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

@jeffgoldblum my ex husband had a hair transplant and it looks like a rat's arse.

It was actually quite an honor to be asked to go with my friend for his hair transplant and i got to be there for the explanation of how it worked. They took hair off the back of his head. Ok, maybe I shouldn’t go into detail. But the end result did look like that a few months later.

His surgeon was a pioneer in the technique.

I was watching The Worst of Botched the other evening and there was a woman who literally had a face graft taken from her pubic area as a child to fix a dog injury. What were they thinking?

‘Frothing is the new opiate of the masses’

😂

Oh come on now.

I can imagine the horror men feel about losing their hair ( especially if they've just pointed out their own brother's alarming baldness!)
But hair transplants never work properly, it always looks like a Brillo pad on your head !!! 🙄

Can I get you a cappuccino?

We have had times in our own family where everything hits at once. I hope your parents recover well.

Harry photoshopped on his cheeky chappy persona. We now know it was totally fake 😆

I saw these images on X. I was wondering if they’re real – not Wales real, mind you 😂

If he is happy with it that's all that matters. Losing his hair has obviously been difficult for him, and the royal family is not the best family to be born into if you want to keep your hair.

😂

Well, I'm not buying KP's narrative….

Oh cute Alice ! But surely you mean catochino! 🐈‍⬛

Couldn’t resist.

There are loads of shorts on YouTube that claim to show Catherine, usually in a tiara that no one has even seen her in.

This is why the whole fuss over the photo has actually restored a bit of my confidence in news images in general. I didn't know how tough the standards are.

These are lovely photos actually. A bit anachronistic. Perhaps she’s been time traveling.

Harry is the king of photoshop.

Irl he is actually emo kylo ren.

He wishes he had the hair!!! 🤣🤣

😂😂😂😂😂😂

I think the news agencies are showing restraint and not divulging publicly that Kate’s face itself has been photoshopped in.

These are professional news agencies with reputations going back a century. No one has actually seen Catherine since Christmas Day.

Even though publicly embarrassing Kensington Palace was an extreme move - especially as the future King himself put his name behind the photo - the reputational damage of releasing that photo, if it turns out something more serious has happened to Catherine, would be even more disastrous.

Well a face lift does tend to peel back the years... if the rumours are true 😅

👏😂

Not sure I get you? I meant the clothing.