THE TIMES: Where is Kate? The royal family attracts more speculation by the day

[TallerSally]

On today's front page, the Times' Kate Mansey reports on the contrasting approaches taken by KP and BP's comms teams in their handling of the extraordinary situation the RF's currently in. It kicks off with the current host of the US's Daily Show (formerly hosted by the formidable Jon Stewart) asking some questions:

"While the King hosted friends and met world leaders, the Palace’s reluctance to comment on the Princess of Wales’s condition has created a rising sense of panic
One of America’s most popular TV comedy programmes was asking the question that had captured the nation. It was not about the Super Tuesday primary contests ahead of the US elections, or the State of the Union address, which elicited an exaggerated yawn from the presenter.

Instead, The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng turned to look straight into the camera to ask: “Where is Kate Middleton? Where are you, Kate?”

There was no rush to provide reassurance this week from the Prince of Wales, who appeared to begin his working week on Friday with a visit to the Oval cricket ground for his Earthshot environmental campaign. Aides said that William had been busy all week, just not in a way that was visible to the public.

The King was doing the opposite. Away from public duties on doctors’ orders while he undergoes cancer treatment, the monarch had been expected to take this week as scheduled time off. Despite being told to “slow down” by the Queen, who took her own advice and flew to sunnier climes for a few days of relaxation, the King was ramping up.

He was photographed meeting world leaders and ambassadors from his living room at Buckingham Palace. Away from the cameras, he hosted friends who rallied round for afternoon tea and dinner dates. He insisted on the “more public” option of travelling between Buckingham Palace and his more comfortable private quarters at Clarence House in the State Bentley, so that he could “be seen”. Quite what the Queen made of it all from her sun lounger is anyone’s guess, but there are those in the palace who have an idea."

A tongue-in-cheek piece, but raises some interesting questions: have KP messed up the comms around Kate? and William? What is really going on with them? Why is the Royal family-funding public kept in the dark for so long, when usually not a couple of days go by without us having some nicely staged photo of some kind from Kensington Palace?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/where-is-kate-prince-william-king-charles-cancer-khktpx9bm

Oh good grief! 😂😂

So very true.

Really interesting article.

I saw someone on a previous thread saying the photo of the PoW and her mother in the car showed they were definitely getting divorced because they looked "thunderous". Whereas she (the poster) always listens to Classic FM in the car so never looks thunderous 😂

As a devoted Harry and Meghan fan, you’re clearly heavily invested in the idea that being a working royal equals zero privacy & maximum suffering and you desperately want the public to be seen to demand their pound of flesh from William and Kate.

Unfortunately for you, the public (apart from a smattering of X looms and the usual Sussex cheer squad) are doing no such thing. People respect Kate’s recovery and overwhelmingly wish her well. All these tawdry attempts to somehow capitalise on her illness are not gaining traction.

Jesus do teachers have to derail every single thread on MN and make it about themselves.

I haven’t seen anyone bleat on about laziness. It’s about the accountability of public service. You have to be seen to be working in the public’s best interests and the number of meaningful public engagements falls into this bracket. It’s not about choosing what you want to do, when you want to do it. Queen Elizabeth embodied public service. Extraordinary privilege and wealth but aware of her responsibilities as a public servant.

Teachers don’t come into it.

😂

Not a fan of the royal family at all, but I'm a bit like Kate in that respect: There's no way I would be sharing my private medical details with the public.

“The formidable Jon Stewart” hosts The Daily Show every Monday evening on the Comedy Channel in the U.S.
It’s probably available online.

Such deliberate missing of a point I have never seen before.

There are more complex sides to royal duties than shaking hands and opening care homes. Just a thinking point.

As a young mother, Elizabeth put duty first and neglected her children in the process, especially Charles. Presumably you would like Kate snd William to do the same.

Luckily, it isn’t up to people like you and Kate and William have been able to put their young children first.

Nah she's fine she was photographed out & about the other day :)

Well you say good grief smilesy but so much talk has been about how William wouldn’t want to divorce Kate, that it’s arguably worth stating the obvious.

Did Elizabeth put duty or herself first? They all seem breathtakingly selfish.

Kate and William seem to be using the children to opt out of work while retaining full pay.

I don’t know whether the PPoW are lazy or not, but they do demonstrably fewer engagements than other senior, much older royals.

A lot of Kate’s work will surely involve grooming and self care - facials, hair blowdries, ballet classes and clothes fittings, etc. And yes, like teachers there is work behind the scenes - briefings, meetings with speechwriters, kidnap situation refresher training and the like, I imagine? - but unlike teachers they don’t also have to cook, clean and change the bedding on top of that.

Mind you, doing that much walking in high heels would be too much for me on its own! And the perma-diet.

I said “good grief” because every time someone says the “divorce” theory is unlikely , up you pop like a bad penny 🙄😂

Do you think Harry and Meghan are likely to divorce based on Harry having a face like a slapped arse in some photos? No?

edited typos

Yep. Sure feels like KP are acting like they are the 2-ton gorilla in town.

Perhaps a bit more focus on the public’s desires for more communication (not necessarily more information) might come across as more respectful and less tin-eared?

@LittleGlowingOblong Kate does Ballet? 😂 Isn't she a bit old for that?

I can’t quite see how - leaving aside the current situation - why the royal kids need so many hours of double parenting on top of having a full time nanny and neither of the parents having to do any household chores which takes a lot of normal parents’ time. It must be absolutely suffocating for the children - if indeed ‘parenting’ is what Kate and William spend all their time off doing, which I doubt.

I assume she had a hysterectomy or something (don’t care, not my business) and she is enjoying some privacy. Taking time off from being a working royal, like me taking long service from my job.

I honestly think teachers deserve every medal for even managing to put up with a class of feral kids until 3:30. Sounds like the hardest fucking job ever...I certainly could never do it.

It's in no way comparable to the mystery surrounding Kate. IF she wanted to put an end to all the speculation, she just needed to pen two sentences as a direct communication to the public. That's the same effort required as typing a few lines into Whatsapp. I don't think anyone believes she hasn't looked at her phone or interacted with her children since the day she left hospital. She's clearly not in a coma either after those car photos. She's either forbidden to do so as part of some kind of bizarre "PR" strategy (William perhaps?), hence the extremely staged-looking pap shots as the Middleton's response to this all, or she doesn't want to because there's more chaos behind the scenes than people know about.

There was no duty when she went to Malta and left the children behind whilst she was simply a naval officers wife for a while.

Odd post.

I could imagine as a woman in her early 40s if she's had a hysterectomy it's probably hit her quite hard emotionally as well as physically. I know it would me. Maybe Kate has cancer too.

But who knows what she's had done, she obviously doesn't want to tell anyone. Thing with Charles and Fergie is that their cancer is talked about all the time.