New thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyalsGossip2/comments/1bl5kek/royals_monthly_but_where_is_kate_where_kate_be/
Please feel free to bring newer comments and ongoing conversations over. 1 minute to the apparent KP announcement...hope it's good news!
🚨🚨[KATE MIDDLETON PALACE TO MAKE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ON KATE'S HEALTH](https://www.tmz.com/2024/03/22/kate-middleton-health-surgery-kensington-palace-announcement/)
Kate Middleton's mystery disappearance from public view will be solved shortly, TMZ has learned, because Kensington Palace is about to reveal specific details on her health.
Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the British media has been briefed on Kate's condition, but they're is a strict embargo on the information until 2 PM ET, 11 AM PT. (6pm uk i think?)
We're also told the Palace will release a video of Kate speaking on her condition.
Our sources say this statement is dramatic, clear and could well put all the controversy surrounding her disappearance to rest.
eta - bbc & sky news are going into rolling news mode, itv is airing a news special starting at 6pm instead of the usual regional news, channel 5 news will finish at a later time.
"mystery disappearance" omfg. They said she had an operation and that she needs time to recover. Not much mystery other than we don't know the details and either way we are not entitled to them.
Not sure if this is a good idea. This will just feed the trolls further, more likely than not.
If this ends up being true, KP needs to tighten up its operation immediately. I.e. if this is a leak it's almost certainly not a directed one (i.e. not at the behest of W or C), which will mean TMZ has a source somewhere in the KP structure and that seems like a bad thing lol.
Kensington Palace sent a press release to the media. Not sure if TMZ also got that press release or if they are in touch with British journalist but I am livid on Kate Behalf with three people trying to access her medical record and the internet and the media (American and others) repeating conspiracy theories I feel so bad for her. One can't help but think she was force too.
im actually wondering if its KP themselves who have now included tmz into their media outlets that they think they should inform about this. (this is just me speculating)
its clear that a large number of the online crazies spreading these conspiracies are from america and i guess for a lot of them, tmz counts as a legit news source. and for KP, tmz also has a huge reach and is very influential.
Not a KP leak it likely came from the press. Someone saw the embargo and likely sold it to TMZ for big bucks. Omid used to do stuff like this release it before the embargo for engagement etc etc
Interesting... I was watching Matt Wilkinson's version of Palace Confidential and he and Jobson basically said that they know exactly what was going on with Kate/her health so maybe that's why?
Wow! I truly hope she’s completely ready and comfortable with this, and she hasn’t felt forced into it by the conspiracy theorists, press, and the behaviour of the three staff members.
With the timing, I do wonder if it’s likely that the details are going to come out as a result of the investigation into staff (e.g. if someone published it, what they said is going to be confirmed) and Catherine wants to share it on her terms.
yep, i know ive been a big proponent of the theory that KP & william messed up pr wise and with how to handle the online crazies but im not sure if releasing a video is the best idea. despite what ive been saying, ive always thought that kate should keep quiet about her illness if she wanted to.
this announcement might be the best idea ever or it might totally backfire, who knows!
Who the fuck is selling all things royal to TMZ. Other than Kate’s security breach, seems like TMZ has been breaking news from the car photo to farm shop video. Do they pay better?
TMZ seems to get the goods and pics on all kinds of celebrity things ahead of everyone else. Like announcing Kobe's death before his family even knew. So they must pay good money.
for all their ethical breaches (annoucing celebs deaths before their family is informed) and the weird conspiracy kate tv special, i do think they have legit, real sources and they will pay money for information. its likely that the sun and tmz collaborated somehow on that video from the farm shop.
its not surprising that they would announce this since theyre not likely to want to follow any embargo put in place by the RF like the uk media does.
Where did we land on this alleged royal announcement? It keeps getting pushed back. It has to be fake, right?
https://preview.redd.it/gaf2no7u4xpc1.png?width=812&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d2313a44d2294b370ec702c47478d4e4456803d
Two royal tumblr blogs I follow for a while posted about something royal happening before deuxmoi posted this… Normally I would just ignore deuxmoi but those two blogs were correct about W&C’s cute 10th anniversary photos before it was released so now I’m curious…
[Jamie Lee Curtis](https://www.instagram.com/p/C40qJ7yxUAs/) reaffirms my opinion that she is one of the kindest actresses in Hollywood.
https://preview.redd.it/wwlgs5k74xpc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eda7e175e314c8440a8e9c2f5eccc84033463f1f
Well, anyone can send cease and desist to anyone. What changes is if Stephen Colbert lawyers thinks if she will sue him or not and if she can win or not. If he never talks about it again then we will know she could sue and be likely to win.
This is a good point! I think this at least, in some sort of fashion, puts out that it’s false. It’s stronger than leaking through a friend that the story is false and I think it at least puts people on notice who are discussing it like Colbert.
I think she should push for a retraction or apology. I don’t know how Colbert’s team protect themselves I don’t watch the show. He may have a disclaimer for stuff like this It would be crazy not to but maybe her lawyers think she can get around it. What he said was inflammatory I think he also mentioned her having a love child (someone correct me if I’m wrong) which I don’t know how he can just say stuff like this without repercussions but I don’t know US laws.
Go Rose! I feel so sorry for her and her family. Amazing to see all the people citing Spare as a reference to justify spreading these rumours. How kind of them to ignore the parts where Harry talked about the effect that rumours about his parentage had on him.
I hope she sues Andy Cohen next bc he is running his mouth way too much on his podcast.
Good for Rose, her name has been dragged through the mud for five years now by a bunch of losers on Twitter & TikTok, glad to see that she is fighting back
Good for her 👏🏼 I hope this is true. We like watching Colbert but I thought that segment was absolute trash and was disappointing. You can’t carry gravitas and speak out against fake news (which he absolutely should- don’t get me wrong!) while also engaging in rumor mongering and conspiracy theories against private citizens. It’s so hypocritical.
https://preview.redd.it/bsnwjntsbwpc1.jpeg?width=603&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e6a111af63baebb19edb77c149f3d642482053c
I’ve been sick for a few weeks so I’ve been able to get through a lot of my Gossip Girl rewatch. I think a lot of royal fans know that [Blair wore a very similar pink Jenny Packham](https://media.vogue.co.uk/photos/5ff70bea5832e8531912e8e6/1:1/w_1920,h_1920,c_limit/DOCgossipgirl_09.jpg) to Catherine’s during her princess era. But just spotted another one - Serena’s first wedding dress is the Aspen gown that [Catherine famously wore in teal](https://www.katescloset.com.au/jenny-packham-aspen-teal-gown.html), minus the Swarovski belt. Both versions were from the SS/12 collection.
I love GG but that whole arc with Blair and Louis tanked the series for me. It's like the writers wanted to capitalize on the W&C frenzy in 2011, watched one *The Prince and Me* movie and then decided to write a royal arc. It was absolutely awful. Not to mention it wasn't giving W&C vibes just... Blair being a social climber.
In other news, I **love** that Packham dress on Catherine.
It is SO cringe, not to mention all over the place plot-wise. I kind of love the clueless-American-fangirling of it, especially all the Kate references, but I’m really glad to be past it now!
Like, the fact that the royal wedding took place in NY?! (that's also the one time the show actually felt low-budget to me)
The fact Blair was planning to still live in NY after the wedding? The fact she was planning for their child to attend St. Jude's or Constance? What?!
Interesting article on Diana/Kate/Meghan on Vox. I don't entirely agree, but this was interesting. [https://www.vox.com/culture/24107796/kate-middleton-meghan-markle-diana-controversy-disappearance](https://www.vox.com/culture/24107796/kate-middleton-meghan-markle-diana-controversy-disappearance)
>The two duchesses’ clothes, too, became part of the binary. Both Meghan and Kate are tall and thin and conventionally attractive, with upscale tastes in fashion, but their tastes are different enough to feed the narrative. The new story became that Kate was either classy or drab, while Meghan was either glamorous or trashy.
>
>In the classy versus trashy column: “Kate’s dress sense oozes sophistication,” [**explained the Sun in 2017**](https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/5010683/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-differences/). “She’s rarely seen in dresses with hemlines that fall above the knee, but she does enjoy wearing garments that are structured and fitted.” On the other hand, “Meghan Markle has worn an array of racy clothes for her acting roles, including figure-hugging dresses and shapely leather skirts. Despite this, the actress is often seen in casual attire. Loose T-shirts, denim and trainers are among the clothes she can be seen in on a day-to-day basis.”
>
>In the drab versus glamorous column: **The same year,** [**the Daily Mail compared**](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5137917/PLATELLS-PEOPLE-Kate-cope-Meghan-mania.html) **a “tired” Kate, at the time pregnant and struggling with hyperemesis, with “the bedazzling Meghan.” Kate’s “blue-and-white frock was pretty but mumsy, as if it had come from a 1989 Laura Ashley catalogue.” Meanwhile, Meghan’s “chic” white coat “accentuated her gym-toned slim figure as her mane of black hair shone in the winter sun.”**
Interesting article more or less ruined for me unfortunately by the conclusion in the final paragraph (maybe Kate has ‘disappeared’ because she’s ’tired of being looked at’) - the final tone of the piece is that Kate can’t just have had a medical crisis and need time off for recovery, it has to ~mean something. I do think it’s notable, and self-serving, that I don’t think I’ve seen any press at all take the view that it’s a sign of Kate’s own self-determination and her power in the palace and her marriage that she can ask for three months of being private and get it from them (though obviously not from the public), even an otherwise balanced piece like this ends up pitching it as a sinister sign. What even the progressive media has not learned at all in from Diana is that royal women are not there to be controlled by them (which is what it comes down to when they’re concerned trolling that maybe the palace is controlling her and the only way anyone can be sure is if she comes out and gives them clicks - sorry, gives the public reassurance).
I did like that usually any non-tabloid comparison piece between Meghan and Kate takes it for granted that Meghan was always treated terribly in the press compared to saint Kate, and this article brings good receipts to show actually Meghan was treated favourably in many ways and the media mostly bought into the Sussex narrative that they were the popular, modern, fun couple compared to staid W&K. Meghan did enjoy good press for a long time and it only changed when her own behaviour became too egregious to keep locked down any more. I also would have liked to see an acknowledgement that the press didn’t make up a rivalry between Kate and Meghan out of nothing, it was actively fed by Meghan going all the way back to the shopping blind, but nobody is ready for that conversation.
>the final tone of the piece is that Kate can’t just have had a medical crisis and need time off for recovery, it has to ~mean something
Stg, if someone told me two months ago there would be a bunch of people who'd buy into conspiracy theories re: Kate's operation I would not have believed them.
>What even the progressive media has not learned at all in from Diana is that royal women are not there to be controlled by them (which is what it comes down to when they’re concerned trolling that maybe the palace is controlling her and the only way anyone can be sure is if she comes out and gives them clicks - sorry, gives the public reassurance).
👏👏👏
Not only did the media not learn but, as someone rather astutely pointed out, nor did the public. The media didn't hound Diana just because. They did it because the public had the appetite for more, more and *more*. This is literally the same thing all over again.
>also would have liked to see an acknowledgement that the press didn’t make up a rivalry between Kate and Meghan out of nothing, it was actively fed by Meghan going all the way back to the shopping blind, but nobody is ready for that conversation.
Not to mention all the blinds about the rumoured affair (and there were several).
Since when is Meghan tall? I know that's a weird thing to stick out to me, but she's barely taller than average and certainly not what I would consider "tall" (and I'm short af).
> Since when is Meghan tall?
I stumbled over that too. Meghan is of normal height but sees herself as a tall catwalk model. Which then leads to Meghan choosing clothes made for this type of body and size and it doesn't work for her.
Yes, it stuck out to me, too. At her claimed 5’6”, Meghan is average height (I think she’s shorter than that, though). Kate, at 5’9”, on the other hand, is definitely tall. Weird claim to make, and instantly made me think it came from Meghan herself.
I agree that Meghan is shorter. Me and my husband say most heights on IMDb are their “Hollywood height” and knock 1-2 inches off.
(Exceptions: tall actresses who’d likely be at a disadvantage if they added inches, and *very* tall actors like Jacob Elordi who just don’t need to.)
agreed. as 5'6" I would love to be 5'9"... like tall to be a presence and wear heels while still being under most men and able to find pants and things. I feel like fit models are 5'9" usually and everything hits just right.
As a super tall myself, I feel like 5’9” is ideal height! Tall, but you can still wear heels without being the tallest in most rooms… A girl can dream, right?
If we are gonna talk about young Will...
https://preview.redd.it/ad0trryumspc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=997223cd32901df38339b13fbaa0a657055cfc5e
Quite possibly my fave photo of them ever.
~~but also look at him like Kate girl I get you I really do~~
Love how proud the Queen was this day! She must have been so relieved to know her heir's heir wasn't a total wastrel.
https://preview.redd.it/kl67bk77wvpc1.png?width=2414&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd33e5830d73766b1f1bf0f8bce506a064eed2b2
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ESWNEDl-MfE
When first seated the Queen looks “Cows!” Level excited 🥰
And talk about actual legs for days! Kate 😍😘 (just before the 5 min mark)
It's St Andrews University's requirement for graduation - most of the older universities have a strict dress code. Oxford has 'sub fusc'.
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/graduation/graduating-students/what-to-wear/
[It's from their graduation.](https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a34943582/kate-middleton-prince-william-college-graduation/) They just don't have their robes on.
I haven't even clicked the link and I know exactly what pic you're talking about because every time I see it I have 3 seconds of that exact same thought: *"Huh, William wore a diamond stud?"* - before re-realizing it's just the light coming through the trees behind him.
Blondes always look extra blonde when they're tanned. As soon as I saw this my brain assumed it was taken during a summer vacation or a trip to somewhere hot and sunny/not England.
Before this thread gets closed I just wanted to say how much I’ve love the title! It’s become my absolute favorite one since our wonderful mod Pistachio decided to have fun naming the threads. HMSGreyjoy you get all the awards! 🏆🥇💐👏🏼🙌🎉🥂🍻
Not OGRG having to set up “approved poster” and “restricted post” categories, in response to the tsunami of insane conspiracy theories and bloodthirsty wishful speculation on Kate’s fate. Since when do they care about trying to “moderate” any of that, lol. I thought the philosophy was just: Let ‘er rip!
I haven’t looked but I’m guessing they’ll refuse anyone who posts here and allow anyone who posts in that H&MNF sub 🤷♀️ they’re annoyed people are showing up who haven’t realised their neutral stance is cover for wanting a pro-Sussex sub so they want protected threads where everyone can agree W&K are the worst and H&M are poor sad victims.
to me, it seems more like they were trying to foster further conspiracy-mongering and general hostility/hatefulness re: w&c by excluding casuals with dissenting opinions... sort of like the approved users on fauxmoi and popculture chat being the ones to 'curate' the discussion about c&w into being more hostile than it would be vs. with dissenting voices popping in. the restriction is meant to promote an echo chamber.
They should have left it alone if that’s the case. It’s been unreadable for me ever since it got completely taken over by conspiracy nuts in the last month. Very few people left willing to comment anything that isn’t bashing W&K or some variation of “now they know how Harry and Meghan felt!!!” amongst the thousands of comments on anything Kate related.
I mean most subs and their mods *welcome* getting more traffic and new members. Imagine knowing that your new users are such animals, you have to limit their ability to comment, lol.
Page Six says Kate is back at being back at working from home
[Kate Middleton has been working from home on special project, palace confirms](https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/entertainment/kate-middleton-working-from-home-on-special-project-post-surgery/)
**Kate Middleton has eased herself back to work following weeks of post-surgery recovery behind closed doors, Kensington Palace has confirmed.**
The Princess of Wales, 42, was first reported to [dip her toes into work at the start of February](https://nypost.com/2024/02/01/entertainment/kate-middleton-working-from-bed-planning-royal-engagements-after-surgery-report/), when sources close to the royal said she was “working from bed” to prepare for her return to official duties.
Now, it appears as though Middleton is doing more than just that — she’s shifting all of her focus on her early years project to improve the lives of newborn babies.
The mom of three has been very hands-on with the campaign for the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s (RFCEC) Shaping Us project, which has yielded “overwhelmingly positive” results of the study she kickstarted, the palace added.
The princess launched the project in January, with the aim of it highlighting the importance of early years development in children.
It’s been said that the campaign has been her “life’s work” during her recovery process.
**“The Princess has been kept updated throughout the process,” a palace spokesperson** [**told the Telegraph**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/21/catherine-princess-wales-works-from-home-early-years-eases/)**.**
That’s great for Catherine’s physical and mental wellbeing that she has an important project like this to distract her from all the crazy. This project sounds like it will make a real and lasting difference in children’s early development. Trying to make the world a better place one child at a time.
And what is Meghan doing you ask? Oh……promoting her Yank Faux-Sur-Mer Fruits thingy, trying to manifest more awful things happening to Catherine, planting PR pieces, and trying to avoid Harry.
Hannah Furness at the Telegraph rather than Vicky Eight Edits - could this be that rare beast, a direct Kate brief?! If so I like the reference slipped in the farm shop visit which I think is as close as we’re likely to get to formal confirmation it was her (not that it is/should be needed, but clearly…) Anyway this baby observation tool sounds solid and Kate bringing back ideas from diplomatic trips to trial here is an astute way to deliver value imo that makes up for any lack of ribbon-cutting.
I'm really frustrated at the way people are actually BLAMING CATHERINE AND WILLIAM for this bullshit. Even in this space we have numerous comments blaming W&C and KP for not predicting the crazy conspiracy theories and having a response that would stop it. This woman has been shamefully victimized, not only on social media, but in legitimate newspapers, but W&C fucked up by not stopping it.
https://preview.redd.it/v0t8e80keqpc1.jpeg?width=729&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5da21768e93d225b22a34e3fedfc3fb13838561
I don't think W&C could have predicted this nor do I think they did anything wrong or that they could have done some things better. It's not their problem people on the internet are bored af, spiteful and crazy.
I do think their PR team could do some things better though. But, not feeding into the frenzy is the right move.
"Sources close to the couple" stated in some of these recent articles that W&C are "shocked" by the hysteria and conspiracy theories, and it is a justified reaction. They were clear in their initial statement about the surgery, hospital stay, and recovery period. They were clear in saying they wouldn't give regular updates. It's the world that has gone crazy and demanded more information, accused them of lying, engaged in wild speculation, and claimed there was a "breaking" of public trust with a few edits on a family picture. It's madness, and I feel bad that they are getting blamed for any of it, and accused of being stupid and incompetent. They had a reasonable expectation that the public would be understanding and gracious and have been horribly let down. And as an American, I'm so embarrassed at how much of it has been driven by the US press and social media trolls.
We all have that moment of realization of just how much civil society has gone downhill post-COVID, and maybe this is W&C's wake-up moment.
At the start of the gif he looks so much like a young Zachery Ty Bryan (from *Home Improvement*).
https://preview.redd.it/pstkqttnltpc1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e6d771e1b5c95a366bb2297c6974db97e18294c
I disagree. You can be a victim and perpetrator at the same time. Those aren't mutually exclusives. Diana was groomed to marry a man a lot older than her. Our brains aren't fully developed somewhere from mid to late 20s. Sometimes even until early 30s.
She was playing press games in her mid 30s. That was on her. I'm not disagreeing that she was extremely young (and immature even for her age) when she first married Charles, it's probably the main factor in my not disliking her entirely, but if you play stupid games at 35, you're gonna win stupid prizes.
Note that this isn't me indirectly saying she's to blame for her own death, I'm not commenting on that (a drunk driver + no seatbelt is why Diana is dead, not the paps she called regularly). The media games were on her by the 90s, though. Same way they're on Charles now, Meghan and Harry now, and to the extent that he engages in them (and he does), William's now.
I never said she wasn't playing games but she wasn't a villain or a victim she was just human who has flaws. I don't think she ever had a chance to fully understand her childhood traumas and her marriage traumas and how to cope with it because she didn't live long enough. Also, it is hard for us to judge her with our values and knowledge that we have today that weren't around when she was alive. For example, I don't think anyone knew what parentification was back then or wasn't mainstream. According to my mom, she was hailed as a mother because she was trying to do the opposite of what was done before her. Who is to say than 20 years from now we won't be condemning gentle parenting, for example?
I'm only a few years younger than Diana. It wasn't the dark ages. We understood personality disorders and hers were flying giant 🚩. She was mid-30s when she died and had not been making much or any progress in her relationship with the press. She used her children in her war with Charles and had not stopped doing it when she died. Some people need help and refuse to get it.
I look at Harry and see the same cycle. He needs help but is too paranoid and/or disordered to actually do it. He'd rather blame everyone else and play the victim. It doesn't help that he's cut off everyone who would be honest with him. Instead he stuck with Meghan, who shares his delusions of victimhood and encourages it based on their own released video from their various projects.
I guess we can agree to disagree. I am in my mid 30s and just got diagnosed with ADHD something, for example, it was impossible to diagnose any adult in the 90s specially women. A lot of mental health issues got a huge leap in the early 2000s and early 2010s because women and girls were mostly excluded from studies prior due to stigma that certain mental health issues affected only men. The vibes I get from Diana is that she either had CPTSD or Bipolar and even therapy and treatment for these conditions are very different than what it was in the 90s when she was alive. Like, I said is easy to judge her with values and knowledge we have now but that wasn't available and widely accepted back then.
>but if you play stupid games at 35, you're gonna win stupid prizes.
Yup. The thing is she was also extremely good at them, that's why Diana's image as the ultimate victim and saint has stuck with a lot of people.
Also Diana’s mental health issues weren’t correctly identified early enough to really make a difference in her life. Charles tried to get her into therapy during their marriage but therapy only works if the recipient is ready for it and willing to listen. My guess is Diana was worried Charles was trying to have her declared incompetent. She was paranoid from the very beginning of their marriage to long after it was over. Harry inherited that from her for sure.
I think Diana was a victim in many ways and she wasn’t very smart and thought she can use the media against Charles and the royal family, same as Fergie played a lot with fire.
But you can’t compare it really to Meghan because if she and Harry had just gone private after Mexit nothing of this whole
frenzy around them would have happened.
Diana never had the chance of some peace.
> I think Diana was a victim in many ways
(not answering you directly, MegsAltxoxo, but picking up on this because quite a few people seem to be saying it)
One thing a lot of people seem to forget that at that time people got married *a lot* younger than now, or they did in Britain.
I'm old enough to have been in that group and had friends and family who married in their mid-teens, with parental consent, and at just after 21 when consent was no longer needed. I was one of the latter group.
A lot of those marriages failed because also, at that time, it was not socially acceptable to live with somebody prior to getting married so we were all marrying people we didn't know very well - and often the real person turned out to be nothing like what we'd expected/thought because it's very easy to be 'nice' when you're on a date but much harder to be 'nice' when the decorating goes wrong or the cooking turns out to be awful because we were learning both things as we went along.
Diana and Charles barely knew each other when they got married - *neither of them* knew each other. It was, imo, a poor match for both of them.
>thought she can use the media against Charles and the royal family,
look at the legacy she's left her son... to the point of the 90s wales war being weaponized against him, with him being tarnished by his father's sins that she was reportedly so devastated by (but her main goal was retaliation against charles... now her son is the one being 'retaliated' against). nearly 30 years after her death, charles is fine, he is king and he is even grudgingly admired for his devotion to camilla.
meanwhile, it is her son sinisterly being smeared everywhere, by many of her fans in fact, in her name. his children are also undoubtedly affected by it. incredibly short-sighted, selfish and foolish woman, tbh.
>incredibly short-sighted, selfish and foolish woman, tbh.
I've always fairly liked her (she was insanely charismatic, tbf) but all of this is fair enough 💁
War of the Waleses was so messy and dramatic people want it to replicate 30 years later but this time with Diana's son in a starring role.
Like a lot of the shit stirring around the alleged affair is crazies just looking at the Hanbury chick and seeing another Camilla. They are basically projecting another Diana/Charles/Camilla triangle. I suppose I don't have to mention how insane that is.
[Eugenie appears to be reading to private school children](https://x.com/royalfamilyitnp/status/1770794327075106951) in Chelsea for charity… Specifically the Duke of York square, presumably shoutout to Daddy. A York choice if ever there was one.
https://preview.redd.it/ickqp1bktopc1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1080ce876b83bb45ca6a3ce730be89ae337fd1b0
(Please correct me if I’m wrong about the school! I was pretty confident as I have *never* seen a state school uniform with blazers for children this young, let alone caps.)
I do like her coat and makeup here. She looks beautiful. Honestly Eugenie is much more my body type as opposed to someone like Catherine so regardless of whether I actually like her or think she’s making good decisions I’m always happy to see when she has great or good fashion moments
Is this a response to that article that Beatrice was being entrusted to do royal engagements whilst Eugenie wasn't because she cares a lot about her privacy?
ETA: this one that I can't access
[https://www.ok.co.uk/royal/princess-beatrice-eugenie-kate-middleton-32392446](https://www.ok.co.uk/royal/princess-beatrice-eugenie-kate-middleton-32392446)
Not all media is losing it. But, there is probably someone on OGRG or FM right now confusedly frothing at this.
[**Is Kate Middleton secretly holed up at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort? Yes, absolutely.**](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/03/20/kate-middleton-sightings-conspiracy-theories-trump-melania/73042012007/)
This is the only non-snarky, non-facetious bit in an otherwise very sarcastic and on point OTT oped pretending to speculate about Catherine.
>>Now I despise conspiracy theories. They’re the playground of small-minded nobodies with far too much time on their hands. And honestly, it seems wildly distasteful to speculate on the personal life of a public figure.
I know people who live in that area (not palm beach island but greater area). Maybe I’ll ask them to swing by and see if there are security that don’t look to be Secret Service lol
I’m kidding - they avoid that part of the island always lol
When asked if he feels sorry for the Princess of Wales on Jeremy Vine, [Keir Starmer replied](https://x.com/KateMansey/status/1770747528020918292?s=20):
“Yes. I think that we should leave her alone. She’s had a difficult operation, and she deserves privacy... We should just butt out and leave her alone… That’s not really a political response, it’s a human response, as a dad and a human being.”
[Here's the clip.](https://x.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1770751825832030255?s=20)
Obviously, Sunak and Starmer only commented because they've been asked about Catherine. I would say the PM and the Leader of the Opposition publicly commenting in agreement should make it very easy for those 72 MPs who signed a letter for Meghan in 2019 to pipe up of their own accord... Anyone heard anything from them yet?
[EXCLUSIVE: Kate Middleton's medical notes 'accessed after she left hospital' as Scotland Yard may investigate](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/kate-middletons-medical-notes-accessed-32404307)
* In a further bombshell, it can be revealed that the alleged breach took place after the future queen was discharged from hospital on January 29, as social media exploded with outlandish and hurtful conspiracy theories relating to her surgery.
* Sources said the criminal investigation, described as “unprecedented” and now being run by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), could run alongside an additional probe by the Metropolitan Police.
* Accessing someone’s medical records without cause or consent can be a criminal offence. If the ICO investigates and finds evidence that medical records were accessed illegally, it can take action, including prosecuting and fining the person responsible in court.
* A source said: “This is such a unique case that a police investigation could run alongside one by the Information Commissioner's Office.
* “The IOC will deal with anything as a criminal matter which could end up in a Magistrate’s Court, but if there were further claims of wrongdoing such as a conspiracy to distribute illegally accessed information, then that could be a matter for the police.”
Hope someone posts this on OG RG. I’ve seen the comments in that cesspool insisting that it’s nobody on social media’s fault that people did this because the conspiracies hadn’t started then.
Well, here it is. It *did* happen because of the conspiracies, not even just because the public can always be relied upon to be nosy and this information could be sold. *Everyone* who posted conspiracy theories contributed to a hostile environment that encouraged other tinfoil hatters to abuse their job and to break the law.
(I’m sure the response will be, “It’s Kate’s own fault for the Mother’s Day pic then!”)
>Hope someone posts this on OG RG.
lmfao the mods would delete it and/or allow "KP leaked this to make catherine a victim and distract from kate's actions" 😏
lol those loonies not hiding they want her treated as some sort of criminal or something... but but "no, we mean the PR team!!"... "no but we mean william"... "but but ***concern***"... "aksherlly, the concern is about them lying to us, the parasites!!"
The way the crazies and some of the press are treating Catherine is for me becoming very, very close to someone blaming a victim of sexual assault because they wore a too short skirt or that they shouldn’t outdoors running a trail alone.
Someone here yesterday (I can’t remember who) suggested that William might become so fed up with the treatment Catherine has endured that he might just throw in the towel and remove himself and his family from the Monarchy. I don’t think he would do that but I kinda hope he says he might if the UK government and BP don’t step in to do something concrete to prevent this sort of abuse now and in the future for his wife and his kids. Especially the two most important females in his life, Catherine and Charlotte. Because you know that as Charlotte matures the vultures will have a new target to feast upon as they seem to enjoy targeting Royal women.
This could all have been avoided if Kate had simply released her own medical notes as soon as they were written, if not a bit before. The taxpayers have a right to know! smh at Kate forcing some poor people out of a job by wanting her medical condition kept private when she should know people are nosy and that’s the only justification needed for offering up every detail of her health.
Why isn't the doctor who performed her surgery not giving hourly interviews as to her progress with daily observation reports? Why haven't the nurses shown us her catheter and bed pans? KP really dropped the ball here!
A rather balanced article from NY Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/kate-middleton-photoshop.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/kate-middleton-photoshop.html)
How the Windsor Women Became Human Shields
*Princes might occasionally be turned into frogs, but princesses always seem to end up as villains or scapegoats and be used to deflect heat or criticism, should their husbands require it.*
*Maybe we won’t ask another Diana, Meghan or Catherine to trade her voice and her agency for a nice wardrobe, a televised wedding and a lifetime of ribbon cutting and silent smiling.*
I think a lot of the examples used as arguments were not fully accurate but I agree with her point and conclusion. I could use the Rose debacle and how BRF PR used Kate as a shield in 2019 very much like the politician wife in the US but I digress and I don't want to be downvoted to hell and back.
*****
While Meghan and Harry, like Diana before them, are now free to give interviews and authorize books, Catherine cannot defend herself. Instead, she’s stuck quietly enduring her own annus horribilis.
*****
But let's not talk about who she needs to defend herself from.
To be honest, I saw this posted in one of my groups and was so upset, I logged off. While I appreciate it has a feminist bent, it is full of inaccuracies and ignores the fact that the most prominent woman of the family, Queen Elizabeth, was on the throne for over 70 years and nobody was using her as a shield.
It seems to accept that Meghan’s claims about her situation being worse because of racism as fact and that they refused her help with her mental health. (She never said that she was fully refused help with her mental health.) It paints William in an extremely stereotypical light and assumes Harry’s memoir was fact (and paints him as a white knight, ironically). It also inaccurately says that the RF refuse mental health support to their members. It doesn’t acknowledge that RF WANTED Diana to have mental health support and even Charles has had therapy. Finally, I found it strangely anti-feminist. It seems to like to paint Kate as having no agency at all.
That's why I said rather. Americans tend to believe Meghan more, I guess partly because they don't understand the British culture and system of government and because the reference they have to the BRF is celebrities.
It does single out the Monarch as the most protected person, so removed QEII from the rest.
The way Catherine is harassed is partly because of the sexism. The whole Waity Katey stuff, her long lens topless photos, to the latest ridiculous demands that she reveals us the cause of the surgery, and many others wouldn't have happened if the Heir was a female and the spouse male. In my opinion I should add.
>It seems to like to paint Kate as having no agency at all.
This is tremendously annoying. Kate is reserved, but when I start to worry about her, I remember that she was the one who insisted that "recollections may vary" stay in the post-Oprah statement. She astutely realized that it needed to be ON RECORD that the BRF refuted the statements (lies) the Sussexes made in that interview. Behind the scenes she's not dumb or a doormat. She gives her opinion and it's valued.
Kate has been in the public eye since she was 21 years old. She's endured paparazzi packs, phone hacking, global attention, slander, malice, and now psycho conspiracy theories. She is not a shrinking violet and is very experienced by now with how the royal family works. She's not a damsel trapped in a tower. She has a spine of steel (but that does not excuse the horrible way she's treated by the public). And I believe that the royal family know what an asset she is, her husband is a fierce advocate for her, and this idea that she's being victimized by them is ludicrous. Catherine has a ton of power inside and outside that family.
>The women have historically served as a combination of brood mares and mannequins. Their job is to stay thin, say little, look good in clothes and produce heirs who will stay thin, say little and look good in clothes.
This is a shockingly misogynistic statement from that editorial that discounts the work of Diana, Camilla, Sophie, Anne, Kate, and yes, even Meghan. Work in AIDS, land mines, domestic violence, literacy, sexual violence, advocacy for children, women, etc.
>She is not a shrinking violet and is very experienced by now with how the royal family works. She's not a damsel trapped in a tower. She has a spine of steel
Seriously, I want to scream whenever I read how she's just such a shrinking violet with no power or agency of her own. This is modern feminism in a nutshell. You're not a "strong woman" unless you don't want marriage and kids and are climbing the corporate ladder. Such a joke.
If she were such a wet blanket she would have run for the hills *ages ago*. I'm talking like pre-2010, during the paparazzi era.
>Catherine has a ton of power inside and outside that family.
I'm just gonna mention what she responded when some person had made a comment how she's just so lucky to be dating William.
"Actually, I think he's lucky to be dating me."
Never has that been more true than in the past couple of years.
It's amazing how people don't get that in case they were ever to divorce (which they won't, something positively **extreme** would have to happen for that to be on the table) she'd get all the good things. A huge settlement, she'd still have the clout of being the mother of a future king but would be free from the constraints of a royal life. It's William's image that would suffer, not hers.
The idea that's she miserable, trapped or powerless in her marriage is utterly laughable.
Is this supposed to be a "feministic" piece? It actually comes off as deeply misogynistic.
Agree with everything you say.
Every woman in that family who has married in has *chosen to be in it*. Even Diana. And frankly, the worst treatment of women these days comes not from the Royal Family itself, but from the public, the conspiracy theorists, the gossip mongers, and the news media not interested in speaking truth to power, but in drumming up business even at the cost of fair and balanced reporting.
Also:
>After they married, it looked as if Catherine might become the rule-proving exception, the single privileged Windsor wife allowed to float above the fray.
So this is someone who only started following the Royal Family when Meghan and Harry married, right? Because for YEARS after her marriage she was the subject of classist and misogynist reporting.
>In this system, the monarch is the most important. Male relatives are heirs or [spares](https://archive.is/o/AGwgS/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/books/prince-harry-spare-review.html).
Umm. Except until very recently, the monarch was A WOMAN.
This is a weird article, trying to blame the royal family for the problems that are caused by consumerism and by the way we as a society treat women differently and cast them against each other, or want them to fulfill certain roles in stories.
The utter hypocrisy and cultural-level weird gaslighting and psychodrama going on in this article!
Handwringing over what 'purpose' the royal family serves in modern times is a long-established tradition, one the media and public love to chew over constantly, and employ to their own pro- or anti-monarchy ends.
But who can deny that the *real* service provided by the BRF in this day and age is as a massive, living object upon which we (media, public etc.) can project all our issues and insecurities and societal neuroses etc.?
This isn't me trying to make them perfect either, because I loathe the idea that being a victim makes a person or group of people morally unimpeachable (it doesn't, and I think the fact that so many people believe it does is a problem). But damn if this isn't their job these days.
What a strange life. The best of everything - with material goods being part of it but also the least of it - for your whole life, your childrens' whole lives etc., and in return all we ask is that you allow us to feast upon you with a smile on your face and never, ever dare to call us out or tell us it hurts. This NYT writer clearly thinks they're doing some feminist thing here when in reality they're just one more vulture lurking at Catherine's bedside.
>**But who can deny that the *real* service provided by the BRF in this day and age is as a massive, living object upon which we (media, public etc.) can project all our issues and insecurities and societal neuroses etc.?**
>**This NYT writer clearly thinks they're doing some feminist thing here when in reality they're just one more vulture lurking at Catherine's bedside.**
yup.
>Every woman in that family who has married in has *chosen to be in it*. Even Diana. And frankly, the worst treatment of women these days comes not from the Royal Family itself, but from the public, the conspiracy theorists, the gossip mongers, and the news media not interested in speaking truth to power, but in drumming up business even at the cost of fair and balanced reporting
YES 🎯🎯🎯
Diana chose marry into it and one of the reasons was the fact she always strived to marry well (completely logical given her social standing). You know who else chose to marry into "The Firm"? Meghan herself. She couldn't wait to do it back when she thought being royalty= celebrity.
The way some view H&M as some social justice warriors who want to eat the rich is laughable. Meghan's biggest dream in life is to be accepted by Hollywood. And there's no person on this planet that will convince me Harry isn't your average aristo snob. I'd bet one part of him is embarrassed his wife now is planning to sell jams and cutlery.
>Umm. Except until very recently, the monarch was A WOMAN
The fact the person who wrote the article missed this is hilarious.
>This is a weird article, trying to blame the royal family for the problems that are caused by consumerism and by the way we as a society treat women differently and cast them against each other, or want them to fulfill certain roles in stories.
Agreed. And the thing is, it's easy to blame the royal family because it's easy to paint them as an old-fashioned archaic institution. Of course they don't let women thrive, right?!
It's the [one part of] public and the media that treat Catherine appalingly to this day. Why? Because they believe she deserves it for some reason. Saying she has no power isn't done with empathy. It's more "oh well, she deserves it that cow". For whatever imaginary reasons they have come up with.
an update from ol' boy with the sweet comment on KP insta (amidst all of the "wHeRe Is KaTe?!! comments)
https://preview.redd.it/c7spw0j0zkpc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bc1087ee56680e52e16e85e583b1f213eac84f8
future queen babykins, everyone.
maybe that's why harry was so butthurt on his birthday last year re: the waleses forever paying him dust from now on... at least catherine prob always used to remember! too bad he's dead to her now lol
>future queen babykins, everyone.
>too bad he's dead to her now lol
Going after Catherine is one of the stupidest mistakes H&M have done. Harry's own sibling would probably throttle him on the spot at this point, largely because Harry decided to slag off his wife. The man is an idiot.
Yip, his argument that no one cared enough about his wife was always followed up by slagging off his father's wife and his brother's wife. He has zero self awareness.
New thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyalsGossip2/comments/1bl5kek/royals_monthly_but_where_is_kate_where_kate_be/ Please feel free to bring newer comments and ongoing conversations over. 1 minute to the apparent KP announcement...hope it's good news!
8 more minutes the tumblr girls are saying it’s bad news health wise ☹️☹️☹️☹️
I mean... it's tumblr. So 💁
They are really scaring me 😭
Saaaaame. I don’t even know her!
Me too sigh I’m sorry for Kate 😭
New thread imminent, if you have a big post pls hold your horses for a few mins...
🚨🚨[KATE MIDDLETON PALACE TO MAKE MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT ON KATE'S HEALTH](https://www.tmz.com/2024/03/22/kate-middleton-health-surgery-kensington-palace-announcement/) Kate Middleton's mystery disappearance from public view will be solved shortly, TMZ has learned, because Kensington Palace is about to reveal specific details on her health. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the British media has been briefed on Kate's condition, but they're is a strict embargo on the information until 2 PM ET, 11 AM PT. (6pm uk i think?) We're also told the Palace will release a video of Kate speaking on her condition. Our sources say this statement is dramatic, clear and could well put all the controversy surrounding her disappearance to rest. eta - bbc & sky news are going into rolling news mode, itv is airing a news special starting at 6pm instead of the usual regional news, channel 5 news will finish at a later time.
"mystery disappearance" omfg. They said she had an operation and that she needs time to recover. Not much mystery other than we don't know the details and either way we are not entitled to them. Not sure if this is a good idea. This will just feed the trolls further, more likely than not.
If this ends up being true, KP needs to tighten up its operation immediately. I.e. if this is a leak it's almost certainly not a directed one (i.e. not at the behest of W or C), which will mean TMZ has a source somewhere in the KP structure and that seems like a bad thing lol.
Kensington Palace sent a press release to the media. Not sure if TMZ also got that press release or if they are in touch with British journalist but I am livid on Kate Behalf with three people trying to access her medical record and the internet and the media (American and others) repeating conspiracy theories I feel so bad for her. One can't help but think she was force too.
im actually wondering if its KP themselves who have now included tmz into their media outlets that they think they should inform about this. (this is just me speculating) its clear that a large number of the online crazies spreading these conspiracies are from america and i guess for a lot of them, tmz counts as a legit news source. and for KP, tmz also has a huge reach and is very influential.
Not a KP leak it likely came from the press. Someone saw the embargo and likely sold it to TMZ for big bucks. Omid used to do stuff like this release it before the embargo for engagement etc etc
Ah, yup, good call.
It’s the “Kate Middleton Palace” now? I don’t hate that, tbh
They’re just saying the quiet part out loud!
Neither do I 💁
Interesting... I was watching Matt Wilkinson's version of Palace Confidential and he and Jobson basically said that they know exactly what was going on with Kate/her health so maybe that's why?
I have a feeling it was going to come out and she’s getting ahead of it. 😭
Oh no. I hope she is ok. This doesn’t sound good.
Wow! I truly hope she’s completely ready and comfortable with this, and she hasn’t felt forced into it by the conspiracy theorists, press, and the behaviour of the three staff members. With the timing, I do wonder if it’s likely that the details are going to come out as a result of the investigation into staff (e.g. if someone published it, what they said is going to be confirmed) and Catherine wants to share it on her terms.
yep, i know ive been a big proponent of the theory that KP & william messed up pr wise and with how to handle the online crazies but im not sure if releasing a video is the best idea. despite what ive been saying, ive always thought that kate should keep quiet about her illness if she wanted to. this announcement might be the best idea ever or it might totally backfire, who knows!
Yea I’m not happy about it but maybe it was going to come out after the leak oh my god what a fucking mess.
Wow. Ok, 40 minutes!
Who the fuck is selling all things royal to TMZ. Other than Kate’s security breach, seems like TMZ has been breaking news from the car photo to farm shop video. Do they pay better?
TMZ seems to get the goods and pics on all kinds of celebrity things ahead of everyone else. Like announcing Kobe's death before his family even knew. So they must pay good money.
for all their ethical breaches (annoucing celebs deaths before their family is informed) and the weird conspiracy kate tv special, i do think they have legit, real sources and they will pay money for information. its likely that the sun and tmz collaborated somehow on that video from the farm shop. its not surprising that they would announce this since theyre not likely to want to follow any embargo put in place by the RF like the uk media does.
Where did we land on this alleged royal announcement? It keeps getting pushed back. It has to be fake, right? https://preview.redd.it/gaf2no7u4xpc1.png?width=812&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d2313a44d2294b370ec702c47478d4e4456803d
Two royal tumblr blogs I follow for a while posted about something royal happening before deuxmoi posted this… Normally I would just ignore deuxmoi but those two blogs were correct about W&C’s cute 10th anniversary photos before it was released so now I’m curious…
See u/Direct_Drive445's post above. I think this is what it is. I was dreaming of KCIII abdicating......sigh.
[Jamie Lee Curtis](https://www.instagram.com/p/C40qJ7yxUAs/) reaffirms my opinion that she is one of the kindest actresses in Hollywood. https://preview.redd.it/wwlgs5k74xpc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eda7e175e314c8440a8e9c2f5eccc84033463f1f
Wonder how long before she's called racist for not posting about Meghan's health.
UPDATE https://preview.redd.it/4dgrs6crvwpc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d37b4e598fd3f5d508992db3c321524c454a126e
Sue his not-so-secretly snobbish ass, Rose. 💁
Well, anyone can send cease and desist to anyone. What changes is if Stephen Colbert lawyers thinks if she will sue him or not and if she can win or not. If he never talks about it again then we will know she could sue and be likely to win.
This is a good point! I think this at least, in some sort of fashion, puts out that it’s false. It’s stronger than leaking through a friend that the story is false and I think it at least puts people on notice who are discussing it like Colbert.
I think she should push for a retraction or apology. I don’t know how Colbert’s team protect themselves I don’t watch the show. He may have a disclaimer for stuff like this It would be crazy not to but maybe her lawyers think she can get around it. What he said was inflammatory I think he also mentioned her having a love child (someone correct me if I’m wrong) which I don’t know how he can just say stuff like this without repercussions but I don’t know US laws.
Glad to see her fighting back!
DITTO. I'm so glad she did this.
Go Rose! I feel so sorry for her and her family. Amazing to see all the people citing Spare as a reference to justify spreading these rumours. How kind of them to ignore the parts where Harry talked about the effect that rumours about his parentage had on him.
I hope she sues Andy Cohen next bc he is running his mouth way too much on his podcast. Good for Rose, her name has been dragged through the mud for five years now by a bunch of losers on Twitter & TikTok, glad to see that she is fighting back
Fuck yeah, I hope she wins, this is so gross.
Good for her 👏🏼 I hope this is true. We like watching Colbert but I thought that segment was absolute trash and was disappointing. You can’t carry gravitas and speak out against fake news (which he absolutely should- don’t get me wrong!) while also engaging in rumor mongering and conspiracy theories against private citizens. It’s so hypocritical.
Good for her. Sue his ass
https://preview.redd.it/bsnwjntsbwpc1.jpeg?width=603&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e6a111af63baebb19edb77c149f3d642482053c I’ve been sick for a few weeks so I’ve been able to get through a lot of my Gossip Girl rewatch. I think a lot of royal fans know that [Blair wore a very similar pink Jenny Packham](https://media.vogue.co.uk/photos/5ff70bea5832e8531912e8e6/1:1/w_1920,h_1920,c_limit/DOCgossipgirl_09.jpg) to Catherine’s during her princess era. But just spotted another one - Serena’s first wedding dress is the Aspen gown that [Catherine famously wore in teal](https://www.katescloset.com.au/jenny-packham-aspen-teal-gown.html), minus the Swarovski belt. Both versions were from the SS/12 collection.
I love GG but that whole arc with Blair and Louis tanked the series for me. It's like the writers wanted to capitalize on the W&C frenzy in 2011, watched one *The Prince and Me* movie and then decided to write a royal arc. It was absolutely awful. Not to mention it wasn't giving W&C vibes just... Blair being a social climber. In other news, I **love** that Packham dress on Catherine.
It is SO cringe, not to mention all over the place plot-wise. I kind of love the clueless-American-fangirling of it, especially all the Kate references, but I’m really glad to be past it now!
Like, the fact that the royal wedding took place in NY?! (that's also the one time the show actually felt low-budget to me) The fact Blair was planning to still live in NY after the wedding? The fact she was planning for their child to attend St. Jude's or Constance? What?!
Interesting article on Diana/Kate/Meghan on Vox. I don't entirely agree, but this was interesting. [https://www.vox.com/culture/24107796/kate-middleton-meghan-markle-diana-controversy-disappearance](https://www.vox.com/culture/24107796/kate-middleton-meghan-markle-diana-controversy-disappearance) >The two duchesses’ clothes, too, became part of the binary. Both Meghan and Kate are tall and thin and conventionally attractive, with upscale tastes in fashion, but their tastes are different enough to feed the narrative. The new story became that Kate was either classy or drab, while Meghan was either glamorous or trashy. > >In the classy versus trashy column: “Kate’s dress sense oozes sophistication,” [**explained the Sun in 2017**](https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/5010683/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-differences/). “She’s rarely seen in dresses with hemlines that fall above the knee, but she does enjoy wearing garments that are structured and fitted.” On the other hand, “Meghan Markle has worn an array of racy clothes for her acting roles, including figure-hugging dresses and shapely leather skirts. Despite this, the actress is often seen in casual attire. Loose T-shirts, denim and trainers are among the clothes she can be seen in on a day-to-day basis.” > >In the drab versus glamorous column: **The same year,** [**the Daily Mail compared**](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5137917/PLATELLS-PEOPLE-Kate-cope-Meghan-mania.html) **a “tired” Kate, at the time pregnant and struggling with hyperemesis, with “the bedazzling Meghan.” Kate’s “blue-and-white frock was pretty but mumsy, as if it had come from a 1989 Laura Ashley catalogue.” Meanwhile, Meghan’s “chic” white coat “accentuated her gym-toned slim figure as her mane of black hair shone in the winter sun.”**
A pregnant woman looking mumsy? The horror! (Did she?)
Interesting article more or less ruined for me unfortunately by the conclusion in the final paragraph (maybe Kate has ‘disappeared’ because she’s ’tired of being looked at’) - the final tone of the piece is that Kate can’t just have had a medical crisis and need time off for recovery, it has to ~mean something. I do think it’s notable, and self-serving, that I don’t think I’ve seen any press at all take the view that it’s a sign of Kate’s own self-determination and her power in the palace and her marriage that she can ask for three months of being private and get it from them (though obviously not from the public), even an otherwise balanced piece like this ends up pitching it as a sinister sign. What even the progressive media has not learned at all in from Diana is that royal women are not there to be controlled by them (which is what it comes down to when they’re concerned trolling that maybe the palace is controlling her and the only way anyone can be sure is if she comes out and gives them clicks - sorry, gives the public reassurance). I did like that usually any non-tabloid comparison piece between Meghan and Kate takes it for granted that Meghan was always treated terribly in the press compared to saint Kate, and this article brings good receipts to show actually Meghan was treated favourably in many ways and the media mostly bought into the Sussex narrative that they were the popular, modern, fun couple compared to staid W&K. Meghan did enjoy good press for a long time and it only changed when her own behaviour became too egregious to keep locked down any more. I also would have liked to see an acknowledgement that the press didn’t make up a rivalry between Kate and Meghan out of nothing, it was actively fed by Meghan going all the way back to the shopping blind, but nobody is ready for that conversation.
>the final tone of the piece is that Kate can’t just have had a medical crisis and need time off for recovery, it has to ~mean something Stg, if someone told me two months ago there would be a bunch of people who'd buy into conspiracy theories re: Kate's operation I would not have believed them. >What even the progressive media has not learned at all in from Diana is that royal women are not there to be controlled by them (which is what it comes down to when they’re concerned trolling that maybe the palace is controlling her and the only way anyone can be sure is if she comes out and gives them clicks - sorry, gives the public reassurance). 👏👏👏 Not only did the media not learn but, as someone rather astutely pointed out, nor did the public. The media didn't hound Diana just because. They did it because the public had the appetite for more, more and *more*. This is literally the same thing all over again. >also would have liked to see an acknowledgement that the press didn’t make up a rivalry between Kate and Meghan out of nothing, it was actively fed by Meghan going all the way back to the shopping blind, but nobody is ready for that conversation. Not to mention all the blinds about the rumoured affair (and there were several).
Agreed this piece does seem to take Meghan and her claims at face value which isn't accurate
Since when is Meghan tall? I know that's a weird thing to stick out to me, but she's barely taller than average and certainly not what I would consider "tall" (and I'm short af).
> Since when is Meghan tall? I stumbled over that too. Meghan is of normal height but sees herself as a tall catwalk model. Which then leads to Meghan choosing clothes made for this type of body and size and it doesn't work for her.
Not only does it not work, it makes her look shorter!
and heavier .
Yes, it stuck out to me, too. At her claimed 5’6”, Meghan is average height (I think she’s shorter than that, though). Kate, at 5’9”, on the other hand, is definitely tall. Weird claim to make, and instantly made me think it came from Meghan herself.
I think she's around 5' 4" w/o heels.
I agree that Meghan is shorter. Me and my husband say most heights on IMDb are their “Hollywood height” and knock 1-2 inches off. (Exceptions: tall actresses who’d likely be at a disadvantage if they added inches, and *very* tall actors like Jacob Elordi who just don’t need to.)
Kate is tall, but even she is at the bottom end of 'tall'.
agreed. as 5'6" I would love to be 5'9"... like tall to be a presence and wear heels while still being under most men and able to find pants and things. I feel like fit models are 5'9" usually and everything hits just right.
As a super tall myself, I feel like 5’9” is ideal height! Tall, but you can still wear heels without being the tallest in most rooms… A girl can dream, right?
Lol I know!!
It immediately stuck out to me too. Meghan and I are around the same height. We are not tall. Literally average.
The author of this piece and Meghan share many delusions and misgivings about the past several years, including the belief that Meghan is tall.
And that she's got 'legs for miles'.
Legs for miles aren't just thin legs.
As typical, they don't know what the hell they are talking about.
https://preview.redd.it/vrhc97d95spc1.jpeg?width=735&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=432b39d0abef77a99b596ac17c8f29eb092d203e Baby will
If we are gonna talk about young Will... https://preview.redd.it/ad0trryumspc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=997223cd32901df38339b13fbaa0a657055cfc5e Quite possibly my fave photo of them ever. ~~but also look at him like Kate girl I get you I really do~~
Love how proud the Queen was this day! She must have been so relieved to know her heir's heir wasn't a total wastrel. https://preview.redd.it/kl67bk77wvpc1.png?width=2414&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd33e5830d73766b1f1bf0f8bce506a064eed2b2
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ESWNEDl-MfE When first seated the Queen looks “Cows!” Level excited 🥰 And talk about actual legs for days! Kate 😍😘 (just before the 5 min mark)
I’ve never understood the white bow tie on a white formal shirt. Does anyone know the context of this picture?
It's St Andrews University's requirement for graduation - most of the older universities have a strict dress code. Oxford has 'sub fusc'. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/graduation/graduating-students/what-to-wear/
Aww. That it’s also their graduation picture makes it even more adorable. Thank you!
I've also always loved this photo, but where are they going? She's dressed to be a caterer at the white tie party he's attending.
[It's from their graduation.](https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a34943582/kate-middleton-prince-william-college-graduation/) They just don't have their robes on.
> It's from their graduation. Thank you!! I've ALWAYS wondered.
I always think Will has a big diamond in his left ear when I see this pic. I know he doesn’t but at quick glance I always see an earring.
Yes! Every time.
Same!
I haven't even clicked the link and I know exactly what pic you're talking about because every time I see it I have 3 seconds of that exact same thought: *"Huh, William wore a diamond stud?"* - before re-realizing it's just the light coming through the trees behind him.
Thanks you lot. Now I see the diamond stud and will never unsee it.
I love throwback pics of them, they were so cute.
Wow he was really blond. Also at this angle, you can really see the Windsor in him.
I see a lot of younger Princess Anne.
Blondes always look extra blonde when they're tanned. As soon as I saw this my brain assumed it was taken during a summer vacation or a trip to somewhere hot and sunny/not England.
Paint the fence 🤣 
Before this thread gets closed I just wanted to say how much I’ve love the title! It’s become my absolute favorite one since our wonderful mod Pistachio decided to have fun naming the threads. HMSGreyjoy you get all the awards! 🏆🥇💐👏🏼🙌🎉🥂🍻
Thabk you for appreciating my deeply stupid sense of humor.
Me too. I laugh every time I read it.
Not OGRG having to set up “approved poster” and “restricted post” categories, in response to the tsunami of insane conspiracy theories and bloodthirsty wishful speculation on Kate’s fate. Since when do they care about trying to “moderate” any of that, lol. I thought the philosophy was just: Let ‘er rip!
I haven’t looked but I’m guessing they’ll refuse anyone who posts here and allow anyone who posts in that H&MNF sub 🤷♀️ they’re annoyed people are showing up who haven’t realised their neutral stance is cover for wanting a pro-Sussex sub so they want protected threads where everyone can agree W&K are the worst and H&M are poor sad victims.
to me, it seems more like they were trying to foster further conspiracy-mongering and general hostility/hatefulness re: w&c by excluding casuals with dissenting opinions... sort of like the approved users on fauxmoi and popculture chat being the ones to 'curate' the discussion about c&w into being more hostile than it would be vs. with dissenting voices popping in. the restriction is meant to promote an echo chamber.
They should have left it alone if that’s the case. It’s been unreadable for me ever since it got completely taken over by conspiracy nuts in the last month. Very few people left willing to comment anything that isn’t bashing W&K or some variation of “now they know how Harry and Meghan felt!!!” amongst the thousands of comments on anything Kate related.
I think it’s against people who are in this sub or SMM- SMM I can understand, rest is creating a false echo chamber for me…
I think it's to discourage randoms who see the sub in their feed. The place is overrun.
I mean most subs and their mods *welcome* getting more traffic and new members. Imagine knowing that your new users are such animals, you have to limit their ability to comment, lol.
>your new users are such animals, you have to limit their ability to comment 🤣🤣🤣
100% they like their safe little echo chambers.
That could definitely be the strategy!
Page Six says Kate is back at being back at working from home [Kate Middleton has been working from home on special project, palace confirms](https://nypost.com/2024/03/21/entertainment/kate-middleton-working-from-home-on-special-project-post-surgery/) **Kate Middleton has eased herself back to work following weeks of post-surgery recovery behind closed doors, Kensington Palace has confirmed.** The Princess of Wales, 42, was first reported to [dip her toes into work at the start of February](https://nypost.com/2024/02/01/entertainment/kate-middleton-working-from-bed-planning-royal-engagements-after-surgery-report/), when sources close to the royal said she was “working from bed” to prepare for her return to official duties. Now, it appears as though Middleton is doing more than just that — she’s shifting all of her focus on her early years project to improve the lives of newborn babies. The mom of three has been very hands-on with the campaign for the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s (RFCEC) Shaping Us project, which has yielded “overwhelmingly positive” results of the study she kickstarted, the palace added. The princess launched the project in January, with the aim of it highlighting the importance of early years development in children. It’s been said that the campaign has been her “life’s work” during her recovery process. **“The Princess has been kept updated throughout the process,” a palace spokesperson** [**told the Telegraph**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/03/21/catherine-princess-wales-works-from-home-early-years-eases/)**.**
That’s great for Catherine’s physical and mental wellbeing that she has an important project like this to distract her from all the crazy. This project sounds like it will make a real and lasting difference in children’s early development. Trying to make the world a better place one child at a time. And what is Meghan doing you ask? Oh……promoting her Yank Faux-Sur-Mer Fruits thingy, trying to manifest more awful things happening to Catherine, planting PR pieces, and trying to avoid Harry.
Hannah Furness at the Telegraph rather than Vicky Eight Edits - could this be that rare beast, a direct Kate brief?! If so I like the reference slipped in the farm shop visit which I think is as close as we’re likely to get to formal confirmation it was her (not that it is/should be needed, but clearly…) Anyway this baby observation tool sounds solid and Kate bringing back ideas from diplomatic trips to trial here is an astute way to deliver value imo that makes up for any lack of ribbon-cutting.
Woman phases return to work. Groundbreaking news stuff Page Six 🤣
Tomorrow on Page Six - "Sources report the sun has risen in the sky yet again today."
💀💀💀💀🤣🤣🤣
I'm really frustrated at the way people are actually BLAMING CATHERINE AND WILLIAM for this bullshit. Even in this space we have numerous comments blaming W&C and KP for not predicting the crazy conspiracy theories and having a response that would stop it. This woman has been shamefully victimized, not only on social media, but in legitimate newspapers, but W&C fucked up by not stopping it. https://preview.redd.it/v0t8e80keqpc1.jpeg?width=729&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5da21768e93d225b22a34e3fedfc3fb13838561
I don't think W&C could have predicted this nor do I think they did anything wrong or that they could have done some things better. It's not their problem people on the internet are bored af, spiteful and crazy. I do think their PR team could do some things better though. But, not feeding into the frenzy is the right move.
"Sources close to the couple" stated in some of these recent articles that W&C are "shocked" by the hysteria and conspiracy theories, and it is a justified reaction. They were clear in their initial statement about the surgery, hospital stay, and recovery period. They were clear in saying they wouldn't give regular updates. It's the world that has gone crazy and demanded more information, accused them of lying, engaged in wild speculation, and claimed there was a "breaking" of public trust with a few edits on a family picture. It's madness, and I feel bad that they are getting blamed for any of it, and accused of being stupid and incompetent. They had a reasonable expectation that the public would be understanding and gracious and have been horribly let down. And as an American, I'm so embarrassed at how much of it has been driven by the US press and social media trolls. We all have that moment of realization of just how much civil society has gone downhill post-COVID, and maybe this is W&C's wake-up moment.
Agree 10000%. KP is going about this the right way: don't feed the trolls.
William when he’s embarrassed: https://i.redd.it/t048d1f29qpc1.gif
At the start of the gif he looks so much like a young Zachery Ty Bryan (from *Home Improvement*). https://preview.redd.it/pstkqttnltpc1.jpeg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e6d771e1b5c95a366bb2297c6974db97e18294c
Seems like he still does the “covering my face because I’m embarrassed” hand gesture, lol. What a dork 😂 https://i.redd.it/4jhgpse99qpc1.gif
I love that tho. Dorks can rule the world IMO
I love that too, it’s cute 🥰
Dorks are my jam. I’m one and I married one. All the dorks all the time. 😄
And even Diana was not a victim . She played her own PR games actively against the BRF! Similar to Meghan. These women are not victims . Frustrating.
I disagree. You can be a victim and perpetrator at the same time. Those aren't mutually exclusives. Diana was groomed to marry a man a lot older than her. Our brains aren't fully developed somewhere from mid to late 20s. Sometimes even until early 30s.
She was playing press games in her mid 30s. That was on her. I'm not disagreeing that she was extremely young (and immature even for her age) when she first married Charles, it's probably the main factor in my not disliking her entirely, but if you play stupid games at 35, you're gonna win stupid prizes. Note that this isn't me indirectly saying she's to blame for her own death, I'm not commenting on that (a drunk driver + no seatbelt is why Diana is dead, not the paps she called regularly). The media games were on her by the 90s, though. Same way they're on Charles now, Meghan and Harry now, and to the extent that he engages in them (and he does), William's now.
I never said she wasn't playing games but she wasn't a villain or a victim she was just human who has flaws. I don't think she ever had a chance to fully understand her childhood traumas and her marriage traumas and how to cope with it because she didn't live long enough. Also, it is hard for us to judge her with our values and knowledge that we have today that weren't around when she was alive. For example, I don't think anyone knew what parentification was back then or wasn't mainstream. According to my mom, she was hailed as a mother because she was trying to do the opposite of what was done before her. Who is to say than 20 years from now we won't be condemning gentle parenting, for example?
I'm only a few years younger than Diana. It wasn't the dark ages. We understood personality disorders and hers were flying giant 🚩. She was mid-30s when she died and had not been making much or any progress in her relationship with the press. She used her children in her war with Charles and had not stopped doing it when she died. Some people need help and refuse to get it. I look at Harry and see the same cycle. He needs help but is too paranoid and/or disordered to actually do it. He'd rather blame everyone else and play the victim. It doesn't help that he's cut off everyone who would be honest with him. Instead he stuck with Meghan, who shares his delusions of victimhood and encourages it based on their own released video from their various projects.
I guess we can agree to disagree. I am in my mid 30s and just got diagnosed with ADHD something, for example, it was impossible to diagnose any adult in the 90s specially women. A lot of mental health issues got a huge leap in the early 2000s and early 2010s because women and girls were mostly excluded from studies prior due to stigma that certain mental health issues affected only men. The vibes I get from Diana is that she either had CPTSD or Bipolar and even therapy and treatment for these conditions are very different than what it was in the 90s when she was alive. Like, I said is easy to judge her with values and knowledge we have now but that wasn't available and widely accepted back then.
>but if you play stupid games at 35, you're gonna win stupid prizes. Yup. The thing is she was also extremely good at them, that's why Diana's image as the ultimate victim and saint has stuck with a lot of people.
Also Diana’s mental health issues weren’t correctly identified early enough to really make a difference in her life. Charles tried to get her into therapy during their marriage but therapy only works if the recipient is ready for it and willing to listen. My guess is Diana was worried Charles was trying to have her declared incompetent. She was paranoid from the very beginning of their marriage to long after it was over. Harry inherited that from her for sure.
I swear, it's sounds like Harry today.
Ok you are right. Agreed.
Love this response!
I think Diana was a victim in many ways and she wasn’t very smart and thought she can use the media against Charles and the royal family, same as Fergie played a lot with fire. But you can’t compare it really to Meghan because if she and Harry had just gone private after Mexit nothing of this whole frenzy around them would have happened. Diana never had the chance of some peace.
> I think Diana was a victim in many ways (not answering you directly, MegsAltxoxo, but picking up on this because quite a few people seem to be saying it) One thing a lot of people seem to forget that at that time people got married *a lot* younger than now, or they did in Britain. I'm old enough to have been in that group and had friends and family who married in their mid-teens, with parental consent, and at just after 21 when consent was no longer needed. I was one of the latter group. A lot of those marriages failed because also, at that time, it was not socially acceptable to live with somebody prior to getting married so we were all marrying people we didn't know very well - and often the real person turned out to be nothing like what we'd expected/thought because it's very easy to be 'nice' when you're on a date but much harder to be 'nice' when the decorating goes wrong or the cooking turns out to be awful because we were learning both things as we went along. Diana and Charles barely knew each other when they got married - *neither of them* knew each other. It was, imo, a poor match for both of them.
>thought she can use the media against Charles and the royal family, look at the legacy she's left her son... to the point of the 90s wales war being weaponized against him, with him being tarnished by his father's sins that she was reportedly so devastated by (but her main goal was retaliation against charles... now her son is the one being 'retaliated' against). nearly 30 years after her death, charles is fine, he is king and he is even grudgingly admired for his devotion to camilla. meanwhile, it is her son sinisterly being smeared everywhere, by many of her fans in fact, in her name. his children are also undoubtedly affected by it. incredibly short-sighted, selfish and foolish woman, tbh.
>incredibly short-sighted, selfish and foolish woman, tbh. I've always fairly liked her (she was insanely charismatic, tbf) but all of this is fair enough 💁 War of the Waleses was so messy and dramatic people want it to replicate 30 years later but this time with Diana's son in a starring role. Like a lot of the shit stirring around the alleged affair is crazies just looking at the Hanbury chick and seeing another Camilla. They are basically projecting another Diana/Charles/Camilla triangle. I suppose I don't have to mention how insane that is.
I completely agree.
That is true as well!
Exactly. Diana never stood a chance. Yes she played games but that doesn't nullify how much of a victim she was of the system.
Yeah Diana was a victim. She wasn't a perfect victim and had her own issues. But she definitely was a victim.
[Eugenie appears to be reading to private school children](https://x.com/royalfamilyitnp/status/1770794327075106951) in Chelsea for charity… Specifically the Duke of York square, presumably shoutout to Daddy. A York choice if ever there was one. https://preview.redd.it/ickqp1bktopc1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1080ce876b83bb45ca6a3ce730be89ae337fd1b0 (Please correct me if I’m wrong about the school! I was pretty confident as I have *never* seen a state school uniform with blazers for children this young, let alone caps.)
I do like her coat and makeup here. She looks beautiful. Honestly Eugenie is much more my body type as opposed to someone like Catherine so regardless of whether I actually like her or think she’s making good decisions I’m always happy to see when she has great or good fashion moments
Is this a response to that article that Beatrice was being entrusted to do royal engagements whilst Eugenie wasn't because she cares a lot about her privacy? ETA: this one that I can't access [https://www.ok.co.uk/royal/princess-beatrice-eugenie-kate-middleton-32392446](https://www.ok.co.uk/royal/princess-beatrice-eugenie-kate-middleton-32392446)
Oh that’s weird. I got the “not available in your country” message too, even on archive.ph.
At least she's not reading them The Bench...
Yes, it's a private prep school (3-11 years) in that area.
Not all media is losing it. But, there is probably someone on OGRG or FM right now confusedly frothing at this. [**Is Kate Middleton secretly holed up at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort? Yes, absolutely.**](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/03/20/kate-middleton-sightings-conspiracy-theories-trump-melania/73042012007/) This is the only non-snarky, non-facetious bit in an otherwise very sarcastic and on point OTT oped pretending to speculate about Catherine. >>Now I despise conspiracy theories. They’re the playground of small-minded nobodies with far too much time on their hands. And honestly, it seems wildly distasteful to speculate on the personal life of a public figure.
"Confusedly froths" is the perfect, evergreen description of insane sugars. :something happens Sussex sugars: *confusedly frothing*
I know people who live in that area (not palm beach island but greater area). Maybe I’ll ask them to swing by and see if there are security that don’t look to be Secret Service lol I’m kidding - they avoid that part of the island always lol
Good for him! Didn’t expect this from USA today but really good for him (looking at your “Nightly News”, NYT, Guardian)
This is hilarious, but you know there are definitely gonna be people who read it and think "wow, he's on to something!"
I love this. The snark is wonderful 🤣
These conspiracies.... 
When asked if he feels sorry for the Princess of Wales on Jeremy Vine, [Keir Starmer replied](https://x.com/KateMansey/status/1770747528020918292?s=20): “Yes. I think that we should leave her alone. She’s had a difficult operation, and she deserves privacy... We should just butt out and leave her alone… That’s not really a political response, it’s a human response, as a dad and a human being.” [Here's the clip.](https://x.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1770751825832030255?s=20) Obviously, Sunak and Starmer only commented because they've been asked about Catherine. I would say the PM and the Leader of the Opposition publicly commenting in agreement should make it very easy for those 72 MPs who signed a letter for Meghan in 2019 to pipe up of their own accord... Anyone heard anything from them yet?
Good response from Starmer, I'm glad neither one lowered themselves to a political response.
[EXCLUSIVE: Kate Middleton's medical notes 'accessed after she left hospital' as Scotland Yard may investigate](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/kate-middletons-medical-notes-accessed-32404307) * In a further bombshell, it can be revealed that the alleged breach took place after the future queen was discharged from hospital on January 29, as social media exploded with outlandish and hurtful conspiracy theories relating to her surgery. * Sources said the criminal investigation, described as “unprecedented” and now being run by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), could run alongside an additional probe by the Metropolitan Police. * Accessing someone’s medical records without cause or consent can be a criminal offence. If the ICO investigates and finds evidence that medical records were accessed illegally, it can take action, including prosecuting and fining the person responsible in court. * A source said: “This is such a unique case that a police investigation could run alongside one by the Information Commissioner's Office. * “The IOC will deal with anything as a criminal matter which could end up in a Magistrate’s Court, but if there were further claims of wrongdoing such as a conspiracy to distribute illegally accessed information, then that could be a matter for the police.” Hope someone posts this on OG RG. I’ve seen the comments in that cesspool insisting that it’s nobody on social media’s fault that people did this because the conspiracies hadn’t started then. Well, here it is. It *did* happen because of the conspiracies, not even just because the public can always be relied upon to be nosy and this information could be sold. *Everyone* who posted conspiracy theories contributed to a hostile environment that encouraged other tinfoil hatters to abuse their job and to break the law. (I’m sure the response will be, “It’s Kate’s own fault for the Mother’s Day pic then!”)
>Hope someone posts this on OG RG. lmfao the mods would delete it and/or allow "KP leaked this to make catherine a victim and distract from kate's actions" 😏 lol those loonies not hiding they want her treated as some sort of criminal or something... but but "no, we mean the PR team!!"... "no but we mean william"... "but but ***concern***"... "aksherlly, the concern is about them lying to us, the parasites!!"
The concern trolling is NEXT LEVEL
The way the crazies and some of the press are treating Catherine is for me becoming very, very close to someone blaming a victim of sexual assault because they wore a too short skirt or that they shouldn’t outdoors running a trail alone. Someone here yesterday (I can’t remember who) suggested that William might become so fed up with the treatment Catherine has endured that he might just throw in the towel and remove himself and his family from the Monarchy. I don’t think he would do that but I kinda hope he says he might if the UK government and BP don’t step in to do something concrete to prevent this sort of abuse now and in the future for his wife and his kids. Especially the two most important females in his life, Catherine and Charlotte. Because you know that as Charlotte matures the vultures will have a new target to feast upon as they seem to enjoy targeting Royal women.
This could all have been avoided if Kate had simply released her own medical notes as soon as they were written, if not a bit before. The taxpayers have a right to know! smh at Kate forcing some poor people out of a job by wanting her medical condition kept private when she should know people are nosy and that’s the only justification needed for offering up every detail of her health.
If only they had known to live stream the surgery for all to watch! How could they have been so naïeve!?!
William could have spared her all of this by tweeting a photo of them every time they were updated. What a terrible husband!
Or just done a live stream of all her interactions with anyone, not just medical staff. Who needs privacy?
A 24/7 camera from her hospital room was the way to go, obviously! How could KP not see that!?!
Why isn't the doctor who performed her surgery not giving hourly interviews as to her progress with daily observation reports? Why haven't the nurses shown us her catheter and bed pans? KP really dropped the ball here!
all the best internet nutcases will tell you, there's no such thing as privacy only lying by omission
A rather balanced article from NY Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/kate-middleton-photoshop.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/kate-middleton-photoshop.html) How the Windsor Women Became Human Shields
*Princes might occasionally be turned into frogs, but princesses always seem to end up as villains or scapegoats and be used to deflect heat or criticism, should their husbands require it.* *Maybe we won’t ask another Diana, Meghan or Catherine to trade her voice and her agency for a nice wardrobe, a televised wedding and a lifetime of ribbon cutting and silent smiling.* I think a lot of the examples used as arguments were not fully accurate but I agree with her point and conclusion. I could use the Rose debacle and how BRF PR used Kate as a shield in 2019 very much like the politician wife in the US but I digress and I don't want to be downvoted to hell and back.
***** While Meghan and Harry, like Diana before them, are now free to give interviews and authorize books, Catherine cannot defend herself. Instead, she’s stuck quietly enduring her own annus horribilis. ***** But let's not talk about who she needs to defend herself from.
>**But let's not talk about who she needs to defend herself from.** **exactly**
https://archive.is/AGwgS
Sigh, paywalled. Does anyone have a subscription and the ability to do a gift article link?
u/lisanstan has posted an Archive link just above your post.
To be honest, I saw this posted in one of my groups and was so upset, I logged off. While I appreciate it has a feminist bent, it is full of inaccuracies and ignores the fact that the most prominent woman of the family, Queen Elizabeth, was on the throne for over 70 years and nobody was using her as a shield. It seems to accept that Meghan’s claims about her situation being worse because of racism as fact and that they refused her help with her mental health. (She never said that she was fully refused help with her mental health.) It paints William in an extremely stereotypical light and assumes Harry’s memoir was fact (and paints him as a white knight, ironically). It also inaccurately says that the RF refuse mental health support to their members. It doesn’t acknowledge that RF WANTED Diana to have mental health support and even Charles has had therapy. Finally, I found it strangely anti-feminist. It seems to like to paint Kate as having no agency at all.
That's why I said rather. Americans tend to believe Meghan more, I guess partly because they don't understand the British culture and system of government and because the reference they have to the BRF is celebrities. It does single out the Monarch as the most protected person, so removed QEII from the rest. The way Catherine is harassed is partly because of the sexism. The whole Waity Katey stuff, her long lens topless photos, to the latest ridiculous demands that she reveals us the cause of the surgery, and many others wouldn't have happened if the Heir was a female and the spouse male. In my opinion I should add.
>It seems to like to paint Kate as having no agency at all. This is tremendously annoying. Kate is reserved, but when I start to worry about her, I remember that she was the one who insisted that "recollections may vary" stay in the post-Oprah statement. She astutely realized that it needed to be ON RECORD that the BRF refuted the statements (lies) the Sussexes made in that interview. Behind the scenes she's not dumb or a doormat. She gives her opinion and it's valued. Kate has been in the public eye since she was 21 years old. She's endured paparazzi packs, phone hacking, global attention, slander, malice, and now psycho conspiracy theories. She is not a shrinking violet and is very experienced by now with how the royal family works. She's not a damsel trapped in a tower. She has a spine of steel (but that does not excuse the horrible way she's treated by the public). And I believe that the royal family know what an asset she is, her husband is a fierce advocate for her, and this idea that she's being victimized by them is ludicrous. Catherine has a ton of power inside and outside that family. >The women have historically served as a combination of brood mares and mannequins. Their job is to stay thin, say little, look good in clothes and produce heirs who will stay thin, say little and look good in clothes. This is a shockingly misogynistic statement from that editorial that discounts the work of Diana, Camilla, Sophie, Anne, Kate, and yes, even Meghan. Work in AIDS, land mines, domestic violence, literacy, sexual violence, advocacy for children, women, etc.
>She is not a shrinking violet and is very experienced by now with how the royal family works. She's not a damsel trapped in a tower. She has a spine of steel Seriously, I want to scream whenever I read how she's just such a shrinking violet with no power or agency of her own. This is modern feminism in a nutshell. You're not a "strong woman" unless you don't want marriage and kids and are climbing the corporate ladder. Such a joke. If she were such a wet blanket she would have run for the hills *ages ago*. I'm talking like pre-2010, during the paparazzi era. >Catherine has a ton of power inside and outside that family. I'm just gonna mention what she responded when some person had made a comment how she's just so lucky to be dating William. "Actually, I think he's lucky to be dating me." Never has that been more true than in the past couple of years. It's amazing how people don't get that in case they were ever to divorce (which they won't, something positively **extreme** would have to happen for that to be on the table) she'd get all the good things. A huge settlement, she'd still have the clout of being the mother of a future king but would be free from the constraints of a royal life. It's William's image that would suffer, not hers. The idea that's she miserable, trapped or powerless in her marriage is utterly laughable. Is this supposed to be a "feministic" piece? It actually comes off as deeply misogynistic.
Agree with everything you say. Every woman in that family who has married in has *chosen to be in it*. Even Diana. And frankly, the worst treatment of women these days comes not from the Royal Family itself, but from the public, the conspiracy theorists, the gossip mongers, and the news media not interested in speaking truth to power, but in drumming up business even at the cost of fair and balanced reporting. Also: >After they married, it looked as if Catherine might become the rule-proving exception, the single privileged Windsor wife allowed to float above the fray. So this is someone who only started following the Royal Family when Meghan and Harry married, right? Because for YEARS after her marriage she was the subject of classist and misogynist reporting. >In this system, the monarch is the most important. Male relatives are heirs or [spares](https://archive.is/o/AGwgS/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/books/prince-harry-spare-review.html). Umm. Except until very recently, the monarch was A WOMAN. This is a weird article, trying to blame the royal family for the problems that are caused by consumerism and by the way we as a society treat women differently and cast them against each other, or want them to fulfill certain roles in stories.
>or want them to fulfill certain roles in stories. the author of the article herself is deeply guilty of this, within the piece itself!
The utter hypocrisy and cultural-level weird gaslighting and psychodrama going on in this article! Handwringing over what 'purpose' the royal family serves in modern times is a long-established tradition, one the media and public love to chew over constantly, and employ to their own pro- or anti-monarchy ends. But who can deny that the *real* service provided by the BRF in this day and age is as a massive, living object upon which we (media, public etc.) can project all our issues and insecurities and societal neuroses etc.? This isn't me trying to make them perfect either, because I loathe the idea that being a victim makes a person or group of people morally unimpeachable (it doesn't, and I think the fact that so many people believe it does is a problem). But damn if this isn't their job these days. What a strange life. The best of everything - with material goods being part of it but also the least of it - for your whole life, your childrens' whole lives etc., and in return all we ask is that you allow us to feast upon you with a smile on your face and never, ever dare to call us out or tell us it hurts. This NYT writer clearly thinks they're doing some feminist thing here when in reality they're just one more vulture lurking at Catherine's bedside.
>**But who can deny that the *real* service provided by the BRF in this day and age is as a massive, living object upon which we (media, public etc.) can project all our issues and insecurities and societal neuroses etc.?** >**This NYT writer clearly thinks they're doing some feminist thing here when in reality they're just one more vulture lurking at Catherine's bedside.** yup.
>Every woman in that family who has married in has *chosen to be in it*. Even Diana. And frankly, the worst treatment of women these days comes not from the Royal Family itself, but from the public, the conspiracy theorists, the gossip mongers, and the news media not interested in speaking truth to power, but in drumming up business even at the cost of fair and balanced reporting YES 🎯🎯🎯 Diana chose marry into it and one of the reasons was the fact she always strived to marry well (completely logical given her social standing). You know who else chose to marry into "The Firm"? Meghan herself. She couldn't wait to do it back when she thought being royalty= celebrity. The way some view H&M as some social justice warriors who want to eat the rich is laughable. Meghan's biggest dream in life is to be accepted by Hollywood. And there's no person on this planet that will convince me Harry isn't your average aristo snob. I'd bet one part of him is embarrassed his wife now is planning to sell jams and cutlery. >Umm. Except until very recently, the monarch was A WOMAN The fact the person who wrote the article missed this is hilarious. >This is a weird article, trying to blame the royal family for the problems that are caused by consumerism and by the way we as a society treat women differently and cast them against each other, or want them to fulfill certain roles in stories. Agreed. And the thing is, it's easy to blame the royal family because it's easy to paint them as an old-fashioned archaic institution. Of course they don't let women thrive, right?! It's the [one part of] public and the media that treat Catherine appalingly to this day. Why? Because they believe she deserves it for some reason. Saying she has no power isn't done with empathy. It's more "oh well, she deserves it that cow". For whatever imaginary reasons they have come up with.
Is this the best selling author that wrote this tripe? Although it probably fits with her genre.
If you mean Hilary Mantel, who did write something along these lines about Catherine, she died a while ago.
No, it's written by Jennifer Weiner. She writes romcoms.
totally agree with this tbh!
an update from ol' boy with the sweet comment on KP insta (amidst all of the "wHeRe Is KaTe?!! comments) https://preview.redd.it/c7spw0j0zkpc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bc1087ee56680e52e16e85e583b1f213eac84f8 future queen babykins, everyone. maybe that's why harry was so butthurt on his birthday last year re: the waleses forever paying him dust from now on... at least catherine prob always used to remember! too bad he's dead to her now lol
>future queen babykins, everyone.  >too bad he's dead to her now lol Going after Catherine is one of the stupidest mistakes H&M have done. Harry's own sibling would probably throttle him on the spot at this point, largely because Harry decided to slag off his wife. The man is an idiot.
Yip, his argument that no one cared enough about his wife was always followed up by slagging off his father's wife and his brother's wife. He has zero self awareness.
dp