Did Duchess Kate misspell ‘country’ in a message to transportation workers?

Britain's William and Catherine arrive on the Royal Train in Manchester

Here are some photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving in Manchester last night for what looked like a Midnight Keening…? Well, I make myself laugh, that’s all that counts. Will and Kate posed, William took off his mask and made a little speech, thanking people for showing the best of human nature in a pandemic (he said that maskless, again), and they highlighted a charity called FareShare. They also got yet another private concert, this time by “Wayne Ellington and Manchester Inspirational Voices, presented by Band on the Wall, a local independent music venue which has been supported during COVID-19 by the Government’s #CultureRecoveryFund.”

Kate wore much of the same outfit she wore earlier in the evening during the stop in Yorkshire, only she changed sweaters to this Fair Isle look, which is really cute. I generally wouldn’t wear most of Kate’s clothes, but occasionally I’ll really want some sportswear or a cute sweater on Kate, and I’d love the ID on this one.

Meanwhile, I’m sure everyone saw this, but way back when Will and Kate started their Pandemic Train Tour, Kate wrote – in cursive – a message on a whiteboard to transportation workers:

kate handwriting country note

As you can see, it appears as if Kate misspelled “country.” She left out the “N”. Perhaps she was spelling it phonetically, from her weird hyper-posh accent, where she leaves out letters all the time. Anyway, I’m not going to yell at her for misspellings, as you well know, I misspell sh-t all the time, here and on Twitter. It happens and not everyone is a great speller, you know? What I will criticize is Kate’s move to suddenly show us her cursive writing all over the place, because You Know Who could write in perfect calligraphy. Also, they had to give Kate the message to write on the whiteboard. She copied it by hand.

Britain's William and Catherine arrive on the Royal Train in Manchester

Britain's William and Catherine arrive on the Royal Train in Manchester

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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157 Responses to “Did Duchess Kate misspell ‘country’ in a message to transportation workers?”

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  1. Sofia says:

    I think she missed out the “u” actually. The letter next to the “o” or what I’m assuming is the “o” seems to be the “n” and it looks similar to the other n’s she’s written in the text.

    • GRUEY says:

      This is what I think. I am perfectly ready to believe she daydreamed about princess sparkly pink castle shit all through school and can’t spell for shit, but I would totally scribble country the same way—ie letting a few pen strokes stand in for multiple similar letters and U and N are actually kinda similar in cursive.

      • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

        I taught cursive in 3rd grade. Even when principals told me to not “waste the time, they’ll be typing everything” (same principal told me not to worry about times tables, as they’ll “always” have calculators, and my FAVE one: they don’t need to know how to spell, there’ll always be spellcheck lolol). I still think it’s important to have certain “skills”, to not be overly reliant on “things”, and to be able to be able to write like an “adult”, and not be using chicken scratches or block printing when you’re middle aged is one. Now, I’m not saying to go back to having best handwriting prizes in school, but c’mon! lol

        Apparently, I was a dinosaur in this thinking. I have two college age nephews (22/20). I KNOW both were *taught* cursive (I taught them!), but yet, when they actually *have* to write by hand, it’s sloppy printed letters. It kills my teacher’s soul seeing it lol.

      • Amy Too says:

        I’m so glad you still teach/taught those things. My son is in high school. He cannot spell for the life of him. He’s always asking me how to spell things because he’s so far off that even spell check doesn’t know what he wants. And his writing was so bad that we actually went to an occupational therapist in middle school and she found out he had never been taught how to hold or move his pencil correctly, so his hand and wrist would get tired and sore very quickly. He never learned cursive either and when he has to sign something, like an “I will not use the school computers for nefarious purposes” contract that they hand out each year, he can kind of do his first name in cursive, but not really his last name. It’s…. unsettling.

        He is very good at his times tables and mental math though.

      • PEARL GREY says:

        When it comes to writing, perhaps Kate should stick to her area of expertise – posing, holding a pen in the wrong hand, poised above a blank notepad, for the ‘gram.

      • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

        Amy, it kills me to hear this. Properly holding a pencil/positioning the hand/arm AND THE PAPER (makes a BIG diff, esp. for cursive!) should be taught in PreK, K at the LATEST. While I *get* it wasn’t a big priority in schools for the last 15-20 yrs or so, it is SO NECESSARY!! The HUGE push on testing (and teaching to a test, instead of critical thinking) moved a LOT fell to the wayside, incl. the arts, music, and P.E.. HUGE fail for education.

      • missskitttin says:

        Agree!

      • MrsRoper says:

        Where I work none of the young interns knows enough cursive to sign their own names, even though it’s required for their payroll time sheets. They doodle a few loopy letters and have a hard time being consistent. It’s painful to watch them try to sign something. I had to help two of them come up with signatures but they hated writing. I resorted to making digital signatures for them (payroll is due on Tuesday morning, and I gotta pick my battles). From what I understand, digital signatures are just as legal as handwritten ones. It’s too bad, and I’m a mom of a young man with dysgraphia, so I’m familiar with writing struggles.

    • Bibi says:

      Yah…. she missed the u and spelled it “contry”… copying from a cue card. How hard is it to write something from the heart when you’re supposed to have that many years of experience with people? To me, this is completely unacceptable. In a real life job, I would call this incompetent.

      And all of us better have no mispelling in our comments on this post lol

      • BeanieBean says:

        Er, um, it’s actually ‘misspelling’….

      • Eenie Googles says:

        Ahahahahahahahah😂

      • Still_Sarah says:

        @ Bibi : I am a teacher and often write on the board. I always print as it is hard to write cursive while you are standing and you’re writing it big enough for people to see. I can never keep it on a straight line. And sometimes the marker just goes places. So I assume Kate was writing and made a mistake.

    • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

      This is a woman is approaching FORTY, and she can’t write a simple sentence from MEMORY, let alone FROM THE HEART, because she really doesn’t give a shyte. (Misspelling….eh… we all do it, but SHE is supposed to be repping her Queen and Country. It’s only ONE SENTENCE, you’d’ think she’d get it right!).

      Wonder what she had to be bribed with to go on this tour (no new clothes or jewelry…or is she getting that for Christmas? Nah…PwBT is too cheap to shell out, the comes from the budget from Charles).

      • MangoAngelesque says:

        She can’t be bothered to SPEAK a single sentence from memory at near forty, how could she be expected to remember how to write one? Her penmanship needs closed captioning as badly as her put-on cut-glass accent does.

      • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

        OMG Mango….*Dead* lolol

      • LittlePenguin says:

        How could she not remember this one simple phrase? Copying it from a card? I feel this is a basic skill she should have mastered in princess training.

        It’s funny, my 6 y.o. calls cursive ‘fancy writing’ and is trying to teach it to himself because “it looks nice!”

    • Emm says:

      I agree and it also looks like she throws in regular letters here and there too, like the “r” at the end of year isn’t cursive. I don’t understand why she decided to write in cursive anyway, I think it looks sloppy. Also, we are the same age and I’ve been writing cursive on the kids Christmas gifts from Santa to throw them off and it is hard to get back into! I have to go slow and forget how to write some letters.

      • Lady D says:

        I have to admit, it astounds me that anyone could forget how to write a letter. Is cursive a thing of the past? I do remember really dreading grade three because we had to learn how to write.

      • Amy Too says:

        Santa also writes in very perfect cursive at my house too! That capital S that has to go into the little a always gets me.

      • yinyang says:

        She probably wanted to show it off to compete with Meghan’s nice penmanship.

      • Emm says:

        @Amy too- YES!!! That’s the one that looks the worst lol I’m like thinking to myself, does the S connect or is it one of those capital letters that stands alone in cursive, hilarious. Other then that I think I’m doing a pretty good job although it still looks like I’m in fifth grade writing in it.

      • Nic919 says:

        My mom was taught by Catholic nuns so you can bet I never heard the end of it when it came to my cursive writing. (She simply gave up on my brother because his teacher decided that spelling wasn’t important in grade 2 and she had bigger fish to fry with that issue) I’m ok but I don’t have the copperplate that my mother, aunt and even grandfather did. The nuns were hardcore I am told.

    • Elizabeth Phillips says:

      I’m actually more concerned about William’s chicken scratch signature that looks messy for a five-year-old kid. That’s how he’s planning to sign papers from the red box?

  2. Becks1 says:

    She changed…….again? What is happening on that train that she has to keep changing? Two and a half outfits in one day is a little extreme, right? Also, they really arrived at midnight? Lordy.

    As for the misspelling – I cant tell if she missed the “n” or the “u” – it could be contry, depending on how she writes her “Ns”. I would have a lot more sympathy for this if she was just writing off the top of her head, but she was using a CUE CARD to write a very basic message. No excuses.

    • Mac says:

      I spend so time on my laptop I barely write anymore and when I do, I spell everything wrong.

      • Becks1 says:

        My handwriting is definitely worse that it was years ago, because of laptops and phones like you said, but she was copying from a cue card! If she was just writing the message and missed a letter here or there I would be a lot more sympathetic, but she was copying!

      • Mac says:

        When I am taking notes at a conference I am often writing verbatim from the screen and still spell everything wrong.

      • Becks1 says:

        Okay lol but you’re not the future future queen who is writing a message that is supposedly about support and not bad spelling and who knows its going to be circulated widely. It’s okay to expect better from her in a simple 2-3 sentence message.

        Unless….omg….are you Kate?!?!?!!? Please tell us!

      • GuestwithCat says:

        I can’t fault Kate or anyone who has let their cursive writing atrophy. I make the exact same mistakes as Kate did on MY OWN NAME.

        I’m thankful we were able to put our daughter into a Montessori program through the entirety of her primary school years. She has excellent cursive writing skills. And she was able to read historical documents at the museum that her classmates were not able to decipher at all because they were only taught how to print and to read only print.

    • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

      Maybe they get “end of the year numbers” credit for each outfit? You know, how like deplaning is one “event”, walking across the tarmac is considered another, greeting the dignitary the third….?

      It really would NOT surprise me.

    • notasugarhere says:

      There’s a copy of a letter to Wimbledon from years ago floating around, thanking them for posh freebie seats. At least one mistake in that one too.

      • Wiglet Watcher says:

        Nota
        Not sure if another mentioned it, but she also wrote a note left at a grave site/memorial? That had incorrect spelling also.

    • BeanieBean says:

      I have a ‘u’ followed by an ‘n’ in my name & when signing something I frequently mess that up anymore. It happens most when writing vertically with my finger on some sort of electronic gadget. I’m willing to cut her some slack on this one. This one thing only.

      • Becks1 says:

        To a certain extent I get it – my name is Rebecca and as weird as it sounds its hard to write in cursive, because the “e” and the “b” and C”s all have similar shapes and it kind of runs together. (I used to have gorgeous handwriting in 3rd/4th grade, very pretty script, and then I completely changed it to be like the “cool kids” – so made it smaller, half cursive/half print, etc and to this day its not the worst but not the best.) And I’ll cut her slack on the signature, you aren’t supposed to read those LOL.

        and NO ONE can sign on those electronic gadgets lol.

        but here? if your handwriting is such that you look like misspell every word, then you should work on it a little bit, because it IS going to reflect back on you, as we are seeing in this thread. Is it that Kate’s handwriting is so bad that we cant read it, or is it that she cant spell, even when writing from a cue card?

  3. Levans says:

    She spelled it correctly but her writing was rushed so the letters run together. However, she had to copy the message from a card?! Face palm. These two struggle with authentically connecting to people. I mean seriously, how hard would it be to write a message of thanks from the heart/without a cue card?!

    • Eleonor says:

      That’s my thought too.
      I have an awful writing and I see where all the letters are LOL

    • Ginger says:

      This woman does not a single thought in her head.

    • Lemons says:

      I have rushed handwriting at times too, but this is an error in writing that may have been caused by rushed writing. If I was a teacher, I would circle the word and say, “PAY ATTENTION NEXT TIME.” minus -1 point, or whatever.

      PWT’s chicken scratch is absolutely embarrassing.

      • mynameispearl says:

        I made mad mistakes when I hand write, not nearly as bad when I’m typing.

      • Nic919 says:

        William’s signature is pretty awful. Knowing that it will end up on documents in the future you would think he would work on it. And being a lefty doesn’t count. Barack Obama has a great signature and he’s a lefty as well.

      • BeanieBean says:

        His looks like a child’s following his mother’s signature, small, cramped, & illegible.

    • Belli says:

      It’s two sentences! And one of them is a Merry Christmas! And she needed a cue card!

      The bar is on the floor.

      • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

        Try sub-basement. George, at age 7, can write a single sentence w/out “notes”. (Retired primary teacher here)

      • Levans says:

        Absolutely agree! It is a generic message that did not require a cue card. The bar doesn’t even exist anymore.

      • notasugarhere says:

        The bar is subterranean, as a former poster on here (Sixer? Bluhare?) once wrote.

      • Anners says:

        (I miss sixer and bluhare)

      • BeanieBean says:

        Maybe Kate, like William, doesn’t read her prep notes prior to her trip, so maybe she had no idea she was going to have to write something on that whiteboard until an assistant handed her the card & pen.

      • Becks1 says:

        @Beaniebean – honestly that’s the only thing that makes sense. That explains the rushed handwriting (if she was put on the spot), any misspellings, etc. someone just tossed a card at her and said “here” and she was probably like “oh sh!t.”

      • Lady D says:

        “(I miss sixer and bluhare)”…and LAK. They were the best on British threads.

  4. Seraphina says:

    I think it this is due in part to her handwriting and it looks like she misspelled the word. BUT her handwriting is terrible. Good Lord. It reminds me of when I read my children’s papers and ask them if their teacher ever mentions how terrible their handwriting is.

    • Queen Meghan's Hand says:

      Good gosh it is horrible. I bet her print is adequate and better yet legible. But of course she must write in cursive because Meghan was a calligrapher. Except that Meghan was TRAINED! These two people want to do no damn work and get all the accolades and credit.

    • Mac says:

      My handwriting is atrocious. I practiced all the time when I was a kid and it’s still barely legible.

      • Vera says:

        same here @Mac
        I am still sensitive and scarred for life about. I am not dyslexic, but I read it somewhere that sometimes when your brain works faster than your hand, it can cause issues with your handwriting and typing. I often have typos too (not spelling ones, but letters mixed up or left out) when I type fast in a chat. My spelling is better than most of my colleagues as English is my second language so I had to learn the spelling of words too. So it doesn’t happen because I don’t know how to spell a word, but because of my typing and writing issues.

    • Vera says:

      to be fair, her handwriting is better than mine, it seems fine to me. I was a gifted, straight A student all my life, but I was always dragged about my handwriting. So I will defend her on this.

  5. Genevieve says:

    I definitely see that as the dry-erase board equivalent of a typo. Her n’s and u’s would be very similar wrist motions, and it’s super easy to get lost in the looping up and down, more so than when you’re writing on paper. (But when I think of how M would be dragged for this, it makes me feel less generous)

  6. ABritGuest says:

    Think ‘country’ was missing the ‘u’ and could be her handwriting but looked like ‘the’ was missing ‘e’ too. Looks like she was copying message from a card. If so can’t believe she needed to copy such a basic message. I’m starting to feel sorry for Cathy. I think she’s under a lot of pressure

    • Lady D says:

      Same with the word year at the end of her sentence. It looks like she forgot to put the a in the word, but at the same time, it kind of looks like it is there, or my eye is seeing what my brain wants to see.
      She might not also be under so much pressure if she hadn’t run her brother & sister-in-law out of the country, either. She experienced great joy in her attempts to destroy Meghan’s life. You play, you pay.

    • Amy Too says:

      She’s under a lot of pressure because she’s constantly doing things she hasn’t practiced. Speaking, writing, engaging with people normally, raising money or awareness. I can’t really feel badly for her anymore at this stage. It’s like if someone’s literal job was professional ice skater, and they knew that everyone would be watching them ice skate, and they decided they would never ever practice, not go to any of the “lesser” events to become more comfortable performing in front of crowds, and only ever showed up once every four years for the olympics. Then they were super stressed out because they knew they were sorely unprepared, they looked miserable and made everyone around them feel nervous and anxious because they know she’s not going to perform well, and then spent the whole time on the ice falling down and making everyone feel a ton of second hand embarrassment at having to watch their performance.

  7. NashvilleGirl says:

    Spelling doesn’t count on white boards!

    • BeanieBean says:

      😉

    • TeamAwesome says:

      As a teacher who used to do a lot of writing and composing of music on whiteboards in the before times, nothing gives me a panic attack like writing on a board in front of people. My legit first panic attack that I remember as a kid was in high school when I kept writing an s instead of a 5 in geometry class and I just could NOT get it right. It is actually why I try to limit the amount of times I have students write on the board.

  8. Harper says:

    The fture fture Queen of the coutry.

  9. Mindy_Dopple says:

    She had to have A NOTE TO COPY this very short message onto the board. Wow. That’s all I have to say, she couldn’t remember a very short and nice message. Or think of it herself!?

  10. Digital Unicorn says:

    LOL – I think the ‘u’ is there but its squashed between the ‘o’ and ‘n’. I do that sometimes when i write and my handwriting is terrible.

    • Seraphina says:

      I do too, I mix cursive and print when I write and my kids can’t decipher what I write at times. Regardless, she should practice her handwriting. I mean, if I knew I was going to be FQC and my writing would be under scrutiny, I would try my best to make it look legible.

      • Mac says:

        A grown woman should practice her handwriting for a white board at a train station? There are plenty of reasons to ding Kate, but she is entitled to her own handwriting.

      • Seraphina says:

        To each their own, I would make sure my handwriting is not a mess. especially when handwriting experts will analyze it because I am sure they will.
        I write on dry erase boards all the time for meetings (used to anyway) and I was VERY conscientious of my handwriting and if it was legible, Maybe it’s because it was drilled into my head as a young child.

      • Nic919 says:

        Being conscientious isn’t something Kate will ever be. She’s there to be served and dammit we better praise her for it.

      • notasugarhere says:

        When the notes will be kept or photographed for posterity? Yes, she needs to put thought and care into it. As Nic919, that won’t happen because Kate is Kate.

      • Mac says:

        @Seraphina As a left handed student in school in the 1970s I was pretty much on my own because my second grade teacher didn’t know how to teach a left handed child. Was I not raised properly because no one in my life was left handed?

      • Nic919 says:

        Kate is right handed and doesn’t have that excuse at all. If this was William who is left handed them I agree that many teachers did not properly teach left handed students, but again, Kate doesn’t have that excuse. That was just sloppy on her part.

      • Seraphina says:

        @Notasugarhere and @Nic919 – Exactly this on all your points.

  11. Lyds says:

    Did no one else notice that she also misspelled “throughout” or am I just seeing things? Definitely some recurring trouble with the “u.”

  12. Noki says:

    Williams signature is so bizarre,what does it even spell?

  13. Jenn says:

    She was cosplaying Meghan throughout this trip. The coats, the boots, pumps and pants. Except for the first green coat everything was lifted from Meghan.

  14. Redgrl says:

    Ah it looks like she was writing fast – the word “throughout” has letters running together too. I’ll criticize the train jaunt for its Marie Antoinette cosplay though and the use of a cue card…

  15. Mrs. Peel says:

    I was really hoping she had written ‘cuntry’ instead.

  16. Elizabeth says:

    Her handwriting is not good — mixed cursive with straight?! I wonder what a handwriting analyst would make of that.

    • Betsy says:

      That’s actually a style they’re teaching in some places. I do not think that’s what she’s doing, but it is a thing.

    • Myra says:

      I noticed too. Lots of inconsistencies in the letters. She should have taken her time to write it. It’s not as if the train was going to leave without her. Plus she had a cue card to assist.

    • Nic919 says:

      Maybe this is what she was practicing when she was posing for the Poe chart photos.

    • Keen Kate says:

      I’ve seen Kate’s handwriting before and it is much nicer than this. Is something going on, can’t she use a dry wipe marker or did she not write the previous things herself?

  17. Faye says:

    Don’t understand why a simple message that she left needed to be copied from a card. That’s very strange.

  18. Ches says:

    “country” and “throughout” both appear to me as just a handwriting thing. I know when I write in cursive quickly, I tend to mash-up the strokes of letters like M, N, U, and E.

    What irritates me more is the children’s mask on her face!

    • Maevo says:

      Yeah this just looks like a case of everything getting smooshed together when writing in cursive.

  19. Andrew’s Nemesis says:

    Shame she didn’t leave the ‘o’ out. Then she’d have described the UK’s current government.

  20. Kate should’ve practiced and memorized what she’s going to write while she was on that long train ride. If she did she didn’t have to require notes to copy from and need not be attacked for being dim and dull by the public. A little effort would’ve gone a long way. Maybe that’s why William is so pissed off with her when they’re in public. She indeed has difficulty forming ideas which, most of the time, leaves her looking dumb. And William sees through this and couldn’t help but show his exasperation toward her. She doesn’t make him proud in this department.

  21. Belli says:

    It looks like she also wrote “throghout” instead of “throughout” and “wishig” instead of “wishing” and “th” instead of “the”.

    Her fans gushing over her handwriting from this (because Meghan can’t be allowed to “win” on anything) is hilarious. It’s actually hard to write on a vertical board, so I sympathise there, but her handwriting here is not good.

    And needing a cue card to copy a two sentence message? Yikes.

  22. Abby says:

    “the” behind country looks like it’s missing an e too….trying to be Meghan was clearly distracting her

  23. Mignionette says:

    2 years at Prep school = £50,000
    1 Year at local public (private) school = £25-30,000
    6 Years at Marlborough = £210,000
    Gap year @ £30,000
    4 Years at St Andrews (fees and board etc) = £140,000

    Total = @ £455-460,000 (@ $780,000)

    Not knowing how to spell the thing you will rule over one day = PRICELESS

    • Nic919 says:

      🤣🤣🤣 comment of the week!!

    • Redgrl says:

      @mignonette – bahahahahhaha!

    • Keen Kate says:

      Actually, it would be more years than that!
      Nursery (age up until 5)
      prep school: ages 5 to 13
      secondary and sixth form: age 13 to 18.

      She went to:
      St Andrews School Berkshire (and boarde department of the times). Fees are £6,280 per term (we have three terms in a year) and boarding costs are £1,150 per term. Total per year would be over £22,000
      Downe House: £13,050 per term, so over £39,000 per year
      Marlborough School: fees are £38,955 per year

      These are the basic fees, they don’t include extras

      • Mignionette says:

        @Keen Kate I quoted the historical fees at that time and decided to draw the line at the latter stages of prep school cos I got tired lol – but yeah you’re right, the Midds likely paid in excess of £500k to secure the future King of England.

        Ok just checked Wiki and this twat has been privately educated from about the age of 6. So yeah, absolute shocker.

  24. Ann says:

    “the country moving throughout” and “wishing” all have missing letters due to poor penmanship. But it’s better than William’s childish scribble.

  25. Liz version 700 says:

    I have to say my signature is barely legible these days thank to strain from constant typing. I daw my old passport when I turned it in for a new one and I had to laugh, in my 20’s you could read the actual letters in my signature.

  26. MerryGirl says:

    Can’t even write a message without the help of a cue card? This is the kind of FFQC that the UK deserves for all their propping up of white supremacy and the class system.

    • Lady D says:

      Two freaking sentences and she needs to copy. Reminds me of Trump and his “person, woman, man, camera, TV utterance.

      • Liz version 700 says:

        Agre it’s not great that she needs crib notes for 2 sentences. How many people had to help her write it?

  27. TeamMeg says:

    If she really wanted to impress with her day coats, she should have brought exactly ONE. (One winter coat is enough for everyone else.) These colorful wool numbers don’t even look warm; they’re all cut too snug. As for the black stiletto boots: ouch on every level.

  28. HeatherC says:

    Whether she misspelled at least one word or just has crappy penmanship (like me) isn’t really the point. She had to have a note card for TWO simple sentences!! How hard is it to remember? This is the future future queen consort Britain is getting so they better keep lowering those expectations.

  29. BW says:

    She not only misspelled “country” as “contry,” but she also misspelled “throughout” as “throghout.”

  30. Mle428 says:

    I blame autocorrect for all of these erro……er….nevermind. I also want to share that Willie’s signature makes me incandescent with rage.

  31. Golly Gee says:

    Never mind the spelling, did those poor singers who gave the private concert wear masks or were they risking their health by singing without masks?

  32. yinyang says:

    Matchy matchy how cute, they need to get jobs. The copying from the card shows just how rehearsed they are, everything you’re seeing is fake, but I guess some people prefer it that way.

  33. Amelie says:

    Whether she misspelled it or not, I feel like I’ve seen similar “mistakes” in other people’s cursive where several letters run together and you can just make out the word due to a few recognizable letters. Most of us can’t read cursive anymore since it is being taught less and less. I was taught to write in cursive as a kid but around middle school I transitioned to print letters because all of my peers were writing that way and I thought it was the “cool” thing to do. Now I can hardly write in cursive except to sign my name. I want to get back into it but I feel like transitioning to print lettering took me forever, that it would take too long to get back into cursive.

    I also love Kate’s sweater here. It is supposedly inspired by traditional Icelandic designs and I remember seeing these cute sweaters all over Iceland when I visited in 2019. They look so cozy and warm!

    • Hannah says:

      I also want to say “whoopsy daisy Kate old girl” but we weren’t taught how to write cursive at school. I’m pretty certain Kate’s generation were taught cursive tho? Gonna throw her a chicken wing sized bone here and chalk it up to writing on the white board. I’d stuff up my own name if it were me. The cue card tho 🙈 OML! Get it together Kate FFS

      • Amelie says:

        How old are you if you don’t mind me asking? I’m 32 so I went to school in the 90s in the USA. I went to a French-American bilingual school though and the French were really into teaching their students cursive then, I dunno if it’s changed now. Did American schools teach kids how to write in cursive in the 90s? I truly don’t know because I didn’t attend an American school until 9th grade.

      • Becks1 says:

        My son is in third grade and is learning cursive this year (which is interesting since its all virtual.) We’re in the US. He was supposed to start last year but the pandemic happened. (I remember also starting to learn in 2nd grade.) I do think that all the virtual learning is having a negative impact on students writing, my kindergartener is getting very good at typing but his handwriting isn’t really improving, even with practicing with a dry erase marker on his papers etc. Its just not the same as what he would be doing in full time school.

      • Natasha says:

        @Becks – my boys are 24 and 29 and neither learned cursive past about 3rd grade.

      • JustJJ says:

        I went to school in the US in the late 90s and we learned cursive starting in K and up until 3rd-4th grade. This is how I’ve always taken notes. My everyday writing has devolved through the years to a print/cursive hybrid but I still write in cursive formally when I need to. Also “Midnight keening” = ded. LoL. Come for the misspelling, stay for the Midnight Keening.

  34. MA says:

    I can’t, the bar is in hell. People would jump on Meghan for the tiniest mistake or for wisps of hair but people fall over themselves to excuse this. Ten times better to get half the praise.

  35. Dollycoa says:

    Its difficult to write on a whiteboard if you’re not used to it, and I doubt her experience of shopping, getting her hair and nails done and going on the treadmill ever called for writing on a whiteboard. However the not being able to write one sentence without a cue card? Whats that about? Its like she is an actual robot that doesnt understand ” write a heartfelt sentiment’ without having it written out for her beforehand!

  36. CC2 says:

    I think the handwriting/mistakes are fine. It’s hard imo, to write on a board. My handwriting is naturally messy and I would have effed up too. BUT a cue card. Girl! I would have understood if she was copying a note in another language, or if she was writing down a quote or a poem or something….the way the public really let them get away with anything

  37. LeftCoastal says:

    Reprehensible spelling aside, I’m confused about these mini ‘concerts’ that are happening at their stops — are they entertainment for The Unables? Or for people who came to see them? This is a tour for THEM to thank healthcare workers, yet they’re the ones who are being entertained at every stop? What in fresh hell is this pandemic train tour even about? So sloppy and not thought out properly.

    • BeanieBean says:

      There’s some mention of a cultural grant or something? Some sort of governmental assistance for performers during the pandemic? I agree, it’s a muddled mess when you can’t understand the message or the intended impact.

  38. elviechina says:

    They always manage to make everything look so difficult and/or awkward.

  39. MangoAngelesque says:

    Ordinarily, I cut people slack for their handwriting—and I’m an active pen, ink, and penmanship snob. My fountain pen collection is crazy, and I honestly make time to practice my writing almost every day.

    But for most people, I see scrawly script and just think, “Meh, that’s their style, that’s their personal fist, not everyone needs or wants to have various sets of script in their skill set, and that’s okay!”

    But her job, her literal job, is to be an example of protocols and specific graces. And the fact that she can’t be arsed to do simple things like stand up straight, speak clearly (she doesn’t have to be an eloquent public speaker, but she’s like a middle schooler on their first lesson), have deft penmanship (again, doesn’t have to be a calligrapher, but should show she has put SOME effort into the skill!)…it’s just maddening. She’s even commented that she can’t make a cup of tea. Simple graces that should be second nature by now, prove that she lets everything be done for her and aspires to nothing.

    I mean, how does someone in a public role, who signs thank-you notes and registries and the like, not even have a nice signature? Or graceful walk? Or just…something besides buttons, earrings, and bad posture??

  40. alibeebee says:

    She made an error , however being in the position she and her husband are in .. Care should have been made. I think she should have included A Happy Holidays as well. not all service workers celebrate Christmas. Christmas may not even factor in some of their lives. the UK is multicultural and that comes with ethnic diversity. this just speaks again that she and her ilk are completely out of touch with who their “subjects”are.

    the other thing I noticed is the Simple use of their names Just Catherine and William ?
    they say imitation is the best form of flattery .. but at least do it well and not by half.

    I think she’d have a better go if she was just her true self from the day she was engaged.. kept her nickname of Kate and Just was who she was. she has tried to create or an image was created for her and it’s not genuine

    • yinyang says:

      I noticed they’ve really upped the Christmas reminders these last few years since Meghan joined. Meghan was very sensitive to multiculture, it might be all this going overboard with Christmas is a slight dig to Meghan and Harry work and a dog whistle to their white privilidge followers. I love Christmas, but I am very VERY sensitive to all the children that don’t celebrate and parents that choose to carry on their own beliefs and traditions.

  41. Ignoto says:

    It appears that not only did she misspell country, she also misspelled the following words: the (missing the letter e), throughout (missing the letters r and u), wishing (missing the letter n), and you. It would have been nice if she took her time and focused on the message, the correct spelling of each word, and making sure that her handwriting was legible.

  42. M.A.F. says:

    The “u” and the “n” bleed into each other. I do this some times with certain letter combos. Although I also go back and fix it to make obvious the the other letter is there but..

  43. Flying Fish says:

    And, Kate had a cue card in hand to assist her!

  44. dimmer says:

    Instead of questioning the spelling gaffe, I would like to know where are all the frontline people William and Kate felt they had to thank in person? I know I haven’t seen all the pictures, but of the many I have seen, there were no health care workers, grocery staff, garbage collectors or any essential people who were supposed to receive personal, in-person thanks. And I haven’t seen any quotes from any essential workers saying their morale has been boosted.

  45. Jen says:

    Okay, as a teacher in England I’m not sure she actually misspelled. It’s just REALLY terrible, sloppy British cursive (we teach it differently to American cursive). If you look at how she has spelled ‘throughout’ she’s done the same thing. She’s merged her ‘u’ with the ‘g’. She did the same with the ‘u’ in country and the ‘n’. It’s just very poor penmanship on her part.

    • Vera says:

      it doesn’t look misspelled to me either, just her handwriting,
      It doesn’t even look that sloppy or poor for me, just her handwriting style is not perfect. At least it looks more personal. Maybe I am being defensive about this as I was a smart, top of my class student, who was always made feel bad about not being able to have nice, legible, pretty penmanship.
      I grew up before computers, so we were thought to write in cursive, line after line…
      I still make my husband write all out xmas cards as my penmanship got even worse and it it mostly illegible for others (sometimes even I cant make out what I wrote down during a meeting).
      My hubby needs to check shopping lists with me as he sometimes cant make out what I wrote.

  46. Zaya says:

    She left out the “e” in the. 🤦🏽‍♀️. There are at least four typos in that short not. And the fact that she had to use a index card for this simple note…omg.

    I’m surprised at her penmanship. Thought her fancy schools would have taught her better. Was penmanship not part of princess lessons?

    Add spelling mistakes to the list of how tweedlebald and tweedlewiglets are the British trumps. Typos? Check. Self-aggrandizing? Check. Superspreader events? Check. Vanity projects that amount to nothing? Check.

  47. Steph says:

    You say the N is missing, I saw the U missing. But I agree, I’m not mad at the misspelling. What I do think is ridiculous is that it was posted to their social media. They really don’t have any competent people do they?
    Also, again who does this benefit? I highly doubt seeing this in their breakroom is going to do anything for the workers.

    • Amy Too says:

      And by posting the note to their social media, they proved that they actually are NOT exempt from the “no traveling for work if your work can be done from home” rule. That’s what they were claiming. They were allowed to travel because this is their work and they can’t do their work from home.

  48. Thirtynine says:

    I’d say she did it because she’s not used to writing in cursive. It’s writing thing, not a spelling mistake thing. If you don’t write much as part of your job as an adult, most people now don’t use cursive. I use it all the time because I am of the era that was taught how, and that some forms of personal communication HAD to be handwritten. But clearly Kate doesn’t.

  49. MJM says:

    It’s the copying from words already written on a piece of paper that got me. Couldn’t she remember the gist of a warm wish to transport workers? Make use of your train time Kate and prepare!

  50. BodegaBay says:

    It bums me out that Meghan wore pants similar to this and the haters came out with pitchforks, then Kate came out with these pants without nearly the same criticism.

  51. Likeyoucare says:

    Isn’t kate copied her friends work during uni?
    Is it really hard copying two sentences.
    How is her CGPA when she graduated?

  52. Vera says:

    My spelling is good, but my handwriting has always been mostly illegible, even for myself. I still do my note taking during meetings by hand though as I find it easier than type.
    So I think it’s unfair to pile on someone for their handwriting not being the best when put on a spot with everyone watching. That is when we are all most likely to make mistakes.
    We can call her out on a lot of things, but this can happen to any of us.

    • Maevo says:

      Agreed! There’s plenty of legitimate things to criticize her for (laziness, superspreading train trips etc) sloppy handwriting doesn’t need to be one of them.

      • Vera says:

        to me, her handwriting isn’t even that sloppy. mine would be worse, even if I practiced beforehand.
        It just looks like a normal handwriting to me

      • Zaya says:

        It’s not the worst penmanship in the world – look at PWT’s – but when people go on and on about how MM isn’t the only one in the fam with beautiful handwriting and you see KM’s penmanship, you kinda have to sideeye it

  53. Pili says:

    What a bunch of sad and obsessed women on this website. For God’s sake, she is not allowed to have the handwriting she has?!?