I have some ideas for what we should call the Duchess of Cambridge’s whirlwind promotional tour for her five-question Early Years survey. We should call it The Keen Survey Tour! Or maybe the Eight Years/Five Questions tour. Because yes, she still wants us to believe that she’s been toiling away for eight years on this extensive body of work, which amounted to… a very simple and nonsensical five-question survey. Anyway, Kate’s last appearance on the Keen Survey Tour was at a women’s prison in Surrey. Kate previously visited the same women’s prison in 2015 as part of a sister-program with her patronage Action on Addiction. I said at the time that it was great to see Kate do an event that wasn’t so “soft” and apolitical. Kate spent time, in 2015, talking to the inmates about addiction and their families. She did the same thing during this visit too:
Kate Middleton‘s new mission centers around children under the age of 5 — and the last stop on her 24-hour tour of the U.K. showed the impact early years can have on a person’s life. The royal mom headed to the women’s prison HMP Send in Surrey, England, on Wednesday to reconnect with former and current inmates she previously met during a 2015 visit. She learned how some of the women are rebuilding their lives and families after being successfully rehabilitated and released.
Palace insiders say that Kate’s mission to help women and children in the early years had been partly inspired by a previous visit to Send in 2015. It and other experiences have contributed to her view that adults with problems can normally trace them back to childhood and often pass them on to their own children. Kate heard about the work done by the Forward Trust to support clients in improving their relationships with friends and families, including reuniting with children. She also spoke to women currently at the prison.
“It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you faced,” Kate told a group of former inmates, including three women she met in 2015 when they were serving sentences. “How early you could take it back.”
In the prison visits hall, sitting around a coffee table with mugs of tea and a cake, she talked to five ex-offenders about their childhood traumas — problems with alcoholic or absent parents, family breakdown, domestic abuse — and how they believed it had triggered their offending. She also had conversations with four women currently serving sentences at the prison who told her stories about parents separating, drink and drug addiction.
One current prisoner, Francesca, told Kate that she got on drugs and started offending after her parents split up. At Send, with the Forward Trust program, she has started to resolve many of her issues going back to childhood. “What they have done here has literally changed my life. It’s a miracle,” Francesca said. She added: “Coming to jail is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
The royal mom said, “It’s so often I hear that. Why does it have to get to that point before people receive the help and support?”
She told the women: “I’m hugely passionate about trying to really help get into this crisis trying to help provide that prevention mechanism and that support system in our communities. Particularly that support in the early years of life.”
It was so nearly something, you know? All of that time and money and unlimited resources and unlimited access to the best scholars and advocates and research in the world. Think about what Kate could have done. Think about how powerful it would have been to actually put everything together in a comprehensive way, to talk about addiction and modern parenting and early childhood development and where resources could and should be deployed. Instead, we got a five-question survey and Kate saying vague words about how she’s keen to try to do something, maybe.
I also continue to take issue with the undercurrent of Kate’s nebulous thesis, which seems to be that kids who grow up in a crappy, poor family will turn out to be crappy people with tons of problems and kids who grow up in stable, happy, wealthy families will turn out fine. There is more nuance to the conversation and she hasn’t really found it? Maybe that’s what the survey is for, I guess.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
I still cant believe they launched that ‘survey’
your last two paragraphs say it all. This could have been “something.” And instead….we have a survey.
She’s looking dangerously thin.
She really does. I wonder if anyone in her life is trying to help her?
Agreed. We spend so much time running her down on here and actually a lot of things point to this lady possibly having a lot of struggles of her own. That includes her lack of work. I’m not trying to make excuses for her but what if this isn’t just laziness?
When I was really thin (from dieting/eating disorder) I had very low energy and difficulty concentrating. I genuinely worry for her.
MachineElf – exactly! The royals saw what happened with Diana, yet there is nothing to indicate that they’re doing anything. Kate’s weight plummetted around the engagement and outside of pregnancy, she’s a shadow of her former healthy self. Anyone can see it, but I guess we’ll never know what goes on behind the scenes. She could be in treatment but not responding…
Agree with Nahema. How do we know she’s not depressed or suffering under William’s thumb? Maybe she really does want to launch this initiative but something else is causing these fits and starts.
A lot of times weight loss like this is a response to anxiety. Weight is one of the few things she can control, and it’s an act of autonomy, as an anxiety response. I imagine so much of her life is dictated to her, and this is her way of regaining some sense of control over her life.
She’ll get the same help Diana got: nothing. They will ignore it until it goes away, or she dies. You know, either way. I don’t think they care one way or the other. Anyone who remembers Diana knows that family doesn’t care about the health of the women who marry into it. Only appearances.
We can criticize her for many things, but bodyshaming is not it.
You’re right Lady Lou that’s not right to do to ladies but I didn’t take this comment or the others to be critical. Just worried.
No one’s body shaming her. There is general concern that she is very, very thin and doesn’t look healthy. She was never that thin in past years, so perhaps there’s an eating disorder or something else.
I was going to say, she looks very tall. I forget because Williams is also tall, that she is a very tall woman. She looks her best when playing up how tall she is. She has great long legs.
why even criticize her at all?
She’s a government employee who has failed at her job for nine years. In any other job, she would have been fired by now.
She appears to have a problem that is not being addressed. Where’s the “shaming”?
Are we also concerned for Lizzo, Roxane Gay, and Chrissy Metz or just Kate?
Would it be okay to say she looks dangerously large? I’m no fan of Kate and I think she’s too thin. But as someone who people felt they could make comments about my body and my size BECAUSE I was thin, I have to protest the double standard.
Kerwood – Kate has not always been this thin. If she had been like this since day one, there would be nothing to notice and comment on. People are not ridiculing her because of her size (I doubt she’s being shamed or ridiculed here, period). It’s simply been pointed out that she changed drastically, particularly from her pre-engagement days.
@LadyLou, this is not body shaming. Some of the posters here appear to be genuinely concerned. Clearly, Kate knows that she is underweight. The style of clothing she has worn over the last year has morphed into, largely, a granny look with long sleeves to cover her thinness.
I am more concerned about the young British girls being told what a gem Kate is and, indirectly, how she is someone to look up to. Anyone that may have an eating disorder should not be a role model and the issue needs to be addressed, not just for Kate’s well-being but for young girls that think they need to emulate her.
She is. She did not look like this even a year ago.
Pleated skirts make a lot of people look heavy, but she still looks so frail, even with the heavily padded bra.
I agree, I saw that last photo and she is much too small for her height. I am legitimately concerned for her. She doesn’t look well.
She’s not as thin as she appears. She has very narrow hips—almost non-existent which make her look thinner than she is. A skirt with side pockets would be more flattering.
I really like Kate’s skirt. I’m addicted to animal print. Any chance it’s an affordable brand?
I read somewhere it should be a Zara skirt.
But I could be wrong.
@Emily2 it’s a very common print. You can definitely find these types of skirts just about anywhere 😀
This is all getting too weird.
And has she ever dressed like that? All very odd.
honestly im not sure myself. This is definitely something Meghan would wear. Down to the coat. Has Kate ever won something similar to this in the winter as well? I don’t really pay attention to her attire because they are often very dowdy. I wont be surprised if this IS the intention considering how she only noticeably started wearing a lot of trousers ever since Meg stepped into the scene. People want to excuse that it might not be the case but this is the same woman who finally re-wore her clothing the moment Meghan got so much heat for her clothes. This is the same woman/camp who was/were not happy about Meghan’s cookbook, and them that dumb and obvious plane PR.
As soon as I saw this I knew it was a Megan outfit.
Turtleneck, circle necklace, pleated skirt. Yep. All straight out of Meghan’s closet.
I will say she wore a very similar outfit last year for the KP Christmas party – black cardigan, long plaid skirt, those same boots – but the color scheme of this coupled with the necklace and the coat is very very Meghan.
Kate doesn’t dress in a professional or fashionable manner, much less as a working career woman. But since Meghan came on scene, Kate has appeared closer to modern or professional only when she is mimicking a Meghan outfit. As she is doing with this look. She’s exchanged her Diana cosplay for Meghan cosplay.
@ Guest Kate doesn’t wear these types of outfits. She’s the queen of buttony, frumpy coatdresses. The few times she’s worn anything remotely modern and stylish, she’s looked like a copy/paste of Meghan.
I still think that survey was rushed out by the KP PR team without consulting any of the experts beforehand. The result r not going to be useful in any esp if ANYONE anywhere can fill it in.
The survey is for marketing, not data collection. The purpose is to engage the audience by asking questions they can answer and affirm what they already believe. The survey has obviously done its job because a lot of people are talking about it.
I mean, KP themselves stated the survey is meant to guide Kate’s future work on this isdue, so they are the ones presenting it as a data/ info finding mission.
You may be right. Another poster yesterday mentioned studies on how people can develop unconscious positive feelings toward someone perceived as asking a favor of them. This could just be a marketing ploy to further embiggen Kate. She is Diana 2.0 after all…she cares about the people and wants to be queen of their hearts.
That’s how marketing works. The survey makes people feel they have buy in so they stay engaged for phase two. I’m sure the next steps are already planned.
Marketing to who? Because random Instagram users from all over the world are completing it and numerous times over. The top IG users globally are from The US, India and Brazil so how is this going to guide her as to how to proceed. The data is useless.
This is not a scientific survey, nor is it intended to be one. It is to start a conversation in the U.K., which it has.
Started a mocking conversation about a poorly-designed ‘survey’ done by an expensive PR firm.
The PR is deceptive then because they are certainly suggesting this is a landmark project to actually help kids instead of a marketing tool to embiggen Kate and make it look like she’s doing something.
@Mac. They could just do that then? State the questions and ask for engagement? Not call it a survey and lie about it determining her next steps? Even her defenders are saying KP already has a lot more they’re going to do.
It’s such a confusing way to go about it . I think if the best thing you can say about it is that it’s a way to potentially manipulate people into being invested, then it’s a mess.
If she had released this survey a year ago and with better questions, then maybe the engaging with the public theory would make sense.
@Hope – no one is lying about anything. This is how marketing works. Have you never filled out a survey online? Nothing about those surveys, including customer service surveys, are scientific. They are designed to engage and measure interest.
@Mac. KP is saying it will help determine her next steps. How? She already has her gameplan or should if the people setting this up have their act together.
And was it KP that called it a landmark survey? Again, how?
It’s a cheap marketing ploy and I think they deliberately didn’t restrict who could take it and how many times so they could brag about engagement numbers.
It is a mess of useless data, DU. I agree it was rushed out because they needed to do something. Quinn wouldn’t have put out something this disorganized and unfocused. All people are doing is laughing about it, which isn’t the kind of press they wanted.
Yeah — I agree with DigitalUnicorn about the survey probably being made up and rushed out since the Sussexes upped sticks and bailed so quickly. I think the KP press release had a typo in it. Surely they meant to say the 5 question survey was the result of 8 DAYS of work by Kate instead of 8 YEARS ! Now that timeline would make sense for that hot mess. 😎
At the end of the day it just doesn’t matter because nobody is really interested in Kate, not even the Daily Mail. Bashing Meghan is far more lucrative for them than having to praise Kate.
**sighs** I hate it.
But also, and I know I’m going to get shredded for saying this… we dont know that this *isnt* something, this is the first phase of her roll out, we dont know what else is planned and maybe she doesnt know and submitted the survey so she could feel out where she was most wanted/needed. I think the biggest problem with her projects is lack of attention, she kind of jumps from part to part like she doesnt know what she wants to focus on. Maybe the survery will help her do that.
But also keep in mind I dont believe shes been studying this for 3 years or whatever everyone is saying, I think shes known where she wants to focus and she isnt an ideas person, like she needs help in that area and she kind of flitted from subject to subject until she kind of landed on this.
That having been said? Kate – get it together. You’ve been in this position too long to flop at this, you have all the resources you need now go get to work.
the issue though is that we’ve been hearing for 16 months about this project as Kate’s big initiative. If she wanted to find out where she was most needed, or where she should focus her efforts, she should have done the survey two years ago. This seems like the first step in the project, not the first step in the rollout of said project.
But, I agree with you that I don’t think she knows what to focus on and is kind of flitting from idea to idea. She should pick one narrow area and start with that. In my opinion, that’s one of the reasons Meghan’s projects are successful. She doesn’t pretend she’s trying to save the world. She wanted to help one group of women who had suffered a horrible tragedy, so she put together the cookbook. She wanted to help her charity Smart Works, so she put together the Smart Set. She picked groups/organizations that have a concrete goal (even the Hubb kitchen – the goal of “feeding their families” was pretty concrete) and picked a concrete project to help with that goal.
I think Kate, to the extent she is actively working on this at all, is going at it too big picture, and is unable to focus her attention/energies. She should have started with a much narrower focus.
Totally agree about the concrete actions and goals. She hyped that damn garden so much – why didn’t she turn that into an initiative of installing children’s play gardens in low income areas or something like that?? She seems to have kernels of good ideas and then no idea what to do with them in a tangible way.
The thing is, even if that’s the case, the survey as it’s worded won’t help guide her. The questions are so vague that it will be very difficult to draw anything meaningful from the results.
If she needs a steer, which I agree she does, she’d be better off speaking to people who work in the field or people who have done more focused studies and asking their advice. If she asked children’s charities what would make a big difference that they don’t have the connections or visibility for, that’s where she could have a real impact through her position.
I don’t see how the survey is going to help her find a direction at all.
Belli, But isn’t that what she’s supposedly been doing for years? Meeting with experts in the field of early childhood education and development? I’m sure they’ve provided her with data and with ideas about what’s most needed. So I don’t get how she can fail so hard on this. What was she doing in those meetings? What was the “big girl party” about that she threw for these people who were working with her on the project? How can she come away from multiple meetings (at least some of which we know she attended and stayed all the way through because she got a stupid article patting her on the back for it) and still have no concrete ideas? Even if she wanted to do a survey, she could’ve picked much better questions. These are the type of questions that someone who has zero knowledge about early childhood development would ask. And yet she’s supposedly been “studying” the issue for years.
The ‘Broken Britain/Early Years’ theme was created by Catherine Quinn because she needed something for Kate. Rushed, three days before the completed Together Cookbook landed, because Kate had done nothing in the seven years prior.
This isn’t driven by Kate’s interest in the world, because she has no interest beyond her tiny circle. Quinn tried to make a massive umbrella project, she gave up on Kate and the KP staff, and left because she wanted to accomplish something in the charity world.
I agree NotSugarHere. — Also, she had to finally put something out as everyone was beginning to call her on all the advance press releases, but never completing any rollout. This is one hot mess she has inflicted in her “never-put-a-foot-wrong” image. There will probably be something released from KP as to how poor Kate felt rushed to get something positive out there before it was ready because Meghan had done so much damage to the Firm. Somehow, any criticism or blowback on this will be spun as Meghan’s fault.
It feels like the remaining staff at KP are scrambling. Quinn left with almost no notice and without putting a plan in place. They fired the head of the assistants when she returned from her honeymoon. Setting her up to take the fall as one of the KP leaks? They’re left with a bunch of staff who do not understand their jobs, have no one in charge of them, and the person ‘at the top’ has no interest in the topic or in working. They had to do something, so they hired a PR firm to do their jobs.
@notasugarhere. What is the name of the pr firm?
Sunshine Sachs was such an engineered controversy and now the Cambridges might have their own pr firm needed to rescue Kate’s initiative?
IPSOS
At least she’s trying something different
I’m a millennial and isn’t this peak millennial criticism? We were the generation raised to expect a prize for trying.
The thing is she has everything she needs but won’t act on it. She’s dithering about for some reason. She oversells herself and then hides from producing a result. And no one even expects an initiative from her. She could just do bread and butter engagements and some fundraising for children’s charities which would let her have parties with celebrities and other toffs.
I believe the reason she hasn’t realized the nuances of the research (that being poor doesn’t automatically equal trauma, for instance) is because she isn’t that interested in the nuances. Maybe she isn’t nuanced as a person; I don’t know. It’s a lot easier when life is black and white and you can operate from that space. Once you start seeing the nuances and start to understand the complicating factors, it is harder to put your head around it all. People who see the grey are reading and studying and synthesizing; they don’t get their information solely from a one-page briefing sheet before they walk into a carefully orchestrated meet-and-greet. I don’t know if Kate is as lazy about her thought-work as she is about her appearances and patronages, but I imagine there is probably a consistency there that isn’t that surprising.
@Noodles you know what’s sad? I actually think that this is Kate caring/working. Like she actually think she is doing a lot of work. It is not farfetched to think so. This is the same girl who really did not do much in uni and after it; not to mention that she is upper class. Just because she is not part of the set does not mean she understands what it’s like being a commoner. She’s still someone whose lived her entire life in privilege.
Very well said, Jess.
@Jess, I think you’re right; she absolutely believes she’s doing a lot of work. And her privilege DOES play into that perception, in that she is applauded and adored for showing up and looking pretty. When most of us non-royals work, it isn’t about just physically showing up; we have to think and act and contribute meaningfully to whatever work we do. Her work is bringing attention to important causes, which she achieves by just showing up. I guess my (and others, through reading the comments) disappointment is that there is a lot of missed opportunity here. She could be doing much more to engage and sustain the conversations around child development and incarceration, but she doesn’t, because it’s enough to simply show, shake hands, show teeth like a hyena, and go home to the palace.
@Jess this has always been my thought about Kate. She thinks she IS doing something. I think the only time it actually registered to her that she maybe wasn’t doing enough is when Meghan came on the scene. And that’s obvious by how suddenly her “workload” ramped up. But it was still miniscule. Even before she married William she wasn’t really working. QE famously told William to tell her to get a job. Her mother treated her like a Princess- because she was grooming her to be one – and then she married a Prince and doesn’t have any desire to do more than she does. She truly thinks she is “working hard”. And the British press is basically confirming that for her by falling all over themselves when she shows up and smiles and shakes hands for 20-30 minutes.
I’m sure part of her blaming all of the world’s ills on children who grew up in poverty with mentally ill or addicted parents is to make herself feel better about her own kids. But the whole idea behind her project, and the fact that it is/was called Broken Britain, is so patronizing. What is the plan here? She seems to has figured out and is pushing the idea that childhood trauma affects people later in life, and she’s visiting prisons to be like, “See! It’s true! These poor women all grew up in crappy homes!” but what’s her plan to fix it? She’s set this up so that she basically has to eradicate poverty, mental illness, and all addiction in order for her project to be successful. Because right now, the project is so broad and so vague that it doesn’t have an objective besides “fix broken Britain”/make sure no kid under age 5 suffers any trauma. That’s a HUGE undertaking and she’s not doing anything right now to work towards it. She’s still just on the “raising awareness” step where she acts like she’s discovered a completely new and innovative idea (one’s childhood shapes their adulthood) and needs to let everyone know how clever she is for “discovering” this cause/effect thing that has actually been understood for decades. She has no solutions, she just wants the credit for “caring” about this issue. Not working on it, not fixing it, just acknowledging that it’s a thing.
If she were to just do the type of things that Meghan did: working with one patronage or charity that had a problem that can be solved by doing a project, she could be (and look) very successful. If her goal was to raise X amount of money for this charity, or to renovate a school to make it handicapped accessible, or to provide a place where young parents who are struggling can walk in and get referrals to different treatments, then she could actually execute those goals and have something to show for them. But she never works like that and I don’t know why. She’s not very clever and flounders a lot and is vague and wishy washy and doesn’t think strategically, but isn’t that the reason why she has so many advisors? Why doesn’t she listen to them?
Hi AmyToo. Very astute comment above. I agree
Imagine the furore if Meghan called a project “Broken Britain”. Jesus. The hatred that would set of would be a tsunami.
Well said. Although have to disagree that she’s upper class by British standards. It’s relevant because part of Kate’s insecurities and social ambition arose from her being very middle-class (upper-middle-class at a push). In a way I have less respect for her and her siblings because they knew they were privileged due to their parent’s new money and self-made work ethic. Yet their parents did nothing it seems to make them think that they had to make their own life in the world and even do something more interesting than own a party pieces company. And it seems Kate and her siblings were not interested either. I was at University with Kate and I’m afraid that some people called her butcher shop Kate behind her back because of the airs and graces she put on despite coming from a very average, albeit wealthy background. IF she had acted more down-to-earth and shown interest in talking to others beyond an exclusive circle, then she probably would not have earned that name. Personally I do feel that she has moulded into the role of the ‘humble duchess’ but it’s funny that she is given the glory of being so saintly and ‘just like you and me’ when at University and post-Uni, a time to meet different people from all walks of life, she just wasn’t interested.
Is she naturally this thin? That’s all I’ve got. She can visit the moon, and she’d still find a way to make it dull af.
No she is not. She lost a ton of weight when she and William got engaged but she has been looking even thinner recently- especially these photos. I dont generally like commenting on women’s weight but her thinness is genuinely alarming. She doesn’t look well.
The day after Harry left Britain, there was a RR headline stating that William was worried about how thin Kate was BECAUSE of all the stress and drama surrounding Harry and Meghan. The lead photo was a picture of Kate in an evening gown taken from behind her clearly showing her very thin back and spinal column (possibly photoshopped, who knows) with an insert of William looking at her back. So, we are not the only ones who think she is beginning to look unhealthy. The RR have noticed it to as one of them threw it out there in that article. I remember Diana going on about how no one noticed or commented about how very very thin she got at the height of her illness. I am not saying this to body shame Kate. I have always thought she was an attractive woman, especially in the early engagement days. But I do think in the last year or so she appears almost unhealthy in her thinness.
I agree With Kaiser. There’s an unspoken under current in what she’s promoting. There are so many variables in how someone turns out in life. There are shades of gray and nothing is clear cut black and white. I’ve known people from good loving stable homes, with every advantage and they’ve turned out to be the crappiest people….many got hooked on drugs and spiraled out of control. And some people came from the worst home environments and went on to get good educations and live normal stable lives. It’s not all or nothing like this survey seems to make it seem.
It also ignores the glaringly obvious fact that she married into one of the most privileged and messed up families. There isn’t a better example of riches not making someone a good parent than the Queen, her kids and her extended family.
Why is she trying to be an academic? Carole should know that Di didn’t go down that route! Kate should have done an art therapy initiative instead since she draws and is interested in photography. Host an annual contest open to all the children in the kingdom to design the logo for ‘Kate’s Keen Koloring Kontest.” The winner’s logo is adopted and gets a cash prize, tuition for extracurricular art school and a visit to Buckingham Palace. It would be more of a concrete initiative, draw children in and be more up Kate’s alley.
And yeah, she’s way too thin.
That sounds like a good idea. Or visiting nurses, which I’ve seen blurbs about how visiting nurses for the first two years improves outcomes incredibly. Or adopting/adapting something like Dolly Parton’s books every month. Or or or. So many options and the time and space in which to do it.
That contest is a really great idea. I think if there’s anything we’ve learned about the RF after the last 2 years (or hell, the last few decades actually) it’s that they get terrible advice. It’s such a waste of resources.
I agree Leigh. — I always think Kate is at her best when it’s about art or sport. Why not put the focus on her strengths.
Yes! She obviously cares so much about tennis, for example – go all in on working with youth tennis programs or something!
She is trying to help people. She has got herself out of London. From small beginnings…
Come absolutely nothing when we’re talking about Kate. This whole BB theme an obvious, last-minute creation from Catherine Quinn. They were facing down the Together cookbook launch, and Kate had nothing to show for seven years of being a royal. Quinn thought up ‘kids, Kate, helping kids’ and we got the blatant leak to the Fail three days before Meghan’s completed project hit.
Quinn tried hard with Kate for two years. She re-scheduled events Kate kept cancelling, making it look like Kate was beginning to show up. But all she had to work with was Kate, who isn’t interested in the royal role and certainly not interested in working. Quinn gave up and left, with the statement that she wanted to accomplish something in the charity world. She couldn’t do that with Kate, because Kate is Kate.
notasugarhere- re: your second paragraph – how do you know about the cancelling and what Quinn put up with? Just curious since the tabs usually print glowing reports about Kate.
Eight years in and she’s only got a survey to show for it. She would have done a lot more good by consistently showing up to her patronages and attending more charities to provide visibility. This cobbled together project is nothing but a shallow vanity project to get credit for doing very little.
After this long she shouldn’t get any credit until real results start happening. The statute of limitations on giving Kate the benefit of the doubt ended years ago.
And if she had showed up at her patronages for 8 years consistently, and if she had actually listened and engaged while there instead of always playing up for the cameras at the expense of connecting, then she might know what her children’s charities need. I keep bringing up Meghan, but she did a great job. She went to her patronages, often secretly a few times, so she could see what they needed and how she could help. She allowed the charities to use her, as it should be. Whereas I think Kate and Will use their charities to make themselves look good and as a way of being able to be photographed in a new coat dress or with her kids when they need some good PR. I can name Meghan’s patronages and know what they do because she has made speeches about them and launched big projects that were highly specific to the charity. I don’t really know any of Kate’s patronages because whenever she visits them, the PR is all about her and what she wore.
She must be positively knackered after all the work she’s done this week. I can feel another holiday coming on. ✈️
They’re going skiing soon, right? When is the school break?
Poor Kate having to give up her slow January because of those nasty Sussexes
So what she’s saying is that her husband is a crappy person. Noted.
Lol all these people mag articles. They are trying to keep attention on them in the us. It’s like making fetch happen.
How does she have camel toe in a skirt?
Because she hasn’t worn a slip since uni.
Does ANYBODY wear one anymore?
When you’re trying to avoid a chiffon pleated skirt from tangling in your legs as you walk? Yes.
Seriously, we will not see Kate for 3 months after all of this hard work
I think Frankly they could have created a foundation in the name of Kate in which, it brings together several charities that deal with the problems of early childhood. It was going to be much easier for her, because she would just have to look for means of funding for her associations like galas, garden party, raffles, polo match … and participate in a few meeting. But Kate or her team ( or maybe William too) rushed into this project to get positive press but also also to rewrite the history of Kate’s work ethic. They ‘re trying to make us believe that she has never been lazy and that the little bit of charity work that she has done in 8 years as members of royal family, was due to the fact that she was preparing a revolutionary big projet on the problems of childhood because they knew that the press will not be positive for a long time, and the old articles on the laziness of the Cambridges will come back to the surface, especially if after Brexit the economic situation becomes more complicated and difficult.
Yes @Line. Kate doesn’t need to do the research or invent a charity. There are groups with the knowledge and research to come at this problem from all angles. What Kate could do that would be meaningful is to bring them together under a collective to raise awareness and money. Doing something that’s already been done is a waste of resources.
Imagine if she worked this much ALL THE TIME…*sigh*. Anyways, I actually like her outfit here. Cute and on trend for once.
How tall is Kate? She looks so thin next to anyone she is walking with. She may be under more stress than we realize.
I think she’s about 5’8. Taller than the average woman but not as tall as pictures might have you believe.
She also has on boot heels that look to be about 5 inches high.
Kate is about 5’7.” Michelle Obama is 5’10” and you can see the height difference in pictures where they are standing next to each other (and the heels on Michelle’s shoes are lower).
Come back Meghan, all is forgiven!
All hail Keen Kate, white saviour of the underprivileged. Lack of privilege is so shocking. Nobody knows where it really comes from. Watch Keen Kate squash poorness, crime, violence and addiction with her superhero powers of survey. While EATING CAKE at a prison visit.
Facepalm. Honestly, Keen Kate and her team have no idea what they’re doing.
Let them eat cake!
Why don’t they recruit someone with actual skill and experience in advocacy, PR, and royal etiquette? Say… someone like Meghan Markle…?! Lol. The BRF hit the jackpot, they had the best possible leader into the new century and rebranding opportunity ever, but they flushed it down the toilet.
The BRF is not going to survive if they keep insisting on being insular.
You know for the length of time that she has been ‘working’ on this, she could have earned a Ph.D. and contributed to the research in the field.
I work in both the early years and mental health sectors and am very interested in what this approach will be, since as others have said it is so nuanced. I also really dislike the name “Broken Britain.” It’s just so negative and discouraging.
It is straight out of the Conservative party and Sun playbook from the 2000s, with the added spin of Brexit, xenophobia, and rising white nationalism thrown in.
LOL. Did you notice his stance in that mandatory PR meeting with Boris? And that the SussexRoyal IG didn’t post pictures of Boris, but did post several photos of Harry meeting with the heads of different African nations who requested one-on-ones with him. Note, they didn’t request one-on-one meetings with William.
If you’re going to keep spinning tumblr and Fail tropes, at least use a unique name.
A UK royal at a UK event with the UK Prime Minister? This has never happened before! Harry must be stopped from showing such love for Bobo. Harry was certainly cosying up as you said. There were lots of hugging and cheek kissing yes? A lot of compliments paid to Bobo, yes? And I think at one point Harry said he was the best PM of UK yes? Surely that’s what you meant by cosying, now we just have to find the damn pictures and press report of said cosying and flattery for a sweet keepsake.
Yes, Broken Britain is a bad choice, because it starts with a negative. Who are these PR and marketing experts advising her. However, if the whole thrust of the campaign is to portray Kate as a healer or a fixer then it enbiggens anything she does for poor old broken down Britain.
And Boris requested the private one on one meeting. I don’t think Harry was in a position to turn down the prime minister as he was at the event representing the Queen. He could no more turn down Boris than he could have any one else who asked for a meeting that day. That said, I would like to know why Boris wanted the meeting and what he said to Harry privately.
I still don’t get it. You don’t have to be an academic to know early years matter? I mean it really sounds like common sense? What’s the action item now?
I understand now why Quinn left.
It is so telling. She was the chief of staff to the future Queen Consort, but she felt she couldn’t accomplish anything worthwhile for charity in that position? That’s what was the stated reason for her leaving, her desire to do solid charity work.
Yeah I was baffled when she said that. She could do a lot of charity work with royals because that’s the essence of how they justify their existence! I’m sure her preferred charity work is not too controversial for the royals…oh well. Maybe she wanted to do a lot of charity work on saving endangered rose bushes or something.
I’m surprised the women who were imprisoned would listen to her. A woman of extreme wealth and privilege trying to discuss their childhoods and upbringings which she’s shocked to hear of. Extremely patronizing, white savior, clueless. Broken monarchy.
Christina, it’s quite possible that the powers that be at the prison were turned down by several women before someone finally agreed.
Guys. I think there is more to come, the survey gets a national discussion started, she can use that plus the information gathered from these visits to the women’s prisons and see where the need lies, where a charity can lift up and support people before they get into the prison cycle. I’m not cynical about Kate. Her pace is slow and deliberate and CAREFUL. Not bad things because she’s in this thing FOR LIFE. That’s no snark against Prince Harry and MM – who I desperately hope come back into Royal life when they are ready and everyone has healed, and LEARNED from this experience🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
+1 Agreed on all points. And absolutely for Kate I think it is s marathon not a sprint. Doing the groundwork for something like this is time consuming and tedious. On a separate note, I am feeling her outfit here.
So what should her next step be – start a fundraising campaign to get the necessary programs in place? networking with the appropriate people? Based on precedent, I’m afraid I’m skeptical.
Supposedly she’s been working on this for years at this point. EIGHT YEARS according to KP’s own post!!
As many of us have said – if this survey were indeed the first step, then okay. Its still a bad survey, but okay. But this is supposed to be the beginning of the launch. It seems like its the launch of the beginning.
I’m just throwing this out there so please please don’t jump down my throat.
Reading through these comments and ones from other articles some common threads seem to be she’s so thin, she looks tired, she cancelled last minute, doesn’t seem to have Focus, looks awkward in social situations, etc.
Having been around people who’ve experienced depression / mental health issues and also having experience them first-hand I have to say maybe she has some issues.
As we have learned from both Harry and Diana the firm is not interested in helping anyone who is suffering with depression / eating disorders or anything else.
I’m not here to defend anything that’s gone on of late but perhaps there is more than laziness going on here.
As she has never had an honest job in her life, are you claiming this has been the issue all along? She’s been this lazy, unfocused, frivolous, and work-adverse for 20 years. She had 10 years worth of chasing the man, she chose to marry him. She’s been in this job nine years, and has failed to do the bare minimum.
@Whatnow. I have been that thin and drawn looking like that. I agree, she is either physically or mentally unwell in some way because she has not always looked like this. For me it was a hereditary disease wreaking havoc. Goodness only knows what the issue is for Kate, but we can see there has been one at least since Christmas. I hope she is getting some help for whatever is ailing her.
Getting back to her work, because clearly it’s now expected that she does work, someone needs to tell her she does not need to reinvent the wheel. Visiting this women’s prison and hearing these stories, if she has even a particle of intelligence, she should take away from her visit that the prison clearly has some sort of successful program in place.
Excellent. Write up a survey asking the women what they think the most helpful elements of the program are. Go back to her think thank with this information and get people with even more intelligence, connections and experience to help her formulate a way to replicate this program to implement in society at large so it can help people BEFORE they become broken to the point that prison seems like an opportunity for betterment.
The goal should be to intervene before people become bound for prison.
I would be kind of shocked, though, if there weren’t already such programs in place all through the UK. So then Kate’s real first step should be to find them and then find out what more they need to reach more people and do more good. This is what Meghan does, after all. Its effective so far. Kate could use her position and her own Instagram to bolster any programs already in place while working with other experts to build additional programs to fill in any cracks. One would hope that her and William’s meeting with Bill and Melinda Gates was about how to effectively fund charitable endeavors. (And not how to downplay embarrassing connections to uber wealthy dodgy pedophiles).
Rather than imitating Meghan’s fashions, emulate her methods. I don’t think anybody would mind or fault her for copying a successful Duchess. And there are other successful royal women she can also network with and emulate.
But she needs to act fast and win over the public Diana style because I know the press is going to come gunning for her next. It’s only a matter of time.
Right now this sad 5 question survey gives them all the ammo they need to bury her. I don’t want to see that happen because if she can do any good at all, I would like to see her succeed. Not for her sake, because frankly I’m kind of disgusted with her. But because people need the help and she’s in the position to do something.
Also incredibly disturbing that she’s cosplaying Megan now that’s basically Megan’s outfit
I really like the 1970s vibe of her outfit. People don’t do 70s looks enough which is a shame because it was a really stylish era and some looks really translates well today without looking like you’re wearing a costume. Anyway, that’s all I can say about her. Nice outfit.
@NOTASUGARHERE I think your tone is a little hostile but whatever.– I mentioned no negativity towards Megan or Harry I’m simply offering a flip side to the coin
I’m not saying I know anything about her or know her personally– I’m saying that if you have depression or mental illness of any sort holding a job and focusing is hard.
As I said in my comment I was just throwing it out there because in all honesty we do not know anything about her Mental Health.
As it has been said on here I believe that the queen does not have to Advocate because the only qualification to be the queen was that she was born into it. Well Kate married into it and if she’s not the end-all and be-all future Queen We want I don’t know what to say to that
But hey! She’s really serious now. She took off her coat & everything. Ready to charge right in there and make a difference! As soon as the poll results are in.
I don’t understand the backlash at this woman. This is bullying. She married to be a wife, mother and future queen ( this was more her mother’s ambition I bet). I don’t think she gave Prince William a CV and a cover letter on her agenda to impact the world, on any topic. She is supposed to manage protocol meetings at high level and that seems stressful enough for me. And in rest do charity events simply by her presence and courtesy speeches to raise funds. She seems modest and really at her place and I don’t see what is wrong with than. UK has a lot of scholars and resources to manage social services, they don’t need Kate, besides these royals there is actually a government there :). The tone of this article is absurd honestly, you should try a reality check and ask yourself what is your problem with this public person? It seems somehow personal.
Your lack of understanding her role does not make the article absurd, it makes you under informed.
Reminder, this is a role she accepted understanding its obligations, and the expectations created by Diana’s pace and scope of work. Comparatively, her lack of effort has been pathetic/gross given the potential power of her position. Stop infantilizing her.
The reality check needed is yours.
Kate pushed herself into this space. No one forced her to do this initiative. No one understands why she set herself this task in the first place when she could have done bread and butter engagements and still received tons of praise.
It’s not bullying to point out that she keeps putting out ridiculous press releases about how influential and important her work will be and then not delivering. Kate is the one who seems to crave praise for being this fantastic working woman and her actions don’t show that.
And I think a lot of people are fed up with Kate and William for not being more supportive of Meghan and Harry. Harry put out a statement to support William and all William could say these last few years was that he was bored with racism. There were so many negative leaks from KP. Kate and William did the budget plane stunt. The sympathy has run low because when those two could have shown kindness, they didn’t.
I vote for The Keen Survey Tour
that term also can be umbrella term for any of her projects after this because..keen~
lol
having said that, is she trying to make a correlation of bad childhood = bad life or something? because if she read the book, thesis or journals, we already have plenty of it for all to read and discuss and propose/create doable actions? i guess 8 years isnt enough~
I am hopeful that this will all tie in together somehow with her patronages and initiatives she supports. She’s working and I’m not going to knock her when she is. She gets dragged for not working more and I agree. She needs to stop it up as well as William and there’s no arguing that. I hope she has a good team behind the scenes that can see her Broken Britain initiative through foreision.
It looks exactly like an outfit Kate would wear, I don’t think she’s copying Meghan at all. Now if she wore a pencil skirt and stilettos….
If you replaced Meghan with Kate in the article and comments, given the tone of them, you would be reading a Daily Mail article. Is there a possibility for two different types of women to exist in the same family and do some good? Or horror of horrors, must we always pull one of them down to put the the other up? Meghan brings her work ethic and vibrant personality to her work, and Kate brings her own subdued personality to her work. Hopefully both their charities will benefit from both of them. The kind of rhetoric in this article and comments is what Meghan and Harry needed escaping from.
“Eight years/five questions” 🤣