One of the hallmarks of Prince William and Kate’s tours and trips is how amateurish and unprofessional everything is. William and Kate are idiots, of course, but they are also surrounded by incompetent fools. Personally, I’ve believed for some time that William is being groomed by Tory political operatives to be their “useful idiot” in the monarchy, but beyond that, the incompetence of Kensington Palace is always staggering to me.
Look no further than the bad staff work at every level of William and Kate’s Caribbean Flop Tour earlier this year, and how everyone involved with the plans thought it was going to be brilliant. Look no further than the Boston trip, which was explicitly about William wanting attention, full stop. At no point did William even give a short interview to a friendly American media outlet. All we’re left with is carefully staged photos on their Instagram, and “exclusive photos” given to People Magazine. I’m left with the impression that for William and Kate, all that mattered was the optics. That’s it. Not the work, not Earthshot, not environmentalism, not Early Years. Just photos of them.
Speaking of staffing, Kate’s private secretary quit that bitch right after QEII died.
She was her right-hand woman through one of the most turbulent periods of recent royal history. But just as the Princess of Wales has taken on a new, more senior role within the Royal family, she has lost her loyal private secretary, Hannah Cockburn-Logie. A fixture at her side for two-and-a-half years, Ms Cockburn-Logie stepped down shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, for personal reasons.
A Kensington Palace source said she would be hugely missed.
“Hannah is a fantastic, dynamic leader. Loyal and a skilled diplomat,” they said.
Ms Cockburn-Logie was hired by the then Duchess of Cambridge in May 2020, having impressed when, as a diplomat working for the British High Commission in India, she led the Duke and Duchess’s tour of India and Bhutan in 2016. She guided the then Duchess throughout the fallout from the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and through lockdown. She was also at her side during the Caribbean tour earlier this year, which was marred by criticism of “colonial overtones”. Ms Cockburn-Logie has more than 20 years’ experience working for the Foreign Office.
The palace is advertising for a new private secretary to take on the role of private secretary as the Princess seeks to define her new, elevated position within the institution. In the interim, Natalie Barrows, her assistant private secretary, has stepped up, and travelled with the royals to Boston last week.
So… Kate loses staff at a steady clip, as does William, but it’s never spoken about in the same way as the Sussexes’ staff turnovers. There are many reasons for the difference, first and foremost that no one will ever believe that William and Kate’s staff are burned out from doing too much. Working for the Lazy Waleses is one of the cushiest jobs in the UK, but on the other side, they clearly don’t attract the best talent. Anyway, this has got me wondering if that’s one of the reasons why the Boston trip was so poorly planned and poorly executed, especially for Kate: she’s understaffed at the moment.
The photo of the dog leaning away from Kate!! LMAO.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.
-
- Cambridge, MA – Royal fans made their way to Harvard this morning to catch a glimpse of Kate Middleton as she visited a children’s center. Pictured: Kate Middleton BACKGRID USA 2 DECEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Patriot Pics / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales Visit To Boston – Day 1 The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to attend the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- The Prince and Princess of Wales meet the Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu at City Hall Boston, USA. Picture date: Wednesday November 30, 2022. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Paul Edwards/The Sun/PA Images/I/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to Roca, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a non-profit organisation focusing on high-risk young people between the ages of 16-24 years old at the centre of urban violence. Picture date: Thursday December 1, 2022. Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States When: 01 Dec 2022 Credit: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Image/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to Roca, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a non-profit organisation focusing on high-risk young people between the ages of 16-24 years old at the centre of urban violence. Picture date: Thursday December 1, 2022. Featuring: Prince William, Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States When: 01 Dec 2022 Credit: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA Image/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Catherine Princess of Wales during a visit to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, as part of her ongoing work to elevate the importance of the early years to lifelong outcomes. Featuring: Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Catherine Princess of Wales during a visit to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, as part of her ongoing work to elevate the importance of the early years to lifelong outcomes. Featuring: Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images/INSTARimag/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales, Prince William Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 02 Dec 2022 Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 03 Dec 2022 Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall, Fenway Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 03 Dec 2022 Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Images/INSTAR/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
-
- Prince William And Catherine Princess Of Wales Visit To Boston – Day 1 The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to attend the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony. Featuring: Prince William and Catherine Princess Of Wales Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States When: 30 Nov 2022 Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
Why would she need an new one when she literally does sweet FA ?
It must be very hard work for anyone who has a job to make Kate and Billy shine.
I think that’s why she hasn’t tried to get a replacement. She does nothing & doesn’t really need someone in this position. This woman seems to have been similarly accomplished as the last one, which I imagine is why she’s leaving now. She’s had enough boredom, thought it might be a fun way to finish out her career, and she’s done.
Katey doesn’t possess a dynamic personality. She’s a follower, traditional, shy, muted re issues that need to be publicly addressed and not a trailblazer— her future private secretary has to have a dynamic personality to promote Katey and her causes. Poor Pincus no amount of income can transform Katey overnight.
Kate has no interest in the world around her, no interest in charity work, and she is incredibly lazy. She has no ’causes’ merely PR exercises. Those things about her don’t get to be excused. Kate had plenty of get-up-and-go to hound this manchild to marriage. Plenty of energy for full-on rage screaming fights with William for 20 years. Plenty of trailblazing energy to attack Meghan since fall 2016. Kate isn’t some shy, shrinking wallflower victim.
Hah, thought same about Melania back in the day.
Interesting and racist that the British press has said boo about Keen losing yet ANOTHER secretary and had sooooooo much to say about Harry and Meghan’s former president of Archwell stepping down from her post.
Keen is a bully and hope that one of her former secretary’s writes a tell all. That would be what that lazy bum deserves.
Exactly. No doubt we’d have heard that H&M had bullied a secretary into resigning. Sickening.
Its been a constant revolving door at KP since the beginning – there has been stories over the years about how horrible kHate is to work for (esp since we KNOW that Carole is heavily involved). Am convinced that the reason the palace won’t release the bullying investigation report is that they found out it was kHate who was bullying staff and making them all cry.
Keen has a LOOOOOONG history of this behaviour going all the way back to school.
Yeah I think if anyone was bullying it was Kate or William. We know one thing for sure – if the report made M look bad, it would have been released immediately.
I know someone who went to Marlborough with her and she said she was quiet and sporty. The person I know is by no means a royalist but she didn’t have anything bad (or good) to say about her. I think if anyone is bullying staff it’s Charles and his siblings.
@Sms oh I have no doubt that charles and his siblings are not fun to work for. But the investigation was specifically about Kensington Palace IIRC.
If this was the person guiding her through H&M’s exit and while they were there, not very impressive work.
She could have been offering great guidance but the brain trust of William and Kate don’t need to follow anyone else’s advice. That is: she might have been great at this but they wouldn’t know enough to follow her advice.
Serious question how can William be of any benefit to the Tories or any party? Don’t real politicians look down on the Royals in terms of any real power.
Exactly. This woman worked at the Foreign Office, she was probably expecting more.
In also think that the pay isn’t good.
The institution/roles still carry weight (sadly) even if the people doing them are incompetent.
@Sarah, yes, I think a lot of people do it knowing that for them, it’s temporary— get it on your resume and then leave for more £ elsewhere. There seem to be a few “lifers,” but I think they’re the exception.
That is a great point/question @Noki. Mic Wright, James O’Brien and others have been questioning that for a long time. The figurehead of the BRF serves its purpose to the Tory government as long as that figurehead isn’t seen as opposing anything the Tory government stands for….which is, nothing for the working people of the UK. The Royal Family has limited power. They have the power & purpose to suit the government/British Media that actually run the government.imo
I was expecting William to do an interview with GMA or the Today Show to promote the Awards and was surprised when he didn’t. How are you going to promote your project with out doing an interview. He wrote a piece of Huff Po that nobody, not his stans paid attention to.
Kate’s private secretary has been seen in public since June and even the stans noticed her absence. Plus she also resigned from the Board of the Royal Foundation last month so the signs were there that she was leaving the job. She probably left for the same reason that Catherine Quinn left, she didn’t have much to do.
Yeah, I really thought there’d be some sort of a softball interview.
The news programs probably all wouldn’t budge from “no questions about H&M” or his team couldn’t guarantee him a truly boring interview w/o any exciting soundbites about H&M. He can’t handle the American media.
Did he talk to any american media at all? Even a quick “we’re so happy to be here” as he entered an event or anything? That’s appalling if not.
I’m sure @Lemons is right, they probably reached out to Today and GMA and KP tried to put restrictions on what was asked and those shows refused. It’s interesting bc I feel like a few years ago they might have agreed, but its clear an interview with just some lame soundbites from William isn’t the draw that it might have been a few years ago.
What a missed opportunity not to do something fluffy with someone. Morning shows, late night, etc. Obviously William lacks the charm to have tea with James Corden on a double decker bus, but COME ON! If you want to take America by storm, we need a hell of a lot more than dull speeches and Chris Jackson stills.
For someone who has been in the public eye since the day he was born, I still don’t get why Will’s so bad at taking questions. (I mean, I get why, obviously, but it’s frustrating.) William would definitely get H&M questions no matter how friendly the interviewer, but any half decent PR person can prepare messaging:
Q. “Will you be seeing H&M while you’re here?”
A. “Unfortunately not. America is a huge country, so we can’t just pop by California, and we’ll miss them by a couple days here on the east coast.”
Q. “Will you watch the Netflix docuseries or read his book?”
A. “This whole week is really busy for us with all our Earth Shot excitement, so I won’t have time to watch much of anything! But I’m sure I’ll hear allll about it. *knowing chuckle*”
Any friendly interview isn’t going to burn it all down with more than whatever 1-2 Sussex question limit was negotiated. And if William isn’t media trained enough to successfully pivot to Earth Shot from any question asked, his comms staff is worse than I thought.
It only makes it more infuriating (and asinine) how that one reporter – was it Amy Robach? – was caught on a hot mic a couple of years ago saying how they weren’t allowed to run what they had on Andrew because the networks wanted to retain “access” to William and Kate. Who never give interviews! It was ridiculous at the time, but now that they’ve been the US and still didn’t give a single interview, that really isn’t a tenable excuse.
Catherine Quinn left when her 2 year contract expired and it looks like this private secretary did the same. If she wasn’t seen since June , she was likely already on her way out since the notice period for resignation is generally a lot longer in the UK.
These women have worked real jobs and they likely get bored doing this work when their “boss” isn’t interested in doing much of anything. I also wonder if she was blamed for the Caribbean flop tour and didn’t want to stick around.
I think that it is worse than Willy making conditions on interviews resulting in less press than he wanted. Because look, the Huffpo article suggests that no other outlet was interested in his lame, self-aggrandizing scribbling. Why didn’t his new pal Bezos publish it? Or the NYT? I think that major news outlets knew he and his vanity project were a snoozefest and wouldn’t generate interest. So his PR team were probably not able to book the shows they wanted. Is there any doubt that Baldemort wanted to crush H by being all over US media? But nothing even close to that happened. Remember what Kaiser said about People mag having alt covers when B&K are on the cover because they don’t sell. And judging from social media, no one in the US has even heard of Earthshot. It didn’t even trend in the UK, ffs. I checked the top 50–it never appeared. Something else… the fact that UK outlets repeatedly showed photos of the Ws at the Celtics game where they were booed—without mentioning that they were booed—shows a bizarre desperation to manage the narrative. What was left out of the coverage of this crap tour is very telling indeed.
Do william and kate have separate private secretaries? Do camilla and charles have that as well? And did the queen and philip? It just strikes me as a little weird considering they are the heads of the same household.
Yes, they do. All of them.
Brilliant back shot of the wiglet flailing around. I always knew her hair moved unnaturally; that there was no flow to it and it clumped into separate sections that she had to keep throwing her head back to control. Now I understand it’s not her own hair, it makes complete sense.
Yes. That is the photo to end all the “I just don’t see it” talk when we mention the wiglets. What is seen cannot be unseen.
Her stylist must secretly hate her as its bad blending – you’re not supposed to know its fake hair. Either that or they are using cheap hair.
Yes, it’s why her hair is so stiff. The color changed quite drastically from one event to the next as well.
I am distracted by the face. She is getting that waxy half melted candle look women get when they have had too much work done.
@Geegee, I agree, she needs to bite the bullet and get and subtle face lift already and stop w/ the fillers/injections.
I think with KP, it’s a Trump like situation. They think they are better and smarter than everyone else so they don’t listen. Then the competent people quit, like all of Trump’s lawyers. And now competent ppl won’t even apply.
@Steph. I read a recent article where the Surgeon General under Trump was saying how difficult it was to get a job after working for Trump. It took him more than 8 months to get an offer. Trump White House alumni were having a though time landing. Maybe having worked for W&K is not viewed in a positive light by the private sector
I’m going to add that this about that first photo: Something is going on other than Botox. Why is her jaw jutting out in this way? This isn’t the first photo where I have seen this her face do this. And her eyes and eyebrows look pulled very tight. She close to looking alien like and it is not good at all. Whew.
She reminds me of what some sci fi nuts used to think aliens would be like. A clan matriarch of green invaders from space; half human half reptile. She looks like she’s about to deliver her take-over-of-planet-Earth speech in that header photo.
Yeah I noticed that as well – there is something seriously up with her face. I think genetics and too much fillers/botox is catching up with her.
Re: the jaw she has an underbite that’s been made worse with the too big veneers.
I think that it has to do with her attempts to speak with Received Pronunciation, she literally has to screw up her face to try and sound posh and plummy.
That’s it exactly. RP can be hard for people to learn — some can master it in 10 or 15 lessons, some can’t master it at all. Kate seems to be in the latter group as she still sounds like she’s talking through clenched teeth. Her “Norfolk” accent was likely hard to eradicate so she’s left somewhere in the middle.
It could be tension. It could be a side effect of anti- depressants. I was on them once and it made me sort of set and twist my jaw and mouth and do this involuntary clench/unclench thing with my right hand. They can also zone you out, and we have definitely seen her looking zoned out recently. More so than usual IMO.
it has Madame Tussaud’s energy. If they told me this was her new statue in the wax museum I wouldnt question it.
You think she does the chin thing to try to look more like 🌹?
Rose’s chin is recessed. In a side view she didn’t have one. Kate has “piranha jaw”, a natural underbite.
Dogs have a sense about people.
Dogs KNOW
The shaaaaaade of the picture of her support hose!! 😂
I recall seeing an interview on Twitter where a British royal “expert” was saying that KP is mostly staffed by young debs with the double-barreled names who expect to start their day at 9am and leave by lunchtime. Omid Scobie as said that when Meghan came on board and expected to have daily meetings and briefing, the staff was overwhelmed having been used to only meeting with their principals (W&K) once a month.
And let’s not forget the messy ‘love triangle’ between 3 staffers – one of the senior members of the press team was initially engagement to kHates PA’s turned assistant private sec which ended and he then got involved with another staff member. He eventually left the job when the story broke in the media.
And the other uninvestigated mess of Christian whatever’s boyfriend caught selling royal secrets/pillow talk (Sussexes in Canada, exit plan) to Wootten. And the chief staffer having a relationship with the photographer who hyperphotoshops all of Kate’s pics while photoshopping Meghan’s to make her look bad. That staffer was fired right after she returned from honeymoon, with Keen’s staff blaming Harry and Meghan having a separate Household at BP. And the housekeeper , and the other housekeeper, and the other housekeeper, and the head of security who would rather work at a psych hospital than work for W&K, etc.
@Nota – whoa whats that about the former head of security? Haven’t heard that story. I thought Natasha Archer still worked for her (she’s the one who’s married to Chris Jackson, Keens favourite pap). I thought it was Rebecca Deacon who got fired after she got back from her honeymoon?
I don’t think it was Archer fired for booking the trip with William and his mystery woman. She’s considered the stylist and while she was on maternity leave, I think she’s back on staff since I saw her referenced for the Boston trip.
I think it was Sophie Agnew who had worked for kate for 7 years and then got fired when she returned from her honeymoon. And who may have been the one who booked the trip for William.
John Hourihan, former head of their security, left in March 2013. They were hemorrhaging staff, as they always have, and RR weren’t covering it. He went to be head of security at Broadmoor (Psych) Hospital. That was around when the leaseholders at Anmer were thrown out four years early to make room for W&K. Hourihan had had enough of W&K and/or he had no desire to deal with them out in the boonies.
If this is true, no reason the wailing and gnashing of teeth was heard from across the ocean. Entitled double-barrelled names who went to the Kate school of do-nothing.
It just seems like they keep hiring these people who are professional and competent and then leave because…..well, to me the obvious answer is that W&K are not professional and competent. but my impression is that most royals don’t work this way, they tend to have long term staff that is very loyal to them (especially in positions like private secretary). Kate’s revolving door says a LOT about her IMO.
Lol, that dog wants nothing to do with her. I bet the corgis ignored her 😂. I saw a note that the lady had left,didn’t realize it had been that long and she hasn’t been replaced yet. Curious.
The pic at the game where the woman in white is talking to Kate and she is just staring blankly ahead… hilarious.
I’ve been thinking about Kate’s trip to Harvard. I’ve worked at various Boston Universities for over two decades. The norm for a celebrity trip is a half day. Sit in on a class or be the guest speaker. A presentation where several grad student do presentations on their work, an hour or 90 minutes. Often a Q&A after this. There will usually be either a lunch if a morning visit or a “cocktail” reception if afternoon. Either the faculty host or the guest will say some remarks and there is a small invited list of guests.
I was wondering about Kate’s visit and why it seemed so wrong. I realized that it was because it was so short and all about Kate listening. These things are about letting the famous person hear research (usually the not yet published stuff, which you don’t usually get access to), but also about networking for the graduate students (and possibly undergrads as well). Famous person comes (and their team) students who presented, and those at the reception now have a connection with these people to be able to reach out with questions, ask about job opportunities. At the good events, it’s as much about recruiting as getting recognition. No one on Kate’s team seemed to be even aware of that side of it. Wish I still had Harvard contacts to get the gossip.
I have noticed that during Kate’s official visits, they limit what she says to the absolute bare minimum. She hardly communicates with people, rarely gives a speech, never leads a discussion in a real way, and so on.
We all know she is anxious, shy, and certainly not the most eloquent, but it definitely feels odd. She has had over a decade to develop public speaking and communication skills. Even if you are not born a natural, you can improve. All we hear from her is a variation on, “it is critical that we start talking about ____.” It is never deeper than that.
It is just incredibly curious to me how mute she is and how all of her engagements are intentionally designed so we hardly hear her voice. Makes me wonder if there is something going on with her…
Diana was far more vocal.
It’s not hard to understand. She’s there for the photo op. That’s pretty clear by now. It’s why her visits, like this one, are so brief. She doesn’t want to work, has no apparent interests outside her appearance, and doesn’t really care about any place she goes. That’s why we constantly hear how she’s “listening and learning”. I don’t buy the anxious/shy theory. She has no problem dressing up in an expensive new dress, draping herself with jewels, and working the crowd at functions like the one last night. She’s so regal! When it comes to other work, she’s lazy and has never had motivation to improve. She has a couple of canned remarks she varies slightly for the situation. One of the other common ones is George/Charlotte/Louis is really into [insert appropriate noun here]. As long as she has the photo, she can PR the visit for the tabloids into something that looks significant. Kate visited Harvard!
I hope Harvard didn’t waste a lot of time preparing the kind of presentation you describe above, or waste the time of graduate students hoping for connections. We know the Wales’ bring nothing – apart from a smile – wherever they go. If Kate was really only there around 30 minutes, and part of that time was meeting the university president, etc., she couldn’t have spent much time with researchers in the early years program.
I have to agree. Yeah. There is no other excuse at this point.
every time I see her pics with that green dress is just 😂. It’s really a terrible dress and terrible fit for her body type. Also her face is sooo tight and her mouth is off to the side … she needs to stop messing up with her face. Botox already screw up her eyebrows alignment and now her mouth is going sideways. She is my age… she doesn’t need all that stuff done to her face.
HAHAHA! That last sentence followed immediately by the Kate’s-so-regal-she’s-got-QEII-feet close-up is 100% the best shade I’ve seen on this site. 10/10 transition.
So she’s looking for her 3rd private secretary in 5 years but please tell me again about how the Sussexes constantly lose staff /s.
I note that Peter Hunt pointed this out too as he clipped another DM article attacking Harry and Meghan for a recent staff departure.
Private companies and their staffing are very irrelevant. The British taxpayers should be more concerned with the public servants who are ultimately paid through their contributions.
Peter Hunt said she was looking for her 4th one in five years.
Did Katty even know she left? I mean if you do little to nothing on a regular basis, are you keeping up with staff issues? Wouldn’t it be wasting more money? Would she perceive it as someone keeping tabs on her? Or she might just hate taking advice/guidance from an “underling.”
Well, now she’ll have to hire one, since the tabs have made it public…
She’s giving much Grinch in that header
Yeah, that header photo is, uh, really something
What happened to her face? Why the caked-on makeup? It is disturbing. She seems to be going the way of many actresses who have been made to be terrified of aging. And as Bouzy said, hatred ages you faster than anything. I really don’t like this woman, but she is in a trap, as H would say. No way in hell is she content or happy. I cannot imagine living like that.
Yes, Hannah Cockburn-Logie is so “loyal,” she left Kate’s employ after two years LOL.
Peter Hunt on Twitter: “Kate is looking for her 4th private secretary in five years. No questions asked.”