As we discussed, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did not change their Christmas plans at all. They didn’t spend any time with Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles or any royals on Christmas, as the Queen stayed in Windsor Castle. William, Kate and their kids celebrated the holiday in Norfolk, at Anmer Hall, with Carole and Michael Middleton. And I assume James Middleton and Alizee. Because Will and Kate are such secret squirrels, we really don’t know what they’re getting up to in Norfolk, although I believe that they live separately when they’re up there – I think Kate and the children stay at Anmer, and William stays at the Sandringham big house. Still, William must have come over on Christmas morning, and Us Weekly had a sugary account of what the Cambridges’ keen Christmas was like:
A royal Christmas to remember! Although they couldn’t spend the day with Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William and Duchess Kate had a memorable holiday with their children. An insider exclusively tells Us Weekly that Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3, woke up at 5 a.m. to check out what Santa Claus left under the tree for them.
“While Kate and William avoid overly spoiling the children, they let the rule slide at Christmas,” the source says. The boys enjoyed their gifts to use outdoors, including a camping kit for George — complete with tent, walkie talkies and a flashlight — and a climbing frame for Louis, the insider adds. Charlotte, meanwhile, was given a children’s video camera that she adores. All three siblings excitedly unwrapped several games and books on Christmas morning too.
The Duke of Cambridge, 39, made sure that his wife, also 39, didn’t feel left out. “After a busy year, William wanted to make this Christmas extra special for Kate and surprised her with a beautiful bracelet,” the source explains.
Since the queen, 95, decided to stay at Windsor Castle for the holidays amid the most recent rise in COVID-19 cases, the family didn’t attend her usual family affair at Sandringham. Instead, they had their own quiet celebration at their countryside home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, England and the Duchess of Cambridge delivered a homemade feast.
“Kate cooked a traditional Christmas feast for lunch – turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, ham, roast potatoes and all the trimmings,” the insider tells Us. The mother of three even “used her creative skills to decorate the table with candles, evergreen branches and cones as centerpieces.”
The younger royals assisted their mom with dessert. “The children helped Kate bake a chocolate Christmas log and apple pie for dessert, but the highlight was making a gingerbread house, covered in their favorite sweets,” the source says.
Honestly, I bet the structure of this is probably right – Kate grew up in a family where kids get up early on Christmas morning and open their presents. As opposed to the more Germanic customs of the Windsors, where kids are shut out of most Christmas celebrations, and their gift exchanges are done on Christmas Eve. I doubt the Middletons even went to church on Christmas Day throughout Kate, Pippa and James’s childhoods – the Middleton celebrations are more like “party and drink all day.” This year, the Middletons did join the Cambridges at church though. And it’s weird that the kids’ grandparents aren’t included in Us Weekly’s account. Oh well! Do you think William actually got Kate a bracelet? I bet it was more like “Kate picked out a bracelet, bought it, wrapped it and William ‘gave’ it to her.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instar, Kensington Palace and ITV.
All the Middleton women look like they’re in the same age group.
Yes, they all looked tired and worn down, expect for Kate. Maybe that’s why she cooked and put together the table.
Thank goodness for fillers, I get flashbacks to Milli vanilli wearing a blue dress, it was hard to look at her.
I’m quite sure Kate has help with the cooking, and help with the children too. Nanny Borrallo lives in. Kate did not cook this Xmas feast all by herself. Nor did only Kate and the kids do all the Xmas decorating and baking either.
Nice presents for the kids, as described. I hope the Cambridge kids enjoyed the holiday celebrations. Still, I have no respect for their parents, who release all of these ‘insider’ details for their own embiggening p.r., and to make it seem as if they are just like a normal family. They are not.
We can knock Kate for a million things but picking out her own gift isn’t one of them in my book. I dislike the pressure/test of gift giving. You must get this right or you don’t know me at all. I gave my husband the style of wedding rings I wanted and he did the rest. I didn’t make it super clear this year and he ended up gifting me the wrong size in bag and I can’t return it. So I’ll be using it when my cellphone can go in my coat or pants. (Brandon Blackwood trunk vs mini trunk).
My husband gave up years ago. He has NO TASTE in jewelry so I usually hint at things I like.
I am content with what I have and dont have. I dont really care for presents on xmas for me, and my husand feels the same way. But I go big on the deco, the parties (pre-corona), the food, and the friends and family which is to me what makes xmas so much fun. The kids get 1 present each from us on xmas eve, and on xmas morning they check out if santa left them anything under the tree and in their stocking. That’s it!!
My husband and I don’t even do presents. As I get older the idea of Christmas is only for children.
The thing here though is Kate enjoys the news articles that make it sound like Will buys her anything. Charles pays for all of this while William is a notorious cheapskate. Even that eternity band “push present” was specifically said with KP approval that William bought it for Kate while Kate was seen purchasing it and the store manager confirmed.
If not for that history this story would be fine, but it pushes the same old false narrative.
Same here. My hubs and I haven’t bought each other a gifts in years. We only buy for the kids.
Yeah, I agree with that. After a few misses and a lot of stress, my SO and I stopped trying to guess what the other wanted for Christmas and just gave each other a list. Thank goodness for the internet and the ability to link to wish lists. lol
It took most of the stress out of the holidays.
CarolE was papped outside a jewelry store in London a few weeks ago. She probably bought the bracelet (that Kate saw online), wrapped it, put it under the tree, and told US Magazine about it.
Sadly, yes. Still, he did spend money on her instead of relying on the vast treasure vault the Royal Family borrows from.
MerlinsDad and I don’t do Christmas gifts for each other anymore. We just buy what we want throughout the year and call it good. He has a workshop and always needs various tools and all I ever want is comfy jammies and books. (Never have been a big jewelry person or purses or shoes) It works for us and I think everyone should do what works for them.
Yep, the Merricats go on trips instead of giving items. We love travel, and we still have wrapped gifts for children.
@Mindy Dopple, ITA, I always end up just buying things for myself and giving them to my husband to wrap, and he does the same — but we honestly only bother with the wrapping so my child will see us actually unwrapping gifts from each other. Once he’s older, we can do away with the pointless wrapping altogether, lol.
But the way it’s worded here is so strange— it says that William bought Kate the bracelet because he “didn’t want her to feel left out.” What? Don’t they buy each other Christmas gifts every year? Isn’t that a given? I thought it was so odd, the way it was framed as some unique idea William came up with for this year in particular. It’s perplexing!
As for W&K living separately, If it wasn’t for their children’s ages, I would absolutely believe it. But I’d be extremely wary of trusting children that age to not inadvertently mention it to their classmates or teachers or whoever, just in the course of normal conversation. Even if W&K expressly told them to lie (which I don’t think they would; too risky at their age, imo), there’s no way that none of them would *ever* slip up and say something like, “when my Papa got to our house…” or “when we went to see/meet Papa” or whatnot.
Even if William is in a different house on the same estate, children George and Charlotte’s ages will most likely pick up on the fact that something is off/different than it used to be. I’d have the same worry about even having different bedrooms; eventually one of the kids will say something without realizing it’s a big deal. So IDK; I find it hard to believe they would take that risk, even though William plainly cannot stand being in Kate’s presence.
Although right now, they can probably still get away with “Papa is away on a work trip” or “Papa was exposed to Covid so he needs to stay over at the other house for x number of days” or some excuse that the kids will readily accept. That will become harder as the children get older, though, and we already know that George is online to some extent. So IDK if I believe they’re living separately even though there is a lot of evidence that points to it.
It wouldn’t matter if the children did spill the beans. The press already likely knows what goes on but they are too busy selling “K&W, the Love Story” to print anything adverse to that account.
If the children spilled the beans, to whom would it be? Their Norfolk playmates who would go tell their parents, who would all say “of course they don’t live together, remember what happened between rose and William?!?!” Or their classmates at school, whose parents would probably have similar reactions? If William’s affairs are the worst kept secret in Norfolk, then separate living arrangements wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
As for the bracelet – the wording is strange to me. If W&K never exchange gifts, then why would she feel left out? If she bought it for herself, why not just say that they realize how blessed they are etc and they don’t exchange gifts?
Then I remember this is Us Weekly so all of this is a load of BS lol. Breaking news – kids got presents at Christmas! Games and books!
I still find it heard to believe that one of those Norfolk playmates’ or school classmates’ parents wouldn’t let it slip at a big party, and that it would then start making the rounds. I know the press that are on the royal payroll might not pick up the story, but surely there are other newspapers/sites/blogs that would.
@Granger – that’s how the Rose affair leaked and even reached the ears of people who are on the fringe of London’s posh set. The nobodies that don’t know W&K.
But, work is a ready-made excuse for men to be out of the house. One doesn’t have to be a prince to use that excuse to cheat.
–Where’s Papa?
–He is working on the pandemic in .
I’d be more worried that a school friend would tell them.
–My friend Soames told me he saw Papa today riding with Lady Lawrence.
When they get older, they’ll understand better and accept it as part of their privilege.
It’s US weekly, which means it’s fanfiction.
LOL!!! You’re right @Fanciful. US Weekly we mustn’t forget writes ‘fanciful’ fan fiction. So we should take all of these ‘revelations’ with a grain of salt!
As far as the kids ‘spilling beans’ about the family’s living arrangements, they are likely used to their Dad not being around a lot since they were babies. So, it would be nothing new to them. Plus, they don’t live in one location year round like most normal people. They are used to traveling from home to home, and on vacations to Mustique Island and other fancy locations, eh.
These are not normal children living a normal life. Everything is rather different for them anyway. They see their Dad whenever they see him. At this stage, the kids wouldn’t even realize that most people don’t live the same way they do.
All the posed pictures of Kate from the carol event and of her playing the piano remind me of what her cousin said way back when that Kate struggles to be interested in other people.
This event is supposed to be a thank-you to covid first responders and instead it’s so centered on Kate posing and smiling like a catalog model to sell herself as a compassionate person. It’s not that hard but there’s just no there there with Kate.
Kalana
Lol that poor cousin was only trying to defend Kate! If it’s not about Kate or her benefit she doesn’t seem to care. The cousin knows her.
I know and that makes it even worse that her cousin was essentially trying to say “Look at Kate trying when really she doesn’t care about anyone else.”
Also, Kate really loves looking like she just stepped out of the pages of a Sears catalog. It’s like the picture of her in the pink pantsuit using her end table as a desk and pretending to be on the phone. It’s just so over the top staged and fake.
Lol, “Sears catalog” is perfect, Kalana.
The cousin basically confirmed that Kate is a raging narcissist and over the last decade we have seen confirmation of that fact over and over again. She’s never committed to any cause and her only consistent engagement has been with things she enjoys, like attending Wimbledon. Sick kids and poor kids be damned, but kate is gonna make sure she can chit chat with tennis players over everything else.
And spent time with her fav yachtsman and call it ‘work’.
If half the energy of putting together these sugar sweet pieces was put into actual work by the Cambridges.
OK, so as a front line healthcare worker working through the pandemic I made frozen sausage rolls and a cake as well as wrapped gifts for all family members (having bought everything online as we have been working overtime in the hospital), worked Xmas eve then drove to my partner’s family in the country 4hrs after work (we haven’t seen them all year due to Australian lockdowns). On Christmas Day I helped cook all the food and “even” set up the table with flowers, disposable cutlery and plates.
Do I get a US weekly article now?
SMH Kate is nauseating. If any of these public figures even spent a month working in hospitals they would need 12months holiday by their standards…but we only get 4 weeks a year lol.
I honestly didn’t know that Kate cooked. I’m sure that they have a chef to help with their meals, but does she actually cook? We know that Meghan does, this has been a known fact about her for years before she met Harry, so this story of her cooking a Christmas meal with all the fixings is a bit odd to me.
Well according to Ellen, meghan cooked for Thanksgiving so…..
She apparently makes curry but I don’t know if that’s something that’s actually been put out or if it’s a running joke here.
I could’ve sworn that there is a clip of William saying that Kate doesn’t know how to cook.
We got a PR story about Kate using mummy Carole’s chutney recipe as a gift for QEII. Queen putting it on the table and using her family as the royal poison testers.
There’s no way Kate even eats curry since she thinks pepperoni is too spicy on pizza so she crumbles up bacon
The food was pre-made by the chef or special ordered and Kate warmed up the food before serving, this way she can report or Carole can report with a straight face that Kate made the food
‘Prepared’ the food. So she gets it on a technicality.
@Athena, I think that’s the most likely scenario, too…I’m not super-wealthy by any means and obviously have nowhere NEAR the resources that Kate has at her disposal, but we always have the entire meal catered when we host thanksgiving, and my cousin, who is a couple of years younger than I am, also orders everything in when she hosts on Xmas Eve. The most we have to do is warm things up.
None of my friends or I have ever cooked huge holiday meals like our mothers and grandmothers used to; I always thought it was a generational thing (?) but it also might be that I’m in NY where many people never cook for themselves and constantly order in, year-round. I’ll bake xmas cookies with my kid and “fun” stuff like that, but I would not have the slightest clue as to how to roast a turkey or ham while simultaneously preparing all of the side dishes and timing them to be ready at the same time. I get stressed out just thinking about it.
And most of the people I know who are around my age do the same— not only are we clueless as to where to even start with a huge holiday spread, ordering the food also frees us up to actually be able to talk to guests instead of being in the kitchen for hours on end the way I remember my mom used to be. The idea of doing it all myself seems overwhelming (and quite frankly, ridiculous! I certainly wouldn’t want to eat anything I made 😂).
It would be more believable if they didn’t go so over the top with it. A ham AND a Turkey? For 7 people? 3 of which are young children, one of which is a toddler? A Christmas log cake, an apple pie, and a ginger bread house covered in sweets for 7 people? All made in one day?
Amy I think it’s easier when you have multiple appliances (I’m sure they have at least 2 ovens in the kitchen) and plenty of counter space. It doesn’t seem that big of a meal to pull off though I’ve never made a log so can’t confirm that part
One of my best girlfriends made a turkey and a prime rib for her family on Thanksgiving this year. There were 6 of them, and 3 of them were ages 5 and under. Some people go really big for the holidays.
Kate has three nannies, a cook, and a housekeeper to do all the work, including minding the kids and doing all the cooking while Kate drinks her Shirley Temple.
I roasted our turkey, made the gravy and one of the sides but my sister made a small roast and another side. It’s okay to have help and share that too. Though it seems as that she doesn’t know how to cook at all and may not want to. Such a sad way to go about life, pretending to be something you are not and trying to poach the personality of your sister in law.
So we’re supposed to believe that Kate alone cooked (for a family of 5) a lunch consisting of:
1. turkey
2. stuffing
3. pigs in blankets
4. ham
5. roast potatoes
6. “all the trimmings”
7. Chocolate Christmas log
8. apple pie
9. a full ginger bread house, including the decorations
And then to top it all off, she decorate the table with pine cones and branches?
I know we are fed stories about Kate the Stepford Wife, but this is really over-the-top.
I love to cook big holiday meals and get so excited when it’s my turn to host and I can go all out. I even decorated my thanksgiving table this year with candles and greenery and coordinating napkins. It wasn’t hard, I used Amazon, lol, but if your parents own a party supplies business I imagine it’s even easier.
I just don’t think that Kate actually did the cooking bc despite stories about her curry and chutney over the years, she doesn’t seem that comfortable the few times we’ve seen her doing something in a kitchen.
Do we really think the snobby wanna-be-aristo Middletons spent Christmas Day in the kitchen, or do we think the chef made everything and Kate takes the credit for it?
American in London here- and though we have had a pretty meh holiday and I am certainly not the hostess with the mostest- I made a turkey and ham with roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, apple strudel and mince pies for my family of 6. Ordered everything up from the market weeks and weeks ago (the Brits plan everything super early) and it was all delivered the 23rd with instructions like “remove film and roast 2 hours”. I pretty much just stuck everything in the oven and came back 90 min later to baste and make a salad. That’s a pretty common way to tackle a holiday meal in the UK.
Its in their engagement interview that she can cook. W would try to cook for her and she’d fix the mistakes. But I can definitely cook and don’t like doing turkey meals. They mean she did that meal with helpers, right ?
That engagement interview was a pack of lies, and not just about her cooking. It also included the whoppers about her hitting the ground running and working hard PLUS the stolen engagement story.
There is no way Kate actually cooks. Her #1 job in life is to flash Diana’s cursed ring, to remind people that William is Diana’s son. Knowing the photos will always include a shot of her ring hand, there is no way she would risk damaging her manicure.
“After a *busy* year….” LOLOL. WHO BELIEVES THIS BS??!!! These two ultra-laz-abouts did about HALF of the extremely low numbers they do in a “normal” year. It was even *easier* this past year, in that all they had to do was dress from the waist up, sit in front of a computer screen and make a few Zoom calls a week. They couldn’t even do that!
And I totally agree that Keen bought her own present, just as she bought her own push presents (like the teeny, tiny eternity band for George’s birth) that she “got” from Bitter Brother.
The blatant lying is so annoying. All year they’ve been writing articles about how the Cambridges have had to step up and take on more work to fill in for the Sussexes, and then for the Queen. They are NOT doing any more work. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of Kate’s least busy years ever, including pregnancy years. And we know it, because if we’re reading royal articles, we’re probably following the royals, so we have seen with our own eyes (or not seen, in this case) how often will and kate are out and about working. We go weeks and weeks without seeing them sometimes. It’s such a blatant lie and it sucks that any kind of “journalist” is allowed to write such things in their “articles.”
Ugh, the gendering of those presents!!!
I thought that too although a video camera isn’t so bad? But yeah the buying one kind of present for the boys and another for the girl sets up a gender dichotomy very young.
They started that when their daughter was only a few weeks old. Telling reporters and crowds their son was a little terror while their daughter was a perfect little lady. At three weeks. I doubt Charlotte gets to choose shorts or trousers, she’s required to wear smocked dresses most of the time.
A camera because mom is into photography, and Charlotte as a girl must be a mini version of her mom. So clever. 🙄
She can have fun with the video camera but she can have “outdoor” fun like her brothers. It’s odd only her brothers are mentioned a having fun outdoors.
Good lord, I feel sick from the sugary sweetness of that heap of LIES. You know she didn’t cook sh*t, first of all. She guessed at what Meghan might have cooked for Christmas and then detailed the menu to the Anmer chef.
Lol pigs in blankets aren’t a thing on the west coast, where Meghan comes from. I mean we know about them but they aren’t popular at all. Idk if the story is true but if it is her interpretation of Meghan she’s way off. Personally I think the story is true, isn’t about Meghan and that they have hired help or her mom helped. I hate making turkey but some people do it easily and come on they have resources. Making a pie is not a big deal.
Riiiiiight.
Kate turned on the stove top, at 10 am so the cook could start boiling the giblets!
Wow, that “insider” was everywhere, taking notes. There when the kids woke up, when they opened their presents, when Kate was cooking and using her creative skills to put some candles on the table, when she was “surprised” with the bracelet, when the kids were helping in the kitchen. Busy, busy, insider. I wonder why the insider doesn’t mention any gifts for William.
the insider is ma meddleton.
Exactly.
Right?!? I love how they have SO many specifics. It’s a little creepy….I picture this “insider” peering through their windows with a periscope. 🤣
And shame on the outlet for reporting as fact what an “insider” said about this family waking up at 5 AM. If Kate “cooked” we are to presume no staff? Lol.
The “insider” was TOLD by Kate that x y and z happened and then insider /Ma passed it on. The level of propaganda here is actually gross.
The insider didn’t mention the full time cook and full time housekeeper, three nannies, plus all the cleaning staff. But of course, that wouldn’t be ‘normal middle class’ PR.
William probably bailed after the pap shoot
Meghan cooked Thanksgiving, therefore Katie keen must cook Christmas. Noooooooo. More like Kate sat on the computer drinking and shopping and Carole called the staff to tell them what they were to serve them for Christmas. Let’s not pretend that Carole the queens mom has stopped running her do nothing daughter life. And I could have sworn that right before Christmas that Kaiser posted a piece from people magazine about how the cambs kids barely get anything for Christmas because they don’t want to spoil them. Well all those gifts sounds expensive to me. Notice how poor Louis and Charlotte got one big gift and king George tent was the gift that kept on giving him stuff.
Yep. The previous story was that they don’t get much at Christmas.
After a busy year….
Let’s keep the facts in mind. Per the Court Circular, going into December Kate had worked less than 70 days TOTAL for 2021.
How they defined work: meetings with staff at home, phone calls with people, zoom meetings…. They didn’t just count her public events. They also counted the behind the scenes efforts.
It’s pretty bad that they are even mentioning that Kate got more jewelry during a year where so many in the UK still suffered because of the pandemic. She’s still spending away on clothes and holidays while the taxpayers who pay for her lifestyle make do with less. Maybe they are hoping only Americans see this, but it’s really tone deaf.
As person who follows “Germanic” (not really, it is basically the whole Europe vs Anglosaxon traditions) I’m really annoyed every time I read that the presents on Christmas morning ets are more joyous celebrations, that kids are excluded on Christmas Eve etc.
Well, not really. Maybe in Windsor household but it is custom of this particular family, and as 30something person, who has a blast during childhood and still Christmas Eve dinner is my favourite festive thing in a whole year I feel a little bit offended of this pitting one customs against another every time I read about Royal Christmas.
I adore presents on Xmas eve. It’s all twinkley and pretty and everyone feels festive. As opposed to Xmas morning when everyone’s tired, no wine for the parents, a day of cooking ahead, and a mess to clean up. Ugh.
Pigs in blankets are vile little things. Cocktail sausages from à can wrapped in puff pastry. I think you ca. Buy them
We cook the Turkey and stuffing the day before. Décarcasse the Turkey and put stuffing and Turkey slices in an aluminum pan. Christmas Day just warm it up with chicken broth or water. The mess is gone., the carcass tossed or saved for soup.A friend told me that years ago and I have done it ever since. The ove is free for vegetable casseroles, or to cook a ham. I rinse dishes between courses and just dessert dishes to rinse. Easy. Just put the g ood dishes away next day. Nevertheless less I am tired by Christmas night.
Yes, Christmas Eve is very festive in Germany! And the kids are included a lot, just not when the adults put the presents underneath the tree.
My family did this when I was little. I’ve always loved opening presents on Christmas Eve. We’re not German or follow German traditions. It was practical, for us Santa had to get an early start to get to every house but actually the grandparents got to see us open presents.
We grew up opening presents on Christmas Eve. It was lovely with the lights and a real Christmas tree. Christmas Day we (pre-pandemic) went to church followed by family lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon visiting, playing in the snow and just spending time together. Of course, once our grandparents passed, we just celebrate with our individual families. Wonderful memories…..
We open one gift on Christmas Eve. It really is magical, with the dark house and the colored lights.
The Windsors apparently follow Queen Victoria’s style of Christmas, which sounds so soul-killing. No relaxation. Everyone having to be formally dressed and having to wait your turn in the hierarchy to get your presents. Ugh. I don’t blame Kate and William actually for preferring a more family centered, informal Christmas at home. It may be the only normal thing about them.
What does the article mean couldn’t spend Christmas with the queen and other royals? Don’t they mean won’t spend Christmas with them?
?
i read it as the Queen didn’t want them around.
The Queen announced that as Covid is rapidly increasing in the U.K., she was cancelling the Royal Christmas get together. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes but officially they couldn’t spend Christmas with the Queen due to the RF all making sacrifices due to Covid.
This family does not sacrifice anything, the employees still have to show up for work and cook a special holiday lunch and dinner for her and take care of her property, and dress her etc. This year the gathering was just not attended by the extended family The Queen had several family members visit as was reported in the press. Surely the heir to the throne could have done the same.
Talia, I remember the announcement but Charles and his wife and Edward and his family went to have Christmas with the queen, so surely the ffk and ffq who are so full of duty could have also gone
Article about the Cambridges idyllic Hallmark Christmas with Kate cooking, baking with the kids, personally decorating for the holiday, and William gifting her with a bracelet- pics or it didn’t happen.
Is this the same piece that was in the DM? I saw a DM tweet talking about the gifts, I thought the DM got the exclusive. I’m sure they got some good gifts as opposed to what Duncan Lacombe said some weeks ago but I don’t believe that Kate cooked. Her kitchen staff did the meal the day before and she just warmed it in the microwave on Christmas Day.
I saw some theories yesterday that the queen didn’t invite them to Windsor. Sure she name checked William in her speech but she’s pissed at his involvement in Meghans court case.
Yes, that’s what I think too.
Does the queen really care about what’s going down with William dragging his sister in law? Doesn’t she only care about her late husband and protecting Andrew?
No, she doesn’t care – this is happening two generations away from her. She’s 95, her husband just died, her health is failing, her son is a mooching sex offender, H&M are happy and healthy with their family in the US and W&K are “happy” and healthy in the UK. And squabbling between siblings seems to be the norm with that family. At this point, she’s only got so much energy.
@Lizzie: You’re giving the Queen alot of grace. If she was really upset about William’s treatment of Meghan she would have intervened a long time ago.
I only think she is pissed he did it publicly.
In effect, the Queen is William’s “boss” and could have told him to stop it. She just lets problems go on and rarely intervenes.
Funny Betty didn’t say a word, with the nonsense going on about Lili’s name, yeah! but she upset about what the royals are famous for, Jealousy.
That old bat spoke out in support of Boris Johnson’s mistress pregnancy but like her incestuous family she was dumb about her grandson’s wife.
Did Angela Kelly quit? To let the Queen appear on TV looking braless.
I think that Kate, who is fake as a cardboard prop, was truly never really nice to Meghan.
Oh god forbid a woman appear in public without her full whalebone corset.
What whale bone corsets, are not part of protocol? I could be wrong but I’m sure you can find bras without wires.
Some one made a joke (I think) that at the Xmas concert Kate was looking for a bracelet as a gift from Cain, but a CD.
Yes Mic Wright on twitter made a pointed “Love Actually ” reference about Kate getting the Joni Mitchell CD instead of a glamorous necklace.
I’m sure she has a wishlist on some jewelry website and that William’s PA is perfectly capable of ordering items from it as needed.
But his write up feels pointed: he gave her a gift (not in the royal tradition of gag gifts, strike one), kids had presents on the morning (royals have presents in the evening, strike two, but we can let this one slide), she cooked (royals have staff, strike three), she decorated the table (like the Party Pieces girl she is, again royals have staff, strike four).
All these make me agree with the “separate lives” theory – she does not live as a Royal. They’ll extract George ASAP, via boarding school, I’ll bet. And they’ll stay together, separately, until the order of succession moves on – that’s my prediction.
To clarify, I do not think that cooking Christmas dinner and decorating the tables are bad ideas, just that they are very pointedly different behaviours from the Royal/aristo lifestyle. Social climbing is not always worth it.
This story most likely was written by an American writer, who don’t know anything about the house of Windsor.
Honestly, I once saw Unable slicing a loaf of bread on TV, if she was peeling vegetables they would’ve to take the peeler from her.
Cain did say he was so slim because of her cooking.
When they lived in the ‘cottage’ in Wales, they had four full-time staff including separate cook and housekeeper. Kate absolutely glories in the royal life of having peons around to do all the work, from cooking the food to raising the kids.
Yeah, I think that nails it- Kate *glories* in the royal life. She worked hard to get it and she works hard to keep it. Pampered poodle.
The Xmas feast sounds pretty dull and basic as described. Surely this can’t be their notion of “normal” and “down-to-earth”?
Also, just thought of this (actually just came back from holiday luncheon with the only seriously rich godmother/aunt): where are the epergnes? Those Downtown Abbey style silver monoliths as decorations? If Kate doesn’t have a huge **s silver/gold/ivory/marble thingy on her table for Christmas, she isn’t living with William. I can guarantee Rose has her choice of epergne. Buccellati still sells them, so chances are even Carole has one.
Kate bought herself a bracelet with Duchy money, pretended William gave it to her. Just like the diamond anniversary band and all her Kiki McD earrings.
I don’t believe for a second that Kate cooked all that food. Not for a minute. I don’t think she CAN cook. No way in hell she did that. And “her creative skills?” How much skill does it take to put festive Christmas decorations on a dinner table. Seriously Us? No wonder I haven’t spent money on you in more than 20 years.
IKR, this reminds me of a funny story about Mr. Jaded’s 1st wife who is a nutjob. She couldn’t cook and wouldn’t learn so when they had to host Christmas or Thanksgiving for family she’d call a local deli and order a turkey, stuffing, mashed spuds, veggies, the whole 9 yards. They would deliver it, she’d warm it up and pretend she cooked the whole thing. She swore him to secrecy not to tell.
But did Kate eat a bite of what she supposedly made? And was the bracelet paid for by tax payer dollars? We’re any of the adults happy? Does this count as an “event” or “work” by the Cambridges? This is the stuff I’d like to know.
Carole raised her to be William’s wife. No way that included the uselessness of cooking lessons. She was raised to expect staff to do it. She doesn’t have any everyday skills. She can’t even speak.
When she claimed she couldn’t work more early in the marriage? She had plenty of time to take weeks of remedial cooking lessons. Someone in her classes leaked the info.
Carole probably instructed her on how to give “chef” the menu for the day. I can’t see Kate and those children in the kitchen, washing dishes, and cleaning up the kitchen. They have staff to do that.
This is one of the reasons that I enjoy Meghan so much. I do believe that Meghan is an ambitious woman who is calculated and has planned her life to an extent. I wish I was more like her in this regard. That’s the difference between these two women…Kate has no desire to be anything but a walking talking mannequin. Why not learn how actually cook instead of pretending? Why didn’t she get a damn job after university? Didn’t she study art history? Get a job in a gallery or some sh*t. Instead she lives this weird, passive aggressive lazy life filled with envy and jealousy at a woman who has done nothing but work hard, make a full and happy life for herself and enjoy the fruit of her labor.
Kate probably learned how fill out a weekly “meal plan” from Carole. But overall, the staff does a lot of the decision making.
I remember reading about Pippa using her gap year in Italy to take a year-long gourmet cooking course. Maybe she taught Kate a few things?
OT, to be able to spend a year in Italy learning preparation of gourmet food is a dream. What a way to spend a year.
I doubt Pippa or Kate do much cooking.
I wish they would stop with the fabrications in an attempt to make her sound like a regular stay at home parent. She did not cook the elaborate meal or decorate. State funded employees did it with at most, her input.
Everything is such an exaggeration with these two. Kate didn’t merely “set the table,” she “used her creative skills to decorate” it. It’s always so over the top with the Cambridges.
I’ve realized that that is what makes them so unpalatable. They’re constantly trying to canonize a woman who is so clearly NOT perfect and it’s just sickening and annoying.
Yep, it comes off as so ‘try-hard’ for p.r. embiggening purposes, rather than being genuine. It’s so obviously false. This, combined with the one-sided ridiculous attempts to compete with the Sussexes, all the while continuing to project and brief falsehoods against them! The rota, KP staffers, and Cambridges just need to stop.
Next she will channel Martha Stewart.
After a busy year???? 🙃😂😂😂😂😂
What was so busy about it?
Did either of these clowns do over 100 engagements??
Why is Papa Middleton the only one wearing a mask in a packed church?
Because he doesn’t live with Carole?
He is the only one whose sole reason for being there isn’t to get his face in a picture.
Wasn’t the story last week that they didn’t spoil the kids even at Christmas. Today’s story is that they let that rule slide for Christmas. They need to pick a story line and stick to it.
I keep thinking of the Pandora parody ad on Saturday night live when I heard about the bracelet….(if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look up! )
I just watched it, hilarious.
@Ellen, I loved that! As someone who isn’t a huge fan of charm bracelets, but understands how much some people want you to be so that they never have to think of a gift to get you ever again, since it’s easier for THEM to just pick a different charm every year without putting too much effort into it — I was lol’ing at that one.
After a busy day of planning the menu & ordering staff around, the Cambs & Midds, with drinks in hand, continue to plot ways to get Charles to abdicate.
^^ LOL! You forgot to add that W&K and cohort CarolE continue to plot ways to help the rota attack the Sussexes, all the while trying to copycat M&H’s every move.
The point of this article was to remind everyone that these kids are being shaped by the Middletons and their traditions. I do think Kate is following in her mother’s footsteps in raising her children to be co-dependent on her the way she and her siblings are with Carole. I do think it is possible to have a close family and still be a full independent autonomous individual but that is clearly not the case with the Middletons.
I do agree with everyone else that its clear W&K have separate lives but will they actually divorce? I strongly doubt that will ever happen b/c then the monarchy will truly end and even W is aware of this. There’s a reason why certain celeb couples stay married and its b/c they are more famous and richer as a couple than they would be divorced. Not saying it’s right or justified it’s just what is.
The monarchy will not end if they divorce. 40 percent of marriages in the UK end in divorce. The Church of England accepts divorce and remarries people in the Church now. The majority of people in the UK are not religious and don’t care if people divorce. Only 14 percent are admitted members of CoE, so who cares if the future ‘head’ is divorced? Charles is divorced and he’ll still be king.
The monarchy survived three out of four of the Queen’s children getting divorced. It used to be unheard of with royal couples staying together no matter what…I agree.
The current heir to the throne is divorced and had a messy divorce plastered all over the media for years. But he will still be king. This is a monarchy that created their own religion in order for a king to get a divorce. So a divorced monarch will not matter to the public, especially now when it is common. If William wants a divorce they will get one. Right now he is barely hiding his disdain in public toward his wife. So eventually he’s going to have to decide. It seems much more likely that no public decision is being made right now because of the queen. But charles isn’t going to stop a divorce if that’s what his son wants.
I do think they are living separate lives like everyone else but I’ve been leaning toward them going with the “limp along and fake-it-till-we-make-it” strategy, at least for the next several years/the kids get a bit older. I honestly think William is currently waffling on whether it makes more sense to ditch Kate and embrace the “hands-on swinging single dad” lifestyle or “keep the ball and chain and continue this facade if it gets us more praise and likes.” Dude seems to be confused as all hell as to what the best option is and it shows. He is not “in love” with his wife anymore, that is certain, but he might think it’s worth his while to grimace through the pain and bear it until he sees where the chips fall after TQ passes.
Kate continues to be an embarrassment to him, IMO that’ll be a deciding factor.
I am not a fan of these people at all, but I can’t fault them for the gifts – it sounds to me like they got their kids things they would enjoy.
The details about the dinner make me sad, though. I don’t believe any of it and I wonder who does – and how sad is someone’s life if they read about Kate and William’s Christmas celebration with any of sort of wistful aspiration. It’s so middle class (which isn’t bad – it’s just a very “common” holiday experience), so either someone is reading it and thinking, “that sounds just like my holiday” or they are thinking, “I wish I had a happy family holiday experience just like that.” If you were to read an embellished third hand account of my Christmas, it would sound very similar (“McMMom made not one but three holiday pies, ensuring everyone got a taste of their favorite sweets for the holiday! The festive dinner table combined beautiful green and white florals with punchy red pomegranates and was set with heirloom silver and china, capturing both the colors and the spirit of the season.”)
I guess that’s the whole point of royalty – you’re supposed to want to be these people and you are therefore ok funding their lifestyle. I think I’m just too American to really “get it.”
@MCMMOM, lmao at your example! These writers really do need to embellish to a ridiculous extent to pad their stories in order to make everything the Windsors do seem “magical” and “special.”
Sure, we know when the kids woke up and what the duchess of Stepford and the children cooked for dinner, but what, pray tell, did the future future queen’s husband do on Christmas? Presumably he wasn’t frantically looking for 24 hour gas stations to buy Kate’s bracelet at the last minute so where was he?
It’s odd that this “insider” wouldn’t mention William or mention him playing with the boys and their “outdoor” toys (🙄). I hope Kate got him a remote control helicopter and a mock pilot’s cap, or something similarly passive aggressive.
And it should have been added that Kate all by herself cleaned the house and all the rooms, vacuumed, cleaned and scrubbed, cooked all the food, and washed the dishes and still looked “picture perfect.”
And of course the girl does not get the “outdoor toys.” LOL>
I doubt she does much cooking She probably handed their chef the menu she’d like.
Apple pie seems very… American.
Good eye!
Lol
Sorry but apple pie originated in Europe. Apple trees weren’t native to US but brought over by colonists.
Maybe so, but you still have to admit that today it is seen as the quintessential American dessert. Surely there are many traditional British “puddings” that would’ve been a more believable menu addition.
Keen cooked about as much as she played piano at the concert.
Keen cooked about as much as she ate.
Yeah, I was just about to say that. Funny how the term “Pre-Recorded” can be used to describe most of KKKate’s alleged activities, not just the piano playing.
There is no “insider”. It is all fabricated by the writer of the piece. Many years ago, a so called journalist came to us from a large city to do a piece on husbands research project. I was at work and not involved in any way. Yet, when the story appeared in the Sunday paper, a paragraph was written as if I had been interviewed as well. Totally made up rubbish. I contacted the author to complain and was told this was not illegal. Asking around, I found that while unethical perhaps, it was not against the law. So believe very little from tabloid press.
Yep, their team is very clever. These articles are fanfic and put out to test the waters, if any article bites them in the butt they can easily just come out and deny it. It’s a nice setup they’ve got here.
Daily Fail used to have regular features on the Middleton mafia complaining about their naff middle-class ness grip on W and the kids. Poor Chaz and other royals barely got a look in with the offspring- how times have changed since Ma started giving them interviews and they now have Meg to bash. Once it was pushy Ma and lazy Kate but now it is all white with the Fail!
The article forgot to mention that after Kate put the children to bed, Will came around with the Gin and Tonic.
Second-rate Kate spent more than half her life pretending she was above her middle-class roots, including adopting an ongoing attempt at an aristocratic accent. To suddenly do an about-face and try to claim them is interesting. And funny.
I wonder if Kate gets nicer gifts the more William strays?
Maybe she looked at the bracelet and snapped, “what else!?” (but not when William was around, of course)
She got Baby #3 because of the straying on skiing holiday, does that count?
Whs that carole at the jewelry store, maybe shopping for willy?.
What that carole at the jewelry store, maybe shopping for willy?.
I can’t fault Kate for probably buying her own bracelet, but she shouldn’t spin a tale in the media about how utterly romantic Willie is. The likely truth (she picked it out and her mom picked it up) is much more believable and relatable.
Her need to falsify and then immediately publicise huge chunks of her manufactured life is bonkers, if you think about it.
My husband and I exchange presents, but either guide each other toward things involved in our hobbies/interests or outright tell the other the sort of things we’d like. Sometimes we surprise each other, but no pressure to do so.
These subliminal headline are dizzying. Can they stop putting words like Kate and Beautiful or leader or saved the royal family in the same sentence. She is annoying, but good for William buying a gift with the public purse, that should make it so much more special for Kate, lol.
US weekly is fanfiction. Kate would not cook Christmas lunch and I think she’d be traditional which isn’t apple pie. Hence American fanfiction.
I was just looking at a Facebook “memory” of a Christmas brunch I prepared precovid, and when my mom was still with us, so everyone in the family came, 28 of us back then. I had a crazy long list of what went in when, at what temperature, what dish to serve it in, etc. I made roasted red pepper quiches, vegetable pot pie, butternut squash lasagna, stuffed shells, potato wedges, brie in puffed pastry with cranberries and pine nuts, double chocolate cheesecake. The cheesecake was done at least the day before though, as was a lot of the chopping.
I liked putting out such a spread, but it was exhausting! I mean I needed 2 days down time to recover. If I were a duchess with staff, I’m sure I would be at most just reheating! I just can’t see Kate getting up at 3am, digging around inside a turkey trying to get the gizzards out 😂
This year it was just the kids and us so I did scrambled eggs, popovers, cocoa with a fancy cocoa-charcuterie board with way too many fun additions for the 5 of us. That’s the traditional menu I used to do when the kids had to go to their dad’s by noon on Christmas day. Because of that, they used to open stockings and one gift each Christmas eve and do the rest in the morning.
The perfect wife & mother cooked all day for her perfect family as her perfect husband bought her the perfect expensive gift. Also, it’s 1950.
Perfect Kate Draper. Wonder if she ever feels like a fraud or she totally lacks conscience and deeper feelings.
The article sounds like a Christmas story. So the other Middleton family members did not attend the Cambridge Christmas event? Amazing no photos; perhaps they will appear in the January issue of People Magazine. We may get to see the bracelet. With jewelry (mostly stolen) being a central focal point of the royal women, why would she be excited about receiving a bracelet? What was William’s gift?
So the children put fun and games aside to help Mommy in the kitchen (eye-roll). All the hoopla about H&M not bringing their infants amid a pandemic to see a 95-year old germ bank. William and Kate were in the UK and didn’t spend time with her, but that’s okay. The British tabloid worry about the Sussex children not meeting the Queen is incredible. Still, it doesn’t seem they care if Archie and Lili meet Charles. Hope everyone that worked tirelessly to prepare Christmas dinner enjoyed your meal.
There’s no way that Kate cooked a meal like that. It would take a week’s planning and two days of cooking. And several hours to decorate and set a table.
I’m not been mean but Kate cooking Christmas Dinner, are they having a laugh ???? Seriously even de gifts the young children received , dull dull and dull. But KP are most definitely pushing Queenie Kate just wondering why and why now ??