I’m not sure I’ll ever get over the absolute stupidity all the way around the Duchess of Cambridge’s Five Big Questions debacle. We first heard about it, conveniently, when Meghan Markle appeared on the scene and there was a concerted effort to embiggen Kate and give her some huge project. Thus, the “Early Years” project was born, except that they claimed that Kate had actually been working on it for the better part of a decade. It was going to be HUGE, she was doing all of this research and throwing parties for herself to celebrate this giant new initiative and then… earlier this year, she revealed a five question survey which was one of the most basic things I’ve ever seen.
Kate spent a few weeks promoting it and doing appearances with kids (which was the whole point, the photo-ops), and then she forgot about the survey, despite the fact that we were told that the data compiled from the survey would help inform Kate’s work for the rest of her life. Again, it wasn’t that she actually had some kind of project or initiative based on the survey – the whole thing was super-vague about what the quasi-data would actually DO or lead to. Then, earlier this week, Kate suddenly promised that the data had been compiled and she was ready to give us “Five Big Insights.” Some videos:
Answering the #5BigQuestions:
98% of you said that that nurture is essential to lifelong outcomes. But, just one in four recognise the specific importance of the first five years of a child’s life. pic.twitter.com/bbVxtQzHL4
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 26, 2020
Insight 2: 90% of people see parental mental health and wellbeing as being critical to a child’s development.
However, only 10% of parents mentioned taking the time to look after their own wellbeing when asked how they had prepared for the arrival of their baby #5BigInsights pic.twitter.com/r0hOEbtnPp
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2020
Is now a good moment to remind everyone that the Cambridges hired the Sussexes’ old social media director? Obviously, Kate wanted this thing to look very shiny and cutesy, and it would be amazing to see her wordlessly post those “insights” onto various buildings around the UK like 21st century Martin Luther in a wiglet and button-slathered coatdress.
Anyway, as you can see, the “insights” are basic AF, and the data compiled from the survey… doesn’t even seem like it has any place here? There are early-childhood development specialists who actually make a career of studying nature/nurture, diet and exercise and parental mental health and then Kate breezes in with her incomprehensible fake accent to take credit for a fraction of their work.
Kate also released new photos of herself hard at work, making pie charts and writing her own notes… all on the same day, wearing the same outfit. It is insane how much of this was just keen busy work for a lazy duchess who wanted to be embiggened with a “big project.” Also: I have more to say about this, so there’s more coverage to come.
PS… the pie chart photo is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life.
Photos courtesy of Kensington Palace.
So this is the mediocrity Meghan was supposed to dim her lights for?
Either this women is dim or her team is just made up of dummies or maybe it is both!
The Meghan copy paste is now full on with suits; when I think suits were against protocol…Meghan dear, thank you gosh Harry left that snake pit
Although M doesnt wear buttons … 🙂
I feel like they’re forcing the blazer look on her as a revisionist attempt to make people associate that with Kate and not Meghan lol.
That aside, she looks so pretty here. But oh ggosh the work is terrible.
Well from when Meghan can write an Op-ed and get global attention/praise and then have the ordinary person being impacted by it, I can see why KP and William/Kate are now copying her.
They may not like her but they can’t deny her impact despite their best efforts to derail her and God knows they and their media sycophants and troll commentators have certainly tried, that impact and attention is what they really, really want for themselves. So copy and paste it is then.
The thing about the blazers is that Kate actually does look good in these types of blazers – not the super button-y longer ones she wears sometimes – but these kind that are actually something a professional woman would wear – it works on Kate as a look.
But everything about this is SUCH an obvious copy from Meghan that its sad. The white blazer and black shirt, which is a zoom look we have seen from Meghan on several occasions, the (new to us) comfy sofa in front of the big windows, etc.
She also using binders, something Meghan was ripped for when she carried them in the Oceania tour…. especially by Elizabeth Holmes who is now trying to profit off Meghan.
Insight: Hunger is a sign that a child should eat. When hungry, a child should be fed, and in infancy it is necessary for adults to step in and administer that food. Eating is important to adults, too, especially parents and carers, who must feed themselves.
Thank God Kate is on the job, helping us all to think.
Lah
This is a call back to PippaTips! Omg I never thought I’d see the day again!
Especially after the pippatips satirical creator was sued by Pippa with royal lawyers.
Lah – I laughed so hard I snorted.
An utter disaster of a launch! So many glaring spelling mistakes and typos and that’s just the first sentence. Also, why launch in the middle of the night, UK time? If the survey was conducted between Jan and Feb this year, why the twaddle about loneliness during the pandemic. I have so many questions but very little time to delve deeper. Whoever is handling the KP’s PR just needs to stop. Utter shambles.
Not to mention these “insights” are not based on the data. When you phrase your question as “what is the most important developmental phase…” You can’t conclude that anyone who didn’t say 0-5 doesn’t thing that is an important phase, because you asked “the most important phase”. Her conclusions are not what the data is saying at all. Plus the entire thing is padded with other studies and her stupid 5 questions were not the base of any of this. The foundation specifically says this is not Kate’s initiative, that it was started and funded by other organizations and the foundation acted as an adviser! All of a sudden it’s about COVID and supporting parents. None of this is even new. Didn’t the UK have a similar program in place before the government shut it down?
Yes.. Mediocrity Queen.
If you check out the actual posting the Foundation website, #1..the basic grammar errors are astounding! They rushed it to dull out Meghan”s op-Ed.
but they can’t…… they shouldn’t even try to play that game; I don’t know why they continue to! Meghan attracts worldwide attention. Kate is popular among royalists and I assume the uk as well; that should be enough for her! She is too mediocre; my goodness, I used to give her excuses because of W; but she is a dummy
No wonder the RF works with tabloids; can you imagine an actual journalist having to cover this with a straight face? no wonder they talk about her clothes and makeup
I belive you are substantialy correct on that.
There is a body language expert on DF stating how “regal” and “simplistic”Kate’s speech is..
I wish these people would realise that “simplistic” is not a positive adjective (and that it doesn’t mean the same as “simple”).
and “regal” is for formal state occasions. When talking about the needs of young children she needs to be relateable. Oxford dictionary definition of “simplistic” as an adjective”
“treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are”.
Well, sounds like the body language expert hit the nail on the head! She’s definitely stiff and reserved while treating complex issues as if they were simple.
I personally have no problem if after almost 10 YEARS on the job, Kate wants to publicly embarrass herself with pitifully mediocre busy work on the national stage. The deal they have struck with the faux sycophantic British media to prop them up and hide their misdeeds in exchange for access and leaks is the only thing that is keeping them from total public humiliation right now. One day that will all come to an end and their legacy will be in tatters. They should enjoy the embiggening while they can.
I confess, I have problem! Her hypocrisy is astounding. Talking about the importance of parents’ well being and mental health with strait face?
A few years ago I thought she is very pretty . Now I look at her and the only thing who comes to my mind – Dorian Gray. Does anybody remember the famous novel of Oscar Wilde?
The deal isn’t working. Princess Anne’s affair with her former RPO is in the news again. The DM got an exclusive with the RPO’s ex-partner. It’s old news but this time round there is open speculation about Zara’s parentage. The DM has taken care to include relevant dates and details such as Anne phoning Peter Cross the day after Zara’s birth to tell him she’d had a daughter.
“biggest ever UK study on early years..”
and that is where I stopped reading….
f**k right off Keenbridges.
This was not a proper survey on the subject, not in its wettest dreams. It was nothing more than 5 vague questions that looked like they were put together in about 8 mins. There were not even any demographical information – the survey was a PR stunt aimed at making her look like she was doing something.
she’s keen
that is all she really is.
she is definitely reading off cues written for her.
the world is tired of them
they need to give it a rest
The ‘results’ somehow talk also about Covid and isolating? But the way she’s rolling this out is definitely a page out of Meghan’s book, didn’t Meghan also just show little Archie’s toe/foot to intrigue everyone and then only later showed his face at the christening? It’s cute when Meghan did it about revealing her baby, but not cute with what is supposed to be a serious piece of work. The photo of her posting insight number 2 on the wall?? why?
I have so many thoughts on this but I will try to be nice. The findings are too basic. They offer no additional insight to what already exists but I will hazard a guess that it is due to the problems with the methodology. I’m a bit confused about the A4 poster on the wall. Are people supposed to read that tiny poster on that massive wall or was it just part of the PR release for the video? Because it kind of feels like she wore different clothes to let us know that she worked on it on different days.
Somebody on Twitter pointed out that the survey was done before Covid, so how did it have results about Covid? It makes it appear that they didn’t really take results from the survey but went with common knowledge and research done by others. It’s not like any of it is a startling revelation of anything not previously known. It would have been more impressive if she had consulted with people who had already done the research and formulated a plan of action or a plan to support those who were already taking action instead of trying to make it appear that she was a scientist doing research.
And, sorry, but when they say those “biggest ever” and building up comments, all I can think about is comparing it to Trump statements.
First of all – this is not a survey, by scientific standards. It’s a joke or PR stant. Secondly, it’s common knowledge that early years are important for child’s development. So are loving parents, healthy and fulfilling diet, spending time outdoors, exercises, etc. Nothing new here. Trivial and boring – just like the FFQ.
I’m not defending the “5 Big Questions” nonsense, but I’ve had a look at the methods section of the report and the findings are based on several surveys (including one done in October 2020) as well as face-to-face interviews and some ethnographic research.
I do think – especially if I worked for Ipsos Mori, who are, after all, meant to be the professionals – they should have emphasised that a lot more, rather than relying on the Big Questions, which definitely have some serious flaws. I also think the “5 Big Insights” are open to a lot of questioning and interpretation, as other commenters have already shown. All of this definitely fits into what one my friends likes to call the “No shit, Sherlock” research category.
WaitWhat, so what I’m getting here is that Kate is basically just the spokesperson for the results of multiple surveys that another company did and that another-another charity/company paid for. She’s presenting the work and the results, and technically she is saying “we created the largest survey,” “we found that…,” “our research shows that…” but she’s very much making it seem like the “we” she is referring to is herself and her KP team. She doesn’t mention the survey company or the people who paid for it all in her videos and tweets.
So again, we get “Kate’s” Super Big, Very Important, Nine Years in the Making, Extra Special Regally Royal Duchess Project and it’s really just her “raising awareness” about a topic/problem she is pretending to be the first person to have discovered, and all of the “work” she’s using to help “raise awareness” has come from other people, but she very cleverly words everything so that everyone thinks she’s done it all on her own. As usual. Fun! I’ve read that Kate’s “survey” was really just a “conversation starter” to “bring attention” to the fact that she was beginning her project, and it wasn’t meant to be the survey that any of the results came from. All of the insights came from data that was compiled from the real surveys that IPSOS did (and that someone else paid for). So KP has so far contributed (and only paid for) a fake PR survey and a tour to launch it, PR articles and tweets that reminded everyone to “watch this space for Kate’s big Early Years Project” for over a year, and then some photos, videos, and tweets of Kate presenting some highly over-simplified “insights” that she pretended to glean from her survey (and IPSOS surveys if you dig far enough), when in fact, she really just wanted to focus on these 5 pre-determined “insights” all along, but rather than just launch a project around them, she pretended to need to research and survey the public for years in order to delay beginning the real work and to rack up some easy engagement numbers. Wow. Very Kate.
I really doubt they didn’t include demographic and gegraphicl information, I just don’t think they shared that part with the public. People get weird when they see you asking about demographics, and think they’re going to be used for some nefarious purpose (which, in any legitimate survey, they should not be and should be used to ensure a representative sample).
Any survey properly done would have collected geographic else it is invalid and unscientific since this is supposed to be about UK parents.
@chicken – no, they absolutely did not include demographic and geographic information for the “5 big questions” survey. I took it lol – they never asked where I was from, my gender, whether I had kids, my age, etc. nothing.
@equality — someone called her below I think Duchess Melania……indeed, this is a very appropriate nickname for her. She is indeed Duchess Melania
Oh, PUUUULEEEEEEASE!!! This is the “Pippa-Tips” for child development/psych. If I could’ve gotten away with this drivel I could’ve saved a FORTUNE on one of my undergrad and grad school degrees!!
I was like…Is Trump tweeting for them now?
Yes, it was likely the biggest poll done by the royals who are based in the UK but as we all know, this poll wasn’t exclusive to UK citizens.
Look, I am not here to defend Kate, as her actions (or sometimes lack thereof), along with William’s, have disgusted me over the past three years. That said, it’s my literal job to help people and communities use data about children and families to make better decisions, so this is my field of expertise, and one of the most generally acknowledged truths in the world of the kind of data that I work with is that there is an enormous paucity of data about young children. Basically, we get a host of information about them when they’re born, and then there’s just a steep drop-off in data until children are 4 or 5 years old, which is when they enroll in school and reporting about them starts again. So, I understand where they were trying to go with this – they were clearly trying to fill a massive gap in the data landscape. Also, I agree that five questions is pretty short, and I would have added quantitative questions in along with the qualitative ones, and asked more about the actual children rather than just the concerns/systems around them, but people are wary of giving information about general in general, and shorter surveys get significantly better response rates, and response rates are crucial to being able to draw conclusions from the data and make recommendations. If you don’t get a representative sample or a big enough sample, your data are much less useful, so I assume that’s why the survey is so short. So, in summation, not a fan of Kate, but this project is not without merit, and it is clear that she worked with survey design experts (though there is often plenty of daylight between what the survey designers recommend and the final product).
As others stated the survey done by KP was not actually used with respect to data results, but it was something else done by another company in October, which is why covid data was included. So the entire campaign is being deceptive about where they are getting their results and in research circles they would be ripped apart for being deceitful.
Plenty of studies already exist anyway and this is just a glorified PR project with the only goal to make Kate look like she has done more than just shop and exercise for nine years.
I don’t think anyone is saying that Early Years is a dumb thing to focus on. Or that getting more and better data is a stupid thing to do. Or that nothing needs to be done for these children. I think what people are saying is “why not do a REAL survey? Why not do a REAL project? Why not spend all the time and money they’ve spent on making this seem like it’s a real thing and just do a real thing?”
Because right now you’re saying she had a good idea about doing a survey on the early years because you need more data on that, but her survey is kind of useless because it’s not scientific and doesn’t actually focus on the children, but more on the systems around them. So…. you’re giving her props for “raising awareness” about the fact that surveys should be done? And the way she raised awareness was by doing a crappy survey that won’t help anyone, but at least it got people thinking about surveys and young children? Why not just DO A REAL SURVEY? In the time it took her to do a pretend survey she could have done a real survey.
This is the main problem with Kate. She spent literally years implementing a PR campaign that included pretend research, a pretend survey, and pretend insights when she could have spent the same amount of time doing REAL research, a REAL survey, and getting REAL insights. But people say “I get what she was going for. This is actually useless and won’t help anyone, but the IDEA to focus on Early Years is by good. And the IDEA to do a survey is good. So while she spent all this time and didn’t actually do anything, at least people are talking about Early Years and surveys.” But wouldn’t people be talking about surveys if she had actually done a real survey with real results? Maybe her real survey could have been the template for other successful surveys. Wouldn’t they be talking about Early Years if she did some real Early Years projects that had real results? Her work could be a template, again. But no. She does pretend busy work that takes the same amount of time as doing real work would have, and we say “I think I know what she’s trying to get at. She’s just so silly and incompetent and misguided, but maybe someone who isn’t so stupid will see this and think about doing their own work.” In the time it took her to do the pretend work she could have just done real work. Why does everyone just seem to accept that the options for Kate are: she does nothing or she does misguided, ineffectual, pretend work that will at least “raise awareness”?
I think that bugs me the most. If she wants to just do pretend work, why does she take so long to do it? But by virtue of her spending YEARS on the pretend work, everyone gets the idea that it must be real work because it took so long. Her pretend PR fluff work is tweeted about and teased and written about for months and months, built up to be a huge, real thing, and then it launches and we have to pay a lot of attention to it because they’ve made it seem like it’s a HUGE for real project when it’s really something she could have done in 2 weeks because it’s all pretend. And something done in two weeks would’ve have gotten a much smaller amount of PR and would’ve seemed like the much smaller thing it actually is. It’s the trickery. The pretending to be working on a project for literally years that is nothing more than a pretend project with no tangible results that took a total of 2 weeks worth of work to complete, but she just spread it out over years to make it seem HUGE.
Wasn’t the point of this survey actually confirmed when Kate’s old or person left? Because this survey was shelved after that. And the point of this survey was simple. To help direct Kate’s team to what the best PR angle is. How best to coordinate future early childhood projects. How best to promote Kate.
That this was funded by 1 org and executed by another and Kate is stepping in to speak like it’s entirely her brainchild without fully crediting those that put in the actual work. Or delivering a real path to results is complete BS. Keep eating how keen she is to care. In no way is that an attack on helping children or parents or to those that executed the survey.
And what are these 5 Big Insights going to lead to? What is she going to do with the results have been released 8 months after we were told they were going to be?
And I’m not even a scientist but there is some bad misinterpretation of answers here.
Lol I work in biologicals field. Its has zero impact. First the survey itself have many flaws , they don’t have geoblocked. With 5 question how can they conclude the data is beyond me. Woman living in london wont have the same privilege as woman living in village of northern island. You have to take lot of factors to conduct a survey to study meaningful impact. Survey 101 they have to ask for age of mother , social living and mainly race. Because uk have more asian and black minority and religious group. Because these are fastest growing groups in uk and they dont live or nurture the way most white brits do. Being father or partner figure around the kid also play the part. These are basic thing to address. Atleast this is better than her garden bullshit. That garden thing is so stupid .
I actually thought the garden made more sense. Sure another make-work project but at least the garden was nice to look at and got the kids outside. This is nothing more than “make Kate look like she’s doing something” bunch of … nothing. The photos are beyond fake and it’s a huge waste of time and I’m sure money.
Even a first year undergrad would know this survey as basic AF and doesn’t mention anything of value. I mean nature vs nurture? What’s even the point of asking what parents think on this issue? It does nothing to help kids.
And the questions are so poorly done that they don’t even measure what they claim to.
Also, since when is there a covid question? She finished this survey in February before covid was a global phenomenon. Who answered those questions because there was nothing about covid in the original survey? This alone would remove the validity of the answers of the survey because not everyone completed the same questions.
In order to have any impactful change as a result of this survey, wouldn’t that involve policy and systemic government intervention/change? And wouldn’t that in turn be “political”? And Royals don’t do “political”?
We had ‘Sure Start’ centres in the UK, they were good. The Tory government got rid of them. Maybe she should recommend that they open them again? 😛
With her complete lack of support for her SIL and newborn nephew, I just can’t take any work she does in this sector seriously. And yet another announcement of an announcement.
I agree. Although it is ironic that the survey says that a child’s future is not predetermined at birth. This coming from someone married to the man who won the genetic/hereditary lottery. Er George, anyone? Archie anyone?
OMG what a revelation these results are said no one ever. What i want to see is the detailed data analysis of the respondents as you can be assured that there was no data cleansing – i would love to see the actual number of UK respondents who only completed it once.
Its a good thing that this is being brought to the fore front but lets face it, this survey tells us nothing new – she would have been better just working with the professionals on promoting new and existing initiatives.
PR stunting at its best with her – her ‘office’ has been setup to look like she was hard a work analysing the data herself.
This is not getting the coverage Meghan’s NYT piece did – that will burn deep inside Top CEO.
They don’t know who answered because there weren’t any demographic questions and people could answer from anywhere could answer, not just the UK, and as many times as they liked. So unless they were taking IP addresses as well, it’s not just the UK.
They don’t even know if the respondents have kids because they didn’t ask!
And honestly, 500K worldwide isn’t something they should brag about.
She will be praised to the heavens for this. This is pathetic.
I think it burns Kate and the RRs up that they can’t negatively compare Meghan’s essay to Kate’s video today. Their fingers are itching to throw Meghan under the bus to big up Kate and they can’t do it. Richard Palmer even told his usual coterie of trolls to stop which surprised me. Dan, Piers and Camilla were cold as ever.
I was really surprised to see Richard Palmer say that and the first thing that came to my mind was “his wife had a miscarriage.” Which may be an unfair leap (and there’s no stigma if she did obviously) but it would explain why he ordered his trolls to stand down on this issue.
That’s what I thought as well. At least he showed some humanity on this issue. I’ll give him that.
“Hard at work in her office.” I like how she was pictured taking notes on her own survey results that supposedly she had already compiled and made into a pie chart. If she had done all that work and turned it into a pie chart, why did she need to copy the pie chart results into her notes? It looks so much like what my 12 year old does for virtual school: “watch the power point presentation and take one page of notes in your notebook. Send a picture of your notes to the teacher.”
Why would she be taking notes of something she supposedly prepared…
Oh wait there we go, she wasn’t even involved in preparing the report.
Yes, I guess all the experts and organizations that are praising her and the foundation for focusing on this topic and are excited to see the actual plans that will be launched next year are wrong and people on this forum are the ones who should be listened because they think this project is invaluable.
The orgs that are praising her are most likely doing this for PR + they’re just glad they can get funding and some stuff done for themselves. It doesn’t mean that the 5 questions were good, or the way they carried out was good (they allowed multiple entries and international people to take part it, horrible sample). Or that the data in itself is that beneficial. Data like this will be reduced to one sentence in the introduction of a scientific journal article about things that actually matter, like a comparison of different interventions for instance.
The survey failed in almost every aspect regarding research methods, and I am willing to give Kate praise where needed (I strongly believes she gives a shit about this topic, multiple in fact, but her work so far isn’t praiseworthy). I believe CB has been well, bitchy, regarding things like her looks or mental health but this is valid imo.
the organizations are also hopeful that this will result in more attention from Kate and that she’ll actually put in some work to help them raise awareness and funds.
Too bad they’re looking at the wrong duchess for that kind of effort.
A covid question suddenly showed up out of nowhere too. You can’t do that in a legitimate survey. This would fail a first year undergrad assignment.
@Nic – look at Kaiser’s other post here about the Covid questions. You’re going to die.
LOL
Oohh. Like who? Which experts thought this video was invaluable?
Please tell me it’s more than starting a conversation and raising awareness.
This is the Guardian’s write-up of it; it’s very straight-faced and doesn’t critique methodology or sample size, but does include a quote from the chair of the Early Years Alliance charity. However, that quote doesn’t actually mention the survey.
Elsewhere in the article it says that “the speech was hailed as a milestone for the duchess”, but not who did the actual hailing. In the next sentence it says “Kensington Palace said it would shape her future focus on early years development, with plans next year for Kate to help elevate the importance of early childhood” – which suggests it was, in fact, KP.
Full article is here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/27/kate-warn-impact-children-parents-lockdown-loneliness-duchess-cambridge
Please name the experts for I have not seen any and I looked. Nothing wrong with what she is TRYING to do. But those spelling mistakes and errors with the survey timeline are not fooling anyone. This is an embiggening campaign gone wrong again!
HAHAHAHA. You tried.
No one outside the UK would ever say this survey has any value because it is a make work project. Maybe there are bootlickers in the UK who will pretend and want clout for their own research but this thing is garbage otherwise.
Exactly. Kate is completely out of her depth here. Her degree is in art history; she should cleave closer to that. This kind of thing is just plain embarrassing.
No one is arguing that the topic itself is not important. The issue is that everything she and her team have presented the whole thing in a very amateurish and meaningless way. No one who does serious work in the field would ever honestly praise that survey and how it was done. There is nothing insightful or groundbreaking in these big insights. Everything being presented is established knowledge gleaned from research already done by actual experts. It is obnoxious and frankly rude for them to try and present this as if no one was ever working on the issue before KP decided to scramble and find something for Kate to do when they realized how well the Hub cookbook launch was going to look.
Excuse me, Kate the Academic. Can you see the correlation here? That Harry & Meghan are in that rare 10% of parents who will do what’s best for their mental health and that’s why they couldn’t get away from you and your partner in slander fast enough?
Yes. Her chart says that the first five years of a child’s life are most important for adulthood wellbeing and that parents’ mental health impacts on their children’s.
So is she going to join the dots between Meghan’s mental health from the relentless bullying she received while Archie was pregnant and an infant, that she herself sat back and benefitted from and very possibly contributed to?
Here’s a Big Insight 6 for you, Kate. Harry and Meghan leaving is the best thing they could have done for Archie.
Kate goes on and on about the first five years being so important. She has said it multiple times, is it the only fact she remembered in her apparently copius research?
Also, the brain keeps developing (in the way she is stating) until at least the age of 25. So, while the first five years are important, so are the other years of childhood!
Imagine having a wonderful first five years and then the family income drops due to one parent’s death. A move somewhere new, a small house in an inner city area without easy access to nature. Less time playing and interacting with the one remaining parent. Less stimulation. A school that is not so good, difficulty making new friends. But the first 5 years, right?
LOL! This wins comment of the day.
The biggest thing I’m noting lately is that the Cambridges want us to think they are very intelligent and scientific, yet its so clear they are not trained in these fields and they look like the amateurs they are: (Earthshot, Early Years, Heads Together).
Meanwhile the Sussexes develop tangible items for people to give their money to which allows people to help people in need: (Smartworks Capsule, Cookbook, Invictus Games).
Heads Together is really Harry’s….during the separation, they say they will be working together on it but I hope Harry completely leave it to them. He can do much better on that front than those 2 can! my goodness, so much incompetence………
The promise to continue working with Heads together was while Harry was still a working royal but he’s no longer working with them. A big clue that he’s not with Heads together anymore is on the Sussex royal website Heads together is mentioned but it doesn’t link to the website. Another clue is that Contact which was Harry’s mental health program with the armed forces was barely promoted by Heads together when it launched even though it was developed when Harry was a member of the Royal foundation and was working with Heads together.
I have always believed that Heads Together was Harry’s idea and W&K latched themselves on it to make them look good. I think Harry will leave it to them and do something way better with more impact. I know William tried to attach himself to Invictus when it first launched.
I took a look at the summary report. It doesn’t really tell us anything that we and experts didn’t already know. But according to KP this project is supposed to [let me get the correct quote] make Kate “come across in a different light”. I thought this was about the children not about her image.
KP can’t be happy that their big launch was overshadowed by Meghan’s NYT Op Ed. They won’t say anything because Kate’s supposed to be an advocate for maternal health and baby loss but I’m sure they’re pissed off.
Kate had so many opportunities she could have harnessed with little effort but she chose to focus on her image instead. She could have done something about HG, especially if she was hospitalised as reported. Maternal health and early childhood are great causes BUT then she chooses to benefit from her sister in law’s bullying by the press, which increased when Meghan was pregnant. Considering all the resources being thrown at propping Kate up, it is woefully too little too late and of no tangible impact.
Also overshadowed now by the revelations about Princess Anne’s affair with her police bodyguard and the inevitable speculation that he might be the father of her daughter.
Am I the only one who feels like these videos are scolding people for answering these questions incorrectly? These videos just have an odd tone to them, vaguely snotty and superior.
Oh my god yes! I hadn’t realized, but entirely this. “Here is the insight, BUT only X amount of you do it/follow it.”
Ugh, why can’t you peasants take the time to take care of yourself?
I just listened to a podcast on something called Moon Juice which is a rich person Goop like scam. The diet the founder follows would cost between $700-$1200 a week so it’s clearly not sustainable for almost everyone. I get the same vibes from Kate. Take the time to take care of yourself! But the average person is not a royal living off other people’s tax money with multiple staff to do everything.
Here’s a survey. Tell us what you think. Bzzzz. You are wrong! Um, Kate, didn’t you ask me what I thought? How can that be wrong if it is what I thought?
That’s what is so bizarre. It’s a survey. There are no wrong answers especially if you choose one of the answers they provide you.
Let’s wait for this afternoon, when Kate will give her biggest and bestest speech ever! ‘her biggest ever public intervention’ quote from the DM. I personally can’t wait, I need a good laugh.
what will she be intervening though?
YES. This is just more Mommy shaming, but now about mental health! Notice what we don’t see – personal empathy or advice for parents who are struggling, policy ideas that will help families, or even links to organizations that can help. It’s literally just making people feel bad:
“Anxiety is terrible for you, but most importantly for your children. If you feel yourself getting anxious, just remember that it will have a huge adverse impact – everybody says so. Whatever you do, don’t worry. Hey, why are you so anxious?”
I feel a little bad for Kate having this come out after Meghan’s editorial, which was a great example of raising awareness through being vulnerable, sharing rather than preaching, and had actionable ideas. The 5 questions would never have been impressive, but the contrast here is… unfortunate.
Yes! This!
This was one of my problems with the survey – it was so obvious that they were going for one specific answer to each question. But when the questions are like “its more important or less important” or “all equally important” – you aren’t going to get what you are looking for. And its so obvious they WERE looking for something.
Here is the inconsistency in their report which makes it obvious that they only want to discuss the early years. The Foundation’s summary says that yes, there is loads of research already established on the topic, but we found an evidence gap–what is the public’s perception? Commence 5 Big Questions Survey.
According to the summary of the results: “Just one in four (24%) participants recognise the specific importance of the 0-5 period for providing lifelong health and happiness. Instead, most participants (57%) perceive all periods of a child’s life to be equally important for health and happiness in adulthood.”
That 57% response seems like basic commonsense and no wonder more than half of the respondents perceive/choose it. You can have a perfectly loving, stable, 0-5 year period and then have a paternal death, abuse, illness, divorce, financial loss, destabilizing move in a later zone, say 7-11,11-16, that negatively impacts lifelong health and happiness. (i.e. Harry and Will losing their mother in their teen years).
So the reason only 1 in 4 recognizes the importance of the early years is that they were selecting a more comprehensive answer that better reflects the brutal unpredictability of life.
@Harper completely agree, especially on the part of you can have a great early years but a very negative teen years or something like that. Plus Kate’s own brother, who has been very open about his depression, presumably had a happy 0-5 years but that hasn’t stopped him from dealing with depression, has it?
The reality is that the entire childhood matters and so I am sure some answers tried to reflect that. It’s not like if you can make it to age 5 without an issue you are good to go forever.
The entire premise of the survey was dumb.
I’m wondering if the survey questions were rigged in this way, where respondents would naturally choose the most commonsense, logical answer (all years are important), thus creating the perception gap that Kate wants (oh, horrors! Only 1 in 4 perceive 0-5 as important) thus giving her a data-sourced justification for her desired, EASY, future work that consists of swanning around the UK getting her picture taken with cute toddlers who won’t ask searing questions or make Kate feel uncomfortable.
80% of parents feel like they’re being judged on their parenting.*
75% of you think parental mental health is important but only 10% actually work on your mental health.*
Gee, I wonder why 80% of parents feel like they’re being judged?
I feel like they could have worded these insights better. Like: “10% of parents report they are currently able to actively work on their mental health, although 75% of parents do realize that parental mental health is important.” Less judgy sounding, I think. The way they worded made it seem like parents know mental health is important but the majority of them just don’t care enough to do anything about their mental health.
*probably not the exact numbers, I’m just going off of my memory
Imagine taking all the money spent on this and donating it to a children’s program…
This is an absolute waste of time and resources.
What happened to the work compiled by the experts in 2019? And what will Kate actually do to help people?
Remember what the Queen said in 2006/2007 about Kate? Something like “What does she actually do?”
Thirteen years later and we’re still trying to figure it out. Duchess Melania.
I think I’ve finally lost any interest in this couple.
This survey and project are so obviously make/busy work, and so flawed, it’s not worth further comment. No doubt that’s also the sentiment shared by people actually working in this field, or involved in anything that includes professional research. My theory about whatever Kate promotes is, press puff pieces notwithstanding, people actually on the ground know exactly how much what she does is worth. And it’s not worth their time even bothering to comment.
My takeaway here – this is the future of the monarchy. A woman whose only interest in “work” is buying new clothes and getting her picture taken; her husband, whose main interest is sticking it to his younger brother, while also undermining his father. And the only reason either one have any “accomplishments” to promote is because they lift them from other people. Both of them are near 40. No reason to think any of this will change. They’re living the lives they want to live.
As selfish as TQ and Charles are, I believe they both care about the future of the monarchy. And as actively complicit Charles was in what happened to Diana, and at least passively complicit in how Meghan was treated, he’s done valuable work that’s helped a lot of people – none of which the FFK is the least bit interested in.
And yet, Kate and Will are the legacy they have to look forward to. No amount of sofas, benches, director’s chairs, and extravagant “this is the best ever” PR will put lipstick on this pig. Whether TQ truly knows how useless this pair is, or cares about anything at this point beyond the technical line of succession, and Andrew, Charles for sure is aware, because Exhibit A is thousands of miles away, hard at work. And when people speak of Harry and his compassion, etc. they speak of him as “Diana’s son”. Ouch.
Charles has many faults, but when he took interest in environmental issues, especially regarding organic farming he actually did something serious with it and took a hit for it. These two dullards simply steal work already done by others and take credit for it. I mean we know Kate did this in uni so it’s nothing new for her.
I admire the work Charles has done. He’s a creative thinker and talented at forging useful partnerships. There’s the Prince’s Trust, organic farming at Highgrove, and his other work with the Duchy. I’m most recently familiar with Dumfries House, (I was interested in the house and garden restoration). More than just preserving a stately home as a tourist attraction, he’s created valuable education and training programs that benefit the local community. He appears to have compassion; must have some integrity to work cooperatively with and attract money from successful, accomplished people; and as you say, had the courage to take a stance on the environment years ago when it made him appear silly and eccentric.
The mystery is, why do these qualities – compassion, integrity, courage – seem to completely vanish where his private life is concerned?
Anyway, agree the Cambridges don’t have one original thought between them, and wouldn’t be surprised if at some point soon someone gets really pissed off about having their work co-opted. And it’s amusing to watch Kate copying from Meghan. Maybe she’ll finally improve her shoe game. Even TQ and Phillip sat on a couch for their anniversary picture!
Someone on twitter compared this to Pippa Tips and I can’t unsee it. This survey and results are very basic. Nothing earth shattering
Is it like Nigella teaching us to butter toast?
Yes, something like that. I think we can all agree that its sole purpose is to make Kate look like … something.
Why do I feel this is KP counter programming from Meghan’s NYT op ed about her miscarriage? Meghan is getting global recognition (and scorn) for her piece; Kate is getting propped up by RRs and KP to sell a “project”.
Nah, KP don’t know how to do counter programming. They told the press late Sunday and tweeted that Kate was doing her big Early Year’s launch this week. It’s clear that KP didn’t know that Meghan was going to publish an OP Ed. As a maternal health and baby loss advocate, Kate/KP could have retweeted Meghan’s article but is anyone surprised that they chose to do nothing instead?
I think had they known about the op-ed, they would NOT have scheduled this launch right now. The comparison between the two women is striking, and not in a way where Kate looks good. The NYT opinion piece had over 34k retweets by the time I checked yesterday – just the initial NYT tweet sharing the article. That doesn’t count everyone who read it from the retweets and all the other press it got. Major figure are praising the piece.
This just feels so flat by comparison. No, KP would not have wanted it this way.
@aquarius, I agree. While the struggle survey (which anyone who has taken even an intro level science or psych class or has ever read a single scientific study can tell is oversimplistic and riddled with flaws) was conceived before Meghan had conceived her second, the timing of these “big” revelations by Keen Kate scream of “those are *my* headlines, shoo!”
I have no problem believing that Kate was going to release the results of the struggle survey in the next few weeks (gotta get those end of year numbers up. I wonder if shooting each video counts as an event?) But dropping this nothingburger two days after Meghan’s OP ed, right before the weekend? Bish is trying to pull the focus back on herself with glaring thirst.
The time they would needed to have the right outfit and lose for photos could not have been done in the 24 hours after the Op Ed was published. And really the side by side comparison is bad for Kate. Meghan’s article was well written and insightful whereas this is basic and they couldn’t even spell basic words on the website.
@nic, I don’t doubt Kate and her team had everything ready to go. But the timing of the release does seem suspect, especially considering that parts of it (such as the typos) seem rushed.
If they did it on purpose to release this the next day… well they are dumber than I thought. Kate looks stupid here.
@nics I agree. And I may be wrong about the timing. Who knows. Regardless, you’re right, Kate looks stupid here. “She” spent the better part of a year on a survey that was poorly formatted, poorly executed, and and that didn’t glean any new info that hasn’t been already researched thoroughly.
At best it seems to me the angle is “where can I most be useful? What of this broad, multi-faceted topic would most benefit from my involvement? What bits need support?” But she spent months and months and had multiple events celebrating the success of… Her team posting an online survey? Kate organizing her own “research” rather than studying available data, or contracting a team of psychologists or sociologists to do the thing well? The whole process stinks of busy work; something endeavored to make Kate feel and look good without anything substantial to show for it. All skin, no flesh or bones.
Kaiser, you missed the best part. The site had glaring typos like “fture,” “belive,” and “substantialy.” And the link the “report in full” is broken. Everything is so subpar, it’s embarrassing.
I couldn’t believe those typos. Did no one proofread those observations before posting? Someone said the Sussex Squad has an inside man at Kensington Palace sabotaging the Cambridges (hahahaha) because it was truly embarrassing that such mistakes were not corrected for her big signature project.
Also, some of the observations touched on the pandemic. This survey was conducted between January and February 2020. Where did they get data on the pandemic yet most countries went into lockdown in March and the effects were only felt much later? I think someone was just trying to be relevant and didn’t even take into account the data collected.
In the words of Donald Trump: Sad!
You ask too many good questions. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The typos were so glaring, it had to be sabotage.
JFC, just set their Word program to “autocorrect” as they type. That would be a BIG help right there!
Can they not even use spellcheck? This was so unprofessional.
When I see typos in published works, I know it’s not worth a read.
Her team are so amateur, that it hurts whenever I have to cringe from their constant incompetence and lack of awareness.
As a previous poster mentioned, the insights are also insulting parents who answered ‘incorrectly’ in their survey. What silly little peasants! *Ironic eyeroll*
Yeah – this is why I think it was rushed out to counter and capitalise Meghan’s article. We were told the results were coming ‘soon’, soon in Keenland is anything from a few weeks to a few years as we’ve seen in the past.
Wow, that insight video with her attaching a piece of paper to a brick wall and the special effect after. 🤣
Remember that the survey only had 4 questions and the fifth question was insert your own opinion.
How many engagements will she get form this bare bones project?
Still, I wasn’t expecting much from her. Basic Duchess is basic. Watch how she will be praised to the heavens. Sounds about white.
Signed an white middle class angry British taxpayer* (and former Kate Stan).
*Hopeful more of those like me are done with her (especially given her treatment of H,M&A).
That video was pointless. As a film maker and a PR I facepalmed myself while watching it. I never cared for her or Will, any royals really but my bf is british (i am not) and he is anti monarchy (i don’t see a point either) and the two of them just enhance why they should all go away. btw do keep your name here, it’s great.
The snark is deserved but my takeaway is more that this borders on the bizarre?!? Is her team setting her up? Who compiled this info and determined “ yep, let’s roll out this earth shattering info!” by setting up a press release?
Could this be an attempt to step on the Duchess of Sussex’s thoughtful essay? I’m mystified….
That’s exactly what they are trying to do to her. It’s like throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing if it sticks, but every single time it just keeps stinking up the joint. They need to give this completion up because they’re only competing with themselves at this point. It’s getting highly embarrassing for Keen and she’s just starting to look even more inept and sad. This project was dead from the start.
Yes, the timing is very glaring. There is still a one-sided competition going on despite the Sussexes not giving a damn about what Bill ‘n Buttons are doing.
Are her PR team trying to sell her as a kindergarten teacher, this is stuff you learn there.
Least she looks like a Top CEO in that last picture. Nice professional look.
I don’t blame Kate for doing the bare minimum if she can do the most basic survey (with apparently flawed methodology) which produces info that is obvious&already out there and get praised to the high heavens & get to shop to her hearts content. There’s no analysis of the usefulness of this data from the press & the public don’t care so why not waste resources when there’s no accountability. also seems to have included info around the pandemic when the survey closed in February & Covid didn’t really hit the U.K. until March so that’s odd.
It was great when Kate’s organised the retailers donor drive for baby banks& think she should be doing more of that& should have highlighted existing studies. It’s hard for KP to come up with action plans to tackle these issues without being ‘political’ (although she’s a white royal so she would probably get a pass) and without action plans what’s the point of this survey? so I imagine using her platform to support existing initiatives and organisations already trying to support families would have been more worthwhile.
Also food insecurity is a real issue in the U.K. right now with record food bank use and teachers talking about having to buy food& supplies for vulnerable school kids. I think this would have been a great focus for Kate as part of early years. Marcus Rashford, a young footballer, has been leading the charge on this issue recently, showing how useless royals (& politicians) are.
“It was great when Kate’s organised the retailers donor drive for baby banks & think she should be doing more of that.”
Agreed, but all the businesses were already donating and she was just given a list of phone numbers to call for a PR drive for both KP and the companies involved.
And yes, Marcus is the real deal!
I wish Kate had a more competent team. I mean, she is lazy and dull but that cannot be helped by whatever terrible staff she has to support this work.
I love the ideas you have on where she should be focusing her efforts. Just watching this debacle as a fundraisers and a programmer and I am shocked at how terribly this has been managed.
She looks pretty and professional though despite the work being meh.
Her team are probably doing the best they’ve got which honestly isn’t much. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
Similarly, you can make a Duchess look keen but you can’t make her work.
I doubt she wants a competent team, they might push her too hard.
Competent staff doesn’t want to work with her – remember Catherine Quinn? It’s not a coincidence that she quit right before this survey launched.
Marcus is totally showing both the Royals and politicians how its done – he’s an amazing role model.
The difference between him and Top CEO is that he WANTS to make a difference, it’s nothing but PR for her.
Exactly right.
I’ve got so, so, so many things to say about this that I don’t even know if I should write it all or just keep quiet because I don’t even know where to begin lol
“I belive the children are our fture” – Dchess Kte.
I lol-ed hard
Bridget! LOL! This is one of the top surveys of our time!
You win, this is perfect LOL
Teach them well, and let them lead the way.
And don’t let the girls wear pants.
This was not a survey, it was more like a quiz.
I still don’t know what the central question of this research was and how the findings are suppose to make a change. What exactly is early years? There are so many mistakes in this from the methods of research to the conclusion. If i were to make a survey like this and write an essay about it my research methods teacher wouldn’t even grade it.
Kate and her gang don’t even understand why her methodology was so flawed in this survey. I bet she doesn’t even understand what the word methodology even means.
And before we get into “but IPSOS” … first they are a polling company and polls are not scientific surveys and second, this is publicity for them.
It’s actually such a shame though because she really could’ve made something of this. She could’ve done a longitudinal research (let’s say 5 years or so) in collaboration with an organization or actual researchers that focus on early childhood development. She could have even skipped the whole 5 big questions and write an essay about early childhood development, quoting credible sources and research. Making recommendations as to what needs changing and where, as a society, that change should start. And then have that published in a newspaper. At least then she would have come with something tangible instead of this vague idea. How exactly is this supposed to help the most vulnerable children?
If Kate had actually worked on this for nine years there would have been plenty of time for a longitudinal study. But she’s too lazy for that and it’s all quick PR.
Most are better off watching the 7Up documentaries to learn about child development and class division in the UK than this tripe.
@NiC919 seven up is the best docu series! i recommend it to everyone! thanks for bringing it up. I just rewatched some of them and am about to see the last two. amazing televison
Buzzfeed quizzes are more rigorous than this thing.
Given the abundance of resources likely poured into this effort, I’m a little baffled by the banality. They seemed to have spent more on the PR (which looks good tbh) than they did developing meaningful questions or synthesizing the results into useful insights.
But I guess try when you’ll always be revered.
This thing is the epitome of a nothing burger.
I called it – #katetips
She took lessons from Pippa.
the awareness is always good- but yes she and her team have to work with real experts and get more precise.
– childcare costs and its impact
-she could also refer the royal family history as some kids seem to have been deprived of emotional support
it is great what exists in California, but in Canada, lots of area have very expensive childcare with only one province did make it accessible and has studies on positive impact on parents and kids. It makes it difficult for mothers to work and thus, revenues are reduced. Daycare is great start for kids and those who cannot attend often get to school unprepared. I was lucky we could get proper daycare despite the prohibitive costs but never forgot my parents could not and lots of parents decades later struggle. It is in a country where we have free healthcare and most people are not concerned about it- it is hearthbreaking. Anyone raising awareness is good for that reason/ the more it is talked about as something that impacts society as a whole, the more the little kids and their parents will be considered.
So yes the work done by her team seems inadequate, I will still give a thumbs up for the topic- despite some having some tools in place, it is obvious most dont have the resources needed and all are impacted- to the obliviouness of people who can afford the best.
I’m sorry but I’m sure most parents who are struggling with resources and access to childcare want something that is practical and will directly lead to results for them. Not a rich white woman living in Kensington telling them that early years is important and is pretending 5 questions with no demographic questions is the same as actual scientific surveys
She’s been a Duchess for 9.5 years. So no, people should stop giving her props for doing the bare minimum
I can assure you most Canadians don’t care about what Kate does ever. They don’t have a media system here that props her up in the same way. Meghan’s article got coverage because she had a well written article that had resonance. But we don’t need a garbage survey done half ass in Canada since there is a ton of real valid research done by Canadians and other well respected scientists. Kate is irrelevant here.
I agree that Canada needs to work on better daycare…. although Quebec does have a program that is much more affordable. Getting other provinces to do the same will be difficult because the remaining provinces have mostly conservative premiers and they still mostly think that women should be the ones to adapt their career then offer decent and affordable day care.
No one here is even going to look at this survey because it’s useless.
Totally agree – affordable and safe childcare is a cornerstone to a stable society. Like, it is a fundamental part of helping families prosper and children learn. BUT, it should also be coupled with appropriate – paid – parental leave and job protections when children are born or adopted. There is significant social science research on the importance of both these parts in helping families and society thrive.
This shit from KP is just patronizing bull. What’s the point of these insights if they aren’t policy recommendations?
“What’s the point of these insights if they aren’t policy recommendations?”
And there you have just hit on the rub Jedi. To effect real change this project would need to essentially call out the government and say that all these years of cuts have had a devastating effect on young children and families who are not well off, and that the government needs to be involved in helping make sure children have what they need. But Kate and the BRF won’t do that. And they don’t seem to be making an effort to look for ways to get around their so-called “non-political” stance to make things happen. And so it will be left to young professional athletes and others to make sure the babies are fed. So really, what is the point of this particular royal family?
It’s The Royal The Office, with CEO Duchess Brent
I agree it appears useless but we are still discussing it because of it-
and there was an study issued this year showing that royal support brings nothing really to charities etc.
This is more about looking at the royal model: two people came in with their hearth on their sleeves and bringing actual changes (aids, mines, kitchen book, clothing for women going to work) and they were treated like they were the worst people on earth- decades apart, same disgust for their effectiveness.
The model is broken, I don’t defend Kate, if the model is different, she would be scolded for doing too little and vapid vague stuff- am
just saying: effective work is despised there apparently. Even Charles was mocked for a long time for his organic produce growing activities. So clearly, anyone who does something good and effective is side eyed.
Wow a few things that are inaccurate here:
1) The BRF doesn’t hate work. Otherwise Charles and Anne wouldn’t be doing 500+ engagements a year and Kate would not be outworked by 3 70 years olds, 2 50 something years olds (one of whom is 11th in line) and a 95 year old. So clearly work is accepted, it’s just that Kate doesn’t want to.
2) Charles wasn’t mocked for doing work. He was mocked because people (at the time) thought environmentalism was kooky. Now people (most of them) know it’s not and Charles has been praised for how much work he’s done for it and how he actually, for the most part, practices what he preaches by making his home environmentally friendly.
Stop excusing mediocrity. Stop excusing Kate’s lack of work.
@Sofia I actually totally agree with MLouise. The kind of work that Anne does is fine with the family because it doesn’t take a single bit of focus away from Kate and the other royals. It gets zero press coverage. I know that what Anne does is valuable, but they don’t see it as a threat.
They saw Meghan as a threat, but it’s because she was. She made Kate look bad from day one. The work that she did was effective, successful, tangible — everything that William’s and Kate’s projects aren’t. The fact that she was a great speaker, had lots of high-profile connections, and was a strong person who knew how to get things done was also frowned upon by the BRF; they wanted to beat her into submission, just like they tried to with Diana. They will never learn.
They want all eyes on their “stars” — unfortunately their stars are lazy, unmotivated, and not too bright.
William and Kate went for the large projects because they wanted to do far fewer engagements and they claimed these large projects would have a large impact. The only problem is that they half ass these large projects and end up have no larger impact than doing multiple smaller events.
It’s all laziness behind this approach.
Sophie and Camilla and Charles have worked on things that are more involved in addition to the engagements. It’s really just William and Kate who don’t want to do the work the other royals have done for decades.
“A 21st century Martin Luther in a wiglet and button-slathered coatdress“
BWAHAHAHAHAHA 😂
Truly I have laughed at that description since this post dropped. Bravo Kaiser!
The Martin Luther reference made me cackle in a way that I cannot even describe.
Kate, do you know why meghan’s projects are succesfull?
She didnt try to solve britain problem.
1. Create a cookbook to help fund hubb kitchen.
2. Smartwork collection to help women to find attire to boost their confident.
By doing these, the projects cause ripple effect that touch and help lots of people.
Stop trying to claim victory and succes before you even did anything. It is really embrassing for people who has a working brain watching you.
“Stop trying to claim victory and success before you even did anything.” This! Aside from her own failings, her PR team is the worst, like everyone working for her are yes-men, incompetent and/or misguided believers in own their savvy and intelligence.
@LikeYouCare and Olenna, ITA.
I don’t even know why Kate has this idea in her head that she needs some huge “legacy project” or whatever— it really seems as if she’s latched onto it because it’s something that she can milk for years and years without having to actually do anything.
Neither Diana nor Meghan, arguably the most successful royals, had one area of focus. Diana might be best remembered for her work with AIDS patients because the images are so memorable, and it *did* make a huge impact at the time. But she didn’t drone on and on about it for years on end; she went on to do work re: land mines and lots of other causes.
Meghan’s projects were unbelievably successful but were spread out over different patronages— the cookbook, SmartSet collection, etc. They were so effective because they got attention and money (lots of money!) flowing quickly to those organizations in a way in which it can continue for years. Kate has never done a single standalone thing like that that was really her own; everything she does is sort of scattered and amorphous because all she really cares about is being photographed enough so that people think she’s actually doing something.
This entire thing has been an embarrassment and I’m honestly surprised that even KP hasn’t tried to rein in all the talk of it being “groundbreaking,” unrivaled,” etc. because that just make her look even worse. William is probably mortified. He’s a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them and he must be able to see how inane this looks. Kate is a joke.
Meghan wrote one essay and it immediately surpassed this huge “rollout” — and it deserved to! That *should* make KP rethink their strategy, but I doubt it will — they’ll just trash Meghan more.
I don’t know exactly what the ideal role for Kate is, but it isn’t this nonsense. The amount of time and energy spent on the PR for this is disgusting. That money could have been spent in so many other ways that could have actually benefited people, but instead it’s paying for a team to make Kate look good. It’s obscene imo.
I’m calling it now — she’s going to keep going on and on about “continuing the conversation” and “raising awareness” until she has grandchildren of her own at which time she will scale back (lol) in order to be a “hands-on grandmother.”
Nothing can come of it because it’s all nonsense cobbled together with no real action plan — but that’s fine with her because all she needs are a few photo ops a year. Absolutely everyone knows that the real change that needs to happen to help these children would involve government intervention and funding, and as she has to stay “apolitical,” it’s useless.
I get why the Royal Rota is following orders and acting as if this is the greatest thing ever, but I’m surprised that no REAL journalist is interested in covering this for the farce that it is.
@Lorelei —– huge bravo for your post…when I think Kate is the woman they wanted Meg to dim her light for or do even worse…how is it possible to be even more mediocre than she already is?
They should let her have her babies and take care of them….she can also model herself after Sophie or Anne by doing the simple stuffs
I am not excusing Kate- I think it is embarassing for an organization to give more credit to her ‘doings’ than to the actual groundbreaking and effective work of Diana, Meghan and Charles (mocking him even years ago was shortsighted).
Don’t excuse the organization that favors people who have no real results to show (yes even those doing all these ‘engagements’ every year- what is coming out of it? No one really knows- Meghan was there 1.5 years and we know the actual results and she is out. So clearly, effectiveness is not looked after there or we would get more results to list other than ‘that person did 500 engagements’ without one single result pointed out.
I say: don’t excuse the firm; they are the one having an issue with groundbreaking work.
Charles has the Prince’s Trust and has turned the Duchy of Cornwall into a very profitable business. Anne has done lots of work with Save the Children. So yes there is output there but you don’t want to see it because that would mean acknowledging Kate isn’t working because she doesn’t want to.
Also don’t diminish the impact of those opening a hospital engagements. They’re the ones that allow the public to see the royals on a day to day basis and see the “magic of royalty” and convince them to keep them around.
There’s a lot of issues with the firm but don’t say that none of the members aren’t working or aren’t doing “good enough work” with no impact.
This is a joke, we are all being trolled, right?
No way, if they had *any* self awareness would they be billing this joke of a project as the “biggest ever study” on anything….i’m speechless.
Do they not have scholars on this project who actually research these early childhood issues and can offer some guidance? Or do KM and her staff purposely keep them away so that they don’t actually have to do any substantive work? She’s such a mediocre joke, highlighted in part by how most of her press coverage revolves around her appearance.
K needs better advice, not to compete with professional researchers- ie this and do what her husband did getting to be the face of a big deal Earthshot prize. Stuff a royal can do well and let’s be honest glamorously. International attention, it was good for W.
Also things M does well like write which unless good at don’t compete-do your own thing like the photography project which reflected well on K.
This project was a big fail.
The photography thing was fine, but does anyone believe that Kate conceived it on her own or did any of the legwork to make it happen?
Also, this is is a matter of opinion and others might feel differently, but imo both of Kate’s recent “signature” projects — the garden and the photo exhibit— might have garnered her some positive attention, but at the end of the day they didn’t actually DO anything or help anyone.
Meghan directly impacted people with her work for Grenfell Kitchen and the SmartSet clothing. There are women walking around London right now who directly benefited from her ideas in a tangible way. Sure the garden was pretty and photo thing was…fine, but they’re also pretty much useless once Kate is done with her videos/photo ops. And they’re easily forgettable IMO.
There’s no lasting impact at all, and no impact whatsoever on any real people in need.
The Hold Still project came from another organization and Kate simply added her name to it. It was at her level though. They need to stop trying to pretend Kate has substance. She doesn’t and no one wants to hear her speak on issues that require serious work, because she’s never done it her entire life.
@Lorelei— “Also, this is is a matter of opinion and others might feel differently, but imo both of Kate’s recent “signature” projects — the garden and the photo exhibit— might have garnered her some positive attention, but at the end of the day they didn’t actually DO anything or help anyone.”
Exactly; the photography was ok but who did it help exactly? history is important so it can help in that regard so I guess that’s the help but it didn’t solve anyone’s problem
What they should have done is collect all those photographs in a coffee table book to sell and use all the proceeds to help Covid victims, or to buy PPE, or to help people who have lost their jobs, or to feed children or something. That’s the logical next step. Use the photographs to make money to help a charity. Everything seems half way done with Kate.
Yeah, as a developmental psychologist with a PhD in this ish, I don’t see anything groundbreaking or surprising here. These “findings” are what make up our research. But nice try!
My favourite comment online about this called Kate “The Duchess of Saying the Bleeding Obvious”. Can this be her new name please?
Duchess Melania is my favorite…that one is a good one too
Kae is so embarassing
I want to be embarrassed for her, but since she has not the strength of character to BE embarrassed by this ridiculous nonsense, all I can feel is outraged for the people in the UK who are stuck with this empty, leaky vessel.
To me, the ‘work’ to show the ‘magic’ (?!!!!) is not relevant work, just appearing to keep appearing?
That is very Kate like- thus what I say: if that is one of the goals, appearing for appearing (which I find useless and just emphasizes anachronism), the. Kate fits more in than someone who brings changes and tangible results.
yes Charles, Anne may want to increase awareness on current needs for all to see and contribute, Meghan showed more results in 1 year and Diana brought awareness and compassion on very important topics.
According to Gert’s Royals:
A total of 527,898 completed the #5bigquestions survey globally.
But:
Using IP Addresses they were able to identify 435,141 of whom were from the UK.
I was trying to remember a term I had read about on Lainey Gossip a year or so ago: fontrom, I believe it was. Whatever the term, I understand and have keenly (forgive the use of the word) felt fontrom for Duchess Kate, whom I don’t care for. I feel extreme embarrassment and humiliation for what I feel is her public humiliation and embarrassment. PLEASE stop. PLEASE. Rather than for true altruism, the public antics are for the public image and personal validation that she NEEDS for herself personally. Otherwise, she would go on about her day to day life as she has for the last ten years without needing vindication. Please just stop. I am so embarrassed, and I don’t even like you.
Sarah,
What you felt is a second hand embarasement.
Its like a girl who wants to participate in a competition, and all her parents and relatives kept embiggen her by saying she is already winning.
And the town (BM and kate’s followers) believe and conngratulating her eventhough the competition is next month and she is the only participant.
@Sarah I that’s exactly how I feel. Embarrassed on her behalf because this is so, so bad.
I wonder if William and Kate’s staff realize this but they feel they don’t have any other options, or if they believe the nonsense KP spouts about her work being “groundbreaking,” etc.? Either way I feel so so much secondhand humiliation for her.
(Especially the part about taking notes in a binder! I did too, in 7th grade. I wonder if Kate’s is also a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper? I get that she’s never had a job but hasn’t she visited enough places to know that everyone works on computers? Why doesn’t she have a laptop?! Everything about it is so cringeworthy.)
Kate finished undergrad in the early 2000s where not all schools were equipped with enough plugs for laptops so many still took hand written notes. And since Kate never had a real job she wouldn’t know that computers were essential in adult jobs. Basically her real world knowledge is frozen at 2003. Kind of like her fashion and makeup
She’s dressed well but then again she’s had years to get it together.
Kate is a laughing stock because of this survey. And I don’t think she even knows it. Sad.
Kate acts a lot like trump in that when she discovers things that the rest of the world already knew she acts as though it was just discovered. This entire project is regurgitation of child development theories from the last 70 years. Maybe she spent her undergrad chasing William and copying notes off others, but the rest of us who didn’t chase a prince already learned what she’s pretending are new concepts. And unless she’s going to bring back Sure Start, she’s wasting everyone’s time.
How much did this self-promoting PR exercise cost? How many thousands of pounds? Plus all the new clothes Duchess Melania AKA St. Catherine, top CEO of the under fives indulged in so she could play dress-up for the sheeple.
(Sorry George, you are now over five and have had your chance. What will be will be – Mummy has to focus on the most important age group now and you no longer make the cut.)
I imagine Kate’s fake project was funded by the Royal Foundation. People making donations to the Royal Foundation probably thought their money would help the disadvantaged and not be spent on a frivolous, personal embiggening campaign. I would be furious to have paid for this circus!
Nothing but remedial princess puffery. If Kate had any self-awareness, she’d be mortified.
She’s speaking English, and according to her education, upbringing, and geographical location, she should be exceptionally intelligible and articulate.
Instead, I need closed captioning to make out more than half of her words. Her accent is as badly affected as her posture.
I don’t understand why the couch keeps appearing and then disappearing. Is she sitting on a chair in front of the couch or on the couch itself?
cosplaying “professional” FFQ look, it’s just a look. Like many others. Good for her for at least trying to look like she works.
I’d prefer she won’t try. I, personally, don’t like pretense, falsification, deceit and so is the majority of people. They can be fooled for a while but the backlash after they know the truth… It can be harsh. Well, maybe she feels safe in her Royal bubble.
I only hope that this project somehow helps support childhood needs in Britain. It is not obvious to me how it will do that, but no matter. I always say Kate and Will have work to do and I am not invested in how well or poorly they do it. There will be a lifetime of this; I’m not going to sweat it.
There is one tip I’d give their team about comparisons to Meghan or Meghan and Harry’s work or launches. They should invest in strategizing their own launch plans as dynamically as possible and accept the attention received on its own terms. The wide world can handle more than one news story in a cycle, so good work properly promoted by one couple can share the news cycle with a high profile story from the other. They really are totally different, with different paths, and the comparisons are boring and unnecessary.
They FFQ and FFQ don’t work to do the actual work. They work for PR and attention. If their “work” has purposes, then one of them – to diminish the other couple, make them go, literally and figuratively. I have to confess that they achieved this one goal – to oust H&M from the country. And they were ruthless and effective in that.
So, as they aren’t interested in actual work then I highly doubt they’ll concentrate on it and leave the other couple alone.
Five questions and they found out 30% just don’t care. Groundbreaking, they really got their money’s worth out of survey monkey😂
Today the DM is talking about Kate’s recycled blazer and proclaiming her as the Queen of High Street. This is so embarrassing! Her work doesn’t garner any real coverage, they only care about what she wears, how she applies her makeup or styles her hair. Again, just so embarrassing.
What else is there to talk about?
Well, she didn’t wear the purple shirt backward this time out.
Kate & her PR team seem to work for Captain Obvious. The lot of them should be embarrassed.
Lol
The entitlement is strong in this one (and her husband)! She and William seem to think that everything they do is worthy of praise simply because they are the FFK and FFQC. She has had a decade to figure out her role and she has yet to do anything substantial. She is just wasted potential: think of the impact she could have had if she started this project when George was 0-5, actually produced a study worthy of an university-educated adult and followed up on the study as her children grew up (taking her cue from projejects such as “7 Up”)! She woudn’t have to do much work, others could do it for her, she could take credit and everyone would think “oh, wow! This is her project!” But no, she does the absolute minimum, throws out a “she’s keen” every few months and then disappears until she deigns to be seen again. I would be so embarassed if I were her.
What if George was one of the study subjects? Obviously not where his name would be attached to his data, but if it was made known that Prince George and Duchess Kate would be participating in this new and exciting Early Years development study. I bet A LOT of people would be very excited to have their child take part in the same study as Prince George. Because people above have claimed that it’s hard to get people to take surveys or be a part of studies and that’s apparently why Kate had to do a very short, very silly survey.
I think this is Kate at her best, and when I say best I mean that this is the absolute most she’ll ever do. You have her talking to the camera, photographed writing to look like she’s working, the RRs are out embiggening. This is Kate’s work ethic at 100% maximum capacity. A lot of this is clearly in response to meghans op-ed piece which I’m assuming has rattled Kate. The sad thing is no one is talking about her 5 question survey, it’s not trending on twitter and no one is sharing stories about how they relate to it or how it’s made a difference to their lives. Meghans op-Ed piece really did something special this week, it got women to actually open up and talk about their own experiences. The hashtag ‘are you ok’ was also trending. That is what you call having an impact. Kate can only dream about having that kind of impact.
Btw, has anyone find it strange that during the break up Kate knew how to dress not like a grandmother and had spiciness sexiness to her but with William she dressed like a Stepford Wife? I feel like we don’t know her.
Call me when she uses this information to lobby for early childhood development funding.
Right. The only way they’d donate anything is if all of UK criticized them and were heading to a republic– they’d use it as a last resort, even though essentially it’s tax payer money anyway.
We know that Kate’s Early Years launch has made no impact because it has ceased being covered by the limited British press as soon as the day of the launch was over. It’s a dud. Meghan’s “The Losses We Share “ article is still being shared and talked about globally long after it was published. The impact is massive.
People are being brainwashed that Kate is an intelligent future queen because she’s backed her project up with a scientific research. But it is so easy to see that she doesn’t have a full understand what she’s mouthing about. She has no vision of where she wants to take this project in the long term. Dull girl.