Did the artist look at the King's portrait and say "hold my beer"

[MrsLeonFarrell]

Tatler has a new portrait, allegedly of the Princess of Wales, on its cover. I know it's been a while but I'm pretty sure most of us remember what she looks like.

Link to BBC article laced with sarcasm.

BBC News - Kate Tatler portrait prompts strong reaction online
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-69049830

There is always going to be a big difference between a real person and a distilled CV list of shallow 'factlets'. The question is how much should a person in a public role reveal about themselves beyond the CV version of themselves?

Call me weird, but I don't think a list of achievements gets to the heart of who a person is.

You said “she appears to have no interests (or none known about)”

Clearly, keeping bees is an interest, in that it is I suppose virtually impossible to accidentally gain custody of a hive of bees, and have the clothing and accessories needed to look after it.

I wasn’t making any value judgement on the pastime, unlike you sneering at it just now, but I’m not the one who said she appears she has no interests either. I’m just pointing something that would generally be considered to be an interest that we know that Kate does.

Call me weird, but I don't think a list of achievements gets to the heart of who a person is.

Neither do I, as it happens, but I’m also not the person denying that a person has any achievements whatsoever.

@Delphigirl For most of my life, I have viewed myself as a feminist. I think a woman has the right to choose what she wishes to do. Kate has focused her life as a support to her husband and mother to her children. Her interest in children has led to her early childhood initiative, which I think will have a long-range impact on the UK.

She is also interested in music and art. Her holiday concerts are lovely, and I was impressed by her participation in that Holocaust photography project, particurly as I have met several Holocaust deniers.

The preservation of bees is very important in the US to safeguard our food supply. At my anonymous workplace, we actually bring in a beekeeper to work with the youth. We also have initiatives at my workplace to support endangered pollinators.

Finally, I work with the children of wealthy and accomplished mothers. Much of my time, and that of my coworkers, is spent dealing with disinterested and neglectful caregivers - both paid and birth parents. Children receive minimal or no guidance or discipline, and are taught no manners. This does not appear to be true of the Wales children, whose mother seems very involved in developing their interests and making sure the spares do something other than moan about being a spare.

Kate is no Oppenheimer, but after reading about his childbearing skills and those of his wife, that is a blessing for the UK. Don't even get me started on Hemingway, Fitzgerald, or even Socrates...

Plus as an American, I appreciate that she is not potentially undermining the national security of my country. You should read Mark Toth' s columns online in " The Hill".

Should be "childrearing". Damn spellcheck.

Catherine appears to have taken the late Queen as her role model. She keeps the focus on others in her public duties, does her job as Princess of Wales and doesn't follow the instagram celebrity model of sharing every little thought and medical detail with the public. She is also raising children who will spend their entire lives in the spotlight in a way that will hopefully help them navigate that life productively.

That takes strength of character and resolve, none of which is apparent in that portrait, which you rightly suggest is flat and boring.

I would also suggest that the public are respecting her privacy rather than being uncaring.

her photos are airbrushed so she is almost unrecognisable

Which photos of her are airbrushed?

Delphigirl

I think it is a commentary on the fact that Kate is no more than a cypher for people to hang their own thoughts and expectations on.

That may be the case. That's up to the artist. I'm sure Kate didn't put herself forward for that, but many people see many public figures in that way.

She has never done anything or achieved anything save the birth of three children

Fair enough, lots of us have done that (only two for me).
Still, I felt it a personal achievement. Many people have felt it an achievement to have birthed children. I don't think she’s said claimed it as a particular achievement? You may know better than I.

she appears to have no interests (or none known about)

See Serenster's list.
Try reading it without being childish and picking out one thing and saying "Ooh! She keeps bees <snigger>".

she barely speaks and is incapable of stringing a sensible sentence together in public,

Really? Seemed totally coherent when I've heard her speak.

her role is to dress up and wave,

Yes, true. Like many other public persons being is part of her role.
At least she has a role.

her photos are airbrushed so she is almost unrecognisable

I'd say not. I think I could recognise her normally, I think.
But not from this portrait.

is this not a commentary on that? She is a flat, boring, image projected to the world without any identifiers save status.

I'd say she's not a "flat, boring, image" [sic] any more than any other famous person.

Hell, we don’t at the moment know whether she is conscious or in a coma and the public don’t seem to care.

Should we know?
And I think many people care - not because she's the Princess of Wales, but because they're human.

Anyway, I'll leave you to the one interest the public know you have: posting on the internet.

In 2023 there were over 1.9billion views of #beekeeping on TikTok...

I posted this on another thread but it was suggested I put it here .
He really is a nasty person

Bouzy is acting very obsessively and almost stalkerish. Thoroughly obnoxious individual.

Nasty, nasty person. No-one knows (quite rightly) what treatment she is having and how it's affecting her. And she probably is continuing to work as much as she can from home.

He is a pig.

The thing with the Bouzy post is that Catherine is unlikely to view, there will be more with cancer that will. Had cancer twice, the first time operation no chemo, absolutely fine the second time was an absolute nightmare. Chemo was awful and I went into already thin, I had no buffer for lack of appetite and vomiting. I was off 6 months and needed to be hospitalised in the middle just to get the nutrition in. All in the past now but how upsetting that there will be people like me or worse reading that shit.

Why is bee keeping funny? It’s vital for food production, what a bizarre thing to snigger at, though I expect whatever Catherine’s interests were they would snigger.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/05/princess-kate-royal-tradition-of-beekeeping-skills

It’s a nasty provocative comment. Most people are kinder and wish the POW a full recovery, however long that takes. Mr B needs to unclench.

With Bouzy he wants this attention, he wants the tabloids to pick up on it and personally I hope they don’t. The fact he’s on Twitter rather than his own platform shows that he purely after clicks.

His comments really are vile and PP is absolutely correct in saying that many people with cancer will read this and feel attacked too.

No one should support that man or give him the attention he is so clearly trolling for.

I actually like the portrait of the King, but this one is terrible!

What an idiotic sweeping generalisation about women undergoing cancer treatment from Bouzy. He is becoming more and more deranged. Hopefully even the Sussex Squad are beginning to realise this

Funnily enough, I wondered why she had painted it in such a bland manner. I did, however, perceive the steely reserve that Kate often shows in the artist’s work. Overall, I am left with the impression that Kate is seen by the artist as little more than a cipher.

I now see the right hand side (POW’s left) of the ‘portrait’ looks very different and more ‘flattering’ than the left, like there’s a centre line and it’s certainly no mirror image.

Can anyone else see it?

edited to make sense (barely)

I think all people have faces which are asymmetrical, although some are minimally so. Catherine's face has always been noticeably asymmetrical, albeit very attractive at the same time.

I wonder if we are still seeing the younger Kate and not her journey into middle age? If you take away the doctored highly selected images the tabloids like to push it really is not too bad of a painting, perhaps. Certainly she was thought to be something of a plain Jane (in some quarters) in the years before Meghan.