Scobie: Princess Kate is ‘infantilized’ to a crazy degree by the British media

Over the weekend, as poorly translated Paris Match excerpts made the rounds and a few of the British papers got authorized snippets of Omid Scobie’s Endgame, there was a concerted effort to make it sound like Scobie was ripping the Princess of Wales to shreds. There’s nothing that the British papers love more than coming to the rescue of a lazy, bewigleted dumbass, which is why there was a sudden rash of headlines about “Meghan’s mouthpiece” calling Kate an infantilized and nervous creature. The Telegraph eventually removed this but archives are forever:

The Princess of Wales is too terrified to do anything more than bland photo opportunities, a new royal book has claimed. In Endgame, Mr Scobie is said to portray the Princess as “a woman terrified to do anything more than grinning photo ops” and claims she had to be coaxed into appearing on Blue Peter in 2019.

The Prince of Wales, 41, is described as a hot-headed “company man” who is increasingly willing to allow the palace to deploy “dirty tricks”. Mr Scobie alleges that Prince William is a power hungry figure who is in “heir mode” and on course to collide with his father, the King.

“It would have been nice to see them come together on certain projects perhaps in the early years, to put on that united front, but they’re all working in silos,” he told the Sunday Times.

Both the Prince and Princess are said to have found the lampooning of Harry and Meghan on South Park “hilarious”.

[From The Telegraph]

The reason the Telegraph removed that is because Scobie posted the relevant Endgame excerpt on his Twitter account (which I’ve included below). All of this is correct – Kate turns 42 years old in January and for the past thirteen years, Kate has been infantilized to a ridiculous degree, to the point where reporters praise her for the most ridiculous things. Also: “uninspiring and frustrating” is Kate’s whole brand.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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82 Responses to “Scobie: Princess Kate is ‘infantilized’ to a crazy degree by the British media”

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  1. Avonan says:

    My question: is Can’t “too scared” to do anything but photo ops because it may elicit Won’t’s anger? Or because she has some kind of social anxiety? Or both? (Or none of the above?)

    • Meli says:

      I love that someone is finally just saying it. Go Omid! Bought my advance copy, some of the media are now putting the obvious into words.

    • Em says:

      She wasn’t brought out right and in school didn’t bother fostering relationships or trying to learn social / people skills, that’s why she resorted to flashing everyone.

    • Amy Bee says:

      I think it means that Kate is afraid of doing anything that would might garner criticism from the press.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Or none of the above because that was a lie the Telegraph made up and Scobie made them delete?

      • BeanieBean says:

        It’s this right here: she’s not too scared–tabloid word–she’s just lazy & uninterested. And just plain…dumb? Maybe she thinks her job is just to get dressed up & have her photo taken, which is pretty pathetic.

    • O says:

      I genuinely think she’s afraid people will see her unretouched face (and body). That’s why she only wants to be in controlled environments with good lighting, her favorite photographer and curated audiences.
      I mean, just scroll up and see her airbrushed to hell and back photo in that black turtleneck and compare it to remembrance day photo.
      They also use video filters.

    • Cee says:

      I’ve always been of the opinion Kate is smart enough to know any wrongdoing from her part will be used as ammo against her by either her husband or inlaws. So she plays is safe because she doesn’t want to be exposed as anything else than perfect.

      Meghan thought she was marrying into a family and instead realised she married into Waystar.
      So, to me, Kate is like Connor and Meghan decided to exit the minute she realised it was a shit show and everyone would come for her in the quest to replace the head.

      • Jais says:

        Too bad she didn’t realize that treating Meghan so coldly would be considered wrongdoing. The bridesmaid crying story that she let hang on Meghan was wrong. And it came back around to reveal itself.

      • Cee says:

        Jais – it’s only considered wrongdoing if you’re a racist POS. The BP, the RF and some % odf the public do not see this as wrongdoing.

    • ales says:

      She is only scared of not becoming Queen and getting the titles that she wants plus losing her limitless credit cards. Her ego is enormous, her intelligence is subpar, her cunning is at elite level. Her capabilities are extremely low level, if she is still learning to do the basics after 20 years there is something very wrong with her. Her obsession and obvious enjoyment with flashing her naked butt whilst doing royal work, has now become lifting her dress to upper thigh level to get out of a car. She is looking after her children alongside multiple nannies and household staff., how is this time consuming , does she sit there when they are at school trying to string a few very basic sentences together to enable her to speak to them ? Children including her own never look comfortable around her. Why is she so protected when it is blatantly obvious she is incapable of doing her job. Infantilized is a polite way of saying she is mentally challenged and that they are praising her for the simplest of tasks to try to stop the adult toddler from having tantrums and exacting revenge on anyone who upsets her. She is not a victim of anyone, she is on her own desperate quest to be queen,

      • Lisa says:

        Excellent comment you have described lazy Kate perfectly. The Fail is going crazy attacking Meghan and screaming Leave Kate Alone. They feel compelled to protect their beloved airhead

    • She sure looks scary, thé jazz hands, the wide grimaces and the excited eyes. Don’t know what she’s afraid of but I find her scary.

    • MoxyLady007 says:

      I think it’s a couple of things.

      1- narcissistic abuse can and does break even the strongest of people. Which Kate was not. But I readily believe that she has a number of mental health issues she struggles with as a result of narc abuse.

      2- she’s mean and cruel and viscous so most people don’t think of her as being an abuse victim. But victims don’t have to be perfect to be victims.

      3- this one I have almost posted so so many times and then backed away from because I lost my ability to post after talking about her “sister wife fashions” as cover for abuse marks.

      But …. If she’s been hit in the head by either objects or say, body parts, or shaken violently- I wonder if she is in fact dealing with a degree of head trauma. You unfortunately do see it more than you would expect.

      • Serenity says:

        @Moxy: I got reamed too (for#3), back when W&K went to the Oscars and Kate wore those gloves. Even got accused of being a noob, though I’ve been posting and reading here since the beginning. 🤭🤷 I agree with your post also.

  2. Ford fiesta says:

    “ lazy, bewigleted dumbass” – it’s 1am in Australia and I was not ready for this! Hahaha

  3. Margaret says:

    I’m loving all this, finally she’s exposed for the failure that it is

  4. Eurydice says:

    Did the BM media do this before Meghan arrived? Because I can imagine in this Kate/good, Meghan/bad narrative, it would be hard to find things to praise about Kate.

    • Andy Dufresne says:

      Pre Meghan, the British press were very critical of Will and Kate. There were articles calling them work shy and lazy. Rumours of Wills affair also started to come out. Meghan just came in a perfect time to turn it around and use her as a scapegoat.

      • SarahCS says:

        It was the press that started calling them the Duke and Duchess of Dolittle. Until Meghan showed up.

      • Eurydice says:

        Yes, that makes sense. The infantilizing is not just from the media, but also from KP. Everything Kate does is announced as the best on the planet. It’s not enough that she took some snaps of the kids for a Christmas card, she has to be Alfred Stieglitz. She plays Chopsticks on the piano and suddenly she’s Rachmaninoff.

      • Jais says:

        Good point @eurydice. It comes from the press but also from her team at KP. So from her even. She’s played into it. Poor Kate still can’t even figure out how to get out of a car without flashing. She’ll keep listening and learning until one day she figures out how to exit a car gracefully.

      • paintybox says:

        @Jais – 😂😂😂 right?!

    • Becks1 says:

      To a certain extent, yes. she could do something simple and easy and the british press would fawn over her endlessly.

      But, there was always some criticism and it was starting to ramp up (you could tell the press was frustrated at her lack of work/public appearances) before Meghan came on the scene. If you look for articles about their India/Bhutan tour, she was pretty much dragged by people like Camilla tominey, which is shocking to think about today.

    • fineskylark says:

      A lot of the coverage about Kate was about how middle class/common she was. The idea of her as “the perfect English rose” definitely only developed in contrast to Meghan as a black American.

    • Amy Bee says:

      @Eurydice: The press attacked William and Kate because they refused to play the game. Hence they were called lazy and work shy. All that stopped when Meghan came and William agreed to play the media game.

    • Eurydice says:

      Thanks, everyone, for the history. I didn’t really become focused until Meghan came on the scene.

    • Belli says:

      Yes, but nowhere near as much. Kate has been praised to the heavens for the most infantile, banal things since she got married. Her being called “thrifty” for wearing an expensive coat twice, for example, predates Meghan. The press were starting to call them out more though just as Meghan came on the scene, such as during their India/Bhutan trip. It was when they had Meghan to hate that the press deified Kate to set up a contrast between the “perfect, dutiful English rose” and the “uppity, opinionated black American actress”. When it comes to public image no one, not even William, has gained as much from the smear campaign against Meghan as Kate.

  5. Jaded says:

    Kate has infantilized herself by her unwillingness to learn, to grow and to carve out a meaningful role for herself. Her only goal was to bag William and from then on to just coast on a rich, elitist wave of shopping, working out and having babies. Photo ops are not work and it’s clear her marriage is in the toilet circling the drain. Her life is nothing but a gilded cage.

    • Chloe says:

      I would actually argue that her never ending learning phase is part of the reason why she’s infantilized. She’s always listening and learning and never actually doing. And me thinks she wouldn’t want to have it any other way because if she did, she would have done more prior to meghan

    • Jaded: exactly 🎯. She does this to herself because she is lazy and she isn’t the sharpest tool in the box. She thinks photo ops of her arriving are enough and she needs not do more. She uses buzz words in her word salad’s thinking this makes her appear smart. And to top it off she is always listening and learning which translates to lazy and stupid in her case.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Does it count as a gilded cage if it is what she wants, never wants to leave, and is of her own choosing? The problems will come when William shoves her out of the cage and takes away the keys.

    • Deering24 says:

      Her dreadful mom never taught her to aspire to anything else but being a show horse, so there’s that, too. If you don’t know better, you never do better.

    • Christine says:

      I noticed in one of the recent articles about one of Sophie’s tours that she was accompanied by her private secretary AND assistant private secretary (or whatever English phrase would be used, under private secretary?), while Cannot has been languishing with nothing for a year.

      It truly cannot possibly be more clear that she is absolutely worthless.

  6. Beverley says:

    Scobie speaks the truth: Kate can’t even introduce herself without consulting her notes. She is a deeply unserious lightweight who doesn’t have an original, creative, or intelligent thought in her head, except to be a mean girl bigot who wants to be Kween. The media has no choice but to prop her up because she completely lacks substance. You’d think they were referring to a teenager, all this flimsy praise. Perhaps we should give her a gold star for tying her laces or maybe a participation trophy.

    I get that the media wants to ingratiate themselves to the future queen, but maybe if she needs this much propping up, she’s not fit to be Queen.

    • Ginger says:

      Agreed. Kate gave a “landmark” speech about a cause she is “passionate” about and she needed notes for the whole speech. She never just speaks from the heart because she doesn’t care. The only thing she cares about is getting to be Queen. Meghan showing up and outperforming Kate from the get go has to piss Kate off, it meant she had to actually do something. Omid wasn’t wrong at all. Kate is handled with kid gloves. Her early years work is laughable. Go Omid!

    • acha says:

      Speaking of the press making or breaking the future queen, I had a weird galaxy brain theory this morning in the shower. Hear me out.

      – A year ago, reporters suddenly started leaking the Pegging story.
      – Not long after that, Party Pieces went under.
      – WHAT IF…Party Pieces stayed afloat for as long as it did because Carole M was holding the Pegging/affair story over William’s head to bribe him?
      – And WHAT IF … immediately after news of it got out, Peg suspected Carole of spilling, and briefed the press about her in return?
      – And in any event, she no longer had sway over William’s money, and her business went belly up?
      – It also kinda coincides with William being able to publicly break from Kate and no longer accompany her on trips…

      What do you guys think?

      • Nic919 says:

        I think the pegging leak came from Camilla’s circle. Her son knows the Norfolk group and the “dogging parties” were mentioned by a local already.

        My theory is that Camilla leaked this to social media where it could be denied , but it also reminded William that Camilla has power.

        That said, William has cut off of his connection with the Middletons, likely during the Covid lockdowns. Maybe it’s because he is moving forward with a separation and doesn’t want to deal with Carole anymore. Whatever it is, he made it a point not to be seen at James Middleton’s wedding when he was visible for Pippa’s wedding a few years earlier.

      • acha says:

        God, privileged people and their belief that nobody will find out about their lives. You have a good point that Camilla likely did that one, but I do wonder if Carole had (and lost) some other way to bribe William into submission…

      • Deering24 says:

        acha–privileged people have barely caught up with social media, much less realized how it’s changed the social game.

      • Athena says:

        William cut off the Middletons before the pandemic . There was a birthday party thrown for Carol at Pippa’s townhouse I think and William did not go. The sorry was that he was home babysitting which made zero sense.

  7. Tessa says:

    The wails were lampooned on south park.

    • Beverley says:

      Yaaasss! Right after exiting the church after their wedding ceremony, Will ripped off Kate’s arm and vigorously pegged himself with it in front of the cheering crowds. It was hilarious and showed that Peg’s proclivities were already an open secret back then.

    • Ginger says:

      How Kate and Will were portrayed on South Park was WAY worse than what they did to Harry and Meghan. WAY worse.

  8. Em says:

    Ofcourse they found south park hilarious, same way they would have found that HBO show “the prince” hilarious except it started getting close to the truth by portraying Kate as an alcoholic airhead and William as a husband who had checked out of the marriage
    Also I hope they found William pegging himself on his wedding night hilarious.

    A bunch of 40 year old, peaked in high school, emotionally immature dullards. The funny thing about the infantilization of Kate is how little shame she has about it, imagine people clapping for you while you badly flip a pancake at 40! every other royal wife can hold their own on the international stage except her, her only solo tour she went down a kiddies slide, isn’t that embarrassing? After almost 20 yrs, bad elocution lessons she still can’t randomly put together coherent thoughts, an art history major that didn’t know they stopped making faberge eggs, who thought a scientist talking about avatar ( animated skins) meant avatar the movie, they literally hired people to paint and tried to pass it off as hers, strumming 2 notes on the keyboard at beginner level and they hype her as if she’s Mozart.

    She’s an absolute embarrassment and I hope she goes home and reflects on how she’s been given this huge platform and done nothing with it, she’s so mediocre No one has literally any expectations of her, including her husband.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      She isn’t even mediocre! She’s totally inept and it is so damn embarrassing. I get second-hand embarrassment just watching her at her scant public engagements. She ought to be absolutely mortified by I think she is too stupid to even realize it.

    • Gabby says:

      @Em, one has to be capable of reflection before they can go home and reflect. So don’t hope too much because that’s not happening.

      If you ask Racist Flashing Mutton McButtons to reflect, she’ll take that as a cue to admire herself in the mirror.

  9. Slush says:

    Not to thread jack, but I am *dying* to hear Kaisers take on the excerpt re: Diana cosplay. It is so freaking twisted, if true, that the Firm encourages/d Meghan and Kate to dress like Diana.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      The Diana cosplay is just so utterly ghoulish.

    • LeaTheFrench says:

      I usually don’t enjoy Scobie’s reporting. I find his style overwrought, and in my opinion he often comes across as rather sycophantic. In this particular excerpt, I think he’s on point.

    • acha says:

      Hoo boy. I just saw that. K8 did it so much more, and militantly, than Meghan ever did. Thank god, Meghan gave the cosplay her own spin. But seriously, they were disgusting to force that issue.

  10. HillaryIsAlwaysRight says:

    Honestly, what is she doing with her hair? Anyone around her telling her it looks good, that’s infantilizing her right there.

  11. Harla A Brazen Hussy says:

    Kate wasn’t too “timid” to prance down the runway in a see-through “dress” or too “timid” to flash her bum on multiple royal tours.

  12. Lau says:

    This description of Kate reminds me of the episode of Parks and Recreation with the politician who’s dead eyed and when he goes into his office he just sits there and don’t do anything except starring at the wall.

    • Kake says:

      @Lau- brilliant description! Kate is Salt Island’s Congressman David Murray :))))
      Princess Keen Bot 3000

      • Lau says:

        @Kake, OMG thank you for the name because I couldn’t find it and I wanted to put the video and couldn’t find it either. That guy has the exact same manic smile on his face as Kate.

  13. Sunday says:

    In that excerpt, Scobie says, “Admittedly, Kate has rarely put a foot wrong down in public,” and I’d argue that the examples he goes on to give aren’t actually public errors, those are more behing the scenes than her *real* public wrongs, like showing up empty handed to refuge centers and baby banks, her photoshoot at Philip’s funeral, seemingly physically menacing Meghan at the walkabout following the Queen’s death, her inappropriate smiling around the Queen’s death in general, the way she just got out of that car in her dumb red outfit last week, etc, etc, etc.

    Those are all very public ‘feet wrong,’ and I really hope that Omid calls out that it’s not just that the press infantilizes her instead of focusing on charity details or KP office admin, it’s also them willfully ignoring all these active, in-full-camera-view wrongs in favor of the “she’s so scared, she’s just a widdle baby” routine. And yes, if “she’s terrified” is clarified to mean “of Will/Charles/the institution” and not in general when she’s stumbling through a 30-second intro of Dr Biden, then I hope that’s expanded on in the book. Because it’s important to point out that when it comes to her actual performance at these events, she’s not scared, she’s unprepared. She’s not socially anxious, she’s bored and resentful for having to waste her time among the peasants, and IMO that’s completely separate from potentially living in fear of her psychotic husband and his relatives. Because otherwise, he’s truly saying that she’s living in such constant fear that she can’t even read one sentence off a cue card, and that seems like way too serious of an allegation (something that would precede proof of physical or psychological ab*se) to be casually insinuated in excerpts like this.

  14. Brassy Rebel says:

    Scobie would not be wrong saying any or all those things about Kate. She infantalizes herself with the stupid “grinning photo ops”. But the press is big mad that Scobie calls them out for letting her get away with it. Maybe that will cause them to raise the bar at least high enough that it’s not in hell anymore.

  15. Amy Bee says:

    Kate is infantilised by both the press and the Palace.

  16. VilleRose says:

    The commenters at What Kate Wore infantilize Kate to such a ridiculous degree, it’s mind numbing. They basically do exactly what Omid accuses the British media of doing. Kate looks at pie charts–“Wow this report on early childhood development is so groundbreaking.” Kate does a ridiculous survey–“Wow the duchess is so impressive for launching this survey.” Kate puts frosting on a cookie–“Wow what manual dexterity!” Kate wears too many pants in a row–“what happened to all the princessy dresses? These outfits aren’t princessy enough!”

    Kate has been involved in a few projects I have found genuinely impressive–the garden for the Chelsea Flower Show, the Hold Still covid19 photo campaign. I know she wasn’t solely responsible for those projects and there were so many people involved in them. But out of 12 years of duchessing, I can only name those two projects? Has there been anything else she’s done that’s worthy of praise? No.

    But Omid! Did you HAVE to include the line of Kate never putting a foot wrong in public? He has GOT to be trolling us with that line. That is a classic infantilizing Kate line. She HAS and he knows it!!!!!! Also I’m convinced Omid lurks on Celebitchy posts for inspiration. Everything in that excerpt is stuff that has been repeated ad nauseum by commenters here. Celebitchy deserves some kind of acknowledgment in that book lol.

  17. Tarte au Citron says:

    Well, that’s killed the “Top CEO” image stone dead!

  18. Lady Esther says:

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, psychologically Kate is a classic Persephone. Half the time she lives in Hades with the Devil himself (William), on her own initiative, as it seems clear Kate really loves the perks and attention of royal life. The other half the time she lives in the “real world” where she is dominated by her overbearing mother Demeter/Carole and acts the timid twirly girly that never grows up and wants only to be “taken care of” (one of her most cringeworthy comments was when she praised the Queen – THE QUEEN – of taking “such good care of her” when she was, what, 35 years old?) Hard to say if she’ll ever change…

  19. Lady Digby says:

    KM is 41, married to a difficult man within a dysfunctional public family that leaks to the press instead of talking to each other. She wants all the upside of the status, wealth and power without the responsibility of work. Two afternoons a week is a hobby not adult committment to a full time job. She is lazy and does the minimum and yet expects to be endlessly rewarded? She is a known quantity and I doubt Chuckles wants them rocking the boat with a divorce so early in his reign. Given how sensitive FK is to scrutiny he will probably have to settle for a quiet separation unless his cunning plan is to divorce her on the grounds of her desire to be a SAHM? IMO she’d be better off with a big divorce settlement, remarried to a hunky former tennis player and well away from all the pressure to pretend to be into a life of public duty which she clearly resents.

  20. vpd4 says:

    I can’t stand Kate.

    • Kat says:

      Neither can I. A very spoilt and pampered woman to whom the word work does not exist.

    • Yami says:

      I used to like her when she wasn’t married yet. The press was so mean about her being an outsider and that Will would never marry her. But I never knew what a piece of work she was. Now I see her true colors and she’s the worst.

  21. QuiteContrary says:

    Kate’s insecurity about her obvious inadequacies explains, but does not excuse, her pathetically small accomplishments. You’d think her feelings of inadequacy would spur her to practice speeches more, work harder, actually learn instead of just claiming to learn. Instead, she just stays lazy.

  22. MsIam says:

    Years before Meghan came on the scene, I would read articles online about Kate and there would be comments call her dull and lacking charisma, especially compared to Diana. Her manner of dress was referred to as “old lady”. She was also called lazy by members of the press. So its so funny for the press to act like Scobie’s comments are so shocking and an attack. Kate didn’t become Princess Perfect in the press until Meghan showed up.

  23. Cat says:

    I remember she supposedly kind of defied Charles to go to the Chelsea Flower Show. Maybe horticulture is her passion. She’d do better concentrating on something she can appear interested and knowledgeable about rather than repeating the same inanities about “the importance of childhood.” (waves hands emphatically)

  24. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    I really can’t stand Kate. But if she’s not good at her “job,” does it matter/is it her fault? Only one person in the royal family has an actual job, and that’s the monarch (Head of State). The British people decided they want THAT job to be inherited. Anything else the family does, or does not do, is outside of the monarch’s job. People probably feel like they need to see the family members doing “work” to feel better about supporting them financially, but that’s not how it works. The monarch gets to pay for his/her family members’ living expenses as he/she sees fit, regardless of what “value” the family member brings or doesn’t bring. That’s how the system is set up.

    And besides, any work Kate does (if she ever found a work ethic) would in no way be commensurate with the insane amount of money that is spent on her expenses. There is no way she, or anyone else in that family, could ever “earn” the lifestyle the are given. Any value from their “work” is a drop in the bucket compared to what they receive, so would any additional drops in the bucket (if Kate was ever inspired to add drops to the bucket) matter anyway? No.

    Kate’s only real job was to produce the next heir. She did that. I’m sorry but that’s the extent of her role in a monarchy.

    • kirk says:

      Thanks Mrs.Krabapple! – “Only one person in the royal family has an actual job, and that’s the monarch (Head of State). The British people decided they want THAT job to be inherited…There is no way she, or anyone else in that family, could ever “earn” the lifestyle the[y] are given.”

      🎯

      • AC says:

        I’m glad people are calling it out(it’s what I’ve been thinking for years)- Ks major role was to only produce an heir. That’s not going to cut it in the 21st century esp with the younger generations. As she sucks at her other job responsibilities.

  25. J.Ferber says:

    Em, I love your comment! Next time I feel scared to do something, I’ll flash people indiscriminately instead. I’ll be just like Kate!!!

  26. J.Ferber says:

    Ales, your entire comment is genius. Thank you.

  27. Saucy&Sassy says:

    Two things that I keep coming back to. I think it was in the Times article that Kaiser linked in another post today.

    1) I mentioned that Harry–and Meghan– would never reconcile with KHate although it sounded like there was still a possibility for reconciliation (in some way) with William and Harry. When I read that, I immediately wondered just what had happened that we don’t know about and it was definitely Khate who did whatever it was. And, they want me to believe that she’s afraid? The only thing she’s afraid of is not having money to spend and people to give her position the respect she assigns it.

    2) That WandK want to take over the US from H&M. Wow! I hope they’re going to the red, Southern states, because I don’t think many in the blue states are going to be getting close to them other than to boo. How are they going to do this when KHate is so afraid?

    If the Monarchy continues to plan all of their moves to counter the Sussexes, they are doomed to failure. Does it not occur to them that they need to forge their own new and improved path? The Firm needs to start hiring people who can think and see beyond the end of their noses.