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

I also think as people get older, especially if they get more senior in rank (for want of a better word) as William has they have more ability to say “no, this is how I’m doing it”

William in his twenties under his Grandmother’s system with his father making small changes is a much different level than he is now.

No one was ever surprised when Charles did things slightly different as PoW to how his mother did things so I suppose it follows on that william now has that clout in the family to do some things his way

Less senior royals who have something to lose (ie not Andrew) seem to be much better at listening to their staff

I love how the so called feminists think a woman should not only have to heed the orders of the men in grey (much derided by their favourite royals), but should also have no agency over her actions, no agency over her own mistakes, no responsibility - graciously taken - over her own mistakes, or be allowed to learn from them without a campaign of vilification and shaming. Meghan Markle would be proud of you all.

Absolutely. However sharing photographs directly with the public comes with a risk when you have a PR team whose whole reason for being is to manage this information.

Again, just to clarify about "planned surgery"

Planned surgery is any surgery that has even a minimal degree of planning - where the patient can be fasted from the night before & the full medical team has had a chance to review the patient and the majority (if not all) required testing done.

Planned surgery can be "planned" from the day before. It can be done for a deteriorating condition that would lead to significant morbidity, but is generally not imminently life threatening.

Emergency surgery is done with zero planning and the patient is not fasted. ie., straight to theatre from A&E (RTA, heart attack, stroke as just some examples).

So the idea that W&C know she was having the surgery and just didn't bother telling their staff until the day before is ludicrous. Its clearly been an ongoing medical issue that has been managed conservatively/medically up until a deterioration where surgery was deemed necessary. Was likely planned with days notice only.

Someone at AP has an agenda. 🤔

It's incredible and tiresome the number of times this needs to be repeated.

Yep. I had major surgery that was classed as “planned” - decided 11pm Sunday night and the surgery started 8am Tuesday morning!

I agree with this. If W&K aren’t listening to advice and are intent on doing things ‘their’ way then it must be a nightmare for any PR professional.

Because of the fire fighting, I am inclined to believe what Private Eye printed when Catherine's absence was first announced. Their columnist "Flunkey" wrote that Catherine had an operation planned in the last week of December which was only supposed to require a week's recovery, which would have been almost invisible to the public because they always take that time off anyway. Then during the operation it was discovered to be more serious, hence the cancelled dates and the long recuperation.

I think this makes sense of William suddenly taking all that time off and the way he shut down all communication except for one statement. If it is true he must have been worried and shocked by the turn of events and he is human before he is royal.

It is really bad timing that two senior royals had serious health issues at the same time but sometimes life does stuff like that. I suspect the sudden nature of both situations has created some difficult press demands and William, although he copes better than Harry, isn't a big fan of what he sees as intrusion.

I didn't know that about Private Eye. They are very often right about stuff.....

Sounds entirely plausible and in keeping with the information actually given.

But why then can't her face be seen? If something more serious discovered during an abdominal operation?

I found it odd that people are going on about the British Royals not taking advice from their PR people. I guess that IF this is the case then they are the same as the Duke and Duchess of Wales who seem to plough on and get themselves embroiled in silly incidents and debacles. In the light of that it's not unique.

Presumably she wanted to recuperate privately, as stated, out of the glare of publicity. No conspiracy about her face. Just privacy which includes her face ....

I'm thinking she had a hospital check up today.

It’s only a tiny number of people saying that - most of them in dubious places like X/Twitter. In the real world, 90% of people see it as a ridiculous storm in a teacup and wish Kate well. If you surround yourself with conspiracy theorists you won’t notice how out of touch with reality you’ve become - it’s like boiling a frog. I saw this happen during covid.

FFS a mum edited a Mother’s Day pic on Insta, call the police!

@aliceinthecities here is a clue - she was on the other side of the car from the photographer.

Sense and compassion from Private Eye. And not for the first time. The so called left and woke of Twitter could learn a thing or two from the old school.

Her face has been seen.

@ChVrches not sure if you are being ironic. I am not invested in seeing Kate's face. But by producing a fake photo (amidst limited info) that was pulled by the press, they produced a media storm. At this very moment the first UK picture of her appears, in which her face cannot be seen (of a person who usually smiles into the camera and waives). This is not good management of public relations

👏

Yes, it's hatred against her whipped up by the few and the press not getting their pound of flesh. Most women irl will have a lot of sympathy and compassion for her and see the photo as nothing more than what is was - a family snap, not a proof of life or an official document of royalty.

FFS a mum edited a Mother’s Day pic on Insta she didn't edit it on insta, it was photoshopped twice on a computer and then both uploaded to their social and given to news agencies, who killed it due to too much manipulation

Who has produced this photo? Isn't it another shot from the press taken without consent or pre-arrangement? Why should she smile and wave in a private moment to appease them?

@aliceinthecities I don't think she needs to be waving at everyone. She is on medical leave and possibly going to the hospital for some kind of check up. It could be a very worrying time for her. If she was waving people would say there is nothing wrong with her.