmas was because she already gets so much flack and the plebs are too idiotic and ADD to realize she’s done it the years before.
Yeah, her indifference to bloodletting in the past does her no favours. She was probably too lazy to pick up a gun. The weave might get in the way. She might break a nail. The gun weighs more than she does. She’s a trite human being, and you can’t make substance out of Waity the trivial. Grasping at straws much?
Everybody knows that she likes hunting and was seen and photographed few years ago hunting with PW.
This year she “decided” not to hunt simple and basically because she was told NOT to! Royal family and their Public Relations department saw what was coming and They can not let Kate lose any “popularity” she has right now. This all is PR stunt again!
People should wake up for once!
Thats my girl! Im glad she didnt participate. I never understood how shooting a defenseless animal with a gun can be considered a “sport”. Its one thing if your hunting for food but an entirely different matter to shoot any form of animal/wildlife for entertainment. I cant believe with all the money and finer things in life they have that they cant come up with a different holiday tradition.
Completely agree with you, Tierra.
ITA. Hunting should be an activity for those who need the food.
Totally agree.
The British royal family has punished many who hunted in ‘their’ forests, who really needed to eat. So now it should be forbidden to them and they should stfu.
The sheer hosiery will haunt me, perpetually, BUT — you’re right — poor raccoon couldn’t win this one.
Ah, I love the UK journalistic hyperbole, tho: “Diana, the Princess of Hearts.” Dear heavens.
Atta girl, Kate!
Good for Kate!
Must we call her “Duchess Kate” here? A lot of sites just call her “Kate Middleton.”
Meh, I doubt she’s taking a stand. She probably just didn’t want to.
Waity-defenders screamed at me for using her maiden name after she got married, and “Duchess Kate” takes up the least amount of space in the headlines.
Ah. Fair enough. 🙂
The hypocrisy is astounding. The Duke, the Princes, they all participate. The Queen sanctions it. But somehow Kate would be skewered if she participated? Poppycock.
What Alexis said. She probably just didn’t feel like shooting.
Are the pheasants caught, then released only to be shot? I do think that is rather cruel. And cheating.
Or are they truly hunted?
It’s a canned hunt. All of the hunts like that are. The so-called Upper Class in the states also enjoy their canned hunts.
What a weak bitch. I would hunt that pheasant with such glee and have a big old photo op of me cooking that delicious bird and eating every piece of it to the bone with maybe some blood dribbling down my face for effect. It’s nobody’s f—ing business.
I can’t believe people would try to bring this girl down over hunting once or twice a year. I am more upset about her typed note to the sick child. Like, really?
Really.
Can’t do it, won’t do it.
Hah! I’d love to see her gnaw on all those cast-off eye pencils she uses!
Waste not ant not!
May I join you? That sounds delicious.
LOL. I’m an equal opportunist. Why not do both?
What?!?! I expected the article to shame her for being a wuss and not participating!! She did something right?!
She did something right by not doing anything..she stood by and waited for the event to be over 🙂
*sigh* PETA will pick on anyone and anything.
Kate didn’t participate but she went with them anyway, there’s not much of a difference there. She was probably given the task of retrieving the bird carcasses and bringing them back to the other royals like the labrador that she is.
It’s also quite convenient for the PR whitewashers to ignore the fact that Kate has gone to shooting trips with Wills before.
Good for her! I love animals.
Kaiser, it’s a weave.
Here’s a photo of her from April 2011:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/202/katemiddletonapril2011c.jpg/
Please try to ignore the hideous eyeliner application, and take a look at her hair near her left ear.
Where is the “scar”?
Here are photos where the clip-on hair extensions…I mean, scar could be seen from afar, July 2011 after Zara’s wedding:
http://celebrity-gossip.net/kate-middleton/photo/prince-william-kate-middleton-322
http://celebrity-gossip.net/kate-middleton/photo/prince-william-kate-middleton-323
So the question is, why is Kate’s “scar” not visible in April 2011, but suddenly makes an appearance in July and was so noticeable even from 5-6 feet away? The angle of the photos are not that different.
And her hair in both photos were not the same. The hair in July 2011 had more volume and “fluffier”, while the April 2011 hair was quite flat around the temple and ear.
If you look at Kate’s previous photos back in 2007, there was no “scar”.
Didn’t the Palace say the scar was from an injury when she was young?
Here’s a photo taken a couple of years ago:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/katemiddletonthighspic1.jpg/
Again, if the scar was supposed to be from when she was young, why did it not ‘appear’ until July 2011, when her hair was probably thinning too much from her extreme dieting and exercise?
But the oddest part is that the Palace even felt the need to clarify that no, the Duchess’s hair is all natural. How dare anyone accuse her of wearing clip-on hair extensions!!! Because God forbid Kate appears less than perfect, right?
The Palace has sunk really low in order to build up Kate’s PR that they’re reduced to defending her hair, since Kate has nothing else going for her.
Spot on!
Waity has been built up by St James Palace to be such a natural beauty, with her hair nearly being a national treasure. It’s funny that they would even comment on the photos unless there is some truth to the story. If she hadn’t used so many weaves/extensions, no one probably would have noticed.
I do believe that it’s a scar, we just haven’t seen any school pictures of her to prove otherwise.
I have to agree with the last part of your comment though. She has brought the entire RF down to a new low ever since she joined them. The Palace went on overdrive to distance Kate as the Waity Katie of the past into holier-than-thou Duchess of Cambridge. They had to work hard to make her as sympathetic, likable and relatable as possible while public approval of her was still high. It’s a pity that Kate destroys whatever whitewashing they did (and still do) by engaging in numerous royal faux pas: two fashion accidents (yellow dress in Canada, ritzy McQueen dress after the riots), her constant Cheshire grin during that NZ visit after the earthquake and Remembrance Day, that extremely retarded UNICEF interview, computerized letter to that cancer kid, her slowness to pick up a charity, not to mention her complete lack of empathy and warmth when engaging with other people… what else? I might have missed a few.
Fortunately for her, the media is still enamoured of darling Catherine. Her fashion ‘style’ makes her adoring, naive fans worship her to death and her PR takes advantage of this and propagates it to paper the cracks over her shortcomings.
These palace spokespeople are doing the duchess no favors by issuing comments on her appearance. It reinforces the idea that all she has to offer is the role of public Barbie-doll, who people are only interested in because of her choice of husband, her hair and clothes.
Diana quite clearly dyed her hair and beached her teeth and they never issued statements on either of those things (that I can remember).
Duchess Kate probably does wear some kind of weave/extension and I would do the same thing if I were being photographed all the time. I don’t see it as a huge deal but those who “support” her make it seem so by denyng it – like she has a pox or something.
Why is it that no one is allowed to naturally have beautiful, thick hair anymore? Now, if a celebrity has that, it *must* be extensions. Never mind that all of the females in that family have thick, lustrous hair- she must have paid for it because that’s how it goes.
Not a Kate fan, I just hate that natural, genetic advantages are now completely unheard of because so many people ‘cheat’/use extensions or modern advancements as a crutch. Before we had extensions, there were still people with thick, healthy, shiny hair. I happen to think Kate is one of them.
Thats how I feel about big boobs too. Im not all that skinny, Im a REAL average woman (size 5 juniors jeans, at 5’7″. Love handle issues) and i’m a natural large c/small d cup. The girls look really nice with a little padded lift, but I’m sure if I went to Hollywood they would be declared fake.
Same here on the boobs- I’ve been asked if I have implants before and it’s so shocking to me! NATURE, people. And in Hollywood- I love how when a starlet gains weight, she got implants. Then she loses weight/boobs get smaller, and she obviously took them out! God forbid someone actually have naturally large breasts! Not like those exist anymore, amirite?
*eye roll*
I have naturally thick hair, much like Kates, if not thicker. I have had it layered a lot in the past years because it’s easier to manage. But the times I let it all grow out to one length, I have been asked if I had extensions put in. I say no, and women look at me like I am lying.
At one point, a woman who didn’t like me very much grabbed the back of my head to look for extensions…she had a small look of shock on her face when she didn’t find any..and then I told her off.
Sometimes…a girl just has thick, beautiful hair. I am not defending Kate, just keep in mind that it is a possibility that Kate kept it layered in the past years to keep it manageable.
I say this while eating an omelet with chicken chunks in it, who the f*ck cares? If they EAT the birds then what’s the issue here? Pheasant is delicious. Not everyone has a vegan diet. I call ‘fowl’ on the animal-rights group. Har-har
Lol-ing at the nature of this comment coupled with your name.
I agree totally. Humane hunting is 100x better than buying meat from a grocery store that got it from a slaughter house. Yes, there is humane hunting. So unless you are vegetarian or vegan I don’t understand all the criticism of hunters who are fair, hunt in season to the given quota, and eat the meat they hunt.
I agree; if they’re shooting then eating the animal, not fun to watch, but… I was going to London once and a restaurant was recommended to me. I looked at the menu online and it clearly stated near the meat options, “May Contain Lead Shot.” Fox hunting, on the other hand… no way.
I would agree with you if the Royal Family was hunting the indigenous bird flocks which inhabit the forests surrounding Sandringham. I’m no fan of hunting, but some herds of, say, deer, get so big that the local environment cannot support such numbers. To humanely cull the herds has some environmental benefits.
But that is not what the RF is doing. They are buying birds, specifically to be used as target practice. They are buying birds just to kill them. I believe I read that William bought Harry 250 birds to kill. And what do they do with all those dead birds? I do hope the bird bodies are distributed to families in need. That would be something positive as an outcome to all the carnage.
And I am most assuredly, a meat eater.
She has beautiful hair. It is thick & glossy & I wish mine was as lovely. Does she use a clip in from time to time? Maybe but I have a sister who uses clip-in & while they look great on her they are not glossy. She gets them from her stylist & they cost a fortune & are great quality.
I know I AM a big defender of The Duchess but I will call a spade a spade (I’ve been on this site for years) I really think she has glorious hair. Her sister has nice hair too but for the life of me I don’t see all the Pippa appeal. I do think it was great that Catherine dressed her sister so beautifully at her wedding.
I agree about Pippa’s dress at the wedding. It was also white (which to many is a huge no-no b/c it could out-shine the bride) and flattered her figure so well. The sisters seem to have a healthy and jealousy-free relationship.
I’m no fan of Pippa but her dress was gorgeous. I would choose that over Kate’s dress any day. Pippa’s hair also looked full and bouncy at the wedding. Pictures of her now show her hair to be much thinner and flatter, even at glitzy balls, etc. I would guess she used extensions at the wedding but stopped when real life began again.
I found Pippa’s dress to be a bit risque for a royal wedding. The subtle show of her cleavage is quite unnecessary. The whiteness of the dress also clashes with her orange skin – the result makes her look extremely tacky.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2060803/Kate-Middleton-prepares-Sandringham-Boxing-Day-pheasant-shoot.html
I hate myself for knowing this but she was practicing shooting and groups got a wind of it and apparently their complaining worked. So her staying out of it is more because of public perception than because she’s so kindhearted.
I find it disappointing to know she uses extensions simply because there is so little to admire about her and even her one decent attribute is fake. I think you guys should find some pictures of her before she got super skinny with a bunch of extensions.
Yeah, I’d like to see some of those old photos of Waity before she turned Princess. I remember some of her party pics…exiting cars while tanked, etc.
Quite amusing!
Women don’t participate in the shoot. The fact that the media was printing article after article about her participating was all false she never intended to and she never was going to. It’s how the BRF does it, women tag along but don’t shoot, never have and probably never will.
I was about to say this – the woman stand about watching the men shoot!!
at least it’s not ripping foxes apart I suppose
it’s more of a problem for me that she appears to be at the mercy of social commentators and changing her behavior accordingly – she’s only been married for 8 months, this does NOT bode well for the future. Anything she does is going to piss someone off so she really shouldn’t start basing her decisions on the weight of the Twatterati and the like
So she’s getting praised for doing as little as possible? What a pattern this is turning out to be.
First she’s praised for her hard work in researching & studying what charity work she will do, & for taking as much time as possible in thinking this out aka Duchess Do Little.
Then she’s praised cuz she stood around doing nothing at the hunt. Sure she did it as a mini protest against hunting, sure. She was just being her old self and just chilling doing nothing.
It’s sad that the only thing the palace can praise her for is her hair, something which she doesn’t even do herself. All she does is sit in a chair for hours while someone else works on it.
She couldn’t even be bothered to write out a short letter to a dying child. She even misspelled her own name & the kid’s name on that letter, & she only had to write by hand 3 words “Dear Fabian” & “Catherine.” But I guess 1 out of 3 isn’t bad right? But she did take time to write by hand ~3 pages to the Wimbledon committee for giving her a fab time.
Anyhoo…
She’s probably not hunting because she’s pregnant and worried about the gun recoil.
Sorry, I don’t actually believe that but somebody had to throw it out there.
Exactly what I was going to say. Maybe it’s not seemly for a pregnant Royal woman to fill wildlife full of lead. Also the gun recoil would probably knock her over.
She still showed up to the event – that is hardly a step in right direction. She was absolutely supporting the event by being there!
If she got the royal family to end the event – that would be newsworthy. I get she is new and doesnt want to ruffle feathers (pardon the pun) so maybe in future years she’ll speak out about the cruelty of hunting and get royal family to take it out of their tradition.
That hair is FAKE. That said, it looks pretty good.
Here are some pics of her pre-princess hair
http://youtu.be/BxsvB72khxU
http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/gallery/gallery-specials/6971/4/4/kate-middleton—a-queen-in-waiting-/1
Victims and fur hat. What hypocrisy!
How’s this for a theory: Waity subjugated herself to William so completely over the 10 year run up to the wedding that she would do literally anything to please him; including taking up hunting/shooting. I think I read that he bought her a rifle. And I distinctly remember the Middletons photographed last year around this time getting hunting/shooting lessons. Remember Carole on the ground taking aim. Now that they are married, Waity doesn’t have to pretend any more that she likes to shoot animals. She got the ring, why bother trying to bamboozle William. All she has to to is walk along with the hunting party. And she gets praise for doing that?
Kaiser, in England animal rights are way more important. There were animal right laws in the nineteenth century, before there were children’s rights laws.
Good for Kate. If she stays out of this idiotic nonsense, she’ll win many points in lots of people’s books.
Wasn’t the 9 years Kate waited for William to propose her version of a royal hunt and trying to land the big one?
Maybe it’s because she’s pregnant. Cause, ya know, EVERYTHING she does means she’s pregnant.
Also, she looks bloody awful in the green outfit. Waaaaay too skinny and really gaunt. Her waist and hips are practically the same size! And she’s playing with her g*ddamned hair again. *sigh* I guess I’m just not a fan. She seems…vacant.
I don’t think it’s a weave at all. I get the very same effect when I use root lifter and velcro rollers. My hair looks three times as thick.
If you remember, there was a pic of her just after they married, when she was in a local market up in Wales (the one where she was pushing the trolley in the parking lot). Her hair was just as long, but not “set”, and didn’t appear as full. The *only* time you see the fullness is when it has the curl.
Anyway, that’s my ten cents (inflation, y’know ;-)).
I LOVE the last part of your comment! 😀
Whatever her reasons were to turn the hunting trip down, she should be exactly praised for it. Royal hunting is nothing but vulgar, disgusting, barbaric tradition of enjoying repressing those who have no way to defend themselves – animals. They should limit themselves to repressing only humans and if possible, not even them.
I have nothing against hunting that’s limited and for the good of nature, part of care taking of the forest and ecological system, where the food provided is eaten and appreciated. But to hunt down things for simple fun, that’s just sick and disgusting.
We need couple of Robin Hoods and high elves to live in those forests to take care of the animals too and shoot the shooters back.
Well said.
If they must hunt, they can go up to Canada and wrestle with bears, no weapons allowed.
Can you imagine their pissy crying faces as they run off?
I hate canned hunting. There’s a canned hunting place down the road from where I used to live where bored businessmen with too much money go to feel like macho hunters for a day and I was out for a run one morning and all of a sudden I heard a shot and heard all these little pelting noises around me and then saw a pheasant run across my path. Some dumbass had shot towards the road! Now I’m not anti hunting by any means because that’s how my family gets our food but none of us have ever or would ever go to those ridiculous hunting farms.
Catherine definitely is not an animal rights supporter. Despite numerous protests and campaigns by animal rights groups around the world Catherine and William showed up at and supported the Calgary Stampede which is one of the most barbaric uses of animals for entertainment. She’s been photographed with William during hunts carrying a gun and dead birds they shot and killed for fun (did they really eat them? Yeah, right, like Catherine would actually lift a fork to her mouth!), and what about the fox hunts the Royals supposedly do? And don’t forget all the fur she wears. That fur hat she has been shown in? Catherine still showed up for the Boxing Day Hunt. Too bad the animal rights organizations jumped the gun because Catherine is not in their camp and she actually supports using animals for sport. Pity.