For Day 12 of their grand tour (April 18 day in OZ, April 17 night in US), William and Kate visited the Royal Easter Show—which is similar to a county or state fair in the US, as it showcased agricultural exhibits, livestock, and arts and crafts. Kate and Will were shown around different parts of the show, and met a ram, and watched some sheep shearing. Kate told a man with a photography display that her passion is photography and she likes painting and drawing as well, but she doesn’t get much time for them anymore. Kate has a ton of time on her hands, she could do those things if she wanted to; my guess is she gave it up when she got such harsh criticism for her Asia pictures–which is kind of sad, harsh criticism hurts no matter who you are. Kate also met a little girl who did not seem impressed with meeting her. Kate made a joke. This is news (how sad is it that I just wrote that?); Kate has never made a joke in public before, especially not at her husband’s expense. Kate made a joke about Will’s thinning hair. When they were shown a tuft of alpaca wool, Kate joked about Will using it as a wig. She said, “You need it more than me.” To which he laughed. That’s hilarious, and so true. And a nice little payback for the banana comment. It’s nice that he laughed at it, too.
The second stop for the day was at Bear Cottage Hospice—which is one of only two children’s hospices in Australia. There was limited media during their visit, which seems strange to me. This is the kind of thing they should be doing more of, and should get more media attention, not roaming around a fair or having fun on the beach. Anyway, they visited this hospice and met the children; one child in particular stood out to them—a nine month old baby who is dying from bacterial meningitis. William said, “I welled up and was really worried I would start crying. Once I started I wouldn’t have stopped, so it took a great effort to control myself. He’s a similar age to George—it was extremely moving.”
Kate gave her only speech of the tour at Bear Cottage (view transcript here). She mispronounced “palliative” again, twice. She said “pallative”. How is it that she can be patron of children’s palliative care and not know how to say palliative correctly? She wore her hair down, and it got in her face. When will she learn to put her hair back when she’s giving a speech? The constant head bobbing was really distracting. I think this speech might be slightly better than the last one—how could it be worse—but she’s really not improving that much. I am having a hard time finding a full video of the speech, I found one from SkyNews but they won’t let me embed it, but other than that I can’t find a full video. Maybe that’s why they didn’t want a ton of media at the hospice event, because they didn’t want a ton of videos of her less-than-stellar speech-giving skills floating around.
[This video has a partial of her speech starting at 0:45]
Kate and Will then went to Manly Beach where they spent 40 minutes meeting young lifeguards and starting swimming races; and getting another gift for George—a surfboard this time. Prime Minister Tony Abbott joined them. Neither of the Cambs changed out of their dress shoes (more on that below).
Sometime during the day, they mentioned George again. This time saying that he’s messy and drools everywhere. Again, he’s a baby, what do you expect? Kate also mentioned how they wish they could have brought him, but he was sleeping. How many times have they said that this trip? Three according to the Mirror. The Mirror kind of called her out on it (but only slightly), because they were never going to bring George to the events she said this line at, so it’s not like he didn’t go simply because he was sleeping, he didn’t go because he wasn’t scheduled to. Like I said before, she really needs a new talking point.
Kate wore an Australian designer, on only the second day of their Australian leg! It took Kate a week to wear a New Zealand designer, and that barely counted as the NZ designer’s company is based in London. Kate wore a white broderie anglaise day dress by Zimmermann. She wore her hair down, and accessorized with an LK Bennett clutch she’s carried before, and Stuart Weitzman camel-colored strappy wedges she’s worn before. Wedges of Doom Part II? Kate wore her Annoushka pearl drop earrings she’s worn so much on this tour, and her Cartier watch that seems glued to her wrist.
Not going to lie, I kind of love this dress. It’s perfect for an Easter Show/fair situation. It kind of reminds me of the Alexander McQueen skirt and shirt she wore in SE Asia. I really liked that outfit (apart from her heels); so yeah, I like this dress. One of the top dresses for me so far. I wish her hair had been pulled back, though, so I could see the top of the dress—and so it wouldn’t get in the way of her speech. She was doing so well with pulling her hair back, but since she got to OZ she’s not done that. I hate the shoes. You know what shoe would have been great with this dress if she wanted a nude shoe, the shoes she wore changing planes in OZ before the start of the tour, those shoes would have been great. Also, the shoes Kate wore are 5” high, with a 1” platform, and she didn’t even bother to take them off when she went romping on the beach. She even ran in them, on the sand, at one point. Who does that? Rebecca Deacon values accessibility and comfort over vanity and took her shoes off to walk on the sand. Smart lady. Seriously, who wears heels in the sand?
Links: Palace website article. Getty Images set 1 and set 2. Daily Mail articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Express articles 1, 2, and 3. Mirror articles 1, 2, and 3.
Photo credits: First and second photo from Rebecca English twitter.
kate minus her cute little outfits is sooooo manly, masculine not attractive at all, is this the best a future king could get, william is mad to her!
She does have a boy-ish figure–broad shoulders and small hips. I don’t think anyone else wanted Will, he’s kind of a jerk.
Personally, I think the dress is really cute – but for a girl much younger. I know not too many people would agree, but considering her “station” in life she married into, I still believe she should have not worn all white on Good Friday, and frankly, I don’t like she constantly has her skirts/dresses shortened to above her knees. I think she thinks it makes her look taller – but it doesn’t. It simply makes her look age-inappropriate and shows a frank disregard for tradition of the royal family. Yes, an occasional dress/skirt slightly above the knees, especially in the hottest part of summer – but not every ensemble.
It’s surprising no one from her “group” has taught her yet to say “palliative” correctly. Constantly saying this word incorrectly makes it seem like she is coerced into being a patron of children’s hospices instead of something she really wants to do.
As far as her “passion” for photography – this is something I’ve heard of before, but she must be really bad at it. I mean, she likely had some input in any family photos released in the last couple of years – and all of them are bad! For example, her dad’s pic shortly after PG was born, the baptism photos, the recent mother’s day photo at the window. I’m not saying she has to be stellar at it, but when people truly have a passion for something, they are usually pretty well-versed in it and can contribute some helpful/interesting hints. I have not seen that from her at all. Maybe behind closed doors she can take great pics, just up until now there has not been much to show for this.
Yes, the dress is wonderful, but not age appropriate. It’s the same problem with her hair. Long and blowing in her face was fine when she was a coed, waiting. But now that she is older, a mother, and a duchess, she really needs to cut it somewhat or tie it back. She looks wonderful with her hair up, or in a ponytail, so I don’t understand her reluctance. And yes, her hemlines should be at the knee (or a little longer) when making a public appearance. I think her only passion in life was nabbing William and now she’s accomplished that she’s just a shallow woman trying to re-claim her youth.
“a shallow woman trying to re-claim her youth”
LOL, is this Kate’s future? http://cdn.cnwimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/real-housewives-beverly-hills-net-worth.jpg
Excuse my ignorance (I’m not religious), why can’t she wear white on Good Friday?
I agree about the knees. I don’t get why she wants to show them off, knees aren’t the pretty part of the body, you know.
Seriously, though, how can she not say “palliative” correctly? It’s ridiculous. I actually do think she was forced into the hospice thing. I think all her charities have been chosen for her. Because if she had chosen them herself, I really think she would have chosen something she really likes–sports; the only events where she really comes alive.
Re her passion for photography–I think she probably likes taking photos, but I don’t think it’s really a major passion for her. Her true passion is shopping.
My thoughts on all this are:
Regarding wearing white on Good Friday, I really do not think either Will or Waity care two figs about either religion or spirituality. Obviously neither were brought up by parents who valued these things. Charles and Diana did the minimum expected in this area and were otherwise too caught up in their personal lives to focus on church. From what I can see of the Middleton’s it’s ditto.
I thought everyone was over-reacting to Kate’s telling people about the banana comment Will made, but with her now joking publically about his lack of hair, I think maybe there is some latent hostility there.
I sincerely hope that the limited media coverage at the children’s hospice was because either the Cambs and/or the facility did not want to capitalize on terribly ill children. Good publicity for the royals can equal disruption for the children that the visit was supposed to show support for. Does that make sense?
I still don’t understand why it’s bad form to wear white on Good Friday. I’m not religious myself so I don’t understand.
I could understand not wanting to disrupt the children and everything, but having limited press there meant that there were less photos and stories and so the main story in the papers became Kate running on the beach in heels. The main story of the day should have been the hospice visit, not “Kate [insert Bay Watch/Pam Anderson comparison here]”. So it’s just unfortunate.
It is my understanding that Good Friday services are solemn in reference to the death of Christ and wearing white would be like wearing white to a funeral. Easter Sunday services are more joyful in reference to Christ’s resurrection and would be the appropriate time to wear white or pastels. To me it does not matter what color Kate or Willy choose to wear, what stuns me is the utter lack or regard the RF heirs (destined to be head of their church) show for basic morality. Mistresses? Affairs? Shacking up? Reveling in money while others scrape by? Church 2 or 3 times per year? I could go on and on. Yes, we are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God, but these folks don’t even attempt to give off an illusion of respectability. If I were Anglican I would be quite resentful.
Yes, you are correct about wearing white on Good Friday, especially as they will be known as “defenders of the faith” once William ascends the throne. All in all, it’s probably a small point, but gets magnified due to their position in life and all the media coverage. It is indeed like wearing white to a funeral ( though I believe some Asian cultures do this). How can they be defenders of the faith if they don’t practice themselves/
Oh my gosh her speeches are so boring. Its almost monotone and it always sounds like “bla-bla-bla…pause bla-bla-bla-bla…pause bla-bla…pause bla-bla-bla-bla…”
Her speeches are boring, but they have to be. Her speech writer (because you just know she can’t be bothered to write her own speech) can’t give her anything interesting, hard, or unique to say because she doesn’t bother learning/rehearsing her speeches ahead of time, so the speech must be simple so she can read it off the paper.
Also, I kind of think her affected fake accent isn’t helping, she’s trying so hard to keep that accent going that she forgets to speak normally with inflection and whatnot.