Prince William is part of a “new royal power duo,” you guys. That’s what the Daily Express called his outing with his aunt today at the Royal Cornwall Show. The Royal Cornwall Show is probably the American equivalent of a 4-H fair – there are livestock shows, baking competitions, agricultural showcases, etc. Good ol’ family fun! Except Mother Nature herself, the Princess of Wales, couldn’t be bothered to turn up with her husband. Which is why the Duchess of Edinburgh stepped in to accompany William today. New royal power duo!
Technically, William and Sophie both have positions related to the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association, the association which organizes the show. William is patron of RCAA, while Sophie is RCAA’s vice-president. Still, I find it strange that Kate just… didn’t bother. Didn’t care enough about farms or nature or being outside when it came to an agricultural show. Honestly though, it’s good that Kate didn’t bother. William actually enjoys himself when he’s with Sophie.
I’m including photos of William and Sophie sampling locally-made gins and spirits – any event where William gets to booze it up is a good one for William. The face he made after a shot of gin was especially funny. It’s like someone gave him local moonshine or something.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Why does he seem happy and relaxed with his aunt and not so much with his wife?
He looks like he’s actually having fun.
They look like husband and wife here. The warm body language and The Other Brother’s haggard, older than his years face, makes them look like contemporaries.
I thought the same thing! If you told me these two were married I would not bat an eye.
And its not because they’re all over each other or anything – they just seem comfortable together, and yes, William and Sophie look about the same age.
It just further highlights what a mess it is when he and Kate do engagements together.
You know it’s Sophie’s aim : starting rumors.
Was thinking the same thing myself. It’s not so much that Sophie looks young, she looks normal – Prince Egghead looks years older than he actually is.
It’s WILD that people think Kate has any power. Harry was powerless in so many ways against the institution- but Kate can just say no? What?
The same Kate who disappeared for months, returned with a highly questionable scar, who had a Spanish paper report she was in a coma and not retract it when threatened with legal action?
The same Kate who was publicly blamed for the proof of life Frankenphoto?
The same Kate who was shuttered off to the “separation cottage”, the one who’s family’s financial ruin was in no way protected by the palace when her husband is heir to the throne, the one who people say her beauty, styling and clothing budget has been slashed? The one who has no control over any aspect of her life, not even a voice in where her kids go to school, and as such is controlling her body to the extent that she is disappearing before our eyes?
The same Kate who pulls stunts whenever out and about in front of photographers because she needs media coverage to keep her from potentially disappearing forever?
The Kate who has worn high necked and long sleeved dresses on very hot summer days amid extensive media reporting about violent throwing things fights with William? Amid non stop media coverage of Williams non stop hair trigger all consuming incandescent rage and fury?
The same Kate who had to accept and roll with William’s supposed mistress being rolled out to the media and given immense amounts of positive publicity? Had to endure all of the aristos thinking she’s less than because of who she was born to, deal with them all knowing about and covering up Williams affairs and taking their barbs and insults with absolutely no respect or support from William?
Kate is not a good person. Between her mother and then her boyfriend/ husband’s treatment of her, she didn’t stand much of a chance to even become herself, form any interests or opinions. And now she’s completely powerless, stuck in an institution that by default destroys the women, under the thumb of a man whose sole defining trait is his anger, temper and physical bouts of rage.
So. Kate is allll of these things. But she’s the one who says haha no. I’m gonna stay out of the public eye. The only thing that can keep me safe being the medium level love and acceptance of the people of the UK. They can’t love her too much. Or she gets the Diana. Goldilocks love.
Which is it?
You’ve said what I’ve wanted to say about Kate for a long, long time. Kate does what she’s told, period, and ALWAYS has. Her mother groomed her to marry William. The Royal Family picked her for William because she was a powerless and empty vessel they could completely control.
Do I think Kate is a mean girl? Absolutely. Do I think she’s allowed to decide whether or not she attends public events? No, I do not.
I don’t think Kate makes many—if any—of her own decisions.
@Friendly Crowi, I would agree with you IF we didn’t see Kate doing all sorts of shenanigans when Meghan was living and working in UK. Whenever there was some event about Meghan, Kate would pop out somewhere smiling like a cheshire cat with photographers. I still remember she was posing at some train station like a weirdo at the same day of Meghan’s first public event with Harry. She has more freedom than you are assuming, since we also saw her getting to some flower event before Charles, the literal King, with a bus full of children to steal the “headlines”.
What I’ll say is that as the heir’s wife, she had license and agency to make another woman’s experience miserable. And she did. And lol, thank u for the Great Chelsea Flower Showdown reference. Although has she been to that flower show since? I can believe she was shut down on that…after it happened the first time. To some extent, Kate has been put in her place moreso recently.
Kate definitely has some power. The very fact that she got to move to Windsor at all, rather than being left in KP like Diana was, tells us that. She didnt’ get what she wanted there, but she got “something.” The Flower Show stunt shows us she has some power. the stupid announcement last year before Trooping shows us she has power.
Now I think the bigger question is – power in what context? Power in her relationship with William? Power within the family? Two years ago I would have said she had no power in her relationship with William and more power in the overall royal family itself but now I think those two things have switched. I don’t think she has any power within the Firm and shows up when she’s told and stays home when she’s told. But I think the power dynamics between her and William have shifted – maybe bc she thinks he wont’ leave a wife with cancer, I don’t know. But no way did william participate in that stupid cancer-free video willingly.
but I also don’t think everything is about power- here, Kate did not want to attend this event, too much like work. William did not want her to attend the event, because he doesnt want to be around her. So it worked out for both of them with no power struggle involved.
Finally though – Kate can leave him if she wants. She does always have that ultimate power. But she won’t and he knows it.
I think Charles has exercised some power, hence no family order and no tiara state dinners. Kate has no power against him.
And even if she has some leverage against William now, it’s not much and it is gone once he is monarch because he is untouchable then.
All this to say she chose to make life awful for Meghan because she is an awful person. She still can get a divorce but chooses to play the game even if she doesn’t set all the rules. That’s on her.
Her kids will likely be most affected by this game of pretending their parents are not in a toxic marriage. But that won’t come out for a while.
I don’t think Can’t had a choice to go to this event. I believe Peg wants to do as little as possible with her. I think he enjoys Sophie and was more than willing to have her there to do the event with. The gin sampling was the icing on this event cake for him. Day drinking and doing an event all wrapped up into one lol.
I think he likes Sophie because she shows in him deference. William’s going to King someday and she’ll be reliant on him for funding.
Total conspiracy theory here but I’ve always believed that it was really William’s motorcade that hit that woman, and Sofiesta took the blame. So this is part of the quid pro quo or just his appreciation for her taking the blame. Non conspiracy theory? I agree with Amy Bee and that she just sucks up to him and strokes his massive ego, and he drinks it up.
@SussexWatcher
Not a conspiracy theory, but a judgment based on what was visible to the naked eye.
No one said William caused it right after the accident. It came up when he started promoting Sophie a lot, when she accompanied him to an event and was sent to other high profile meetings. This has never happened before. Lessons learned.
Yes, when Edward dies (and he doesn’t look well), his dukedom will go back to the crown, as his son cannot inherit it. Sophie has always been desperate to get titles for her kids, so I’m sure she’s kissing up to William for when he becomes king. She probably also wants William to officially declare her kids “HRH” since the last written statement from a monarch (Elizabeth) said they are NOT. She needs William to overrule that (well, Charles also could overrule Elizabeth’s written statement, but he won’t).
@SysanCollins
He definitely didn’t want Kate there.
He likes Sophie because she flatters him (like Middleton once did) and sucks up to him, and William loves flatterers.
In this family, everyone is dependent on the king’s favor or disfavor, and Sophie and Edward occupy a huge estate with a grand palace, which costs a fortune to maintain, and they don’t stink of pennie, can’t earn money, have no assets. They live on alms.
I don’t even know if Sophie didn’t take the blame for hitting that old woman on the crosswalk, because after William immediately started honoring her, there was a suspicion that William’s car hit the old lady.
Sophie’s outfit looks really mismatched to me. Is that bag meant to pull it together? Because, no.
The face William is making with the sample cup is the face I am making at Sophie’s outfit.
Agreed. Everything about this unfortunate ensemble shouts frump.
The jacket and skirt doesn’t work at all, boots are OK, bag, doesn’t work either. But for once I like slumlord Bill’s jacket.
Sophie’s outfit was so bad that I almost didn’t notice how awful his jacket was.
To me, it looks very county/agricultural fair.
S’s outfit is giving me “Miss Marple Goes to the Fair” vibes. Hopefully W doesn’t end up as the corpse in this episode.
Yeah, I’m not super minding it. But that’s because I’m always just casting them in murder mysteries at this point. It’s like caricature from Hot Fuzz or yes ta throwback to Miss Marple.
I actually think she looks ok. She’s appropriately dressed in a way that wouldn’t threaten either Camilla or Kate. I actually prefer this just-pulled-it-together look to the non-fashion match-y pageant clothes that we often see from the others.
I’m not saying that she’s fashion forward, but that she looks fine for a day in the country at an event where she’s deferring to her much more powerful nephew.
Auntie in the Country taking in the Fair.
OMG, all she needs is the little Miss Marple hat! And her knitting needles sticking out of the top of the hobo! 😆
@BeanieBean — I was imagining a little dog peeping his head over the edge of her bag. Lol. There’s room for knitting too!
It also seems weirdly autumnal? Suede skirt, heavy blazer, boots. I know British weather is notoriously unpredictable, but there are also people in the crowd wearing shorts! Which of them is properly dressed for the conditions there?
That was my thought, too — it’s out of season.
It amuses me how everyone thinks their weather conditions are the only ones. Here in Belgium today we have had torrential rain, wind, warm sunshine and wildly fluctuating temperatures. Sophie is wisely hedging her bets.
Her clothes here may not be stylish but are appropriate for the occasion and undoubtedly very similar to the clothing of the various committee members/worthy ladies she will be meeting.
Let’s be grateful William (showed up, ahem) was accompanied by an articulate, appropriately dressed woman who knew her audience and how to behave/chat with them
You can still dress appropriately for the weather (layers!) but still be seasonally appropriate as well. This was a getting dressed in the dark moment, or she hasn’t switched her closet around yet.
I actually laughed out loud when I saw that suede skirt! It reminded me of something my mom wore in 1975! Maybe it’s a hand-me-down from her mom!
Also, WTF is going on with Willnot’s pants? Jeez!
I think a pair of smart trousers would have worked well here instead of the dated suede skirt but her outfit is overall appropriate.
The outfit though is horrendous. 3 mismatched browns, but worst of all she’s putting cool and warm colours in similar tones together and it’s jarring. I can wear 2 shades of green from the same /similar family but she’s changing colour temp and it’s plain ugly. There’s a reason Meghan’s different beiges work because they’re colours that are related to each other. Sophie could look appropriately country squire in far more interesting way. Her wardrobe is massive! She has untold designer outfits and gets many of her handbags made.
Keen would be making faces and flirting with William if she had been there
She would guzzle the entire gin supply and embarrass herself in the process. No wonder she was benched from this.
He does look more relaxed and not like he’s grimacing when smiling with her. So, I get why Sophie came as she is a patron to some organizations there. And he’s the Duke of Cornwall so he should be there. Is no one in their media going to question why the Duchess of Cornwall who doesn’t have another scheduled engagement isn’t? Or why she hasn’t done anything other than a ” meeting” about Early Years in weeks?
At what point do they have to stop whistling past the graveyard and admit that she needs to work more and whatever reason she isn’t has nothing to do with her health struggles. At this rate she’ll be sub 50 engagements at the end of the year. How can you even pretend to justify the cost of their housing and security?
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the things William changes when he’s in the throne turns out to be ending the annual engagement count in the court circular.
The count isn’t done in an official way. There are just a few individuals who decide to look up the court circular.
If he tries to remove the court circular I think it will be a problem.
The press can’t point it out because it’s William’s or Charles’s decision. Or because this is part of a set up to – we are amazing friends and co parents and love each other deeply, but due to Kate’s health she can’t keep the schedule required of a PoW or a future queen. She’s tried so hard but blah blah blah. She’s going to go live on a farm where she has room to run and birds and squirrels to chase. So it is our deepest sorrow to announce that Kate has requested a divorce so William can marry a partner who’s health enables them to be the partner a future king needs.
I can totally see this happening to Kate if Charles lives long enough for Louis to get into long pants.
“ She’s going to go live on a farm where she has room to run and birds and squirrels to chase.”
AAAAHAHAHAhahahahaha!!!
Oh, no, not the farm! Not the one with the rainbow bridge! 😱
She managed to make William look the better dressed, which is a very difficult thing. So I’m assuming everything was a purposeful choice so she wouldn’t pull focus and anger him (also, it’s June. Isn’t she too warm?).
How will they pretend to justify it? But she had cancer! She’s recovering! She has kids! How dare you!
William looks good on this suit compared to what he usually wear with Kate during this kind of even. (Or may be he looks good because he is feeling comfortable without kate).
But Sophie needs a stylist. none of her outfits or accessories matched. Overall they look bad together, like nauseating. With all the money from taxpayers, is this what she buys???
I mean they can just show up and do what they have to do without worrying about whether they look so in love or not. They come across as co-workers who don’t mind each other’s presence and get along fine.
But I think S is very mindful of presenting a positive public image. It’s an act but professionally appropriate.
I’m not at all impressed by the way she dresses, perhaps she is colour blind, but she does seem to be one of the better representatives of the crown. And at least she does things, unlike some others.
Well, yeah of course she is. That’s part of what they all do. But they can just try and look positive in the job as opposed to having to worry about whether they look close as a couple or not. And while I think they come across relaxed together, and prob do get on fine, I don’t think there really even friends. He’s only done two events with Sophie right? And he probably hasn’t seen her since whatever public event the whole family attended.
This is part of the bar being in hell, for these people. Actively not despising each other, as William and Sophie are bravely demonstrating here, really does come across so much better than when he and Kate are sent out to “charm” the masses.
Sophie needs a stylist. Kate loves nature so much she didn’t even bother to go to the Chelsea Flower show so it’s not surprising that she’s not in Cornwall.
Well it’s nice they both dressed like farmers .
“She could be a farmer in those clothes!”
You can hit some balls in those clothes.
Lol, love a quote from Clueless.
Nice!
Hard to believe William is in his early 40s. Looks soooo aged!!
His beard is ageing him.
Frankly Sophie needs a stylist. She spends a lot of money on clothes, often very expensive non British brands, and yet she never looks well put together. I have a very similar shape to her, and am a similar age and I know the styles she wears would not suit me.
But she just loves being so near Willi, the holder of purse strings very soon! She and Edward must be worried they might be cut out after Charles.
But I also often wonder where is Edward? He looks old and ill and is rarely covered by the press, yet Sophie seems to be working harder than ever. (Working is a word I always use loosely when associated with the royals).
If Edward is ill, then, sadly, all the more reason for her to ingratiate herself with William as being an incredibly hard worker for the Firm. She’s working for the security of her family and her future.
Doesn’t Edward have long COVID? Also, she’s a VP of this agricultural society, while I’m not sure Edward has any connection to it.
Sophie indeed looks frumpy and mismatched, but that’s been the way she’s styled for years, and I think it’s intentional because if her clothes were well fit and nonfrumpy, everyone would know Edward’s wife is prettier than Charles’s, and we (Charles and Camilla) can’t have that level of absolute disrespect.
Oh dang!
A younger prettier blonde married to a “worthless” younger brother. She can’t detract from Camilla. That’s so spot on.
I wonder if she will go more maternal Diana when William is king?
Even on her worst day Sophie looks better than Camilla at her best.
Based on what Harry and Meghan said to Oprah, I think you’re probably on the money here.
Wow, there’s absolutely no visible tension in any of those photographs. William looks (dare I say it) happy and relaxed. There’s not one shot of William grimacing (apart from the obvious one with the very strong gin 😆 ) at Sophie and Sophie manages to look at William, the cameras and the crowds without gawking.
I know fellow posters are criticising what Sophie’s wearing but, in her defence this wasn’t/isn’t a dress up in a very expensive designer outfit sort of event. Could she have matched it all better? Probably. But, IMHO her casual approach probably changed the atmosphere from the usual “look at me” event to a “let’s enjoy ourselves while we’re here” vibe. And do you know what? I believe it worked.
This is like the only time they’ve made up some stupid slogan “New power duo” that its actually kind of true. And its with his…aunt not his wife.
Well whatever, you know Sophie just loves this.
I have never once seen him look at Kate that way, not once. Not even on his wedding day.
I like her outfit even though I would have brought a different purse. She is dressed appropriately and comfortably. At least she isn’t wearing a redundant blue bespoke coatdress, a bespoke hat, and 5 inch spiked heals that cost the tax payers a small fortune. He looks like a different person without keener. Less anxious, angry and anal retentive.
Change out that skirt for jeans & it would have been OK, albeit still autumnal. I actually like the bag, just not with this concoction.
Wearing all that suede at an ag show, I dunno. It’s like she’s wearing last year’s blue ribbon steer or something. Ick.
I lol’d at him making a face after downing a shot of the local gin … as if he’s unfamiliar with the taste of gin.
He probably has it for breakfast.
lol I feel this is him trying to pretend he’s not a drinker.
Love Wilbur’s top pic. He looks demented.
Nothing says almost-summer like a tan suede skirt, worn-out brown boots, dark green suede hobo, & olive plaid jacket. Gadzooks! Maybe Katiekins can school her about the seasons and seasonal dressing (or maybe not). 🤷♀️
You mentioned seasonal dressing a few times, where I live it’s not really a thing? No one says you can’t wear brown in spring or you can’t wear bright colours in winter? We just dress for the weather on the day. I wear the same colour palette year round. Winter is a bit cooler so add one layer, that’s it. It’s more about the weight than the colour. Is that an American thing?
🤷♀️ Possibly. Or it’s a me thing. Then again, I spent a good chunk of my formative years reading fashion magazines & they always pressed the seasonal stuff–no doubt in order to get you to buy more or the latest thing. This year’s spring is all about pale yellows & greens! Crisp white & navy blue for summer! That sort of thing.
William and Sophie really look good together and it’s clear they very much enjoy each other’s presence.
His smile reaches his eyes which is why he looks so much better. Normally he horse-teeth’s his way through things, here he’s smiling genuinely and looking relaxed.
Can someone explain why William’s clothes always hang so awkwardly on him? He’s a tall seemingly fit man and a future king, yet he always looks like he’s wearing ill-fitting, mass-produced clothes in the wrong size