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

Yeah, I mean the royalists then

Seeing that the late Queen was still shaking hands two days before her death, the King is doing photo ops during his cancer treatment etc…
You have to wonder how serious Kate condition is tbh.

And yes people should leave her alone to recuperate etc… (and they are - no one has said a thing on what’s going on, bar speculations there and there). the problem is that none of the other Royals have ever done that. Or are doing that.

One has to wonder why there is a different rule for Kate…

This is not really about Kate.

The posters who keep shrieking ‘ her medical information is private !’ must surely know this . No one is asking for private medical information or even photos .
KP have handled the communication poorly and with an ill advised disdainful tone

The key aspect illustrated but his whole mess is there is a lack of trust in what the ‘royals’ and KP are saying . THATS what should really worry the establishment in the longer term
For observers there is also the fact that there can be a MSM blackout when the ‘royals’ want one ( for now anyway )

????????

Nothing is stopping him from stepping down if it’s too hard work.

The fact he is here is a choice. Pretty normal to then expect him to actually do what he was prepared/raised to do for his whole life.

The irony! You were the one going off on a tangent, criticising other people's posts for not being interesting enough for you.

People can say whatever they like. It is entirely reasonable for posters to share their thoughts on the constant speculation about Kate's health on threads like this, and it is absolutely relevant to the topic.You can skip past those posts if you find them uninteresting but you can't instruct others on what they can and cannot post.

If you believe that anyone has broken talk guidelines, then by all means, report them. Otherwise, suck it up. You don't own the Internet.

Seems weird that they’d have William & the Middleton’s visit her in hospital and fake it to that extent.

I don’t think a divorce but if you look at the whole thing as a series of facts, a pattern emerges. It seems regardless of an operation, or not, there’s definitely a move to keep her protected, and at arms length from the public & absolve her of any responsibilities or commitment to anyone - especially issuing statements. I think it’s the pressure & it’s doctor’s advice to remove the pressure of her role - at a guess,

I don’t get the feeling she’s going to be back at Easter, with a new style & haircut and back to back engagements. I think she’s going to be gradually faded out, for whatever reason that is.

I think what some in the media are ignoring is that the King and the Princess are not just different peopl, but in different roles.
So, the nature of the King's illness and treatment is clearly such that brief, controlled glimpses of him are currently manageable. We have to assume that, Catherine's illness being different, this doesn't apply to her.

More importantly, the King is the Head of State. If Presidents Biden or Macron were sick, there would probably be a similar level of engagement. The public has a vested interest in knowing that the Head of State is able carry out their basic duties. So, while Catherine is popular and high-status, she has no constitutional role and on a "need to know basis", we don't actually need to know.

Me too. It all has a distinct whiff of ' Princess Charlene of Monaco' about it.

I initially thought people were being a bit hysterical about this but the longer it goes on I’m starting to think that there’s something going on behind the scenes.

It's not just different roles, it's different situations.

The King is still working, but not attending large gatherings

The Princess is on complete sick leave, and they've announced the expected duration.

The key aspect illustrated but his whole mess is there is a lack of trust in what the ‘royals’ and KP are saying . THATS what should really worry the establishment in the longer term

And it started with the Prince Harry saga and the various trials that has shown some sides of the RF they probably didn’t want people to know.

I remember Prince Harry secretary (if I remember well) stepping down saying it was extremely hard work, harder than being the U.K. ambassador in Afghanistan (one of her previous positions).

There seems to be a rigidity and an arrogance about KP which is surprising. They're acting as if they don't owe the public anything.
The contrast with the approach at BP couldn't be more stark.

It seems to me @TallerSally that this medical situation developed quickly and has been a shock to them and maybe quite a scare. The whole comms approach seems to spring from their personal assistance on medical privacy while they're adjusting and recovering. Maybe that is a line they just will not cross. Which is why you can't critique it as if it were purely an institutional matter. These are people, not just an organisation.

The radio silence isn’t actually that uncommon for the royal family in times gone by.

It’s just that since the recently rise of social media and 24 hour news people have got used to more information, so it’s jarring people that there’s been none beyond the initial statement.

I mean, it was never announced that the late Queen was pregnant. Just at some point she was taking a break from royal duties and then an announcement was made after she gave birth.

Prince John was sent off to Sandringham and never mentioned again.

It was very common for royal hospital stays not to be reported. And there wasn’t rolling news so it could be done.

The rise of SM and 24 hour news meant people are missed if they take time off and people are seen going into hospitals. Prince Philip, as one example, would absolutely have kept his hospital trips private if it was possible (probably even from his wider family!) but it would have ended up on Facebook or Twitter.

I think the thing that’s creating a problem here is that Charles is trying to be more open because he feels the need to keep in the public’s good books because he knows he’s not as popular as his mother was.

The unfortunate timing means that’s clashing hard with William and Kate being determined to stick to what they said in the initial press release. And that makes sense if this is something likely to reoccur, as many conditions do, as they won’t want a situation where “well they said they wouldn’t speak last time, but on day 47 they did and it’s now day 48 and they’ve not said anything so she’s obviously dead/dying/ran away”

It seems regardless of an operation, or not, there’s definitely a move to keep her protected, and at arms length from the public

Keeping her at arms length from the public doesn’t mean it’s to protect her….

Seeing that the late Queen was still shaking hands two days before her death, the King is doing photo ops during his cancer treatment etc…
You have to wonder how serious Kate condition is tbh.
...
One has to wonder why there is a different rule for Kate…

The Late Queen and the current King were/are Head of State - they have a role to play in the state infrastructure - appointing PMs dealing with Red boxes - our set up has that gap to be filled.

So the situation is different to "just" members of RF.

Honestly, some of you are sounding swivel eyed. Too much time reading conspiracy bollox online.

Surely then once we say she has no constitutional role ( which none of them apart from The King do) and they are seen to be making little difference them being here or not, it's not a giant leap to ask what they are for. Why not gave a Spanish style Monarchy with just a Head of State/spouse? Do we need Head of State/Spouse/children/spouse of children/ grandchildren? The less they do the more people will question if what they do is really necessary.

The rise of SM and 24 hour news meant people are missed if they take time off and people are seen going into hospitals. Prince Philip, as one example, would absolutely have kept his hospital trips private if it was possible (probably even from his wider family!) but it would have ended up on Facebook or Twitter.

Quite. The other thing about SM and 24 hour news outlets, is that previously sensible publications like The Times worry about keeping their share of the audience & consequently they are dragged into the gossip arms race.

That's a perfectly valid question in my view. Personally, I don't think we do need all of the hangers on, but then again, I wouldn't bother with the monarchy at all.

That's a separate issue though.

Surely then once we say she has no constitutional role ( which none of them apart from The King do) and they are seen to be making little difference them being here or not, it's not a giant leap to ask what they are for. Why not gave a Spanish style Monarchy with just a Head of State/spouse?

Maybe that's why some otherwise sensible people are getting so very batshit about this? They're monarchists and want to insist we need 24 hour hot and cold running princesses to get by?

She had released a statement thanking everyone.

Still not enough.

Utterly ghoulish.

@MrsFinkelstein 👏

I must be going soft in my old age but the idea of King Charles riding around in the state Bentley "so he can be seen" seems rather poignant to me. Chemo/radio can really take so much out of you and with the best care and "help" in the world, it can't be easy.

OK, there is a contrast in the comms between BP and KP and perhaps that has lead to some of the speculation, but I think it's possible that they had to give some kind of anticipated end date after which Kate would be back at work/visible. Maybe it isn't working out as expected and they are now on the back foot and firefighting a bit.

I agree with PPs that if she looks anything other than absolutely blooming when she's seen again there will be even more of a firestorm and I can't blame her for wanting to avoid that.

Please let's not amalgamate things, shall we?

A central theme of this thread is the starkly different ways the KP and comms teams have handled illnesses of their principals, and the clearly arrogant and disdainful way KP have been going about comms about both Kate and William, the future king and queen.

The RF hire and pay professionals to handle their PR. Handling crises is their job.

Clearly, some are more competent at it than others...