I have a real question: do you think TMZ has genuine “royal sources”? I do not. I think People Magazine has royal sources. I think Us Weekly’s royal sources are mostly just royal reporters gossiping. I think Tom Sykes at the Daily Beast has royal sources. But TMZ? Eh. I bring this up because TMZ has a very strange story today about how the Duchess of Cambridge is “doing everything she can to keep up” with the Duchess of Sussex, at least according to their “royal sources.” I suspect their royal sources are, like, their eyes and some observations on Twitter.
Kate Middleton wants everyone to know Meghan Markle isn’t the only Royal with impeccable style … because Kate’s doing everything she can to keep up with Meghan’s public image. Our Royal sources say Kate is attending more events than she used to, and she’s paying much more attention to her looks … we’re talking wardrobe, hair, jewelry, make-up, the whole nine yards. Basically, we’re told Kate wants to be more visible now that Meghan is commanding the spotlight.
As you can see, Kate has totally switched up her look … combining Princess Diana’s favorite tiara with a fancy necklace and a new gown by Alexander McQueen. This ensemble for a recent state banquet is quite different from the looks we’d gotten used to seeing Kate wear. When she attended Prince Charles’ 70th birthday party on Nov. 14, Kate wore her hair up … showing off bare shoulder under very glitzy earrings. Again, a style we hadn’t seen much. For what it’s worth, Meghan also wore her hair up at that event. Kate’s been busting out some outfits from way back in the day — she’s no fool and knows that gets more coverage. Usually, she recycles a year-old jacket or two, not a dress she wore 6 years ago — a clear sign she’s trying something new.
It’s interesting … Kate’s image focus comes amid reports of tension between her and Meghan, and between William and Harry. We’ve reached out to Kensington Palace for comment, but so far no word back.
I mean… did you need TMZ to tell you this? It’s so random. The timing is especially odd, considering… well, Kate has been extra since Meghan and Harry announced their engagement last year, as we all discussed at the time. Suddenly, Kate was keen to be seen like never before. And the same thing is happening now, where Kate is keeping up a much more involved schedule. Now, does it follow that Kate is “doing everything she can to keep up with Meghan’s public image”? Or is that “Thrifty/Future Queen” Kate is basically style-subtweeting Meghan at every turn?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.
TMZ is trash. They are on the same level of the Daily Mail, both of them being misogynist trash.
And I don’t buy the “Kate has done everything to be seen since H&M’s engagement”. She took her longest maternity leave with Louis. If she wanted to be seen, she could have. She chose not to.
I’m with you. Everyone keeps saying she has been trying to be seen, but except for a handful of of events (That I believe she HAD to go to), she wasn’t seen at all during her maternity leave. Certainly not the pap shots everyone here was expecting for her to arrange.
The story doesn’t make sense to me either. Wasn’t she always known for repeating outfits, since day one? As for more appearances, they always come out in force right before the holidays so they can take an extended christmas break. I still dont understand why people blame her for doing so little, I put that all on William, if she was asked to do more I’m sure she would do it, I think is William who puts a stop to it, and I umderstand maybe he wants her to be a mom and spend time with their kids over everything else for the first years of their lives (especially the way he grew up) and I can respect that, I know some moms would love to be stay at home moms and cannot so I dont blame her at all, its William who should have been front and center all this time. Its also obvious he’s not very happy about his future and I cant never understand why people want to skip Charles for William. Not that it will ever happen but still… sorry, rambling done.
@Mel – the repeating of the outfits is new. I mean, yes, she has always worn repeats, but not like this. Not for several different events in a row. Usually its repeat, then an outfit that is a mix of old and new, then a new outfit, then a repeat, etc. This run of repeats with only a few notable exceptions (state dinner, Remembrance sunday) is new.
If she wants to be a SAHM, they have to pay for all of their own expenses. All the royals worked when their kids were little.
Yeah. I feel like people forget that the Cambridges became full time Royals in the summer of 2017. Will stepped up, but Kate was pregnant so she couldn’t step up because of the HG. She did a lot of engagements after the HG passed before she went on maternity leave. Everyone assumed it was 100% Meghan because of the timing. Forgetting that Kate previously thought Harry should do more because they had kids and he didn’t. She would have been happy to remain part time until Harry and Meghan had kids. She took a long maternity leave, but was also working on her early years initiative in the background during that time. It was said that she would be part time until after the new year. This is what part time looks like for a full time Kate apparently. Kate’s competitive side might be helping motivate her, but it’s not the reason she is stepping up.
They didn’t “become” full-time royals in 2017. They were supposed to be full-time from day one, hence the massive home at KP and Anmer. They ran away from their duties for years, still are.
Her early years initiative? Thus far this consists of one Middleton leak to the DM days before Meghan’s cookbook launch and one, ONE, meeting to sit around looking at the experts who will do all the work.
That’s kind of nasty of her if she expected Harry to do more just because he doesn’t have kids.
Nota’s point is that they should have been FT royals. Maybe you can give them a pass for the first year or two in Wales, but after that – they were absolutely expected to work FT as royals, hence the royal residences, the expensive renovations, etc….but there was always an excuse.
Heck it was a running joke on here for maybe a solid year that Kate was going to announce a pregnancy in the fall of 2017 since that was when she was finally finally supposed to go FT as a royal per KP.
They got full time royal perks but didn’t do the work. In the security thread yesterday so many were complaining about the security costs for Frogmore cottage but today all the excuses are provided for dithering until now. No real reason was ever provided for Kate to just hang about at Anglesey when at the engagement interview she was supposed to hit the ground running, according to their own words. She could have done local events in Wales while William was at the RAF. She was 29 so what exactly was she doing in the years before kids?
Well said notsugarhere , you are SPOT ON.
William and Kate have spent years running away from royal duties.
Remember all the reports Kate is going to hit the ground running, from the engagement announcement , the wedding, after each baby, we’ll she still hasn’t.S
Some just keep making excuses for their laziness.
+1000
This… after 17 years 7 yrs Royal marriage of entitlement and laziness – was enough time to be ‘seen’ . Had it not been HRH Meghan, The Duchess of Success of hard work ethics, Willnot/dolittle would still be on maternity leading into a lengthy Christmas vacation into the mid 1st Qtr of 2019.
The POW Title is earned or ‘anointed’ Re DM stating Lambridge is preparing for POW role – there is no guarantee Willnot lambridge will be given this title by King Charles. The Sussex is more deserving of this Title.
Uh, are you suggesting Charles won’t give Will the POW title? Because regardless of whatever personal animosity is between them, the monarchy seems to strive to be seen as a constant and I’m pretty sure Charles/the gray men wouldn’t disrupt that unless in the most extreme circumstances. I also think there would be a fair bit of outrage from the royalists in the general public if he didn’t bestow the title within a year or two.
Yeah….I don’t think Charles is going to give it William immediately, but William will be the next PoW. That’s a definite. (unless there is a tragedy and then it will go to George.)
William will be the Prince of Wales unless Charles dies before The Queen.
(ERA: even if Charles passes before the Queen William will be the POW)
It is as simply as that. They will want to show continuity and stability, regardless of any personal feelings.
I imagine that if they want to invest William as PoW in a full ceremony they’ll do it after Charles’ coronation, or maybe they forgo the ceremony all together, who knows?
It is also important to remember that the investiture thing kind of fell out of favour until the 20th century but as Charles did it I think they’ll do something with William, but it is not necessary
Harry will never be Prince of Wales, unless William, George, Charlotte and Louis die.
It wouldn’t surprise me if you wished for that @royalsparkle
@Annie
…Did you just say that that you wouldn’t be surprised if RoyalSparkle wished for the death of William, George, Charlotte and Louis? What a bitchy and awful thing to say.
@Melly,
Annie’s comment may have been a little over-the-top, but is probably because of the long-term vitriol constantly spewed by RoyalSparkle against Will and Kate. It never stops. Sometimes, I wonder what Will and Kate have personally done to some posters. The dislike for someone they do not personally know is sometimes exhausting and there are a few that honestly behave like DailyMail trolls.
My comment was over the top and I apologize if it was offensive to you @Melly or to anyone else. If someone checks my history of posting here they will see I never hate on anyone and I try to be fair and to explain my opinion anule respecting the others.
I must admit that sometimes it baffles my mind how can people spend so much energy on hating on people they don’t know… And being so…rude about it. And my comment was a not positive response to that.
I apologize
Even if William isn’t made PoW until well after Charles’s coronation, I don’t buy that it’s because Charles believes he hasn’t proven himself or that he’s very lazy or something. Charles was ten when he became Prince of Wales. Why wouldn’t he give 30+ year old son a title he received himself when he was ten?
Every time, I can’t work out what you are trying to say.
Agree. Kate existed before megan came onto the scene….she’ll continue to do so after.
After Meghan has left the scene? What makes you so certain this relationship won’t last? It was a priest who publicly stated he gave W&K seven years or less at the time of their marriage after all.
Kate is too lazy, always has been, has never shown an interest in anything except being Waity Katey, basically.
Kate only feigns an interest in things except if it’s William.
Kate’s real work and goal was getting the Mrs Title.imo
At first I thought it was really weird for TMZ to publish this article because it felt like leftovers, like we’ve been discussing this for weeks and they’re more of a “breaking news” site, not so much opinion.. then I realized TMZ is the Thomas Markle Zone and it started to make more sense. Not saying the Markles are behind this “story”, but more like there are coordinated efforts to leak bad stories about the Sussexes.
I’m not sure this would fit with that theory. It makes Kate look bad and not Meghan. Besides I think it’s a non story to be honest. I know a lot of people think Kate has been ‘extra’ since Meghan came on the scene but I think they’re just seeing what they want to. There’s a lot of that on both sides with the Meghan and Kate worship that takes place. Kate is still doing very little and still dressing the same (or maybe even worse). I think the only reason she’s probably doing a few more events than usual is that people behind the scenes are telling her that she needs to get on with it.
TMZ would love anything that made any prominent woman look bad. They’re a joke.
TMZ stalks twitter and gossip blogs like everyone else.
Harvey Levin and TMZ are garbage.
TMZ is even less credibile than the Mail when it comes to the royals. No way do they have actual sources within KP, BP, CH or anywhere else (Thomas Markle doesn’t count since he’s on the outside looking in just like the rest of us). TMZ could have literally copied and pasted this story from the Celebitchy comments.
It’s totally taken off of the Daily Mail story about how Kate purposely wore that McQueen gown to send messagethat she’s royal and not a trend setter or whatever.
We can all agree Kate’s fashion has NOT stepped up. Still granny coats and tight jeans. She’s never had a great eye for gowns either.
TMZ probably read tweets
“We’ve reached out to Kensington Palace for comment, but so far no word back.”
Translation: “We don’t have any royal sources. We’re just making this shit up as we go along and hoping you’ll lap it up as the gospel truth.”
TMZ has no Royal sources. If they get gossip, it’s from everyday places like messages boards and maybe even here. Royal sources have dried up a bit, specifically where it concerns the Sussex’s. Very little truthful things come out about them. People still haven’t figured out where they honeymooned or the name of their new dog.
It sounds like someone on TMZ has been lurking here and just made a story out of the comments section lol. How many times have some of us commented on the rewearing of the clothes??
But overall – yeah this is laughable. I mean maybe Kate is “threatened” or whatever by Meghan, and stepping it up, but I don’t think the fact that she wore her hair up to a formal affair is evidence of that, lol.
Bahahaha – I love how the article ends with “TMZ is awaiting confirmation from the palace…” As if KP would EVER confirm anything with TMZ. Lol.
Haha that makes me laugh too, its hilarious.
She wouldn’t have to do everything she could to ‘keep up’ if she’d established herself as a hard worker and serious asset from the start. Or even from the middle.
No way does TMZ have a source with Royals but they do with Hollywood so maybe one of Megan’s friends did this?
But sorry it doesn’t even make sense, Kate took a long mat leave, is repeating fashion and doesn’t seem to be doing more events then normal.
Sounds like counter narrative from Hollywood PR. Or a made up story (LIKE ALL OF THEM) that play on the non stop sexism and and anti woman vibe that all articles regarding these women.
This story matches my own observations, but I think the only royal “sources” that TMZ has are the White Markles.
* EDIT … This post was meant to reply to someone saying that this site always chooses terrible pics of Kate.
Have you noticed that The Dail Fail always chooses the least flattering pics of the DoS?
I have a bad feeling that Thomas Markle is behind this and it’s going to be exposed.
This is sooooo Samantha trying to stay involved and cause havoc in Meghan’s life. lmaoooooooooo.
But keep up with what? It’s not like Meghan is blazing the path with hard work.
Keep up with Anne if you want to I guess.
Tell it to the people who now have 300,000 to fund their community kitchen from cookbook sales. I doubt they think she’s doing nothing.
Meghan has done over 100 engagements and is technically only 6 months in to this new job. Five times more than Kate did during the same period in their lives.
I don’t now why I am wasting my time with you, but… 35 × 6 = 210. Meghan hasn’t done 210 engagements. At the most she will reach 100.
Is it a good number? Absolutely! I am proud of her. But let’s be factual
Yes, let’s be factual. She has done over 100 engagements this year and did five times more than Kate during their engagement period. Kate did 5, Meghan did 28. Let’s face it – Kate is damn lazy, always has been. And Meghan has helped create a cookbook which has raised 300,000. And in the same period Kate did what exactly?
crickets.
FYI Kate did a total of 34 engagements her first year (2011). Meghan has blown that out of the water.
Nobody said the cookbook was nothing – just that it’s not like she’s doing as many engagements as some of the other royals – I believe Anne was the example.
Anne has 300 established patronages and decades to build those up. Meghan is six months in and has already blown Kate’s first year numbers out of the water multi-fold. So difficult for people to understand that? Six months in, compare her to the most recent other married in makes sense.
I don’t think Kate really cares tbh. It’s not like she’s in danger of losing her job or being demoted ffs. She’s set for life and attained her goal when she married William
I don’t buy that TMZ has any royal sources. Unless TMZ counts Thomas Markle or the Markle half siblings as a royal source.
I think the increase in visibility for William and Kate has more to do with the Queen pulling back on engagements, Prince Charles taking over more of the Queen’s administrative duties, and Prince Phillip retiring from public life than anything to do with the Sussexes. I think they were given little choice once Phillip retired and the Queen started handing more and more off to Prince Charles. Enter Catherine Quinn (at least for Kate). I think she’s done a lot to right what was a sinking ship in terms of Kate’s office and public profile. But those are boring reasons and don’t allow the likes of the DM and TMZ to pit two women against each other.
I think KP’s press machine was mostly truthful with the story from a couple months ago that Kate would be starting a return to engagements in like October, would increase her engagements for the rest of the year, but wouldn’t be back “full time” (whatever that means) until the 1st of the new year. I think that narrative has held true for the most part. Since late October I believe she’s had an event or two a week.
This is totally Scamantha talking to TMZ as a “royal source”. 😂
I don’t get the fawning over Meghan’s fashion in the TMZ article. It’s not Hollywood glam, not preppy, not modern, etc. I don’t know how to describe it. Kate’s look hasn’t changed that much. Maybe her make-up is a little better? They are really forcing things here.
I am curious to see both of their outfits for Charles’s 70th. They both looked gorgeous in the car shots.
The Question is….”WHY?” at the end of the day, she’s still going to be Queen, not Meghan. It’s not a contest.
She will be the Queen Consort.
I think that now that Prince Charles is doing his whole, “I’m gonna be King someday!!” he is laying down the law behind the scenes. I bet he told Will and Kate that their work loads WILL be increased to steadily line up with the senior royals. Even Kate. Especially As George and Charlotte have entered nursery and primary school. For a few hours a day she will only have Louis at home and he can stay with the nanny while she cuts a ribbon or shakes a few hands in the morning. Plenty of time for her to be back to pick up the children from school.
Charles is said to be frugal, so if they are going to be K/Q, they will need to do the same amount of “work” as he, Princess Anne, and the others do.
Honestly, the fact that QEII runs circles around Will/Harry/Kate in her 80s and 90s is a disgrace. And this is from someone who ADORES royalty watching.
I wasn’t impressed with Kate before the marriage and she has done nothing since the marriage to garner my praise.
Could Carol Middleton be behind any of these leaks because her daughter was put on the back burner for the last year & felt threatened?
Fluffy Princess,
Well said!
It’s always such a repeated shock to me when I bother to read comments, how much women despise Kate – especially when claiming feminist ideals.
Kate’s living the life that works for her and her family. I think she’s doing a stellar job, too – as much as I loved Diana, she didn’t hold the same kind of parenting ethic Kate has. How she came by that is also respectsble; she had good parents of her own.