Just FYI, the current Princess of Wales, Kate, is not the “first PoW since Diana.” Kate is the first woman to USE the title since Diana. Camilla was Princess of Wales, she just wasn’t styled that way because of the memory of Diana. I bring this up because People Magazine joins the long list of media outlets calling Kate “the first Princess of Wales since Diana.” Y’all can actually take the time to be specific, because it was always pretty rotten that Camilla technically had that title too. Anyway, this piece is part of People’s cover story about Kate and William being keen for the future as they finally “step up.”
In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, a source close to the family acknowledges it has been a stressful time, especially for Kate, the first Princess of Wales since William’s mother Princess Diana held the title.
As William steps up to the elevated responsibilities that come with his new standing, like managing the $1.3 billion Duchy of Cornwall and helping plan King Charles’ May coronation, the heir to the throne prepares for the future with Kate by his side.
“She is a matriarch. Not in the sense of an older woman in a twin set and pearls, but she guides the family and advises [William] when he wants it,” says Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Prince William’s former private secretary.
King Charles III bestowed the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales to Prince William and his wife the day after the Queen’s death, and Kate’s popularity has only soared. However, the newly minted princess now faces inevitable comparisons with Diana, the best-loved royal in modern history.
Like the woman whose iconic sapphire engagement ring she wears every day, the new Princess of Wales has undertaken ambitious projects throughout the United Kingdom on child development, mental health and family well-being. As for Diana’s legacy, palace sources say that Princess Kate “appreciates the history associated with this role but will understandably want to look to the future as she creates her own path.”
Adds Lowther-Pinkerton: “She will do so with humility and by acknowledging the past but in her own way.”
One way she’s bucking royal tradition is by keeping George at home rather than boarding school. With Lambrook a 15-minute drive from their new home at Adelaide Cottage, Kate and William try to do the school drop-off and pickup most days.
Although insiders say the Wales family will eventually live in the 1,000-year-old Windsor Castle itself, for now, cottage life is much like it is at their country retreat Amner Hall in Norfolk, where the kids and their friends are in and out of the swimming pool. George will flop onto the sofa beside his father, while Charlotte makes a beeline for familiar guests. Theirs is a life of a “modern royal family doing normal things,” as one close family friend puts it.
“She guides the family and advises [William] when he wants it…” Yeah, I guess. I honestly believe Kate gets her own way about a lot of things – she barely works, her mother manages her life and her marriage, she’s raising the kids “the Middleton way” rather than the royal way. But I don’t really think that’s Kate “guiding” the family, I think William doesn’t give a sh-t and he’s fine with Kate making those decisions. It’s been clear that William sees her role as “raising the children and nothing else.” William, like his father, doesn’t want to be overshadowed by his wife, which is why William has always been more than happy with Kate’s laziness and Mean Girl antics. As much as Kate’s PR wants to convince people that she’s the power behind William, William’s own PR is that she’s fine, she’s there, she raises the kids while he does Future King things.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge attend the Sandwell Aquatics Centre during the 2022 Commonwealth Games on August 02, 2022 in Birmingham, England.,Image: 711466406, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – AUGUST 02: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to SportsAid House at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on August 02, 2022 in Birmingham, England. The Duchess became the Patron of SportsAid in 2013, Team England Futures programme is a partnership between SportsAid, Sport England and Commonwealth Games England which will see around 1,000 talented young athletes and aspiring support staff given the opportunity to attend the Games and take a first-hand look behind-the-scenes.,Image: 711503774, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535447, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535476, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, accompanied by their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire. The settling in afternoon is an annual event held to welcome new starters and their families to Lambrook and takes place the day before the start of the new school term. Picture date: Wednesday September 7, 2022. PA Photo. The family have set up home in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor’s Home Park as their base after the Queen gave them permission to lease the four-bedroom Grade II listed home.,Image: 720535494, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales at the Army Training Centre (ATC) Pirbright in Guildford, Surrey, meeting troops from the Commonwealth who have been deployed to the UK to take part in the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Soldiers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand have gathered at Pirbright to rehearse their roles in the funeral on Monday. Featuring: Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Guildford, England, United Kingdom When: 16 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Princess of Wales during a lunch held for governors-general of the Commonwealth nations at Buckingham Palace in London. Picture date: Saturday September 17, 2022. Featuring: Catherine Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 17 Sep 2022 Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales during a lunch held for governors-general of the Commonwealth nations at Buckingham Palace in London. Picture date: Saturday September 17, 2022. Featuring: Catherine Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge, Camilla Queen Consort Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 17 Sep 2022 Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet volunteers and operational staff at Windsor Guildhall, Berkshire, who were involved in facilitating the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Monday and supporting the crowds that gathered to commemorate her passing. Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Berkshire, England, United Kingdom When: 22 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet volunteers and operational staff at Windsor Guildhall, Berkshire, who were involved in facilitating the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Monday and supporting the crowds that gathered to commemorate her passing. Featuring: Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Berkshire, England, United Kingdom When: 22 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet volunteers and operational staff at Windsor Guildhall, Berkshire, who were involved in facilitating the Committal Service for Queen Elizabeth II at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on Monday and supporting the crowds that gathered to commemorate her passing. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess of Wales Where: Berkshire, England, United Kingdom When: 22 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
More spin from the middleton clan. The embiggening of Kate is laughable. Will does as he pleases anyway imo
To be fair to W, Kate is too dumb to guide him! in a way, I wonder if W regrets marrying a woman with so little substance….maybe she has something the public does not see and he does! this is a BS take, the woman is barely articulate!
I believe William was really damaged by the way his parents marriage publicly and rather dramatically dissolved and he chose a bland stepford wife with no charisma to avoid a similar situation.. I’m pretty sure he regrets it now, 11 years after and it shows in every joint event.
I believe that William’s big problem with Meghan is that she proved that they didn’t have to marry empty dresses like Kate. And I think he was attracted to her which complicated things.
Yes, he might regret marrying Kate but to be fair he was rejected by women who wanted no part of him like Isabella Calthorpe Branson. He’s the opposite of a catch, a “yikes, throw it back” kind of guy.
And lazy. Dumb and lazy.
Middleton spin with a touch of editorializing: “When he wants it” AKA Kate knows her role and does not overstep. I suspect Willam is indifferent to decisions about which insanely posh school the kids attend pre Eton (or wherever Charlotte is headed.)
Guide the family? She barely had any experience in the outside world prior to her marriage . The UK media is glorifying this woman — who at the most is barely inspiring.
Guide the family is in her range. It means–do what mum did.
Kate lost the favor of the future king when she refused to peg him and also because she ill advised him about Meg and it snowballed completely out of control. Baby burger king probably blamed it all on her.
I think also that he is bad that Kate actually apologized to Meghan in writing and Meghan now has the receipt to disprove that damaging lie. In other words, the real truth, something this family is not fond of/
Yea, sure.
Kate, who can barely string two words together!
Huh?!!!!
That picture of her with Camilla is a portrait of 2 women pretending to like each other
It’s like the photographer shouted “pretend like you’re having a nice conversation!” before snapping the photo.
I assumed Camilla is saying “I sneaked into the vaults and tried on ALL the crowns!” And Kate is saying “Niiiice”
They also both have that cat that got the cream look for moving up in rank.
She is most definitely NOT a matriarch. That would be Carole Middleton stage-managing this whole puppet show. If they even know what the word means (denotation), they certainly don’t get the connotations, one of which is old, elderly, even grandmotherly. But Kate is so girlish (infantile), they are giving us contradictory messages.
What’s the theory on why they don’t like each other? Cam doesn’t seem like a snob, but is it just impossible for a born aristo and stone cold social climber to like each other?
I honestly just don’t they have any use for each other. What would they talk about? Camilla is obsessed with horses, Kate is “allergic” so can’t go near them. Kate likes to shop and get her hair done, Camilla likes to hang out in the country with her dogs and horses and grandkids. They come from very different worlds, and Id on’t see either one caring enough to reach out to the other.
@Becks idk, I think under different circumstances Camilla wouldn’t give Kate the time of day, but given their situation I think they have plenty in common. They both like to drink, they’re both cutting and mean at their core, and probably enjoy gossiping cruelly about any and everyone around the palace. If Camilla viewed Kate as a threat she’d destroy her, but I think C enjoys that she can feel comfortably superior to Kate in rank, society, and cunning, and therefore views her as an advantageous ally, someone to be internally pitied as they disparage Meghan over some cocktails.
Ironically, Kate would have had more in common with Meghan than anyone else. Kate is no horsy aristocrat. She doesn’t speak that language, and she apes those values only for the approval of those who will never approve of her. She has the rank, but not the respect that is supposed to come with it.
@Sunday – I’ve heard it said many times that Kate likes to drink, and I know she was a party girl in her youth, but booze has mega calories and she’s over 40. I just can’t see her consuming empty calories like that (or calories beyond the absolute baseline necessity, tbh).
According to reports from the flop tour, they were having their favorite “crack baby” cocktails delivered to their fancy suite in the Jamaican resort, so she doesn’t seem to have given up drinking. Maybe she’s a drunkorexic and gets many calories from alcohol and few from food. It’s a thing.
Cams is a huge snob and called the midds hillbillies. Cams liked Jecca.
I can’t imagine the Middleton campaigns would endear Kate to anyone ranking higher. The “oh let’s skip Charles” crowd plus the “watch me be a clothes horse” constant waste of money. Kate has precious little personality outside her social climbing mean girl self who wants to get at the royal jewelry.
Granted Charles appreciates her but for him she is useful and not scene stealing.
@SomeChick, I suppose, if she’s drinking the odd vodka/soda or two on an empty stomach, so she’s getting her buzz on with minimal caloric in take, but even the British favorite G & T is a LOT of sugar. I just don’t see it. I know she’s tall and works out a lot, but one G & T is about 250 calories, so two, at 500 calories, has got to be about half her daily caloric in take. (Yes, I googled that. I’m not a boozeorexic myself, but I’m a wine drinker so I know a thing or two about drinking your calories and seeing it the next morning.)
Agree with @bettyrose, Kate is so well tuned to her caloric intake that I doubt that she drinks much alcohol at all. Although, having said that, I have seen some emaciated alcoholics who only drink their calories, but I don’t think she’s one of them.
^^ @KFG said: “… Cams liked Jecca.”
Is Jecca aristo then? What did Jecca even see in Will to be friends with him for so long, I wonder. Jecca clearly was not interested in marrying the lazy Windsor heir. She was at least smart about nixing royal matrimony with rage-meister Peggers.
KKKate doesn’t guide anyone but herself to do more shopping never mind guiding Bill to do anything. That lazy woman and her dullard husband are about as useful as a half inch…you know.
Whenever Meghan’s accomplishments are on display or people are focused on Meghan they think of some nonsense to prop this useless woman. How embarrassing.
LOL yep. This whole thing about her being ambitious – she’s had literal years to do anything other than shop and worry about her wiglets, and she hasn’t done it yet. I’m supposed to believe that the promotion to PoW will change her form in totality?
They just shuffled the sentences from all the other articles about Kate and added the word “matriarch,” which, BTW, does not mean a woman who gives advice only when people ask for it.
Nailed it! A matriarch leads a family or community, not waiting politely to be asked.
Kate also enables William not doing as much work as he should be doing. She is hardly encouraging him to work more.
Oh brother. Yes, she’s a matriarch. She’s the mother of the Wales’ children. The end. She doesn’t lead anything. If she advises William, I’d bet money he doesn’t pay her any mind. William does what William wants. Kate’s wants and needs are secondary and at his discretion. And she’s fine with that as long as she gets the perks and isn’t asked to do much.
Judging from the fit little Louis pitched at the Jubilee concert, she doesn’t even lead her children.
Okay, but, when it comes to Kate, how often does William want it?
Well reported that the two had a big blowup.
Margaret, can you say more? I sense there’s been tension for a very long time. He has settled down with someone who stalked him, to be blunt, so they have rocky foundations. But more recently, there have been various articles over the last months about his temper; how she can hold her own ground in “debates” with him; how she told her mother to back down and not interfere so much; and then how he went deer stalking! It was almost as if there have been arguments building, with witnesses, probably staff – hence leaking it all to the press bit by bit, but with spin. What have you heard/read?
Indeed, please spill the tea!
With manic expressions, buttons, and jazz hands.
@Julie: Love it!!! Jazz hands always come out when she is trying to seem “keen” on something or speak like she knows what she is talking about.
Her neck in the white outfit gave me shivers
I absolutely cannot stand this woman. I agree with Kaiser. I think lazybones does make decisions about the kids but its because Willileaks doesn’t give a crap. I highly doubt this woman ever “advises” him other than antoganizing his incandescent behavior. We saw that in the video where he was screaming at the photographer and she was in the background saying something of the sort that he had been there earlier and followed them. This woman is cunning and manipulative but advising willileaks on any matter that requires thinking with her brain is out of the question. If baldy cannot even contain his facial expression in public when she starts opening her mouth andflapping her jazz hands, I highly doubt he listens to her behind the scenes. This is just more embiggoning puff pieces put out by the middletons. I do find it hilarious that they added in the statement “when he wants it” lol.
Ambitious projects throughout the UK? Hmmmm…. And here we have our own royal princess right here in the US who is helping to run a company, has a hit podcast, involved in charitable endeavors with tangible results but who is on the cover of People Mag? Blandina and her husband. Smh. Next I suppose Blandina’s mother and her party favors will be on the cover. Smh.
Or Ma Middleton will carry out engagements in “Overseas” (aka America) on behalf Kate. I mean we’ve already seen the precedence set with Camilla’s husband. 😉 With the matriarch’s matriarch laying the ground for establishing the Court of Middleton in “Overseas” the RF will be in safe hands for years to come! 😉
“ambitious projects throughout the United Kingdom on child development, mental health and family well-being “… what kind of fun fiction is that? What are the specific projects she has undertaken? Do they mean “early years “? The laughable five questions survey? Her occasional visits to schools etc for photoshoots? That’s a project? Do they believe what they write?
Charlotte makes a beeline for familiar guests and George flopping on the couch. It’s so obvious that CarolE is the one talking to People mag. Doesn’t Burger King ever get tired of CarolE leaking their private family life? And using the word matriarch is CarolE’s own view of herself. Betty’s hardly dead and they are claiming the word already.
Didn’t we see this bit about playing in the pool, flopping on the couch, beeline for guests before? Earlier this week, last week? Have they run out of things to say about how ‘normal’ everything is for the Keens?
Yes, exactly. We saw it in the article about their move from “beloved” Norfolk to Windsor. All about how they and the kids used to flop in and out of the pool with friends on summer days. This is rubbish. We know Kate has very few, if any, friends other than her relations – this was a point made in the infamous Tatler article (and one that was never contended). Carole/Kate have come up with this tosh to imply there is a huge and varied group around Kate and William, when it’s essentially Carole’s lot. It would have helped Kate enormously to have pushed her meddling mother out of her life at an earlier stage; she could have made friends, particularly female friends, and widened her outlook on life.
Yeah it was the exact same wording. Was it from the same magazine? I can’t remember.
I interpreted “familiar guests” as the Middletons.
I think William is fine with the Midds doing his dirty work for him. They can slander Meghan and encourage people to think William should already be king, and leak family secrets . . . and none of it can come back to William himself. If sh!t ever hit the fan, William is clean and the Midds are expendable.
Kate is the furthest thing from a matriarch. Kate literally is the wet dream of the patriarchy and every person that supports living in a patriarchy: She is seen and not heard, she is a broodmare who prefers to stay home, she is thin and her primary focuses are her children and her clothes. The reason she is not universally popular is that gen z (and I’d argue Millennials and some Gen X) have realized that living in a patriarchy which all of us do, hurts us fare more than it benefits anyone.
The funny part too is that Kate was never that popular even before Meghan arrived in the family. She was more popular than Charles or Camilla, but never more than Harry or William. She coasted on being the only female married in royal of a certain age that got some media attention.
When Meghan showed up with her accomplishments and enthusiasm, it just highlighted how little Kate ever did. And once Meghan was pregnant all hell broke loose because Meghan was going to be a mother and do some work, which really blew out any excuses kate had to be lazy.
Well said, completely agree.
Ok, a quick search for the definition of Matriarch tells me its either “a woman who is the head of a family or tribe,” or “an older woman who is powerful within a family or organization.”
I guess technically Kate could fit the first one, since she is the head of her own family* but I feel like the general usage of the word means more than that. I am a mother of two young-ish children. I do not consider myself a matriarch (and I do run things here, LOL.)
*as for Kate being the head of her own family….I think that’s only true to the extent that William and/or the Windsors don’t care. I think she has a lot of freedom to do things her way (or her mom’s way, or the nanny’s way) but I do think that’s because right now, William doesn’t especially care if the kids go to Lambrook or Pembrook, you know? (yes I made that up.) So he’s fine with letting Kate pick the school. I don’t think he cares if they board or not, so he’s fine with them at home. etc.
@Becks, that sound you hear? It’s Anne’s head exploding when she sees this fckery.
Kate isn’t the head of her own family. William just lets her do the childcare because he can’t be bothered.
Now Carole can be considered a matriarch of the Middleton clan, and just by seeing what Carole does you notice the obvious differences with Kate. Kate is a follower not a leader and that’s the ultimate meaning behind matriarch.
Kate is not relatable and not a modern woman. She does nothing. She is not a working mother, let alone a working royal. She’s just…there. An insignificant relic. Useless and of little value.
Carole is more modern than Kate. It’s weird she raised her kids to regress a generation earlier.
She’s not even a relic of an earlier generation. Women have always done stuff. One of my grandmothers was a single mother to two boys, and she supported them on a janitor’s salary. The other did pretty much all the childrearing and all the housework while getting a Master’s degree in art history. Taking care of a household and children is work.
In Kate’s cohort, rich women had to run the household, do charitable stuff, and keep social circles going. Very many of them were very politically involved, going centuries back. And all women sewed a ton, as it was necessary. “Do absolutely nothing” is just plain strange and unprecedented — but that’s what both Kate and Will do.
EmilyC, Kate is regressing to previous generations’ _image_ of royalty, not the real deal. Heck, the 19th-century ruler some of her portraits are modeled on—Empress Elizabeth of Austria—was way more modern, intelligent, and effective than Kate could ever be. She wants the glittering shadow, not the substance. 🙄🙄
Is “flopping on the couch” admirable in the UK? Does it say: We’re so rich and entitled we can be lazy-a$$ couch potatoes and you will still grovel at our feet? Is this something that only men do in the UK while the women run off to greet guests? Is this a class thing or is the only thing separating a William from an Onslow the surrounding digs (and beer gut)?
She’s just trying to make them sound normal, like regular kids who can flop vs. Children dressed and starched and presented to mother and father in the sitting room for an hour daily (aka. How the older generations of royals were brought up.) It’s Will and Kate, modern parents with conservative values, blah blah blah who cares. They sound like out of touches trying too hard here and they are
“Ambitious projects”
I guess a 5 question survey is a lot more than 1.
The ‘alleged’ five questions = five projects dontchaknow.
She is always “going to step up” it is truly embarrassing that a 40 year old woman has spent her life preparing to do something and has accomplished nothing. Especially with all the resources at her disposal. I don’t know this woman but the media they put out has made me cringe and despise her.
Notice how, even in this sugary embiggening piece, they can’t even front like William plans to increase his service to his people. All they could say is that he is learning to manage his unearned income (even though his people are still paying his bills) and throw his dad a party.
Talking of parties. Did they ever hold the big joint 40th party for William and Kate. You know the one where the whole world and her uncle knew that Harry wasn’t invited? Just askin’ for a friend. 😆
Good point — we never heard the shrews harping about it as a sign of their keen true love and family togetherness, so I’m gonna go with no.
Oooh she’s going to be big mad. The cover shot crops out Big Blue, after all those direct comparisons to Diana. I guess Party Pieces really isn’t doing that well if CarolE can’t afford a dictionary to look up the definition of “ambitious.” All ambitiousness fled her daughter as soon as she snatched Will off the single market. Mission accomplished, have a few kids, her work was done. the only ambitious one is CarolE, which is why for the life of me I can’t figure out how someone with a hustle like hers deliberately raised one of her kids to be nothing more than a pretty baby machine.
She raised all of her children to be nothing more than lazy baby makers. It’s crazy how not one Middleton child has a legacy or career to call their own.
And James is the most useless. He only has a job because Pip’s husband gave him one after the marshmallow’s didn’t work out so well.
I made a comment on another post outlining the similarities between PMK (Kris Jenner) and Carole (PMC) and their offspring. Its uncanny except PMK, after successfully pimping out Kim, encouraged her daughters to develop successful business ventures and help build their empire.
What’s really sad and disturbing is the fact that both raised useless sons with mental health issues and multiple failed businesses. It sounds like James found someone to financially prop his up and last report, Rob’s sock business was doing ok. Business schools should teach a marketing class on PMK alone and Social Climbers-R-Us should teach one on PMC. They are both fascinating case studies.
alright, so I googled and I still don’t get the PMK/PMC reference? can you explain? or someone lol.
@Becks1, maybe “pimp mom Kris” and “pimp mom carolE”? Or I could be totally wrong, but need to know too.
@Becks, yes it’s Pimp Mama Kris and (I assume) Pimp Mama CarolE.
I know they never had super-serious career paths or anything, but at least Pippa and James did *try* to get out there, even if they ultimately weren’t successful. Kate never bothered to even pretend to do a single thing.
Oops, yes its Pimp Mama Kris and PMC – Pimp Mama Carole is my new nickname for Carol. I only learned the PMK nickname earlier this year so thought everyone knew😂😂
Isn’t this a “slap in the face” to Cam who should be the matriarch of the family now?
Camilla did not give birth to will and Harry. She did not raise them. The late Diana would have been matriarch in every sense of the word. Camilla is queen consort but has no royal children. Kate is a mother with young children and not matriarch for the royal family she cannot dispense advice. Camilla can advise Kate about her future role.
Kate is not the Windsor family matriarch, if anything Camilla would be. It has nothing to do with who birthed whom or who has mythical ‘royal blood’, it has to do with position and power in the overall family. Camilla is the one who controls the relationship with Charles, she’s the one he rushes to defend and put forward as HM Queen Consort, therefore she’s the power behind the throne and the Windsor family matriarch. If anything, Carol(E) would be the matriarch of the disastrous W&K branch, since they cannot function without her interference.
There are a lot of acronyms used here, but rule of thumb in copy editing is to write out the phrase once and then use the abbreviations. Some you can Google but most are specially devised for these threads and the people under discussion. That would be really helpful for those of us scratching our heads over abbreviations we can’t figure out.
My vote is still Anne. IIRC, a “matriarch” doesn’t even need to have her own children at all; it’s about her place in a family. Anne may be quiet and BTS a lot of the time, but we know she has Charles’ ear, and the respect of everyone in the family.
lorelei, Charles would choose Camilla and her demands over Anne any day. That’s what makes Camilla the ‘matriarch’ in Charles’s patriarchy. Camilla is the lead female, the one the others must kowtow to to get what they want. Yes, even Anne if she wants any scraps for her kids. Charles can decide Anne doesn’t get to be a working royal anymore for example. That means no more free townhouse in London that her adult kids stay in all the time, no more taxpayer funds used to secure Gatcombe, etc.
Agree with this – so everything is just about blood and first marriages when it comes down to it, hey?
I have no problem believing she will be the toxic matriarch bossing her children and future spouses around. “Look at me, I’m the Queen mother now!’
Carole may try to get to be matriarch since she is grandmother of royal children is not kate raising the children the middleton way
Imagine when they have children and Carole is still around. One pushy grandmother-in-law and one bullying mother-in-law. Yikes.
I remember one of those old BBC miniseries on Queen Victoria, and when Victoria becomes queen, her mother gets giddy and says, “And now I’m the Queen Mother.” One of the courtiers sets her straight, “No mam, your’e the queen’s mother. There’s a difference.”
So Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was given a nice script, but nobody thinks Kate is some powerful figure in her family. Louis showed us just how valued the matriarch really is.
“With Lambrook a 15-minute drive from their new home at Adelaide Cottage, Kate and William try to do the school drop-off and pickup most days.”
“try to do”? “most days”? Isn’t always doing the school run their excuse for doing nothing? Now they’re not even doing that?
These pieces read like fan fiction.
Notice the subtle “when he wants it..” Reading between the lines, this really means that William makes all the decisions for the family, not Kate, and her opinion is rarely considered or elicited.
This. Because the next question is: “When does he want it?” And the answer is “Hardly ever.”
Can someone tell me what these ambitious projects are that Kate is spearheading in the United Kingdom on child development, mental health, and family well-being? What happened to the Royal Keenness Center for Early Childhood Development? Kate does maybe one engagement per quarter about any of these projects that she’s supposedly so keen on.
When is People going to get some new information. It’s the same embiggening piece over and over, except Kate’s the PoW now.
She seriously, for real, looks like Norman Reedus in that white suit photo. I cannot unsee it now.
@Aloise completely. My hair journey with Kate started with not really seeing the wiglets to now being totally distracted by them. The People cover (red jacket) to me looks like a full on wig now. Wow.
To me, a matriarch is a strong woman with independent thoughts, great interest and caring in others and an ability to get things done. I’ve been fortunate enough to have several women like that in my own family. Kate is about the furthest from matriarch as one can get. She is not strong. She is completely dependent on William (and her mother). She doesn’t care for anyone outside her family, and she has done next to nothing in the way of service in the past ten years. Of course, perhaps for some, a matriarch means a woman who marries, has kids, dresses from the past century and keeps her mouth shut. Then, I suppose, the definition fits.
Well said!
Since the Wails are so lazy, the fiction writers need to change up the puff pieces. It’s like they’re writing about a totally different couple. It would be nice to read an article about the uselessness of the Wails, and how the monarchy is an albatross around the taxpayer’s neck.
We MUST read between the lines with this Harlequin romance fiction they like to spin: When Will WANTS who knows if he ever asks her 2 cents opinion and “gives advice” means she is a yes person to the Rage Machine. It’s all on how you SPIN things. And maybe they are confusing PG, PC and PL (the kids) with William. I am quite sure advises the kids.
How many times will the RR minions try sell Kate is a heavy hitter? She’s not even on the Privy Council after all years and she becomes Counsellor of State when (if?) William ascends. Nothing about Kate says leadership.
Oh please, William would say the moon is made of cheese just to spite Kate.
QE2 is barely cold in her grave and the Middletons are out shrieking to the press that Mutton has taken her place as the family matriarch.
How long will Chuck 3.0 put up with kHate and her mother briefing against him and Cams.
kHate and her mother have become quite smug and are not hiding it – they are close to the throne now and as we saw at QE2’s funeral Carol(e) is already trying to style herself as a dowager or something with that cheap ass looking gaudy choker.
The Princess of Wales title has gone to their heads and they seem to think it gives them power – it doesn’t or at least not in the way they think it does. The growing boldness will bite them on the ass.
They need to watch this season of the Crown to understand just how much power a Princess of Wales has. (Answer: not much)
Does Kate even know what the word guide means?
Another embiggening article to try to paint Kate as having brains? “Her quiet power?” LOL Nice try.
Yes, I entertain myself by thinking up new nicknames for the two Cambridges. Wanna hear my new nickname for Khate? Bumflash. Oh, come on. At least we know the new Princess of Wales won’t have panty lines.
Oh dear, the reference to “looking to the future as she finds her own path”. Not this again. What complete guff. The woman will be 41 in a couple of months. (For context, this is five years older than the mother-in-law she claims to emulate was when she died – and look what she managed to achieve.) Kate is never going to launch.
I’d anyone is a matriarch in that family it’s Anne.
ITA
If William and Kate want her to be a SAHM then she should step back as Senior Royal, forfeit her HRH style and tax payer funded life. She can rely on William’s tax payer funds.
they can’t have it both ways.
Choked on gummy bear. Thank goodness it was a miniature one because it literally went down the wrong pipe from reading this headline alone!
I almost choked on my food! Thanks for the laugh today. Really! Who are they kidding with this nonsense?
The really crazy thing is that she does not need to create special projects or programs-she could work 3 days a week (full days) and just do the bread & butter engagements of cutting ribbons, planting trees and visiting charities to give them a higher profile. That would be great!
Although insiders say the Wales family will eventually live in the 1,000-year-old Windsor Castle itself, for now, cottage life is much like it is at their country retreat Amner Hall in Norfolk, where the kids and their friends are in and out of the swimming pool. George will flop onto the sofa beside his father, while Charlotte makes a beeline for familiar guests. Theirs is a life of a “modern royal family doing normal things,” as one close family friend puts it.
I just threw up and it had nothing to do with my illness. Omg what a bunch of fairytale B.S. that is. After reading that I expected the next lines to say and the birds are chirping happily, the butterflies are fluttering about as the 7 dwarfs and Snow White help keep their cosy cottage so pristine and inviting. They are way too much.
It also sounded like a dig at Queen Elizabeth regarding the twin sets and pearls. This whole family really is too much!
Next there will be a write up of game nights with the board games clue and monopoly.
Marycontrary, but she wants the photo op and no one would take her picture anymore if she just cut ribbons week after week. She could give a f-ck about the charity/service aspect, so that’s why she needs to invent “special” occasions, one every 3 to 6 months? when she’s sure to be photographed. Like piano playing (key tinkling) sure not to create a demand for more of the same (oh, please, God, not THAT again) or something less painful, but equally useless like the 5 questions.
@J Ferber, I see what you’re saying and usually I’d agree, but right now, imo the ROTA is _so_ starved for content that I think they’d love it if Kate did *anything* a few times a week, just to give them something to do and enable them to fill those column inches. What Kate is doing is irrelevant, because her engagements only serve as photo ops, full stop. All they talk about are her clothes, maybe throwing in a reference about how she’s “broody” or whatever. Anne’s the one doing all of the ribbon-cutting type stuff, but doesn’t get coverage because, well, she’s older, not at all glamorous, and wears clothes she’s been wearing over and over again for like four decades. Down to the same hairstyle, lmao. Nobody is clamoring for new photos of Anne, lol.
(I personally couldn’t care less about Anne, and while Kate’s clothes are often terrible, imo they’re still far more interesting than Anne’s.) Plus, there’s zero public interest in Anne in the US, which, bizarrely, seems to be the market this family wants mostly to impress, as opposed to any of the ones they actually represent. Anne might be the one doing the most work year after year, but the media is interested in having “glamorous” Kate on their covers (even if they know she’s as dumb as a stump), and enabling them to post affiliate links to all of the places that Kate bought her clothes, shoes, makeup, accessories, etc., and where to “get it for less” or whatever.
I just don’t understand how Kate isn’t SO EMBARRASSED to still have the exact same things being said about her since 2011. She’s still learning, “gaining her footing,” etc. It’s reaching Jennifer Aniston levels of repetitiveness of the same “storyline” for more than a decade. I would be absolutely mortified if I’d been at a job for 11 MONTHS and people still had to make excuses for my poor performance, saying I was still figuring out what I was doing, was keen to really start (!) working, etc. The fact that she’s supported by the taxpayers and lives in unimaginable luxury with a million dollar fashion budget is just rubbing salt in the wound.
Kate seems incapable of feeling shame or embarrassment — unless it comes to the Toffs snubbing her 🙄
If only the powers to be can be result oriented in their thinking..
Instead here is another puff piece, about how Kate is stepping up to the plate no matter what the headline states, by labelling herself as a matriach.
I cannot fathom this discontent with both of the Wales, why not take some time in examining their feelings?
If left to their own accord feelings will take control in unexpected ways.
These individuals had the luxury of choice, the buffet, and yet they are wanting what other people have. Kate has accepted to be less than William who thrives on doing the bare minimum in exchange for status.
She has that. Why can’t that be enough?
Here’s another thought, since the plan to lure the Sussexes failed, the new Wales are expected to step up and do more engagements.
King Charles111 gave the Wales they wanted. Why so immediate? What was the quid pro quo?
Did William fail to deliver, now he and Kate is expected to step up and do actual engagements that does not involve play?
This puff piece indicate that Kate will remain bone idle and put out labels, what if the king expect them to do more engagements?
It will explain one of the several whinge from Nicholls on their behalf. Specifically, the Wales having their young children pubicably exposed because of Harry.
Since William failed to shame and bully Harry to return, irregardless of whose idea, whether it was agreed upon by all parties, does this mean that they will actually have to do real work?
King Charles III expects them to…
Mmmm just thinking about President Kennedy’s quote about. ” when much is given”etc…
The Waleses’ Royal Divorce will happen. This is Buckbleberry Court’s feeble attempt to stave it off as long as possible.
You know someone is useless when the only praise they get is for something vague and non-specific. Matriarch who leads William. The strength behind the crown. Backbone of the family. Never puts a foot wrong. Hugely popular. Perfect future queen. Peacemaker. Top CEO. Through all those buzzwords, what tangible thing has Kate done/accomplished? Nothing.
That photo of Camilla and Kate just sends shivers. It’s like the two of them were snapped in a moment of common pettiness and hatred of Meghan rather than genuine friendship. My enemy’s enemy is my friend and all that.
@Sparrow, that photo really creeps me out, too
If I were an English magazine or newspaper editor, here are the phrases I’d forbid my reporters from using in pieces about Kate:
— stepping up
— coming into her own
— hands-on mum
— embracing her role
— learned from observing the queen
— accomplishments
— keen
— forging her own path
I mean, I’d do it as a challenge to encourage better writing, if for no other reason.
@QuiteContrary, can I get permission to add “never puts a foot wrong” to this list?
And also words and phrases stunning,William chose well, perfect, stole the show
“William chose well” cracks me up every time, for a multitude of reasons
William didn’t have much of a choice. No one else would have him. It’s also a pretty gross way to look at it. Like, it’s always the man’s choice, women are just hanging around waiting to be chosen. Meghan addressed this on her podcast iirc.
Of course, in this case, Kate really was just waiting around to be “chosen,” or rather to be the only person who’d put up with Will.
Matriarch? They’re just saying anything now.
What is it next? Admiral of the fleet? A saint? Spiritual leader of the world?
Lorelei, I understand your point. Remember, you have spirit, pride, a work ethic and a backbone. Kate does not have any of these attributes, nor does she want any. She feels no shame or embarrassment (just like in our country trump and the magats feel none of that). I personally mourn the loss of ALL of the above qualities because what we’re left with are the kates and the trumps and their pathetic, stupid enablers. I don’t know what the answer is. I wish I did.
Supposedly or according to tabs Kate admires how Sophie raises her children so is Sophie a matriarch
Except for the work part. Pre Covid Sophie would do around 300 engagements per year and she did tours on her own that weren’t day trips. Even in the last few weeks she did a tour of several countries in Africa. Kate has never been to that continent for a tour at all.
Too many people of color for her liking, I’m sure.
The cover photo is so funny. Rodent Willipegs hiding some kind of rage, Keen Kate doing what she does best (existing, waving, manic grin).
What does this lazy woman know about anything? Apparently she and William were told they had to up their duties but her response was she wanted to look after her children. She tried this on with the late Queen after Louis was born that she wanted to be let off all royal duties but the big ones. The queen told her “no”. She should not have married a direct heir if she did not want to serve the British people. No bread and butter engagements? Then no posh houses, jewellery, title or fancy engagements. You are in, or not in. Now we know the reason for Adelaide Cottage – she is pretending to be a stay-at-home mummy and a housewife.
I’m super super late to this party, but I wonder what the REAL reason is, that Kate’s not sending George to boarding school….? Is it so she can keep Middleton family loyalties FIRMLY entrenched in George, so the same thing doesn’t happen to him, that happened to Will and almost Harry, and that is “Windsor-ification”. Or is it so she has a better argument for getting a grander house, if the children are all living with her, year round? Maybe both those reasons?
Kate looks like Garth in this photo everytime I see it all I can think of Party On Wayne