Here is this week’s Star Magazine. I’ve read the story and let me tell you, it’s total crap. I totally believe that Duchess Kate wants a third child (William might be another story), but she’s not going to get pregnant again right now. Not when she’s in the middle of her maternity leave! She’ll wait until next year, probably. But “Kate is secretly pregnant again” is just another attempt to explain Kate’s seeming “isolation” in the English countryside and Star Magazine even makes a mention of Kate’s “reclusiveness.” Which has gotten to be yet another bad angle for the Cambridges – it’s one thing to say “Kate is on maternity leave” and it’s quite another to say “Kate is a recluse who can only be coaxed out of hiding with the promise of shopping, hair appointments and Mustique vacations.”
So obviously, something had to be done. I’m not sure if Poor Jason finally got through to Kate in particular or if Carole finally realized how bad it was getting, but Kate has finally signed on to do an actual, real charity appearance.
The Duchess to visit the Anna Freud Centre @afcevents on 17 Sept to see their work in children's mental health care. pic.twitter.com/yGys08fFqf
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) September 4, 2015
I like how the KP account included a photo of Kate, like we had forgotten what she looked like because she hasn’t been out in public since Wimbledon. September 17th gives her a week and a half of “vacation” and “recuperation” following her trip (with William and their children, allegedly) to Scotland on the 9th for some kind of dinner with the Queen, to mark the Queen becoming the longest-reigning monarch in British history. But… the Express’s Richard Palmer noted in a tweet: “This has been edited out of my story but as far as I can tell, there is no celebratory Royal Family dinner on September 9.” So the Cambridges are going to Scotland to NOT have dinner with the Queen.” Weird.
And here’s another sign that someone at the Kensington Palace press office (#PoorJason) has finally realized that there’s a problem with the way Reclusive Kate is being written about: People Magazine did another exclusive about Kate’s Amazing Work Schedule, with a “source” coming from the palace.
Fall is blowing in . . . and it’s bringing Princess Kate! The royal mom, 33, is picking up where she left off in the spring, by doing what she can to help vulnerable children.
“Over the next few months the duchess will be concentrating on children’s mental health and promote the early intervention message and help prevent family breakdown,” a palace source tells PEOPLE.
“Between now and Christmas, she will visit a few places around the country in this area,” adds the source. “She is learning and observing and seeing where she can help use her position to make a difference.”
Before she gave birth to Princess Charlotte in May, Kate had made children’s issues a key theme of her public life. She quietly visited a special school, made a PSA on the issue and gained praise for the impact she was having. Kate is expected to have one more public duty in September and then many more from October to Christmas: “She will really get going in October and November,” says the source.
LOL, sure thing, “source.” I’m sure Kate really will “get going” in October, ahead of what will likely be a two-week (or more) vacation to Mustique in November, then she’ll need some time off in December of course, to prepare for the grueling foreign tours she and William will take to some tropical locales. Also: at some point, no one is going to buy that a 33-year-old college graduate needs this amount of time to “learn and observe” how to do a minimal amount of work on mental health issues.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Well they’ve been promising she’ll ‘get going’ for four years now and she still hasn’t pulled it off yet! I’ll only accept this for real when I see it. There’s bound to be some last minute ‘reason’ why she can’t do – an in-growing toenail possibly? Or split hairs anyone? In the meantime – and this is destined to be a long, long meantime – I’m just reading this as yet more PR flim-flam – poor Jason – he must have his fingers permanently crossed behind his back when he’s putting out this crap…
Same song, even the same verse. Lots of promises, work never materializes.
absolutely – and I’ll raise you the ingrowing toenail and call you on ‘falling over Lupo/George/Charlotte/ all three and unexpectedly spraining an ankle which will take weeks to recover….
Different verse , Same as the first… Lol
It’s been like Groundhog Day for the last five years with these press releases.
I knew there was some reason I felt like Bill Murray!
Isn’t this like when after her first year of marriage , the press told us, she was going HIT THE Ground Running.
ROTFL
What is Kate’s problem? I’ll bet if her mummie Carole told her she’d go out on Royal duties with her, she’d be out working. LOL
They left off the last part of the sentence. It originally read “hit the ground running away from doing anything but the bare minimum required of her position”.
Lol
Come on! Don’t you believe #poorJason? The Fug Girls are all excited for the increase in her appearances. Aren’t you?!?
I don’t even read PEOPLE Mag anymore, just can’t with that magazine, it’s total kiss ass , PR people’s sugary mouth pieces (for celebs) and continuation of them calling her P……. Kate. It just looks silly at this point.
In fairness I’m really impressed that Kate has decided to highlight the importance of mental health and wellbeing in children. Mental health in the UK is really underfunded – at crisis point really – and surveys repeatedly show our children are among the unhappiest in Europe, there’s worrying statistics about eating disorders, self harm, etc among children. I do believe early intervention is key and getting children the proper help and support early on will reduce the severity of mental health problems later on as adults. It’s an area that really desperately needs a lot more attention and focus and it’s such a good thing to have the Duchess highlighting this vital important issue. She already made a video about it a few months back. With her having two young children, I’m sure this is a cause close to her heart.
Don’t forget guys she is still on maternity leave. If she doesn’t do much when the children are older then fair enough, criticise away. But I think we can slack her some slack now, she had two under two and they’re both still so little. Princess Charlotte is still only a tiny baby.
Being dragged nigh on kicking and screaming to a single engagement isn’t what I’d call highlighting a cause close to one’s heart; it’s more like damning with the faintest and most half-hearted of praise.
Tiny babies don’t cause mothers to undergo some kind of Stepfordisation process, you know.
BOOM!!!
“Stepfordisation process”…………I love that! Unfortunately, it happened to Kate even before she married that loser.
It’s a pity she’s ineffectual in her efforts since this cause was one of her announced causes from day 1 and she attends an event on the subject once a year.
The PSA in the spring was her bringing more to the table. Sadly this visit is more of the same with no attendant upswing in awareness or funding.
*snigger* ‘closer to her heart’ *snigger* that’s a stock phrase used repeatedly in WK’s PR statements and PSAs. Another one is ‘Keen’/’very keen’
Ditto re Action on Addiction, which she’s a patron of and, as far as I can recall, has done a grand total of two public appearances for them – a visit to a treatment centre in 2013 and then a gala fundraiser the following year. Such commitment.
Agree Guesto. And if I recall correctly wasn’t it them who had a fundraiser she didn’t attend, yet made time to go to the sailing that didn’t happen? I should go check my timeframes, but I’m pretty sure that it was around the same time she said OK to the sailing thing.
No one is begrudging Kate time with her kids, but when we do see her away from the kids, the choices she makes are very telling. If Kate can spend 6 hours at Wimbledon or leave 6 month old George for a trip to the Maldives, she definitely do at least something related to her charities at least once every two weeks (how low the bar has now been set). The Queen even leased them a helicopter to allow them to travel to work from Norfolk.
If children’s mental health is a cause close to her heart, then the key to raising awareness and funding is consistency. Kate can’t just pop up every 3-4 months because that kills the momentum. Perhaps she should have done something for this cause instead of playing with an Oculus Rift with Ben Ainslie while wearing a 10,000 euro zip up. After this September visit, hopefully this issue doesn’t return to the back burner for months.
I’m sorry to admit this, but I don’t believe any of her charitable causes are genuinely “close to her heart.” I think Katy Cambridge wanted to be famous. And that’s it. It shows. And even the royal PR machine can’t spin it.
They have about 3 dozen staff, between office and home, including nanny and night nanny. This is so their time is freed up to do royal engagements. The video was in early February, almost 7 months ago. Keep up the breakneck support of the issue, Kate. Before she does a dozen things for this charity, the children currently being helped by this charity will have children of their own.
She hasn’t earned a year of maternity leave, no where near it. The scuba certification *may* have taken place this year, which means another secret trip to Mustique about 6-8 weeks after the baby was born. As others said, plenty of time for the fun stuff but can’t make time for 1 hour of charity work a week?
No one in their right mind would be impressed with Kate’s work ethic, The only ambition she seems to ever have had was to chase and get Wiliam in marriage.
The UK press should get some balls and skewer both her and William, but they are too busy using Beatrice as a distraction and as a press whipping post.
Can’t stand the Cambridges anymore, just had it with these two.
Today Richard Palmer was wondering why William didn’t go to the Breamor Games with The Queen. He also said William could not be talked into wearing a kilt. He wouldn’t do it.
Uh, other mothers have to clean the house, go grocery shopping, take the kids to doctor’s appointments etc. She does none of that. She has enough time with the kids AND nannies on top of everything. So all that time other mum spend running errands she could use for an engagement here or there. Once a week? Too much to ask? I think not.
When I see a Kate comment start with In fairness, I know it’s going to be just more excuses made for her. Lol
I say “in fairness” or “to be fair” all the time, and I don’t think it’s just to make excuses. It’s actually to acknowledge that there might be another point of view.
Haven’t been a mother myself, but my observation of most is that, a month or two after the baby arrives, they are dying to get out of the house for a couple hours a day for some adult interaction.
She’s got nannies and staff. She has no excuse.
You’re spot-on! I agreed to do a work-type function about halfway through my last maternity leave mostly because it meant I could wear heels, wear something other than sweatpants, and talk to other adults. It was on a dull topic held in an even duller conference room, but boy, did I feel like I was in an elegant soiree!
I don’t begrudge her time with her kids, but Kate could spend an afternoon or two a week doing charity stuff, you know?
I agree!
No, she gets no slack from me. She is just so lazy. I have come to understand that she does not care. She could be doing so much yet does so little. Personally, I would not want her helping with my charity. She is not a role model that I would want around young, impressionable girls. Just look at the European women and all of their charity work. They are always doing something to help out and give back. #Poor Jason. Nice try!
The Freud center is going to spend a lot of time and money on this event for her, she’ll be there for 45 minutes-then won’t visit again for years. How beneficial is that?
Yeah she’s on maternity leave…but she has full time help, and she only “works” for one hour. GIVE-ME-A-BREAK.
I love how it’s called “work” when it’s in reality just standing around. Their press office acts like she’s going to be putting a new roof on the place with her bare hands.
“Don’t forget guys she is still on maternity leave.”
Trust me, no one has forgotten LOL
This has nothing to do with her children. She prioritizes time away from them for days if not just a day, but it’s never to work. And a work engagement would be minimal in comparison.
To use the reasoning that she is a mother and wants to get in the most time with her children as possible falls flat. She can work an hour or 2 a week and still be with her children.
It’s amazing to me to defend her actions we have to regress the idea of womanhoood and motherhood to being fragile flowers unable to multitask.
With or without children she has established she does not want to work, but can make time at a moments notice to vacation for atleast a week. This is a pattern behavior proven before she had kids. It’s just not about the children, but they are a very available line of justification to excuse her lack of work ethic.
Bluebell, you really got piled on for that one! I do agree with you about mental health though. I’m glad she’s got a patronage that deals with it; it still can be a stigma today.
But I don’t think these appearances really do much other than give her some publicity. She doesn’t need to go and observe. I wish she’d spearhead some sort of campaign, one where she’s actually involved, at one of her patronages. I can come up with something she could do without even taking five minutes. Jumping off from the DM piece about how she’s been drawing all summer and they’re so good she should exhibit them, she could curate that exhibition of sketches of her children for the National Portrait Gallery, charge admission, and split it between the gallery and one of her patronages. She wouldn’t have to interact with any people other than those she already knows. Other than the opening, which she and WIlliam should attend. Two birds with one stone. Done!
excellent comment. While I also agree with the original comment about mental health I don’t think Kate is the right fit for this cause. Nothing she’s said thus far on this important issue has been meaningful, profound or insightful and nothing she’s done has taken much effort or shown genuine interest.
Bluhare – I was a piler-onner here and I don’t usually moan at others for a point of view. I’m more fond of just spouting off with my own. I *would* feel bad usually for being a rotten egg. But um… well. Bluebell’s comment just sounds as though it’s a direct cut’n’paste from a PR release. “Jason told me to go round the forums and say this”. Sorry, Bluebell, but it does!
Anyone living in the UK with any ounce of interest knows that child mental health services are in crisis. If Kate cares so much, where was she this year when a POLICE CHIEF had to take to Twitter to try to find a safeguarding place for a mentally ill adolescent stuck in a police cell for an entire weekend? Where was Kate when a young adolescent boy with schizophrenia was allowed to commit suicide in a unit hundreds of miles from his home and where his parents could not visit him? Where was Kate during the dozens upon dozens of campaigns organised to highlight other equally awful instances or the general state of provision over the last five years?
Nowhere. That’s where.
Honestly. This is a highly sensitive issue in the UK at the moment. And while I pity Poor Jason, he’d better not use it to wallpaper over his client’s public service deficiencies and expect me to shrug it off. Cos he can fork the fork right off.
End rant. Sorry!
But geez Bluhare. That would involve her having to tell someone to call other people to set up such an event. That’s much too much thinking to put on her.
Also, that might involve public scrutiny of her and her art. She might get a nervous breakdown and become another Diana. And then that would lead to a fatal car crash with a drunken driver at the wheel.
Don’t you care about her AT ALL? Smdh….
😛
Sixer
You’re coming off less ranting and more well spoken imo.
While I wonder if Kate can insert a statement prepared or otherwise in fresh cases you would think she could still make a general statement. Something to keep the publics collective mind and thoughts with this issue. And from there maybe organizing a charity auction or gala. Just to make another PSA during these times might have shown it is a topic dear to her heart.
And filming a PSA would keep her within arms length of her kids too!
And regarding Jason.
I think he’s grasping at the end of a rope. Whatever he can however he can he needs to produce an image not supported by reality #poorjason
Sixer, I agree with your point of view. I said what I said because, even though I don’t particularly agree and also think it sounds like the PR view, I felt sort of badly that she was at the bottom of a pretty big pile. No more, no less.
anne: She’s got staff for that! 🙂
Oh, I wasn’t moaning at you either, bluhare. Hope you don’t think so! Your post gave me this momentary twinge of guilt for the pile on, which was then almost immediately engulfed by (self) righteous pissedoffery!
I personally think all things royal are a waste of space on principle, as you know. But if they are to be worth anything, it’s to be signifiers of civic decency, you know? And if they do their jobs properly, even though they are apolitical, they can make a difference. Think um… Diana and AIDS patients. She led the decent part of public opinion and helped make it the loudest voice, which in turn had an effect on government. You can’t demonise or abandon a vulnerable section of the population if public opinion won’t let you.
On the other hand, it can work the other way around – a sensitive issue can be used as cover to deflect criticism. And when that happens, as here, it drives me up the wall.
Ooooooo . . . . I made Sixer feel guilty! I shall now quit while I am ahead!
I know I’m not ahead, Sixer. But I totally and completely agree with what you just said. If Kate feels strongly about something I wish she’d actually DO something instead of going somewhere for an hour while looking nice and smiling. Big effing deal. She doesn’t even have to do that much! But I think the key words are “feel strongly about something” and I’m really starting to think she doesn’t have any sense of that at all.
My sense from observing her interact with people is that all of her senses have been dulled and some even deadened from having to conform to William’s ideal of a perfect “royal”. I know a couple of women like that – married to men with very strong ideas of how things should be. Eventually they stop fighting the need for autonomy and become numb little stepfords. Their entire life revolves around running away from criticism and that means that they are nobodies. They can’t say a peep in case someone interprets it as remotely negative. So they squelch all ounces of personality and become just little shells with nothing inside. That is how I feel about Kate. We don’t know who she is because there is nothing there.
I remember reading that interview with one of her friends (maybe Alicia Fox -Pitt ?) in 2007 after Kate dropped out of the Sisters crew thingy and the girl said “She has always put William first and this was one chance for her to do something for herself.”
And I thought – why ? What sort of a relationship is this when have to put the other person first *all of the time* ? And why is she getting prasied for it ?
But what happened is that this is what ended up defining Kate. Over the years she became the girl who wants *nothing*. Always putting herself last. The girl who ends up becoming nothing.
Maia, this attitude and behavior isn’t anything new. Early on a cousin of hers said that she (Kate Middleton) had always struggled to pay attention and to find other people interesting. She has trouble finding other people interesting?! This was from someone who has known her most of her life.
Maia, I really hope that’s not the case, but you could be right. I felt badly that the one time she did put something of herself out there (releasing some photos she took on tour) she got nothing but shite over them. It’s hard putting your work out in front of the public — I know as I’m married to a man who has talent but can’t handle the criticism that comes with it, so he doesn’t exhibit at all or even try. The photos weren’t that great, but I didn’t think they deserved the derision they got. In that way, I feel for her.
But she doesn’t have to do that. All she has to do is put her name on something and follow through. She’s got staff to do the labor.
Every thoughtful and kind excuse has been made for her (throwing arms in air!). I particularly hate the ones having to do with our femininity.
I wish that I had posted this after Anne’s comment a few lines down.
Jeez Bluebell, what are you, trying to be nice or something? 🙂
I see that many people have already weighed in on this topic. So I will add one point: a few visits to children-related charities here and there once or twice a year do not a campaign make. Kate is surrounded by people who know how to build momentum towards a successful campaign plank and if she wanted to, she could draw on their expertise to become really known for one particular issue. Sort of like Rania is known for her campaign related to girls’ education or Mary for her foundation which works on a few select issues. I think that in the future the plan is to channel Kate into children’s mental issues as well as addiction and youth and developmental issues. But so far I would not go as far to say that Kate is really throwing herself into this particular issue.
The whole thing is PR led and does not really seem to come from her heart. I echo the sentiments of those who said that they would really like to see the British press start calling her out on this. It’s been going on for two long. Seriously.
Umm and that would be “too long”. Stupid brain.
No, I get it.
She couldn’t do work before giving birth, because she was a newlywed and she had to build a stable marriage foundation with William.
Then she couldn’t do work, because she was pregnant with George and (allegedly) had HG, and couldn’t risk anything to happen to a future monarch.
Then she can’t do work, because she needed to heal her mind and body after giving birth to George and needed to be available for him 24/7 in order to develop a bond with him.
Then she couldn’t do work because she had to chase around a toddler all the time.
Then rinse and repeat for the pregnancy with and birth of Charlotte.
And then she shouldn’t have to do much because she’s not the Princess of Wales yet.
Then after becoming the Princess of Wales and since it’s not like she’s the Queen or something, she shouldn’t have to take on too much royal responsibility because she wouldn’t want to outshine Queen Consort Camilla because she has to maintain peace in the family.
Then Queen Kate can’t do much work because she has to raise her teenagers properly and always has to keep a constant eye on them to make sure George is fit to become King on day and that Charlotte becomes a fine and dutiful Princess Royal.
Then she won’t have enough time to work because she has to be a doting and ever present grandmother to the second next generation of the monarchy.
There’s always going to be some excuse as to why she’s much to busy to do a regular schedule of one or two 45-minute charity visits per week for the less fortunate (though never too busy for rich folk gatherings).
Anne
Now that you get it maybe jason will hire you?
But Carole is building a stable marriage foundation with William, so Kate can spend her time beautifying herself, so they can make Middleton-Windsor heirs.
@ FLORC
LOL! Yes, he should!
Of course we can’t forget she is on maternity leave! But one needs to work to earn a maternity leave and she did 40 appearances in the year before. That’s about 40 hours for the year, which doesn’t qualify.
And getting your hair done and being driven in a limo, being taken to a place that is prepared for you, given flowers and cheered is how we all go to work. Don’t we?
I don’t really get the new mother shaming on here – most British women take 6-12 months Maternity leave without any expectation that they should work. Her most important “Royal work” is to provide and bring up heirs at this stage. She would probably get equal criticism for “leaving” the children to do a lot of visits. William is obviously working – rescuing people – as the UK press has covered several of his higher profile missions in the past few weeks to a murder scene and a prison.
Perhaps she is having problems such as post natal depression – we know now that Diana suffered badly – the fact that she missed private engagements probably signals a health issue.
There have also been several articles recently about Prince Charles not wanting to share the limelight/wanting to expand Camilla’s role so she will be accepted as Queen.
There’s no ppd here. There are so many instances that show Kate ready willing and able to go out and have fun with and without her children. Just not in events that aren’t appealing It’s an insult to those who have PPD to use it as a justification for what has been proven traits of lazy behavior towards certain work. Well before pregnancy too.
It’s 1 excuse after another to cover the same message. She refuses to work unless it’s appealing or fun and not really work.
And those articles of not sharing the limelight are gossip. Charles wants to put a spotlight directly on him and his immediate family. No one else. It would help him greatly to have W/K do more. He actually needs them to be more active.
George isn’t under 2. He turned 2 in July.
Bluebell, not to be rude, because I understand what you’re saying, but how do you explain the TWO YEARS before she had children? She wasn’t exactly working away between the time she got married and had Prince George, so you can’t excuse her lack of public activity on little ones at home. She’s just not interested in doing anything other than being a Real Housewife of East Anglia.
That second picture is giving me strong Bethany Frenkel resemblance which is weird since they do not look alike at all.
Omg I see it O.o
At first glance I thought it was Michelle Duggar!
LOL. The Cambridges – 2 kids and counting.
Oh dear, I see it now and can’t un-see it! Lol
The press has to promote her as pregnant again, that’s the only interesting thing she does that sells mags. Lol
LAK
Nailed it. I kept looking at that pic wondering who it looked like. It’s the sunken eyes I think.
And the botoxed nose/eleven wrinkle.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
It’s really telling that they even have to say that in the first place. Bravo.
*whoosh*
Oh, look! There goes a pig flying by!
Please. The only place Duchess Dolittle will be going is Mustique.
I read in the DM yesterday that Kate, despite appearances to the contrary, has been very busy and hard at work all Summer –
“In scenes reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel, Kate is said to have spent the summer enjoying long sunny afternoons in the picturesque garden of her Norfolk home Anmer Hall with her sketch book in hand, drawing detailed pencil works of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.”
So there. 🙂
Jason just needs to get his lies straight.
He’s losing track of them. #poorjason
Jason pulling his hair out. Lol
People keep touring her “work ethic”. Kate blogs do it all day, everyday. With the amount of help she receives having to actually leave her palace shouldn’t be some major ordeal. She isn’t carrying around 20 pounds of supplies for the kids. And I don’t even want to hear about how she’s breastfeeding and can’t manage. Charlotte isn’t nursing around the clock, they’ve hit a schedule and you know she has no problem with formula. It’s all just people excusing the inexcusable. She doesn’t have to take everything on but she takes nothing on. She’s a rubber stamp on a charity so the charity can bring in more donations. Kate isn’t going to change that. She’s never worked a day in her life.
Annie, where are you reading this? Every sentence I’ve come across containing “Kate” and “work ethic” has stated quite bluntly that she has no work ethic.
Edit: I stand corrected – just noticed LAK’s comment about some pr puff piece from the palace on Kate’s amazing work ethic.
Candice: it wasn’t just one piece. It was a roll out of many articles over the 6mths engagement period.
After the wedding, and after the backlash at her 180 turnaround, PR started to roll out articles about secret visits to charities because she wanted to be very informed and laser focused on the ones she chose.
Eventually 6 (?) were chosen, but we were told she wouldn’t start work on them until 2012.
Come 2012 and the lazy tag is beginning to rear it’s ugly head and the Palace starts scrambling to make her seem the opposite. She starts making appearances. Sometimes solo and sometimes with other royals.
However, with each successive year, the number of appearances have lessened. If anything, i’d say she’s worse now with regards numbers and performance at engagements than she was when she was first married.
Yet, like clockwork, every few months, an article appears that tells us she’s about to start a busy run of work. Never materialises of course.
LAK – great summation, yes, I remember reading the promises that Kate had chosen ‘6 charities’ but can’t recall seeing what those were, or visits covered in the press, other than a one off, like the snail painting? She had 9 long, long years hiding out in college, Wales etc with William, are we really to believe she hadn’t thought on her charities and how to be on a public platform???? Or that Carole hadn’t been thinking out this phase of her project-Turn-Kate-Into-a-Princess would roll out? Carole, hello??? That helicopter Mom has really failed here.
Yes, I remember too, Sharon and LAK. She only had six because she wanted to give them so much attention and she couldn’t do that if she had a lot of them (shade to HM, Charles and just about everyone else). I feel like such a chump for actually buying that at the time.
I suppose the press office counts on the fact that if you say something enough times, a portion of the public will begin to believe you. . .
I’m 38 and she looks way older than me. How stressful is it, to be duchess?
Years of yo-yo dieting, tanning, and smoking. And eyeliner removal and re-application.
I think that she lost a lot of her curves very quickly during the couple of years when she went awol around 2009. I remember sort of losing track of her for a couple of years and then when she emerged for her engagement she looked like an entirely different person. She must have dieted and lifted her curves away and she looked at least a decade older in those two years. I think that drastic fat reduction can harden your face considerably. Slowly transforming your body won’t do that. And just weight-lifting won’t do that. I am positive she went on a pretty drastic diet simultaneously. Which is such a pity because she was genuinely such a healthy looking beauty. Now she just looks like any other emaciated celebrity.
On the other hand Pippa has put on significant muscle mass and she looks so much healthier and better with the extra weight on her face.
Kate also had work done – veneers, hair extensions and botox (allegedly). As for the drastic diet – it was reported that she and her mother went on the Atkins Diet in the months leading up to the wedding. I don’t know about Pippa (she is very sporty and seems sensible with her diet) but Carole and Kate are known fad dieters.
I think it was the Dukan Diet, which is far less healthy than Atkins.
I will never understand this desire in the part of the tabloids to make every woman pregnant all the time. It’s like it is 1953 all over again.
Yes! Normal Cathy is up and running. Maybe. In a couple of months. For a couple of hours. If she’s not preggo and back in seclusion “recharging” her batteries at that point.
It started after the late 90’s I think, suddenly the press had to make everyone in the public eye pregnant! Some call it the new Hollywood baby boom era..because in the past celebs barely mentioned their pregnancies until after the baby was born.
Hi everyone,
just read an article about Prince Harry. Apparently, he’s still crazy about Chelsy Davy and is trying to get back with her….is that true?
Here’s the link
https://uk.celebrity.yahoo.com/post/128549707744/prince-harry-has-his-heart-set-on-chelsy-davy
The tabloids say that all the time. I doubt it is true. He’s been in Africa for three months, what else do they have to write about? His conservation work and Sentebale? Of course not. Rehashing Chelsy rumors is so much more profitable.
What’s so annoying is that the rags focus on all but NOT what he is doing: These past week there were more “I’m a bad uncle” headlines than ones about his work here in SA. Are they deliberately ignoring his work & dreaming up about how “desperate” he wants to be with Jenna/Chelsy/Cressida? It seems there’s a tabloid consensus to do so.
He’s had plenty of opportunity to get back together with her over the years and it hasn’t happened yet.
I’m not a “fashion person”, but that big necklace doesn’t seem right with the neckline of the white dress. Annoyingly not right.
I got nothin’. I used to fangirl so hard over coats and simple, classic dresses, but it’s totally outshined by my irritation at her lack of effort towards her role.
Have you visited the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor blog? You might find a few royals who have a closet you want to raid AND a great work ethic.
Thank you – I found what I’m doing over many cups of coffee this morning.
…are you kidding me with this blog? Good thing I have the day off. Hooked. Any other recommendations, please toss them my way.
If you like jewels,From Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault is another good one. They’re royal jewelry experts over there; I think the same person runs it? Although the Queen’s day-to-day jewelry gets quite dull with the same pearl necklace and earrings. She does switch out the brooches, though! And they’ve got a Camilla section for all her bling.
Oh no, this one is pulling me in like the gravitational force of a black hole. Be back in few hours!
I stumbled into Heavy Are the Crowns a few weeks ago, and it too is a major time suck — spam posts of the queen’s brooches, oh sure I’ll spend a half a day looking at that!
TIARA THURSDAYS?!?!?!
OMG this blog
Thank you.
Thank you for putting me on to this blog. I’m going to be alllllllll over this. 🙂
Check “JEWEL CENTRAL” of ROSS. You’ll have a jewel-gasm.
I’ve visited these blogs before. I know they’re a blackhole. I’ve lost so much time staring at these!
Glad you’re enjoying it! From her Royal Fashion Awards Princess Estelle’s Christening. “Oh, good grief. They put a sash on the baby, just to make me die from the cute. YOU WIN, SWEDEN.”
Thanks for sharing these blogs!
Shortly after Kate wore that rhinestone monstrosity, the Queen lent her a Cartier necklace that is called the Nizam of Hyderabab. Kate totally screwed it up – as though she had never seen royal women wearing jewelry in the Portrait Gallery (and she was an art history major?)! Here are photo’s of Kate wearing it out, as well as the Queen wearing properly.
http://mariannalondon.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-new-outing-for-nizam-of-hyderabad.html
She actually manages to make that look like a piece of junk!
Forgive me: by ‘screwing it up’ do you mean wearing her hair down and half obscuring it? (that’s what I took it to mean, but not sure if there’s a formal royal protocol for jewels I’m unaware of.)
I feel like the shape of the necklace with that neckline would have been STUNNING if her hair wasn’t in the way. It’s like she was trying to ‘un-regal’ it, which seems… counterproductive.
I am going to be jewelry drooling (droolewry?) all day.
Maybe she didn’t want the jewelry to be more eye-catching than her own self? Way too ego-centric?
You either have elegance, class and style or you don’t, if you don’t get assistance on helping with how to wear items. Kate believes her own press and believes everyone wants to see her glowing mane Always. She ALSO is said to wear it down mostly because William loves it that way ( even though he told a someone one day Kate’s hair takes a lot of work, …paraphrasing…..)
She did ruin the look of that jewel, she made it look terrible.
Kate also is one of the few new royal ladies, who ( This is just my opinion, )..does not show Tiaras well. I can’t put my finger on it, but Tiaras don’t look special or magical on her.
IMO
DarkSparkle
It’s a general rule with stunning pieces of jewelry you wear your hair away from it. Not simply to show off the stones, but also to keep the oil and products in your hair from marking up the jewelry. Also, it could snag on it.
And there are actual rules for wearing most jewels. I know length of earings dependins on occasion is one. and measurement/rations on Tiaras. They are to be worn at a ratio that is fitting to your face and ways to measure that.
Also, Bracelets, rings, and broaches all have their set of rules or suggestions with appropriate occasions.
Kate’s hair down and over this amazing necklace does a disservice. The piece itself is large and all spots of the design are there to compliment itself and the wearer. To cover it ruins the full effect.
Kate is overwhelmed by statement jewelry and barely styles her hair accordingly to showcase these pieces. Her hair obscured the splendid Nizam of Hyderabad necklace and just got entangled in it. She may as well have worn a piece of costume jewelry for all the thought she put into appropriately styling her hair to showcase that dazzler. She may as well stick to her customary exorbitant, overpriced miniscule jewelry, but if she attends that state banquet in October, hopefully she’ll get her hair game on if she’s wearing a tiara.
Kate seems to be a very ordinary girl, some of us might even think her dull. As I am looking at this, the girl has no bearing, no gravitas. Pampering means nothing! I wonder if this can be taught, I’m sure that Diana learned a thing or two from Raine; Diana also grew up in tiara land.
Well bugger me – its a charity visit. Wonder if she will actually turn up this time.
What would she do if Willy decided to develop a sense of duty – probably have a melt down at the thought of actually having to do work. I don’t think they planned for her to do anything in the first few years other than have kids, thinking that they could live off the public goodwill Diana left in her wake. They didn’t anticipate the backlash and are playing catch up that’s being executed badly.
I think it was ‘negotiated’ with TQ and Charles when the engagement was announced that she wouldn’t be expected to undertake any sort of regular schedule until she became Princess of Wales and that until then it would be whatever took her/their fancy (on top of the set pieces where all the family turn out). Its been stated often enough that they are in charge of their own schedules.
Chuck and TQ gave them the rope……
I think you’ll find that negotited schedule is a figment of the public’s imagination as all the excuses have been.
When the engagement was announced, the Palace PR went into heavy duty promotion on her work ethic, how she was going to impress all of us, how prepared she was, emphasise on her education, class and background and what a positive it all was.
The often joked about princess lessons in everything from govt, diplomacy and protocol etc
Which is why the 180 a few days after the wedding came as a shock. I think we’d all bought into the PR because surely the Palace wouldn’t blatantly lie, would it?
In the engagement interview, on the prospect of the marriage and royal work. “It’s obviously nerve-wracking, because I don’t know the ropes really, William is obviously used to it, but I’m willing to learn quickly and work hard.” Followed by, “Yes, well I really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can.”
Even the BBC News continued to spin the lies last night in their segment about HM and the anniversary this week. They said HM lived in Malta in the early years. No, she visited four times while Philip was stationed there. All that funding and BBC doesn’t have a research department?
Negotiated
I wouldn’t say they lied outright – they may have made those statements in good faith not anticipating the turn about from these 2 soon after. Like the engagement these 2 like to say one thing and do another.
Maybe the ‘negotiated schedule’ is PR spin but either way they haven’t lived up to anything that they said they would do.
Am getting royally pissed that the press is protecting these 2 AND propagating their lies. Its obvs that there is some sort of PR war going on between the Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace. Sad Sad Sad. All because one little boy keeps chucking his toys outta the pram.
Betti
They made an optimistic statement knowing there was little to support it.
Kate has never lied about this in her own words imo. She’s never candidly stated she wants to work. This is entirely PR. I could be wrong.
Florc – in the engagement interview she said she was keen to ‘hit the ground running’ so she has lied about her intentions. Its not all PR spin.
Betti
Yes, the interview was also scripted with coached answers. Not her candid words imo.
But the words came out of her mouth.
Lol
Ysoh
Consider it like this. When you are eading from a script or being coached on lines (like actors) do you attach those lines to them like it’s their personal thought? Same with some politicians. They say what is expected to be said. That does not mean that’s what they feel and will do. Just because it’s spoken doesn’t mean it’s their stance.
Jason, give up, you’re trying to put lipstick on a pig. Kate will never make any of these organizations a priority in her life because A) she’s lazy; and B) William has a strong abhorrence to working with the media in any way shape or form, even if it’s for an altruistic cause like children’s mental health issues. He hates all the media and journos equally. So the both of them will just continue sticking their heads in the sand and living the luxe life for doing basically nothing. Way to shoot yourselves in the foot you two….
It must have took A LOT of prodding to get Bill Middy to agree to do a speech on Chinese state television. Promised a free Mustique villa by Xi?
By now, he’s probably thinking “why did I take this job” and “I knew I should have asked for more money.”
ROTFL
You are cracking me up.
I thought it was very out of character for William to actually be cooperative with the press on his vacation last winter to the USA (NYC and DC).
Well it’s the US. There are tons of sycophants whose only royal knowledge comes People & playing Prince Charming(UGH) is a greater lie to pull off in the US coz many mainstream royal watchers are still stuck in the “Oh Diana’s son!” gutter.
I believe that the only reason that Wm was able to see Obama was due to a favor to Q2.
Oh, please. This is the same refrain they’ve been spouting since she got married and nothing’s come of it. She & William will “work” their little butts off during the fall/early winter so they can go on another months’ long vacay. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I fail to see how her showing up, smiling for the cameras and accepting a bunch of flowers really ‘makes an impact’. Use the brain you were born with woman and the opportunity you have been given and actually MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
It doesn’t, but the argument is that his/her attendance draws attention to the cause, and this is “impact.” To an extent, that’s true, but it’s also kind of demoralizing to see someone do so little with so much opportunity. It’s incredibly passive and they can do it while looking entirely vacuous.
After four and a half years of royalty, she has very little if any forward momentum in anything she has done. Remember how they made a big deal of her “privately visiting charities and carefully selecting ones near and dear to her heart” for about the first 6-8 months after the wedding and then she only picked like 6 charities. They all seem to have fizzled out in terms of her being committed to them and really being KEEN on making a difference.
However, when Kate did her first “Mental Health” charity event in the spring her critics were singing praises for her!! This is why she is focusing on child mental health issues. They will make her look good to her worst critics — because regardless of whether you like her or not, this is a worthy cause that everyone can support. This upcoming Sept 17 event looks like a “information gathering visit” vs anything she is solidly committed to. It sounds like her handlers are once again testing the water to see if the area of child mental health is a place were she can be successful. If she shows up and the public reaction is positive, then they will go in that direction.
Regardless, she won’t be able to pull off being interested and committed to child mental health unless its really something that she is interested in deep down inside personally. It ultimately comes back to her and her willingness to be committed to something outside of her personal life. PR smoke and mirrors can only get you so far.
I was one of those people praising her. I did it because she did something other than show up and take posies from small children and I was hopeful that if she were praised for it (and the better delivery) and enough others did maybe it could get her doing something else. I don’t think it’s fair to slag her for not doing anything, then continue to do so when she actually does.
But I agree with pretty much everything you said!
Same
There was praise for simply doing something.
This.
If PG Tips – mini Churchill/Spencers showed up too …
Wait until her next appearance, there will be all sorts of royal admirers appearing on this site – it always happens.
I don’t fell sorry for her, not even one bit. Life is an interesting phenomena, and she has chosen well to be in her position. Yet she is totally disconnected from her public – she lives through William’s eyes. Too bad for her. We will be watching her for quite some years. I wish some rich woman of substance would teach her some manners. Kate seems very self-absorbed.
+100
Splendidly said, Wolfie.
Yes.
Why does she look so old? I genuinely am curious about what made her age so quickly…just so I can avoid any of what she is doing. Any ideas? I mean it is very bad? She looks hard.
Smoking and tanning, primarily. Also, she’s a dieter and big exercise buff and looks better when she gains a few pounds, but she seems pretty insistent on staying very slim post babies and dieting herself back down to her super skinny level. Also aging.
Also genes. IMO Kate and Pippa both look old for their age.
I know some have mentioned social anxiety could be the case. Is that a possibility?
No because she seems to be just fine with people in a private social setting – is she did have social anxiety she’d be nervous meeting anyone (private and public). She just doesn’t want to make the effort.
I think she has some form of anxiety disorder but I definitely don’t think that’s the reason she doesn’t work. With or without any anxiety issues, I believe Kate would still be very self absorbed and lacking in a work ethic.
yes, IMO there is something.
After watching her meeting people… i think the big problem is Kate is just not an outgoing person, she is horrible at smalltalk and meeting strangers. There is a reason she has no real friends outside her little circle. She is not like her socialite sister. IMO Kate really perfers the quiet life and isn´t made for royal life.
Everytime i see a video of Kate meeting people i can see her nervous ticks:
1. her poor posture. She wants to hide herself (hunched shoulders and head moves forward down)
2. she hides behind her hair and touches it to check if she´s still part-covered
3. the hair touching is also an “anchor” for her. It calms her down.
4. her hands are in constant movement when she can´t clutch a purse
5. she opens her mouth wide without reason and makes grimaces to overplay her tension
6. her lower jaw moves forward when she´s stressed. At the altar her jaw trembled the whole time. In photos it often looks like an underbite (look at the second pic here). Her jaw moves and moves when she´s aware people are looking at her
7. “nodding dog”, her head moves from right to left when she tries to listen
This woman is extremely nervous in public and she knows it. So she avoidsthis stuff all costs.
The thing is she will never get better in this meet and greet stuff if she doesn´t tries…
Lea
Yes and no.
Kate displays the same traits in all social meetings. She is seen enjoying herself at sporting events, having fun on vacation, and at serious or boring charity meetings. Each time she plays with her hair, hunches, and has those ticks that might be less about nerves and more about habit.
And she has an underbite. It’s more obvious when she becomes very expressive in her gestures and faces. And she’s been seen being very expressive and almost over the top before marriage. Kate is a hands and face talker.
Regarding Kate improving. She can and has. With consistency and repetition Kate improves miles in just a week. We’ve all seen this and thought she was finally getting the swing of things. Any time off though and she regresses.
If anything she’s proven to only be nervous when there’s an expectation on her. She’s not prepared. Outside of that Kate appears extremely eager at many events and quite happy to be there and ask questions make small talk. Harry Potter, Sailing, Olympics, Tennis, Downton Abb Set and cast visit, etc… She’s far from shy during events that are fun. And she will still hunch and fiddle with her hair.
@ FLORC
I saw a documentary on the Queen recently. In it, someone said that in private conversations, the Queen is very ‘Italian’ in the way she uses hand gestures as she talks. When I heard this, I thought that maybe Kate picked this up from watching the Queen and is trying to copy her.
I think another reason Kate uses her hands a lot is because she’s trying to make it look like she’s very engaged in small talk to make up for how terrible she is at it. It’s like an exchange of the visual to make up for the lack of verbal content.
There were some links posted of old Diana’s videos last week in another Kate blog I visit. And what struck me about her was that Diana was an extremely quick and sharp wit. She could genuinely say clever and funny things, which along with her ravishing beauty, gorgeous clothes, and towering height simply stupified people. No wonder she had that effect on entire populations.
I think that in this royal job which entails meeting people you don’t know and making small talk, you have two ways to succeed. One is by saying clever and funny things to charm people and the other is to genuinely be prepared and become knowledgeable about the charity – if you come across as sincere and authentic people are automatically disarmed. Diana used both tactics. Kate uses neither. She shows up in pretty clothes and is passive in her interactions.
I really do feel that sitting around through her twenties waiting for William to sweep her off to his numerous homes around the country did a number on her confidence and abilities. Her family and William have done a great disservice to her in that regard. She will never be a self-assured young woman. The fact that even after two children she is hiding away in her country bolthole just speaks to her reticence to test herself or challenge herself in any meaningful way.
I mean, Pippa is coming ahead in all respects and she was supposed to be the one that needed to ‘try hard’. Huh !!
Anne
What documentary did you see? Is it Netflix? 🙂
And the latter rings true from a body language class I took. To be overly expressive is an attempt to appear more engaged or to engage others. Great story tellers are an example of this. They never just stand there. They’re incredibly expressive and involved.
Maia
Diana was a born politician. She could charm people and her appearance was disarming. Her social skills and ability to sympathise(sp?)/sooth was a great skill.
She was far from an academic, but she could read people well.
@ FLORC
It’s over at the PBS website. The full episode titled:
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Queen Elizabeth II | Full Episode
Explore Queen Elizabeth II’s remarkable life, from childhood through her six-decade reign.
(54:40)
It was on PBS last night right after the cake bakers on British Bake Off. It was a puff piece pretty much though.
@ Maia +1000
bluhare, I felt so badly for all the bakers. Stumped by an angel food cake.
So did I!! Especially the poor sod who got booted. He couldn’t do anything right.
Must check both out! Thanks guys!
I do like that one of the best bakers is a satellite or rocket scientist.
That was great, wasn’t it? A bloody scientist or engineer! Makes sense when you think about it because baking is all about proportion and getting things exactly right. I was rooting for the woman whose first cake was the rhubarb one, but her filling didn’t cooperate and she let it get to her. I like baking too but cakes are not my forte. I should practice more and I really wanted to make an angel food cake last night!!!
I see the nervousness too, Lea. She’s either rigidly in control or a bundle of nerves. I’ve said this before: Kate seems to only want to be around her family, William, people who entertain her (celebrities) or people who work for her. That to me suggests something beyond being self-absorbed.
Thing is, she is self-absorbed, lazy, etc. But even within that framework, she come across as a person so uncomfortable in her own skin. To me, Kate seems like a person battling with feeling helpless and overwhelmed but absolutely not wanting anything to do with the solution: moving away from her codependent relationships with her family and William. Instead, she wants to “win” within that dysfunctional framework.
Of course, she can’t. So. she’s prickly and controlling, and stubborn because she thinks she’s standing up for herself, focuses startling amounts of time and energy on what she feels are her “strengths” -like her appearance, and refuses to engage with anything that she feels adds to her feelings of being ordered about and helpless -including her royal duties. She’s going to do it all on her terms even if it takes her years, but unfortunately her viewpoint and therefore her aims are screwed up.
Why did she stay with William when he was a terrible boyfriend to her? Yes, because of the money and privilege, but also because she’s an incredibly competitive but dysfunctional person who wanted to “win.” Her anxiety and insecurity manifests not as shyness but as exaggerated status symbols: excessive thinness, enormous hair, towering heels, Apt 1A, mainly glam engagements etc. She’s isolating herself with reassurances that she’s “winning” even if they sabotage her image and aims in the long run.
@Natalie,
I didn’t agree with every single word but IMO your overall analysis regarding Kate is very insightful.
At times, I see this nervousness you speak of. But I also see her as someone who LOVES ATTENTION. I noticed it first when she & william were dating and the paparazzi would photograph her leaving nightclubs. She looked like the cat that got the cream. So that’s a contradiction, isn’t it?
If I thought she had a real issue with anxiety, I’d feel more sympathy towards her. As is, I feel little . .
I used to be a painfully shy child and as a teenager suffered from social anxiety, it’s probably why I read Psychology and Uni. Since then I’ve only ever worked in the social care sector which means I’ve spent a lot of my time concentrating on other people and their problems like alcohol abuse, serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia/bi-polar depression (I’ve encountered some poor souls with both) latterly I’ve been working with elderly people often with dementia.
You know what? I’m not a shy person anymore, I’ll talk to anybody about pretty much anything because I’ve been put in a position where I had to get over myself and realise that most of the time most people are too busy concentrating on their own lives and their own concerns to care too much about me.
It’s not always been easy, getting over social anxiety is often two steps forward and one step back but a classic way of tackling it is to deliberately and determinedly turn the focus outwards. I seriously doubt that Mrs Normal is suffering from shyness/social anxiety I don’t know too many shy – let alone clinically anxious people – who would march down a runway looking like this with all eyes on her
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01757/middletonfashionsh_1757189i.jpg
I also appreciate that as Mrs Normal she will be the focus of attention in any public engagement that could exacerbate social anxiety tenfold – but that didn’t seem to bother her before she got married. Has it developed since? I doubt it, particularly as the condition seems to disappear when an event comes up that she wants to attend like meeting the Jolie-Pitts or Wimbledon – Social Anxiety isn’t a condition you can turn on and off at will, it is ever present. Even if she did have this issue don’t you think she would get the very best level of support and attention to get over it? Of course she would. Ok, so let’s say she’s been having therapy for her anxiety condition. She’s been married for four years, say she’s been having therapy for three – one would expect her to have made some progress by now and that progress would, as part of the therapy, involve gradually increasing her public appearances until they became a regular fixture. She hasn’t her public appearances are becoming so rare that even the Brit tabloids have started calling her ‘The Disappearing Duchess’
From her actions either the therapy has been a complete failure or social anxiety isn’t the problem. Good old feckless, laziness with an enormous side order of self indulgence and self absorption is.
In either case of social anxiety/bone idleness she could do something about this but she’s not and that’s the problem I have with her, she’s not helping anyone – including herself.
Whew sorry about the long post. I could do with a lift, where are you Liberty? I’m missing your comments!
Ditto to everything, frisbee. I used to be so shy I couldn’t talk to people I didn’t know at all, and now I can. Although I still hate cocktail parties and schmoozing. Have to be in the right mood for those. And I’m usually not so I avoid them like the plague. Either that or I’m the frizzy haired one in the corner sneering at everyone. 🙂
Good for you. Truly. I am an introvert who practices the dark art of being and looking like an extrovert. By the end of the work week I am usually drained.
At one time, there was a good amount of empathy & sympathy given to Kate on these threads but Kate’s avoidance tactics killed all of that. When you then weigh in with the fact that she only seems to make an appearance for vacations, shopping, Wimbeldon, or with stars that kills all of the goodwill.
Aw- bluhare, I’m the short, round one in the corner taking the piss out of everybody – including me – it seems to work. I’m still ‘situation’ shy but then I suspect everybody is, only psychopaths are completely self confident in all circumstances! It’s only a pity you’re not around, towering over my right shoulder doing the ‘sneering’ bit while I do the ‘jabbing in the pomposity plexus’ bit!
@ Dena – hang on in there, it gets easier the more you practice but yes, making conversation – when you’d rather be at home curled up in front of the fire with a good book – is exhausting!
Finally I think we really need to put the ‘Kate suffers from shyness/social anxiety’ argument to bed. Social Anxiety is a serious mental disorder that can severely limit a life to the point of destruction. Those who experience it suffer from intense anxiety in all social situations and avoid these situations at all costs. Therapy often consists of initially taking hard to fail ‘baby steps’ and learning coping strategies for managing the condition including changing negative thought patterns and separating real from imagined risk. At the risk of repeating myself, it’s not a condition that can be turned on and off as circumstances suit.
I am the same way frisbee and bluhare. I was a painfully shy child but my parents worked on me for years to help me overcome it. Through my teenage years I was able to make progress and became quite popular by the time I was in high school. Go figure.
I still hate small talk. I hate going to parties where I don’t know people and I need tons of me-time. I work in a profession which involves staring into space for large times of the day just thinking and occasionally scribbling on paper or white boards. Kate does not strike me as a shy person at all. Just a lazy and silly one.
Next time I’ll look for the short one in the corner taking the piss out of everybody and come on over! Bonus points for taking the piss out of me too!
Dena, extroverted looking introvert. You just described me. If I’m “on” I can come over and chat away with you and when I leave you’ll realize I said absolutely nothing. 😉
Bluhare
If you’re that person at the party you should wear a tiara. I mean… Why not? It couldn’t hurt 😀
Dena
I also practice that “dark art” and it’s tiring. I like my friends and keeping busy, but social gatherings…. ugh. I hate talking about myself with the what have you been upto/doing questions. I’ll go if I must, but i’d rather be in my garden.
I don’t like social gatherings. I don’t like to talk to crowds. I’d rather be at home. I display the same traits that justify social anxiety in Kate and I do not have it. Why must people suggest she has some sort of disorder to excuse her proven nature or not working? Also, What Frisbee said!
Frisbee will be wearing the tiara. It’ll make her look taller. 😛
@ bluhare – and stilts, a Tiara and stilts and you won’t miss me 😀
I don’t know, I think that posting is far scarier than cocktail parties, or schmoozing – but then I don’t schmooze – I stare in wonder. Actually, Frisbee, I learned around twenty to put my focus on others, and my shy feelings subsided, sort of like you. I believe the truest words ever spoken are that we are all created equal – kindness trumps bravery!
But sometimes being kind takes true bravery, wolfie.
Sagely yours,
bluhare
By the way frisbee, if you come back; it is late even for us Pacific timezone people on CB . . . but my oldest friend is 4′ 11-1/2″. Her greatest regret in life is not making it to 5′.
@ bluhare – next day here, never mind. I’m 5’2 – 1/2″ and your friend is probably one of the few people I’ve ever heard of whose shorter than me – like her already 🙂
@ wolfie – kindness – a rare and desperately under-rated quality, alongside basic decency and good manners either that or I’m turning into a miserable old bag (NOW GET OFF MY LAWN) 🙂
finally – finally, I was thinking about Dena being exhausted after socialising with a number of people and it occurs to me that a lot of shy people are really good listeners because they concentrate on what is being said and take it on board, that level of emotional engagement with several people is exhausting! How many people at social events don’t listen at all? They are looking around the room, thinking of what to say next, barely registering what is being said, zoning out and are remarkably disengaged (sounds like Kate doesn’t it?) I don’t know too many ‘social butterfly’s’ who are good listeners.
So the very shy, the recovering shy and the Ninja of the shy (waves madly at Dena) a very, very old, very silly song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTns_N9NcMg
bluhard, you are a sage in my book – and I’m an admirer of your easy, breezy ways. Frisbee, nice music. Ditto on *listening*…and probably why social engagements can be tiring and wonderful at the same time. I believe we should all meet in the kitchen for the next party…now that I know where the really cool people are.
I remember the engagement interview when Kate commented about William’s mother and how she looked up to her. We’ve seen some examples of that i.e. replicating photos, children’s outfits, the ring , some clothing choices etc…wish we could also see just a little of Diana’s work ethic also.
The People’s Princess had a lot of fun in her life, u saw her shopping, traveling , vacationing
dining out….but I don’t remember reading any complaints about it. Because despite what we now know about how dysfunctional her life was, that woman worked for her causes and charities, even after her divorce. I understand she was the the princess of wales unlike Kate, but Kate clearly shows she has no interest in anything altruistic. My only hope is that she/william were told they could have this time to themselves and once Charles ascends they will step it up. That they didn’t disclose this to public and now can’t handle backlash.
As has been pointed out many times, it not only the lack of royal duties, its the over abundance of fun stuff… What’s the saying.
To one who is given much, much is required.
There were complaints. Loads. It’s a case of rewritting history to remove the faults and glorify the achievements.
Your point still stands.Diana shopped and vacationed like a pro. And she was able to work often with hundred of engagements a year and 2 children throughout.
Do you remember the hesitation and lack of confidence though in that part of the interview ? I think that William sort of squishes her so much that she cannot string two sentences together with any degree of confidence. She was so painfully nervous during that interview, I remember thinking that it was quite a pitiable performance.
I think one reason she was nervous was because she was afraid people would see through her falseness, fakeness and her game! Lol
I do, Maia. I remember William coming in and answering questions for her as well. I remember thinking at the time that I wish he’d just let her speak.
Carole needs to take her share of the blame for Kate’s lack of confidence and general life spark – she constantly pushed her daughter in front of him. Kate isn’t really leading the life she wants – she’s leading the life her MOTHER wants/wanted. Carole raised Kate to be the person that she lives through as she’s not that controlling and hands on with Pippa and James. Talking about control, Willy is well known as a control freak, you see it in the way the press are treated. Kate never stood a chance at learning to stand on her own 2 feet, she has 2 control freaks running her life for her.
Oh I think that Kate is leading the life *she* wants as well. What other life could she want when her wants have been eclipsed by William’s ? She doesn’t even know what she wants. Kate is deliriously happy. Always has been.
Both William and Kate’s parents encouraged her to fade into the background and be engulfed by all things royal. The only thing Carole negotiated was access to Kate and the kids.
As for the engagement interview: I realized that what William calls “protectiveness” is actually called by a different name by other people. William and his press office have always made a huge deal about him “protecting” Kate. And I thought that the engagement interview was a demonstration of that – William “protecting” Kate from having to answer questions (which were no doubt rehearsed) in an intelligent fashion by jumping in and completely monopolizing the conversation. It revealed a great deal on the dynamic between them, and I am to this day astonished that none of the publications (including the Guardian) did not call him out for it.
William has Kate completely brainwashed. He probably has her convinced that her not having a career or life beyond him was actually a *good* thing for her because that way she would open herself to less criticism and she would be able to enter royal life, never having set “a foot wrong”. It is the ultimate stepfordization.
It isn’t all William, a lot was there from the beginning. Both a cousin and her Uncle Gary have said things publicly about her character and personality that fit what we’re seeing. She finds it difficult to pay attention and struggles to find other people interesting. She’s always had to work harder than others just to break even, while academic things came much easier to Pippa. Most of her teachers couldn’t remember anything about her when asked.
Her comments about Faberge, smelling tea, what fishermen catch, her cringeworthy answer for the UNICEF event are examples. Her hobbies are all about her – shopping, hair, exercise. The parts don’t add up into a witty conversationalist or someone engaged with the issues of the world.
What did she say about fishermen Notasugar?
It was on a museum visit to an area where fishing is a main industry. She asked the same fisherman three times if he caught a particular species of fish. He kept giving her the same answer. Same question, same man, same answer, and she asks the question again.
Nota
That was a tough article with the cousin quote. Not the dancer cousin either. This one really tried to defend her as misunderstood. If it’s not of interest to Kate she zones out and forgets polite conversation basics like asking how someone is after they ask you how you are.
I suspect she doesn’t engage in conversation much to not have this as a reflex.
This is painful.
Thanks nota. So she is basically focussing on something else when people are talking to her. Crazy.
I thought that the cousin was saying something to the effect of “it is hard to make small talk every day”. I don’t know – I did not interpret that as something negative because I do agree that it can be tough to be a royal especially if your heart is not in your job. I agree that she was trying to be kind to Kate but ended up giving away too much.
I’m telling you all, the BRF has a new Diana on its hands. This time it’s not bulimia or a neglectful Charles but still. Kate is work shy, reclusive, stubborn, prickly (according to reports) and just dumb & clueless to the wider world (based on what’s reported & discussed here daily). William’s hand can eventually be forced but not so much with Kathy.
For the other stuff: she already has 3 kids: Billy (33), George & Charlotte.
Get going in the Fall? Ok. What have we got: the mental health appearance, perhaps the event with the Chinese Ambassador, then to the Bahamas & Christmas in Norfolk but with an appearance with all the other Royals. Then, she’ll slide safely into a new year & a new round of holiday vacations where she’ll just HAVE to make an appearance. Hmm. Let me see. Let me see. Oooooooh. Yeah, yeah. I get it. I get it. I really do. I’m so eager. Please let me explain. Please, please. Pretty please. Here is why it’s being written as getting going. If I’m not mistaken, I read the word few–as in the Duchess has a few appointments this fall. A few is 3. I’ve just listed 4 events, with sliding into the holiday vacation corridor possibly being counted as 5. What? That’s like 1 a month, possibly 2 in a 3 or 4 week range? That’s it!! There it is!! Kate, the overachiever, outpacing expectations again. Popping out babies & working her ass off (when not on the stair master). You. Go. Girl. You go girl. Putting us all to shame & leading with your light.
Damn but I feel inferior😳.
Good lord if you compare Kate’s work level over the last four years to that of Pss. Mary of Denmark’s first four years trying to prove herself worthy of what she’d been given (including learning Danish and also giving birth to two children as well in that time), ditto Pss. Maxima’s in The Netherlands (including learning Dutch and becoming Queen within ten years and having three children) the comparison is wince-inducing. Kate’s more like Letizia of Spain . . . notoriously lazy yet hugely entitled and nakedly more interested in the perks of her position than its responsibilities.
That’s not Letizia. It’s what the press makes of her.
Her actions have proven time and time against she’s aware of her image and battling uphill to prove she’s a hard worker who’s completely aware of her image and her people.
And Letizia had a career, education, and engaged in that. When did that become lazy?
I don’t know much about Letizia, and I know a lot of people around here like her, but I’ve never got her at all. She looks like a pretty doll with not much substance to me. Sort of like Kate only more sophisticated and a much better dress sense.
I hear you bluhare. I never got it either. And that exaggerated PDA with her husband seems really put-on to me. She is obsessed with her appearence – it seems to me. Never have a whiff of authenticity from her. CP Mary and Maxima are my girls. They are real and sincere. And it comes across. They put themselves out there with their warts and all. And that is what people appreciate over the years. Maxima incidentally does not even have an accent when she speaks Dutch. Can you believe that.
bluhare/Maia
Letizia has her Masters in Journalism that she put to use as a journalist and tv anchor. She’s worked at a few publications around the world and was an achor for an ABC (and a CNN?) affliliate. 1 of those was the highest rated spot.
She’s covered presidential elections, TWC bombings at ground zero, with other high profile stuff from location.
She’s been married before and while has dressed lavishly for her public role she has taken to pinching pennies and her personal allowance for clothes has been extremely low. She’s made Kohl’s style clothes look designer.
The press has been extremely aggressive to her. She’s not bad though. She’s worked and continues to work while being mindful of her image, actions, and what is needed from her. Also, she adores her husband as he does her by appearances. She’s “no slouch”
P.S. She speaks spanish and english I think. Also, the appearance was learned from being an anchor. Botox.
Felipe and Letizia mostly do glances, not a lot of physical PDA that I’ve seen. The scripted PDAs come from Mary and Fred. A tiny red carpet leading up to the aquarium where Fred is in his scuba gear – and she kisses the glass in front of him? Scripted PDA.
Both Maxima and Mary walked into countries that are quite frankly, EASIER. In Denmark, very few people criticize the monarchy no matter how OTT Queen Margrethe may be. The Netherlands embraced Maxima’s extroverted nature in comparison to wooden Willem-Alexander, even while they criticized her father.
Spain is old school and male-dominated. Letizia married into a monarchy in a country where some aristocrats believe they are descended from Christ (Da Vinci code and all). The divorced grand daughter of taxi driver, who considers herself her husband’s equal, was never going to be good enough for the old guard.
I think Maxima should give lessons on how it’s done, Maia. She’s amazing. My favorite by far of the European royals, with Victoria second.
W-A praised her for doing something like that. Making herself available to all the other newcomers whenever they needed her advice or wanted to talk. Mathilde married in first but it was really Maxima who took charge of the new generation.
Well I am sure that you ladies are well justified in liking Letizia. I will pay more attention to her in the future.
Notasugar: I agree that Mary and Fred do patronise with their PR a bit. I find their PDA to be quite a bit OTT as well. And I suspect that their marriage is a more normal (as in no fairy tail) one with ups and downs and not a bed of roses that they like to portray. But you know what I like about Mary – the fact that she works hard for her causes and has seen the world. Sort of the same reason you all like Letizia. But about her PDA with Felipe – there were a couple of occasions where she would hang on to him in a girly false giggly sort of way leaning in to whisper and such. I found it a bit false.
But Victoria and Maxima are simply in a different league. I mean is there anyone who doesn’t like them? No I didn’t think so.
FLORC: If it is too much Botox that could explain why some people liken her to a doll.
Maia, you just sit next to me. We’re totally in agreement on this one.
Maia
It is the botox, but Nota covered it well. She was not to be liked from the start. The behavior and acceptance of royals hinges on their location and culture. Not because they are unfit for their posts.
It’s an extreme example, but like Princess Masako. Educated and lovely, but attacked and thought unfit because she couldn’t produce all that was expected of her. A male heir. In terms of what each RF values and the society values Kate got off the easiest and Masako the worst with many of the others being attacked for what we could consider silly or ancient.
Because the press praises or tears down doesn’t mean that is what’s going on. The facts without spin speak to Letizia being a woman in love with her husband and doing her best with improvements and going the extra stretch all the time.
FLORC: I don’t know anything about Letizia beyond a few pictures here and there. So I have not been following the press at all, and what they say or write about her has not influenced my opinion on her. I have never read anything about her at all.
I don’t have a strong opinion on her either way as I know such little about her. So any opinion I have is based on her appearance and her demeneour. I thought her to be very plastic the first time I saw a picture of her, and that has lingered with me.
Maia and I are perfect examples of why appearance does matter. Letizia could be the most accomplished person on the planet, but she doesn’t look like it. She looks like one of those women who spend all day thinking about her next outfit, making sure she’s made up properly, exercised to within an inch of her life, and hair perfect.
I will say that the outfit she wore to Felipe’s coronation was spectacular. I don’t think she could have done better if she tried.
Maia
I guess it’s not fair to judge a book by its cover.
You should see Letizia in a pants suit. the woman does it perfectly!
With bluhare on this. She looks like a woman who is vain, but that’s sort of imo a trait she picked up from being a news anchor. She had to look a certain way. She wore designer etc. Now she’s much reduced her cost of living.
Bluhare. Her white pants suit was awesome too.
I can see why being on the news every night would do that to you. I also got the sense that she is extremely vain. Something about the way she holds her body very rigidly.. or appears to in pictures. Also, I think that if your face is immobile after a certain point you seem expressionless and that might give the “empty headed” sort of impression. But glad to know her accomplishments.
I do agree that she can wear the heck out of a pant suit. And not that many short women can do that.
She studied ballet for years which leads to the good posture.
Letizia earned B. A. and Masters degrees. She was at the top of her profession when she married Felipe. Reported from Ground Zero in NY and Iraq. Not lazy. She was forced by the king to take a back seat for many years, so she quietly built up her work behind the scenes. She was mocked and belittled by the criminal in-laws, Inaki and Cristina. She wasn’t allowed to start doing overseas visits by herself until recently. And whatever else she’s done, she’s had a positive impact on Felipe’s speech delivery.
Lmao anyone who says Letizia is lazy has no idea what they’re talking about. For the past 10 years before she became Queen, she had the busiest schedule out of all the future Queens.
Yep, she worked and still works more times than crowd favourites Maxima and Mary. There was one year when she worked 225 times in the year. Unlike the BRF who counts their events per activity, the Spanish royals count the days. So if Letizia did 3 meetings in a day, that only counts as 1 event. Her schedule often has 2-3 meetings/day with organizations. So imagine the “notoriously lazy”, no substance, vain Letizia working more than most of her peers, combined.
Please don’t liken her to Kate. That is disrespectful and insulting to Letizia who has always been hard working and genuine in her dedication to her work. She has been very involved with important causes like cancer, Red Cross and rare diseases for children. Not bad for a woman with no substance, eh?!
Google is so convenient and so is Getty images. Just pop in and see the 1000s of pics Letizia has every year that documents her activities, work or not.
If anything IMO she’s the realest of them all since she must do everything she can to help Felipe get the monarchy to stable ground again. While other royals get to play dress up, Letizia has to be serious, be quiet, and get to work. The Spanish media has demonized her since 2003, it’s not her fault they make her out to be a big bitch and people actually believe it.
Netherlands can keep Maxima. I doubt her bubbliness would stay intact if she was in Letizia’s shoes and experienced all the bullshit Letizia has gone through. Of the current crop of royals, I see nobody who would have had the tenacity and strength and would have done better in Letizia’s position.
You wanna know why I like Letizia the best out of all the royals? She supports equal rights. During a visit to Colombia, an activist asked her what she thought of homosexuality. She said that in Spain, the only thing that matters is you work hard, not you sexual orientation. She and Felipe also were the first royal couple to host an LGBT organization and invited them for a meeting at the Palace.
I actually like Maxima. She and Letizia are two of the few royals I actually respect with regards to their work and personalities. But they’re different people tackling different cultures and society.
What is your opinion on CP Mary Krishan ? I don’t know a whole lot about her but like what I do know. You seem to know a lot about the European royals.
Thanks for that. I knew Letizia worked hard at her charities and royal work, but I did not know how much. It really is an insult to compare her to the lazy one.
“Before she gave birth to Princess Charlotte in May, Kate had made children’s issues a key theme of her public life. She quietly visited a special school, made a PSA on the issue and gained praise for the impact she was having.”
I don’t understand how “quietly” visiting a special school is helping to garner widespread public attention, because “quietly” means she didn’t want the visit to be publicized.
She did what? One PSA video a long time ago. And then that’s it.
She “gained praise for the impact she was having?” How? Because her charity visits for the less fortunate are so rare and far too few in between that it’s so notable when she does show up?
……………………….
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the DM posted an article about how Kate has been spending her maternity leave drawing “royal portraits” of her children:
“In scenes reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel, Kate is said to have spent the summer enjoying long sunny afternoons in the picturesque garden of her Norfolk home Anmer Hall with her sketch book in hand, drawing detailed pencil works of Prince George and Princess Charlotte.”
I’m thinking Kate apologists will say that drawing pictures is all she can bear to do at this time as women who’ve given birth and are raising children are too vulnerable to do even the simplest work outside of the home. (But never mind the CP Victoria article yesterday. She must not want to bond with her children, right? And she definitely must not want her body to heal by not being in near seclusion doing only self-indulging, ‘womanly’ activities.)
I think Richard Palmer’s tweet is funny. So basically, if it’s true that there’s no royal dinner invitation to “coax” reclusive Kate into leaving her maternity leave, then it’s just another vacation, right? But was labeled and given a cover as being some kind of quasi-royal duty even though it’s actually not.
It’s like their reported plan to go on an official trip to the Caribbeans in the Spring. Hey guys, that’s not another tropical vacation. It’s actually *wink* work.
Also, I read on the DM that the Queen will be giving some kind of something to Kate before the official Chinese event. Some kind of Royal Order of something or other that also Princess Anne has.
Those royal orders are pretty standard – she’s given a couple of heirs and is 4 yrs into the marriage so an RVO is her reward (probably).
She’ll maybe(I’m guessing she will) get a Royal Family Order. What Anne also has is the IIRC the Royal Companion of The Order of The Garter. Sophie too(& a damehood as well,I believe). These royals also have their “own” military regiment. In Kate’s 4 years + heir & spare she has none of the above mentioned decorations. Quite telling. Correct me if I’m wrong, ladies.
Sophie the Countressof Wessex, Prince Edwards wife , has the Order , but She actually works doing lots of royal duties.
Anne ,The Princess Royal has the order We know what a hard worker she is.
Camilla has the order.
I think Kate will get it.
They never announce those ahead of time. Judging by the pictures of Peter and Autumn Phillips front and center with HM and Philip at the Braemar Games, I think Autumn might get an Order.
Sarah Ferguson didn’t receive an order, and she was very close to HM early on.
Don’t you have to be royal or married to one to get one of those, nas? I guess I thought that was a requirement. Zara should get one if you don’t have to be royal.
Interesting, I didn’t know that Sarah didn’t get it and it was so nice to see Peter and Autumn out with the Queen at the Breamor Games.
Their official website doesn’t make it clear. In part:
“George IV started the formal practice of presenting Family Orders, or portraits of the Sovereign set in diamonds suspended from a ribbon. Before 1820, the Sovereign’s portrait set in a jewelled frame had been worn by both ladies and gentlemen at Court, and especially by female members of the Royal Family.”
Wasn’t there talk of a lady of the bedchamber having one too?
Thanks, nas. So, no, you don’t have to be royal. Well then, Angela Kelly should have one. She’s done more for HM than Kate ever has!
Kate in the blue coat – she looks like a caricature or a cartoon character. She is!
Nope, I don’t buy it. Kate is no-worky-worky.
Kate was brought up in a pretty vapid and protected world where nothing more was demanded of her than to be the most attractive, thin, fit, tanned girl in the bunch. Her uni degree is useless and as William’s on/off girlfriend she got a lot of attention for nothing more than her physical appearance and partying. Her life was spent dabbling in a bit of work for PP and clubbing, but her real job was to reel in and hang on to William, whatever it took. Now at 33 with the prize, an heir and a spare she has absolutely nothing to fall back on in way of work experience, if you can call showing up at a sports or entertainment event once every few months work. Having a conversation with her about anything other than clothes, hair, babies, vacations and working out must be excruciating, like pulling teeth….but the sad thing is she appears to not give a flying fart and has done NOTHING to further her learning and involvement about the various causes she SHOULD be representing as patron on a regular basis. What a total disappointment and I can imagine the hair tearing their PR guy most go through trying to turn sh*t into snowflakes in his press releases.
Totally agree, trying to make Kate sound worthwhile to the public at the moment is an impossible task. The media are asking ‘Where is she? What does she do all day?’ and the public are agreeing with them. A woman of her age should have a career, let alone do charity work, and her Stepford Wives existence is so 1950’s and doesn’t match up to today’s modern woman. So to the general public, she can only appear dreadfully lazy and not much else.
We are all hating, but if we were in her shoes we wouldn’t want to be doing anything too. Who wants make social appearances when you can be a royal and do nothing but raise/play with your kids and look pretty while all along living a luxurious life. That’s the truth. I mean the royals really don’t have/want to do much .It seems like they are forced to bc the public criticizes them otherwise. I would want be a royal and do nothing ha ha
Jason is that you?
lol….
Me. Not to say I’d make a full time (40 hour week) job out of it, but you bet I would. This woman will be in the HISTORY BOOKS. And what are those books going to say about her? She had two kids and loves her family. We can say that about the vast majority of people. If I were her I would want my chapter in that book to say a bit more than that.
As is frequently written here and elsewhere, it isn’t hate, it is criticism.
Please see Prince Philip, Sophie, Maxima, Letizia, Daniel, Mathilde, Mary, Rania, etc. as examples of other married-in royal spouses and what they do in the role. Hint, it isn’t hanging around with a personal trainer and refusing to do royal engagements.
Truly
I would feel guilty for accepting so much money and perks without feeling like i’m earning it.
And the down time of vacations and shopping with nothing of intellectual stimulation would have me climbing the walls.
And who wants to do nothing? Who feels happy knowing they can’t survive on their own? Or that their survival hinges on the support of their parents and inlaws money. What type of person would resign to being cared for on the backs of others while they are only expected to keep quiet and have children to raise with staff. And maybe your husband returns to you for a vacation and to remind the world you exist. Maybe people glorify Kate’s existence, but I stand firm on this. If we were in her position eventually the novelty wears off and you want more. More than beaches. More than shopping. As humans we actually crave this or we regress in development.
To desire a life where you exist to vacation from nothing and take from others with nothing in return except produce an heir and spare…. I mourn that persons spark of life.
And that’s the truth.
I don’t know. I think I’d go batsh** crazy sitting at home and talking to my potatoes and my paintbrushes all day and waiting for my bicep to show some definition.
Are you kidding me.
Some of us women actually *like* our jobs. Some of us *like* getting dressed and going to work and having people respect us for what we do. So yes, I would work.
Also, we read the news, feel bad about not being in a position to do something, we petition our congressmen, we arrange talks and rallies. There are many many women in this world who would kill for her ability to make a real palpable difference in the lives of people. Kate is not the rule – she is more of an exception. Look at the other royals in Europe. All engaged and out and about. Nobody is hanging around their garden all day long for months at end.
I grew up reading about Diana, and she was an example to me. I didn’t grow up with the Kardashians who do next to nothing but shop, post selfies and pay the Daily Mail to run daily stories on them. Would I vacation in beautiful locations and wear pretty clothes? For sure! I would love those aspects, but she didn’t marry Harry, she married William. She grew up in Britain, she knows what is expected.
Please stop using the word ‘hate’ when we question what is being said to us from a PR machine.
All of this.
Wha? Personally I’d love to have the attention, because it means I could get people to care about some of the issues I care about (mostly about diseases that no one gives two twigs about). She’s wasting an amazing opportunity to make a difference.
Kate always “gets going” in October and November – it’s to add more engagements to her sparse year-end tally. Then she goes back to doing next to nothing.
I also don’t expect a third pregnancy until the summer or autumn (if one even happens; if it’s up to William, I can’t see it); she has to get her fill of jegging shots and pats on the back for being such a super-thin, hands-on mum first.
True, but in this case I think she’s surpassed herself for sheer brazenness.
It seems this charity visit is a red herring because it’s being reported that she’s accompanying William and Harry to various games during the rugby world cup. Apparently she doesn’t want to be a rugby widow.
This is her sop to the masses so she won’t be criticised (as much) when she attends multiple games of the tournament.
What’s even more infuriating is that Harry is the rugby patron, so William and Kate tagging along and calling it work is really taking the piss.
Neither of those lazy wastes have any shame. Their piggy-backing on Harry’s stuff is beyond pathetic; I wish Harry would put his foot down.
Remember when William randomly showed up for an Invictus training session with Harry 2 days before the Games? He made sure to greet everyone, got into all the photos (in one he’s right in the middle of a group shot while Harry was on the end) and just acted like it was HIS baby. I wanted to smack him, hard…. sooooo very, very hard. Ugh. (I laughed later when Charles showed up before the Games and greeted Harry first, beaming with pride and seemed to ignore William’s presence. IIRC, William looked kind of offended. LOL).
Ugh. No shame.
I just went and read it. She’s keen to take on a limited programme of engagements. Apparently they do read the criticism, vis a vis going to the tennis and not doing anything else.
Their response to criticism about them not doing enough charity work is to go watch rugby with Harry?
Yes, she’s definitely keen to take on a LIMITED programme of engagements. She wouldn’t be keen to take on a EXTENSIVE programme of engagements.
When will the house of cards fall down on their heads? It’s beyond the absolute ridiculous now. Something has to give, fast.
I wasn’t clear, nas. The Anna Freud engagement taking the heat off her going to all the rugby matches. And you must admit, one engagement is indeed, “limited”.
I think that they toy with us.
Oh, too bad. I was hoping Kate really was pregnant because it would finally put us on the track to discussing something else. I mean, how many times and how many ways can we keep discussing the laziness factor? It gets old and so old, the new press releases are old too.
I’m hoping we get the official pregnancy announcement by end of September or xmas at the latest.
Compared to the Queen and Prince Charles, these two are just so disengaged and lazy. They seem to have very little interest or aptitude for the throne, which is a real shame.
On a lighter note, her teeth (and jaw?) look weird in some photos where she is smiling. The smile seems very forced and it’s almost like she’s clenching. Ill-fitting veneers?
Kate has an underbite which can appear off to some. And Yes, she also has veneers that weren’t properly sized. Also, her smile at times is forced. These 3 factors combined reads to out subconscous as inaccurate and to be mindful of deception. It’s interesting how the mind works. Last thread we discussed this there was a link to a website on if we can tell a real from fake smile with another about work being done vs natural features.
I’ll have to check it out – do you recall how far back that previous thread was (I’m afraid I’m behind in my reading lol)
Click on the “Royals” tab at the top of the page.
Why can’t everyone just leave her alone! She just had a freaking baby and also has a toddler. She is probably exausted. All this royal duty shit is so annoying. So she takes 6 months off. Back off and leave her alone.
Poor thing…
I know right !
LOL…………..yes, poor, poor Kate………..
Poor Kate with her large household staff, overbearing mummy and 2 nannies doing everything for her so she can sit on her arse 95+% of the year. I don’t know how the poor snowflake does it, really. 🙁
When she starts goes beyond making a token appearance or two then I’ll starting giving her A’s for serious effort. The bar is set so low for this woman that she gets applauded by delusional people who buy into the sugar anytime she sticks her nose out of her cubbyhole doing what she should be doing in the first place.
Princess Sofia of Sweden has only been a princess since June and has just made a solo trip overseas (to Pretoria). Your turn, Cathy.
She’s also done solo engagements (2-3) in Sweden, a official dinner (can’t think of what it’s called) with the rest of the RF (minus Madde & Chris) and at least one speech.
I don’t like her in the least but I readily admit she’s done more/better in the less than 3 months she’s been a royal than Kate has in over 4 years. There is zero excuse for this pathetic waste.
Oh, I didn’t know about Sofia. Well done!
I must say I root for her, given how she was criticized and how in love she and her husband appear to be.
William and Kate’s PR team need to turn things around for Kate on the double, as public opinion of her is waning hugely. She used to be very popular and the public loved her, but consistently being portrayed as lazy is a serious problem. The British public expect something for their tax £’s which pay for the Royal family and their lifestyle. The Royals have nothing except their popularity with the public, they don’t run the country, they are for decoration purposes only. Kate is still behind Camilla for the throne, so actually, she should be working on more than charities and public appearances. Kate really should have a job, a career of her own, which she focuses on in between official charity visits and engagements. The amount that she is doing right now for charities is really quite pathetic. And I was a die-hard Kate fan. But even I can’t argue with the current criticism.