Do you think William and Kates tour was 'tone deaf'?

[oovetolove]

I'm interested to hear from people about this.

FWIW I think it's been an odd tour - almost an unnecessary flaunt of wealth and power.

I don't understand the point of the tour tbh and whilst I don't know if I'd consider it tone deaf as the papers suggest, it's definitely pointless and a reminder for me why the monarchy are becoming so outdated and more irrelevant, though I'm interested to hear others opinions on this.

It definitely was.

I think it shows how much things have changed in the last few years. The tour followed the same script as every other tour but the world has moved on, and I can’t see a place now for the current style of royal family. It all felt so mid 20th century.

To be clear, I think their very existence is tone deaf.

The most relevant thing they could do is sit down and shut up. When terrible things are happening in the world (and some of them allegedly contributed to by HRH your uncle) not being photographed-while-privileged is probably the wisest course of action.

touching the kids' hands through a wire fence for one.

While it is a terrible picture, I don’t think they were in the wrong overall. The kids had come to see them and Raheem Sterling, and there are pictures of him greeting the kids through the fence as well. The fence was round the football field, and if they’d refused to go and see the kids that would have been worse. And with that many cameras, it’s hard to see how they could avoid that picture.

@Lurking9to5

I don't get a say, I'm Irish, but i don't see what the tours are for. Seems a bit strange, acting like they're doing the country a favour!?

The Queen is their head of state but is too old to go now so they send the future king in her place. Wouldn't you like to see the head of your country from time to time?

They get invited to the countries. Same as your president gets invited to countries. Did you feel he was acting like he was doing the uk a favour when he stayed with the Queen 8 years ago? I hope not because we were just happy to welcome him. True he didn't attract much attention but that's because he's not as well know as QE2 or W&K.

Very much so. I'm panicking about how I am going to pay my bills and they are living the high life.
It's not right that they are who they are because they came out of the correct vagina

Many people that never used to, have now found their voice. Including those in the Caribbean protesting.

In Jamaica, republicanism has been part of the political conversation since the 1970s

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/27/royal-tour-commonwealth-queen-elizabeth-william-kate-caribbean

Awful. The Commonwealth should die with the Queen and the Royals should stop these ridiculous, patronising ‘meet the natives’ tours. I cringed at Kate’s speech, too. Who are you exactly? What have you ever done? Nobody cares what you think. I’m glad they got their arses handed to them by the Jamaican PM!

I’ve cringed all week

The media here didn't seem to give much coverage to the positive parts of the tour, where they were well received, large crowds - all the normal stuff.

As it was the official Jubilee tour (and they were formally representing HM) then it had to be between Feb and June this year. And it'll have been in the planning for a year or two. Isn't it up to the hosts where they go? They express an interest (like footie, as PW is president of the FA) but the hosts choose venue, choreography etc

The Queen is their head of state but is too old to go now so they send the future king in her place. Wouldn't you like to see the head of your country from time to time?

I think that says it all. Why is Queen Elizabeth their head of state? Why should they not have their own head of state?
I think the Duke of Cambridge is right - The days of the Commonwealth are numbered.

It does seem to have been unsuccessful. They won't have won many over in those countries.

I would have supported the royal family 10 or even 5 years ago. I like history and tradition.

But I don't think I do support them any more. The world has changed and the idea of someone having royal blood/ being chosen by God, etc is totally anachronistic with the 21 century. We just don't think like that anymore.

What do William and Kate or even the Queen do for Jamaica, for example? Why should Jamaicans want to see them? It's so tenuous of a connection.

Plus with situations like Andrew, it surely makes it obvious that there is nothing special about the royal family. They are just humans like us all, some good, some bad.

Lastly, the Oprah interview with Harry telling about how much his family is at the mercy of the press and their obligations really made me feel the whole thing is wrong.

So the idea of William and Kate touring around the Caribbean is just silly. What good does it do for those countries?

Yup.

It's basically been a jolly.

Unnecessary and untimely at this moment.

They weren't feeding refugees soup in Milton Keynes or wherever

I think they're trying too hard to compete with Harry and Meghan for attention and to show them up. I really don't like William and Kate.

Good point @dipdye

Having a foreigner as your head of state is just weird. Presumably it didn't seem odd a long time ago, but it is now. And coming from a "we've done Brexit in order to be about to make our own decisions" country is even weirder.

And those pictures of them standing in a land rover with him in military uniform just had "tin-pot dictator" all over them. I think they were going for a "just like granny" vibe. It didn't work.

I don’t know that it’s been any different from other tours, which may also be unnecessary flaunts of wealth but I’m not sure why this one is particularly odd.

The world is a very different place than it was even a couple of years ago. Not just the pandemic, but the cost of living crisis, looming recessions, and of course the war on Europe's doorstep - and that's all without mentioning Prince Andrew and how the RF must have been covering up for him for years. So this tour did feel tone deaf with Kate dripping in jewels and expensive dresses, and William gurning whilst dad dancing and eating chocolate. It just all seemed so frivolous and ostentatious against the background of peoples day to day lives.

What do William and Kate or even the Queen do for Jamaica, for example? Why should Jamaicans want to see them? It's so tenuous of a connection

I’m not sure that head of state/future head of state (potentially) is that tenuous of a connection.
Of course, I think they’d be totally justified in removing the queen as head of state if that’s what they wanted, I’m not sure why they haven’t had a referendum on it as there seems to be political and public support for it. But since they haven’t, then however absurd the principle of a royal family is, they can’t just never visit.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the press criticise W&K like this before, it’s quite interesting.

It was all very staid and I would have liked to see them doing things differently.

I understand why they felt it was their duty to visit - but yes the whole thing was totally tone deaf.

They could have used this as an opportunity to do things differently. They could still have visited, but could have refused the pomp and ceremony, the parading around standing in open topped land rovers dressed in their regalia, and flouncing around in expensive dresses.

They could have said 'you know what - we want to go and meet real people' and gone and talked, hung out with people, and got to understand them. Dressed casually with no ceremony.

Total PR failure and a missed opportunity on their parts. It shows me how out of touch they are with public opinion.

Someone upthread asked what has changed since Harry did a similar visit which was well received. I think Harry definitely has more of the 'man of the people' touch, and I honestly couldn't see him doing the stiff rigid parading around that WIlliam and Kate have done.

Huge Clanger of a PR fail and a missed opportunity to make themselves popular.

@GrazingSheep

The Queen is their head of state but is too old to go now so they send the future king in her place. Wouldn't you like to see the head of your country from time to time?

I think that says it all. Why is Queen Elizabeth their head of state? Why should they not have their own head of state?
I think the Duke of Cambridge is right - The days of the Commonwealth are numbered.

Dropping the monarch as head of state need NOT mean the end of the Commonwealth! Several CW countries have already dropped the Queen as their head of state.

Irrespective of the whole argument about the monarch (not) being the HoS, a number things jump out:

• the fact that their OR team seems clueless and did not scout out the venues or consider the historical implications of certain events. There is no other explanation of the shaking hands through a wire fence debacle, not to mention the land rover spectacle.

• the whole format of the tour, which was a mirror image of tours the Queen and the DoE did in the 50s and 60s. W & K trying to appear much more informal, and Kate's endless grinning didn't really help. Not to mention that identical white lace dress and dinner plate hat she wore for the land rover circuit...

• Kate's wardrobe was not just outrageously expensive but inappropriate - either too girlish or too formal/high-end fashion. As for that ridiculous white & red uniform William was wearing

• last but not least: not a single one of their retinue were PoC. Not one. I mean....... what were they thinking??!!!!

It's quite interesting that obviously a fair number of people here - and presumably in general - find the whole inappropriate.

And yet there seemed to be a fair number of people on the ground - certainly way more than the protesters - who thoroughly enjoyed seeing them, and had a lot of fun.

They were invited to go, and presumably if the majority of a population didn't want to see HM's representatives, that wouldn't have happened.

PR...... not OR...