Princess Kate, credible Early Years expert: Nursery schools are ‘important’

Here are more photos from the Princess of Wales’s visit to a nursery school in Luton on Wednesday. Kate’s staff selected a nursery school with a significant number of children of color, so Kate could once again use Black and Asian children as her diversity props. Did you know that Kate also made some comments at the nursery school? No, of course she didn’t give a speech, but someone prepared some comments for her and they were Peak Buttons.

During the visit, she made a point of highlighting the importance of nurseries and their staff in a child’s development, telling one of the educators that “we really saw that highlighted over the pandemic”.

The Princess told Rachel Swain Marsh: “When they [nurseries] were closed down, people realised how vital they were not just for the communities they serve, but for the individual families and children in their care.”

She added that it is important to have a “holistic network surrounding our children” in their most formative years, particularly during challenging times.

On arrival at the nursery, the Princess was introduced to Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance. “Thank you for having me, I was just saying it’s such a beautiful day, a lovely cold, crisp morning,” she said. “Is it busy for everybody? Is everybody back in? There’s been lots of illnesses going around, hasn’t there?”

She then sat down with some of the children, joining them at a sand tray and a craft table, asking what their names were and what they were up to.

[From The Telegraph]

Over a decade of keen Early Years research and study and this is what her research found: nursery schools are good. Nay, nursery schools are important. Nursery schools help parents! Also, “holistic network surrounding our children” sounds a lot like “it takes a village,” a concept which has truly been around for decades and centuries. She really is going to reinvent the wheel and slap a wiglet on that wheel and call it a day.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

175 Responses to “Princess Kate, credible Early Years expert: Nursery schools are ‘important’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Tessa says:

    She has no expertise on this field. She just says it is important

    • mtos says:

      She has nothing to contribute to this subject so she will continue to make blanket, obvious statements. They honestly should be embarrassed but this.

      • B says:

        The people who are in to her may actually be so out of touch that they think she is adding something meaningful.

      • Sugarhere says:

        It’s OK to have a short small talk about the weather and other trivialities, providing the rest of your speech sounds relevant and intelligent.

        The question is: What new initiative or resource is the Princess of Wales bringing to the table, that hasn’t already been implemented? There are children suffering from mild forms of autism who would greatly benefit attention and financial resources being directed at the costly, innovative methods that have been only benefiting those with the wealthiest parents.

        I have no respect whatsoever for a make-believe princess styled like a 1982 Barbie, who does not use her platform to tackle the real issues. What an embarrassment! Kate turned up there, and I can only imagine the logistics it took to make everything perfect for her moderately useful visit: cleaning staff, extra cleaning products, letters and electronic mailings to the parents, gardening outside the premises, not to mention the colored staff being mobilized to make a point she is pretty much ready to shake everyone’s hand. Call it a waste of resources…

        My children and I visited a zoo last summer. I mean, that doesn’t make me a zebra expert, does it?

      • Lore says:

        Remember Pippa Tips? Looks like “obvious tip is obvious” is a family trait.

    • SquiddusMaximus says:

      Top CEOs don’t need to know how things, like, work through. Right?

      • Jais says:

        Oh Lordy, I forgot the whole top ceo thing. According to a source(herself? Carole?), she is working as hard as a top ceo but without all the vacations and benefits. It was something like that? Nah, this B is getting ready to go on another vacay in a few weeks. And pretty sure she just came off vacay a week ago.

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        Thank you @Jais. A vacay is coming up. Was trying to figure out why her hands were cupped in the 3rd thumbnail? It’s a collection cup for the Royal vacay *cough* Foundation.

        So happy we finally had an “expert” speak out about the importance of nursery schools. We’ve never heard such a thing before.

        I will always laugh how the RR’s clean up Kate’s words. Shocker! /s Rebecca English was with Kate.

    • KATHLEEN says:

      “Nursery school is important” said the early childhood expert. I was stunned; stunned I tell you! I mean, who knew?

  2. Seraphina says:

    And rain is wet.

    • Sugarhere says:

      And fire burns -to be added to expert Karen’s scientific understandable breakthroughs.

    • DouchesOfCambridge says:

      Absolutely REVOLUTIONARY.
      I always she knows how to do the weather chitchat really well and that’s about it. 10 years of keening. I keep saying, there’s a good reason why she specifically chose the 0-5yo children subject and like, photography, sports, piano, because there no real conversation involved with other adults. She does not have a genuine decent opinion, expertise on the things that matters most.

    • Nev says:

      Bahahahahahahahjahaajajajaa

      She sounds nuts. Pathological.

    • Emme says:

      Is Rebecca English for The Daily Fail shading Middleton by putting that excruciating video up??

  3. L84Tea says:

    Aww, she tried.

    • Mimi says:

      My friends and I have a frequently used phrase for people like Kate…”But blessed her heart, she is soooo pretty!”

    • ThatsNotOkay says:

      But she didn’t try, did she. She put absolutely no effort into this whatsoever. She didn’t study, practice, brush up, educate, memorize, research, review, question, highlight. Nothing. That’s the thing, these people are paid millions and don’t even bother to try. Insert that Bart Simpson gif.

      • Mary Pester says:

        Of course she didn’t put any effort in, the only EFFORT she makes is for publicity! Barbie botox wouldn’t know an original idea if it smacked her upside her head. There are a load of little back room boys and girls putting together something that looks and sounds great, but two weeks after it’s announced it will go very, very quiet as she never sees anything through. People should go and try to find what the Danish press had to say about her after her solo visit there. She made a speech (YEY) but couldn’t answer any questions they asked. They even printed that she seemed vague and unable to answer them, but guess what, THE PALACE, ie chinless Charlie and Billy bellow, stopped the British press from printing stories about it

      • The Recluse says:

        There were some pointed comments about the uselessness of royal visits on this sub-thread to Celebitchy’s post that are worth examining.

        https://twitter.com/tennysonsarah1/status/1616091902402609160

    • Lorelei says:

      Someone else definitely wrote the “holistic network” thing for her. I don’t know who, since she seems to have constant staff turnover, but she did not come up with that herself.

      Maybe she snuck into Pippa’s home office during the holidays to find some phrases she could use on these type of engagements.

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        +++ @Lorelei. She did not come up with ‘holistic network’ herself. I haven’t replied yet to the thread/post about the Will/Kate dinner and Meghan offering up oregano oil (which I’ve never tried-interested now) and turmeric (which I take every day).

        Absolutely believe ‘holistic’ being used now is not a coincidence. Homeopathic was not used correctly in the other situation/post. Herbal medicine falls under the umbrella of holistic approach to medicine or practice. Holistic does encompass other things outside of medicine. Using it now is a pointed choice after her other words at the dinner table. Gurrrllll is trying to appeal to some people.

        You have to lol at the idea of Meghan’s offering to help being a ‘woo woo’ or California thing. Herbalism has been around long before California became a state. Way back when England. Origins Mesopotamia. China, India, Egypt, etc., not California.
        https://www.herbalhistory.org/home/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2B_Graeme-Tobyn_The-identification-of-William-Turner%E2%80%99s-herbalists-in-Tudor-and-Stuart-England.pdf

  4. Alexandria says:

    I hope there’s a video out there of Pippa presenting a topic on early childhood. I’d love to compare whatever we have here.

    • goofpuff says:

      Yes, Pippa would be far more knowledgable and interesting a speaker, definitely!

      • Chloe says:

        I don’t know if she would. Once I read her pippa tips (or whatever she calls them) and home girl literally said: stargazing is best at night.

        Whatever expensive school uncle Gary sent these girls to… it was money wasted.

      • lanne says:

        I loved the Pippa Tip that ice helps keep drinks cold. Who knew!!

      • Chloe says:

        @Lanne: the idiocy runs in the family😭

      • Lorelei says:

        @Chloe, shut UP! She actually said stargazing is best at night? LMFAOOOOO I can’t

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        Agreatreckoning tip: a sunrise is best viewed on a morning without overcast skies. Even better without a cloud in sight. Jack Handey helped me with my deep thoughts.

  5. Brassy Rebel says:

    It’s been nearly five years since she had a baby, and she still has baby brain.

    • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

      Did she ever have anything other than a baby’s brain?

      • notasugarhere says:

        LOL, I see that as an insult to babies everywhere. Their brains are constantly stretching, growing, changing, engaging with the world around them and learning. Kate hasn’t learned anything in years.

  6. Andy Dufresne says:

    “Nursery schools are important”? Groundbreaking.

  7. Roo says:

    But, Kaiser, you didn’t mention the money and goods she donated to the nursery, the programs she helped fund which were announced at her visit, the PR she provided on her Insta about where people can donate, the links to other child services she provided… oh. Never mind. 🙄

    • LaraK says:

      This is so on point! She doesn’t actually do anything!

      The reality is she doesn’t need to be n expert, nobody expects her to be one. She just has to actually promote the cause. But she doesn’t. It’s just a photo op.

      Meg is not an expert on the causes she supports either. But she does her role, which is to promo the crap out of them. Make a cook book. Post photos. Donate. Do physical labor to help. Post links for donations. Mention donations at every promo interview. Send notes and gift baskets and stuff to keep the papers interested.

      Kate is just not interested.

    • FormerlyLithe says:

      lol @Roo! She did deliver a word salad though. Surely that must count?

      • BeanieBean says:

        She sure struggled with her initial pleasantries, didn’t she? And her struggle showed. Yikes!

      • Roo says:

        True, she did deliver THAT salad. LOL. But, my word, how hard is it to make pleasant conversation and talk with people, especially when that is ALL you do?

        Just off the top of my head, here’s what she could have said in four steps:

        1) At the door: So lovely to meet you. Thanks for letting me visit. I know this breaks up your routine, and I am grateful.

        2) Entering the classroom: What a cheerful and welcoming place. How involved are the children in choosing the theme and design? When do the teachers have time to decorate and organize their rooms? WHAT RESOURCES DO THEY NEED THAT THEY DON’T HAVE RIGHT NOW FOR THEIR CLASSROOMS?

        3) At the meeting with teachers: How is everyone holding up post-covid? Have your teachers all come back full time? How is your classroom different than it was pre-covid and what do you want all parents to know? HOW CAN WE HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS FOR THE CHILDREN?

        4) Preparing to leave: Thank you again! I am motivated to help you all achieve your goals and I am going to reach out to XYZ to assist because I think their goals and interests align with yours. Also, I have ABC things in my notes that you really need. Can you please list other items and give them to me by tomorrow noon so I can post this on our social media?

        THERE. FREE ADVICE FOR YOU, KATE. UGH.

    • B says:

      @ROO, between this comment and your prior comment, I don’t know you but I like you already

  8. Emily_C says:

    What the f ever. We’ve known nursery schools are good for how long? Anyway, I am so sick of this kind of talk, when children need food and (warm!) shelter. If you don’t have those very basic needs met, what is education supposed to do? This is re-heated Victorian nonsense about educating the lower classes.

    • SusieQ says:

      “Reheated Victorian nonsense” aptly describes this. It’s everything she is.

    • Isabella says:

      Agree. And this is word salad & backward: I mean, schools exist first for the students: “When they [nurseries] were closed down, people realised how vital they were not just for the communities they serve, but for the individual families and children in their care.”

      • Becks1 says:

        Aren’t nursery schools serving families and children? Like isn’t that how they serve communities? How does her statement make sense? I mean I guess its technically accurate, but it doesn’t make sense.

  9. square_bologna says:

    How does she get away with this?! 🤷

    • lanne says:

      Kate has reached peak tradwife: liked by many, respected by no one. She’s a 41 year old child. That’s how the media treat her. She’s a mannequin who’s better off when she keeps her mouth shut. Goals (not).

  10. Aidevee says:

    Not sure what Kate is thinking here – it didn’t take a pandemic to show us all nurseries are important. They’ve always been critically important for working parents and we have always realised that.

    God she’s out of touch. Why doesn’t she ever bring books or resources to these places? I’d never dream of visiting a nursery during a staffing and funding crisis and not bringing anything to gift. What a colossal waste of everyone’s time.

    • Hummingbird says:

      She could have brought a dozen copies of The Bench.

    • The Recluse says:

      She could have brought art supplies for the kids or gift cards so they can buy stuff for the kids to use in the classroom. Something. Anything.

  11. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    “Holistic network” sounds awfully “woke” coming from someone who stated, at a certain dinner, that her husband wouldn’t take holistic medicine.

    • E says:

      This! Tell me you’ve read the book without telling me you’ve read the book.

      This is why the therapy comment comes across even more as a dig than before.

    • SURE says:

      I think the word “holistic” first reared its head at the round table with Dr JB. I sense K thinks she sounds like an expert when she uses the word. It’s one of her go to words when talking about her early years project.

  12. Lady Digby says:

    Wiglets got her photo front and centre on most of the tabs so it is all good as far as she is concerned!

    • Lorelei says:

      Quite honestly, I’m surprised she even stays at most of these engagements for even 40 minutes (isn’t that supposedly the maximum amount of time she ever spends*?), because they truly are only photo ops for her, and that could be done in under ten minutes if she moved quickly enough.

      I guess she has to at least pretend she cares about…whatever she’s allegedly there to “raise awareness” of.

      *When it’s not a Downton Abbey or Harry Potter set visit or a movie premiere

  13. Janey says:

    because without vital nursery education, one would have to look after one’s own children. I have already used all my expertise to teach George, Charlotte and Louis how to do impressive jazz hands and Charlotte the importance of buttons. One simply cannot do more.

    • goofpuff says:

      Nonsense. For Kate, nursery education is for the poor peons who must learn how to properly give her the respect she demands. Her children have a nanny each to teach them all those things plus a main nanny to supervise. How else can she go to all the shopping, hair appointments, and stalking Meghan? And do a 20 min work event every three months?

  14. Digital Unicorn says:

    Wha!! Well I did NOT know this. In all seriousness – NO SH!T SHERLOCK!!

    And yeah we all know why there are never any sounds from her videos – she can’t speak AT. ALL. IN. PUBLIC.

    No matter how much the UK press try – they cannot polish these turds.

  15. Dss says:

    She is impossibly dim and empty. I get that some people are shy and introverted in new situations but nope….she is just dim.

    • Lady Esther says:

      After so many years, and all the training in public speaking available, she is simply grossly inarticulate. That Twitter video is….embarassing

    • Rnot says:

      The thing is she didn’t start out this dim. Shallow? Yes. Dim? Not so you’d notice. She managed to get admitted to both the U of Edinburgh and St Andrews before she had any royal influence to trade on. Maybe she cheated and bribed her way in, but she’d have to semi-competent to manage that. She managed to graduate from St Andrews. Even with cheating, she had to do some of the work. She was just the girlfriend and not even the fiancee then. Either she’s deliberately dimmed her light to avoid provoking William/Charles, she’s drugged, she’s ill, or she’s brain-damaged. She didn’t start out this way.

      • Nic919 says:

        Her own cousin described her as dim and self centred prior to the wedding.

        As for getting into Edinburgh and St Andrews, we aren’t talking Harvard or Yale or MIT. These are schools that many can get into if they have decent A levels. And rich kids have access to tutors to study for the A levels. It’s like preparing for law school and the LSAT. People with privilege have access to a lot of help to prepare for the tests.

        During university she was never known as brilliant and she has more than proven that she is incurious and nowhere near the academic the media pretended she was. Her program was also not the hardest and she doesn’t seem to exhibit any ongoing art history knowledge in any case.

      • sparrow says:

        Agree with Nic919. St Andrews for Art History isn’t Law at Oxford. Art History at degree level is not overly difficult. It’s wide ranging because it’s not taught prior to university, and therefore has to get everyone through centuries of stuff at quite a basic level. I’d admire pure History more, where the requirement for argument, written and tutored, is far higher. Give me someone who postgrads in art history, specialises and works in it, with French, Italian and Latin thrown in, and I’ll give you something with more meat on the bones!

      • Rnot says:

        Nic919, I’m not saying she’s brilliant or intellectually curious but St Andrews has the lowest acceptance rate of any university in the UK at 8%, which is lower than Oxford or Cambridge. Harvard is 4% Yale is 5% and MIT is 4%. Even with the advantages of money and cheating, she couldn’t have accomplished what she did if she was this dim. (We all know that William got accepted for reasons other than his academic ability.)

      • sparrow says:

        Rnot. I’m still with Nic919. As a Brit, St Andrews is seen as a good university. Perhaps very good. But it is not one of the best. (You’re probably a Brit, so apols!) Of equal concern is the subject. Kate read Art History. It isn’t the most taxing of degrees. And St Andrews isn’t an exceptional place to read the subject; there are far more impressive UK universities and institutes for art history. The History dept at St Andrews has had brilliant leads, such as John Guy, and now with Robert Bartlett. Fantastic historians in their own right. I’d be more impressed if Kate had studied under them; written essays that stood their ground at tutorial, and were argued brilliantly by her.

      • Becks1 says:

        I went to a top-ish university in the US and I knew lots of dim people who still did well enough to get accepted and then well enough to get by with decent grades. for the most part these people chose majors and then specific classes that were more about regurgitating than critical thinking (every major should involve critical thinking, but if you’re strategic you can stick to the professors who don’t expect that much) – OR they would study just enough to do well on the final and then everything they learned would fly out of their heads as they walked out of the exam room.

        I feel like Kate was a mix between the two; for sure there is no intellectual curiosity there so anything she was forced to learn in college has probably long left her head.

      • Rnot says:

        Sparrow, I’m not arguing that she’s intellectually accomplished but someone who seems barely functional wouldn’t be capable of the one accomplishment that she does have to her name. That is getting accepted to at least two competitive universities and graduating from one. Kate cannot have been this dim at that point in time. There is a dramatic discrepancy between the performance she had to have given then and the performance we see now. As an American, Northwestern is seen as a good university. In fact very good. But it isn’t Ivy League. Their acceptance rate is 7%. It’s a competitive school and getting into it says something about Meghan. (Yes, Meghan double majored in more rigorous fields and is clearly smarter and has many subsequent accomplishments and yes, Kate has nothing else to show for herself and had more advantages.) What happened to Kate between then and now? What we see now wouldn’t be accepted to a local community college.

      • sparrow says:

        Hi Rnot, once again! Reading your later response made me think, yes, Kate really doesn’t come across as an educated woman. Like you ask, what happened to her between graduating and now? Some over here would reply thus. Nothing has happened to her since graduating. Kate is the product of a “dumbing down” across secondary and tertiary level UK education that has taken about 20 years to roll out. This is controversial but it can be backed up by stats – particularly the elevation in degree (unearned) 1sts awarded from about 2000 onwards. The rise just doesn’t align with the quality or expected numbers. It is uncommon now for an 18 year old NOT to go to university. Some truly bright students are told that a degree no longer carries the weight it once did and are advised to pursue an MA/PhD in order to gain what was once guaranteed at degree level. Further education has become the norm, landing young adults in huge debt. I went back to university to pursue a PhD after a few years’ break. Many teaching staff I met, some of whom I’d known from years ago, advised me not to get into academia: it’s bogged down with administration; expectations of students meant it was more like a business transaction than an intelligence exchange; and, most important, the general knowledge and all-round reading had dropped through the floor. One of my tutors told me she could no longer take for granted that a student would have read this book or that book, or considered this reference or that. She found her teaching less enjoyable because she had to go right back to basics, or come up with reading lists that students of years ago would not have needed because they’d already covered key texts themselves in their own time. I would say this is Kate.

      • The Recluse says:

        Yeah, Nic919, the fact that she has done NO-THING with her art degree says a lot. Man, if I’d been able to get such a degree and been in her position, I would have been asking for work with groups/charities that are involved in the arts. She hasn’t.

      • Nic919 says:

        Kate did her dissertation on the photos of Lewis Carroll which she would have done in the early 2000s. Since the 1930s there have been questions about the appropriateness of the many photos he took of young girls between 10 and 15 in poses that can be considered vulnerable.

        it is wild that she did her dissertation on what is now considered photos bordering on pedophilia and simply called it Angels from Heaven.

        Do a quick google search of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell and you definitely wonder what the hell kate was thinking when she used this topic. And since the Lewis carroll society mentioned this dissertation it’s pretty clear she wasn’t denouncing him for his creepy photos, or at least creepy for anyone looking at them in the early 2000s.

      • notasugarhere says:

        A former teacher came forward and said she was unintelligent and uninteresting – and that anyone who said otherwise was lying for posterity. Uncle Hookers and Blow also said that Kate had to work hard in school for meager results – essentially because she was unintelligent while things came easier to Pippa. ‘

        Nic919, the school has ‘hidden’ her dissertation from public access. They must know 1) how poorly-written it is and 2) how the topic never should have been approved. My oh my the new t r o l l s are out in force, no?

  16. Maxine Branch says:

    The best this woman can do is to stay hidden from the public. Hard to imagine a 40 year old with her access being this dumb. The amount of past and current research on the early years available makes this such a foolish capstone project for her. The best she can do is to provide funding for a specific area in early childhood development perhaps in the area of disabled early childhood learners or children with specific learning disabilities but to try to capture this entire field is ridiculous. Maybe she will be able to tie herself to an initiative with the university she visited in Boston, but we all know she would then be piggybacking. Hope this university gave her some ideas.

  17. First comment says:

    She used the word “holistic ” two or three times in her comments that I read… a new word and a talking point for her prepared by her team…I get the feeling that the new project she will launch will highlight ( or raise awareness to, lol) the necessity of involvement of all the parties implicated in children’s upbringing (parents, teachers, nurseries etc.). Revolutionary, indeed…

  18. mtos says:

    My god she’s dumb. Yes Katie, pre-school is important. Thank you for your expertise.

  19. C-Shell says:

    “ She really is going to reinvent the wheel and slap a wiglet on that wheel and call it a day.”

    I love, Kaiser, how you animate the wiglets! Anyway, this should be humiliating, but the embiggening knows no inanity too obvious. At what point are parents and staff at these events going to stand up and refuse to be used for KKKHate’s PR?! The mercy is she never stays very long.

  20. Emmi says:

    Oh Lord. This isn’t great but hearing it is much less jarring than reading it. I hope nobody ever records me and then makes a transcript when I’m making smalltalk because … it wouldn’t sound very polished. But I’m not in the public eye. You can learn these things. You can learn to do smalltalk, you can even prepare phrases that are helpful in EVERY situation. I’m an introvert and I used to be shy but even I learned this when I started working in a hotel part-time during uni. This can’t be easy for her either, it sucks and it’s exhausting to flounder like this in public. Why would you not want to feel more secure?

    • dee(2) says:

      I actually thought the reverse, it sounded painfully basic quoted but it’s actually embarrassing in the video. And I agree that you can learn basic phrases, but all of that is advice for someone very young and painfully shy, or inexperienced. I’m not giving her anymore grace, she has been doing/prepping/expected to do this role for over a decade now. She is intellectually incurious not nervous, or not great at public speaking. She flat out doesn’t care, only does the bare minimum because she has to, and clearly spends her time not putting any effort into actually learning about a subject she supposedly cares so much about. I could speak more succinctly about actual particle physics off the cuff than she can about something she has loved for a decade.

      • sriFoxi says:

        You’d think if she was nervous being recorded, she would practice that too. I’m just struck by how much more articulate Diana was in her 20s compared to this sally.

    • SAS says:

      @Emmi, this is a fair point (I will never forget reading the automatically generated Zoom transcript of a presentation I made!) BUT, when compared to the small talk responses by the teachers, who we can assume are much more nervous about having a conversation in front of cameras and videos, her speech is incredibly un-fluent (?) for someone whose literal day to day job this is. I won’t give her a pass here.

      • Becks1 says:

        Right, I don’t want anything I say to be transcribed either, lol. I can actually forgive her the “ums” as I know I am guilty of saying that wayyyyy too often in conversation. It’s the rest of it that makes me think, wow, you don’t have any clue what to say here or what you’re talking about, do you? The “have you been, sort of, I’ve, is” – like think about what you are going to say before you say it.

      • HuffnPuff says:

        She sounded like she was trying to cram in things that her staff told her to say to generate small talk. She didn’t give anyone a chance to answer while she blurted all of it out. She’s really not cut out for the social aspect of the job. Just the heir making and arm candy part. But even the arm candy part has been in decline for a while now. I hate to say that about another woman because I am not attractive but then again that’s not part of my job description. It’s like 70 to 80% of hers. And this is a job that she WANTED. So yeah, no passes.

      • Nic919 says:

        @becks1 I agree that “ums” are something that can show up especially in transcripts at discovery.

        It’s the rest of it that shows a serious lack of thought.

    • goofpuff says:

      She’s had years to practice and plenty of money to get training on how to be a soft diplomat. At this point, there are no more excuses.

      I suck at it to, but I work on it because its my JOB to do things like that. Its her job to do this. She needs to do better.

    • CindyP says:

      She could be better if she put in the time. I was a terrible public speaker but had to get better for my job. I put in the work to get better. Key is having expertise on the topic. She obviously doesn’t. So embarrassing. And don’t get me started on that hair…

    • Dee says:

      She needed to prepare one or two relevant questions. And then listen to the answers. This is not difficult.

    • BeanieBean says:

      No, I’m not cutting her any slack on this one. Nobody ums & gets tongue-twisted when talking about the weather. She struggled, painfully so, but for no good reason; she really wracked her brain at that initial greeting. Nobody expects rocket science during the hellos. She’s been doing this too long, she’s been in Willy’s world too long, to be this bad at the ‘hi, chilly today isn’t it?’ kind of small talk.

      • The Old Chick says:

        She’s been doing this for nearly 11 years. People in the public eye – even introverts and probably especially introverts – have learned phrases. It’s very easy to learn some talking points so every second word isn’t um etc. She’s dumb and her staff are imbeciles. Royals don’t add value, they don’t take gifts or money unless it’s a part of the charities. They turn up and supposedly that is enough because they’re ‘highlighting’ a cause. More often the org gives them something even if it’s flowers and a cup of tea.

        I’m not comfortable with small talk and very introverted and since being stuck at home last 10 years with health issues I’ve forgotten the art. But when I had public facing work, I practiced talking to people. When I volunteered I learned the phrases to get someone else talking to hear their story. That’s an art but an easy one to learn. She gets praised for her absurdly expensive clothes and no one dares to ask what does she contribute?

  21. Jais says:

    Nurseries are important. How revolutionary. Kate Guevara strikes again.

  22. Becks1 says:

    Seeing what she actually said compared to what the article quotes her as saying:

    ” Is everybody back in? There’s been lots of illnesses going around, hasn’t there?”

    vs
    “Is, um, everybody, sort of, back in? Have you been, sort of, is, I’ve, there’s been lots of illnesses going around.”

    Like what is she even saying? It’s nice of the Telegraph to edit it for her (insert eyeroll here) but this is embarrassing.

    • Harper says:

      Makes me wonder if her own Royal Wee Ones were ill, because otherwise, Kate would not care about illnesses that were going around. Although it was hard to hear, it sounded like the woman answered that they hadn’t really hadn’t had much illness at the school, deflating Kate’s hopes that they could small talk about Early Years coughing to fill up the awkward space.

    • Chantal says:

      @Becks1 Really? Lol! How does Special K manage to actually get WORSE at her job as more time passes? She’s definitely gifted in her ability to do that.

      It’s truly pathetic and beyond lazy that at the age of 41, she still can’t engage in small talk. I cant even be bothered to feel second hand embarrassment for her. C-Rex might want to rethink his plan of foisting her on the public more frequently. No one deserves that. As for early years, they need to stop trying to make fetch happen.

    • Digital Unicorn says:

      At least she’s dropped the fake posher than TQ accent she used to sport.

    • Nic919 says:

      The media really does cover for her inadequacies especially when it comes to speaking. While every once in a while having an “ um” show is possible, but where is the “sort of” showing up? She’s asking about the weather. This isn’t even the part where she has to use big words.

    • Erin says:

      Yeah, seeing how she was quoted in the papers and then actually hearing her definitely made me realize that all of the quotes we read of what she says are actually edited because we hardly ever actually hear her, which is mind boggling in itself. This woman has time on her hands, resources, money, and has had years to learn to be a better at this job and literally nothing has changed. I can’t even imagine being ok with myself being like this. I also no longer think she’s absolutely clueless about how bad she is at this because of how Meghan was treated when she came in. Kate and the rest of them all knew how weak she looked compared to her and that’s why they had to destroy her. One of the worst parts is that she’s realized she’s not the perfect princess that they all made her out to be and yet she still hasn’t made an effort to change. But I guess with Meghan gone, there isn’t any need anymore. These people will literally kill to stay mediocre.

      • BeanieBean says:

        That’s a good point. In addition to all the flat-out lying they do about the royals, what they’re showing in quotations are really not accurate quotations. They’re highly editing her words but not indicating that they’ve done so, which I think violates some sort of journalistic standards (ha! standards!).

      • Becks1 says:

        @Erin how dare you. She has changed. She changed a GREAT deal to be more like Meghan. Have you not seen the pantsuit she wore today?!?!?! Or her other Meghan outfit copies?!?! what more do people want from her?!?!!?!?

        (I’m obviously kidding bc I know someone is going to come and act like I’m being serious lol.)

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      Yeah, they use quotation marks, but the “quote” isn’t really accurate, is it? Just goes to show that the rota clean up her sentences for her, so the public can be mislead into thinking Kate’s not *THAT* dumb.

  23. AGoodYear says:

    Theory: The reason she picks schools in minority-dominant and under-served communities is because she genuinely thinks the residents don’t understand these basic concepts — a symptom of her bias.

    Not knowing isn’t the problem. Financial inequity rooted in generations of institutional bigotry is.

  24. First comment says:

    “You can learn to do smalltalk, you can even prepare phrases that are helpful in EVERY situation.” Actually, she does and did (or better, her team prepared her talking points). The comments made about the weather in the video, were repeated with the exact same words in another group of people. The holisticapproach was also repeated.. she can’t improvise.. what we all see, is her best prepared effort …
    Edit: I don’t know how my comment ended up here.. I was responding to @Emmi

    • SarahCS says:

      I have literally just come off a coaching session where I was helping a guy who wants to build his profile with the non-exec directors at his company do this! He’s worried about awkward silences. Now he has a plan for how to approach these events.

    • Anna says:

      Maybe her team could prepare better talking point but Kate is such a hopeless case that they shortened it to – it is important; holistic approach is important; my kids do that too!

  25. The Duchess says:

    I’m convinced now more than ever that she self-medicates to get through engagements because it sounds like she’s slurring on her own words. How is she incapable of having a normal conversation at the age of 40? And why does she constantly keep on getting away with it!

  26. Miranda says:

    Those poor teachers don’t get paid enough to put up with this shit. Such a colossal waste of their time, and it disrupts the learning environment for the kids. At that age, it really doesn’t take much to distract them in the first place — I taught slightly older 1st and 2nd graders, and if we had so much as a morning fire drill, I knew I’d basically lost them for the rest of the day. So just imagine the distraction when this scarecrow lady, who smiles like a maniac and mumbles incomprehensibly, barges in with her damn film crew!

  27. Midnight@theOasis says:

    “as part of her ongoing work to highlight how best practice and parenting in the crucial early years of childhood has such a significant effect on lifelong outcomes.”

    Doesn’t the ability of parents to provide adequate food, clothing and housing for children during the crucial early years matter? Yet, UK citizens are facing unprecedented poverty due to the policies of the Tory government.

    • SarahCS says:

      My bigger issue here is the massive under-funding in this area. It’s yet another crisis we are facing in this country. I saw stats a couple of days ago about the number of people taking early retirement so that they can take care of grandchildren (due to the lack of affordable places) and making our economy even weaker as we lose their skills, expertise, and income tax!

      • Dee says:

        Children also need clean air and water and parks to run around in. Kate has several homes. One should become a park for kids with a community center for crafts and sports (a tennis court, maybe?). And a kitchen for teaching cooking skills.

  28. dee(2) says:

    Is she going to be doing this for the next 25 to 35 years? Popping up once maybe twice a month to mutter five-word inane sentences about the weather and how things that people use every day are important? As if they don’t, they already realize the importance of these things? She is fundamentally terrible at a job that already isn’t necessary and would be quite easy to do if she gave even a slight damn. These people disgust me.

  29. val says:

    She is being dragged on twitter. Love to see it!

  30. Laura D says:

    This is a vanity project – no more no less! Instead of using words like holistic she should be saying “partnership working” The NHS are currently rolling out a project around making sure Mums with children under the age of 4 have vouchers to buy healthy food and milk. It’s all very well Kate saying kids need “this and that” but, if the poor little mites (and their parents) are hungry/malnourished then any other type of support will be rendered useless. She should use these “photo-ops” to signpost those who are a LOT less fortunate than herself to services where they can get practical support for healthy Early Years Development. We know she won’t give money but, bringing along a few pamphlets/leaflets would be of enormous help to those who need help.

  31. Mslove says:

    Out of touch, patronizing & condescending are a few words that come to mind after watching the video of Kate’s visit. And for what? That everyone must live in squalor so that this family can live in the lap of luxury? I’d rather see Kate show up to this nursery in jeans, instead of designer clothes that cost a fortune. Who cares how skinny one is or how thick their wiglet is when people are suffering.

  32. SAS says:

    Honking for the Campaign to abolish the monarchy twitter account LOL! That transcript is hilarious and their commentary is always on point.

  33. Abby says:

    She is the Pippa’s Tips of the royal family.

  34. Nic919 says:

    The way the media covers for her is pretty striking when you see the alleged quote in the Telegraph and then the actual video which is filled with “ums” and “sort of”.

    This was the basic small tall greeting section too. So it is doubtful the other more substantive stuff she is supposed to have said according to the telegraph was said in any comprehensible way.

    • Kit says:

      Just watched de clip lol but she shook hands with a lady by the children’s sand pit , sat down and turned her head and ignored her !! I mean wtf she is a public figure , who would do that !!!! She is v v odd

      • Jais says:

        Well, she needed to get her photo ops with the kids in, smiling manically at her diversity props while her long wiglets flow through the sandbox. Legit saw the video and her long hair was brushing through the sand. On the one hand, you could say she’s so into the kids that she doesn’t care if she gets sand in her hair, but yeah no, this is Kate. She cares about the appearance of her hair and she likes the kids for about as long as it takes to get the photos.

  35. mtos says:

    The thing is the people who love the royals really do believe she is a childhood development “expert” because they have pushed so hard for people to believe it. It’s like if you tell yourself a lie enough times you will start to believe it. This is all she has really, so she will cling to it and make blanket statements that are true just to seem like she knows what she is talking about even thought the “expertise” she has is common knowledge. It’s just like how they push how great Kate is with children which we all know is not true.
    She has young kids and thinks being a mom makes her relatable. It doesn’t. But people are dumb and will eat this up.
    It’s embarrassing… the royal family should be embarrassed by her making statements like this to try and seem like an expert.

  36. equality says:

    So she mentions illnesses going around and is coming in to interact with other people’s children with no mask?

    • Suusan says:

      At least she acknowledged illnesses are still present. I believe they got the queen and Philip sick. Charles has had covid multiple times. They all never wear mask. It’s weird. Even the protection people don’t wear mask. That’s why England has such terrible covid rates.

      • Lex says:

        I was just in London and was gobsmacked. Not a single person masked up and yet open mouth coughing in the packed tube. Rancid.

        (Im from Aus)

  37. Jules says:

    I think the biggest story here is that she is just now meeting the CEO of the Early Years Alliance?! He’s been in the position for 20 years. How can she say she’s been researching the field for 10 years & hasn’t met with him until now? She should have him on speed dial by now.

    • Tessa says:

      She never says How she is researching this. There is no evidence like articles or even taking courses to get a degree in it.

  38. Lizzie says:

    Is it even possible the person we hear say “Is, um, is it busy, for everybody? Is, um, everybody, sort of, back in? Have you been, sort of, is, I’ve, there’s been lots of illnesses going around.” ALSO said “When they [nurseries] were closed down, people realised how vital they were not just for the communities they serve, but for the individual families and children in their care.”?? LOL, answer is NO. In addition to photoshopping her face they also rewrite what she actually says. The latter is probably what her team wrote for her and gave to the tabloids as if she said it. Pretty soon she won’t have to show up anywhere at all, the tabloids will create AI pic’s of her and publish nonsense she doesn’t actually say then claim everybody loved seeing her.

    • Sunday says:

      100%, her team gives the tabloids a pull quote or two to use in their articles. To be fair (which she doesn’t deserve), it’s fairly normal procedure and it’s probably what her team has also prepared and given her to say. The problem is that the chasm between what’s written and what actually comes out of her mouth is as wide as the Grand Canyon. The version of the Princess of Wails that the tabs write about simply doesn’t exist – photoshopped appearance, edited quotes, all of it.

  39. Melissa says:

    I’m a speech pathologist so I listened to this because I was curious if this could even come close to being listed as stuttering disfluencies. Nope. Just random words thrown in at the end of sentences as her wiglet brain struggles to come up with small talk. No single sound/syllable/phrase repetition, no blocks, no cohabitating factors like clenching her hands when she’s stuck in a loop, not even any interjections. Disgraceful.

    And if she did have stuttering disfluencies I’m sure it would have been milked to every last drop for excuses and sympathy.

  40. Slippers4life says:

    She has no expertise in this field and what’s worse is, she just shows up, talks about liking little kids and then effs off. Show up with funding then for early years programs. Meet with actual experts and see what they need to take the next step and use your privilege to help them get there. JFC she COULD do so much good with this faux keenery, but she doesn’t. She could create or support a charity or a patronage to secure funds, space, research grants, etc. Get out if the way!

  41. Tessa says:

    I agree Slippers4life, totally, She should work on establishing a fund so REAL experts can get funding for research projects. Or establish a scholarship for post graduate students who will be REAL experts. Kate is no expert. Researchers and post graduate students would appreciate the support. Kate is just a dabbler making these appearances and does nothing of substance.

  42. Queenie says:

    I was an expat living in Oxford, England. While I was there, my son’s beloved nursery school was forced to close down. It was explained to me that the crown had decreased the amount nursery schools were allotted for subsidy. They couldn’t stay afloat. We move him to an alternate, more expensive school. He was there for a few short weeks when his new school increased fees. Families began dropping out because they couldn’t afford it. Only the affluent remained. That is all to say that Kate’s song and dance boils my blood. It’s all hollow, fake, nonsense for PR. Losing affordable nursery schools takes a huge toll on the ecosystem of a community. And usually it’s women who suffer and pick up the slack for it. Ugh.

  43. Amy Bee says:

    She’s such a lightweight.

  44. QuiteContrary says:

    I can just imagine what the teachers were thinking. “OMG, this woman is a moron. Am I nodding convincingly at her inane blather? Should I lean in more to make it look as if the drivel she’s spouting is coherent? I don’t get paid enough for this crap. I’m here to teach, not to pander to a clueless entitled royal whose outfit cost more than my car.”

  45. Sacschafrom76 says:

    She just walks around with two completely different eyebrows all the time. I love that for her.

  46. Beverley says:

    Just watched the video of her shaking hands as introductions were made.
    What the????? That was quite the word salad!

    Why does Kate sound like she can’t string two sentences together?

  47. Athena says:

    My children are in their early twenties now, but as a working parent I always understood the importance of nursery school and made full use when my children were young. No parent , and certainly no working parent needed the pandemic to understand how important nursery school is.

    She had a bunch of pre rehearsed questions which she should have asked one at a time , but said them all at once, that was odd.

    If Kate would get out of her own head she would be fine. Her children went to nursery school, so she does have a point of reference, experiences from their time in nursery school that she can draw on, that is if she was an active parent.

    • sid says:

      Athena, I don’t think it’s even that she is too in her head. She just doesn’t care about the subject matter, and this is the result of that. The whole Early Years thing was made up to give her something to do in light of the way Meghan hit the ground running early on after marrying Harry. Mrs. Wails had nothing of note on her royal work CV after nearly a decade and it looked bad in comparison. It’s no coincidence that Early Years was announced with a vague article a day before Meghan’s Hubb Kitchen project launch event took place.

      • kelleybelle says:

        Exactly. That’s exactly it. She was doing nothing and they were frightened of Meg. Tominey went so far as to lie about it “being 8 years in the making.” It was complete horseshit. And it’s about kids because she can’t interact well with adults. Earthshot for William is the same: empty vanity project.

    • First comment says:

      You are right @Athena. She does have a point of reference from her children’s nursery but either she doesn’t want to share her thoughts or experience to avoid comparisons to her children’s privileged school system or she’s totally inadequate due to mental issues or something… I don’t want to speculate but her total inability to even talk off the script as well as her eyes and her embargoed events to only one or two RR are rather suspect.

  48. Emily says:

    Are we sure her and Willy aren’t a lovematch? Because he didn’t marry her for her ability to do the “job.”

    • Emily_C says:

      She was the only one who would have him.

    • Suusan says:

      I really do think less of him because of her. She was the best to blend with his genetics. The only women who would deal with him was too headstrong for him. He kept trying to find someone else.

  49. Jaded says:

    Here’s a good speaking point Kate (or her comms people, we know you read CB):

    “Tell me what you need the most for the children — food, books, art supplies — and I’ll provide it for you”.

    Simple right?

  50. Beech says:

    A picture triggering warning, please. This borders on stills from the Smile movie, thank you very much.

  51. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    I truly don’t understand why anyone is interested in what Kate has to say. And I’m not saying that *just* because I don’t like her (which I don’t). But because she clearly has nothing of substance to say, is a TERRIBLE speaker, and has subject matter knowledge of, basically, NOTHING except wiglets, botox, and copying other women’s fashions. Do British people really think that someone miraculously “becomes” an expert and important person because they married into (or was born with) a title? That listening to some random woman tell them preschool is important, will make any difference to anyone? How can they keep a straight face when they meet her (or any of the royals)?

    • First comment says:

      What truly bothers me is the fact that they praise her despite her lack of real achievements or abilities. Nobody dares to criticize her work.

      • Nic919 says:

        They praise her like they praise Kim Jong Un in North Korea. It is insane and it is not something a free and fair media does. I guess the UK is no better than other authoritarian states.

  52. Well Wisher says:

    Kate is given considerable media real estate, her incoherent greeting and remarks are dutifully shared with all.

    Is this an attempt to give her all the attention she craves??
    Or
    Will she fill the vacancy created after the Sussexes left?

    This can be an attempt to rewrite the fictional narrative of the monarchy.

    It will become apparent with time.

    The monarch and heir is untouchable, Camilla has provided much needed “leaks” to be protected.
    There’s the opening……..

  53. Curmudgeon says:

    Maybe she should try talking therapy.

    • SarahCS says:

      Given her apparent inability to string a coherent sentence together I doubt she’d get far. Maybe that’s why she’s not a fan. Talking is HARD.

  54. thaisajs says:

    In the US, we consider nursery schools so important we created a whole social program, Head Start, to help ensure that low-income kids have access to quality preschool programming and education. That was launched in 1965.

    This is so embarrassing for Kate and her team.

    • candy says:

      To be fair, these programs are very underfunded, including Head Start. And early years support is totally missing for working moms, especially single moms. Don’t let Kate misrepresent this, it IS a legitimate issue.

    • EBS says:

      We had a good programme called Sure Start, launched in 1998 by the Labour government. It worked well. Of course, first the coalition and then the Conservative governments have gutted it, closing thousands of Sure Start centres. Hopefully Starmer will bring them back if Labour gets in next time.

  55. sparrow says:

    Kate’s team has obviously searched very carefully for her supposed “passion project”. The more she says, the more I can see she has the potential to be an absolute disaster in less forgiving environments. Don’t let her near homelessness or drug abuse etc. She is so limited in what she comes out with, it’d be easy for her to offend with greater ramifications outside her “early years” rubbish. She gets off so lightly. If I were involved in education, I’d be livid that she is considered an expert. She insults my intelligence as a human being.

  56. Saucy&Sassy says:

    Am I the only one who wonders what she says during a state reception or dinner? I would really like to know what people say after talking with her.

    • Mrs.Krabapple says:

      “How are you enjoying the city?”
      “How interesting.”
      “Have you visited [. . . ]?”
      “How interesting.”
      “How are you finding our weather?”
      “How interesting.”
      “Are you familiar with [. . . ]?”
      “How interesting.”
      And so on. That’s my guess anyway.

    • Unblinkered says:

      Agree Saucy & Sassy, I’ve often thought the same thing. It must be painful for those seated next to her.
      On all occasions (formal dinners and daytime engagements) she looks uptight and frightened, she’s a classic case of be careful what you wish for….. Wonder if she now realises that driving out Meghan & Harry was the worst thing she could possibly have done.

  57. Sue E Generis says:

    Um, I mean, her ‘work’ is vital. Before this visit, no parent in the history of the world realized the necessity of nursery school. Complete surprise. I bet because of this visit there will be an upswell in nursery school enrollments. /s

  58. M says:

    SHE IS FORTY-F*CKING-ONE!! My niece could do better than this, and she’s 12! All Meg had to do was show up and speak in coherent sentences to be better than this cow, but Kate’s gonna moan and groan about being “overshadowed”? It’s not hard to do.

  59. j.ferber says:

    So that’s her big revelation, her big insight: “Nursery school is important”? Just wow. Hell, Charlotte could have told her that. She probably DID tell Kate that. Charlotte also probably made up the 5 questions. That is one smart little girl and one lazy as hell, pathetic mother.

  60. Steph says:

    Wow. Wow. I translated what she said last night. Know I know even quoted statements from the BM are straight up lies.

  61. candy says:

    I really get the impression that Kate was raised in a bubble. A perfect upper-middle-class English countryside bubble.

  62. tamsin says:

    She’s been telling everyone for four years now that early years is important. She never gets out of the starting gate. To ensure that every child in an entire country has a good start in the early years requires political will and funding. Unless she is capable of working with funding agents, namely the government, she will be saying early years is important when she is eighty and a grandmother herself.

  63. Alexis says:

    If this is all Kate is capable of, why do they keep letting her make a fool of herself. Stringing a few words together to say what has been repeated for many decades, by many people, is not showing intelligence. Everyone has talents, where are hers apart from spending money, shopping, cosplaying other women and her relentless determination to be the dominant person in every photo. She has an Art History university degree which did not give her much knowledge about Art, photography which has been said to be very average, is a walking clothes hanger with very little style and has spent 20 years around the BRF, yet she seems to have learnt absolutely nothing about public speaking or public relations. She may be manipulative, but perhaps she is also well below average in intelligence and this is the problem.

    • Anna says:

      She doesn’t need talents, it would be perfectly ok she was just good at sth, like put it some effort and achieve a ok result. But it will never happen because she looks at it only from PR perspective and is not interested in a full effort-result-publicity path. She wants her pretty pictures in daily mail and that’s it.

  64. Pam says:

    As my old coworker used to say, “Oh my freakin GOD…” There’s been lots of illnesses going around? Oh, sure…it’s called COVID and all its bastard variants, and people have been DYING. I swear, some people should not be allowed to speak in public…

  65. Vexxy says:

    Kate and William are going to be the end of the monarchy. I’m calling it.

    The average Briton doesn’t necessarily understand Kate and Will’s ineptitude and their lackluster initiative. They might not feel strongly pro Will and Kate, but also aren’t strongly against them either.

    But the second they actually become King and Queen? It’s going down. It won’t be right away, but it will happen. Could you IMAGINE the Queen speaking to someone like that? If this is the best Kate can manage after ten YEARS on the job, it’s never going to improve.

    Personally, I’m hoping my country becomes a republic well before that happens. I don’t want Charles’ face on my money, much less William’s.

  66. Serena says:

    This deserves the biggest and loudest ‘you don’t say’ ever.

  67. Monlette says:

    That dress looks like Velma’s outfit from Scooby Doo hooked up with Olive Oyl’s from Popeye and had a child out of wedlock.