The Duchess of Cambridge and Kensington Palace spent a lot of time putting together a glossy busy-work package with Kate’s Keen Early Years project. The “five big questions” survey was such a nothingburger, they had to steal data from other polling. The goalposts of Early Years keep shifting, and the data is purposefully vague and unrepresentative. Kate is out of her depth and she lacks the depth to do anything more than vaguely indicate to some basic-as-f–k “insights” from this giant, ridiculous scheme. As Kensington Palace releases more videos, I’m just left to wonder how much all of this actually cost, not only monetarily but also with people’s time. Wouldn’t Kate’s time be better spent actually doing real work? Wouldn’t her staff’s time be better spent rather than creating all of this whiz-bam-boom social media content?
Anyway, here’s Kate’s big speech, which clearly needed several takes as they set up various camera positions. In the close-up shots, she’s actually seething. Her accent is incomprehensible in places too.
She says “many mistakenly believe” that her interest in the early years stems from having children, which she denies. She’s basically pretending that she always cared about early childhood development, which is why she… did literally nothing about it before she had kids. In the past, I’ve often said that Kate uses the Early Years project as a cover for actually learning about childhood development and narrowly applying that knowledge to only her own children. I still think that. So… why even lie about that? Why do we need to believe that she’s always cared about early childhood development?
Plus, there are just so many fundamental flaws with what Kate is actually arguing. Sure, early childhood development is incredibly important… as is adolescence, tweenhood and teenhood. You can have issues in early childhood and grow out of it. You can grow up poor and still be a functioning member of society. You can grow up with all of the access, wealth, love and education in the world and still be a sadistic a–hole. And why *would* non-parents really give a sh-t about any of this? I’m childfree and I believe governments should subsidize childcare, pre-K, education, all of that. But I believe all of that without being some kind of self-styled “expert” on the Early Years.
Speaking of Kate’s expertise, KP posted this video of Kate answering questions about Early Years and the palace had to add clips of actual experts answering the “hard” questions, even when those questions had some really basic, common-knowledge answers. Her makeup is sooo distracting in this video.
Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a question throughout the week – we've seen such an incredible response, touching on so many different aspects of the early years.
This is just the start of the conversation. Thank you for being part of it. pic.twitter.com/jqqV3sMV2R
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 28, 2020
All of the costume changes with these videos… my God. At least she’s largely repeating stuff which was already in her closet.
Insight 4: Parental loneliness has dramatically increased during the pandemic — from 38% before to 63% — as parents have been cut off from friends and family. #5BigInsights pic.twitter.com/S0BmMf3NbY
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace.
I’m so embarrassed on Kate’s behalf and every time I see someone using over the top words and praise to describe this project, I am embarrassed on their behalf as well.
first – it seems so obvious they filmed everything in one day and just had Kate change clothes a lot in order to make it seem like it was over several days. Second – her “5 big insights” are as stupid as her 5 big questions.
This just feels like one big con from KP – all this hype, for Kate to release some IG videos, and then promise to do more work on this in the coming years. This really was just something that someone at KP threw together so Kate would seem “busy.”
The fact that Kate is claiming to have any interests at all is hilarious.
That is so unfair on Kate. She does have interests. Getting the ring, not doing anything for years, tennis, wearing coat dresses with buttons, the wiglets, throwing her sister in law under the bus etc
Truly! I’ve just got no F***s to give for her and her cosplay. I’d like to respect her, but I can’t she’s all show and no go.
Yeah I think you are correct that they filmed everything in one day and she changed clothes to make it look differently. Her hair and makeup don’t change PLUS they’ve used footage from her previous events around this – the videos are very jarring esp since she is wearing something different in every clip. It lacks a proper narrative but i guess thats what happens when you don’t have have much to work with.
Sitting on content from previous engagements is something that is new, esp when it comes to her – they’ve been doing it all year. Trying to make out she’s been doing more than she is, her end of year numbers will be interesting.
yeah, how do you count one event that has been released over several weeks? Does each zoom video released count as one event?
I am no millennial expert but I think those videos look like they have a filter on them… shame you cannot add an intelligence, compassion, and actual GAF filter.
Haven’t you heard the spin? The lack of depth is because this is a long-term project. This is Kate’s passion and something to work on over a long period of time. Rather than the obvious that we’ve heard about this for two years with no results that help anyone.
Kate is brilliant at dragging things out.
I have to admit, I’m almost sort of impressed at the mileage KP has gotten out of this. We first heard about it 2 years ago, then there was the survey in January, now in late November we are getting the much-anticipated results (sarcasm), and now its being spun as the foundation of Kate’s life work. If only the rest of us could wait until we were almost 40 to start “working.”
No wonder Princess Anne was snarky about “reinventing the wheel.”
Until her kids age out of the early years. Then she’ll probably develop a keen interest in the tween and teen years.
There is very little difference between Kate and Melania when it comes to these things. The one difference might be that the US doesn’t yet have a specific set of reporters there to blindly praise whatever that family does. This is as shallow as Be Best and is really only there to prop up Kate doing not much of anything. There is no sincerity there and it’s more about posing for photos to look studious than actual solutions for parents.
The past excuse that we don’t see a lot of Kate because she’s so busy being a hands-on mom is a little long in the tooth at this point – especially with two kids now being school age. They had to come up with something else, because we still don’t see much more of her, nor is that likely to change. This way, it’s all attributed to a deep interest and behind the scenes work on early years that’s been there from way back (even though we first heard about it around the time of Meghan’s cookbook launch). By giving it this high level, academic slant, not only are they attempting to compete with Meghan’s more substantive work, but also, providing an excuse for why Kate just doesn’t have time for more mundane things like ribbon cutting etc. Even though the “typical” royal engagements would be much more suited to her position and talent (or lack of), the truth is, she doesn’t want to do much of that either, because it’s still work.
Just once, I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the reporters who are part of the rota are off the clock and speaking honestly, like if they meet up at a pub or something. There is no way that they believe any of this; they’ve spent time with Kate and I’m sure they think it’s a farce but they write what they’re told to in order to keep their jobs. But I’d love to know their real opinions on it. They must just be hysterical sometimes when they receive this crap from KP.
It remains bizarre that there is a subset of people who call themselves reporters in the UK who pretend they are more than court stenographers when it comes to this family. They are no different than the lady in North Korea or Baghdad Bob. For a country that acts like they have freedom of the press, this remains a bizarre and undemocratic arrangement. The royals have their own PR people so let them earn their money for once.
Actually, the DO: Called “Fox (Faux) *News”
*I do use that word loosely in relation to Faux. Their sycophants are so far up the republiTHUG asses they are tickling their tonsils.
As far as Keen Kate, the “Kingmaker”, Conquering Childhood Questions… it’s just laughable.
I’m guessing it was said so they could avoid criticisms of Kate no longer being interested once Louis turns 6 or something. But she could have also said “I’ve always been interested in kids but I never realised how important early years was until I had my own” or something
Also, is there any reason why she couldn’t answer the temper tantrums question? I know she’s got nannies but surely she’s been around them enough to see how the handle the kids? Maybe she doesn’t want people judging her parenting idk but I thought that was a really basic question that Kate should have been able to answer.
Yeah, I thought that was super weird. and if she didn’t want to be giving advice, then what the eff was the point of answering those questions?
Were it me, I would have said laughed and then said something like – “well, I’m still learning and am far from an expert, but I can tell you that each kid responds differently. With one of them I just ignore the tantrums and they eventually subside, with another I always crouch down in front of them and make eye contact, sometimes I do x.” My friends and I talk about handling tantrums all the time. The fact that she had no answer for that one stuck out like a red flag to me.
+1. That was a really basic question which could have been answered. Even if Kate had no idea what to do, I’m sure they had a look at the questions before filming and could have rehearsed an answer for Kate. Would have also won her PR points for being a hands-on mother
I thought how she reacted to that particular question was odd also. It wasn’t a general question, it was a personal one and she avoided it. It makes you wonder if the answer was “hand him over to nanny.”
She does herself no favours at all. I think her response to that personal question didn’t pan out the way her team wanted because of how she reacted to it. It was like she didn’t know what to do mixed with a moment of complete inner-panic showing on her face. They should’ve brought Nanny Maria in to assist with advice! It was a huge mask-slip moment to me.
It was particularly odd in light of the fact that we all saw her deal with a Charlotte tantrum at an airport. I guess she forgot that.
That was very weird. When my kids were toddlers it felt like every conversation I had with other parents was about how to deal with tantrums!
Being generous, maybe she’s worried about her parenting being judged or her children not being seen as perfect little angels, but their whole schtick is trying to be relatable and “normal” and “just like us”. Easy question to do it with.
Yeah I wondered if it was because she doesn’t want her parenting to be judged which is… fair. Who isn’t conscious about their parenting? But perhaps a line of “every kid is different, even siblings and what works for mine might not work for yours” and said a basic line about what she does with one kid and then gone to the expert for some extra support.
Yeah so I wouldn’t have expected her to say “well I remember this one time where George threw a tantrum over a toy Charlotte had and he wailed about it for an hour so we did X” – like I wouldn’t have expected her to name names (so to speak) or to be very specific, because that would open her and her kids up to judgment (imagine stories about George being “incandescent with rage” or whatever), but there definitely could have been a better answer. And considering she must have known the questions ahead of time, its surprising they DIDNT come up with a better answer for her.
@Becks1 But she has done that. She told some story about George being jealous because his schoolwork during the lock down was more difficult than Charlotte’s assignment.
@Equality ah you’re right, I had forgotten about that. But regardless, I don’t think she “has” to do that to be able to answer this kind of question. Or even since that incident has already been discussed, why didn’t she bring it up again and follow up with how she handled it? The lack of an answer really makes it seem like her way of handling it was to say “Maria, the kids need you.”
I actually liked that part. She seemed relatable. Everyone has to deal with them, but you wonder if you are treating them the ideal way.
But I still thought she could have at least said “with one kid I do this but I’m not an expert so *insert expert here*, do you have anything else you would like to add”
It’s a basic parenting question IMO that should not have been skipped.
Wouldn’t it have been more relatable if she had actually provided an answer to it? Most people can’t pass off the kid to a nanny to handle a tantrum and by not answering she’s really giving off that vibe. Parents who have dealt with tantrums would have easily said “well I let them have a few minutes and then I step in, or I shut them down right away, etc”. This was a filmed not a live event so she could have said something.
but let’s not pretend they didn’t know the questions beforehand and that this was truly sponaneous, they could easily have trained her on what to say.
Yea, I think it’s fine for a light hearted moment. It’s a little weird because they’re marketing her as someome who’s really passionate and is well versed on the subject, so her acting a bit clueless is just…well Kate. But overall, i think that video make her come across as likeable to the GP who barely pays attention to them. Her laughing over the comments and emojis does seem relatable enough for the GP who has always seen Serious and Regal Kate. I know it sounds dumb but people tend to fall in love more with a serious/distant person having such moments vs an always chatty happy person. It’s why people still fangirl over the Queen having a sense of humor or Princess Anne not wanting to meet Trump.
We’ve seen Kate deal with her children having (minor) tantrums in public a few times. She probably could’ve answered the question to some extent. So it doesn’t make sense to me.
She should have answered that question, it was really odd that she didn’t. She could have said what SHE did to handle tantrums and then ask an expert.
Her nannies are the ones that do most of the work. Clearly.
It’s because her nannies are the ones who deal with tantrums not her.
It’s interesting the way she chooses to answer this question. There was a time she was asked when she was interested in ECD and she said when she became a mother. If she were interested before, she did very little in the domain during the years she wasn’t a working royal.
I’m not surprised she chose to avoid the question on the nanny. She probably didn’t want to be criticised for her method. It also goes with her whole approach to duchessing – being a blank canvas for others to project themselves onto.
The real question is was she thinking about William or her kids when she said that she wanted to ask the experts?
I like that purple Gucci blouse- the colour suits her. Thought she seemed quite natural & engaging in that video with the actual experts and it was good to have them involved
I thought she said in her BBC interview over the Happy People app (after being prompted) that becoming a parent sparked her interest in the issues around early years. What’s the point of pretending she was working on this for last 9 years? It’s ok if she’s ramping up now. But it’s almost as if the whole part time royal thing with the queens blessing wasn’t really a thing…
It’s all smoke and mirrors, Kaiser. If they can make it seem she’s done something of substance and impact, then their time has been well spent.
This project was a fashion show/opportunity for Kate to show off her new face. They have tried and failed to engage the international press, particularly the American press. For all the tax payers’ money, PR time, attention and resources spent, the return has been piss poor. Kate just want to cut ribbons. Please let her.
She’s channeling her inner Melania in that pussy bow shirt – is it on the right way round this time?
Also, as for the video where she looks angry – I think that’s her ‘very serious I’m an academic now’ face.
The video of her with the phone she seemed more natural – I took her laugh at that question to be like ‘why are you asking me?’.
Long term fan of your post Digital Unicorn! I’m so sick of the racist sycophants in the UK thinking she’s making some kind of difference. If she genuinely cared about children’s earliest interactions she wouldn’t have been a major player in the harassment of her Sister in Law. I think of myself as both Scottish and British but I hope the monarchy dies after Petty Betty. I’m so glad that Scotland doesn’t have a class system as bad as England.
No she didn’t. She’s never given us a single inkling of interest for the early years before she had kids herself, and even then she wasn’t at all appealed by the topic. They will never admit that all of this nonsense has come about because she wants to compete with Meghan! She wants the impact Meghan has and she can’t stand the fact her ‘work’ falls on deaf ears all the time. Kate, your work flops because you don’t put a single ounce of effort into it. Somebody come help this woman because it’s like looking at a car pile-up every time she sends her spin doctors out.
But why do all this? The Queen hasn’t had any really big project, has she? She just does the comforting speeches things, waves and does minor things at events but gets comments about how wonderful she is. Charles has done big projects but they don’t seem to have made him greatly popular. Kate could have just done the basic appearances and patronages and would have still gotten how wonderful she looked, etc.
The answer is glaring. She is doing all this as a one sided competition against her sister in law and she needs some sort of legacy as a counter to the waity katy label. Even Archie’s tooth overshadows anything that comes out of KP.
To be fair, the world and his mother knew Kate didn’t come into the family with the biggest brains. She was all about survival, knew her place and according to the johnny come latelys, didn’t put a foot wrong. However, this strategy backfired due to the entry of a more charismatic and more intelligent sister in law whose presence exposed Kate’s lack of work and impact. This project has no legs and lacks substance but it’s the only project they can add her name to with a straight face. It could actually have been so much more, if she had the foresight to see beyond herself, put some heart into it and work hard. As a tax payer, I am sorely disappointed but not surprised.
The Cambridges and their staff need to realise that they aren’t good at these big projects. And that’s fine.
Instead have Kate do 300 hospital openings a year. All she has to do is wave, pose, cut a ribbon, shake some hands and then she’s out. It would take her 45 minutes or so per engagement and she doesn’t need to know anything about the place she’s opening or act like she’s done years of research about it.
But the BRF’s insistence that a woman who worked 3 days a week for 9 months and photographed things for her family business has a work ethic and passion for long term projects needs to stop.
Kate coasted on being the youngest and thinnest Royal from 2011 on and she did very little of anything. Let us not forget the “part time Royal” nonsense they pushed until Phil finally retired in his late 90s and she and Billy couldn’t pretend to play that game anymore. Kate has never had any interest in helping others in her life. Her goal was to get william to marry her and she spent her 20s doing nothing but maintaining his interest. Once married she continued to do nothing unless forced because the laziness was glaring.
She was awful at the few events she did with kids until her own were born, and even then it’s only with young children. To pretend she has worked on this for nine years is such a North Korea style lie that the media needs to be ashamed at pushing it. It makes this look even worse that she’s supposedly spent almost a decade on this and it’s still slap dash and shallow nonsense.
@Sofia That would be ideal for Kate doing the bread and butter engagements but she wants to hide behind a big project so it can excuse her laziness. This women hates working.
@ginger and @Sofia – you two are both right, and that’s the issue. Kate hides behind “projects” like this because it gives the illusion that she is actually working – she can use this as an easy way to boost her numbers – if she has to do the bread and butter events (which she is not very good at, even now), she would have to do more of them and she does not want to, so here we are. How many times have we discussed how Kate could get to 200, 300 engagements a year and STILL take months off, and I don’t think she has ever broken 200. She’s just lazy and pampered and the royal family really needs to just accept that and stop trying to make Kate happen.
She’s gotten to 150 once in almost ten years of this. Even crossing 100 engagements per year has been a chore for her.
Seriously, it’s easy to Google. I loved her back then and the first patronages she backed were, I believe, one concentrating on addiction and one on hospice care. Which, fine — her interests changed after some time passed, but don’t blatantly lie to the public. Even if Google didn’t exist, I still remember it ffs.
Someone, I think one of Kate’s classmates at school?, once said that she cares about things that affect her but outside the circle of her own life she’s just not bothered. And it’s stuck with me in the years since because I haven’t seen anything from her that contradicts that.
The start of the early years thing coincided with Catherine Quinn’s entry into the team (2017) and I think it was her way of trying to give Kate a focus that was easy, relatable and something that she might actually take an interest in because she had children of her own.
It was a good idea, but this rewriting of history to pretend it was always something Kate was working on is insulting when all of her work has been in the public eye and there hasn’t been that much of it to look at.
That was her cousin who worked at a university Kate was visiting. They ran into each other at the engagement. Kate has a very hard time being interested in something that is not about her life.
That quote was also meant as a defense and not criticism or Kate.
This makes sense. You can tell it pains her to do ANY royal work or project. She doesn’t care at all.
I actually quite like her purple pussy bow video she seems relaxed. The jacket video on though, she’s bouncing?
Agreed she looks super care free. I didn’t know she could laugh like that, without it seeming like an act. I just wish she would apply herself. She has all these resources. It’s such a waste
I just don’t see how she can tackle this issue without then looking at policy changes. This is the problem with royal being activists. Activism done right is political, because the changes you are seeking, for them to be long lasting, require political influence… and the royals stay out of politics, right?
I’m looking forward to these ambitious plans next year.
I wonder if she’s going to attach herself to Marcus Rashford? Although his work is political 🤔
I think this is the big problem. What can she do in this area that wont end up being political? Raising money for more community centers that are focused on parents and children? (kind of like a “senior center” here in the states but for young kids and their parents?) But that seems like too big a project for Kate.
I feel like anything else – food insecurity, job insecurity, financial issues (which are a huge stressor for parents and that definitely trickles over to the children IMO), healthcare issues (maybe those are less of a concern in the UK?) are always going to end up being political. So she either has to decide to just go for it, and take a stand, which will ruffle a LOT of feathers, or she has to just keep putting out IG videos.
Exactly! You’e hit the nail on the head. She and her husband are being propped up by the current government and she will not dare go against policies that will make them look bad. She naturally is a go along to get along type of person and hasn’t got the clout to stand up for herself or what she may believe in which quite frankly is whatever the RF tells her to believe.
Plus, I feel like a very easy response to that criticism is something like, “making sure small children are fed and cared for well, etc. isn’t a ‘political’ issue, it’s basic human decency” that everyone, no matter their party affiliation, should agree on. If she was truly as passionate about this as she claimed, she would risk some criticism if she knew it could really improve the lives of countless children and that she was the one who made that difference.
It reminds me of how crazy I get when people refer to BLM as a political issue. People asking to not be gunned down for no reason is not political, it’s a human right for god’s sake.
There’s no way to actually tackle it without it looking “political” because it is, inherently, political! Raising money for community centres and children’s programs would be political because it highlights current underfunding and inequity. Advocating for changes to laws or new programs based on expert research would also be political, although perhaps unlikely, and I would also argue that doing nothing and allowing the status quo to stand would be a political act, too.
Research into Early Years has been happening for years – including before Kate herself was born. People (for the most part) know that early years are important but the problem is a lack of government support and policies to support parents.
Either Kate tackles it and advocates for new policies (tricky) or she highlights baby banks (like she did in the summer) and advertise policies that already exists such as a free childcare vouchers, how to claim benefits for your kids, free school meals under a certain age etc etc
So interested that instead of just waiting by the phone waiting for her prince to call she continued her education on this subject for ten years to convert her interest into understanding with critical thinking.
Oh wait.
Never mind.
I think I counted 8 videos in total over the course of like 3 days? It was overkill. And the different outfits were definitely distracting and likely why her media coverage has been poor. There was no single thing people could grasp onto.
I think she looks good, and she speaks well enough. The standards are low, but she satisfies the needs of the job based on optics. On the substance of the project , while she thinks she’s building anticipation by announcing that they will be announcing more things next year, it’s really become apparent that they’re stalling. As of now, the outcome of 9 years of work has been a self-aggrandizing PR exercise to demonstrate “passion” and credibility, while showing very little in terms of helping the target populations. At least one new initiative should have been attached to the report.
Yeah, considering that the big story in the UK is about the Christmas restrictions and COVID vaccines.
The Cambridges are experiencing the same media disinterest that Chuck has had to deal with – they are being ‘upstaged’ by the Sussex’s. That will burn the Cambridges deep inside and will also serve to increase the leaking and negative behaviour toward the Sussex’s.
It will be interesting to see what the press is like around the Diana memorial event next year. I can see the Cams leaking some negative stories about Harry over it.
The Cams always leak and they will continue to do so, but luckily recent events have shown that international interest will always go to the Sussexes. As the UK becomes increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, the RF is looking out of touch, obsolete and of no use on the international stage. H and M got out at the right time.
I always now think about their final weekend in the UK. Up to that point, they were (as usual) being smeared to the high heavens in the press, but when they actually showed up–Meghan in her cute blue dress with Harry under the umbrella–there was no denying the press were spellbound that weekend. It’s like they hated her, but when she was actually there in their faces looking incredible, they could not get enough of her and were mesmerized. I believe it would be similar to that (if Meghan shows up with Harry). The press would spend the entire time talking only about them while the Cambridges are shoved aside.
@l84tea 100% agree. H&M were praised to the high heavens when they came back. The RR were asking why were they leaving in the place! The audacity still gets me. There was an article posted on Twitter where one reporter straight up said that W&K were dull and boring and the royals should just give up because they have nobody left. Meghan’s op-ed threw them for a loop which I think was the reason for the silence. Kate and co just didn’t know how to respond to Meg’s international attention, so they slapped together the 5 insights, hence the errors.
Oh, the Cambridges will definitely leak some stories about the Diana statue unveiling, that’s why I hope Harry plays no part in this event.
She needs to stop lying because we can compare her resume pre-marriage to Meghan’s and even Sophie’s pre-marriage.
I think she was really brought up to think she was special?
Just do the work Kate. Now I know why that lady left.
“Now I know why that lady left.”
Quinn didn’t even stick around for a transition; she must’ve been beyond fed up with her boss by that point. I wonder how long Kate’s current PS will last; she’s another one with a hefty resume who’s accustomed to doing actual work.
The rollout of this “project” has been nothing short of embarrassing. I still can’t believe KP thought it was a good, creative idea to have Kate sticking paper to a wall to highlight one of the insights. Surely some of the staff realize there’s no point to this mess. Even Kate might, judging by the numerous stiff and uncomfortable moments dispersed throughout the million videos they’ve released. She almost looked like a deer in headlights talking vaguely about next year’s plans for the project in her keynote speech.
Well thank goodness we have Kate around to let us know that Covid lockdowns and social distancing and closed schools have made parents feel more alone. That is a ground breaking revelation!
One more insight; when one discovers a miscarriage just mutter ‘deeply personal’ then go about your business. Don’t offer condolences or sympathy as that will encourage the devastated parents to keep looking for attention. Sincerely, duchess Melania.
Exactly!
Maybe Mel will send the “I don’t care” jacket as a gift. I’m sure Duchess Coatdress will love it.
Honestly, if what Kate truly cares about is being a good Mom and having the biggest button collection in all the realm, I am fine with that. I wish they would quit trying to push this narrative about how passionate she is for things when she seems to embody the ‘meh’ emoji face the entire time.
I would much rather Kate be known as the Imelda Marcos of buttony dress coats. It would be shallow but it would seem honest.
OMG, this is so embarrassing.
I had no idea that “parental loneliness” increased during the pandemic…she is such a dimwit
Kate said in an interview last year, maybe on the mommy podcast, that she became interested after she had George and there is nothing wrong with that. Most people become more interested in childhood development when they have their own children. Why does she need to spin this as if all along she’s been well-versed on this issue? And like Kaiser mentioned, why didn’t she work in this before marriage? She certainly had the time. All of this nonsense just to hide the fact that they give her children’s issues because she can’t interact with adults properly. She cannot have a substantive discussion with people over the age of 6.
This is the kind of spin and lie that makes people lift up the carpet to see what’s been swept underneath it. This is why the RF are the architects of their own doom. Exactly what they are doing with The Crown series. Kate should have just spoken about becoming a mother opening her eyes etc and left it at that.
Actually, she didn’t say it in the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast or the BBC Shiny Happy People interview (I read the podcast transcript and I watched the BBC video.
Although, I think that she didn’t seem to care about early years in the past and it was probably chosen for her by her team.
All her team does is stall and they never have anything to show for it. She’s covered multiple issues over the years and there has been no focus. Now they are trying to glue it altogether with ‘early childhood affects everything’… sorry, but no. Just stick to the bread and butter engagements and stop embarrassing yourself with all the basic basicness.
Also, stop buying new green coats and jackets!!
Her team has it pretty good. Cushy jobs in which they barely have to do anything, ever, except for these occasional PR pushes and I’m sure work increases around tours (although who knows when there will be another of those). They probably sit around on Twitter all day and then happily collect their salaries.
More desperate PR to show the future future queen is not a bucket of fluff. Too late.
That’s exactly it, isn’t it? A bucket full of fluff (or buttons!)
I believe you mean fture fture Queen.
😀
This woman is so embarassing
I didn’t take on board anything she has said. Mostly because it’s obvious and frankly she should be ashamed of herself, but also because her eyes are now wonky and one eyebrow is higher than the other.
Bottom line: nothing new to see here at Camp Cambridge–no new information, no new “insights,” and nothing none of us couldn’t have whipped up after a day of internet research.
Or from half a day.
Or from just common sense on the spot.
The fashion parade has been distracting to say the least. And the throwing of random percentages. I made the mistake of opening the Kate pages in RD and the switch from hatred to fawning and declaring her the Queen of all things and how absolutely right she is that she hasn’t attached herself to useless UN teams but kept this whole project independent is mind boggling.
I couldn’t get thru more than two minutes of the first video. I truly don’t understand why she acts as if it’s a big discovery that the early years of a child’s life affect its future. Does she really think no one in the general public knew this before? Not to mention, 100+ years of child development research! Also, i would be more likely to buy into her having always been concerned about “the early years” if she had majored in child development or child psychology or primary education in college, or taken a job working with children.
Watching that video reminded me of the scene from National Lampoon’s European Vacation, where Clark doesn’t understand the hotel clerk’s accent, so he gets out his electronic translater and Rusty had to tell him “Dad, he’s speaking English.”
@Kate M: 😂😂
Kate and KP are behaving like she’s bringing something new to the field of early childhood development. She hasn’t said anything that is groundbreaking or is not already known by the experts. This is about building her image and competing with Meghan and Harry. For follow-up this week would have been a good time to announce one of her projects but we won’t hear anything more on this issue until 2021, mostly likely mid-2021.
She keeps repeating that 90% of the adult brain is formed from experiences in the first 5 years in everything. I’ve heard her say it around 20 times now. What are the other facts Kate?!
She could have done a whole Early Years or similar part time degree in 9 years if she was so interested.
Oh come on guys, take a pity for that poor lady. She is trying her hardest to be relevant.
She doesnt know what she is doing. It is not easy to be a puppet.
Someone need to be a patsy to cover for father in law netflix the crown humiliation.
Lazy bill is busy doing his gardening.
The top CEO is trying her best.
I have really mixed feelings about this whole initiative that I’m not sure I can put it into words. But it’s pretty obvious Kate became interested in early childhood development/issues affecting first-time moms after she had George. She might have done a few events with young kids before having George but there was a definite increase after he came along. I don’t know why she has to pretend she was super interested before she had kids when we know that to be false.
I was never impressed with the survey’s execution and I really don’t know what to make of all these videos for each insight. It all seems overkill and probably could have been combined in one short 2 minute video (but then I guess it wouldn’t be enough social media content to spread out over several days). All these outfit changes are just distracting (though I’ll give Kate minor credit in using mostly repeats instead of showing off a series of new outfits). I do think though she has gotten infinitely better at public speaking. In the longer video where she’s talking about the project it’s the longest I’ve ever heard her talk in one stretch and I thought she sounded pretty good. And it was nice to see a more “human” side of her where she is “answering” questions about childhood development (which they needed actual experts to answer the hard-hitting questions). But yeah, she’s never going to be Meghan. Nobody in the royal family is like Meghan. Meghan is a natural public speaker, unafraid of the camera, and has a charisma that can’t be taught.
“I’ll give Kate minor credit in using mostly repeats instead of showing off a series of new outfits.”
The pricey Barber jacket was new
The green Massimo Dutti blazer jacket was new
There was a new Massimo Dutti jumper/sweater
The red GAP jumper/sweater was new
The navy trousers were new
There was new jewellery
The M&S blazer jacket and the Gucci blouse had both been worn only once before
The Equipment shirt had been worn only twice before
Does she really think this makes her sound better? If this is true, she has been doing a great job of pretending to be a shallow, button-obssessed ring/crown hunter! Seriously, she has shown absolutely no interest in other children before she became a mother and, even since, she is only interested in other children as they relate to her own children or allow her to show her “fun” and “serious” sides. She could have literally done anything during the “Waity Years” (volunteered as an art teacher, spent one day a month at a kindergarten, etc.) and people would have praised her for being involved. She could have done anything other than letting her charities (especially the kid-oriented ones) fold and people would have praised her as the “Children’s Princess.” She doesn’t seem to know anything but cosplaying and expects praise for existing.
No wonder KP staff hated Meghan. Actually working is must’ve been too much when they’ve been putting out stuff like this. They’re trying so hard to push Kate into a box she doesn’t fit in. Her and her team simply cannot execute big projects. She’s better off being scheduled for bread and butter engagements for sports or children’s initiatives.
This video is the first time I’ve actually heard her speak. I’d be quite content if it was the last time too.
LOL, I know what you mean.
Anyone notice how she dropped that clipped accent when she went off script and laughed about talking to the experts about tantrums?
That accent is weird. She is trying to do an old school, upper-class, aristo accent (think George VI /early 20th century fancy pants people) which even the queen only has a light version of. Honestly, there are innumerable tutorials on YouTube about how to speak with that kind of accent and I find it hilarious that she can’t even be bothered to do the work on that. My Mum is English and her parents actually sent her to elocution sessions so I know of what I speak! 😉
Kate’s keynote speech is excruciating. I know they felt she needs help in making public addresses but slowing her down doesn’t make it better, it makes it unbearable. I thought she looked the most natural in a long time answering those questions on her phone. She probably sits on the couch and scrolls through her phone all day anyway, so that’s why it felt more real. Well, I hope Harry and Meghan watched all her videos and speeches on THE EARLY YEARs (™KATE MIDDLETON) because they are truly the audience she’s trying to impress/one-up.
It doesn’t need to be a live interview, so I think taking the time to rehearse or improve a few of these answers would have been okay! It’s bizarre, she wants the credit of being known as a passionate and relatable, but when given the perfect opportunity she just…whiffs. if I were her social media or communications manager, I would be tearing my hair out.
Also, has Kate just discovered emojis? 😂
If you are going to have experts answer, have Kate ask the questions and nod, adding a charming, preprepared anecdote here and there. Then she can be the relatable everymom, just seeking answers from the experts on our behalf (basically every talk show host does this). Or she could use those questions to direct people to resources (the number of parents who are lonely in Covid times sticks out a mile – wouldn’t it be useful to suggest some services they could access?)
I wonder if she is sensitive about her interest in children’s issues because it’s something Diana was involved in, having been a primary school teacher? I associate Diana’s charitable work more with landmines and AIDS, though.
She says the word “huge” a lot.
Let’s be honest, she and her team gravitated towards this topic for the photo ops and easy engagements. She can get her usual angles in with the cute babies for social media and doesn’t have to worry about holding an adult conversation.
Is it me or is Kate slowly morphing into Brooke Shields? With her jawline and those eyebrows I can see Brooke, although Brooke has worked much harder in her life.
Like others I could not understand why Kate did not answer the question about the tantrums. It was a Q&A session. Even if she light heartedly joked that she wished she knew or even said that each child was different it would have been better than what she said.
I miss Meghan, she would have been brilliant at this. Someone who can actually put the work in and who cares.
In her speech she seems especially upset that children not ready for school cost the state £17 billion a year. Her reaction is distasteful as it shows she cares more about money than the wellbeing of the disadvantaged: idle rich woman is angry about money spent on the poor.
As for all these videos – seven or so in total? She comes across as a fame-hungry wannabe celebrity with the endless parade of new clothes and big hair while looking so obviously in love with her own image.
Careful now, Waity Katy: you run the risk of eclipsing the FFK in the news – and look how that worked out for Diana.
I noticed that too. They keep mentioning the billions spent on poor children, but the billions spent on them, not a peep. This elitist belief system is working my last nerve.
Wow, that first video is an experience. Why does chica keep flashing the white supremacy hand signal—freudian slip much? 🤣
Kate’s launch was a big fail. It didn’t have the impact it wanted to achieve both in the domestic and international scenes. It has been forgotten as soon as it was launched.
Meghan’s op-ed has been shared, re-tweeted and talked about globally. It had the powerful ripple effect that nobody dared imagine. And is still being talked about long after it was published. That’s power and relevance.
It’s a fact. Women who stalk their husbands for a decade are almost always keen on early years.
This is all to counter Meghan’s narrative of being an “activist “ since she was eleven years old (which still blows me away) and having years of visible involvement in areas she cares about. Poor Kate has two “other women “ in her life, Rose and Meghan.