Here are some photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the last day of their Flop Tour. Eight spectacular days of beach vacations, scuba diving, colonialist imagery, blundering PR, recoiling from Black folks, treating people of color as props and refusing to steer out of disaster after disaster. Just think about how William and Kate were perfectly capable of landing in Jamaica and saying “you know what, we need to rethink what we’re doing, we need to be looser and we need to stop cosplaying the Queen circa 1953.” They couldn’t. They were incapable of self-reflection as it was happening.
In particular, Kate seemed especially unwilling to deviate from all of her hyper-planned flag/Diana/Queen/colonialist cosplay. Her costumes were specifically meant to invoke not just the Queen and not just Diana, but British Imperialism, “the good old days” of quivering white women in white lace and fancy hats, deigning to spend an hour or two with “the natives.” The dress she wore in these photos is Rixo, retailing for £245. It’s not a modern look. It’s purposefully not a modern look, because Kate is fundamentally unmodern, and incapable of modernity.
As for William, well by the last day, he had a lot on his mind. The Daily Mail’s Charlotte Griffiths suggested that “William would have gone bananas behind the scenes, because he’s got quite the temper on him and there have been some real misfires here.” This has been widely assumed, even by the “friendliest” of royal reporters, that William has been seething and incandescent with anger for a full week. Which might explain the general vibe of the statement William “wrote” at the conclusion of the tour:
“Foreign tours are an opportunity to reflect. You learn so much. What is on the minds of Prime Ministers. The hopes and ambitions of school children. The day-to-day challenges faced by families and communities.
“I know that this tour has brought into even sharper focus questions about the past and the future. In Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, that future is for the people to decide upon. But we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with communities in all three countries, understanding more about the issues that matter most to them.
“Catherine and I are committed to service. For us that’s not telling people what to do. It is about serving and supporting them in whatever way they think best, by using the platform we are lucky to have.
“It is why tours such as this reaffirm our desire to serve the people of the Commonwealth and to listen to communities around the world. Who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isn’t what is on my mind. What matters to us is the potential the Commonwealth family has to create a better future for the people who form it, and our commitment to serve and support as best we can.”
I wonder how much of this was William and how much of this was Buckingham Palace. Because it feels like it’s mostly William, especially the awkward wording as he angrily dictated what he thought would be a kingly statement. But think about what’s really happening here. This isn’t an apology or even an honest acknowledgement of legitimate grievances. This is William telling the Caribbean Commonwealth countries that if they don’t like him or what he did on tour, then they can leave and he’ll leave too, he’ll take his toys and go. He’s telling them that this is the only way he knows how to be, really. He only knows how to visit their countries as a colonialist, and if they’re mad about it, oh well, he was just trying “to serve”!! And yes, William has made his “peace” with losing the Commonwealth. The only trouble is, the Queen cares a lot about the Commonwealth. So does Charles.
Photos courtesy of Instar.
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- North America Rights Only – Abaco, Bahamas -20220326- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church Abaco in The Bahamas, to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and to see how communities are still being rebuilt, on day eight of their tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee. Abaco, a chain of islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas, was hit by winds of up to 185mph during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 leaving 75% of homes across the chain of islands damaged and resulting in tragic loss of life. During a visit to Fish Fry in Abaco, a traditional Bahamian culinary/. During a visit to the Memorial Wall to remember victims of the 2019 hurricane at the Memorial Garden in Abaco. During a visit to Grand Bahama Children’s Home, which provides a home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families -PICTURED: Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated
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- North America Rights Only – Abaco, Bahamas -20220326- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church Abaco in The Bahamas, to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and to see how communities are still being rebuilt, on day eight of their tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee. Abaco, a chain of islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas, was hit by winds of up to 185mph during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 leaving 75% of homes across the chain of islands damaged and resulting in tragic loss of life. During a visit to Fish Fry in Abaco, a traditional Bahamian culinary/. During a visit to the Memorial Wall to remember victims of the 2019 hurricane at the Memorial Garden in Abaco. During a visit to Grand Bahama Children’s Home, which provides a home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families -PICTURED: Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated
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- North America Rights Only – Abaco, Bahamas -20220326- The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to Daystar Evangelical Church Abaco in The Bahamas, to learn about the impact of Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and to see how communities are still being rebuilt, on day eight of their tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen to mark her Platinum Jubilee. Abaco, a chain of islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas, was hit by winds of up to 185mph during Hurricane Dorian in 2019 leaving 75% of homes across the chain of islands damaged and resulting in tragic loss of life. During a visit to Fish Fry in Abaco, a traditional Bahamian culinary/. During a visit to the Memorial Wall to remember victims of the 2019 hurricane at the Memorial Garden in Abaco. During a visit to Grand Bahama Children’s Home, which provides a home environment to vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families -PICTURED: Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge -PHOTO by: INSTARimages.com Disclaimer: This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact INSTAR Images for licensing fee and rights information at sales@instarimages.com or call +1 212 414 0207. This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. INSTAR Images reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded For images containing underage children: Be advised that some Countries may have restricted privacy laws against publishing images of underage children. Inform yourself! Underage children may need to be removed or have their face pixelated
The Cambridge way of serving was going scuba diving, posing with a wax statue of Bob Marley and going sailing while these three countries paid to put them up in swanky resorts. They should have started the trip with a statement supporting whatever decisions these countries made and then done engagements with more substance.
I wonder if William was snotty behind the scenes and the Jamaican Prime Minister responded by firing them on camera?
Kate couldn’t be bothered with the fake smile anymore. She is done with this trip and ready to go home. And she wore earrings by a local designer. One locally designed accessory for each country. Also, does William not wear an undershirt? No one wants to see that.
“No one wants to see that”😂 we really don’t!
He’s showing his chest hair because he’s on vacation. Period. That’s all that he thinks these countries are. Would he EVER let his chest hair out like that in Ireland? No? Then why Caribbean?
The answer is clear. He didn’t come to work. He didn’t come to be serious. He came for vacation.
I zoomed in to see the chest hair and you are so right, no one wants to see that sh.t!!! 😂😅
I’m commenting on your undershirt comment; it’s not really a done thing in the UK. In the past men would wear a cotton vest but that’s dying out as older generations pass away. You still see them for sale in a few shops but it’s one range in a small number of sizes.
LOL my 39 year old boyfriend still wears cotton under vests. He feels cleaner and his shirts last longer too. I’m sure that’s not a problem William has to think about.
Cotton under vests are what we typically wear in the US too, we call them tanks or in slang, pardon our uncouthness, but “wife beaters”.
IDK If you perhaps have better quality dress shirts, but here undershirts are often necessary because the shirt material can be so thin.
But they are bringing attention. Scuba divers didn’t know they could dive in Belize and nobody knew about Bob Marley and Jamaica and who would have thought without their help that you could sail in the Bahamas? One of their brainiac fans actually posted that he had never heard of Belize so they were increasing awareness.
That fan needs a world map.
Maybe George can point out Belize for them on his globe. 😏
“I wonder if William was snotty behind the scenes”
@kalana- possibly but there’s a very good chance his team was snotty behind the scenes. Probably snotty to begin with and it got worse as stress built from the worldwide negative coverage. Their KP team had to coordinate on the ground with local reporters from Jamaica. How do you think that went down?
Jamaica Gleaner had a fascinating tweet from when William went to do some sort of pilot simulation? It stated:
It’s been a jostle for local media to get the best positions to capture images and footage of Kensington Royal. The media are restricted to particular positions of each location by royals and on some occasions there have been tensions with handlers.
Then they provide a video of a handler from William’s team repeatedly tapping a Jamaican photographer and telling him his time to photo is up and then her running up to other Jamaican journalists telling them to back away and not get too close to William. I watched the video a few times and it looked cringey. Technically, she was doing her job but the optics were peak cringe. And the handler looked stressed.
So based on the fact that Jamaica gleaner actually tweeted this, it seems there was quite a lot of tensions with handlers and this was but one example.
Trying to share the tweet below but not sure if I’m doing it correctly! @jozzzaphen retweeted it from Jamaica Gleaner’s Twitter thread about the trip.
https://twitter.com/jozzzaphen/status/1506779418487832585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
@Jais – that was so bad. A white person putting their hands on them and so bossy just bothers me so much, from experience. You know it’s not staff going rogue, it’s staff knowing what their bosses demand.
Snotty? I’d bet he was positively fulminating; cursing his brother for checking out and leaving, nay, *forcing* him and the missus to do some work. Remember what lazy arses these two were when Harry and Meghan were not only out doing their Royal engagements, but also developing their own projects? Remember Wiljiam’s “career” as an emergency hehelicopter pilot? A part-time job he so often couldn’t be arsed showing up at for, even for the limited hours he was rostered on. Bill and Cathy hid behind Harry and Meghan and it suited them. When the Sussexes left, it highlighted just how little the Cambridges actually did. Harry is like his mother. Like her or not, people everywhere gravitated towards Diana. Her empathy, compassion, interest, understanding and concern for the sick, the poor, the downtrodden, the destitute etc., was evident and genuine. Harry and Meghan also have those qualities. People can tell when you’re faking. The Cambridges can’t even fake it well. William and Catherine have to fill the gaps left by Harry and Megan. This Terrible Tropical Tour proved that they are not up to the task. No amount of royal training is going to give William the charisma that his mother had and brother has. He knows it and he can’t stand it.
@annakist if you look at the 2018 & 2019, William did more royal engagements than Harry. Meghan did 1 more event than Kate in 2018, but Kate did several more events than Meghan in 2019.
@Goldfish – Meghan was on maternity leave for much of 2019, and they also left the UK and moved to Canada at the end of that year. The fact that her number of engagements even came close to FFQ Kate’s is actually kind of embarrassing…
@Goldfish trainer – Meghan was on maternity leave for months in 2019 so the fact that Kate barely had more engagements than her is very sad. In fact iirc when Meghan went on leave in March she had dozens more events completed than Kate and it took Kate months into Meghan’s maternity leave to match where Meghan was before she went on leave because she kept going on vacation. William and Kate are Future Future King and Queen Consort; their numbers should be much higher than the sixth in line and his wife.
And the fact that up until this tour Kate had never done an official tour of Africa or the Caribbean after a decade as a duchess while Meghan visited Morocco less than a year into being a duchess(and while 6 months pregnant) is very telling. WIilliam and Kate are lazy and they only like to do visits to Europe, North America, and Oceania which is why Harry was always the one sent on official visits to majority Black countries. If Kate wanted to visit Africa of the Caribbean before now she would have; she only went because Harry and Meghan aren’t around to be sent anymore and it really showed.
The fact that William is only behind Charles in accession to the throne, but behind Edward, Anne, Sophie and until recently Andrew and the Queen in terms of engagements and workload is the main point here.( William barely exceeds the queens current count as it is) And kate was always last on the list and barely over 100 except for the nonagenarians who aren’t the queen and the one year Meghan was pregnant and on maternity leave. It’s pathetic and inexcusable. Kate and William should be right behind Charles in terms of numbers. They are almost half his age. And kate still hasn’t exceeded the number of engagements that the 95 year old queen is doing. That’s pathetic.
And after a decade of fucking around and not working, they are finding out that not everyone thinks it’s cute that they simply show up. They got called on their lack of preparation and deservedly so. The UK may have a system that coddles them, but the rest of the world does not care about these two.
@Goldfish – I questioned those numbers back when the article ran years ago and I question them now. The “royal expert” counted up engagements, but what does that really mean? After Meghan came off maternity leave, she and Harry went on the South Africa tour – so is that one engagement, two, how many? Can a tour like that (or the South Pacific tour the year before) be counted the same as visiting a local patronage for an hour or two? And if the Queen orders a tour, which might count as fewer engagements, does that mean that less work was done?
@originalleigh My point is that, looking at the number of events, M & H did not “outwork” W&C during their time as working royals, even if you take into a point Kate being on maternity leave in 2018 & Meghan being on maternity leave in 2019.
Also, none of these people could get away with doing so little work in the private sector.
Goldfish trainer
If you look at event types and engagements in detail you’ll find every year Harry has less counted and William has anything counted. This is on purpose to promote the heir over spare. Harry always worked harder and with more substance.
Thank you @jais for sharing the link. To add, there is no doubt in my mind that W&K’s team of royal rota sycophants were given preferential positioning in each country too. Which is absolutely rude to the host country’s media.
A very much arrogant word salad speech from Will. He and Kate do not listen and learn. They’ve yet to demonstrate they are commited to service.
@Goldfish Trainer, Meghan technically wasn’t a working royal until May 19, 2018. In fairness, Kate had maternity leave in 2018. Can’t really compare that year except the fact does exist that the Queen took Meghan on an overnight engagement on the Royal Train before that ever happened with Kate. Oops, Kate never went on an overnight royal engagement with the Queen on the Royal Train. As mentioned already, Meghan was on maternity leave for part of 2019.
Will should have always had more engagements than Harry. Will is the one who needs to prove himself as the future future.
Yes @Nic919.
@ Agreatreckoning, add to the fact that Meghan worked during her maternity leave as well!! She also had that Vogue cover too, on TOP of their tour to S. Africa, with a 6 month old baby on top of the trip!!! There is one website that keeps the numbers for engagements. But you can easily look into their ACTUAL numbers. Hell, you could probably just pull up CopyKeen for one year v Meghan for one year and count them out on your own.
But they DO puff up CopyKeens numbers as she is lazier than my frickin cat!!!
@ Jais, unfortunately that link no longer works as it is set to private. ☹️
Bet he wishes he could transplant most of that man-fur to his chrome dome. On an aside, he should just shave his melon and be done with it.
All I can say is it is a good thing this man was born with a position/job because he is absolutely useless, he never would survive in the private sector. He married the perfect useless entitled wife to walk two steps behind him.
@Cessliy: Your statement is a huge part of the problem. William isn’t the right person for the job. He stated it above. He can do the job one way and that way is if countries completely admire, adore and worship him. Otherwise, he doesn’t want to do it. I believe the nations of the Commonwealth should take his words at face value and move on. William in his statement has proven that the RF are not needed in the Commonwealth Countries and provide little to no real service to these countries. So let the RF be the absolute institution it should be and the let the rest of the world recognize it as such. Let the Brits spend their hard earn money keeping this family in the manner in which they have been accustomed. It’s time for the British to understand their position in the world; a small Island, salty at every turn, with very little power and influence in the world around them.
I think Cessily’s statement is spot-on. It’s doesn’t matter if William isn’t the right person for the job – he was born with the job. And it doesn’t matter how small the monarchy might become, as long as there is a monarchy, William still has the job.
And much as I hate to defend William in any way, he’s not the one who has proven the RF are not needed by the Commonwealth countries – that honor is shared by Elizabeth ll and the passage of time.
Harry and Megan positively ooze warmth. These two, and most of the rest of the family, well… the chill is practically Arctic. It boggles the mind.
I wonder if the queen is going to give him a dressing down when she sees him. Anyone pretending that this tour wasn’t about these Caribbean countries keeping the queen as their head of state is in denial. And instead we got 2 of the 3 countries announcing that they were planning to become republics.
And to me the speech sounded like he was a bit defeated and disappointed.
@Chloe, I feel like this line in particular:
“Who the Commonwealth chooses to lead its family in the future isn’t what is on my mind.” was REALLY not a good look. Yikes. Liz and Charles could not have been happy about that sentiment.
Especially as Liz had openly campaigned for Charles to lead, and the Commonwealth agreed as a favour to the Queen. So it was on their minds for sure.
According to Fail on Sunday TQ was made aware ie not consulted about statement just before it was released and no reference whether the FK was consulted at all! Just Bhwana Bill speaking his truth!
Chloe, I do not think the queen will give them a dressing down, simply because the queen’s “handlers” decide which news to give her and which news to keep from her. In this case, they will keep the details from her.
I think the queen’s handlers most likely “edit” the news that she sees. But where are the articles stating: how dare the Cambridges fumble this tour? Don’t they know the queen is frail and sick? How dare they do this to the queen????? If she passes next week, will they be blamed?
I think Charles is the one that will give them the dressing down. He’s next in line to be king and head of the Commonwealth. And they failed to hold onto 2 countries. He already had to go through Barbados leaving, now, when his son and wife were sent to try and shore up relations, they left him with another 2 countries leaving. The queen will be fine. It’s not something that happens overnight, removing her as head of state, She may not live to see it, realistically. But Charles is slated to be the head of the commonwealth when she goes, and that was made by a lot of campaigning by the queen. He could still be rejected.
At nearly 40 years old, this is certainly a very eye opening “declaration” coming from that he hasn’t got what it takes to be a leader, possibly ever. Chaz will certainly give him a lashing when he get back but it won’t change anything. Bitter Bother isn’t capable of growing up enough to do his duty unless he is struck by lightening. He was always intending of having Harry run the Monarchy and he has been gone 2 years. Bitter Brother didn’t step up then and he is likely never to step up. Chaz may be the last King of England through his own fault unless BB takes over and destroys it through his own incompetence.
All this tour did was highlight how old fashioned the concept of the Commonwealth is, and how white Royals visiting these countries is optically terrible. I’m actually confused as to why this tour went ahead at all. What was the purpose of it? Did nobody at the Palace check the mood in these countries before organising it? And even if they decided to go ahead with the tour, why didn’t they plan it to look less ‘rich white people deigning to visit Black people’ and actually acknowledge the issues up front, rather than panic-reacting to bad press?
“And even if they decided to go ahead with the tour, why didn’t they plan it to look less ‘rich white people deigning to visit Black people’ and actually acknowledge the issues up front, rather than panic-reacting to bad press?”
You’re 100% correct. I suspect that “rich white people deigning to visit Black people” is the only way that the Cambridges know how to operate. They couldn’t have done this tour differently if they wanted to or tried–they’re not capable of it because they’re too entrenched in their own racism and privilege.
They were told, and invited themselves anyway. Almost like they don’t actually believe or respect anything “their colonies” have to say. In particular, Jamaica has had a growng republican movement for awhile, and to think that the Cambridges could come as representatives of the UK and not acknowledge Windrush reveals the depth of their ignorance. They thought “we’ll do the same playbook as always, just a bit less” ( Remember? Originally this tour was floated as two weeks, not one). Even if they had the capacity to understand that a different approach would be required, I don’t think they would be capable of it.
To misquote Donald Rumsfield, they don’t even know what they don’t know.
I honestly think that they believe the entire world, but especially the CW, are in Jubbly mode and that *everyone* is as excited as the RF and the British Press are to celebrate the Queen and her long reign. Like they think “celebrate the Jubbly” is the number one, top of the line, absolute most important thing to do this year for every country in the world.
They really thought that they were going there as the specially invited VIP guests of honor for a party being thrown just for them, just for the monarchy, just to celebrate the queen and everything British. They thought that this wasn’t a regular working tour where they’re meant to do actual charity work, or “raise awareness,” they thought they were coming so that each of these countries could congratulate them on the Jubbly.
And since this was all about them and the BRF, they came in looking as stuffy, royal, and British as possible (no local designers), did a bunch of white savior colonial throwback pics (they literally recreated a queen photo op from 1953!), and expected to be entertained and basically just deign to allow themselves to be seen by these people who were so desperate to celebrate the Queen, the Jubbly, the royals in general, the commonwealth, and Will and Kate as the ambassadors of these things. So tone deaf.
The fact that they invited themselves, were told no, came anyways, and STILL somehow thought that they were walking into a big party that was all about celebrating them is pathetic. It’s like when your live in boyfriend is making moves to apartment hunt without you, is starting to take his name off of your shared utility bills, is starting to pack and look for new roommates, and you demand that he throw you a very special Anniversary of Our First Date party. He says “ehhh, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea right now…” and tries to get you to connect the dots that he’s *this close* to breaking up with you. You ignore him and say “I’ll be home from work at 6PM on Friday, can’t wait for the party, the celebration of your undying love for me!!!!” And then this is what happens when you come home Friday at 6. Some half assed attempts to entertain you, followed by a very public break up. And all his friends are tweeting “thank god, now we never have to see her again either!” and “I would also like to friend break up with @girlfriend.”
Amy Too, you nailed it! I see one sad Totino’s pizza at this party.
@Amy Too, loved reading your post.
@Christine, mentioning Totino’s pizza made me laugh hard. At Christmas time, some of my siblings and me were reminiscing about splitting the little Totino’s pizzas as our after school snack. We loved them back then and the memory. So, next time we got together, we shared one (yes, they are still available). We all broke out in laughter after the first bite. The long ago memory was much better than the quality and said a lot about our taste buds back then. That pretty much sums up what I think about who William is. Except, a Totino’s pizza probably has more quality than Will.
@ Amy Too, you nailed this entire scenario out perfectly!! Brava!!! 👏👏👏👏👏
Agreatreckoning, my brothers and I had a similar experience, except it was the pizza rolls. Nothing about Totino’s stands up after childhood, apparently!
They did check, and was told the countries didn’t want it, but they went ahead anyway. Arrogance thy name is William.
I think a version of this would have been received better if they’d started off the tour with it, and set up a very different tour program.
If they pointed out at the very beginning that it’s the people of the countries who decides who’s their head of state. If he’d aknowledged the issues of colonialism, slavery, racism from the very beginning. He could have added something about the crown/RF/Britain w always want to have a good relationship with the commonwealth countries. If he said something about them wanting to serve and set up a program where they would highlight at least some of the issues, and done some real ground work, they could have had a more successful tour.
Were they actually told the countries don’t want it? I mean I assume they didn’t want it but did the countries just have to say yes either way or did someone actually try and say this wasn’t the best time?
I don’t think it ever would have occurred to William to say it at the beginning of the tour because he doesn’t actually mean it. He felt the pressure to say *something* after the entire week had gone so poorly, and if it wasn’t for that, I don’t think he ever would have said any of it.
Please, Wiliam announced his intentions at the beginning: Full on charm offense and roll out the red carpet. That was his strategy. So basically, the people of the Caribbean would charm them, entertain them and bow/curtsy to them. In return William and Kate would wow them with their presence, clothes, jewels and remind them of a time when they ruled supreme.
@Jais, I don’t know about the other two countries but Jamaica definitely told them no, they didn’t want the expense but they went anyway. Those Caribbean countries have lost a lot of revenue due to the pandemic, part of the Bahamas is still trying to recover from the 2019 hurricane, as we saw from the tour, the money the Bahamas had to spend on this visit could have been better spend in rebuilding homes and lost infrastructure. This tour was tone deaf and selfish.
This Jubbly celebration should be limited to a mass of thanksgiving for her long life followed by tea and cakes, that’s it. If in England people are only interested because of the extra bank holidays why would they think far flung countries have any interest at all.
I’m sure as the disaster unfolded in Jamaica a lot of calls were made to the Bahamian government to make sure things went differently there, hopefully the UK/BRF picked up the tab.
People will be paying attention to the Wessexes tour so hopefully that team has the sense to change the plans.
Thanks Athena! All I gotta say to that is “wow” what assholes.
I grew up in a Commonwealth country and it has potential to be quite beneficial. We had a significant population from Hong Kong, India and other commonwealth countries. There was easy movement from country to country and opportunities. For example my cousin’s wife was born in Guyana, her parents were from Madras. They opened a business, then moved to Trinidad. I have a coworker whose grandparents are from India but she’s born in Grenada. There’s a social, historical connection between commonwealth countries, we just need to remove British Monarchy from it entirely.
I grew up in a Commonwealth country and it has potential to be quite beneficial. We had a significant population from Hong Kong, India and other commonwealth countries. There was easy movement from country to country and opportunities. For example my cousin’s wife was born in Guyana, her parents were from Madras. They opened a business, then moved to Trinidad opened another. Then retired and moved back to India. I have a coworker whose grandparents are from India but she’s born in Grenada. There’s a social, historical connection between commonwealth countries, we just need to remove British Monarchy from it entirely.
🎶🎶 I’m so blue
I thought that we made an arrangement when you went away
You were mine to subdue
When even despite our estrangement
I’ve got a small query for you
What comes next?
You’ve been freed
Do you know how hard it is to lead?
You’re on your own
Awesome, wow!
Do you have a clue what happens now?
Oceans rise
Empires fall
It’s much harder when it’s all your call
All alone, across the sea
When your people say they hate you
Don’t come crawling back to me
Da da da dat da dat da da da ya da
Da da dat da da ya da!
You’re on your own🎶🎶
This has the same level of petulance and condescension as that speech. Lin Manuel Miranda knew what he was doing when he wrote that song.
Standing ovation for this. What a smile you put on my face. Thanks.
Brilliant!
Yes! This is the exact tone
Nailed it! This is basically what William is saying lol
BRAVA, Snuffles! Brilliant! Thanks for a Sunday morning chuckle!!! 👏🏻.👏🏻.👏🏻
Indeed Snuffles….Indeed!
This is perfection!
Never was there a tune more fitting for this situation! Lin Manuel Miranda is a genius!
Did anyone catch William saying the next head of the Commonwealth shouldn’t be a royal? Did he consult with Charles on that? He basically said “If I have to be humiliated via rejection , I’m taking my Dad down with me.”
I think it’s a decision made by Commonwealth leaders and PC has already been decided on to replace TQ.
Charles is only going to be the next head because the queen basically begged for it to happen in the same fashion as which she “announced” that Camilla would be queen consort, I doubt the leaders will have that much respect for Charles to let him lobby for William. When Charles is gone William is never seeing that position
That statement was a full on attack at Charles
“For the people to decide upon”. Way to state the obvious.
You can hear the petulance in this poorly written statement. It’s very “if you don’t care, neither do I ( but I really care because how dare you insult me? Don’t you know who I am!?).”
The worse mistake they made was allowing William to have such a temper and never forcing him to grow up and see the world like they did with Harry. In allowing William to be lazy and entitled, they trained Harry to the be statesman and beloved King and now it’s too late for William & Kate. They’ll never measure up and their circle is too ass kissing to push them to improve.
I really want to hear more about williams temper because it keeps popping up in articles and mentioned by the press. As someone who was quite a casual watcher for a very long time i always thought that william was the level headed one of the brothers. But since 2 years it seems to me like he has anger issues. Part of me keeps thinking that this is why harry is so desperately needed to “reign alongside william”. To keep his anger in check. Harry seems to be about the only one not scared of his brother.
Stories of William’s temper goes back to his childhood. There’s a few videos of him being bratty with Diana, only wanting things once Harry had them. Then another clip of him intentionally bashing his father’s head with his elbow over and over.
Reports of him yelling at and possibly shoving Diana over the Martin Bashir interview. It died down for a few years but then resurfaced with constant reports of his “incandescent rage” for the entire time Meghan was in the UK. He’s known of his clenched jaw, fists and thoughtless commentary. He doesn’t have an ounce of charm or grace.
He was called Billy the Basher at day care and it looks like he never grew out of that temper.
No one trained Harry. Harry learned by default. He learned because William was too lazy to do it. I doubt anyone sat down and said let’s prep Harry for the job. He simply learned on the job. He was the only one willing.
They let the Cambridge’s sit in there aristocratic bubble for far to many years.. maybe if they had been out there doing these tours from the beginning they could have learned as well, instead they left it to Prince Harry. Now they are hitting middle age and clueless.
Harry was called out publicly for the stupid things he did as a young man and as a result he learned and improved himself. Of course he had some natural charisma from day one, but he was called out on being racist and also he was not as coddled as William. Harry being in combat and not the safe royal version William had meant that he couldn’t play the spoiled prince in Afghanistan because actual lives were at stake. He wasn’t tooling around in a helicopter trying to impress his girlfriend. He had to rescue soldiers from active combat.
When I say trained I mean via forced experience. They gave Harry the sink or swim training while William was allowed to galavant his with rich posh friends , sleep around and neglect his marriage.
Agree with this completely. Harry being called out for the stupidity in his youth, forced him to self-reflect way more and grow into who he is today. Even though the family was sinister in how they used him, it did have an added benefit.
@Crowned Huntress: “… they trained Harry to be the statesman and beloved King…”
^^ The palace had nothing to do with how well Harry turned out. As @Snuffles said, Harry learned largely on his own, by having to face his mistakes because he was not protected from the rota rats, like William was. Also, Harry gets his personality from his mother. Because he’s the spare, Harry had more leeway to serve in the military and to experience a different way of living.
Diana could see that Harry’s qualities would make him a good king, so she called him ‘Good King Harry.’ No one trained Harry to be a statesman and to be beloved! He was lucky to have been nurtured well albeit briefly by Diana, to have a good mentor in Mark Dyer, and to have met Prince Seeiso, among other lasting friends.
I would bet money that this was supposed to be his original speech before BP jumped in and gave him the better one about relationships evolving and friendships enduring.
The grammar in this is horrible; it’s full of fragment sentences. It makes more sense as speech notes where a period means “pause for effect.” Kate did this one time, too. She was scheduled to give a speech somewhere and then she didn’t, but “she” posted something “she wrote” on social media and it was this same fragmented, periods as commas nonsense. It was probably the speech notes copy pasted directly by some staffed into social media. Just like this is.
That’s an interesting idea. So him releasing this statement would have been a surprise and an F-u to whoever made him use their speech instead.
This choppy mess emanating from William’s mind sounds right to me. Gosh, those Prime Ministers have a lot on their minds! That one in Jamaica seemed particularly perturbed with his talk about moving on. But we had a good time! As I reflected on the tour from my perch in my penthouse unit with floor to ceiling windows with an ocean view, bloody mary and eggs benedict at my side, I think that what we might do next time for these blokes is maybe more service-type things. But not woke telling people what to do stuff–like to go vote or to give vaccines out to all nations, like Harry and that witch do. So yeah, this tour wasn’t great, people are saying Harry would have done better, and there is probably no way with these bad photo ops that I will get the leader of the commonwealth gig, but THAT”S NOT ON MY MIND.
I think you’re right AmyToo. The fragments stood out to me. I bet this was his speech before BP stepped in.
RR Chris Ship thought some of the language in the speech he made in the Bahamas came from the Queen’s private secretary. The evolving and friendship section. I couldn’t put my finger on why the statement read so awkwardly but you’re right it was written to be given as a speech.
@Crowned Huntress: “The worse mistake they made was allowing William to have such a temper…”
I don’t think anyone would have been able to stop Will from having a temper. Maybe they could have helped him better manage his temper and his character failings. The problem is that Diana died when Will was 15, which is an impressionable age to lose one’s mother. But Will already had a problematic personality even at that point. There are historical instances of Will having been willful and petulant with his parents prior to Diana’s death.
Had Diana lived, possibly she could have guided Will a little, but it still would have been difficult. Diana would have had to contend with the palace grey men. The other issue is that Charles was largely an absent father. And, as Harry told us, Charles seemed to think his sons had to suffer the same way he had suffered.
You’re right though that the biggest problem was no one made enough effort to force Will to reform his self-centered ways, before it was too late. By the palace p.r. constantly throwing Harry under the bus and protecting Will, that was the main cause of Will learning nothing except that he could get away with everything.
After the Dad-dancing incident in Verbier, in 2017, Robert Jobson wrote a DM article (surely backed by Clarence House), in which it was put out there that “Prince William is thin-skinned, and he has a temper behind-the-scenes. He surrounds himself with ‘yes’ men. He won’t listen to the Queen nor to Prince Charles, so they have thrown up their hands and decided to let Will learn from his mistakes.”
LOL! That was a bad decision, as Will still hasn’t learned from his mistakes, and it’s far too late for him to change now.
They are bored as hell in photo with the father.
Im shocked at how poorly their facial expressions are.. no pr or marketing train. The British has not done a single s**T for us in 40+ years, I don’t understand why folks think we need to be a member of Commonwealth…Royalty is simply white welfare at BIPOC expense.
Kate’s departure dress form Nassau.. Is she and Anne sharing closets now?
Spot on! I kept going back to the picture and wondering who’s curtains she stole.
It’s quite literally a “Minnie Mouse in the Caribbean” dress. The shoulder puffs, the huge bow on the front, the sparkly buckle, the pattern, the buttons, the polka dots!!
They get very uncomfortable when faced with the reality of how people live. They had similar expressions when they visited a seaside town in the UK which had seen better days. Instead of looking around and figuring out how they can galvanize assistance, they shut down and can’t wait to leave and put it behind them. The two of them have some similar traits. The same way they promised the Bahamas that they will come back with the children is the same promise they made to that UK seaside town, “we’ll be back with the kiddies”. They never went back and have done nothing to help since their visit.
Had they shown up and done something even a little modern and useful – business roundtables, more environmental meetings (they had one just at the very end, but it would have made more sense to be doing these all throughout, particularly with environment ministers and things) then they could talk about service. but – no. also, I wonder if “service is universal” was in his head…
Frankly, I don’t think either one has the knowledge, intellect, or interest to handle substantive work.
Do they think the public is stupid? Like we haven’t witnessed them bullying Harry and Meghan through the press for the past 4+ years? And these Caribbean countries, full of black people who are watching their behavior, would accept them like nothing is wrong?
Unfortunately, I don’t think they’ve learned any lessons here. A more impactful tour would’ve been spent highlighting important causes, doing actual volunteer work, wearing local designers. You know, focus on how you can bring value to these countries rather than how these countries add value to your image.
Exactly— he is writing about service and support, but where did we see either of those things on this trip? Walking around historic sites, shaking hands, scuba diving and sailing, how do any of those constitute service or support? So they visited a church that was damaged by a hurricane, why didn’t they make hurricane relief a central focus of their visit to the Bahamas? Instead of “learning” just now about the 2019 hurricane, shouldn’t they have learned about it in advance and come in with plans to do activities to highlight charities to which their fans can donate to help the Bahamian people rebuild infrastructure? Support the local economy by wearing clothing from island designers or buying souvenirs from local vendors? Bring gifts of needed supplies or staples for people who are still struggling from loss of home or livelihood?
I keep comparing this tour to the South Africa tour with H&M. Meghan left her engagement ring at home. She wore affordable clothes. She engaged with local organizations. Harry went to another country (was it Botswana? I can’t remember) to continue his mother’s work with land mines etc. there was nothing touristy about it. It could have been, for sure, obviously South Africa is a huge tourist destination – but it wasn’t. I don’t recall any large formal receptions on that tour etc. There was a very conscious choice made about what kind of tour it would be.
Here, Kate has worn all brand new designer clothes, Big Blue, they went scuba diving, sailing, had the locals dance for them, three receptions bc Kate wanted to wear new gowns, and it was nothing but a vacation for them with some speeches thrown in.
Even without the republic aspects of this, is it any wonder it wasn’t a success?
also you know what tells you it was a successful tour? When you go to a country and the king decides he does want to meet you after all even though he wasn’t scheduled to do so. (Talking about Morocco here). What a contrast to having the PM fire you publicly.
The Cambridges are just SO bad at this and I think after seeing how good HM were at visiting other countries, it just highlights how bad the Cambs are. Like we said in the other thread even Charles doesn’t bring the same colonizer vibe these two do.
+1 on all, Becks.
I wondered looking at the expression of some of the people in the crowd, especially the women and older children how many came out of curiosity, wanting to see for themselves the white woman who made Meghan’s life within the royal family a living hell.
Sour grapes much William? The commonwealth group will be next. There is no point of that “voluntary” org. There are certainly no values you espouse that are worth emulating.
This speech to me had shades of Harry& Meghan’s engagement interview- * using the interest in them and that platform to highlight issues,the importance of the commonwealth and how they can serve*.
I wonder if Bulliam and BP press office re looked at that before drafting this statement!
Also how magnanimous of him to say they can have their independence and choose who leads the Commonwealth, the tone deafness continues.
I was born in Trinidad and we gained independence the same time as Jamaica in 1962, we saw that those colonial shackles were still there and in 1976 along with Guyana we became republics , our leaders also pushed for the establishment of CARICOM, which is the organisation of Caribbean countries for economic, educational, cultural purposes. We can do these things for ourselves!
I don’t know about you, but I was offended by his use of the word, ‘family’. The gall of the guy. You know darned well he doesn’t consider dark-skinned people to be ‘family’. We’ve seen that play out already.
It’s been very satisfying to watch, this Karmic Returns Tour. I’m looking forward to also seeing the consequences–pretty sure heads will roll, but whose remains to be seen.
Holy moly that’s poorly written. And not even in a “poorly written but ok because it’s heartfelt” misguided celebrity kind of way.
How many eyes ran over this? They couldn’t leach out even a tiny bit of the anger and resentment? YIKES. Every time we think they can’t hit a new low, they surprise us.
These tours have always been condescending toward the locals because they always consist of the locals performing for the royals to show them their culture. And it becomes more insulting in commonwealth countries because they would pay for the supposed privilege of having the royals visit them. As if their presence is a reward for the locals.
And while Diana and the Queen wore nice outfits while travelling, it never seemed like the outfits were the sole focus of what the women were supposed to do. With Kate it is always about the clothes and done in such a basic way with the flag cosplay. If we look at Diana’s tours, was she dressed like the flag when she visited? I don’t seem to recall that. Or maybe it’s because she did so many tours that she moved in from that. But kate has a childish and shallow approach to these tours. And kate wearing new outfits every few hours that cost in the thousands is just tone deaf to the max.
A Bahamian reporter covering their arrival actually talked about being so honored that they were gracing them with their presence (she actually used those words). I felt sick listening to the sycophantic bs.
There were also a lot of white people in the crowd in the Bahamas. It is a place where a lot of British expats go and I think the colonizer mentality is more accepted there.
So essentially it was their favorite stop on this tour.
I would like to think that there will be changes after this tour but who am I kidding? They’ve had so many chances these last few years and they still keep making the same mistake.
They’re already telegraphing that they are hoping the jubby will smooth things over for them. They’re also trying to blame staff and the foreign office/governments for “trending”.
So with all that in mind I can’t wait for the next PR/racist disaster that is to come.
@Polo: Sophie and Edward visit the Caribbean next month. We will see if BP have really learned from this disaster.
Yeah I heard that. But those two will get ignored like she was in NY. They might have 1/2 more media following as a result of the failed Cambridge stop but no one really knows them.
I doubt they’ll be able to create any interest either way but I could be wrong.
I do also think they’ll interact with locals/charities etc versus the fashion/holiday show it was with the Cambridges.
Surely someone in BP must be reconsidering whether to move forward with the Wessex tour. Surely.
I think the most revealing line of the statement was about him not thinking about becoming Head of the Commonwealth. That was never a guarantee because the Queen had to vigorously campaign for Charles to become Head. So there was no need to mention that. I think William or his comms team watched Harry and Meghan’s QCT videos on YouTube for some of the other lines in the statements.
I think he mentioned that because he’s been told. The position is supposed to rotate and the queen effectively lobbied for Charles to succeed her meaning it will be two generations of leaders from the same family, the Presidents of other commonwealth countries are never letting William become the head they want their turn too.
William is not one to do any work so just dropping the commonwealth thing even though it’s not his decision anyway, is such a william thing to do. He is preemptively saying he doesn’t want it before they do decide to dump him.
William is only interested in being king of England and Wales. That’s the workload he’s comfortable with and that’s pretty much all he’s going to have when his turn comes.
What? This statement makes no sense to me. I can’t make heads or tails of his point. The Rona finally got me so I’m sitting here reading this with brain fog, so correct me if im in the wrong but this reads to me like the ramblings of a jilted ex posting a passive aggressive Facebook status while drunk in 2009.
Yup. You’re not dumping me, because I don’t care anyway.
Reaction seems to be rather a mixed bag. Richard Kay also thought this statement was a bad idea and came across angry – he’s also worried about it undermining Charles. The royal rota on tour who still have their heads buried in the sand are defending it and saying he didn’t mean he wouldn’t be head of the commonwealth. And then there are others like Russel Myers and Chris Ship who just seems agitated that they tried so hard to follow the party line and now it’s collapsing and they look foolish, so they are taking shots. If you read the replies of the royal reporters on twitter, they are fighting with everyone! Even each other!
As always the only person worth reading is Peter Hunt who seems to have the best understanding of how the palace itself kicked this all off years ago with a series of bad hiring decisions. And of course, ignoring the BLM movement and Meghan’s own experience.
Reading tweets from the royal reporters right now is entertaining AF.
Saw a tweet by Eden where he was praising the tour or something (I didn’t read the tweet properly) and Ship replied with “remind me who Jan Moir works for” with a screenshot of their article.
Makes me laugh when I see the rota infighting.
It’s great. Shippy was defending them for the bad optics photos but every once in a while he gets a backbone.
He is so angry he isn’t even looking at what the pastor is showing him. Kate leans into him in one picture, he leaned away. She can’t even touch his hand because she knows the pda act is officially over. Back home to white peoples and separate lives
I hate Kate’s shoes, and William’s brown shoes strike again.
In the second photo, William looks like he’s thinking, “Oh, God, she’s about to touch my hand…lean away, keep leaning, keep leaning…”
Oh, they pulled in the big guns for that last speech – I suspect he might even have called on an emergency speechwriter, because it doesn’t match any of the previous. Before this, it was all about “representing the queen” and “celebrating a long tradition” ( of colonialism and subjugation).
Now, with their backs against the wall, at least they are saying the right things – that they want to serve, not to rule, and that they can evolve. I would be shocked if this was even written by William’s people. Maybe Sara Latham, the American PR guru, came in off the bench?
They are finally saying the right words, but they are just that: words. And I simply don’t believe that they will follow up on this newfound desire to serve with action. It’s just too little, too late.
I lol at the fact that Willy is still sour that the Jamaican prime minister took away his favorite playground on live tv. Too bad the Bahamas didn’t do the same . Willy needed that humble pie .
I read a bit by a “royal expert” that it takes years to plan a tour like this – and that the planning involves not only BP, but various branches of the UK government. If that’s the case, I’d say there were major screw-ups all around. Clearly, William is incompetent, but I can also see why he’d be incandescent with being put in this situation – and it doesn’t help that Kate is useless. There will be plenty of blame to go around, but I don’t imagine William will be pointing fingers at himself.
Speaking of Kate being useless, royal reporter Kate Mansey tweeted something that made my eyes raise. She tweeted:
After seeing a lot of him on this tour, I have to say Prince William is very good at being charming. He has given it 100% and often carries the conversation for both him and Kate. It feels very genuine.
That’s a dig at Kate, right???
Good at being “charming”? Maybe on the plane with reporters but on this tour he comes across as a glaring bully. I think Kate is terrified of making a mistake and getting some of that incandescence aimed her way, so better to let William take the lead.
There was all this press ahead of the tour that they would be doing a lot of separate events. I feel like it would’ve gone so much better if they did. They both do better on their own. His hatred for and resentment towards her ends up making him look like he’s having the worst time in the world everywhere they go together and it leads to her being overly meek and shy and mute, terrified that she’s going to upset him somehow, and then you just end up with 2 people who look bored and pissed off and like they’d rather be anywhere else.
When she’s on her own she does childish stupid stuff like riding slides and mega manic guffawing at literally all the things, all the time, but at least she *looks* like she’s having a good time. She also gives more speeches and actually talks to the people she’s meeting.
When she’s with Will, it’s like he’s told her that he’s taking the lead here and her job is just to silently stand next to him (or a half step behind him) nodding and frowning sometimes. And so she often looks vacant and like she’s not even listening. If someone talks to her, she looks at William, almost asking if she’s allowed to answer or if he’s going to answer for her. And I would imagine that William is horrible at small talk, takes himself too seriously, and probably makes everyone uncomfortable, so the tone of these conversations is always a frowning concerned type of tone, and the pictures we get are of Will and Kate looking bored or upset or concerned. But then again, is William choosing this serious small talk topics *because* he deliberately wants to keep Kate from participating? If she wasn’t around, would he loosen up a bit? When Kate is alone making small talk, she’s usually smiling at people, I would bet that her small talk is equally inane and probably childish, but at least it looks “more fun” when photographed.
I feel like the perfect example of his dampening affect on her and her surly-making affect on him is when they were dancing in Belize. She’s dancing with the ladies, smiling, seeming like she’s having an okay time, then dances her way over to him, tries to get him to join her on the dance floor, and he scowls at her and she immediately stops and just stands there next to him. Now neither of them are dancing. Now neither of them are smiling. Now they both look like they’re kind of bored and above it all. But also, if it was someone else asking him to dance, if Kate wasn’t around constantly trying to trick him into a Lovey Dovey Harry and Meghan type photo op, he probably would’ve danced more. We saw him dance with that one lady for a little while. He looked stiff and he didn’t dance for too long, but how much of that was because Kate was around?
She also lets her racist antebellum flag fly more obviously when she’s with him. She clung to him, leaning away from the chainlink fence that the black kids were behind. She wore her white lacy colonizer lady dress and hat and stood next to him in military dress uniform to recreate the Queen and Philip photo op. That’s not something she would’ve been able to do on her own. 2 racists playing off each other amplify each other. The racism becomes so much more in your face when it’s 2 people being racist in tandem. You can’t be like “oh she’s not doing a racist thing, she’s doing an aloof/vapor/thoughtless/cosplaying thing,” when the person she’s with is also being racist. You can’t really excuse 2 people working in tandem as “accidentally doing a racism.”
They both do so much better and look so much more comfortable when they’re not doing engagements together. It’s so obvious at this point that they view each other as wet blankets and that their individual moods and effectiveness plummet when they’re together. I don’t know why they didn’t do more separate events like was advertised ahead of time. Maybe they got spooked by the comparison to Charles and Diana doing separate events at the end of their marriage and didn’t like that people might think they were separated or divorcing. (But come on, look at the two of you when you’re together, it’s horribly obvious you hate each other and based on your outfits, might not even see each other before you both arrive separately at an event.) Or maybe the papers were just making that up or hoping to prod them into separate events because even the rota can see how bad they are together. Or maybe they decided they needed to stick together “for solidarity” after all the bad press and the protests started even before they landed. (But again, sticking together is part of what made you guys look so bad, bored, surly, tone deaf, and racist to begin with!)
When you hear clips of william talking at events, he does come across as better than Kate IMO. Like yes he’s pompous and racist and entitled but he can actually make small talk and can ask OK questions. Like he’s not amazing LOL and he doesn’t engage the way Harry does, but he’s not asking if you test the smell by smelling it.
At any rate I’m waiting for more articles about how William is the better half of that duo as KP starts preparing the separation announcement.
Yeah Becks1, I thought it was interesting how Mansey was essentially saying that William is having to carry Kate in the conversations, implying that she is a burden and makes his job even harder. He has to do the work for two and yet he’s still charming lol. But it feels like a warning to Kate. She’s in trouble if this starts getting repeated by more journalists. Like, Amytoo says, she talks less when she’s with William, but regardless of the reason, the BM can spin it in the direction that Mansey is taking. Kate is a burden and makes his job harder.
That’s a definite dig. Those desperate articles about Kate being William’s “rock,” about her “saving the monarchy,” and about “coming into her own” – they’re all trying to cover up the fact that there’s no more development to be had – she is what she is. Awkward, self-conscious, shallow, with narrow interests and no imagination.
Kate showed who she was (a not nice person) the way she treated Meghan. No amount of her grinning and guffawing can make that go away imo.
Goldfish Trainer – troll much? How about Katie and Billy prodding their staffer Jason Knauf into providing evidence against Meghan in her lawsuit against DM? Katie could barely stomach touching black people in Caribbean, so much she kept fist closed whenever someone tried to shake her hand. OOh, but we have to sympafize wid her cause Meg made her cry 🥲.
This speech is too little, too late. BP obvi threw them a lifeline but they were already dead in the water. Idk, this speech like they know they failed and are begrudgingly accepting it. Between his comments at that volunteer event and this terrible terrible tour….it’s not looking good for Willie.
No wonder everyone was saying Harry NEEDED to stay to support William. William is terrible on his own and Kate is utterly useless. They don’t have many cousins who’d be able to pick up the slack either.
This was the biggest royal car crash since Andrew’s interview about Epstein and Virginia Guiffre. And this statement is damage control, most likely dictated from BP & CH. It falls flat when Bill doesn’t apologize for the brutal history of the Crown’s involvement in colonization. And when the BRF doesn’t defend or apologize for the treatment of Meghan, a family member, why should anyone believe they would be treated fairly?
Oh wow, it’s their decision, is it? How magnanimous of him to concede that they have a right to choose!
If this is the version that was released, I have to assume the first draft contained the words, “look, the Commonwealth thinks it’s people”.
This tour keeps on giving. After being publicly sacked, the great statesman then pretends to be magnanimous about how the CW head doesn’t have to be from the BRF. Shots fired at Chuck? Seems like Bill had to have the last word after the palace blatantly intervened to make him comment about evolving friendships etc
And that line about service. Going around on that car really spelt out their commitment to service.
Reflecting on this disaster tour, the Cambridges could have done so much more for their Commonwealth countries if their true motivation was to serve. This was a great chance to highlight the natural beauty of these countries, as all have suffered through loss of tourism during the pandemic, put them back in the map as travel destinations. Feature innovators or entrepreneurs from each country to showcase home Grown talent. Show the live impact on the islands futures from climate change, the list is endless!
Instead, they chose to go to schools to talk to kids and to thank nurses, which are performative, but delivers no actual impact or benefit to the commonwealth country as a whole. Why do they not use their huge platform to showcase these countries to the world and help the people to feel proud of their achievements, resilience, spriit and culture despite the challenges of their past history?
The Queen talks of service, but I didn’t see any attitude of service on this tour. Rather is was a display of colonialist privilege, where they showed up looking to be applauded and revered and catered to by their subjects. So are these two only capable of “service” to their own within their country where people are white?
Honestly, with the exception of Charles’ Prince’s Trust, do any of the BRF really “serve” the people? Can anyone name one instance when the queen’s service had a tangible impact on anyone other than herself and her monarchy?
Tbh it seems that’s all they do in their own country too, maskless visits to thank healthcare workers and “early years” twaddle.
William’s quitting a job before he even got it🤣🤣🤣
LOL
He said find someone else if you don’t like the way I run things.
Will just explained why Kate is mute. They will only listen and learn, and if you don’t like it then leave. Now I understand why they said Meghan was destabilizing the monarchy. She wanted to use her voice and Bill said no way.
Only expect photoshoots and PR from these two.
Oof you can tell he’s mad just by reading the statement. I wouldn’t be surprised if BP and/or CH told KP they had to put something out so William responded by putting out this statement (which as noted by Kaiser isn’t really an apology or anything)
The statement is all William, written as if commenting on a Celebitchy post.
Basically those countries can do whatever they want ( Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas must to relived to know they have his permission) and that if they had to do it all over again him and Catherine would not have changed a thing about the tour.
as I said on twitter, these two are proof that the British monarchy is obsolete and the best advertisement for abolishing it. I honestly did not think this would start before QEII was in her coffin, though.
that said, 3/4 sleeves with elastic? absolutely the WORST. who “designed” that?
I think this tour finally gave William the wake up call that the monarchy is ending. But this statement is about the Windsors keeping the money. That’s all its about. Wasn’t it the word reparations that kept being pushed into every article. And don’t you know that if one country ever gets those, then all of them will be demanding them. William doesn’t like it that these people didn’t bow down to him. But he can live with it if he can still live the way he always did. The mansions and money and not having to really do anything. But if the monarchy has to pay back all the counties they stole from. He wouldn’t be able to do that. And that’s the part he can’t deal with. Just because on paper it says the money belongs to the Windsors doesn’t mean if the monarchy goes that they will get to keep it. There will be lawsuits up the wazoo. And angry mobs outside the mansions. There’s a lot more hatred towards the monarchy than anyone has ever admitted to.
Tinfoil time:
So some folks were theorizing yesterday that Charles intends to be last King of England. I think this may be accurate. Harry leaving spoiled Charles’ plans. It also left Will without someone to aide his reign. I think Charles very well may have seen the writing on the wall and could be planning to wrap it up.
What’s more, I think it’s possible that this decision is already a widely known secret, maybe even among the Royal Rota. I think Will himself may know, and actually be okay with it. No Harry means being King is too much work and he’s happy to just be financially set and have time to rose garden.
If my theory is true it explains:
1. The anger of the Rota at Harry and Meghan- he’s essentially put them out of a job.
2. The constant reference to Will needing Harry, as him returning would be what would make Will want the job again.
3. Kate’s overdone embiggening pushes and the Middleton PR attempts to call for skipping Charles.
4. Why Kate and Will’s marriage seems to have become so obviously strained- Kate is pissed off that she won’t be Queen. And Will is likely dumping her ASAP.
5. Why Will seemed so half hearted in this recent tour.
6. Why Kate chose the clothes she did for this tour (like no local designers)- she’s on her way out so she’s just grasping all the high end stuff she can to take with her as a parting gift.
I like where you are going with this. I support this 100%.
I don’t think your theory is “tinfoil.” It’s the only reasonable end to an institution that has no place in this evolving world. If the RF insist on this archaic charade of being chosen by god, they will be laughed and or chased out of the castle sooner or later. I can’t help but think if they wanted the monarchy to endure, they would have done more to change with the times. They have not done this, instead have doubled down on the old ways of doing things.
Intriguing. In Europe, abolition of monarchies in the 20th century occurred most often by referendum, revolution, or act of Parliament. I think Charles’ best shot, if he really intends to be the final king, is a referendum — but that strategy needs a willing government to even consent to a vote in the first place.
There were lots of comments on meghan always finding the camera, well dear kate was not shortstopping. Also noticed her mean girl sneers on several occasions. And that pink dress is not her shade, especially with the combat wedgies.
I was watching The Today Show yesterday and even they did a story on how this was a colonialist mess. I was surprised to see the US mainstream media pick up on this. It’s that bad, folks.
Ooh. Today Show is pretty royal friendly so this is like that People magazine cover. Not a good sign at all? Also makes them look like the racist GOP which is not what they want at all.
I read and read again his statement and all the comments above. I thought it was written as well as William was able, to express his intention to cooperate in whatever way he can. Not a great speech, but one that finally sees the handwriting on the wall. At the very least, he made an effort. Let’s give him that.
Are you okay? This is not an effort, this is the bare minimum and he’s still not doing his job. I don’t know why you felt a need to defend him. Save your empathy for the people who actually need it: the people in the Caribbean who are still paying taxes to the Queen her institution that enslaved their ancestors and won’t even discuss reparations.
Wasn’t aware he was being defended by me or anyone. Just pointing out that his speech was not all negative.
@Julia K
Does it sound like he sees the writing on the wall?
“What matters to us is the potential the Commonwealth family has to create a better future for the people who form it, and our commitment to serve and support as best we can.”
This is a whole bunch of nothing words that could have described what the Commonwealth was to Britain 1 week, year, decade ago. That is, it describes nothing and is intentionally vague so no one looks too hard at why a family needs to “serve” the “parent” at all. And what exactly does THEM serving their little fledgling child countries mean? And the fact that he reiterates what it “means” shows that he sees no reason to change it when he gets back to England. He doesn’t think it will change on the BRF’s end, even if it changes on the colonies’ end for those who choose to leave. That’s change *they* will have to deal with.
My problem with it is not that it’s negative, but that it is nothing. Not outright acknowledging something is racist when confronted, is racist. If he truly cared (about the Cambridge image, if nothing else), he would have fought tooth and nail with his dad, grandma, Boris, whoever it was that needed to sign off on him saying (or just say “F it” and go rogue): “it is our ardent goal that through our service, we can change the meaning of the Commonwealth from one of pain and sacrifice to one of unity and shared values.”
THAT is also a nothing sentence that toes the line and doesn’t admit guilt in a court of law, doesn’t give timelines or even says who “we” refers to, but still gives more hope than whatever this statement gives.
I think the reason we’re not getting that from him is because that wasn’t his point in writing it. It wasn’t to calm the minds of protesters to assure them they are heard; it wasn’t to denounce colonialism outright (it would never), it wasn’t even to give public thanks to their host countries for, if nothing else, new memories and a lot to think about.
His goal was just to deflect criticism away from himself by, what else is new, saying he did nothing wrong. Maybe SOMEONE did, but not him. And even though the buck stops with him, and he is, theoretically, his own person with brain, he could have done something different, someone else dropped the ball and he’s sad you had to witness that.
You forgot to add: DoS to the list of her cosplay. Because it is very overt; running rampant of her obsession to be seen as the modern and much better duchess. But it only serves you show how contrived she is, aside from already being vacuous.
This was a dumpster fire inside a train wreck. I knew it would be bad but the level of ineptitude and obvious disinterest combined with white arrogance was shocking. In one week those two have undone ANY shred of goodwill that may have existed between the BRF and the Caribbean Commonwealth countries. The only good thing to come out of this disaster is the harsh light of truth shone on the Cambridges, that they are lazy, stupid, uninterested and racist, and that in all likelihood by the time Charles passes on the monarchy will be have been made redundant.
Good summarize! 👍
This whole tour was just the tall cool glass of what the f***ckery and karma I needed to see in action this week. It was glorious to see it all blow up in their smug faces. This whole time, the BM has literally worshipped these two for being White and mediocre, and within England, the media’s racist dog whistles are tolerated (i.e. Kate giving a “masterclass in sleek straight hair” like keeping your limp, too long dry hair in its natural state is some sort of accomplishment, or Kate never put a wrong foot, or Kate did (insert whatever thing Meghan just did that she got bashed for) and it was amazing!!!! She’s going to save the Monarchy! But outside the rest of the world has moved away from 1850.
They could have have a bad b***** and couldn’t get out of their own way with their petty jealousy. The rest of the world, especially POC noticed how this family treated its only Black member and abused her to the point of suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant. The rest of the world took note how HRM and the rest of the family sat mute while the press abused her to no end and compared a baby who is a few hours old to a monkey. Meanwhile the palace set the record straight on how the Queen of Expired Wheat Germ doesn’t Botox. GTFOH. We all saw how Khate could not even bring herself to touch her newborn nephew at a Polo match or even acknowledge her SIL. We saw all their smug snickers and eye rolling at the wedding, and the list goes on. Their silence on BLM for YEARS, was absolutely deafening. Shame on them. Don’t even get me started on African countries being lectured by The Community Peen and Father of Three That We Know Of on overpopulation – cause then there won’t be any more rhinos for him to trophy hunt! You’re encroaching on animal spaces with your Blackness! Stop it! They had an opportunity to be world leaders in change here and they chose to be bigots.
If they thought they would get a warm welcome in these countries after the world watched this unfold in real time they are completely delusional and deserved everything they got. Add to it, the colonizer photo ops, the recent comments on the Ukraine, Khate recoiling in horror when a Black Minister touched her, the terrifying photo of the kids through the chain link fence while Yesterday’s Milk Toast gives her maniacal grin, and her choosing to not wear a single item of clothing made by a Black designer from the regions she toured, this tour was an epic fail from start to finish. Heads will roll because of it. The palace, the BM, and Community Peen and Khate have no one to blame but themselves.
Back to England for their 15 minute appearances of lobster claws and spirit fingers every 6 weeks, rose gardening, and to trot out the kids for photo ops. Never a wrong foot indeed!
Long time lurker, 1st time commentator, big fan of this site. I am completely ambivalent about our RF. I can take em or leave em. I don’t actively follow them except for here. For the life of me, I cannot tell you what the Commonwealth is. I know there are benefits if you’re from Canada, Australia or New Zealand (white countries) Other CW countries (read – p.o.c. countries) still pay dearly for tourist visas. There is no student exchange or work exchange programme. I think we all knew long before this tour that once Her Maj is gone, the CW will be too. Not necessarily because of Charles or William but because times have changed, a lot! This tour tho, definitely cemented any potential remainers staying on. What a shit show. I have so much 2nd hand embarrassment. Kate’s wardrobe, someone needs to tell the old girl it’s ½ way through 2022, not 1952. Bloody hell
Dissolving the CW is about the only way Canada is going to get out of it. Hopefully all the countries involved vote for dissolution.
And yeah, what a shit show. It’s as entertaining as I hoped it would be. I was afraid this tour would be as boring as they are.
“Other CW countries (read – p.o.c. countries) still pay dearly for tourist visas. There is no student exchange or work exchange programme..”
Well, ain’t that some _mess._ Hobbling generations of people and wrecking lives so the RF can swan around? The monarchy can’t die fast enough.
Yeah, no press expert would have written this. It was William and he sounds defensive. They’re acting like these are big picture problems when actually there were very real blunders on their parts.
They did the opposite of what they were sent there to do! They made people even more upset, including some with little to no investment in these issues or the Commonwealth.
Then, for the absolute icing on the cake, they said they would be bringing their kids back to the Bahamas for a vacation. That’s their takeaway? Not helping with poverty?! Or rehabilitating the reefs? Or helping disaster stricken areas??
They think they’re using the Queen’s playbook but I actually think she was more aware than they are.
Will has all the power in that institution. If the institution wants to remain and avoid a constitutional crisis, the the players need to bow and defer to Will. It is really fascinating watch people crumble before him. No wonder they keep repeating he needs Harry. Will doesn’t need Harry, it’s the media and people around Will that need Harry. “if you don’t want to do it, Harry will”…. Now that they don’t have Harry, they are at Will’s mercy.
I am just astounded about how awful this tour was; had low expectations but never expected it to be this bad. They obviously don’t understand anything about Caribbean colonialism. Can they or anyone on their staff do a simple google search?
Kate prancing around in her fancy dresses was obscene. She couldn’t bother to wear local designers. There were so many things of substance they could have done besides coplaying QE2 & PP from the 1950’s going on a sail. Visiting museums/ memorials highlighting the islands’ history & slave past. I could go on & on….the Windrush generation. These people helped build the UK back after WWII & their ancestors are being deported. Their white privilege was galling
I remember thinking when this tour was announced how unfair it was that the Cambridges were being handed such a cakewalk assignment. Instead, this tour was the gift that kept on giving.
This was the royal equivalent of the tour in This is Spinal Tap when the guy’s girlfriend took control after the band’s manager quit. When they couldn’t get billed on the sign above the puppet show.
My favorite moment has to be RR Richard Palmer’s tweet of the couple in Jamaica just before the Land Rover incident. He has a picture of them sitting at the ceremony with the caption: “A couple of crackers here” and received the predictable response. Indeed. Palmer came back later to claim that he was unaware of what cracker meant in the US, but I am not entirely convinced of that. I think he may still be irate about having to walk back his statement of what Will said about war in Europe vs. Asia and Africa at the Ukraine event.
Omg, I thought the same thing, lol. Palmer knew exactly what he was doing when he used “crackers”. He was probably laughing his head off as he typed it. Dude may not be the best writer but he knows his way around words. And he especially likes to give a backhanded jab to the Cambridges.
Honestly, he may genuinely not have a clue what crackers means in the US. I’m British and I have no idea – we use that word to mean crazy or a bit bonkers, or as a particularly good example of something. What else does it mean? Am genuinely baffled.
I think you credit Palmer with too much linguistic skill at casting shade- there are so many words that mean different things here and I genuinely believe he had no idea and was just using it in a British English way.
@Aidevee – “cracker” is derogatory slang for “white person.” In the past it was more specifically used for poor, uneducated Southern whites – now it has a more general sense of an ignorant racist white person, but I think there’s still a lower class implication there.
I don’t think he knew either. I do think he meant exactly what he said afterwards, a couple of great cracking shots. I use cracker in that context and had no idea what the US meaning was until I saw people talking about it here. Had to google. I get the world is small these days but I’ve never heard it used in that context and I’ve spent a bit of time in the US.
Soooo, New York and the Colonies next? 🤣😈
The trolls are so mad about this disaster tour they are going after everyone. It’s so funny. I don’t know what the royals will do next but it will be something inappropriate or spiteful towards the Sussexes. Tom and Lorenzo podcast had a very good summation of what is so wrong with this tour. They don’t like any of the royals in or out but they made some very good points.
Apparently it’s Megan’s fault. And the Sussex fans coordinated the protests. And it was much more successful than portrayed by friends of Sussex (Omid and any other poc). That is now the trolls lines. Oh and I saw they brought out the old ‘Meghan was a yacht girl’ aka hooker line. That’s how desperate they are.
My understanding is the term “crackers” is used in the US to describe racist idiotic douchy white people and originated as a name for slave owners. So it’s a term with a lot of charge behind it. It’sI might not be describing it accurately, being Canadian, but think Colonal Sanders/racist douches…in fact, the Internet mine as well just take the photo of Will and Kate wearing those white outfits in Jamaica and put it next to the dictionary definition because that is exactly the image I have in my mind of the word “cracker”. So when Palmer said that, those on this side of the Pond did a spit take because it was exactly what many of us thought. Though my dad is British and I know what Palmer meant and it’s just so hilarious on so many cultural levels. About time W and K got seen for who they are.
From NPR, for anyone interested in the history of the word, ‘cracker’: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers
What a crock of hooey. W&K are NOT devoted to service. They will NOT help in any way asked. They only have smiles & best wishes to offer, remember? And that fancy-shmancy education was wasted if this is the best example of writing Big Willie can produce.
LMAO what started as a “charm offensive” is not a “opportunity to reflect.” What a PR spin and change in narrative!! Also, Wills saying the countries can choose to leave if they want to is patronising and definitely NOT self-reflection. He’s not listening to what the islands are actually telling him: APOLOGIES and REPARATIONS. He’s oversimplifying because if he had any self-reflection, he would have to give up the monarchy and start paying $$$ up.
How do they “serve and support” the Commonwealth communities?
What did they do on this trip to “understanding more about the issues that matter most to” the people and leadership? And what do they do with that information? Genuinely asking. We’re there meetings? Does someone take notes and report back to the Queen? Or do they ever speak in more detail about what the countries need?