The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Christmas card “leaked” over the weekend. This is apparently the card they sent out to charities and friends, I suppose. My guess is that we’ll still probably get a new photo of the family, Christmas-portrait-style, closer to the actual holiday. But this leak suits them fine – they’re still trying to change the subject away from all of their recent f–kups, from their Covid Choo-Choo Tour to their masklessness at the Panto Performance. I mean, this is what they wanted: all eyes on them, no competition, just the Future King and Future Queen. And this is how they behave. YIKES!
Anyway, I saw people spin conspiracies about the photo used for the Christmas card but I don’t see any of that (it wasn’t massively Photoshopped, just lightly touched up). I’m more concerned about Kate’s “country girl” cosplay, which has been a constant theme throughout her married life. When she was just William’s girlfriend, she lived in London and shopped and had city fun. But as soon as she became a duchess, suddenly her life was something out of a Jane Austen novel: she was just a local beauty in Bucklebury, a simple country girl who wanted to raise her kids out in the countryside, on a humble 2000-acre estate. So there we have – Kate and her kids in front of a wall of logs. I don’t really get it, nor do I find it very Christmas-y. It’s autumnal, not wintery.
One of my least favorite journalism genres is the “body language expert analyzes royal photos or royal events.” The Daily Mail and the Sun love that sh-t though, and most of the time I feel like the body language expert is just some editor pushing a ridiculous narrative anyway. So if you care, there are pieces already out, analyzing the Cambridges’ body language. They are just kids, please don’t do this.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Didn’t their Christmas card “leaked” last year as well?!🤔😏
Yeah but I don’t think they were happy about that picture being leaked because they never released it to the public.
I don’t know why they bother with this “leaking” nonsense. Just release it yourself! Is this some weird protocol farce we all have to participate in??
@Maevo: Seriously! They really need to get over themselves, good god.
I just cant get over how cute Louis is. that is all i have!
Isn’t he just? I hope ends up more like his uncle than William, personality/work wise.
Why do I look like so airbrushed and like I’ve been added to the photo and that I wasn’t actually there? (I think I may have had some pesky roses to deal with at the time).
Welcome Kate! Post your famous chutney recipe, please!
I just bought it from Fortnum & Mason and put it in my own jar and then hand labelled. I also put a ‘made with love’ sticker on it.
All I got is it’s very BROWN.
That’s what I saw too.
That’s my first impression, too–there’s a whole lotta brown going on.
He is adorable!
I think they’re all very cute, actually. Charlotte seems like the most…..sassy, or something. She stands out more. But maybe that’s just me. Cute kids. Let’s hope they have happy and useful futures.
Their family pic is surprisingly awful. Everyone looks nice and the kids are cute, of course, but all that brown is just so blah. I find the wood a little depressing and definitely cheap-looking, like a fake background at one of those strip-mall portrait “studios”
I agree. The kids are gorgeous and Will and Kate look good, but the photo is so blah. If they wanted a brown background, they should have worn muted purple, pink and green sweaters. It’s all so boring.
Burning wood is so bad for the environment. It emits more particulates than coal and all of the carbon stored in the mature tress cut down for wood is released back into the atmosphere.
It’s really bad for your lungs/health too (I’m a registered nurse)! I live in a Georgian house with a working traditional wood burning fireplace. I try not to use it as it is bad for both.
Yes-it’s just so dark and gloomy. Which, on the one hand it’s on brand for 2020, but on the other-they have small, adorable children: lighten up. Literally.
@Josephine, you brought back some memories with that comment: a fake background at one of those strip-mall portrait “studios”. I believe JC Penny or Sears used to do them. And you would choose your background and they had all these “scrolls” to choose from. Ahhh, memories.
For Christmas “cheer” this photo is dreary and cheerless…..
Drab. Drab. Drab. Charlotte is a British princess, the granddaughter of the Queen! Put her in some tafetta or some tartan or some velvet for Christmas, for gosh sakes.
A wall of wood is exactly what I would expect to see on the grounds of a castle. I like the picture, minus the photoshop, but I don’t think it’s a Christmas picture in any way.
I realize it’s stupid and futile even to think in such terms, but I really hope that these kids will become better people than their parents.
I hope so too but then I also remember that these kids are growing up in an institution that will always value their older brother over them no matter what. Maybe not now, but definitely in about 6 years or so when George becomes a teenager.
No matter how hard the Cambridges try, the institution will always prioritise George and uplift him because that’s the result of being part of a family who thinks it’s your “God ordained right” to sit on the throne
I had more hope for that before Sussexit. That made clear that the heir is to be protected at all costs. William will treat his children accordingly (protecting George at all costs) because that’s what he knows as the heir and he clearly thinks its appropriate and the correct way of things. I am hoping that as they grow up, despite what will be said in their home, they are able to look at Uncle Harry in California and see what they could accomplish outside the family.
George’s being the only child to get a present from Attenborough was wrong on many levels.
To be completely fair, Tessa, we don’t *know* if the others weren’t given something, we only *saw* what George got, most likely the only one “picture worthy” being the heir and all.
You’d think an adult would KNOW when you “visit”, even if it’s one kid’s birthday (or whatever) you bring a “token” for the other kid(s). It’s just the right thing to do.
(THEOG) JAN90067 no no no no no. Children should not be conditioned to expect gifts on other people’s birthdays. It’s utterly ridiculous.
Holy Photoshop, Batman!!!
That was my first impression as well. Were they even in the same room when this pic was taken? Hard edges, cut out look to their hair.
It’s incredibly touched up. Even the kids ffs. That’s your deal if you have your own adult vanity issues, but don’t touch up your kids faces. They’ll see the images, look in the mirror and compare images. Try to chase the false one.
Yep the photoshop brush went wild on this one. The parents might need smoothing over especially Kate, but why the kids? Whenever I see any child pics that have been photoshopped I can’t help but get Renesme vibes. But the kids are very sweet.
You took the words right out of my mouth. That was my first thought when I saw the photo on Twitter.
Louis is ADORABLE. That’s all I got.
They seem to be incandescent with leaks don’t they. The children look so cute, with Louis’ smile lighting up the room, but why on earth did they go for the woods and brown catalogue theme?
The kids are adorable as always but I don’t really like the muted brown colour scheme/lighting/palette.
The drab scheme works against the kids smiling. You don’t notice them as much because it’s like they are almost blending into the wall of logs. I can’t believe a professional photographer thought this was acceptable.
I think if they wore the exact same outfits but sat in their living room with a fire behind them and some Christmas decorations, it would add some colour and warmth to the picture that isn’t wood logs.
When it comes to Cambridges, amateurish is their identity. I don’t think that the photographer was allowed an opinion – not with Waity, who fancies herself a photographer: he was their to press down the shutter. As a matter of fact it might have been Katie who took the picture with the selttimer – i woudln’t be suprised.
Kate only knows how to theme dress. This years theme is woodpile
yes, I was taken aback on the drab brown color scheme that dominates the picture and sets the tone. It’s supposed to be a Christmas card and they went with cold, drag and dark. I guess it is fitting since that sums the FFK and FFQC perfectly…..to a tee.
Same. I think the kids are very cute, but that is a drab photo. I can’t imagine thinking a giant wall of wood was a good backdrop, especially with all the beautiful holiday decorations around.
Could not agree more. The kids are cute, but it is so drab. No color anywhere. If there were some holiday decorations around or a few pops of color it would be so much better. This just reads as a brown blob.
I don’t understand why they are wearing such dull colours and then they pose in front of a wall of logs. It is so drab.
I did it. I did the dive and read the piece on body language and it’s already starting. Charlotte is “challenging” her mother for the senior superlative of “most confident.” They’re not even letting the kids get out of grade school now.
Yeah the boxing in of the kids is absolutely terrible.
The DM had a bunch of nasty comments about Charlotte being a diva and having a bad attitude unlike her brothers. It’s really terrible. And so predictable.
I can’t believe they’re saying that. I thought the DM was all Pro-Kate, and Pro-anything-that-comes-out-of-Kate’s-womb.
If they’re starting on the Cambridge kids then I wish Archie all the luck in the world.
Very disappointing. She has a personality and maybe challenges her parents sometimes. That’s generally……normal. Obviously kids need some discipline, but not to have their spirits dampened.
Louis looks adorable in that picture.
Besides him though, it is a very drab and dark picture, and the whole “sitting on a bale of hay in front of logs” is weird. Are we supposed to think that William was just cutting those logs?
Cute kids and George is going to be a tall lad.
Hate the photo – its too brown and screams ‘we didn’t have any others that looked remotely festive’.
All of them will be tall but Charlotte can’t weight more than her mother.
I think the brownness is a play on nature…environment…we care blabla.
George looks like he has the longest legs. Definitely got that from Diana 😊 To me, he seems a bit like Charles in temperament (as a *boy*): a bit shy, sensitive… someone who holds back and watches.
I hope they don’t kill Char’s spirit. If you ever watched “The Royals” on E!, I’m hoping she’s like Eleanor: spunky, full of life, her OWN woman. Char seems like she knows her mind, even at this age. I give her FULL props for that hand wrench from PwT at the Panto!
Louis…he seems happy and sunny at this point (of course, he’s only two!), but I’m hoping he keeps up that beautiful smile, so full of joy, and I hope he has Harry’s personality, and it eats the *(&^% out of William! lol
Must be nice to have your entire story rewritten to suit your new position. She was a party girl and a city girl. I won’t knock her on that, she was young and young people gravitate to the big city. BUT this new country girl image started to get pushed (I think) with that cover she did a few years back in the hat and country garb, is getting pushed too much. It must suck to try and fit the mold others think you should fit.
I wonder if the push is a) because the palace/courtiers think a country loving quiet future queen is more “relatable” than party loving city girl future queen (quite frankly I find nothing wrong with the latter) and b) because Kate thinks if she pushes that she loves the countryside, it’ll endear her to the aristos more? Even though a lot of them enjoy the city and there are “sets/friendship groups” of aristos that like the city such as the Chelsea set, Notting Hill set, Belgravia/Mayfair set etc etc (although I’m not sure who’s in that latter set other than more of the “older” aristos)
I think the push is partly to present Kate as a typical aristocrat – who loves the countryside and popping down to London for a spot of shopping – and honestly, I think its partly to explain her lack of work. “oh Kate just loves being in the countryside so much, just being a hands on mom with her kids, she could NEVER live full time in London again!” And therefore she cannot work more bc she is too busying being a hands on mom in the Norfolk countryside, living the simple life.
A lot of the royal messaging is that they are dowdy and drab so that you can forget about the tens of millions they have in property and jewelry and the castles they live in throughout the country with money provided by the government in top of that. Also Kate couldn’t play a sophisticated person if she tried and since her fashion sense is pretty garbage it’s better to be country aristo which will excuse her weird fashion sense when she does wear her multiple expensive designer coat dresses by McQueen.
Nic
Just as a comment to Kate’s McQueen… most of her stuff is styled by Burton under the McQueen name as she took over after his untimely death. And her stuff is not his brilliance. The hemming is rough. The styles are drab. The colors are meh. Many pieces look mismatches or unfinished. And I’m talking loose threads unfinished.
I’m going to stick up for Kate here (something I never do). Kate grew up in the English Countryside, in a very chocolate box village, which is seen as the ideal here in the UK. Her school was in a small town in Wiltshire surrounded by greenery. Most youngsters from the country move into London for work and a faster pace of life as the countryside doesn’t really offer them anything. But, once they settle down and start having their own kids they usually choose to move back to where they grew up or somewhere similar (London is very expensive and a lot of people don’t want to raise their kids here), it’s very normal. I tried country living myself, but alas, I am a city girl through and through having been born and raised in London, when I move away I will move to another big city either in Scotland or France.
I do believe Kate loves the countryside though.
Bohemian
I’m willing to bet Kate is a London girl. She was often papped shopping and frequently vacations. Where she is in the country is far from country life. Aside from assuming William and Kate are in Anmer we don’t know they are. I’ll go back to their early marriage when William was seen at a separate private residence and Kate was often at her parents explaining the large protection presence there.
People can’t be both? or change as they get older? I loved being out late at in the city when I was in my 20’s. Now? Being at home at 7:00pm on a Friday night is the best thing in the world sometimes.
The main activity for country aristos is riding horses and Kate doesn’t do that, which is a huge sign she’s not a country girl but a rich one with a mansion in the country. Even Kate’s casual wear shows she doesn’t really have a clue how to dress when there is dirt around.
They way Louis looks and how Kate, I think, is holding him makes me think this is the only one in which he stood still to take a photo.
Generally I find body language analysis interesting but when it’s about adults, let the kids be free.
Now last year’s Christmas picture was leaked and was never released to the public. As I said earlier, I don’t think they were happy that it was leaked especially as they were competing with the sussexes for attention. I think this year they are okay with the leak as it has been published on the front page of at least one tabloid. Anything that promotes the Cambridge family in the press is good pr and it keeps the press happy.
After the pandemic express tour, they need some good PR, so of course they trot out the kids. The theater wasn’t the best idea and there has been some blowback but a Christmas card is harmless.
I mean, these 2 drive me crazy, but I like this picture 🤷🏻♀️ Not everyone uses a “festive” picture for their holiday card. A lot of people use a picture from their vacation at the beach, or their fall family photos. There was a story about the kids nagging them to put the tree up…maybe the kids had a point and the tree wasn’t up 😂. Gosh, those kids are cute though.
We aren’t doing Christmas cards because we usually use vacation pictures and pictures of our dogs. We can’t go anywhere and the dogs won’t cooperate for a pictures together so we are just skipping this year.
I don’t mind that it’s not a “Christmas picture” – often their Christmas cards are more autumnal in their appearance, but this one is just a really drab picture overall.
It doesn’t need to be a Christmas theme, but the drab brown look makes the photo look dreary.
Kate and William look very airbrushed/photoshopped.
Kate and willie look really different. Is it photoshop?
Kate is bordering on looking like Saw with that new face. Is it photoshop or just really bad botox? This PR just isn’t hitting with the public like it used to. People are frankly just getting really bored of it.
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but the First thing I thought of when I saw this was the Lumberjack song by Monty Python. “I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok, I sleep all night and I work all day….”
Oh no, JumpingtheShark —— now, I can’t unhear it. And it so fits the Keen Theme ….”I sleep all night and I work all day”. Thanks for the laugh.
EXCEPT *SHE* does NOT “work all day” lolol
I love that song! I keep all the Python songs on a playlist in my phone, just for the times I NEED a smile 😊
Dr Demento!
Kate’s head looks photoshopped into to Christmas card. As for the pr red carpet stunt – I think Louis, being so little, should have walked in the middle. They were in a crowd of strangers after all and it would have been intimidating for him. Poor little tyke. 🙁
RE city and country girl – I feel like that can be said for a lot of us. Prior to getting married, I was living it up in DC with my friends. Moved back to Massachusetts, met my husband, and now I’m your typical suburban mom.
So much brown..
So much darkness. And it’s a Xmas card?
I actually like how Kate and Charlotte have matching boots. And Louis is just full of LIFE.
At first I thought it is a very sweet, nice family photo. But the more you look, the stranger the photo looks. At first, the logs look really weird. They don’t look 3-D compared to the people in front of them so it does look like a cheap background and makes the family look oddly photoshopped in.
And then as my eyes travel over Will and Kate, they appear to be cardboard figures and only the children look real, but posed in front of a background photo of their parents posed in front of a fake photo of logs. Inception Holiday Photo, very 2020!
But the way everyone is posed looks good. If they could all have posed that way and been in better lighting and a better setting the photo would have been a knockout. I believe they’re all there and nobody is photoshopped in, but as I said, there’s a lot about the photo that confuses the eye.
It’s very L.L. Bean catalog 1979.
It’s weird they are wearing brown against that backdrop. It looks like a bad 1980s Sears portrait studio family photo
Family, check. Christmas, missing.
Lol!
Well you can clearly see what child Wills has chosen to be the scapegoat since he hasnt a spare to abuse anymore . Poor lad.
I had to do a double take. I didn’t recognize Will, too much photoshopping.
I retouch for work using Photoshop and my impression is that Mean & Keen have both been smoothed on the forehead and under the eyes. They retouched Kate’s forehead a bit too much – the shadows are a bit weird.
Egghead had his jawline retouched.
I’m just thankful they didn’t retouch the kids. Kylie Jenner retouches her baby’s ears all the time and it’s really sad. There’s a pic in particular she posted where the wall behind Stormi is all warped.
It could not be more bland if they tried.
I don’t know why everyone is complaining about all the brown. Nothing says Christmas like sitting on the manger.
Were Royal Christmas card releases always a big deal? Why so much secrecy and hype about posting Xmas pictures? It’s not like it’s a PS5. I don’t get it.
How typically dull and boring. Perfectly represents the future kind and queen of keen
They are so humble and down to earth they live in a house made of wooden sticks and instead of having sofas and chairs, they sit on bales of hay. They are just like us, Lol. Except I don’t have a stable to put my horse in.
Yea just an middle class fam out for their weekend at the family lake cabin, Bill about to split some cords of firewood while Kathy and the kids dig worms to fish off the dock…… “guess we’ve got to get going on the winterizing, I think that is getting past grandpa this year” says Bill to Kathy…… oh wait…..
For a woman who will attend the opening of an envelope this dull picture is a surprising choice for a Christmas card. I assume Baldy is the future future head of the church, this year sure would be a good one to recognize the miracle of Christmas.
Charlotte looks a LOT like her mom. Even the same asymmetrical brows and eyes.
“So there we have – Kate and her kids in front of a wall of logs. I don’t really get it, nor do I find it very Christmas-y. It’s autumnal, not wintery.”
seriously? last year they were in front of a motorcycle. Did we feel the same way then too? I live in a beach community where so many people take their Christmas cards at the beach with zero Christmas stuff in the photo. It’s on par with those who complain about Starbucks coffee cups not being Christmas themed. What an odd thing to be nitpicky over.
But they don’t live in a beach community, or the Pacific Northwest. You’d think, especially after choo-chooing up and down the country roasting marshmallows and doing secret Santa’s , the card would have a bit more brightness and Christmas cheer. They’re the future future monarchs of Dicken’s Christmas land and plum puddings. Throw in some festive and green, with a wreath or something thrown in. It’s just so out of time and place. It looks more Thanksgiving and pumpkin spice than Christmas. Just lots of logs.
The photo doesn’t need a Christmas theme, but the colours are drab and show no taste. The motorcycle one was better in that it wasn’t all dreary and brown but not much imagination there either.
I get lots of cards with beach or vacation photos too — they don’t have to be “Christmassy” and in fact I usually like them better. But this one is just strange. Very dreary, no color at *all* — it’s just weird and depressing.
I know we’re sworn off from photo shop theories, but it’s the second photo they’ve published where George’s hand looks like it’s grasping onto something, but somehow nothing is there.
The swing, with only William and the children, was the first time I thought to myself that the boy looked to be holding something invisible? Am I the only one seeing this?
They’re Christmas card and Panto walk with their children were suddenly drowned and obliterated by Meghan’s TV appearance and Clevr investment. No sustained global media coverage. On top of that they, the entitled royals, lost to Meghan as the world’s most popular UK royal. They’re incandescent with rage. The Royal Rota too is exploding with anger. So now they’re on again with sabotaging Meghan. More power Duchess.
The kids are cute. George looks like he’s just shooting up. I believe both his Dad and Uncle Harry are over 6′, right? I don’t remember how tall Kate is.
They really are a cute family though. And I think Charlotte looks extremely intelligent. She should probably be Queen. Who knows. I think her Aunt Anne would have made a wonderful Queen as well. I wish she had been born 1st so we could have seen that stupid primogeniture rule go away much sooner. Well, it likely wouldn’t have, but anyway.