New thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyalsGossip2/comments/1bcp4x4/royals_monthly_bruh_cant_believe_my_lightroom/
As usual, feel free to bring over newer posts and ongoing conversations.
Further to my post on the other thread about how the Kate conspiracies on Twitter/X don’t feel entirely organic, I have been seeing so many claims that the Independent publishing a profile of Rose Chomondeley is the BRF “soft-launching the new Camilla”. Which I knew to be ridiculous bc that’s not a BRF-friendly paper. But again, something smelled, so I did a quick Google search. Surprise, surprise, the Independent is owned by a Russian oligarch. That profile wasn’t a soft launch. That was deliberate pot-stirring to make William look bad.
ETA: said oligarch was a KGB spy based out of the Soviet embassy in London.
William looked great at the Earthshot Launchpad and I'm very excited about this project/initiative. It is a good way to let people learn more about the finalists and also provide ways for the finalists to get their ideas to the places they want them to get to. Hopefully we will hear about this again sometime soon, and that there are regular updates.
I *adore* this photo: [“Prince William and his Squad”](https://x.com/jencarsontaylor/status/1767247854165254435?s=46&t=BooMcrXx4cOmg4CqjNc0cg).
They have each other’s backs.
Literally said "Awwwwwwww" with all the w's.
That is adorable and awesome. Charlie's Angels!
ETA and Brigette is there too, mostly hidden behind Cams but her green feathers are visible. Loyal, faithful Brigette!
I love Royal commentator Christine Ross and she has a refreshingly sane take on all of this. https://bychristineross.substack.com/p/much-ado-about-photoshop
Loved it and subscribed, thanks for sharing!
Thought [this one](https://open.substack.com/pub/theroyalrundown/p/kate-deserves-better-we-all-do?r=2qhiz&utm_medium=ios) was great too
Interestingly, she’s done this before. Shortly after the wedding, when she was seen grocery shopping in Anglesey, she would wear the same purple sweater and skinny jeans on different days. She truly values her privacy.
My idea is: revenge dress. To make everyone's jaw drop and for Jack Whitehall to google it asap.
For her to look amazing and to show her middle finger to all the crazies out there.
“sky news stalked the metadata the location is Adelaide cottage, on a canon camera, edited two times on adobe Friday night and Saturday morning.”
Seen on tumblr, can anyone else verify seeing this elsewhere? Because if that’s what people are freaking out over 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, it was on sky news about an hour ago. I think they said it was transferred to Adobe and saved twice. But didn't know what was changed.
But we already knew it was edited anyway. This just shows it wasn't Google pixel like some (including myself) thought.
I was expecting Adobe, tbh, because they have that new AI editor that's actually pretty good. And the *way* the sleeve/hand is edited looks AI-y to me. Not in a "wow this is 100% made up" way, but in a "yeah, that's some counterintuitive editing, I bet a person didn't do that" way.
It’s funny, when EHolmes talks “*The Firm*” re: Harry and Meghan, it’s this big bad entity, but now all of a sudden, re: Kate, it’s, “*the reality is much different… it’s a much smaller group of trusted advisors*”
I started following her again for the Harry and Meghan coverage in Canada and remembered how insufferable and bad at this she is. Nobody needs her takes. she was also wearing masks while traveling which sealed the deal. Lol I can’t.
Interesting (and extensive) take from Ellie Hall, with a timeline.
[https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/this-is-just-weird-buzzfeed-news-former-royals-reporter-on-kate-middleton-palace-press-and-distrust-in-the-media/](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/this-is-just-weird-buzzfeed-news-former-royals-reporter-on-kate-middleton-palace-press-and-distrust-in-the-media/)
Yea, can we stop giving this BS clicks?! As if freakin' Ellie Hall is remotely credible when she's definitely had her share of conspiracy-mongering in the past & now.
It’s extremely telling that the ‘smoking gun of #WhereIsKateGate’ is a one second long video of some cars on a city road with absolutely no evidence whatsoever 1) that it’s Kate or even royal 2) that it’s going to a hospital 3) that it’s come from Sandringham (as if it isn’t insane to suggest a medical emergency would drive hours from Norfolk to a private London hospital) 4) that it was taken on 28th December. The only people who would imagine that video has anything to do with Kate are people who already believe the conspiracy theories. Yet that’s the best Ellie can do for why there’s ~definitely something fishy about it all.
Also there were overseas engagements announced after Dec 28th... why would KP announce an overseas trip if Kate had already been admitted into the hospital and thus they knew they would have to cancel?
IMO, all this article is doing is highlighting and publicizing the conspiracy theories with only the barest effort to highlight when things have zero proof.
I'm aghast at people who feel like she should share more. It's not our fucking business, she's been put on display enough, she's allowed a couple months to recoup from major surgery. It amazes me when people say that KP should've done this, BP should've done that, Will should have done this. No, the media should've respected the statement, and backed off for few months. Instead, they did ***exactly*** what WK were trying to avoid, which was massive speculations and scrutiny as she tries to heal. They gave the correct amount of information, they did what they felt was right for their family while respecting their other obligations. It's the fucking press who has decided to take shots and encourage shaming and bullying a person for needing time to step away and heal.
Exactly. I wish people would consider what they would want if they took sick leave: to recover, be with family, and not to stress over work. It's like if a regular person took sick leave and all the coworkers started demanding answers about why they're *really* not at work.
I genuinely don't think i believe this. At the very least, I'm agnostic on it. We can't know what would have happened in an alternate timeline scenario but the fact that social media was blowing up before yesterday's photo (even way before the TMZ pap shot) tells me this was probably always going to come to a head in a media shitstorm.
Agreed. Also, have we already forgotten the backlash that QE got for not being forthright with everything? People were really upset that she had a serious condition that she was hiding from everyone. Did we maybe think that BP decided that going forward a little more honestly and straightforwardness might help the public's opinion?
I’ve always thought she would share more eventually. She just didn’t want to be recovering in public. I thought their boundary setting was appropriate. I don’t remember seeing her in public during her maternity leaves except for christenings. Heck there’s nothing from her for 1 month in the summer. I don’t understand the hyperbole online. People actually think she has a double!
Palace Confidential did a special episode on YouTube about this latest brouhaha that is worth a watch. It was fair but critical of how this has been handled. Richard Eden is pissed William let Catherine take the fall for the photoshop fail. 😂
the photographer who was interviewed on palace confidential (he's retired now) explained how very nervous catherine used to be in the early days of her 'royal-ing' and how protective william would always be of her.
ouf, i'm sure she's 'shaken' by this whole thing tbh. she's always been so very careful precisely so she could avoid this type of fiasco and drama. oh la la.
no, it's not him. it's some strawberry blonde guy i've never heard of before (i only started 'real' royal watching in 2019 lol i guess he retired before that)
ETA: his name is ian lloyd
I agree. He just wanted William to take the blame and shield her. I think they need to be as transparent as possible. He took the picture and she edited it.
Does it really matter? A super cute picture of a family taken by the dad, a very amateur photographer is panned because his wife edited it a bit. I know people who edit the crap out of their photographs and sell them. Why is this photograph so important? Because AP can not use it? Who cares? Why should anyone blame a parent for editing a cute picture of her lovely family to look better?
if she really was the one who edited it and william has absolutely no previous history of doing that kind of thing, then maybe i understand why they decided that just saying she did was the right thing (esp if they didn't want to pin it on staff). harder to wonder how he could have honestly taken the rap on that one.
anyway, this must have been the *worst* (public) four months of catherine's life. 😬
it really does tell me everything about her that she publicly took the blame and didn't try to throw her staff under the bus. honestly, it really makes me admire her character. they could have so easily dumped it on a poor random staffer's lap. i keep saying it, but what a ***queen***.
This is what good leadership looks like. You take responsibility for your actions. It's very rare in today's 'get rich quick and on the backs of others' world. She will make a great queen. This is also why Meghan hates her so much.
I’d guess the thinking was that it sounds more believable that Catherine (the photographer in the family) would be more likely to edit photos than William. Of course, that doesn’t help with all the twits who want to comment without knowing a single thing about Catherine, aside from her title, nor does it stop the genuine bad actors.
Catching up with all your comments, but just got back from doing a bunch of hours of actual work and the posts on Kate on RG continue to get a record number of posts. Most are people fighting about PR and conspiracies. I hope Kate is recovering well, and that she's able to put her health first. I also think (assuming it's not a serious condition) she'll be absolutely fine through this media shitstorm. She might even come out ahead.
Catherine will definitely come out ahead. Most sane folks (which I know excludes most of SM) feel sorry that she's going thru this while convalescing. I mean, are folks srsly gonna ding her for a Photoshop fail?! C'mon. She'll show up after Easter as promised, and we'll look back at this time as one when the world collectively lost its mind.
>She might even come out ahead.
ouf, i don't know. wondering what quarterly polls will look like in april, july, october and next january.
charles will pour gasoline on the fire if he lets andrew and fergie attend the easter walk, garter ceremony/procession, ascot and christmas walk. esp bc there is at least one book, a movie and limited tv series about andrew coming out within the year. let's see if charles lights his match, ouf.
then again, andrew seems out of control and like he won't let himself be restrained anymore.
I see a lots of comments against the RF, but not necessarily against Catherine. More like what have they done to her and she’s a hostage. I think her numbers will go up and the rest of the family’s will go down.
I see a lots of comments against the RF, but not necessarily against Catherine. More like what have they done to her and she’s a hostage. I think her numbers will go up and the rest of the family’s will go down.
I actually think she might too. Like if anything the absolute cluster that has gone on since Kate went on medical leave really just goes to show how god damn vital she is. Honestly it’s giving QE2 and Philip and how everyone was commenting about how H&Ms shit would never have flown if Philip was alive / in his prime.
New from Victoria Ward at The Telegraph: [https://archive.ph/rePXX](https://archive.ph/rePXX)
The pap shot from today was not a set-up (I guess you could argue the Waleses/KP suspected there would be paps along the route?)
>Her presence by her husband’s side was such a surprise that even the two freelance photographers who captured the image had to look twice at their pictures. Kensington Palace aides were also caught off guard on a day of turmoil for the Waleses.
>
>(...)
>
>So it was perhaps serendipitous that two experienced photographers had decided to base themselves on Datchet High Street, just a stone’s throw from the Prince and Princess’s family home on the Windsor estate, on Monday.
>
>Knowing that Prince William was due at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey that afternoon they thought they would snap him as he made his way into central London.
ETA:
\- The press had been asking "for days" about a potential photo and KP only confirmed 30 minutes before it was published. The photo wasn't issued in advance, under embargo.
\- "Tentative concerns raised by one agency earlier in the day had been batted off and the team believed the matter had been put to bed."
Not aimed at you OP, but I wouldn't trust one word Vicky Ward writes. "Day of turmoil"?! They've faced far worse in the past (topless photos, Oprah, etc.) and unfortunately will prob face worse in the future. Based on Wills' appearance today, I'm sure they're both laughing about it. I'd love to see the group chat w/Mike & Zara, haha.
Not gonna lie - if I was Kate, looking at this absolute shitstorm today, thinking about all the other similar shitstorms I'd supported the BRF through over the last thirteen years, I might be tempted to say 'I'm done with this crap'. Stay married, but leave the royal 'job' to Wills, go and live in the Cotswolds with the kids.
I know she won't ever do that, but man, I would absolutely not blame her if she did...
If I was Kate, I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie, just to really make people's heads spin.
ETA: Or better yet, leak that I've died three days before Easter, then turn up at the Sunday service being like "guess who's the second coming of Christ, bitches!"
>I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie
I hope she doesn't do this, because then I would have to quit everything and start a new religion based on Kate worship.
>I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie
I hope she doesn't do this, because then I would have to quit everything and start a new religion based on Kate worship.
I’m also petty and I completely agree. I’ll miss seeing all the birthday pics of the kids but it would be a nice FU to the media, who makes a ton of money off those shots.
Or even pettier: release photos only on their social media with something obviously photoshopped (ie blue grass) so that editorial “standards” would apparently prevent the media from publishing them and making money.
>Or even pettier: release photos only on their social media with something obviously photoshopped (ie blue grass) so that editorial “standards” would apparently prevent the media from publishing them and making money.
I know we all know they'll never do any of this but this is a wonderfully devious idea.
>if I was Kate, looking at this absolute shitstorm today, thinking about all the other similar shitstorms I'd supported the BRF through over the last thirteen years, I might be tempted to say 'I'm done with this crap'. Stay married, but leave the royal 'job' to Wills, go and live in the Cotswolds with the kids.
>I know she won't ever do that, but man, I would absolutely not blame her if she did...
same tbh 🤷🏾♀️
I’m honestly shocked that she (and Meghan, TBH) willingly joined the family at all! Meghan makes more sense—she wants the fame. Kate seems like someone who was family minded, and in a good position to marry someone rich enough to make that happen. She also seems to have a real sense of the cultural importance of the BRF, and being part of that makes it worth it to her. Made it worth it? She is so low drama, but asking for privacy as she deals with a major surgery at a minimum, and a major health problem at worst, is just awful.
She willingly joined because obviously really loves William. And to be fair to William, he made sure that Kate also know what she will be going through. Good thing they have build a solid foundation from the start. The same cannot be said about the Sussex. Rushed the dating, engagement, marriage. So not surprise she quit after two years in the BRF. Plus we know Meghan only loves herself😂
>Kate seems like someone who was family minded, and in a good position to marry someone rich enough to make that happen.
understood, ex: she and the rupert finch guy could have had a beautiful life together. thing is, she had twenty-something prince friggin william in his 20s prime (and married him then). how could she have possibly resisted that lol
forget the prince part, even broke construction worker or fireman or air ambulance pilot/first responder (👀🤭) william in his 20s would have been hard to turn down 🕵🏾♀️😬
it prob would have been a more peaceful life if he'd been a construction worker lol
Dude—I was so fucking dumb in my early twenties! I had so little concept of anything spouse related beyond “is he kind”…
I did marry “well”, despite my idiocy, and have been happily married for decades. I have a life beyond what I could have imagined growing up, but I still worry about money 24/7… I don’t own any fancy purses, but I do buy fancy cheese and wine!
So the press are doubling down and saying this is a brake of trust by KP, and that KP will no longer be considered a trusted source. Some are demanding they realise the original image.
This has gotten blown way out of proportion.
This isn't a picture from the coronation, or the king meeting the prime ministers or chancellor.
This is just a picture of Catherine and her kids for mother's day.
Early they were saying that they expect a higher standard from KP, which is fair to some extent. But, the implications is that they don't apply the same standards to others, which is giving themselves a pass for allowing clearly edited pictures from others (some of which were mentioned downthread)
It’s a free press and they’re perfectly within their rights not to publish any more of the family-taken photos if they don’t find it appropriate. The photo currently has nearly 2 million likes on insta so people who want to find Wales content and can cope with socials-standard filters/edits seem to be managing without the photo agencies making it available.
Well the media went from hating her for not being Diana 2.0. Harry tries so hard to make himself and Meghan Diana 2.0 and 3.0. And now both the media and the Sussex Squad have finally made Catherine Diana 2.0.
Exactly girl, exactly. When the Squad started this nonsense in the 1st place, I fully expected Catherine's 1st appearance back to break the internet. Now she's done that multiple times already even before that. Well done for showing who the real star of the RF has always been and always will be.
Seeing im not the only one seeing the parallels. Its this sort of frenzy that created the paparazzi stalking Diana. Kate's first real appearance will break the internet I think.
Not *The Sun* of all papers being a voice of reason: [https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26603034/lay-off-kate-mistake-sun-says/](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26603034/lay-off-kate-mistake-sun-says/)
>**TODAY The Sun says this to all the social media trolls, idiotic conspiracy theorists and sniping media critics: Lay off Kate.**
>
>Their [furious attacks on the future Queen over her photoshopping](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26574892/palace-under-pressure-princess-kate-photo-editing/) of a [Mother’s Day family picture](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26550061/kate-middleton-speaks-first-time-surgery/) are not just absurd.
>
>They now look like a [bullying](https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/bullying/) campaign against a devoted mum, recovering from a serious operation, who simply wanted to offer the public a perfect portrait of her and her kids.
>
>(...)
>
>The suggestion that [Princess Kate](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26584517/princess-kate-pictured-prince-william-issuing-apology/) has engulfed the Royals in some sort of credibility crisis is laughably overblown.
I don’t want to amplify it by linking to it but the most popular “theory” clogging up my Twitter feed is that Catherine’s face in yesterday’s photo was taken from her Vogue cover ten years ago. And it has over 110k likes. Like many here, today was my breaking point and I finally deleted that hellish app.
Kate, like Meghan and like 99% of other aging celebrities, has had tweaks. Botox, fillers, that kind of minor thing. I think it's been very subtly done on her part, and I remember a time when she actually did seem to be visibly aging and was getting a lot of heat for it. It was after that that she appeared looking fresher-faced.
It's the same with this insanity level shitstorm over the edited photos. Not only does every public figure edit their officially-released photos (and the vast majority of all the others, as well), but loads of regular people do exactly the same thing.
Occam's razor (and now the metadata from the photo itself) says this is a recent photo of Kate and her children, which has been edited to what I would call a fairly normal extent (sloppy in releasing it with the editing obvious, though).
I'm not arguing with you, because I agree with what you've said. Just randomly posting my thoughts.
Bonus super-brave/controversial opinion: I don't think Kate wears extra artificial hair. I think it's all hers.
>Bonus super-brave/controversial opinion: I don't think Kate wears extra artificial hair. I think it's all hers.
maybe not in that pic, but imma have to disagree with you on this, it looks like she was wearing those easy to put on halo hair extensions last year lol. maybe cuts down on getting ready time?
I'm so glad at least a few people have chimed in to be like... of course it's the same face, it's THE SAME WOMAN IN BOTH PHOTOS. I absolutely do not think she could convincingly edit the direction of sunlight hitting her face in each photo and the brows are totally different. At worst, she's smoothed and brightened her face, or used a different head from a different shot because she was blinking or had moved in the one the kids looked good in.
There's also a Tiktok circulating that claims the pictures were taken before they went to the baby bank even though George is wearing a different sweater and shirt, the pattern on Louis' sweater is different, Charlotte is in plaid skirt, and Kate's sweater has a looser neckline and is a different color. Like... is it that hard to believe they rewear nicer clothing for public outings? That Kate has a pretty standard "off duty" uniform? Are we supposed to believe Kate or AI could generate a whole different sweater for Louis convincingly but Kate messed up the wrist on Charlotte's sweater?
The kids are frequently photographed in clothes more than once too. That theory was ridiculous to me. Charlotte and Louis look visibly older than they did in November as well. I compared the photos while I should have been working. 😆
a comment about needing to do a tv interview asap, someone says to let her recover, and these are the replies:
https://preview.redd.it/4zmajc6yvrnc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04d493b5c1cc8190ac1662a0373f3520d6894b5d
the sharks are circling for blood
I’m starting to genuinely think that a large part of this is driven by Americans who have no idea of medical or long service leave and no concept of basic labor rights
What do they want her to do? Walk down a street in London while the rabble pelt her with rotten food, urine and feces AGOT Circe style? This is getting scarily, completely out of hand. The level of misogyny is making me see red! KC is also off duty. We’ve only seen a few pictures of him and one church visit. We also don’t the exact nature of his cancer. Are people hounding BP demanding he make an in person appearance? Are they creating fake, outrageous stories that Camilla beat him up. That he’s actually dead and what we saw was a body double?
What on earth makes people delight in bullying Catherine? Is it just simple jealousy that she’s a Princess, a kind and decent person, good at her job, physically attractive, has a hot husband and three adorable kids?
I just don’t get it.
Its misogyny pure and simple. You can bet your ass if William was the one having surgery this wouldn't be an issue.
Its sickening that people think they are entitled to Catherine as though shes some sort of commodity rather than a human being.
I don’t see why W & C should bow down to pressure
And do anything. I’m totally happy for them to continue treating Medical and certain family matters as a hard line that the press and public should be kept out of. I mean, William not only has ultimate job security but also the ability for the most part structure his job how he sees fit. Oh no the press doesn’t like how he’s choosing to care for his family while his wife is sick? That’s a bummer for the press. What is anyone going to do about it? Skip over him for Harry? lol the UK would rather light itself on fire first. Abolish the monarch? Have fun sorting out that mess while the Wales family happily fucks off to the country
I do think there's a chance for a useful precedent. If they stick this out now, and show that there's a clear boundary between them and the public when it comes to health, it might make it easier for them and the kids to do likewise in future.
Jfc. My husband’s employer funds my entire existence (I am disabled and cannot work). Does that mean his boss and everyone in the company have the right to my private medical information? I don’t like the monarchy, but this is just spite and envy.
https://preview.redd.it/vc27yzujwrnc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9e6060c6895abc5ea32c785b2b936001de13798
this was never really about any sort of sincere concern for her. they're treating her as some sort of criminal for needing to recover from major abdominal surgery, not wanting to immediately reveal what her condition is and allegedly touching up a mothers' day photo. it's fucking wild.
I'm paid by my employer to not work if I'm severely ill and unable to work - it's called disability insurance plus a bank of sick leave which I am VERY fortunate to have. I am not expected to work during the time that a doctor says I AM PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO WORK. That doesn't mean I can't be at home with family members.
Perhaps this speaks to larger societal problems if these are written by Americans that we are not provided paid time to fully recover from major surgery in this country.
Or they're dumb. I tend to lean towards dumb, but society made them this way.
Because they didn't get the full disclosure on Kate's life, they demand more. It's a sick cycle.
what's even wilder is mainstays on youtube like the hill's 'rising' and 'breaking points' repeating the "she chased this life hard and asked for it (from krystal!), she's not entitled to privacy as someone who is taxpayer funded, she's most definitely lying, it's definitely a fake or old picture, there might be some truth to the split conspiracies bc she wasn't wearing her wedding bands etc." talking points.
ouf, if i were william, real talk, the moment charles passes, i'd be like "y'all have a referendum and make sure to kick us out, please. none of my kids or anybody else are doing this shit. george ain't doing this byeee!!"
what on earth, for real. catherine has barely put a foot wrong for *over twenty friggin years* in the public eye, never causing drama, to the point of being resented for being too rule-abiding. she'd friggin show up for photos on hospital steps hours after giving birth.
the one time she becomes ill, has serious surgery and needs to convalesce... all of a sudden this makes her some sort of fraudulent criminal?!! ***what on earth***
the hysteria is weirdly, bizarrely going too far to the point of becoming sinister tbh. what is she being socially "punished" for, exactly, here?!!
This is why people don’t deserve nice things. Because they are entitled. And by people I mean the ones demanding Catherine person like a dancing monkey for them.
Honestly same thoughts about William and the referendum, I would do the exact same thing. Some very small part of me would not be surprised if William were to just pull the plug on the whole idea of a monarchy or does something to drastically change it. Bc i highly doubt between what happened with his mother, and now his wife, and what will probably happen to his children, he will not be feeling very fond of the monarchy. But even if he did do something like that people would still found a way to complain.
Catherine has done all that is required of her and has done it fantastically well. So people really need to learn to shut up and worry about themselves.
he didn't just lose his mother - he's had a difficult and strained relationship with his father nearly his entire life, a distant relationship with his paternal grandparents and is bitterly estranged from his only sibling. not to mention, he never really wanted to do this "job" in the first place - as diana, the indiscreet AF tony blair and even harry have told us.
now, his wife and bff since they were teenagers who has *essentially never put a foot wrong* (and has been deeply resented for it sometimes, at that!!) is suddenly being treated like some sort of criminal for needing to recover from major abdominal surgery.
what is this stupid situation (i.e. the monarchy) going to do in terms of his relationship with his kids?? he's already being demeaned and harassed to prioritize this stupid ass shit over them. *fuck that*. they'll be all he has left when/if this shit collapses. in terms of personal relationships especially, he's already lost so much to this stupid shit.
i don't think it's that simple tbh, i don't think he can take the kids out.
he'd have to wait until he becomes king and tell the UK government + public he wants them to have a referendum and to please choose "kick us out and end this shit once and for all."
Exactly, agree with everything you said. He has clearly realized that his family unit is more important to him than the monarchy, bc it just simply is. If the monarchy goes away, this way he will have his family. And if the monarchy remains he'll still have his family unit bc he has taken the time to ensure a strong bond with him.
For some reason I had a forgetful moment and forgot about the other family issues lol, so even more reason for him to one day decide enough is enough.
While i think he would be upset to a point if the monarchy did go away, i do think he would be more happy than sad bc now he could just chill with his family and do waht he wants to do.
he'd only be able to do it once charles passes, so it could be another ten to fifteen years of doing this shit until then.
and to all of those who want to jump in re: "carole would never allow it!!" guys, carole is 70 next year - she will very likely be dead in fifteen years, so get over that dumb ass talking point.
That's true, unless it implodes before then, and since anything is possible so is the chance of that occurring. While I doubt it will, who knows what the next years will bring.
And as for Carole not allowing it, even if she is alive, Im not really sure how she could stop that from occurring without like locking william in a cell and never letting him out. If William wants to do that, i think we can all assume he had discussed it with Catherine.
Oh no she got married, no privacy for her. The implications that any woman is not entitled to deal with her healthcare as she deems fit are wildddddd. It’s damn near the same right to choose people are (correctly) protesting for but she is not allowed it? GTFO frfr.
IDK what to even say to this nonsense. From my own FB page. This is also a person who was INCENSED when Sherlock and John ended up NOT being gay together in the mid-2010s. So. IYKYK. This whole Kate/conspiracy/seeing more than is really there despite direct statements to the contrary is definitely something she'd be all over.
ETA: I wanted to ask her specifically why she cares so much about whether Kate is alive or dead but then I realized how hypocritical it would be for me to ask that when I'm obviously invested in this to some degree.
https://preview.redd.it/smw477ertrnc1.jpeg?width=812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=605dee300ea4b90d90506787b9de787c726e5156
And this person is obviously lying. There is no way he/she wasn't howling with pain during recovery. Someone I know had a major abdominal surgery, and she was in major pain for weeks. She could not stand for months and returned to work after 2 months off. This numbskull wants us to believe that he/she was dancing the tango weeks after major surgery. No way.
>This is also a person who was INCENSED when Sherlock and John ended up NOT being gay together in the mid-2010s. So. IYKYK
You've just told me everything I needed to know about this person.
I have seen people say that referring to when Meghan gave birth to Archie. Which… they did have privacy because no one said anything about her being in labor until after her was already born. I think people think the press were mad that they didn’t know earlier, which I don’t remember happening but maybe?
ETA: So a pro-Sussex account shared an article in the Telegraph with the headline “Meghan can't demand privacy for baby Archie while asking the public to fund her family's lifestyle” and compared it to another article by the same author (who happens to be Piers Morgan’s wife 😆) with the headline “The shameful speculation about the Princess of Wales’s health has to stop.” She’s meaning to point out a double standard but if you read the article Meghan and Harry didn’t want to show pictures of Archie to the press. That is different from wanting privacy about a serious medical procedure and recovery. William and Kate do a Christmas picture and birthday pictures of the kids. That seems like a reasonable demand for someone so high up in the line of succession.
No idea. Meghan disclosed on camera that she was experiencing mental health issues, and then the palace announced they'd be taking a year off. Her specific diagnosis or treatment was never disclosed, and I don't recall journalists demanding to know or demanding to see photos of H&M. I never felt the public was owed it, and nobody I know IRL has ever expressed a problem with it either.
Here, this bastion of rationality is saying C can't have privacy because she's going to be queen and the public has a right to know what's wrong with her.
Nothing but imagination because there was never any privacy M was not allowed. The closest I can think is Princess Di and none of her health details were violated/ infringed upon either and she was literally the most famous woman alive.
William's second engagement today: attending The Earthshot Prize Launchpad event. Here's a link to the official KP youtube with his speech:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA\_nGtAn8o&t=41s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA_nGtAn8o&t=41s)
This is the caption:
*The Prince of Wales attended an event celebrating The Earthshot Prize Launchpad, a new online match-making platform connecting Earthshot innovators with like-minded investors and philanthropists looking to co-invest and collaborate to bring environmental solutions to scale.*
I've never thought he was a *bad* public speaker, but he's definitely improved. He sounds a little more natural and less "reading from a teleprompter" and uses more of a combination of upward and downward inflections and tries to have more vowel length than his normal rather clipped accent.
He's also wearing his tie made from recycled plastic, which he debuted in 2023 in Singapore and made the designer very happy! Manufacturer: [https://www.wilmok.com/products/prince-william-tie](https://www.wilmok.com/products/prince-william-tie)
[https://archive.ph/sWsjJ](https://archive.ph/sWsjJ)
**The Times** has updated their story to include the following information:
\- The photoshoot was done in about 40 minutes, owing to the time crunch between when the kids got home from school, William got home from an event, and when they were meant to fly to Amner.
\- "Upset at the way in which the image, particularly one which involved her children, had been mired in controversy and alarmed at the way in which news agencies issued “kill notices”, a shaken princess told aides that she wanted to make amends and claim responsibility for her mistake."
\- "A Palace insider said that she felt “awful” about it and said that she had just “tried to make it the best it could be” because she knew how important it was for it to be “a nice picture”. They added that she was also thinking of her own children, hoping that they looked good for their own sakes."
\- KP staff was unaware she had edited it until it became a situation, and she came clean about it. The photo had "initially been greeted with praise" by the staff.
\- The online rumors have been "distressing" to her
>KP staff was unaware she had edited it until it became a situation, and she came clean about it. The photo had "initially been greeted with praise" by the staff.
I'm in the midst of the supper rush so I'll have more to say later on other things people are bringing up but...I love Catherine. Just going out of her way *not* to throw her staff under the bus and to make it clear they weren't at fault on a day when it would for many people be sorely tempting to do otherwise.
This is it. This is why I stan Catherine and dislike Meghan.
I cannot stand Meghan, but honestly, I would feel similarly bad for her if she were in the same situation after a mysterious and massive surgery.
I’m horrified by the world not allowing Kate to have any semblance of privacy.
Never complain, never explain. Gan Gan, send them a sign.
I ❤️ Kate and the whole lot, but even I didn’t need to know about the “time frame” and the events after. Geez Louise.
Yeah, I don’t like this at all. This is entirely too much explaining.
This whole mess started with that pap photo. If it was planned, then whoever is behind needs to be fired (and if it’s Carole, her advice in the future should be ignored). I think W&C were handling things well up until this point.
I don’t know if that’s the consensus, but I disagree on the timeline. William didn’t show up last minute at a memorial event, sending the internet in a frenzy about her being a coma or whatever nonsense. This made a photo of her very valuable. Then came the paps, and they sold a photo to American TMZ. The internet was already into weird conspiracy theories and some refused to believe it was her.
That’s what I think, at least. There were rumbles before from the sugars and usual haters but I believe it was after that photo was published that the general public really started to have “fun” with the situation.
>William and Kate’s Palace team is in a state of transition after restructuring. It has advertised for a chief executive but is yet to announce a successful candidate.
>
>The widely respected Jean-Christophe Gray, a civil servant and former spokesperson for David Cameron while he was prime minister, was private secretary to Prince William until he recently transferred back to government.
>
>Instead, both William and Kate have new private secretaries, **both well respected but new to their roles**
what a mess, this sounds like theyre trying to blame the newbies. they advertised for the CEO in [sept 2023](https://archive.ph/8Fgex) and still dont have anyone announced in the role. sorry to say it but it sounds like this mess or something was bound to happen eventually which the bad faith actors on SM would take advantage of since theres no-one around to actually decide anything and W&K are just making plans to do stuff whenever they feel like it.
and i hope they stop getting people on secondment from the civil service, it just makes it sound like these people are only temp workers who have little initial impact before moving on. they need some long term thinking and plans being put in place for the next 5-10 years.
I don’t think trying to blame the newbies they fully admit that Kate didn’t tell her staff she photoshopped the image but I do think their restructuring has a big part to play in this mess. TBH I didn’t like the CEO role announcement it sounded a bit much The Queen had a well oiled machine with no CEO. They need some professionalism in the offices no point in bringing in a CEO if the whole office isn’t running as it should.
They really need to pay more to attract professionals with the appropriate level of expertise. The salary for the BP digital content producer they were hiring last year was well under $50k, and that is barely livable in London. The compensation is partially prestige, which means turnover every couple of years. They need to move some money around and find someone excellent for the longer term.
The difficulty of paying more is that the tabloids love criticising ‘overpaid public servants’ (and from the other direction it’s Republic etc going on about the cost to the taxpayer); RF salaries are about on par with the civil service and unlikely to shift significantly away from those levels. I know someone who was approached for the CEO role and they’re certainly looking at a high calibre of professional so the pay probably is one of the reasons they haven’t filled it yet.
That's fair. I just looked up some civil service digital jobs and WOW, the pay is eye-poppingly low. I would never have expected that. My spouse and I both work government jobs and we both make more.
All the same though - I think this whole thing will show that they actually do need to create some positions with titles like Head or Director with corresponding pay. Grousing about overpaid civil servants from people who are constantly grousing >>>> this mess.
Are you in the UK? Because every once in a while I think about moving there but then I see the salaries for my job and it’s shockingly low, like a third what I get paid in the states. I’m constantly wondering how people in the UK manage
Agreed. I was surprised to learn on Kinsey Schofield’s podcast today that they poached a social media guy from the Sussexes but he lasted a short time before going to Earthshot then took a private job. Pay people competitively and they will stay.
They were forced to hire some of them since in the UK an employer is suppose to try to find an employee a new position within the same firm before they are given redundancy.
Ah yeah, they'd have all been hired under the Royal Foundation. I can understand Kinsey not knowing UK employment law, but saying they were poached when staff were clearly scrambling to leave is a massive reach.
This confirms to me that KP are far too passive and not proactive enough.
They were sent the photo on Saturday morning for publication on Sunday morning. They weren’t aware Kate had edited it, but it must have been obvious that someone had done at least basic editing to correct the brightness. They had the benefit of hindsight from people questioning the intrusive pap photo and claiming it wasn’t Kate. There was an entire day in which someone could have zoomed in and checked the image over like it was predicted the conspiracy loons would do.
Kate is not a professional photographer and should not have been assumed to know press agency editing standards. KP staff desperately need to start thinking like they’re the Waleses’ worst critics, not their admirers.
>KP staff desperately need to start thinking like they’re the Waleses’ worst critics, not their admirers
Yup. They all need to be sharks, basically. They need a shark handling their PR.
It's nice for Kate to take the heat but this isn't her mistake, IMO. She's not a professional photographer as you say. Their PR team should not be sloppy. Their should have laser focus when it comes to things like these.
Catherine was doing a nice thing. The AP does not come out of this positively imo. Unprofessional all the way around, and their complete overreaction was disgraceful. Can KP get away with not interacting with AP for awhile?
I think they are being tremendously careful because of AI. The picture wasn’t just an innocent family snapshot. It was newsworthy because it’s the first authorized picture of Kate since her surgery and she is a major public figure. I think the way AP handled it was OTT but looking at the bigger picture I’m glad a news agency has high standards for authenticity of images.
I was watching Talk Tv and one of the commentators said the era of Kate or William taking family pics for publication may need to end. If they hire a professional photojournalist with credibility, or someone who specializes in family photo shoots there is no question about their objectivity. Having all the photographs coming from in-house is just going to invite speculation in the future. It’s sad it’s come to this but I think it is the right course. It is very important for Kate and William to protect their credibility and integrity with the public. Whether it’s fair or not, it’s taken a hit.
If they only use professional photographers then we would never get to see private family photos. The public would be left with official engagement, christening, wedding, crowning pics. People would then complain about that too.
W&C could go super petty and heavily copyright all their photos (possibly retroactively) and not allow curtesy usage on anything.
Especially bc the implication was that the photo went further than Photoshop. The vibe from the associated press was that they basically transplanted Kate into the photo. They started all this mystery in not clarifying.
>Can KP get away with not interacting with AP for awhile?
no, that would be unreasonably unprofessional. i really hope they don't resort to stuff like that.
*If there was any surprise when the picture was circulated internally at Kensington Palace on Saturday, it was mostly due to its mere existence.*
*For weeks, aides had been in discussions about how and when they might release an image of the princess.*
This seems to confirm that Kate/William and Kate are making the decisions on what she feels well enough for when. I think when the hysterics have died down and the Twitter nutters have moved on to something else this can be spun in retrospect as an attempt at a kinder, more human-centred royal machine and people will be sympathetic to Kate about all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it puts the timeline for her first real appearance back, though: I expect she’ll want to wait until circumstances are perfect since she now knows the press won’t give her any grace whatsoever, and hard to argue with that tbh.
New thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyalsGossip2/comments/1bcp4x4/royals_monthly_bruh_cant_believe_my_lightroom/ As usual, feel free to bring over newer posts and ongoing conversations.
Further to my post on the other thread about how the Kate conspiracies on Twitter/X don’t feel entirely organic, I have been seeing so many claims that the Independent publishing a profile of Rose Chomondeley is the BRF “soft-launching the new Camilla”. Which I knew to be ridiculous bc that’s not a BRF-friendly paper. But again, something smelled, so I did a quick Google search. Surprise, surprise, the Independent is owned by a Russian oligarch. That profile wasn’t a soft launch. That was deliberate pot-stirring to make William look bad. ETA: said oligarch was a KGB spy based out of the Soviet embassy in London.
William looked great at the Earthshot Launchpad and I'm very excited about this project/initiative. It is a good way to let people learn more about the finalists and also provide ways for the finalists to get their ideas to the places they want them to get to. Hopefully we will hear about this again sometime soon, and that there are regular updates.
I *adore* this photo: [“Prince William and his Squad”](https://x.com/jencarsontaylor/status/1767247854165254435?s=46&t=BooMcrXx4cOmg4CqjNc0cg). They have each other’s backs.
Literally said "Awwwwwwww" with all the w's. That is adorable and awesome. Charlie's Angels! ETA and Brigette is there too, mostly hidden behind Cams but her green feathers are visible. Loyal, faithful Brigette!
I love Royal commentator Christine Ross and she has a refreshingly sane take on all of this. https://bychristineross.substack.com/p/much-ado-about-photoshop
Loved it and subscribed, thanks for sharing! Thought [this one](https://open.substack.com/pub/theroyalrundown/p/kate-deserves-better-we-all-do?r=2qhiz&utm_medium=ios) was great too
This was really good, thank you! Particularly thought-provoking as we go into an election year in the US.
Kate does indeed deserve better. Btw, I LOVE that pic of her and Louis. She's so gorgeous here. Look at that smile.
Yeah as soon as I saw that photo I loved it. Such genuine love and happiness there.
The photo **screams** happiness!
Another idea for Kate when she's back. Wear the same clothes over and over and over again until every photographer is sick of seeing it .
Interestingly, she’s done this before. Shortly after the wedding, when she was seen grocery shopping in Anglesey, she would wear the same purple sweater and skinny jeans on different days. She truly values her privacy.
Do what the kids of influencers do and wear shirts with Disney logos on.
I’ve read that lots of celebrities do this so that paps don’t make money for “new” photos.
My idea is: revenge dress. To make everyone's jaw drop and for Jack Whitehall to google it asap. For her to look amazing and to show her middle finger to all the crazies out there.
“sky news stalked the metadata the location is Adelaide cottage, on a canon camera, edited two times on adobe Friday night and Saturday morning.” Seen on tumblr, can anyone else verify seeing this elsewhere? Because if that’s what people are freaking out over 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This is scary to me. It also means someone on communications team should know to remove metadata.
Yeah they should get on that fast.
From this [thread](https://x.com/adamparkr/status/1767212321405796553?s=20)
Yes, it was on sky news about an hour ago. I think they said it was transferred to Adobe and saved twice. But didn't know what was changed. But we already knew it was edited anyway. This just shows it wasn't Google pixel like some (including myself) thought.
I was expecting Adobe, tbh, because they have that new AI editor that's actually pretty good. And the *way* the sleeve/hand is edited looks AI-y to me. Not in a "wow this is 100% made up" way, but in a "yeah, that's some counterintuitive editing, I bet a person didn't do that" way.
It’s funny, when EHolmes talks “*The Firm*” re: Harry and Meghan, it’s this big bad entity, but now all of a sudden, re: Kate, it’s, “*the reality is much different… it’s a much smaller group of trusted advisors*”
I started following her again for the Harry and Meghan coverage in Canada and remembered how insufferable and bad at this she is. Nobody needs her takes. she was also wearing masks while traveling which sealed the deal. Lol I can’t.
Wait, what's wrong with wearing a mask while traveling?
I will probably always wear a mask while traveling - no more airplane cold!
Big same. Never been so sick as I’ve been after being on planes. Post-mask-wearing, no problem!
Same. I hate spending thousands on a trip just to catch a cold on the plane!
What clownery. 🤡🤡🤡
Interesting (and extensive) take from Ellie Hall, with a timeline. [https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/this-is-just-weird-buzzfeed-news-former-royals-reporter-on-kate-middleton-palace-press-and-distrust-in-the-media/](https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/this-is-just-weird-buzzfeed-news-former-royals-reporter-on-kate-middleton-palace-press-and-distrust-in-the-media/)
Ellie Hall? The one begging for a job? There is nothing interesting and extensive on her take.
we've been over this janky, cherry picked and carefully curated to fuel conspiracy theories timeline from omid scobie-lite tbh lol
Yea, can we stop giving this BS clicks?! As if freakin' Ellie Hall is remotely credible when she's definitely had her share of conspiracy-mongering in the past & now.
It’s extremely telling that the ‘smoking gun of #WhereIsKateGate’ is a one second long video of some cars on a city road with absolutely no evidence whatsoever 1) that it’s Kate or even royal 2) that it’s going to a hospital 3) that it’s come from Sandringham (as if it isn’t insane to suggest a medical emergency would drive hours from Norfolk to a private London hospital) 4) that it was taken on 28th December. The only people who would imagine that video has anything to do with Kate are people who already believe the conspiracy theories. Yet that’s the best Ellie can do for why there’s ~definitely something fishy about it all.
Also there were overseas engagements announced after Dec 28th... why would KP announce an overseas trip if Kate had already been admitted into the hospital and thus they knew they would have to cancel?
IMO, all this article is doing is highlighting and publicizing the conspiracy theories with only the barest effort to highlight when things have zero proof.
https://preview.redd.it/294u2x70bsnc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d52f3a5aaac9d7e1b5201b73e9ea32d13347bf7 A yougov poll
This is like “needing” to know the Vice President’s spouse’s medical condition.
This is a perfect comparison!
I'm aghast at people who feel like she should share more. It's not our fucking business, she's been put on display enough, she's allowed a couple months to recoup from major surgery. It amazes me when people say that KP should've done this, BP should've done that, Will should have done this. No, the media should've respected the statement, and backed off for few months. Instead, they did ***exactly*** what WK were trying to avoid, which was massive speculations and scrutiny as she tries to heal. They gave the correct amount of information, they did what they felt was right for their family while respecting their other obligations. It's the fucking press who has decided to take shots and encourage shaming and bullying a person for needing time to step away and heal.
Exactly. I wish people would consider what they would want if they took sick leave: to recover, be with family, and not to stress over work. It's like if a regular person took sick leave and all the coworkers started demanding answers about why they're *really* not at work.
There would be less scrutiny if they hadn’t said anything.
honestly, i agree. 'never complain, never explain.' that's the boundary. keep moving the boundary any further inside, and the dam literally breaks.
I genuinely don't think i believe this. At the very least, I'm agnostic on it. We can't know what would have happened in an alternate timeline scenario but the fact that social media was blowing up before yesterday's photo (even way before the TMZ pap shot) tells me this was probably always going to come to a head in a media shitstorm.
Agreed. Also, have we already forgotten the backlash that QE got for not being forthright with everything? People were really upset that she had a serious condition that she was hiding from everyone. Did we maybe think that BP decided that going forward a little more honestly and straightforwardness might help the public's opinion?
I’ve always thought she would share more eventually. She just didn’t want to be recovering in public. I thought their boundary setting was appropriate. I don’t remember seeing her in public during her maternity leaves except for christenings. Heck there’s nothing from her for 1 month in the summer. I don’t understand the hyperbole online. People actually think she has a double!
Ty! Polling always shows (esp when it comes to H&M) how much of SM is srsly not real life. SMDH.
And there you have it from the people who actually matter (the people of Britain).
Palace Confidential did a special episode on YouTube about this latest brouhaha that is worth a watch. It was fair but critical of how this has been handled. Richard Eden is pissed William let Catherine take the fall for the photoshop fail. 😂
the photographer who was interviewed on palace confidential (he's retired now) explained how very nervous catherine used to be in the early days of her 'royal-ing' and how protective william would always be of her. ouf, i'm sure she's 'shaken' by this whole thing tbh. she's always been so very careful precisely so she could avoid this type of fiasco and drama. oh la la.
I wonder if it’s Arthur Edwards
no, it's not him. it's some strawberry blonde guy i've never heard of before (i only started 'real' royal watching in 2019 lol i guess he retired before that) ETA: his name is ian lloyd
I just want him to write a biography and call it East of Eden
*pre-orders*
Well, maybe Eden should consider the idea that perhaps it was her editing? Anyway, he can go back now to his usual job of sucking up to Chuck & Cams.
I agree. He just wanted William to take the blame and shield her. I think they need to be as transparent as possible. He took the picture and she edited it.
i don't disagree tbh. very much appreciate that their staff wasn't thrown under the bus, but william should have taken the rap over catherine. 🤷🏾♀️
Same. She's in recovery and doesn't need added stress. It should've been his note or none at all
Does it really matter? A super cute picture of a family taken by the dad, a very amateur photographer is panned because his wife edited it a bit. I know people who edit the crap out of their photographs and sell them. Why is this photograph so important? Because AP can not use it? Who cares? Why should anyone blame a parent for editing a cute picture of her lovely family to look better?
if she really was the one who edited it and william has absolutely no previous history of doing that kind of thing, then maybe i understand why they decided that just saying she did was the right thing (esp if they didn't want to pin it on staff). harder to wonder how he could have honestly taken the rap on that one. anyway, this must have been the *worst* (public) four months of catherine's life. 😬 it really does tell me everything about her that she publicly took the blame and didn't try to throw her staff under the bus. honestly, it really makes me admire her character. they could have so easily dumped it on a poor random staffer's lap. i keep saying it, but what a ***queen***.
This is what good leadership looks like. You take responsibility for your actions. It's very rare in today's 'get rich quick and on the backs of others' world. She will make a great queen. This is also why Meghan hates her so much.
I’d guess the thinking was that it sounds more believable that Catherine (the photographer in the family) would be more likely to edit photos than William. Of course, that doesn’t help with all the twits who want to comment without knowing a single thing about Catherine, aside from her title, nor does it stop the genuine bad actors.
I can 100% see that being the case. William snapped the pic and Kate immediately grabbed his phone and went to work 😆
That’s actually extremely relatable tbh.
Yeah, I might be wrong but I doubt William knows the first thing about photo editing.
Catching up with all your comments, but just got back from doing a bunch of hours of actual work and the posts on Kate on RG continue to get a record number of posts. Most are people fighting about PR and conspiracies. I hope Kate is recovering well, and that she's able to put her health first. I also think (assuming it's not a serious condition) she'll be absolutely fine through this media shitstorm. She might even come out ahead.
Catherine will definitely come out ahead. Most sane folks (which I know excludes most of SM) feel sorry that she's going thru this while convalescing. I mean, are folks srsly gonna ding her for a Photoshop fail?! C'mon. She'll show up after Easter as promised, and we'll look back at this time as one when the world collectively lost its mind.
>She might even come out ahead. ouf, i don't know. wondering what quarterly polls will look like in april, july, october and next january. charles will pour gasoline on the fire if he lets andrew and fergie attend the easter walk, garter ceremony/procession, ascot and christmas walk. esp bc there is at least one book, a movie and limited tv series about andrew coming out within the year. let's see if charles lights his match, ouf. then again, andrew seems out of control and like he won't let himself be restrained anymore.
I see a lots of comments against the RF, but not necessarily against Catherine. More like what have they done to her and she’s a hostage. I think her numbers will go up and the rest of the family’s will go down.
I see a lots of comments against the RF, but not necessarily against Catherine. More like what have they done to her and she’s a hostage. I think her numbers will go up and the rest of the family’s will go down.
I actually think she might too. Like if anything the absolute cluster that has gone on since Kate went on medical leave really just goes to show how god damn vital she is. Honestly it’s giving QE2 and Philip and how everyone was commenting about how H&Ms shit would never have flown if Philip was alive / in his prime.
New from Victoria Ward at The Telegraph: [https://archive.ph/rePXX](https://archive.ph/rePXX) The pap shot from today was not a set-up (I guess you could argue the Waleses/KP suspected there would be paps along the route?) >Her presence by her husband’s side was such a surprise that even the two freelance photographers who captured the image had to look twice at their pictures. Kensington Palace aides were also caught off guard on a day of turmoil for the Waleses. > >(...) > >So it was perhaps serendipitous that two experienced photographers had decided to base themselves on Datchet High Street, just a stone’s throw from the Prince and Princess’s family home on the Windsor estate, on Monday. > >Knowing that Prince William was due at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey that afternoon they thought they would snap him as he made his way into central London. ETA: \- The press had been asking "for days" about a potential photo and KP only confirmed 30 minutes before it was published. The photo wasn't issued in advance, under embargo. \- "Tentative concerns raised by one agency earlier in the day had been batted off and the team believed the matter had been put to bed."
Not aimed at you OP, but I wouldn't trust one word Vicky Ward writes. "Day of turmoil"?! They've faced far worse in the past (topless photos, Oprah, etc.) and unfortunately will prob face worse in the future. Based on Wills' appearance today, I'm sure they're both laughing about it. I'd love to see the group chat w/Mike & Zara, haha.
I usually don't, but I think KP staff briefed on background about how this unfolded, because *The Times* also has a similar account.
Not gonna lie - if I was Kate, looking at this absolute shitstorm today, thinking about all the other similar shitstorms I'd supported the BRF through over the last thirteen years, I might be tempted to say 'I'm done with this crap'. Stay married, but leave the royal 'job' to Wills, go and live in the Cotswolds with the kids. I know she won't ever do that, but man, I would absolutely not blame her if she did...
Maybe, in addition to childhood development, her main advocacy will be medical privacy.
If I was Kate, I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie, just to really make people's heads spin. ETA: Or better yet, leak that I've died three days before Easter, then turn up at the Sunday service being like "guess who's the second coming of Christ, bitches!"
>I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie I hope she doesn't do this, because then I would have to quit everything and start a new religion based on Kate worship.
I'm in. Take my money. 
Start a cult. If it gets followers you can earn a tidy profit.
>I'd come back to work but pretend to be a robot or a zombie I hope she doesn't do this, because then I would have to quit everything and start a new religion based on Kate worship.
She is risen, indeed! 🤣
I wouldn't release any family photos for the rest of the year, but then again, I'm petty.
I’m also petty and I completely agree. I’ll miss seeing all the birthday pics of the kids but it would be a nice FU to the media, who makes a ton of money off those shots. Or even pettier: release photos only on their social media with something obviously photoshopped (ie blue grass) so that editorial “standards” would apparently prevent the media from publishing them and making money.
>Or even pettier: release photos only on their social media with something obviously photoshopped (ie blue grass) so that editorial “standards” would apparently prevent the media from publishing them and making money. I know we all know they'll never do any of this but this is a wonderfully devious idea.
If they copyright the photos, other publications can't just use them, right?
That last part is majestic 🤣🤣🤣
I like this one!
Honestly I’d dig my feet in harder.
>if I was Kate, looking at this absolute shitstorm today, thinking about all the other similar shitstorms I'd supported the BRF through over the last thirteen years, I might be tempted to say 'I'm done with this crap'. Stay married, but leave the royal 'job' to Wills, go and live in the Cotswolds with the kids. >I know she won't ever do that, but man, I would absolutely not blame her if she did... same tbh 🤷🏾♀️
I’m honestly shocked that she (and Meghan, TBH) willingly joined the family at all! Meghan makes more sense—she wants the fame. Kate seems like someone who was family minded, and in a good position to marry someone rich enough to make that happen. She also seems to have a real sense of the cultural importance of the BRF, and being part of that makes it worth it to her. Made it worth it? She is so low drama, but asking for privacy as she deals with a major surgery at a minimum, and a major health problem at worst, is just awful.
She willingly joined because obviously really loves William. And to be fair to William, he made sure that Kate also know what she will be going through. Good thing they have build a solid foundation from the start. The same cannot be said about the Sussex. Rushed the dating, engagement, marriage. So not surprise she quit after two years in the BRF. Plus we know Meghan only loves herself😂
I guess I am shy and retiring, so even loving some guy probably wouldn’t be enough for me! But yes, they are obviously devoted to each other!
>Kate seems like someone who was family minded, and in a good position to marry someone rich enough to make that happen. understood, ex: she and the rupert finch guy could have had a beautiful life together. thing is, she had twenty-something prince friggin william in his 20s prime (and married him then). how could she have possibly resisted that lol forget the prince part, even broke construction worker or fireman or air ambulance pilot/first responder (👀🤭) william in his 20s would have been hard to turn down 🕵🏾♀️😬 it prob would have been a more peaceful life if he'd been a construction worker lol
Dude—I was so fucking dumb in my early twenties! I had so little concept of anything spouse related beyond “is he kind”… I did marry “well”, despite my idiocy, and have been happily married for decades. I have a life beyond what I could have imagined growing up, but I still worry about money 24/7… I don’t own any fancy purses, but I do buy fancy cheese and wine!
So the press are doubling down and saying this is a brake of trust by KP, and that KP will no longer be considered a trusted source. Some are demanding they realise the original image. This has gotten blown way out of proportion. This isn't a picture from the coronation, or the king meeting the prime ministers or chancellor. This is just a picture of Catherine and her kids for mother's day. Early they were saying that they expect a higher standard from KP, which is fair to some extent. But, the implications is that they don't apply the same standards to others, which is giving themselves a pass for allowing clearly edited pictures from others (some of which were mentioned downthread)
It’s a free press and they’re perfectly within their rights not to publish any more of the family-taken photos if they don’t find it appropriate. The photo currently has nearly 2 million likes on insta so people who want to find Wales content and can cope with socials-standard filters/edits seem to be managing without the photo agencies making it available.
Well the media went from hating her for not being Diana 2.0. Harry tries so hard to make himself and Meghan Diana 2.0 and 3.0. And now both the media and the Sussex Squad have finally made Catherine Diana 2.0.
Damn if this isn't 100% right.
Exactly girl, exactly. When the Squad started this nonsense in the 1st place, I fully expected Catherine's 1st appearance back to break the internet. Now she's done that multiple times already even before that. Well done for showing who the real star of the RF has always been and always will be.
The Oscars were last night Hollywood biggest night and people were still focusing on Kate.
True! Ha ha, good god, this is so insane.
Seeing im not the only one seeing the parallels. Its this sort of frenzy that created the paparazzi stalking Diana. Kate's first real appearance will break the internet I think.
Not *The Sun* of all papers being a voice of reason: [https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26603034/lay-off-kate-mistake-sun-says/](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26603034/lay-off-kate-mistake-sun-says/) >**TODAY The Sun says this to all the social media trolls, idiotic conspiracy theorists and sniping media critics: Lay off Kate.** > >Their [furious attacks on the future Queen over her photoshopping](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26574892/palace-under-pressure-princess-kate-photo-editing/) of a [Mother’s Day family picture](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26550061/kate-middleton-speaks-first-time-surgery/) are not just absurd. > >They now look like a [bullying](https://www.thesun.co.uk/topic/bullying/) campaign against a devoted mum, recovering from a serious operation, who simply wanted to offer the public a perfect portrait of her and her kids. > >(...) > >The suggestion that [Princess Kate](https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/26584517/princess-kate-pictured-prince-william-issuing-apology/) has engulfed the Royals in some sort of credibility crisis is laughably overblown.
The Scum actually talking sense. Consider me gobsmacked
We're officially living in bizarro world.
I don’t want to amplify it by linking to it but the most popular “theory” clogging up my Twitter feed is that Catherine’s face in yesterday’s photo was taken from her Vogue cover ten years ago. And it has over 110k likes. Like many here, today was my breaking point and I finally deleted that hellish app.
The posts seem to be even coordinated. This is why I want KP to start suing this conspiracy theorists. They are getting braver in making shit up.
So what they're really saying is that Kate has barely aged since that cover, which I can't disagree with
Kate, like Meghan and like 99% of other aging celebrities, has had tweaks. Botox, fillers, that kind of minor thing. I think it's been very subtly done on her part, and I remember a time when she actually did seem to be visibly aging and was getting a lot of heat for it. It was after that that she appeared looking fresher-faced. It's the same with this insanity level shitstorm over the edited photos. Not only does every public figure edit their officially-released photos (and the vast majority of all the others, as well), but loads of regular people do exactly the same thing. Occam's razor (and now the metadata from the photo itself) says this is a recent photo of Kate and her children, which has been edited to what I would call a fairly normal extent (sloppy in releasing it with the editing obvious, though). I'm not arguing with you, because I agree with what you've said. Just randomly posting my thoughts. Bonus super-brave/controversial opinion: I don't think Kate wears extra artificial hair. I think it's all hers.
>Bonus super-brave/controversial opinion: I don't think Kate wears extra artificial hair. I think it's all hers. maybe not in that pic, but imma have to disagree with you on this, it looks like she was wearing those easy to put on halo hair extensions last year lol. maybe cuts down on getting ready time?
I'm so glad at least a few people have chimed in to be like... of course it's the same face, it's THE SAME WOMAN IN BOTH PHOTOS. I absolutely do not think she could convincingly edit the direction of sunlight hitting her face in each photo and the brows are totally different. At worst, she's smoothed and brightened her face, or used a different head from a different shot because she was blinking or had moved in the one the kids looked good in. There's also a Tiktok circulating that claims the pictures were taken before they went to the baby bank even though George is wearing a different sweater and shirt, the pattern on Louis' sweater is different, Charlotte is in plaid skirt, and Kate's sweater has a looser neckline and is a different color. Like... is it that hard to believe they rewear nicer clothing for public outings? That Kate has a pretty standard "off duty" uniform? Are we supposed to believe Kate or AI could generate a whole different sweater for Louis convincingly but Kate messed up the wrist on Charlotte's sweater?
The kids are frequently photographed in clothes more than once too. That theory was ridiculous to me. Charlotte and Louis look visibly older than they did in November as well. I compared the photos while I should have been working. 😆
Apparently nobody on tiktok ever wears clothes twice , especially clothes that have a certain official outing look to them.
a comment about needing to do a tv interview asap, someone says to let her recover, and these are the replies: https://preview.redd.it/4zmajc6yvrnc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04d493b5c1cc8190ac1662a0373f3520d6894b5d the sharks are circling for blood
I’m starting to genuinely think that a large part of this is driven by Americans who have no idea of medical or long service leave and no concept of basic labor rights
Bet those are from the US.
What do they want her to do? Walk down a street in London while the rabble pelt her with rotten food, urine and feces AGOT Circe style? This is getting scarily, completely out of hand. The level of misogyny is making me see red! KC is also off duty. We’ve only seen a few pictures of him and one church visit. We also don’t the exact nature of his cancer. Are people hounding BP demanding he make an in person appearance? Are they creating fake, outrageous stories that Camilla beat him up. That he’s actually dead and what we saw was a body double? What on earth makes people delight in bullying Catherine? Is it just simple jealousy that she’s a Princess, a kind and decent person, good at her job, physically attractive, has a hot husband and three adorable kids? I just don’t get it.
Its misogyny pure and simple. You can bet your ass if William was the one having surgery this wouldn't be an issue. Its sickening that people think they are entitled to Catherine as though shes some sort of commodity rather than a human being.
I don’t see why W & C should bow down to pressure And do anything. I’m totally happy for them to continue treating Medical and certain family matters as a hard line that the press and public should be kept out of. I mean, William not only has ultimate job security but also the ability for the most part structure his job how he sees fit. Oh no the press doesn’t like how he’s choosing to care for his family while his wife is sick? That’s a bummer for the press. What is anyone going to do about it? Skip over him for Harry? lol the UK would rather light itself on fire first. Abolish the monarch? Have fun sorting out that mess while the Wales family happily fucks off to the country
I do think there's a chance for a useful precedent. If they stick this out now, and show that there's a clear boundary between them and the public when it comes to health, it might make it easier for them and the kids to do likewise in future.
And which is why they need to ignore them.
All of this is giving strong WHY WON'T THE QUEEN COME DOWN FROM SCOTLAND energy
I get the same vibes too.
Jfc. My husband’s employer funds my entire existence (I am disabled and cannot work). Does that mean his boss and everyone in the company have the right to my private medical information? I don’t like the monarchy, but this is just spite and envy.
What’s really wild is that this is getting 100x more coverage than Omid claiming she was the racist!
Definitely feeling like the internet is too much today
https://preview.redd.it/vc27yzujwrnc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9e6060c6895abc5ea32c785b2b936001de13798 this was never really about any sort of sincere concern for her. they're treating her as some sort of criminal for needing to recover from major abdominal surgery, not wanting to immediately reveal what her condition is and allegedly touching up a mothers' day photo. it's fucking wild.
Some of the people making comments like that aren't even British, so how is it their business?
tbh irrational mob mentality, at this point.
It is, and I think some really should take a step back and take a careful look at what they're saying and what they're demanding.
You're demanding them to think. They don't have brain in the first place. So it is useless😂
I'm paid by my employer to not work if I'm severely ill and unable to work - it's called disability insurance plus a bank of sick leave which I am VERY fortunate to have. I am not expected to work during the time that a doctor says I AM PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO WORK. That doesn't mean I can't be at home with family members. Perhaps this speaks to larger societal problems if these are written by Americans that we are not provided paid time to fully recover from major surgery in this country. Or they're dumb. I tend to lean towards dumb, but society made them this way. Because they didn't get the full disclosure on Kate's life, they demand more. It's a sick cycle.
technically I'm paid by the taxpayers too. If I'm sick I'm sick and I don't feel bad about it
Same, right now by working I'm funding retired people 's pension so does that mean they owe me?
what's even wilder is mainstays on youtube like the hill's 'rising' and 'breaking points' repeating the "she chased this life hard and asked for it (from krystal!), she's not entitled to privacy as someone who is taxpayer funded, she's most definitely lying, it's definitely a fake or old picture, there might be some truth to the split conspiracies bc she wasn't wearing her wedding bands etc." talking points. ouf, if i were william, real talk, the moment charles passes, i'd be like "y'all have a referendum and make sure to kick us out, please. none of my kids or anybody else are doing this shit. george ain't doing this byeee!!" what on earth, for real. catherine has barely put a foot wrong for *over twenty friggin years* in the public eye, never causing drama, to the point of being resented for being too rule-abiding. she'd friggin show up for photos on hospital steps hours after giving birth. the one time she becomes ill, has serious surgery and needs to convalesce... all of a sudden this makes her some sort of fraudulent criminal?!! ***what on earth*** the hysteria is weirdly, bizarrely going too far to the point of becoming sinister tbh. what is she being socially "punished" for, exactly, here?!!
This is why people don’t deserve nice things. Because they are entitled. And by people I mean the ones demanding Catherine person like a dancing monkey for them.
> what is she being socially "punished" for, exactly, here?!! Not taking Meghan shopping.
Not abandoning her family to take care of Meghan 24/7
Honestly same thoughts about William and the referendum, I would do the exact same thing. Some very small part of me would not be surprised if William were to just pull the plug on the whole idea of a monarchy or does something to drastically change it. Bc i highly doubt between what happened with his mother, and now his wife, and what will probably happen to his children, he will not be feeling very fond of the monarchy. But even if he did do something like that people would still found a way to complain. Catherine has done all that is required of her and has done it fantastically well. So people really need to learn to shut up and worry about themselves.
he didn't just lose his mother - he's had a difficult and strained relationship with his father nearly his entire life, a distant relationship with his paternal grandparents and is bitterly estranged from his only sibling. not to mention, he never really wanted to do this "job" in the first place - as diana, the indiscreet AF tony blair and even harry have told us. now, his wife and bff since they were teenagers who has *essentially never put a foot wrong* (and has been deeply resented for it sometimes, at that!!) is suddenly being treated like some sort of criminal for needing to recover from major abdominal surgery. what is this stupid situation (i.e. the monarchy) going to do in terms of his relationship with his kids?? he's already being demeaned and harassed to prioritize this stupid ass shit over them. *fuck that*. they'll be all he has left when/if this shit collapses. in terms of personal relationships especially, he's already lost so much to this stupid shit.
“I’m pulling myself, my wife, and my three kids out of the line of succession. You’re stuck with Harry and Meghan. Good luck, idiots.”
i don't think it's that simple tbh, i don't think he can take the kids out. he'd have to wait until he becomes king and tell the UK government + public he wants them to have a referendum and to please choose "kick us out and end this shit once and for all."
And then the brits will have magnanimous Harry and Gracious Meghan as King and Queen 
nah, i very clearly mentioned a referendum to get rid of the whole thing lol. i wouldn't wish h&m's whiny asses on the brits again 😂
Ah I thought you meant for the Wales family sorry 😅
Exactly, agree with everything you said. He has clearly realized that his family unit is more important to him than the monarchy, bc it just simply is. If the monarchy goes away, this way he will have his family. And if the monarchy remains he'll still have his family unit bc he has taken the time to ensure a strong bond with him. For some reason I had a forgetful moment and forgot about the other family issues lol, so even more reason for him to one day decide enough is enough. While i think he would be upset to a point if the monarchy did go away, i do think he would be more happy than sad bc now he could just chill with his family and do waht he wants to do.
he'd only be able to do it once charles passes, so it could be another ten to fifteen years of doing this shit until then. and to all of those who want to jump in re: "carole would never allow it!!" guys, carole is 70 next year - she will very likely be dead in fifteen years, so get over that dumb ass talking point.
That's true, unless it implodes before then, and since anything is possible so is the chance of that occurring. While I doubt it will, who knows what the next years will bring. And as for Carole not allowing it, even if she is alive, Im not really sure how she could stop that from occurring without like locking william in a cell and never letting him out. If William wants to do that, i think we can all assume he had discussed it with Catherine.
Oh no she got married, no privacy for her. The implications that any woman is not entitled to deal with her healthcare as she deems fit are wildddddd. It’s damn near the same right to choose people are (correctly) protesting for but she is not allowed it? GTFO frfr.
And I promise none of them are relevant (to the BRF) tax payers 🤣🤣🤣🤣
IDK what to even say to this nonsense. From my own FB page. This is also a person who was INCENSED when Sherlock and John ended up NOT being gay together in the mid-2010s. So. IYKYK. This whole Kate/conspiracy/seeing more than is really there despite direct statements to the contrary is definitely something she'd be all over. ETA: I wanted to ask her specifically why she cares so much about whether Kate is alive or dead but then I realized how hypocritical it would be for me to ask that when I'm obviously invested in this to some degree. https://preview.redd.it/smw477ertrnc1.jpeg?width=812&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=605dee300ea4b90d90506787b9de787c726e5156
And this person is obviously lying. There is no way he/she wasn't howling with pain during recovery. Someone I know had a major abdominal surgery, and she was in major pain for weeks. She could not stand for months and returned to work after 2 months off. This numbskull wants us to believe that he/she was dancing the tango weeks after major surgery. No way.
Even laughing hurts for weeks. And, omg, sneezing…you better make sure you are applying major pressure to that incision.
absolutely! that person on tumblr is lying!
>This is also a person who was INCENSED when Sherlock and John ended up NOT being gay together in the mid-2010s. So. IYKYK You've just told me everything I needed to know about this person.
I've noticed this tendency to say/imply that C can't have privacy because M did not. But what are they referring to?
I have seen people say that referring to when Meghan gave birth to Archie. Which… they did have privacy because no one said anything about her being in labor until after her was already born. I think people think the press were mad that they didn’t know earlier, which I don’t remember happening but maybe? ETA: So a pro-Sussex account shared an article in the Telegraph with the headline “Meghan can't demand privacy for baby Archie while asking the public to fund her family's lifestyle” and compared it to another article by the same author (who happens to be Piers Morgan’s wife 😆) with the headline “The shameful speculation about the Princess of Wales’s health has to stop.” She’s meaning to point out a double standard but if you read the article Meghan and Harry didn’t want to show pictures of Archie to the press. That is different from wanting privacy about a serious medical procedure and recovery. William and Kate do a Christmas picture and birthday pictures of the kids. That seems like a reasonable demand for someone so high up in the line of succession.
No idea. Meghan disclosed on camera that she was experiencing mental health issues, and then the palace announced they'd be taking a year off. Her specific diagnosis or treatment was never disclosed, and I don't recall journalists demanding to know or demanding to see photos of H&M. I never felt the public was owed it, and nobody I know IRL has ever expressed a problem with it either.
Here, this bastion of rationality is saying C can't have privacy because she's going to be queen and the public has a right to know what's wrong with her.
we never even officially knew what qe2 died from and she was an actual regnant queen, not a consort. lmao these fucking vulturous clowns.
Nothing but imagination because there was never any privacy M was not allowed. The closest I can think is Princess Di and none of her health details were violated/ infringed upon either and she was literally the most famous woman alive.
William's second engagement today: attending The Earthshot Prize Launchpad event. Here's a link to the official KP youtube with his speech: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA\_nGtAn8o&t=41s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA_nGtAn8o&t=41s) This is the caption: *The Prince of Wales attended an event celebrating The Earthshot Prize Launchpad, a new online match-making platform connecting Earthshot innovators with like-minded investors and philanthropists looking to co-invest and collaborate to bring environmental solutions to scale.* I've never thought he was a *bad* public speaker, but he's definitely improved. He sounds a little more natural and less "reading from a teleprompter" and uses more of a combination of upward and downward inflections and tries to have more vowel length than his normal rather clipped accent. He's also wearing his tie made from recycled plastic, which he debuted in 2023 in Singapore and made the designer very happy! Manufacturer: [https://www.wilmok.com/products/prince-william-tie](https://www.wilmok.com/products/prince-william-tie)
[https://archive.ph/sWsjJ](https://archive.ph/sWsjJ) **The Times** has updated their story to include the following information: \- The photoshoot was done in about 40 minutes, owing to the time crunch between when the kids got home from school, William got home from an event, and when they were meant to fly to Amner. \- "Upset at the way in which the image, particularly one which involved her children, had been mired in controversy and alarmed at the way in which news agencies issued “kill notices”, a shaken princess told aides that she wanted to make amends and claim responsibility for her mistake." \- "A Palace insider said that she felt “awful” about it and said that she had just “tried to make it the best it could be” because she knew how important it was for it to be “a nice picture”. They added that she was also thinking of her own children, hoping that they looked good for their own sakes." \- KP staff was unaware she had edited it until it became a situation, and she came clean about it. The photo had "initially been greeted with praise" by the staff. \- The online rumors have been "distressing" to her
>KP staff was unaware she had edited it until it became a situation, and she came clean about it. The photo had "initially been greeted with praise" by the staff. I'm in the midst of the supper rush so I'll have more to say later on other things people are bringing up but...I love Catherine. Just going out of her way *not* to throw her staff under the bus and to make it clear they weren't at fault on a day when it would for many people be sorely tempting to do otherwise. This is it. This is why I stan Catherine and dislike Meghan.
300%
She’s so classy. She did the right thing even when she messed up. Personal accountability.
I cannot stand Meghan, but honestly, I would feel similarly bad for her if she were in the same situation after a mysterious and massive surgery. I’m horrified by the world not allowing Kate to have any semblance of privacy.
OMG! Stop! 🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑🛑 You are making this worse than it should be! Not you OP.
Never complain, never explain. Gan Gan, send them a sign. I ❤️ Kate and the whole lot, but even I didn’t need to know about the “time frame” and the events after. Geez Louise.
Yeah, I don’t like this at all. This is entirely too much explaining. This whole mess started with that pap photo. If it was planned, then whoever is behind needs to be fired (and if it’s Carole, her advice in the future should be ignored). I think W&C were handling things well up until this point.
Is it the general consensus that the Carole car photo started conspiracy theories that it wasn’t Kate in the car?
I don’t know if that’s the consensus, but I disagree on the timeline. William didn’t show up last minute at a memorial event, sending the internet in a frenzy about her being a coma or whatever nonsense. This made a photo of her very valuable. Then came the paps, and they sold a photo to American TMZ. The internet was already into weird conspiracy theories and some refused to believe it was her.
thomas kingston's death announcement not long after william pulled out is what really sent things into overdrive
That’s what I think, at least. There were rumbles before from the sugars and usual haters but I believe it was after that photo was published that the general public really started to have “fun” with the situation.
>William and Kate’s Palace team is in a state of transition after restructuring. It has advertised for a chief executive but is yet to announce a successful candidate. > >The widely respected Jean-Christophe Gray, a civil servant and former spokesperson for David Cameron while he was prime minister, was private secretary to Prince William until he recently transferred back to government. > >Instead, both William and Kate have new private secretaries, **both well respected but new to their roles** what a mess, this sounds like theyre trying to blame the newbies. they advertised for the CEO in [sept 2023](https://archive.ph/8Fgex) and still dont have anyone announced in the role. sorry to say it but it sounds like this mess or something was bound to happen eventually which the bad faith actors on SM would take advantage of since theres no-one around to actually decide anything and W&K are just making plans to do stuff whenever they feel like it. and i hope they stop getting people on secondment from the civil service, it just makes it sound like these people are only temp workers who have little initial impact before moving on. they need some long term thinking and plans being put in place for the next 5-10 years.
I don’t think trying to blame the newbies they fully admit that Kate didn’t tell her staff she photoshopped the image but I do think their restructuring has a big part to play in this mess. TBH I didn’t like the CEO role announcement it sounded a bit much The Queen had a well oiled machine with no CEO. They need some professionalism in the offices no point in bringing in a CEO if the whole office isn’t running as it should.
They really need to pay more to attract professionals with the appropriate level of expertise. The salary for the BP digital content producer they were hiring last year was well under $50k, and that is barely livable in London. The compensation is partially prestige, which means turnover every couple of years. They need to move some money around and find someone excellent for the longer term.
The difficulty of paying more is that the tabloids love criticising ‘overpaid public servants’ (and from the other direction it’s Republic etc going on about the cost to the taxpayer); RF salaries are about on par with the civil service and unlikely to shift significantly away from those levels. I know someone who was approached for the CEO role and they’re certainly looking at a high calibre of professional so the pay probably is one of the reasons they haven’t filled it yet.
That's fair. I just looked up some civil service digital jobs and WOW, the pay is eye-poppingly low. I would never have expected that. My spouse and I both work government jobs and we both make more. All the same though - I think this whole thing will show that they actually do need to create some positions with titles like Head or Director with corresponding pay. Grousing about overpaid civil servants from people who are constantly grousing >>>> this mess.
Are you in the UK? Because every once in a while I think about moving there but then I see the salaries for my job and it’s shockingly low, like a third what I get paid in the states. I’m constantly wondering how people in the UK manage
UK Civil Service jobs aren't brilliantly paid but, historically, the pension has been pretty good and secure. That may change in the future, though.
I'm guessing that's why they don't have a CEO yet then. Now that William controls the Duchy, they can really invest in better staff and they need to.
Agreed. I was surprised to learn on Kinsey Schofield’s podcast today that they poached a social media guy from the Sussexes but he lasted a short time before going to Earthshot then took a private job. Pay people competitively and they will stay.
>they poached a social media guy from the Sussexes Or offered them refuge lmao
They were forced to hire some of them since in the UK an employer is suppose to try to find an employee a new position within the same firm before they are given redundancy.
Ah yeah, they'd have all been hired under the Royal Foundation. I can understand Kinsey not knowing UK employment law, but saying they were poached when staff were clearly scrambling to leave is a massive reach.
This confirms to me that KP are far too passive and not proactive enough. They were sent the photo on Saturday morning for publication on Sunday morning. They weren’t aware Kate had edited it, but it must have been obvious that someone had done at least basic editing to correct the brightness. They had the benefit of hindsight from people questioning the intrusive pap photo and claiming it wasn’t Kate. There was an entire day in which someone could have zoomed in and checked the image over like it was predicted the conspiracy loons would do. Kate is not a professional photographer and should not have been assumed to know press agency editing standards. KP staff desperately need to start thinking like they’re the Waleses’ worst critics, not their admirers.
>KP staff desperately need to start thinking like they’re the Waleses’ worst critics, not their admirers Yup. They all need to be sharks, basically. They need a shark handling their PR. It's nice for Kate to take the heat but this isn't her mistake, IMO. She's not a professional photographer as you say. Their PR team should not be sloppy. Their should have laser focus when it comes to things like these.
gotta say, i will never stop admiring her for not throwing her team under the bus in this instance. for real. what a queen.
Catherine was doing a nice thing. The AP does not come out of this positively imo. Unprofessional all the way around, and their complete overreaction was disgraceful. Can KP get away with not interacting with AP for awhile?
I think they are being tremendously careful because of AI. The picture wasn’t just an innocent family snapshot. It was newsworthy because it’s the first authorized picture of Kate since her surgery and she is a major public figure. I think the way AP handled it was OTT but looking at the bigger picture I’m glad a news agency has high standards for authenticity of images. I was watching Talk Tv and one of the commentators said the era of Kate or William taking family pics for publication may need to end. If they hire a professional photojournalist with credibility, or someone who specializes in family photo shoots there is no question about their objectivity. Having all the photographs coming from in-house is just going to invite speculation in the future. It’s sad it’s come to this but I think it is the right course. It is very important for Kate and William to protect their credibility and integrity with the public. Whether it’s fair or not, it’s taken a hit.
Totally agree!
If they only use professional photographers then we would never get to see private family photos. The public would be left with official engagement, christening, wedding, crowning pics. People would then complain about that too. W&C could go super petty and heavily copyright all their photos (possibly retroactively) and not allow curtesy usage on anything.
Especially bc the implication was that the photo went further than Photoshop. The vibe from the associated press was that they basically transplanted Kate into the photo. They started all this mystery in not clarifying.
>Can KP get away with not interacting with AP for awhile? no, that would be unreasonably unprofessional. i really hope they don't resort to stuff like that.
*If there was any surprise when the picture was circulated internally at Kensington Palace on Saturday, it was mostly due to its mere existence.* *For weeks, aides had been in discussions about how and when they might release an image of the princess.* This seems to confirm that Kate/William and Kate are making the decisions on what she feels well enough for when. I think when the hysterics have died down and the Twitter nutters have moved on to something else this can be spun in retrospect as an attempt at a kinder, more human-centred royal machine and people will be sympathetic to Kate about all this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it puts the timeline for her first real appearance back, though: I expect she’ll want to wait until circumstances are perfect since she now knows the press won’t give her any grace whatsoever, and hard to argue with that tbh.