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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To find the media’s portrayal of Kate, Wills and the kids a bit grating

141 replies

1jan2021 · 07/05/2023 08:34

Does anyone find it irritating how the media will take any tiny thing and spin it to fit the narrative of how they want the Wales family to be?

I mean here, William barely glances at Kate and it’s not even clear that he’s looking at her anyway. Yet the media are determined that it’s a “look of love”:

“Prince William glances at Kate with look of love at Westminster Abbey”

https://mol.im/a/12055185

They also seem determined for the three children to fit into certain moulds too - George is the serious one, Charlotte is the confident one and Louis is the cheeky one.

My siblings and I had this when I was growing up and I really struggled with it. The more you’re told that you’re the shy one and your brother’s the confident one (for example) the more it becomes ingrained. And we were just an ordinary family, not in the spotlight - for the Waleses it’s magnified a billion times over!

Prince William glances at Kate with look of love at Westminster Abbey

It was a look of love and admiration captured in the blink of an eye. As Prince William entered Westminster Abbey, he glanced over at his wife as if to say he was the luckiest man in the world.

https://mol.im/a/12055185

OP posts:
Ginnybaby · 07/05/2023 08:37

Can’t say it bothers me or I’ve thought about it, it’s just crappy publications wanting click bait, I’d try not to over think it or compare it to your family as it’s not really about you.

MyBloodyMaryneedsmoreTabasco · 07/05/2023 08:39

That's the kind of journalism you get in the DM. If you read a proper paper they tend not to gush about such nonsense.

cocksstrideintheevening · 07/05/2023 08:40

It's the daily mail not 'the media'

DrMarciaFieldstone · 07/05/2023 08:40

Who cares, just don’t read it?

XBealtaine · 07/05/2023 08:44

Well with Kate's awareness of the importance of early years, I think her children will be the first royals raised to know their own selves and to create the skill of validating themselves rather than feeling depleted /invalidated by headlines.

Interestingly, at their engagement interview, she was asked how she felt about articles insinuating that she was lazy and she said that so long as the people around her knew that she was working hard, she could deal with the headlines saying the opposite. I think that any labels her children attract will be ignored in their home.

I wouldn't be worried about their children. K&W do seem to work well together and if they secretly just tolerate each other, they're great actors.

someoneisalwaysintheloo · 07/05/2023 08:46

Why read it?

clarepetal · 07/05/2023 08:49

Absolutely agree OP

SalmonEile · 07/05/2023 08:50

I don’t follow them much if I’m honest but I saw an article saying how much Charlotte looks like Diana.
She doesn’t look like her at all!

ThinWomansBrain · 07/05/2023 08:54

YABU reading this tripe, whether you like it or not.

DrMarciaFieldstone · 07/05/2023 08:55

SalmonEile · 07/05/2023 08:50

I don’t follow them much if I’m honest but I saw an article saying how much Charlotte looks like Diana.
She doesn’t look like her at all!

I thought the same. She is not like her at all, they just have to try to shoehorn Diana in

Spectre8 · 07/05/2023 09:08

And did you find it equally grating when they did the same about Harry and Meghan?

Daftnotstupid · 07/05/2023 09:11

I think the couple are savvy enough to not pay the media any attention.

That being said, George is very serious, Charlotte is very clever and confident and Louis is a hilariousy cheeky joker that is typical of a child his age and typical of being the youngest.

gooseduckchicken · 07/05/2023 09:13

Yes, the DM portrayal is ridiculous but I presume that Will and Kate aren't reading these articles aloud to their children so I don't think the kids will pick up on the stereotypes.

Tirrrrred · 07/05/2023 09:14

My kids are 11 and 13 and wouldn't behaved as well. I bet Kate was on edge all day. She did amazingly well.

Would they have had a nanny to take them to the toilet etc?

cocoloco117 · 07/05/2023 09:16

Stop reading the daily mail. Why are you giving this utter bullshit headspace?

produ · 07/05/2023 09:27

Because they want the plebs to buy into the "perfect" family. It's just a soap opera but many do buy in

ichundich · 07/05/2023 09:29

They do it because people like you OP care.

WeWereInParis · 07/05/2023 09:33

The mail does it with all sorts of people. There'll be a picture where someone looks vaguely cross (maybe just caught at a funny angle for a split second) and the story will be "trouble in paradise? X looks furious at new partner in heated argument!!!" or something.

OneFrenchEgg · 07/05/2023 09:40

I don't know - I only see the DM on here it at my mums.
But it reminds me - what is going on with Kate's cheeks? Is it bronzer? Or blush in an unusual place? I've noticed it recently when they pop up on Facebook etc.

Bimbom · 07/05/2023 09:49

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NowZeusHasLainWithLeda · 07/05/2023 09:52

Agreed.
Kind of like randoms deciding to portray them as Wills and Kate.

Wrt the children. Louis is still very young and doesn't behave well in big occasions. Completely normal for a child his age Charlotte was very rude when she was younger but is better now. George seems to be growing up nicely.

LlynTegid · 07/05/2023 09:53

Stop reading online or in print The Paper that Supported the Blackshirts then.

Agree with the sentiment.

PaltnSepper · 07/05/2023 09:57

I hate when they interpret any facial expression and decide that they know what a person is thinking. You see it on here all the time too - how William looked irritated, or Charles looks sad or Camilla looked smug or whatever. That might just be their normal faces, and if you had cameras on you for 8 hours in a row, you'd have some off expressions too, and they might reflect nothing to do with what you're thinking.

I say this as a child who was always told not to look grumpy, or that I looked fed up or sulky or impatient or whatever, reading things into my face that were a total surprise to me. And I hate when people do that to people in public, especially from a photograph.

There was a headline today that linked to some article about how stressed kate was dealing with Louis, because of her facial expressions etc. They have absolutely no idea if it's true or not.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 07/05/2023 10:00

I get sick of the Charlotte looks like the late Queen (who had blonde curls as a child).
George looks like Charles Spencer but I saw Diana in him yesterday.

The DM generally is dangerous and to blame for a lot of the problems in the UK.

TheSnowyOwl · 07/05/2023 10:04

NowZeusHasLainWithLeda · 07/05/2023 09:52

Agreed.
Kind of like randoms deciding to portray them as Wills and Kate.

Wrt the children. Louis is still very young and doesn't behave well in big occasions. Completely normal for a child his age Charlotte was very rude when she was younger but is better now. George seems to be growing up nicely.

Was Charlotte very rude or was she just a child acting her age? Have you ever seen paps with children? Charlotte will have stuck her tongue out to mimic what was being done by the photographers to her. No one saw them, the adults doing it, but the world got the photograph of Charlotte, a very young child, retaliating and have stated she is rude which the gullible public falls for.