Having had abdominal surgery for endometriosis, I have enormous sympathy for Kate. I was out of work for five weeks and was exhausted for months after. My surgery was in May and I did not really feel myself until January. I can understand that Kate did not want her personal details shared with the world. However, the Palace PR teams should have had a game plan based on what they did previously for ill royals.
1) A few words from William in a walk about that “Kate is getting better every day.” (The late Queen did this for Philip.)
2) Hand made greeting cards from the Wales kiddies and/or a sample of greeting cards from across the country (like the ones sent to the King).
3) Proof of life in a car ride much sooner. I am convinced Carole Middleton plopped Kate in the car and said, “You’re going out” and tipped off a friendly pap.
4) A photo of flowers or baked goods sent by some beloved figure, like Mary Berry. (Kate was on her Christmas special and Louis’ first words were “Mary Berry” or some such.)
5) A phone call to a friendly Mommy podcast, like Happy Mum, Happy Baby where Kate has appeared, just to thank people for good wishes.
This is not rocket science. None of it would have invaded her privacy, but it would have fed the beast.
This is a great analysis! What really keeps me hooked, I think, is the contrast as you suggest between how Kate is afforded privacy by the institution while Meghan endured leak after leak and was told she couldn't seek mental health treatment because it might get out she did so. Among other things you point out, this whole debacle has shown that the palace is at least willing to *try* to keep secrets for Kate in a way they never did for Meghan.
Hilary Mantel's "Royal Bodies" essay has been top of my mind with all this:
"When it was announced that Diana was to join the royal family, the Duke of Edinburgh is said to have given her his approval because she would ‘breed in some height’. Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary. But in her first official portrait by Paul Emsley, unveiled in January, her eyes are dead and she wears the strained smile of a woman who really wants to tell the painter to bugger off. One critic said perceptively that she appeared ‘weary of being looked at’."
You are a brave soul as this topic is sometimes more divisive than politics! My take is William will be a very different monarch than Elizabeth and Charles is a bridge between eras. This transition was always going to be bumpy and I think we’re just witnessing the Firm figure out how to navigate the transition from the Old Ways to the New.
I find Meghan Markle fascinating because she had so much media/PR experience going into the marriage based on her acting career and her own successful lifestyle blog. She knew how to play the game according to the new rules and I think was flabbergasted at how outdated the Royal Method was. It seems Kensington Palace is playing catchup now and could have really benefitted from Meghan’s expertise. That said, in laws, amirite? As an American who really enjoyed the pomp and pageantry of the monarchy from afar but would never want that tax drain here, I am very interested to see where we end up in 25 years. So much will change. Twenty five years ago if you had said “Queen Camilla” you would have been laughed out of town. So it’s not such a stretch to think we could very well see the end of the British monarchy as we know it in the next couple of decades.
As Harry and Meghan pointed out "never complain, never explain" only worked for SOME people. I'm not as interested in Kate's health issues, but do find the contrast between her and Charles striking (and found Camilla's multiple hospital visits vs William's one and her parents/sister none to be... purposeful.)
It's the total blackout of British Press about Kate to be the actual story. The British Press is all about grasping at any little thing to write a Royal story about. So where were the stories about George "stepping up" or Charlotte learning to bake Kate's favorite cookies? The man on the street interviews with well wishes? Why no photo of Kate reading her get well cards, as Charles did? Absolutely no paps at any of their homes until TMZ (I had read it was Backgrid, which is often accused of being paps for hire). It's clear the British Press was told to stay away, and they did, luxury that Meghan was told was not available to her.
And now the Royal Rota (just read Tweets from Dickie Arbiter and Rebecca English) saying "enough is enough", but they criticized Meghan for YEARS. My favorite is the comparison between columns from Celia Warden (Piers Morgan's wife, they have a dual obsession with Meghan) saying Meghan can't ask for privacy, with her current plea for Kate's privacy.
I won't even get into the bad photoshop and the conspiracy theories there, because it makes me sound even more like a crazy person. But this will b e studied by crisis PR people for years as an example of what not to do.
This reads like we have a choice: either (a) we believe the royal family is telling the truth or (b) we are commodifying Kate's body and life as if it is something owed to us.
What I see out there in those who are expressing skepticism about the royal family's story is concern for Kate, worry that she is not okay and the royal family is fabricating a story in order to preserve their image. There are *always* some dreadful people who act as if the royal family owes the public access to the members' personal lives, but I don't see that driving the narrative that the royal family's story is suspicious and how they are handling this situation is adding credibility to the notion that their story is a fabrication.
I wish the royal family had a history of telling the truth, preserving members' privacy, and treating members with respect and decency - especially the women to marry into the family. But they don't. Quite the opposite. It seems more credible that the truth is something that makes the royal family look bad and they are covering it up. We may never know what is really going on. But if I had to bet the contents of my bank account on what is really happening, I would NOT bet that the royal family is telling the truth and protecting her privacy.
I have 38 inches of incision scars on my own torso from two surgeries in the last 5 months and was surprised how quickly the human body returns to basic functioning after it is opened up, lots of tissue is removed and rearranged, and is sewn back up. I also remember how long I felt easily fatigued and for how long I needed extra sleep and extra rest after the surgeries. My recent experience with major surgery tells me that if the royal family's story were the whole truth, Kate would be *able* to make a brief appearance that is not carried out in a taxing manner, but someone is *choosing* for that not to happen. I don't feel that she owes it to us to make an appearance. If she chooses not to appear, I respect her choice. But is she the one making that choice? Historically, she does what the family wants, even to her own detriment. Is she done with that and is enforcing some boundaries? That would be a lovely - and very new - development. I am skeptical that that is what it is. It is more likely that something else is going on and they can't trot her out right now to try to shape public opinion. People are asking, why? What is going on? Why fabricate a story? What is the truth that is being covered up? Is Kate okay or is she being treated badly, as historically the women who marry into that family have been?
The royal family itself is guilty of commodifying the bodies and lives of the women who marry into it to rehabilitate the royal family's image and the monarchy itself. I don't doubt for one second that if they could use Kate in that way right now, they would. That begs the question, what is really going on?
Look they threw a mixed race pregnant woman under the bus WITH GLEE AND HOPE IN THIER HEARTS. This is fucking delicious. We love to see it for Colonial Barbie and the White Supremacy knock off Kens. I don’t even care what she sick of or if she’s sick or if he’s trying to divorce her for the Marchiness of Chumba Wumba. It’s all fucking fantastic. Couldn’t happen to better people. 15/10, no notes. Keep this shit coming straight to my veins. Truly a smorgasbord of gossip on every level and I intend to eat like a Roman right next to a vomitorium. Honestly this is the best thing they’ve done in like three centuries. Delightful.
Love this and how it builds on the Ellie Hall Nieman Lab piece's detailing of how the royal PR machine usually operates:
"A similar level of hubris is on display this week at Kensington. The Princess is almost certainly just….resting. She probably doesn’t feel like smizing, or having her hair done, or walking in heels. She doesn’t want to be a symbol for awhile. That’s deeply relatable content. But a PR apparatus that only knows how speak in unequivocal and broad statements doesn’t know how to leverage that reality — and has no idea how to counter a narrative that operates outside their sphere of influence."
Side note: I had a hilarious exchange with my husband when he brought me the marchioness of Cholmondeley rumors, knowing how to pronounce neither marchioness nor Cholmondeley, and my years as a romance novel reader really came to play. As he struggled to wrap his head around it, I said "It's like Worcester," and he sputtered "No it's NOT."
I think what’s not being considered here is that a lot of people are genuinely concerned for her, myself included. It’s not parasocial- I don’t like her or what she stands for. But she is a woman with a husband whose “temper” has been well documented (see Spare) suddenly disappearing from public life and all her routines. It’s worth noting that her children have also not been seen since Christmas.
The subsequent baffling PR moves, had they succeeded, only served to protect her husband who would any day now become king and therefore immune to criminal or civil prosecution.
It would be so easy to dispel rumors and concern that the refusal or inability to do so is inherently meaningful. (IMO)
I personally believe this went from a desire for access to a celebrity to something far more serious in the last few weeks.
The operating room is a place of endless and rampant gossip, and the coupling of a “planned abdominal surgery” (that clearly wasn’t planned because she had to cancel engagements) with a “10-14 day inpatient recovery” really sent everyone I work with into a fever pitch of speculation. In the US, there are basically zero planned procedures with that length of inpatient recovery. Bowel resection is the closest thing and is still usually less than a week. So those seemingly small/innocuous details are what ended up driving the gossip and speculation (in my small world).
The longer this goes on, the more I think Kate is undergoing treatment for an eating disorder, like bulimia, not surgery. Given the history that Diana had with bulimia and the pressure to look just so. And she is probably is in perimenopause now as well. That there was no "visiting" by her husband to the hospital is just odd.
The monarchy gives me the ick, and this (excellent) essay hits on a lot of the reasons why. It is a crusty, gilded relic of a bygone era, and it seems to me that it endures solely because of a Herculean effort by those it benefits it to manipulate the masses into feeling some kind of affinity for the royal family. The cracks have been showing for a while, but things seem to be really crumbling since the Queen passed. I hope Kate Middleton is okay, and I hope that by the time her kids are grown, there's no obligation/opportunity for any of them to step into the bizarre role of "The Crown."
This sleep deprived new mom was absolutely confused about this line: “when the Princess appeared in a dress with a blow-out after giving birth to her first son…” until I realized you meant her HAIR. 😅
Fantastic essay, AHP. You’re my lifeline to the real world while I am in the newborn haze.
It's wild how this photo does seem to be a massive turning point in the perception of Will and Kate; thank you for the fascinating deconstruction. I find it interesting, as has been pointed out elsewhere, that she never says that she edited the photo in the apology post. It says she sometimes toys with editing, and she's sorry about public confusion. Two separate sentences not necessarily linked. Which only adds to the weirdness and what-are-they-hiding vibe.
I really have to grit my teeth whenever there is a wave of interest in the royals, especially now, when our own democracy is hanging on by a thread. But I knew you would have an incisive take with broader cultural commentary. Thank you for delivering!
Having had abdominal surgery for endometriosis, I have enormous sympathy for Kate. I was out of work for five weeks and was exhausted for months after. My surgery was in May and I did not really feel myself until January. I can understand that Kate did not want her personal details shared with the world. However, the Palace PR teams should have had a game plan based on what they did previously for ill royals.
1) A few words from William in a walk about that “Kate is getting better every day.” (The late Queen did this for Philip.)
2) Hand made greeting cards from the Wales kiddies and/or a sample of greeting cards from across the country (like the ones sent to the King).
3) Proof of life in a car ride much sooner. I am convinced Carole Middleton plopped Kate in the car and said, “You’re going out” and tipped off a friendly pap.
4) A photo of flowers or baked goods sent by some beloved figure, like Mary Berry. (Kate was on her Christmas special and Louis’ first words were “Mary Berry” or some such.)
5) A phone call to a friendly Mommy podcast, like Happy Mum, Happy Baby where Kate has appeared, just to thank people for good wishes.
This is not rocket science. None of it would have invaded her privacy, but it would have fed the beast.
This is a great analysis! What really keeps me hooked, I think, is the contrast as you suggest between how Kate is afforded privacy by the institution while Meghan endured leak after leak and was told she couldn't seek mental health treatment because it might get out she did so. Among other things you point out, this whole debacle has shown that the palace is at least willing to *try* to keep secrets for Kate in a way they never did for Meghan.
Hilary Mantel's "Royal Bodies" essay has been top of my mind with all this:
"When it was announced that Diana was to join the royal family, the Duke of Edinburgh is said to have given her his approval because she would ‘breed in some height’. Presumably Kate was designed to breed in some manners. She looks like a nicely brought up young lady, with ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ part of her vocabulary. But in her first official portrait by Paul Emsley, unveiled in January, her eyes are dead and she wears the strained smile of a woman who really wants to tell the painter to bugger off. One critic said perceptively that she appeared ‘weary of being looked at’."
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies
You are a brave soul as this topic is sometimes more divisive than politics! My take is William will be a very different monarch than Elizabeth and Charles is a bridge between eras. This transition was always going to be bumpy and I think we’re just witnessing the Firm figure out how to navigate the transition from the Old Ways to the New.
I find Meghan Markle fascinating because she had so much media/PR experience going into the marriage based on her acting career and her own successful lifestyle blog. She knew how to play the game according to the new rules and I think was flabbergasted at how outdated the Royal Method was. It seems Kensington Palace is playing catchup now and could have really benefitted from Meghan’s expertise. That said, in laws, amirite? As an American who really enjoyed the pomp and pageantry of the monarchy from afar but would never want that tax drain here, I am very interested to see where we end up in 25 years. So much will change. Twenty five years ago if you had said “Queen Camilla” you would have been laughed out of town. So it’s not such a stretch to think we could very well see the end of the British monarchy as we know it in the next couple of decades.
As Harry and Meghan pointed out "never complain, never explain" only worked for SOME people. I'm not as interested in Kate's health issues, but do find the contrast between her and Charles striking (and found Camilla's multiple hospital visits vs William's one and her parents/sister none to be... purposeful.)
It's the total blackout of British Press about Kate to be the actual story. The British Press is all about grasping at any little thing to write a Royal story about. So where were the stories about George "stepping up" or Charlotte learning to bake Kate's favorite cookies? The man on the street interviews with well wishes? Why no photo of Kate reading her get well cards, as Charles did? Absolutely no paps at any of their homes until TMZ (I had read it was Backgrid, which is often accused of being paps for hire). It's clear the British Press was told to stay away, and they did, luxury that Meghan was told was not available to her.
And now the Royal Rota (just read Tweets from Dickie Arbiter and Rebecca English) saying "enough is enough", but they criticized Meghan for YEARS. My favorite is the comparison between columns from Celia Warden (Piers Morgan's wife, they have a dual obsession with Meghan) saying Meghan can't ask for privacy, with her current plea for Kate's privacy.
I won't even get into the bad photoshop and the conspiracy theories there, because it makes me sound even more like a crazy person. But this will b e studied by crisis PR people for years as an example of what not to do.
This reads like we have a choice: either (a) we believe the royal family is telling the truth or (b) we are commodifying Kate's body and life as if it is something owed to us.
What I see out there in those who are expressing skepticism about the royal family's story is concern for Kate, worry that she is not okay and the royal family is fabricating a story in order to preserve their image. There are *always* some dreadful people who act as if the royal family owes the public access to the members' personal lives, but I don't see that driving the narrative that the royal family's story is suspicious and how they are handling this situation is adding credibility to the notion that their story is a fabrication.
I wish the royal family had a history of telling the truth, preserving members' privacy, and treating members with respect and decency - especially the women to marry into the family. But they don't. Quite the opposite. It seems more credible that the truth is something that makes the royal family look bad and they are covering it up. We may never know what is really going on. But if I had to bet the contents of my bank account on what is really happening, I would NOT bet that the royal family is telling the truth and protecting her privacy.
I have 38 inches of incision scars on my own torso from two surgeries in the last 5 months and was surprised how quickly the human body returns to basic functioning after it is opened up, lots of tissue is removed and rearranged, and is sewn back up. I also remember how long I felt easily fatigued and for how long I needed extra sleep and extra rest after the surgeries. My recent experience with major surgery tells me that if the royal family's story were the whole truth, Kate would be *able* to make a brief appearance that is not carried out in a taxing manner, but someone is *choosing* for that not to happen. I don't feel that she owes it to us to make an appearance. If she chooses not to appear, I respect her choice. But is she the one making that choice? Historically, she does what the family wants, even to her own detriment. Is she done with that and is enforcing some boundaries? That would be a lovely - and very new - development. I am skeptical that that is what it is. It is more likely that something else is going on and they can't trot her out right now to try to shape public opinion. People are asking, why? What is going on? Why fabricate a story? What is the truth that is being covered up? Is Kate okay or is she being treated badly, as historically the women who marry into that family have been?
The royal family itself is guilty of commodifying the bodies and lives of the women who marry into it to rehabilitate the royal family's image and the monarchy itself. I don't doubt for one second that if they could use Kate in that way right now, they would. That begs the question, what is really going on?
Look they threw a mixed race pregnant woman under the bus WITH GLEE AND HOPE IN THIER HEARTS. This is fucking delicious. We love to see it for Colonial Barbie and the White Supremacy knock off Kens. I don’t even care what she sick of or if she’s sick or if he’s trying to divorce her for the Marchiness of Chumba Wumba. It’s all fucking fantastic. Couldn’t happen to better people. 15/10, no notes. Keep this shit coming straight to my veins. Truly a smorgasbord of gossip on every level and I intend to eat like a Roman right next to a vomitorium. Honestly this is the best thing they’ve done in like three centuries. Delightful.
Love this and how it builds on the Ellie Hall Nieman Lab piece's detailing of how the royal PR machine usually operates:
"A similar level of hubris is on display this week at Kensington. The Princess is almost certainly just….resting. She probably doesn’t feel like smizing, or having her hair done, or walking in heels. She doesn’t want to be a symbol for awhile. That’s deeply relatable content. But a PR apparatus that only knows how speak in unequivocal and broad statements doesn’t know how to leverage that reality — and has no idea how to counter a narrative that operates outside their sphere of influence."
Side note: I had a hilarious exchange with my husband when he brought me the marchioness of Cholmondeley rumors, knowing how to pronounce neither marchioness nor Cholmondeley, and my years as a romance novel reader really came to play. As he struggled to wrap his head around it, I said "It's like Worcester," and he sputtered "No it's NOT."
I think what’s not being considered here is that a lot of people are genuinely concerned for her, myself included. It’s not parasocial- I don’t like her or what she stands for. But she is a woman with a husband whose “temper” has been well documented (see Spare) suddenly disappearing from public life and all her routines. It’s worth noting that her children have also not been seen since Christmas.
The subsequent baffling PR moves, had they succeeded, only served to protect her husband who would any day now become king and therefore immune to criminal or civil prosecution.
It would be so easy to dispel rumors and concern that the refusal or inability to do so is inherently meaningful. (IMO)
I personally believe this went from a desire for access to a celebrity to something far more serious in the last few weeks.
The operating room is a place of endless and rampant gossip, and the coupling of a “planned abdominal surgery” (that clearly wasn’t planned because she had to cancel engagements) with a “10-14 day inpatient recovery” really sent everyone I work with into a fever pitch of speculation. In the US, there are basically zero planned procedures with that length of inpatient recovery. Bowel resection is the closest thing and is still usually less than a week. So those seemingly small/innocuous details are what ended up driving the gossip and speculation (in my small world).
The longer this goes on, the more I think Kate is undergoing treatment for an eating disorder, like bulimia, not surgery. Given the history that Diana had with bulimia and the pressure to look just so. And she is probably is in perimenopause now as well. That there was no "visiting" by her husband to the hospital is just odd.
The monarchy gives me the ick, and this (excellent) essay hits on a lot of the reasons why. It is a crusty, gilded relic of a bygone era, and it seems to me that it endures solely because of a Herculean effort by those it benefits it to manipulate the masses into feeling some kind of affinity for the royal family. The cracks have been showing for a while, but things seem to be really crumbling since the Queen passed. I hope Kate Middleton is okay, and I hope that by the time her kids are grown, there's no obligation/opportunity for any of them to step into the bizarre role of "The Crown."
The Kate-gate flap makes me believe even stronger that the time is right for all of us to cool it on the whole para-relationship thing.
It’s getting way out of hand.
This sleep deprived new mom was absolutely confused about this line: “when the Princess appeared in a dress with a blow-out after giving birth to her first son…” until I realized you meant her HAIR. 😅
Fantastic essay, AHP. You’re my lifeline to the real world while I am in the newborn haze.
It's wild how this photo does seem to be a massive turning point in the perception of Will and Kate; thank you for the fascinating deconstruction. I find it interesting, as has been pointed out elsewhere, that she never says that she edited the photo in the apology post. It says she sometimes toys with editing, and she's sorry about public confusion. Two separate sentences not necessarily linked. Which only adds to the weirdness and what-are-they-hiding vibe.
I really have to grit my teeth whenever there is a wave of interest in the royals, especially now, when our own democracy is hanging on by a thread. But I knew you would have an incisive take with broader cultural commentary. Thank you for delivering!