Here are some photos of the Duchess of Cambridge at the Rugby Portobello Trust in North Kensington today. It was apparently very cold in London, which might explain why very few people turned up to see Kate. It might also explain why Kate did another thick coat as a “dress” and probably even wore the coat inside. From the looks of it, Kate was burning up – her cheeks were flushed from her inability to take off her coat inside, maybe. Or maybe Kate got a little bit overzealous with the blush today. Kate’s coat here is from the maternity brand Seraphine. It’s sort of purple-y with silver threads. She’s worn this before, almost three years ago exactly. She wore this for her arrival in New York in 2014. She paired it with black tights and a black clutch in 2014 too. You can read more about the event here.
It was also announced that Britain’s keenest Brexit ambassadors will be making a foreign trip in the new year – Will and Kate are now scheduled to visit Sweden and Norway from Tuesday, January 30th to Friday, February 2nd. They were supposed to go to Finland together on a Brexit-ambassador trip a few weeks ago, but when Kate became pregnant, William decided to do the trip alone. My guess is that Sweden and Norway weren’t interested in hosting solo William, and those countries specifically asked for Kate to join the trip. And since she’s so keen in the wake of Meghan Markle’s presence, she agreed.
Meanwhile, did you know that Will and Kate have received some new honors? No, the Queen didn’t honor the Keens. When Will and Kate stopped by the Blue Peter studio at the BBC last week, they were given Gold Blue Peter badges for their work on children’s mental health. Kate called the badge “hugely special.” And there’s video of her accent work too!
What an honour! The Duke and Duchess are awarded a Gold Blue Peter Badge for their work in children's mental health. Thank you so much #BluePeter pic.twitter.com/CEDARbGKnM
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) December 12, 2017
PS… Yes, she totally wore her coat inside the event. Why does she do that??
Her Royal Highness meets young people taking part in a @RugbyPortobello music workshop. pic.twitter.com/w0BIISkR2E
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) December 12, 2017
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I’d wear this coat in a heartbeat. I don’t understand, do they not give her an opportunity to remove her coat inside her events?
I honestly just think that she feels that coats can double as dresses – a makeshift coatdress. When she could very easily purchase an ACTUAL coatdress.
She also owns a couple hundred coatdresses at this point, most worn only once or twice.
Why isn’t this considered a coatdress? I mean if it’s a coat that can double as a dress then wouldn’t that be a coatdress? Idk. What’s a coatdress?
Either way, I like how she’s wearing it. It’s look cuter with boots.
@Cranberry a coatdress is literally a dress made in the style of a coat but in MUCH less heavier fabric. So it doesn’t just look like you are wearing a coat and nothing underneath which is how Kate always look when she wears her actual coats as dresses (I’m sure she has something underneath but she wears them as if she doesn’t). Which is why it always looks strange when she is at an event and it seems like she just doesnt want to take her coat off. She seems to think a regular coat can double as a coatdress – and it can’t. It just looks strange or like she’s really cold all the time. Which hey – maybe she is.
It is very cold for the UK. So maybe she wanted to keep the coat?
I don’t get why people have a problem with how she talks. I can understand her just fine. She talks like this for seven years. Before that i don’t know, i only heard a few words on youtube, not enough to say if it was very different. She talks how she talks. Why should she change it. Weird that people say she should talk different. She looks how she looks. She walks like she walks. She talks like she talks. She is who she is. By the way the queen also never takes her coat of when she visits somewhere. So why is it a problem with her.
@Notok
It’s just weird that her accent is posher than William’s who was actually born Royalty……especially since it’s been reputed that she carefully cultivated it over a period of years (apparently as a young girl, she had a more “normal”, upper middle class accent which Pippa still has).
I think that the problem for her is that she’s self conscious about it and so speaks in public as little as possible in order to minimise the opportunities for slip-ups and criticism. (IMHO)
Having said that, I think she looks radiant in these pictures. Pregnancy does suit her.
Well she is unable to improve in her speech giving skills as a result of the invented super posh accent. She also doesn’t have the same accent as her sister which is really bizarre since they attended the same schools and grew up in the same household. And she also sounds more posh than her royal born and Eton trained husband, so instead of fitting in she sounds fake. The Queen actually lessened the poshness of her accent over the years to be more comprehensible and more relatable whereas Kate went in the opposite direction. Not a good move because she won’t be able to be silent forever if she is Queen consort.
The accent is one of many signs that she isn’t proud of her commoner roots. That is why her accent rubs people the wrong way.
Notok, I also don’t understand a single bit why it bothers people if she doesn’t take her coat off. I think she looks great.
If you fake your accent then you pretend to be somebody you are not. It is like pretending to be a millionaire when you are not. Or like pretending you had earned a Phd while you didn’t.
It is hugely dishonest. Your accent is your background and tells who you are. If you haven’t “earned” your accent or aquired it naturally you are no better than a liar.
Or at least that is the academic socio-linguistic point of view. And this is not about developing a good or clear speaking voice which has nothing to do with faking your accent.
Imagine somebody claimed he were born in the USA but you can tell by his accent that he is from Russia. It is simply annoying when people keep lying about who they are.
+100000 @Read non-mainstream blogs
Because it is phony. I don’t have an accent, and it disappoints people when they know I am from NYC. But that is Manhattan though it is an accent within a nonaccent if that makes sense. Poison Ivy and Goopy exaggerate it.
If you grew up in Brooklyn, usually there is an accent or the Bronx or Queens. In California, there is a nonaccent but slight accent. People are generally proud of their regional accent, and it is a definition of who you are. My Louisiana accent screams cajun, and they are proud of it even it is giggling inducing for friends I have taken down there.
Pips, bless her doesn’t do that. She sounds well spoken but not impossibly Sloaney which is why I always think Pips would have been better at being royal. She loves attention too.
“If you haven’t “earned” your accent or aquired it naturally you are no better than a liar.”
But is any of it really “earned” if accent is based on where you grew up? Isn’t it more like chance, not a merit or sign of character?
It sounds like people are complaining that she doesn’t sound poor. It’s like wondering why someone from Alabama doesn’t speak with an incredible drawl and double negatives.
There are elements of classism in the UK that I just can’t encourage.
Tiffany: i think it’s the whole ‘trying to sound posher than the Queen circa the 40s mixed with Diana’s accent thrown in’ that has everyone side eyeing her new accent.
Diana had the most beautiful accent though…..
I don’t judge Kate for trying to “improve” her accent…..it’s like judging a woman for wearing make up…..if you’d like to improve the way you speak or adopt an accent that you admire better than your original one, then go for it. (As long as you’re not dishonest about your original roots, i see no problem).
Where Kate has a problem though, is, rather than her new accent improving her speaking confidence, it seems to hamper it. I suspect if she allowed herself speak naturally, (without worrying about sounding sufficiently posh), she would be far less shy and hesitant. In fact, I suspect her life would be a lot more enjoyable. But now, she’s trapped in the new image she built for herself and that is a real shame because i think she would be far, far more like-able to some people if she loosened up just a little bit.
Carol middletons’ PR for Willnot/ middleton kids – is that they are ‘common regular’ family of togetherness – inspite of the great middleton family stalking hanging on over a decade for royal title; and where is mike middleton these days except on formal pretend ‘family’ appearances, who seem to have cut and move on.
The give Kate an opportunity to remove her coat. No one would tell her she has to keep wearing it.
On the run – heck Lazy waste of Waitie Do nothing is there for a quickie stop/get away – why remove the coat then. No interacting/mingle with the lower commons that middletons are.
Seem at the BBC Willnot is publicly asking for waitie to have a HM F/Order. He Waitie knows Princess Henry to be will be working earn hers FO faster than seven going on 17 years waiting.
The coat doesn’t bother me, as it looks like a heavy winter dress, but those shiny tights… ummm. No.
That’s just really bad blush application. If it were heat-related her whole face would be red. It’s so funny how much of Kate we are suddenly seeing. The appearance of Meghan seems to have “inspired” her to work more. Meghan in that interview talking about how excited she was to get to work only further highlighted Kate’s laziness.
Given that these events are arranged months in advance, I doubt it. Could be that she is also catching up with ones she had to cancel through morning sickness.
She looks like she’s had chicken cutlets inserted into her face. Straight up.
Indeed.
When I compare pics of a younger Kate it sometimes seems to me that she had her lower jaw “narrowed” to achieve a more graceful pointy lower face. Younger Kate’s face isn’t that lenghty-pointy in the jawline. As a result of such changes all that skin on her cheeks is no longer supported by that thicker jawline and got loose. *LOL*
I always thought that people’s faces got broader when they get older. But Kate’s face got narrower.
And in one photo, it is almost purple-ish.
The color is not good, and the application is too heavy. Maybe she thinks if you look tired, more blush helps, but it doesn’t.
Her blush is too pinkish-pastel-ish. She needs less pink in her blush and less blush in general.
It’s very cold so her red cheeks make sense.
My facial skin looks purple after being exposed to the cold too. This morning we had -3°C and i looked like a clown when i entered the office.
Did you cheeks look like a pink pastel blush, too?
Yeah my face goes just like that in the very cold
Kate and William normally attend more events at the end of the year to bolster their numbers.
Nah they always have busy days for holidays. Then they go on holidays until next Santa time…
Why was it important for her to have a different accent? Her sister sounds a lot more natural…I don’t get it. I would think the British people would’ve preferred her to sound more like them.
That’s the accent she imagine royal/rich people have.
It looks like that episode of Friends when Joey and Gary Oldman compete for the best accent spitting on each other.
I am American and I cannot tell the difference in English accents. Unless it is a chimney sweep on Mary Poppins then I have no idea.
My daughter thinks people talk like Harry Potter or they don’t .
@KLC That’s adorable!
That’s so funny. I’m American too and I can DEFINITELY tell the difference between British accents – but I watch a TON of British TV and British YouTubers. It’s really no different than the different dialects we have here in the States. How NorthEasterners sound different from people in the Midwest or the South.
My ears and brain are accent snobs, they only seem to under posh accents. I have no trouble understanding the Queen when she gives a speech for example but have a really difficult time with anyone talking quickly with an EastEnders style accent!
The scottish accent is the worst for me though. When I went to Scotland a couple years ago I had the best time but truly didn’t understand about half of what people said. It’s so embarrassing, I must have some sort of flaw!
I love accents so I can tell the difference in regional British accents, I am PROUD of that accomplishment, so it is not a humblebrag, it is a straight-up brag. Black Britons that have Jamaican roots have an accent.
I love British television and music and comedy. I used to think I would live there but Brexit and the social problems make it hard. I have family there and have a soft spot for the people. So I pay attention, that is why her accent drives me crazy. Aristocrats don’t even talk like that except some older guys like Charles, but it sounds old-fashioned and authentic.
Thick Scottish is impossible though.
She’s actually glowing in these photos. She looks very comfortable and engaged with the event.
She has to glow. All optics. Nervous smile still. Stiff hands, whether extended or not, indoors and outdoors. Right hand in a fist, maybe it was the cold, not the nerves. So ‘engaged’ with the blond lady who tries to catch her attention but Kate is more concerned with her forced smile and makes no contact with the lady.
But someones just might have consulted this marvelous amazing blog with its fabulous posters making smart and intelligent comments. The Duchess does not hold her clutch firmly against her abs. No engagement ring proudly on display while keeping firm hold on the safety net (not the hair, just the clutch this time). Finally! #thebarhasbeenraised #thanksmeghanandharry
Talk about nit-picking. She’s working and she looks great. End of story.
You think Kate reads Celebitchy, is that what you’re saying?
@minx, I’m not sure whether Kate reads anything other than the occasional speech she’s got to make from time to time or briefings on mental health. Even then she regurgitates the same key words like: get people talk about mental health, stigma, it’s the time. I get how messages are constructed and how branding works. Yet from her side there is nothing new, nothing creative, nothing interesting. She does what she can, I get it. #expensivepubliceducation #gotostandrewstofindrichspouse. See the video linked in this blog, the other vocabulary is ‘amazing’, ‘honour’, ‘thanks’, ‘much’, ‘very’ and ‘special’. Repeat. Insert the hand gestures to emphasize the significance of what she’s saying.
She is a very busy hands-on mother. No time for reading gossip. Only for tennis, photography, sketching, adult colouring books, skiing, t*pless tanning, chutney and roasts. And Ma, Pa, Pipps, William. And the kids of course #praisetounderpaidstaff
There’s been some interesting talk among the fab CBs fairly recently about celebs for ex LeeAnn Rimes but not only having PR people reading this blog for spinning. #methinks someone from the Middleton Lamebridge court are making a bit of effort to improve Snowflakes image. There’s been some small improvement but very visible and it became obvious with Harry and Meghan’s engagement. #smallstepsbabysteps #mytakemyrighttoopinion
I don’t think Kate reads blogs, but Jason might. Perhaps even Catherine Quinn’s assistant.
@Nic919 I would be surprised if their press officer #poorjason (not my tag, credit to Kaiser IIRC) did not read CB. If I understood it right from what other posters (sorry I forgot who, but I appreciate you all!) CB is the only blog that allows critical opinions of Kate #thanksCB. And since it has millions of views and it’s been rated top 5 with some of the most intelligent posters, he should. Of course, if he doesn’t already, LOL! And the rest of their staff too (not super nanny Maria, she IS good at her job!!!). Just those PR related. But someone does.
PR people read Celebitchy, and they join in to try to push an argument. Maybe shame us for being too harsh on some people. I know some celebs come here. Sometimes you can tell.
Um she looks great…that is all.
She looks softer. Her face looks nice. She’s usually kind of haggard looking.
Meh on the coat. Looks like a knock off Chanel and it ages her.
I wouldn’t take that coat off either, it’s gorgeous. I loved it when she wore it three years ago and I love it now.
Sometimes there’s no place to put it. If the choice is to leave it in the car or carry it around, I’d leave it on too. Better than handing it off to an employee at the workshop, which comes across as more condescending than a PUH.
She’s not there alone! They’re not pictured but she has an entourage. Catherine Quinn at the least. Who do you think holds her purse when its not in her hands?
And CQ has an assistant as well. Along with RPOs.
I was thinking, “Doesn’t she have a lady-in-waiting to help her with her coat, purse, etc.?”
She looks beautiful regardless. Love the coat (or coatdress)!
Who holds her purse? Someone with a university degree who’s probably worked her b*tt but still had the right connections to land a job among WK’s staff. Someone who will avoid saying in their next job interview that holding the Duchesses clutch was part of their job description. Someone who probably will not be able to get a serious job just because WK look so bad. What are their staff doing the whole day when their bosses do so little? I mean, having worked for royals should mean high, high standards.
I’m usually on the side of removing her coat, but this is more of a thin boucle knit jacket, than a real coat. Its practically a sweater.
Pregnancy suits her, the shorter hair looks great, the curls are loosening up (hopefully a little more), now just to put down the blush.
Love the coat. She looks good, I have to say.
I, too think she looks just lovely. The pregnancy glow, perhaps?
She looks lovely (love the coat!), engaged with the people/kids she’s meeting, happy, healthy… Seriously, people moan and pick that she doesn’t work, and moan and pick when she does! I just don’t get the Kate Hate here.
She keeps her coat on because she knows she is not staying. I mean really, she is there what 20, 30 minutes. It takes that long for me to find the coat check room ;).
Yup. And then 30 secs max to go to the car that is waiting for her. #hardlife #enjoythesnow
But… but she left KP and did “work” so we have to praise her for that 30 minutes. Otherwise we are misogynists.
Exactly. It is a weird choice for this time of year.
You know, I think that she looks really lovely and that that coat is a great cut and colour. Who cares that she wore it inside?! Maybe it was cold? Maybe she felt uncomfortable? Maybe she just likes it?
Finally I feel like she looks pregnant! Yay! I see a slight baby bump. Or maybe it is just finally maternity clothes.
I think she looks good.I noticed she touched Will’s knee at the end. Is that new? It seems like they never used to touch. Maybe feeling the pressure to be more warm with each other in the wake of Meghan?
She touches him. He’s not the touchy feely type at all.
She was known as the Limpet after all.
Why do people make everything they do about Meghan?
My god the pedestal people have put Meghan on is ridiculous and so is putting two women against each other.
There are pictures like this out there. So it Had nothing to do with Meghan. I really don’t think all of WK’s actions revolve around Meghan. They’re just doing what they always do.
Omg. Just clicked that link to the photo of the ‘low turnout’ to see her. Was that hours prior to the event?? Oh god I pick on her sometimes but sheesh that turnout is embarrassing, that makes me sad for her.
Yeah, I’d be so embarrassed and just kind of sad if I had an event and I saw that response to it. While I think she deserves criticism for her laziness and I understand why she doesn’t generate excitement anymore, I am empathetic toward her because that would suck.
She bought this on herself with her years of minimal interaction and a shoddy performance when she does appear.
If they think she isn’t going to show or be there for such a short time, they stop showing up. It is embarrassing but maybe she doesn’t mind.
Her accent is ridiculous. She’s basically impossible to understand.
I wonder if she talks that way at home or with her family? Exhausting.
I don’t get why people have a problem with how she talks. I can understand her just fine. She talks like this for seven years. Before that i don’t know, i only heard a few words on youtube, not enough to say if it was very different. She talks how she talks. Why should she change it. Weird that people say she should talk different. She looks how she looks. She walks like she walks. She talks like she talks. She is who she is. By the way the queen also never takes her coat of when she visits somewhere. So why is it a problem with her.
@notok: no, she has a noticeably “posh” accent-that the rest of her family doesn’t speak with at all. People have elocution lessons to speak with different accents-it’s not like this is a new thing.
It also inhibits her when she gives speeches, so whoever taught her the new accent didn’t do it properly. Frankly if she used whatever accent Pippa has it would be fine. It’s not like she was using a Cockney accent or an Essex accent prior to the change. Not that there is anything wrong with those accents, but class is still an issue in the UK.
I don’t get when people say that they can’t “understand” her, although I’m a native English speaker so perhaps that has something to do with it. However, her speech sounds very affected. I hate when people don’t talk naturally. I’m the same way with Laura Bush and Beyonce (what a pair lol). When they speak, you can tell they are trying to dampen their southern accents and it annoys me because it’s not done well. It doesn’t sound fluid. Same with Kate.
Lol. I thought that too- it seems so hard for her to talk. Exhausting! She should just try to be herself because she actually sounds ridiculous.
I’m not a native speaker and i understand her perfectly fine. You guys like to exaggerate.
I’ve learned British English and did all English language tests for education in English according to British standards. I’m familiar with quite a few regional accents plus Queen’s English. Watch BBC regularly, anchors and presenters with regional accents too. I interact with people that have English as second, third language, some very good speakers, some not as much. Kate has a uniquely made accent for a native. I do understand most of what she says but I have to pay attention sometimes. Let me just tell you I wouldn’t want to hear that accent on a listening and comprehension exam. #justmyopinion.
She really really needs to drop this ridiculous accent, and start speaking normally like her husband and brother in law, and also other members of her family. It would make a world of difference, she would appear more natural and sincere. As it is nobody listens to the content of her conversation because everyone is just thinking how absurd she sounds. Who gave her the elocution lessons and whose idea was it because she really sounds awful. I have no problem with what she wears that is her business but I am concerned by her inability to engage with people because of her cold fake stilted accent.
THIS. I promise you, to anyone British, Duchess or dustman, she sounds ridiculous. Not because of what her accent is, but because of how false it sounds.
And a large part of it is their pr as thrifty and down to earth. Ryan Air, for goodness sakes. But Kate also walks around with that accent. The juxtaposition is interesting and funny.
It gives me second-hand embarrassment when she speaks.
Being cold didn’t stop hundreds of people turning up for Harry and Meghan….
Maybe Kate only knows how to pronounce a few words with her faux-posh accent because she always says basically the same sentences with a few word replacements, “great joy” “keen” “super”. Listening to her is painful. She’s trying to hard to be a stepford wife royal, speaking barely above a whisper, very proper, keenly bland, and greatly unnatural and off-putting. She should just be herself.
Yes, @Jessica. ITA. But you see, she cannot be herself. She’s married the job and she’s bad at it. Seven years on and the only footage I’ve seen with her being herself was gasping ‘oh my gosh’ and ‘you guys’ at a welcoming crowd during their US tour.
Otherwise all we hear her talking is prerecorded stuff or some few minutes of live radio and tv. Minutes. Now Queen Maxima gave her engagement interview in Dutch. CP Mary was already speaking Danish albeit not fluent at her engagement. Princess Marie also learned Danish fast and was giving speeches in Danish from her early days as a royal. Kate does it bad on her native language.
Just think that we see no more footage of Kate speaking freely. Some short clips showing her shaking hands at some events but her voice is muted and there voiceover praising her ‘hard work’. It IS very telling the BRF do not show more of her. She’s so bad at speaking that they want to save themselves from more embarrassment. If she’s bad at speaking seven years on, what is she good at? Something relevant for her role. I’m so sorry that British have someone so bad at her role, yet someone who lives off The Crown and taxpayers (security).
She’s good at being Waity Katie/William’s plaything. Otherwise, she’s been sub-par at her role. Even the definition of embarrassing, Fergie Duchess of York, must have performed better in her public engagements back when she was married to Prince Andrew.
There’s video from inside the event on Kensington twitter (I’m pretty sure it’s this event) and it looks like the coat is off and she has on a black/dark dress.
Notok
its because her accent is so unbelievably fake and sounds rather unnatural. Imagine an American walking around talking with a Hollywood British accent at every public function in London. Wouldn’t you give them the side-eye no matter how many years they’ve worked on cultivating it?
But are you really going to comment each time she speaks. What over thirty years from now she speaks still like this….. Are you going to repeat your comment every time. I still think you are really exagarating. I understand her just fine. She is a nervous public speaker so maybe that is also a factor. If you watch youtube video’s of her talking to the public she is much more relaxed.
Well, it is past time for her to get over it. I have no sympathy after this many years to be a 35-year-old woman and a nervous speaker I have no pity when there are people for hire who make a living teaching people how to speak publicly. King Albert was a nervous speaker. This is just laziness.
Imagine an American in her 30s who sounded like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island. That’s my understanding of how odd Kate’s accent can sound.
I think when she is relaxed she talks ok. When she is making a speech however…
“hugely special” ??!!! wtf?
You know, they looked genuinely touched to be awarded the badges. Good on them.
It’s possible she just runs cold. I say this as someone currently sitting at my desk with my parka on. I’ve already been teased by co workers but they all know the deal with me. And before anyone suggests the pregnancy angle I froze through both of my pregnancies too. And I freeze in AC in the summer. So a lot of things kind of annoy me about Kate. I’ll admit it. But from one habitual coat wearer finding solidarity with another, the coat wearing inside is not one of them 🙂
I love the coat the shoes the whole ensemble she looks blooming literally look st those cheeks they look all plumped out
Kate’s hair was so much longer when she wore this outfit in 2014. I prefer the waves instead of the modified sausage curls. I saw photos of Kate posed beside the table for the Christmas party and they had Christmas crackers, love them. Did Kate stay for the meal? No. I think she will do anything to avoid eating in public. Again with the vanity. But she does look good I like seeing her with more weight on she looks much better.
Maybe while being inside she is cold. I hardly ever take off my coat/jacket when I’m inside.
I have come to the conclusion that she wears nothing but underwear underneath, hence she cannot take off the coat. What other reason is there for her to keep all her coats on all the time? It may be cold outside but everywhere you go it is hot be it from the heaters to body heat from a crowd. Besides she has to “justify” the high cost of all her coats/dresses somehow or does it justify buying new ones??
She is wearing a black dress under her coat, you can clearly see that in pictures of this engagement. Also the queen doesn’t take her coat of at engagements and never did but nobody falls over that. Of all the things happening you are getting upset because she doesn’t take of her coat. Nitpicking.
She is the Queen and an older woman. She does not wear coatdresses.
I hate these coat dresses she wears. Passionately. It is something I would put on my small girls to go a restaurant or a family dinner at my grandmother’s house. Or a special service. On a grown woman it looks immature.
My god she just really can’t talk, it’s like her jaw is wired shut? I can’t wait for Megan to take over, at least I can understand what she’s saying!