Happy to see Princess Kate doing so well, but...

[JustPassingThyme]

I'm really glad to see Kate doing so well, and I am glad she has finished chemo looking so healthy and happy. However my sister and I cannot stop laughing at the video Kensington Palace have just released.

We think the video has a striking resemblance to the Twilight films, only warm toned and shorter.

Narration - check
Holding hands while lying down in a meadow - check
Tree climbing - check
Stacks of logs - check
Dramatic sweeping shots of trees - check

I was waiting for William to say something really cringy while giving Kate a piggy back ride.

The world is a horrible place right now. I couldn’t care less about their Royal status. It was just lovely to see a family rejoicing in the fact their beloved mother was through a particularly horrendous health issue. I feel sorry for any family having to experience what they have.

But you have to really care to follow them that closely in the first place. I don't seek out any news about the Royals or take any interest in their public engagements so I'm not seeing any less of Charles or William than I did of the late Queen.

To me, as to the vast majority of mostly ambivalent people they all do bits and pieces here and there and their reputation remains unchanged.

It's nice Kate is better, I have no input other than that and I think most people will think the same and carry on not caring much whether William now triples his number of engagements or carries on as he has been.

@DappledThings You've opened and commented on a thread about the royals. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here?

Do those complaining that Catherine got the best treatment available feel the same way about TLQ? Would you feel better if they'd taken up NHS resources instead?

She's finished her Chemo, hopefully the cancer will never return. She's allowed to be happy about that after an awful time, and nobody is forced to watch the video message. If it was a formal announcement people would have complained, if they'd said nothing they would have been attacked too. She's a cancer sufferer yet she's fair game for all sorts of nasty attacks.

We don't know how she is physically or what , if anything,"keeping myself cancer free" means.
I think people who have had surgery on their digestive tract ( not that we know if this is the case) do have significant adjustments to deal with .
I know ,10 years after surgery that I do.
But it was a completely tone deaf production.
She has wealth and privilege, access to the best medical care and support.
It's insulting for those waiting and those struggling to say that she stands shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand with them without acknowledging that many have financial struggles and the impact of an overstretched NHS .

My point is that I, like I suspect a lot of other people, have only a passing interest in the Royals. So I'm interested enough in this video to have watched it. But not interested enough to care if William has less of a work ethic than than his grandmother. You only notice that if you care enough to check. Which most people don't.

I just don't think the vast majority of people are invested enough to be bothered about how many engagements any of them do so a the predictions that it will all fall apart are a bit extreme.

It was a message of hope and aspiration.

Even some republicans are saying they had a positive reaction to the film.

That’s what the royal family are supposed to do, isn’t it? Live out their full and entire lives in public, represent Britain in the best way, model positivity and offer hope to people. If not that, what else?

And on a personal level, if I was Kate, I think I would also have wanted to make a film like this - for both her public and her private objectives.

This is a delightfully random response

You can be a Republican and still interested in the RF. I think it's very strange when people think you can't be. I want them gone tomorrow, but while they're still here I love the frocks, the jewels, the shenanigans, the politics, the manoeuvring, the gossip.....

Isn't the point of modelling so that others copy you ?
How would/could/why would someone struggling with child care , trying to work, dealing with a NHS where care is not joined up and the system severely over stretched, etc etc try to emulate the Princess of Wales experience?

I was worried about the log pile too. I wish they hadn't put that bit in-it would be dangerous in any log pile you might meet in the wild. Obviously that one was secured to play on.

It is so good to see Kate looking well and in a loving family film.
Piss takers, bitching types and trolls can and fuck right off.

No they aren’t actors - they won’t have been asked to do things again and again - it would have looked horribly stiff if they had.

But will have shot lots of material, probably over a couple of separate days to keep everyone’s energy up. They might have added lights to the wood, or just shot it at the golden hour (end of the day) - overall lights are too much faff with non actors outside - they’ll have had a crew on standby to pick the best weather days. They probably had two cameras on most sessions to get two different angles.

It will be stuff they do anyway, or they wouldn’t have been able to get the kids to be natural, so you are getting a sort of insight, albeit a carefully curated one.

I thought one bit was like Gladiator with hand brushing though the wheat.

agree about log pile.

Agreed. There were lots of parasites on you tube especially speculating wildly at the time and this puts a firm fingers up to them and others that this family has been through hell and very much in love and still together . Kate loves photography and this is how she wanted the little film to be.

Suggesting that the only work she’ll do is film premieres and playing the piano at Christmas is unnecessarily snide.

Pointing out that you have written something unfair is not denigrating or demeaning you - it’s pointing out that you were being needlessly unpleasant.

Was it a CGI butterfly? 🫣😁

The whole thing looked like one of those slightly off AI videos. Or a montage from a film where the whole family has died and is in heaven.

I think it's perfectly possible to be a bit non plussed by the video AND be happy for Kate that she's well.

Ah sorry @TeaMistress I was referring to @socialdilemmawhattodo comments - not yours back to her.

Ah sorry @TeaMistress @socialdilemmawhattodo comments - not yours back to her.

That’s quite the assumption.

The film Vanilla Skies came to mind at first with her talking quietly and then the dream like quality that is captured at the end of the film. Is it Vanilla sky or skies can’t remember .A good film anyway ,underrated…going off topic.

I kinda take your point @hattie43 , I've accidently clicked on wrong user ment and for some reason can't delete, so please ignore!

@Countrylife2002 I've had oesophageal cancer , lots of aggressive chemo and major surgery.
It's not how I felt or feel.
Of course the POW can do what she likes but I personally was deeply irritated by how tone deaf it was .
I'm not , by the way , taking the piss . Just saying that it upset me.

Countrylife As someone who also had cancer and chemo I also thought it was perfect and heartfelt and I felt pretty much the same as her. I am horrified by some of the nasty and mocking comments though not surprised. I also think some people don't understand you can still have a very serious cancer (up to and including stage 3) and the chemo be called preventative if surgery like she had is first.