Here are some tidbits (and a few more photos from Kate’s Place2Be awards appearance) in the lead-up to Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s trip to New York City December 7-9. I’ve been largely ignoring the pre-visit stuff because I didn’t care too much, but here are some things that are a bit funny/dumb.
Let’s bullet point!
- People has an article that quotes a “friend” quoting “someone” who said Kate would like to see the Statue of Liberty or the Rockettes while she is in NY. Because this NY trip is basically a glorified tourist’s vacation. The article also quotes someone named R. Couri Hay – who happens to be a New York society publicist – who says, “[Kate] is so relatable, but has that glamour and sparkle. They will create a frenzy that could match Princess Diana’s [past] visits.” I thought the new American PR guy didn’t start until the New Year, but apparently he put in a call to talk up Kate a month early. I hope he’s getting the big bucks for that job.
- People has another article (this one even more dumb) about what Americans should call Will and Kate while in NYC. It claims the formal address for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is “Your Royal Highness” and then “sir” or “ma’am”, but Will and Kate are oh so relaxed and down to earth that people can “address them in whatever way [they] feel most comfortable.” This from the publication that insists on calling her Princess Kate even though that is so far off base and completely rude to real blood princesses. Eye roll.
- The NY Post has an article about all the stars and rich people Will and Kate will be hobnobbing with while in NY. They say Princess Eugenie will attend the reception for American Friends of the Royal Foundation on Sunday, because she’s a New Yorker now – having moved there last year. Does Eugenie still live/work in NY? She’s been partying in London for a lot of the summer. Anyway, celebs, rich people, blah. But some St. Andrews graduates aren’t thrilled [quote giver wished to remain anonymous]: “I’m not shelling out that kind of money, and none of my peer group is going. St Andrews prides itself on being understated and devoid of pomp and circumstance — that’s why William went there in the first place. This is about St Andrews boosting its profile on Wall Street.” LOLZ. But Euan Rellie, a British banker and socialite based in NYC, thinks, “They’re fantastic ambassadors… They’ve been the best thing for the royal family brand and they’ve yet to put a foot wrong.” LOLZ even harder.
- Time has an article about the difference in how the UK and US media treat Will and Kate that has no point that I can see. I get the difference and blah blah blah, but there is no thesis and no true conclusion – so it’s basically pointless. BUT, there is an amazing line in the article that I MUST bring up, for all the conspiracy theorists out there. The line reads: “Kate is frequently said to be ‘flaunting’ or ‘showcasing’ her ‘bump’, as if she has the power to detach it when she leaves home.” [emphasis KMR] I busted out laughing when I read that line. I know there are conspiracy theorists out there who believe Kate faked her pregnancy with Prince George, so reading anything involving a detachable bump in an article from a major, well-respected paper (while purely coincidental, I’m sure) is just hilarious.
- William and Prince Harry attended a charity carol concert in honor of their late friend, Henry van Straubenzee, who was killed in a car crash in 2002. Chelsy Davy was also there. As were Princess Eugenie, Pippa Middleton and Ellie Goulding (she’s showing up at a lot of Will’s things lately). Kate sat this one out, because reasons.
- Apparently, the people who own Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey is filmed, will also be going to the St. Andrews gala Will and Kate are going to. I only bring this up because apparently in 2011, one of the Downton Abbey actors said, “[Will and Kate] spoke very highly of Downton Abbey,” Jessica Brown Findlay said in 2011. “They told me they were huge fans of the show.” Will and Kate say they are huge fans of EVERY show whose actor they are speaking to. William recently told Damian Lewis that he and Kate are huge Homeland fans. I’m pretty sure that’s just something they say. They want to say something nice and relate to whomever they are talking to, so if it’s an actor on a TV show, they says they’re huge fans of whatever show it is.
Photos: Place2Be
Okay, the lead press is just serious fluff because they don’t have anything of importance to talk about. Call her “hey you” and I’ll bet she’ll respond.
Love the line from Time magazine about the detachable bump. Am interested to see how much she’ll be showing in NY.
Obviously she’s busy working on her wardrobe for NY and the Christmas visit by the Queen in Norfolk so she can’t be bothered to attend anything with her husband. As for Ellie Goulding, I personally wasn’t that crazy about her rendition of “Your Song” and I’m beginning to refer to her as the official Court Troubadour.
They watch a lot of TV because they don’t do anything else. That’s why they are big fans of everything and know them so well.
Finally, someone should remind her to apply her tanning stuff to her hands as well. Pale hands attached to tanned arms…weird.
Fake tanner is safe for pregnant women right? I doubt it. Waity is such an idiot.
It’s hard to do the fake tanner on hands, because you wash your hands so much that it just doesn’t stay.
The Trekker kid is adorable, but Kate looks like she’s been Photoshopped into that picture–either that or the kid is posing with a cardboard cutout.
Ha! It could be. That would be hilarious! Katie can’t be late for Homeland!
I LOVE the Trekker kid!
Quite true Lisa. I think with Katie being *so* exhausted and destabilized between her Balmoral vacation in October, and her whopping 10 appearances in November (including two shopping trips), that she will spend all winter lying about waiting television.
“Watching television”, not “waiting television”, obviously. 🙂
You never know with waity. Waiting is all she knows.
LOL Freudian slip!
Could be. 🙂
“De-stabilized.” LOVE that description!
Love this post, KMR.
So, Kate will lead a frenzy in NYC last seen by visits of Princess Diana. Now, really. Diana had it! She just did. Kate is a sad comparison. Sorry, she just is.
The detachable bump line was so funny. OMG.
Again, the dress in the photo (yes, she does look as if she were photo-shopped in) is horrible, as noted in previous posts.
Going to see the Rockettes and the Statue of Liberty? Great. How touristy. Why not a trip to the Metropolitan Museum? Or, the Frick Museum? Or, MOMA? How about St. John’s Cathedral? At this time of year, even more magnificent than usual. Oh, so many places to go and soak in the beauty of NYC. I think the Statue of Liberty is a great site to visit, but longing to see the Rockettes (oh, and not the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree)? is lame.
She couldn’t resist sexing it up even for an event aimed at kids (sheer black top with strapless bra). She just couldn’t resist.
As for NYC, how’s about her visiting charities instead of tourist traps or museums? This isn’t supposed to be a vacation on the taxpayers dime (both UK and US at this point due to security).
I’m sure Kate would love to see all that stuff – if her love of art history is true and not manufactured BS – but this is not the trip for it.
NY has some awesome museums – when I get visit someday in the future I’m heading straight for the Guggenheim, then the Met, MoMa and the Frick Collection.
It’s the Met for me. They have an entire room full of art from the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut – one of my favorite historical women.
I hit the Met as well when I was in NY a couple of times. Hatshepsut rocks! I love the Egyptian artifacts. Took a couple of guys in a band I was chaperoning/babysitting at the time to see them and although they specifically asked to see those rooms, it kind of freaked them out. Still can’t figure out why…lol Love museums. There was also a street I can’t remember that had a lot of smaller museums/galleries and one in particular at the time had a show of caskets from Africa that were personalized for the each person. One of them was shaped like a green onion/scallion. There was one that looked like a Mercedes. Just amazing. I worked as a volunteer at The Getty, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Craft and Folk Art Museum when I was living in L.A. Did I say I love museums…lol
Have we seen any evidence of her alleged love of art history? I haven’t.
Are you kidding me? She is an art expert! It was she who informed the world of the miracle that Faberge, long dead, is still making his famous jewelled eggs. A miracle only brought about through her Royal power. 😀
Hi KMR,
I too have noticed quite an increase in publicity for this trip, one online magazine is spilling the beans on the 8 secrets of royal travel, the 8 secrets of the hotel the Camb’s are staying in and on and on. It’s really quite funny. 🙂 While I get why William is making this trip I just don’t get why Kate is going, she’s really not doing much charity wise, maybe this is another babymoon trip funded by their foundation, St. Andrews and other charities.
It’s also interesting to me that for all that is made about her not taking on too many engagements in order to spend more time with her child, she sure doesn’t have any problem jumping on the first opportunity to take a trip without him. I get that parents need time alone together away from their child, but really does it need to be on a whole separate continent? What about spending a few nights at the local b&b for a little alone time? I used to be one of Kate’s biggest fans but when her and William took that trip to the Maldives and left George at home, it really made me take a step back and think wtf. Again, I totally support parents spending some time together but being 8 hours by plane away from my 5-6 month old would leave me a little sick to my stomach. Sorry to be rambling but this has bugged me for awhile and I just needed to vent. thanks for listening (reading actually :):))
I know you meant this for KMR, but I’ll add my two cents. Yeah she isn’t very “hands-on” to me. They give the APPEARANCE of her and William being hands on but I highly doubt it. If they wanted privacy, they could just hand him off to her mother like they usually do, or they could go up to Balmoral alone, like they usually do for New Year’s. N.Y. is for the glitz and glam.
Not to mention that she looks super awkward while holding her own child. It made me wince to see all the pictures of her holding him with one arm around his belly. Anyone who has ever been around or cared for a baby, knows that holding a baby like that is painful for them. No wonder Prince George never smiles and has a reputation for being a spoiled brat…already. As someone who has been around and cared for babies, I see no natural warmth in their relationship and it all looks so staged and forced. Kate looks like she is scared of George and unsure of how to hold/handle him. I’m sure he’s very close to his nanny though…
Completely agree 🙂
YES! This, entirely. It was the Maldives trip that turned me from a fan to a “wtf-er”?
I don’t understand why there is an uptick in random publicity. They’ll be in NY for 3 days; it’s not like it’s some huge foreign tour. Just a random trip. It’s not like we need to know all the ins and outs of their planning and crap.
Kate already takes a lot of alone time away from her child… when she’s shopping.
I agree about the Maldives trip. But here’s the thing, that trip could have gone over so much better if W&K had played their PR better. If they had actually seemed like hands on parents for the 8 months prior to that trip, and if they hadn’t already taken two vacations before then, then I think that trip would have been more forgiven (at least the leaving George part, the vacationing in a country with a horrible human rights record would still have been criticized). But they had already taken two vacations, and they lied about the nanny stuff, and generally didn’t seem to be too hard working or hands on, so it just seemed excessive to take such an expensive vacation and then throw the leaving George with a new nanny bit into the mix and everything went to hell. Their PR and the way they handle everything is such a mess.
There is an uptick because the PR people are doing their jobs. I’m sure they are sending out information and press releases to the media which gives them ideas for stories, etc. I worked in music for a while and believe me, if it would get even a barest mention it went out.
Also click bait. If stories about W&K get clicks, then outlets will make up stories about them – even if it’s dumb like what to call them or what outfits Kate will wear while in NY or whatever.
Hi KMR,
About the Maldives trip, yes their PR as always could have been better. Even the vacations took prior to this one didn’t really bother me as much as W&K wanting to be that far away from their, at the time, very young baby.
Especially since they had just announced the new nanny, and there were reports that W&K left George with the new nanny they just hired so they could “get acquainted” while W&K were away. So basically W&K were leaving George with a stranger while they took a vacation to another hemisphere. They tried to clarify that George was with Carole during the Maldives trip, but the damage had already been done.
Sorry I asked about the PR guy! He obviously took his job to heart. Who knew it was the calm before the blitz? He must be an eager little beaver, all bright-eyed and ready to please. He probably kisses Will’s shoes 5 times every am. I’m starting to think George has the grumpy face because his parents are MIA so much. That’s going to come back to bite them when he’s older. What a excuse driven write-up so that Kate can sightsee using the plea of, “well, others asked me/told me I had to see…”
Lol, I think George has the grumpy face when with W&K because he’s longing for his real mother, Nanny Maria.
^This. I don’t get warmth or maternal from Kate.
That kid reflects what his parents genuinely feel about plebs, before they put on their veneer of politeness. It is odd, nonetheless, for a kid that age to hardly ever smile. Is he constantly being fawned upon that he is annoyed with any more attention? So far, he’s only been with the maternal grandparents and the nanny. And with the nanny, he’s been captured throwing quite a few fits… This kid is such a loose cannon they really couldn’t capitalise on him for PR purposes. Instead, we’ll be seeing photos of Kate with black kids in Harlem.
I also find it weird that there seems to be very little publicized interaction between Georgie and his paternal grandparents and great-grandparents. You would think the Palace would want to show the continuity of the monarchy by showing the past (no disrespect, but the Queen and the Prince Philip at this point), the present (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and the future (Prince George). Instead he’s either with the nanny or Carole. It’s very odd and weakens the future of the monarchy as a whole, b/c instead of getting the good will and veneer of the nation’s grandmother (the Queen), we get tacky middlebrow middle-class Middleton. Though it may help keep George grounded for a while, it definitely won’t make secure the idea in people’s minds that this grumpy toddler should be King in forty-five or fifty years.
There are pictures of Estelle on RD and she looks like a very happy, healthy and well adjusted royal baby. And the main reasons are probably because she has parents who love her, are working with her to get her used to her role and the cameras and don’t hide her away and just use her as a photo op.
William and Kate are getting it all wrong and if William thinks George is a terror now, wait until later. If he’s not around a variety of people he will never learn how to deal with them, like them and become a person who cares more about the world than himself.
Seth – at the rate he’s going, the state dinners are going to be decorated with Party Pieces decor because he won’t know any better. Mom (the art history major) doesn’t even know about Faberge eggs and her side of the family have more contact with him that his fathers.
Estelle makes my heart sing. She does look like a happy and settled baby. You can tell that she adores her parents.
Lisa- Absolutely no doubt Willy will start a proud family tradition of state dinners by Party Pieces. That fact it’s his in-laws company… oh well, good PR for them. Ugh!
KMR, good point out from People about what W&K are referred to: so press have to be dressed properly and keep their pinkies up but public can call them whatever because “they’re so down to earth?”
I know right. W&K are full of contradictions.
Sorry i’m just learning to speak english what’s mean MIA?and others abreviations like “pr”?imo?
MIA- missing in action, which means Kate isn’t out attending events. PR- means personal relations, usually a person who handles media and publicity for a person along with putting news stories out.
IMO : “In my opinion”
MIA = Missing In Action
PR = Public Relations
IMO = In My Opinion
Thanks!!!
NYC is an art history majors dream! I didn’t major in the arts, but when I go, I am in the museums and libraries. Based on Kate’s personality, here are my choices for her:
1. Go to Coney Island and eat a Nathan’s hot dog and ride the Cyclone
2. Hang out in Times Square and get a cheap I ♡ NY tshirt.
3. Go to Chinatown and buy a fake bag and fake bump.
4. Go to the Bronx and hang out at the Rucker.
5. Go to the top of the Empire State Building and say “Hmm, can you tell how far the Top of the Rocky by looking at a map?”
Sorry, but this trip is going to be spun harder than her weave before an official event.
KMR, sorry for the snark.
Sorry, Top of the Rock
“this trip is going to be spun harder than her weave before an official event”
BAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Sorry. I had to do it. Kate wants to visit the most popular and visited sights, so I gave her more options.
If anything, Kate must feel intimidated by these places, and making small talk with people who are experts in their field. She may be an Art History major, but none of her personal actions, or remarks, shown any passion for art, or history, or anything outside of indulging her whims.
She doesn’t really make remarks that are substantial about anything. She has serious trouble making small talk. I just don’t get it. It really makes me wonder if there is something going on with her mentally. Some times she just seems like she’s on something to me and the inappropriate grinning and giggling she does at times. I just don’t know why she acts the way she does a lot of the time.
I think she’s dumb and spoiled, to be honest. She seems to act as just putting in her time “playing duchess” and her real life is elsewhere (trophy wife, for the most part, though Prince William seems to need her – and didn’t his father fall for the same type of woman in Camilla?)
I would bet that she actually is more pulled together in her private clique and doesn’t really care about these public appearances. People thought it was cute how she smirked and grinned and waved at Prince William while he was on duty in public and always cut up with Prince Harry in public. The royalty has always been a silly game to her and nothing has changed.
Richard Kay at the Daily Mail is already setting the stage for the rousing success of this trip. How does one classify a trip involving the Duchess as not a rousing success? All she has to do is turn up, and their PR goes on hyperbolic overdrive. There is never any mention of the apathy from most of the people. Photos are always close-ups, that try to depict a large crowd meeting them, when in truth, there are but a few who are there, and mostly because they happen to work there.