For the Duchess of Cornwall’s big Country Life cover and guest-editorship, she wanted her step-daughter-in-law to photograph her. Duchess Kate posed Camilla on a bench in the backyard of Camilla’s private home, Ray Mill, and boom, that was the cover shot. The Country Life cover led some people to wonder whether Camilla and Kate are actually a lot closer than we’ve previously believed? I don’t think Camilla and Kate have ever had any kind of falling out, but I thought their relationship was more “work friends” than family. These days, I feel like I have a better understanding of how manipulative Camilla is, and how she must view Kate. Camilla likely sees Kate as a convenient royal idiot, someone who will not threaten Camilla’s power, and generally sort of useless. Kate is who Camilla thought Diana would be. Which is some kind of strange working alliance, but sure. Anyway, Katie Nicholl had some thoughts about Camilla and Kate’s relationship:
Kate Middleton and the Duchess of Cornwall have a ‘very close’ relationship, a royal expert has claimed. Earlier this week, it emerged Camilla, 74, had commissioned the Duchess of Cambridge, 40, to take her portrait for a special cover of Country Life released to mark her 75th birthday.
Speaking on GB News this morning, Vanity Fair’s Katie Nicholl said it was ‘lovely’ Camilla had asked Kate to take the snap, adding: ‘They’re very very close, they really are.
‘It’s interesting isn’t it, we were sitting here talking about the fab four last time and, of course, that was Harry and Meghan and William and Kate and now we talk about a very different fab four. We are talking about Charles and Camilla and William and Kate.’
“They’re very very close, they really are” – I doubt it, as I said. They’re not enemies or anything and they get along fine, but they’re not super-tight. I wonder if Camilla reminds Kate a little bit of Carole. Same generation, puppet-master types who keep their eyes on the prize. As for the sad “fab four” talk… it’s hilarious, really. Kate and William should be so insulted by the idea that they need an extra “couple” to heighten interest. Why is there this need to create any kind of Fab Four? Oh, right.
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- North America Rights Only, Windsor, England – 20220613- Order Of The Garter Service -PICTURED: Camila Duchess of Cornwall, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Prince Charles -PHOTO by: PA Images/INSTARimages.com -67415778 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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Camilla just knew she needed the attention Kate brings to make people pay attention to her garden cover. I don’t think she necessarily has bad feelings towards Kate, but if there is one thing people can agree on about Camilla, it’s that’s she knows how to use people to her advantage and Kate was game to play along.
People underestimate Camilla. This woman managed to have an affair with the Prince of Wales while manipulating his very young wife to believe she was a friend. I think Camilla sees Kate the same way. A person she can manipulate for her advantage all the while planning to completely destroy her if needed.
Camilla could eat Kate and Carole for breakfast. But it’s not in her interest to do so. Kate is so terribly middle class that Camilla – with her easy manners, her accent, her horse obsession, her books, her jewellery, and her devoted eccentric husband – can shine by comparison.
Had William married a Diana-like aristo, Camilla would have been in trouble. But it must be so easy to do better than Kate… Yes, Kate is younger and thinner, but those things do not matter in the Windsors dysfunctional court.
You will notice that even Carole never attacks Camilla – she will take the random potshot at Diana or Charles, but she’s not locking horns with the mistress who had precisely the life she wanted, took no prisoners, trampled on her betters, and got to be Queen all the same.
Kate is so dumb she probably thinks Camilla actually likes her chutney 😉
I think there is mutual distrust. I think Camilla will make sure Kate knows who is boss after QM passes on she may already be doing this now. I think the move to “invite” nonprofessional photographer Kate to take her picture was a game plan by Charles and spin to show they “all get along” and how “close” C and K are. That’s hard to believe after all the PR about Kate making a “smashing” Queen and she and William should be next. Uncle Gary even said that to the media!
Camilla can certainly give her the mistress perspective. Know your competition. Just good business sense.
Kate doesn’t threaten Camilla because Kate has no understanding of power or how to wield it, and Camilla doesn’t threaten Kate because Camilla will never be younger or thinner or better dressed. I’m sure Camilla looks very far down her nose at Kate, but apparently Kate is used to that.
Which isn’t a friendship, but is probably a more workable relationship than either of them has with many other royal women.
Lol that’s how Kate wield her power by appearing non threatening and passive. That’s how she was able to be the last woman standing for William to marry her. That’s how she was able to use the aggressive black woman trope to her advantage. Kate is not this little thing everyone is using, she absolutely know what she’s doing.
Oh, I’m not saying that Kate isn’t a manipulative string puller. She absolutely is. I’m saying that she doesn’t have a good sense of what is important and tends to focus most of her effort on women who might be seen as thinner or prettier or more glamorous than her, like some kind of evil queen scowling at a looking glass.
She absolutely used the aggressive black woman trope in her favor. A smart royal player wouldn’t have directed her efforts in that direction, because Meghan wouldn’t have to be a threat to Kate if Kate wasn’t fixated on being fairest of them all. A smarter woman would have focused on handling the inevitable time when William would be tired of her sexually and would have made sure she was too powerful to be shuffled off to a cottage in Windsor while her husband has affairs in her social circle.
I tend to think it’s kinda both. I totally agree that she’s calculating in the ways you said, and I’m sure that she thinks she’s clever because of that. But that self-absorption is also what likely makes it easy for others to manipulate her and use her, if they wanted to do so. I have my doubts that she could ever be useful to anyone in any way, though, so it’s probably a moot point.
Lunchcoma — It’s like Glen Close in Dangerous Liason — when he wants to get rid of me, he finds that he can’t.
“Kate is who Camilla thought Diana would be”. OMG – that is a brilliant insight! Yes. These two can co-exist very happily because they don’t step on each other’s toes at all. Camilla will never outshine Kate’s appearance or take William away from her. Those are the things that are most important to Kate. And Kate cannot oust Camilla from her QC position or threaten her status now. The only downer for Camilla is that potentially her reign as Queen Bee before she has to give it up to Kate could be quite short – but then that’s even more reason to cultivate cordial relations with the woman who will inherit your power
Only thing is that it was a conflict between Camilla and Diana over Charles. With Kate and Camilla it’s more a “power” thing. Diana was in a worse spot because her marriage was threatened. Kate has to worry about William re: the marriage.
Camilla liked Jecca much more and thinks Kkkate and the midds are trash. I feel like this is being pushed by Chuck to get Intel on bill and Kathy’s next moves and throw shade. Like how 🥚 is a climate hypocrite and lazy compared to Chuck. Camilla is a calculating woman and worked together with Diana to oust the one mistress that threatened Camillas power and place, I believe she sees 🥚 as a threat to her happiness so she will use Kkkate to get control.
If you have to add “they really are”… they really aren’t.
@ Rapunzel, that comment struck me as well. Tina Brown-nosing is always putting out these ridiculous fabricated stories to benefit the BRF.
But make no mistake. Cowmilla is cunning, manipulative as well as capable of using her position and power to use CopyKeen, as well as anyone else, to be used for her advantage. She has spent decades at this game, she knows how to play the long game. CopyKeen is a pawn to use as she pleases and yet CopyKeen is clueless.
Yes!
You know the saying…”Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” Maybe they don’t hate each other but friends? Hmmmm…
Well, they do have the same objectives to continue the gravy train and perhaps they bonded over dislike of Meghan. Otherwise, when have they ever seemed to be such big pals? It’s just a PR thing mostly. “Fab” four? Funny. Fuddy-duddy four or forgettable four maybe.
The family that plots together…
I don’t think they’re close. I think when Kate can be useful to Camilla (like for this cover shoot), then Camilla likes her/needs her/whatever, but I think in general Camilla probably is pretty indifferent to Kate. They’re different generations, they have very different interests, and I just don’t think we have ever seen any interaction between them that says anything to me other than “co workers” or “business associates.” I think both women are aware that they roughly need the other one so they both walk that line.
Maybe they need each other right now, but they live in different “camps.” And we’ve already seen some jockeying for position between the camps as Charles comes closer to becoming king. It will be interesting to see what happens if allegiances are tested.
Exactly. Right now, both camps are focused on Monticeto, so they tolerate each other. At some point someone will have to draw blood. Don’t underestimate Camilla, she understands the assignment.
Camilla also knows she’s a number one priority for Charles in a way that Kate will never be for William. She’s secure in her position and her cozy relationship with the media lets her drop a few critical things about Kate here and there to keep Kate in check.
Kate was able to wield her position over others, but she won’t be able to with Camilla, who is a much better player at this game than kate will ever be.
@ Nic919, well said!! Cowmilla has Charles fully supporting her as well as a genuine love. Both of which CopyKeen has never had nor will.
I agree completely. At this point, Camilla has “job security” so to speak in a way that Kate does not. She has a husband that at least seems to enjoy her company and that takes Camilla’s popularity/likeability/etc VERY seriously as we have seen. camilla’s been playing the game longer and like you said, she’s a much better player at it than Kate is.
so, are they very very close? LOL not likely.
@Nic919…holed in one!!
Cam will also be the one with control of all the jewels while PC is king.
I think Charles was the one who wanted the “Kate the photographer” spin. So they are one big happy family. Or Camilla realizes Kate is not a professional photographer and maybe she wanted her to look bad. But I do notice the Camilla photos were retouched, compared with the many unretouched photos of Camilla that are out there.
More like drab four.
Lol – thank you for that! A perfect new nickname for them!
LOL
Do they wear pink on Wednesday?
Aww, they’re trying to find some friends for lonely KKKate. I guess a septuagenarian mistress turned wife will do.
I agree that Camilla probably sees Kate as easily manipulated.
And she can always run and fetch her another G&T.
Methinks the DM doth protest too much.
+1
Buddying up to Camilla will keep her in the fold with Charles which will lead William to keep her around longer. It’s not rocket science.
“Kate is who Camilla thought Diana would be”. So true. “A convenient royal idiot”. But does Kate have the awareness to know this?
Her mom does but Kate herself…doubtful.
I can see why they bonded, they have a lot in common after all. Both started as the other woman, Chuck had a wife, Bill had a girlfriend,both soothe their incandescent husbands, both bullied a bride to be, then a new bride,then a new mom, made their lives miserable and gaslighted them in return…..
A match made in heaven 🙄
Snakes. They deserve each other. Wondered if it infuriates Kate to be lumped with Camilla as the fab 4. What an insult to any thinking person.
I think their jealousy of Meghan brought them “closer”. They both saw Meghan as a threat to them. Camilla briefed against Meghan as well as Kate. Also they have realized that it’s their mutual benefit to use each other for popularity. Kate wants to be known as a great photographer and Camilla wants Kate’s approval to bolster her image.
@Amy Bee – I was coming here to say exactly this. I actually believe they’re closer than they were once they realized they enjoyed tormenting Meghan for no other reason than that she was more popular than the both of them combined. I think they bonded over being mean girls but I also believe that Camilla’s ruthlessness will win the day any day so Kate better not get comfortable.
I don’t think these people know genuine closeness.
“ Kate is who Camilla thought Diana would be”
Ding ding ding!!!! We have a winner.
“They’re very very close, they really are” Pinky swear? Swearsie-realsie?
Honestly.
In the photo of Kate taking Camilla’s photo Kate is wearing an outfit we last saw her wear late June 2021. We haven’t seen Kate in that Chloe jacket since then have we? Since she’s wearing it with jeans, white t shirt and white sneakers I’m inclined to think that this “photoshoot” dates back to that same day in late June last year.
I would if Camilla would be as interested to have Kate take her photo now?
Camilla is like Charles in that they both play the long game really well. I think they see Kate as a useful albeit dim-witted tool who helped rid the family of the biracial duchess. She probably didn’t even realize she was being used, merely thought she was in tight with the FK and FQC in order to cling onto her marriage and her place in the monarchy game of chess.
Unfortunately Diana really did not experience the “long game.” Charles in effect ended the marriage after Diana had the heir and spare.
I think Charles was out of the marriage before the heir and the spare came along. Remember the shot of Diana peaking tearfully around a corner at an airport when Charles was heading off to Australia was taken when they were still engaged. The caption was about how Diana was missing Charles so much when, in fact, she’d found the cufflinks Camilla had given Charles with entwined “C&C” and was devastated. She wanted out of the wedding at that point only to have her sister tell her “Too late Duch, your images are on the tea towels”. Their marriage was a disaster before it even happened.
When they called Charles, Camilla, William and Catherine “The Fab Four” I swear I almost spat out my lunch! 🤣🤣🤣
I cannot help but wonder what Camilla thinks of all the Diana cosplay on Kate’s part or that she wears Diana’s former ring (which years back Camilla asked to see when she invited Diana to lunch). I doubt Kate will cosplay Camilla unless she starts wearing the same “Camilla style” outfits.
Kate is not a nice person and went in for “meangirling” Meghan, even down to glowering and whispering at public events when she saw Harry and Meghan. She did not deny the “crying story” but let Meghan take the heat for it. Camilla had the same strategy she gave “her side” to the media (Stuart Higgins, Sun Editor) for ten years. during the Diana-Charles marriage. On a program about Diana, the commentator said Camilla “meangirled” Diana (leaving a note after newly engaged Diana moved into Buckingham Palace. by inviting her to lunch and making it known that she knew Charles better than Diana.
In this instance as described make for the beginning of a beautiful friendship or it is something about keeping friends and/or enemies close and/or closer?
The Royal Rota are absolute champions of the fan fiction genre.
This post’s picture with kate semi smiling: since when does she have a thick upper lip like that? her’s is paper thin. The injections have been subtle over the years – but this kind of thick is pushing it far.
No dice. They are in it for the long game. No friends, only frenemies so when you “have to” stab them in the back, it doesn’t hurt you too much.
They certainly weren’t close prior to Meghan arriving on the scene, so it must be a friendship based on mutual laziness and hatred of the Sussexes.
‘They’re very very close, they really are.’ Riiiiiiiiight. This reminds me of the article about Chuck meeting the Sussex children, which was, “very very very emotional”. I didn’t believe that and I don’t believe this. Frankly, I really wonder if they expect anyone to believe what they’ve written. That certainly reads rather tongue-in-cheek to me.
This could be fun. KHate will go after Cam, and then watch how Cam takes her down. Let the games begin.
Well, nothing unites people like a common enemy. What evidence do we have of their closeness? Camillia let Kate take her picture? Have we ever heard or read (or seen evidence of) any “close” relationship between the two of them? Does Kate take her kids to visit Camilla? Do Kate and Camilla spend a casual day together? How about even a casual few hours? I’m not buying it. I think this is just more “see how happy we all are” propaganda.