Over the weekend, the Duchess of Cambridge released never-before-seen photos of her trip to a British Army training base. I can’t imagine that Kate was there for even one full day. I strongly suspect that she was only on the base long enough to pose for keen photos and flirt with Army dudes. The fact that Kensington Palace held on to the photos and the news of the trip is very curious too, although this is not the first time KP has “banked” photos and news of an event for months at a time. In Kate’s message over the weekend, she wrote: “I look forward to discovering more about the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in due course.” That was enough to make me wonder if Kate is about to get some big new military patronage. Now one of the Mail’s gossips says that’s the case, and Kate will likely get one of Prince Andrew’s most prestigious military patronages.
Photos of the Duchess of Cambridge in Army fatigues indicate that Kate, famously reluctant to take on military roles, is at last ready to step up and maintain the strong links between royalty and the Armed Forces. It also fuels the rumours that she is to take on higher-profile roles, with the colonelcy of the Grenadier Guards said to be heading her way.
The Queen is dithering on filling that role out of respect to Andrew, who had the post removed from him. But the Grenadiers would give Kate a warm welcome – as they did to their first female royal colonel, Princess Elizabeth in 1942. The delusional Andrew still thinks he can get the role back, but he should abandon hope. ‘The lads wouldn’t wear it,’ advises one officer in the Bill Browns.
I remember when Harry walked away and the Queen removed his military patronages, there was a lot of talk about who would get what, and how maybe Prince William was keen to take whatever Harry had, or maybe Kate would “soften the blow” by taking them. What’s funny about that is there has been zero urgency, within the family, to talk about who should take over Andrew’s patronages. Most of them are still sitting there, patron-less, mostly because Andrew and the Queen are still convinced that he can “come back.” So yeah, maybe Kate will be the new colonel of the Grenadier Guards. Or maybe she’ll finally get one of Harry’s old patronages. I definitely think she’s about to be assigned something new.
Also: “Kate, famously reluctant to take on military roles…” This is true. She had been in the Firm for seven years before the Air Cadets patronage was forced on her by the Queen at Christmas one year, and that was her first military patronage. I don’t know WHY Kate is so “reluctant” either, other than the fact that she’s lazy as hell.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Kensington Palace, Instar.
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- North America Rights Only – Ascot, UK -20220617- Day four of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: David Davies/PA Images/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- North America Rights Only – London, UK -20220616- Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood host a roundtable at the Royal Institution in London, attended by representatives from the early years sector alongside the Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Minister for Families Will Quince and officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. -PICTURED: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: PA Images/Chris Jackson/INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated before publishing
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- Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, visit the Air Cadets at 282 East Ham Squadron Air Training Corps in East London. The Cambridges wore black as the royal family is still in mourning.,Image: 607001786, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler / Avalon
This is a dilemma. Harry would have been a perfect fit, and Kate is only going to be a proxy. Crazy times.
Imagine all the buttons !!!!
Please … no, no. *cries*
They’re not is a rush because they know how all ill fitted they are to take over any military patronages and anybody would absolutely look as a ridiculous joke when Harry is the only one who could successfully champion them all.
Her big “horse” grin… :/
Andrew is delusional if he thinks he’ll get any of his patronages back. Charles will never allow it. Even if skate gets this patronages, she’ll still be lazy as hell and do as little as possible for them.
Weren’t they taking over Harry and the Queen’s patronages? Has Keens worked this week because it’s Wednesday? Whose taking over the retirees patronages?
Oh dear. A bit of a mismatch. If this was even five years ago there may have been a glimmer of hope that she would grow into a role like that but I think that’s been extinguished now. Nothing about the military speaks to Kate. They get more done in 30 minutes than she does in a day.
They’re coming close to calling her lazy again, she better be careful. “famously reluctant,” she’s finally going to “step up” etc.
I’m sure she’ll get one of his military patronages, and this one seems likely. they’ll pull out these pictures once a year as proof of her commitment to the military (that was the point of the visit, right, to stockpile photos they can use for the next few years.)
Kate “is at last ready” – wow, that one day at the training base must have been really comprehensive.
No big hurry. I’m sure that all these military units can still function without a royal patron. What is the benefit to the military? The benefit seems to be to the royals in getting attention, fake medals and getting to wear unearned uniforms.
Slightly off topic but, I always thought it was spiteful and petty of TQ, Don Charlione and William to not let Harry keep at least one of his military patronages. We watched him as a kid playing soldiers and as an adult proudly serving his country. Even now his love of the military is shown in spades with the IG. The whole Sussexit was pretty horrible but, that single act was the one where I thought “You vindictive small minded trio.”
So, if Kate now has to do more work because her venomous husband didn’t push for Harry to keep some (or all) of his patronages then sobeit. As the saying goes “you reap what you sow.” Personally I would love for her to get one of Andrew’s patronages because he will leak like a sieve everything he knows about Kate and her family. Which may be the real reason TQ hasn’t offloaded them onto others yet.
She’s so ready that she couldn’t be bothered to already have her hair tied back. Honestly did no one on team read the itinerary and realise long loose hair was going to be a bit of a safety hazard?
Yes it’s pretty basic for military women to tie their hair back and not show up with a blowout when pretending to do military work. Basic workplace training in any manual labour position tells you to tie your hair back and take off rings because of the risks they pose. She does neither.
At least when Anne does military stuff she doesn’t show up looking like a fashion plate. Yes there are issues with any royal showing up for military events, but Anne doesn’t primp like a fool either. And she actually shows up.
Did the grin leave her face at any point during her time there?
If Kate & Will are heading for a separation (or already separated), I don’t understand why she would be given more patronages now. Seems like that would just add to what will need to be untangled if/when a divorce occurs. So have we been reading the tea leaves wrong in regards to a separation, or is this just another thing to file under “Inexplicable Decisions by the BRF”?
Interesting question. I said yesterday that I go back and forth on a divorce – some days I think its likely, some days I don’t think it will happen. I do think they are living separate lives though, which makes sense with the Windsor house.
sometimes I do wonder…what if we’re completely wrong and they’re totally happy and in love and their marriage is solid and we have just crafted this completely false alternate reality?
then they make a public appearance together and I think, nah, we’re pretty spot on, LOL.
William and Kate are never going to divorce.
That joint portrait is making me pause about a divorce as well.
But was the portrait their decision? It was commissioned by the Cambridgeshire Royal Portrait Fund so the may have been presented with an honor they couldn’t refuse without looking bad. More interesting to me is the recent photos of Will and the children not being taken by Kate and the copyright being listed as just the Duke of Cambridge. They also failed to acknowledge their anniversary on SM like they usually do.
MTE about the portrait, Fee! No way would anyone commission that thing if there was solid talk about a divorce. I believe they have separate lives. Could they divorce in the future? Maybe, bit probably not for years and years. Why go through the hassle of a divorce when you can just have a mutual understanding?
I think at this point it will up to how many more of the tabloid articles that come out that keeps saying that W needs KHate because… Every article then shades W. I believe that’s damaging to him. I think when W gets enough of this then a divorce will happen. KHate and Ma Med need to really be careful how they go forward. They are not in as secure of a position as I believe they think they are. It’s possible that in the Firm’s extraordinarily thick walled bubble they live in that a divorce would be damaging to the monarchy. The reality is that a divorce wouldn’t be much of a blip on the scope.
they didn’t acknowledge their anniversary, and for the second year in a row Kate was not part of the Father’s Day pictures (it would be a perfect opportunity for her to take a picture of William and the kids, right?) Last year William took the kids to a local race by himself.
Like I said I go back and forth. but one thing that stands out in my mind is that he can’t stand to be around her. And living separate lives doesn’t get him out of having to be around her in public for major events. (like if he loathes her, is he going to want her there at his father’s coronation?) If they were faking it better in public I would be more inclined to think that there is no chance of divorce. But if we think William really can’t stand being around her, then divorce is the only way out of that.
Going forward, the number and frequency of new patronages awarded to KKKate sounds like a reliable preview into the likelihood of a Cambridge divorce. If they really start tapering off, she’s outta there.
Of maybe the queen is piling on the patronages awarded to her to make it that much harder for him to divorce her after she is gone.
Kate grinning maniacally…”Hurr durr do I get to drive that big tank?!”
That’s about the size of it, yes. Good one.
With Harry gone and Philip dead, the Royal wants to keep close ties with the military. I think the Palace is paving the way for Kate to step into some military roles.
There’s been enough talk over the last few months of her getting a military role so I think she’s getting the Grenadier role. Would explain why they decided to release photos from months ago (other than to add to their engagement count).
As head of the armed forces, the Queen is Colonel in Chief of everything. I can see her appointing her family to be her representatives. But what exactly does an “honourary” do other than show up to formal occasions once in a while. I can imagine that Harry would be able to advocate for them in some way and as patron of Invictus he would be a lot of help to the whole military. If they just need a royal to take an interest in them, good luck with that.
Do they need to do something with these patronages now? Why don’t they wait until the Cambridge kids are old enough and give them to the heir and sister? I honestly can’t imagine that the military is going to very enthused with KHate.
The problematic PR, put briefly aside, there has to be a better replacement for Andrew than the obvious person vying for the position.
I love when kate and william are stuck together and william cant divorce her.
I hope one of the mistresses will sell a tell all about the scandal to medias outside of britain. The british medias cant make a profit out of it because of the invisible contract.
Give all of andrew and harry patronages to kate. She deserve all the work and next time the patronages will shame her on live interview. Hey remember you didnt contact us in 8 years.
Love everything that happen to them.
Now i can see why the queen took all of harry patronages. The medias cant pick and blame harry if harry didnt contact the patronages less than 3 days.
Perhaps this is the one time she’s self aware of how ridiculous she looks being a patron of a military.