Kate Middleton releases short letter of support for Children’s Hospice Week

Kate Middleton releases short letter of support for Children’s Hospice Week

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, has released a short letter of support for Children’s Hospice Week 2015 – which is May 11-17.

Kate’s letter reads:

    “For families of children with life-limiting conditions, every moment is precious and every memory needs to be cherished and celebrated. Children’s hospices strive to create happy moments in the most difficult times any family could face.
    “I hope you will join me in supporting Children’s Hospice Week and work to make every moment count for all of our families.”

The message was released by Together for Short Lives which leads Children’s Hospice Week. Children’s Hospice Week brings together the UK’s 53 children’s hospices and palliative care services, and raises awareness of the services supporting families dealing with children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. There are about 49,000 children in the UK living with such conditions (I don’t numbers for the US or the rest of the world).

This year the theme of CHW is helping children and families make the most of the time they have together. They are urging people to share a memorable moment on social media using #momentscount. That is why Kate’s message is about creating and cherishing happy moments.

Kate has been Royal Patron of East Anglia Children’s Hospices (EACH) since January 2012. It was one of the four original patronages she took up after marrying into the royal family (not including the Royal Foundation of etc.).

Kate's letter of support for Children's Hospice Week 2015 s

So… I don’t want to be a jerk, and I know Kate just gave birth so of course she wasn’t going to make an appearance, but this little 3 sentence long letter is literally the least Kate could do to support Children’s Hospice Week (and let’s be real, Kate probably just signed her name to a letter written by Rebecca Deacon).

I went back and looked at what Kate has done to support Children’s Hospice Week in previous years since becoming patron of EACH. In 2012, Kate did nothing. In 2013, Kate recorded a video message and visited a children’s hospice called Naomi House. In 2014, Kate made a “private” visit to EACH and released photos and a statement later. And in 2015, Kate has released a short letter.

The dates for Children’s Hospice Week have been known for a while, so I don’t see why Kate couldn’t have recorded a video message – like she did in 2013 or like she did in February this year for Children’s Mental Health Week – weeks ago, before she gave birth, and then released it now. Is that really too hard to think of and/or too much to ask? I really don’t want to be a jerk about this, because at least she did SOMETHING, you know. But I mean, Kate and her people know that there is a Children’s Hospice Week every year, why can’t they plan ahead for things so that Kate can still show some actual support for her causes even though she will be out of action during the actual week?

Am I being too demanding in asking them to plan ahead and do more than just release a letter with three sentences in it?

Let’s end on a positive: At least Kate/Rebecca Deacon remembered Children’s Hospice Week in the wake of Royal Baby Mania. Three sentences is better than nothing at all.

Here are some photos from previous years of Kate supporting Children’s Hospice Week:

Kate's video message for CHW 2013

Kate's video message for CHW 2013 2

Kate supports CHW 2014 1

Kate supports CHW 2014 2

Links: Mirror. Together for Short Lives press release.

Photos: Screengrab from video message / EACH


82 thoughts on “Kate Middleton releases short letter of support for Children’s Hospice Week

      1. My first thought also. Three sentences? Its like Rebecca is trolling Kate or something. By the way, when was the last time Will did anything for Centrepoint? That was one of Diana’s special projects, he took it on because of her.

  1. This is the LEAST she can do.
    Quite frankly, it doesn’t do much, but get her name and picture back in the daily mail.
    Waity admitted in the engagement interview that she was only going to help in the SMALLEST way.

    Miss Middleton: I’m also glad that I’ve had the time to sort of grow and understand myself more as well so hopefully do good job. (HAHAHAHA)

    Miss Middleton: It’s obviously nerve-wracking, Because I don’t know what I’m sort of … I don’t know the ropes, William is obviously used to it, but no I’m willing to learn quickly and work hard. (BAHAHAHAHA)

    Miss Middleton: Yes, well I really hope I can make a difference, even in the smallest way. I am looking forward to helping as much as I can.
    (MUHAHHAHHAHA Played you fools. Set for life!)

    1. To be fair, I wouldn’t have even known when Children’s Hospice Week was had they not released this letter. So it got some attention for CHW, just not as much as it could have.

      1. I suppose.
        It’s absolutely doing the bare minimum though. Why don’t they try to engage in different ways? Social media?

        Releasing a statement is boring. Imo it ends up being pr for kate, rather than highlighting the difficulties these children endure.

    2. So insincere whatever was written by some staff and as the saying goes – “actions speak louder than words!” -never a true statement.

      William nor km could bother to find the time ( a few hours back to London), to be with the aging WW Vets who allow them their place and lifestyle to attend the service Sunday – as senior royals – especially P William; yet William expect the public to look kindly on him/km his children. Will and km are such poor example from HM POW – PR- (other older royals) who are just as hard working, dedication to duties, service traditions of the RF like HM is to the people and her reign.

      Lets hope rumours on a few sites are true – P Will Line will be removed (later). Will km take all the GRAND perks/palaces, bolt holes/secrecy and hideaways – as royal heir to…. and the many staff, security paid by taxpayers, and give nothing in return.

  2. I was really trying to be positive while reading the message but could not help but think how short it was and how it was most likely wrote by someone else. She could have made more of an effort.

    I agree that it would have been much nicer and pretty easy for Kate to have recorded a video message in advance. It would have been a nice personal touch and surprise to support the cause. When I saw the title of this post, I saw the word “message” and thought it was a video. To my disappointment, it was just a short note.

    Quick question-
    Does anyone know of any actual money that Kate and Billy have donated besides the £5,000.00 to the flood victims last year? I never hear about any and would like to know if anyone here has any information. I know they have helped raise money a few times but I am talking about personal contributions. They get a ton of money from William’s inheritance every year, money from Charles, the Queen, etc. and I am honestly curious how they give back besides attending a few balls and relying on others to donate.

    1. Oops, sorry about the misleading title. Didn’t realize that. I changed it.

      I always go into these types of things wanting to be positive, and then it never works out. This note is better than nothing, because at least I now know that it is Children’s Hospice Week whereas before I didn’t, but it’s only three sentences. I put more work into writing this article about Kate supporting Children’s Hospice Week than Kate did actually supporting Children’s Hospice Week.

      I don’t think they donate any actual money to anything (other than that 5K they donated to flood victims). They help raise money by attaching their name to a charity and visiting it every once in a while.

    2. I thought the entire point of the Prince William and Harry and Kate Foundation (obviously not the name, forgot what it’s called) is to fund their charities? Maybe they send money that way?

      1. The Royal Foundation of the name is too long is a blanket foundation to cover all of their charities and allows their charities to get together and work together if they chose to. The Foundation takes in money and distributes it to all of their charities. But the money comes from public donations, not from Will, Kate, and Harry.

        1. I have written reminders to myself that are longer than Catherine’s “letter” i have one on my fridge door right now.

    3. I agree. It’s so short, it makes it seem like it was hastily written at the last minute or as an after thought.

      KMR, looking at those photos from the previous recording, I can’t believe how short her skirt is! I remember the outfit, and probably noticed it before. But sitting down if her hands weren’t where they were, we would probably see too much! I can’t imagine anyone showing up for a professional job like that.

      1. And she was waaay too heavy handed with the blush. She looked like a clown. I cannot stand bow she pronounces the word palliative. You mean to tell me there is no one at KP to teach her how to say it? The were smart to disable the comments on the video.

        1. When I was looking at the picture today, I did notice her cheeks, but I was assuming it was because she was flushed. If it is blush, than it’s way too much. But as someone whose face flushes very easily, I have sympathy if it’s natural.

          1. Catherine is a natural beauty, i dont understand the need for so much eyeliner and blusher…maybe she does it for the camera or television…sort of like stage makeup.

        2. Should have scrolled. I just mentioned the clown makeup in those pics, too.

          I’m shocked that no one has mentioned the correct pronunciation of palliative. She mispronounced it in her first ever speech in 2012, and is still pronouncing it wrong in 2015. Terrible.

          1. I stated it in the earlier thread. I am very picky about words. If you don’t know how to say something, ask. You look like a buffoon stumbling over words like that. She should know better.

          2. I had never really noticed, but she does say it wrong. She never pronounces the ‘a’. Do you think that is the British posh way to say it? I think someone would have corrected her by now or else it would show her ignorance.

      2. Oh yes, her skirt was SO short that day. I remember the shortness of her skirt being a huge conversation at the time (on another blog). Also her makeup was so clownish that day.

        1. Oh my…i just looked at the photos again…her blusher is looks like dime store brand makeup. You’d think with all that money she would hit up sephora and have a make-up demo done to find the rite shade for her skin. Why hasnt her glam squad fixed this problem? Even women that live paycheck to paycheck know a little something about skin tone and color palettes. Good grief

  3. I suppose we should thank Rebecca for sending (and writing?) this letter but it really is so minimal it’ almost not there?
    Or is this letter getting released now because Harry is getting such good press in New Zealand? Harry asked if he could visit Stewart Island, after his visit I’d say he’s made a fan of everyone on the island.

    I hope this link works – check out Harry being given a daisy (just one little daisy) from this little child – so cute!

    http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/472824130-prince-harry-is-presented-with-a-daisy-by-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7Qez8A%2FRDNzDa6Vf7XM%2Bsd2uwwuYKhi67erf34usLQY4kPC5tbHU3oJFtcxPgqX9HvQ%3D%3D

          1. What was so cute is that one of the white one (the smallest) fell as the boy was handing the bunch to him and he picked it and joined it to the bunch. The kid was so cute and oblivious

          1. Perhaps they were being sensitive to Harry’s tour in New Zealand and allowing the focus to remain on him and the VE events happening in today… You know, because maybe Jason’s been reading your blog and taking notes 😉

            Given that she has a handful of charities, and this cause seems to be her main one, she could have released a video – through the usual channels and also through social media using the hashtag really late in the evening (23:05, so it would still be 11th) so it would be in tomorrow’s news cycle (cause you know the media would!) and not conflict with the end of Harry’s secondment and Tour in NZ and WW2 commemorations.

  4. She was pregnant in the months leading to this, obviously they couldn’t film anything unless they want to get weird and just take a massive close up of her face. I read somewhere that maybe WIlliam and Kate’s focus as of the moment is building a family hence the slack in royal duties. I don’t see why they can’t work while raising a family, heck a lot of royal couples do that. I hope Kate does something more for her charities. Like give a speech or something.

    1. I think half the population is raising families and working full time without any nannies or chefs or housekeepers or assistants. They seem to do just fine….I really wonder what they do with their time.

      1. Thank you – the other (99 percent) of the population can not afford the many staff like the BRF and continue to work and support and raise a family.

        It is shameful and very fake of these video recordings and now letter (are Will and km better than the people ?!)- the children will become just as P William and km. Have a look at P George entering the hospital – the child was absolutely scared of the people /media cheers – who were happy to see him – and he is heir to …. what a joke.

        Sundays WW Service showcase the many heirs to HM – including the apparent – Prince Charles POW – but they may want to look at prepare the others (except for having King Henry (Pr Harry) as the next in line to POW – the Firm should seriously prepare the other – York and Wessex as possibilities.

        Retire P William and his family to the country – (just as he craves). Activate Prince Harry as next in Line/heir to…!

    2. They could have easily filmed something several weeks ago, then released it now saying that they filmed it several weeks ago before she gave birth which is why she is still pregnant in the video. That’s easily explained. People would have forgiven her still be pregnant in the video even though she gave birth in real life if they knew she filmed it weeks ahead of time. And she probably would have gotten some praise for being thoughtful enough to film something ahead of time since she knew she would be on maternity leave during the actual CHW.

      Yeah, I have no idea why W&K can’t work while building their family. Everyone else does.

      1. They could have filmed something and kept it from right above her tummy and up if they were worried about her looking pregnant in the shot. It’s not like she’s dropped all of her pregnancy weight already.

        Very short, but I honestly wouldn’t expect more out of her. If it had been an in depth dissertation about the charity I would be side eyeing it even more.

        Kudos to her staff for remembering, but they need to up their game.

        1. Km could have gone to visit and perform duties! she was fit enough a few hours after delivery to appear in full make up hair and heels.

          With all the staff taking care of the children – Will & km is fit enough to start performing royal duties – another BAFTA event Will as president, stayed away 2d in months (but was able to vacation in Mystique for weeks- leading up to the other ‘no show’ event at KP).

  5. It’s a good thing they have a London office staff of what? 12 people to help with the release of a 3 sentence note to the press. (And who puts a period after their name?)

    1. Re the period after the name: Habit? When typing, I have put periods in places that I don’t mean to have periods because I’m so used to typing a period whenever I stop typing. I don’t know if that’s why Kate did it because I don’t know how much she writes, but just a possibility.

      Rebecca probably gets to lounge around a lot a work since there is not much for her to actually do.

    2. LOL. Good catch Ladyblue. I had to go back and see the period :). I am surprised she doesn’t put an exclamation mark just so we know it is really her. My name is Catherine…period! 🙂

    3. They have over 2 dozen office staff. That was revealed after the Christmas party last time she was expecting. Too sick to work but healthy-enough to attend a holiday party, see a picture of herself at NPG, and fly to Mustique and Switzerland.

    4. bluhare Freud, graphologist who knows nothing, here. I think the “.” after her name is for emphasis. Catherine. As when people with massive egos underline their signatures (guilty!!)

      So i think it signifies “Catherine. Not Kate”

  6. Well, at least she did something. I wish I could emphasize thing. If they knew, let’s say on January 1st about this week, she could have sent a pre-recorded message. I give her a little credit, but not much more. If she had been sincerely working in this charity over the years, I would give her a pass.

    1. I find it interesting that EACH/children’s hospices is Kate’s signature charity/cause, yet she has only supported them a handful of times. She supported her other charities/causes even less. She really is not dedicated to these causes.

  7. I felt that PW could have gone to the service yesterday.Seems they have forgotten who fought for their “Freedom and so called Paternity leave” even the Queen and Duke managed it.I think PW is being trained by Queen Carole to behave in the same manner as all her own children

    1. So true. Ma carol meddleton poor work ethics /dependency influence- this will not end well for Prince William and his children!

      Even Mike middleton is now uncomfortable with carol and speaking up of her interfering in the RF life); and the threesome marriage of P Will.

      1. I agree Jolly Moo, I thought that PW would have been there I think that it is disrespectful that he wasn’t there.

    2. William could have easily been there. Kate missing it I understand, but there is no excuse for William.

      1. One of the reasons i left the blog i used to read/ comment, was due to the other commentators intolerance of my dislike of Carole Middleton. That woman is obviously a complete control freak. I dislike her very much, and her motivations have always been suspect. The biggest argument from Carole supporters is always ” what’s wrong with having a supportive, attentive and loving mother”. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with having a supportive loving mother, however, there is something very wrong with having a codependent, controlling and complete disregard for boundaries type of mother. I was always taught, when we marry and have children, our husband or wife and children then become our family/ support system. Mother and fathers eventually will go to be with the good lord…this is why we have our husband/ wife and children…then our children will go on to start thier family…and so on..and so on. Is that practice not as old as time? Why cant Carole and Catherine get this through thier thick skulls. Obviously, not everyone progresses the same way, some people never marry or have children, for many different reasons. All i’m saying is….Carole and Catherine’s relationship goes beyond being close and ventures into the codependent. I wish Catherine would just grow up and be a little better example of an adult. I see my mother every weekend at church and we do the occasional lunch together,…we have holidays, ect. Does this mean my mother and i dont have a close, supportive relationship? No, i doesn’t….it means that i have my own family to attend to and my mother would want me to make them my priority. Does anyone feel differently? I would really like to know if i am somewhat of base

        1. In regards to my comment above….i also want to say, sometimes one parent or both unfortunately may come to have bad health and may no longer be able to care for themselves, in this case, caring for one’s parent, of course they would become a priority as well. If my mother or father needed my assistance in anyway, regarding care, i would have a room ready in my home to care for them, no matter the cost..,i just wanted to clarify that point…if anyone reading this is in a position to have to care for a parent or child in this way, you are my hero.

  8. It’s minimal effort, let’s face it. And it isn’t generated by Kate, but by her staff and the PR guy. She deserves no praise for signing her signature, that’s really all she did.

    1. As if Ma Mids would let Waity handle anything with blades! She will blend the smoothies for Waity while she is waiting for the cheese to melt on Whingy’s toast.

      1. Oh poor Nanny Maria. What was reported about her hand washing PG’s clothes? Then, wrapping them in organic blue tissue paper. Call me spoiled, but without my washing machine and dryer, I wouldn’t know how to keep my family’s clothes clean.
        Neither would my husband.

  9. So, it is really nice that Rebecca thought to do this. Although I am with everyone else who thinks it was a wee bit short. I can’t believe people actually think Kate sits down to type this and comes up with what it says within. Give me a break. That is why she has staff. She is just the figurehead. The brains are Rebecca and others. Kate just signs her name. It just blows my mind that people, not here, are so naïve to think she took time out of her maternity leave to write this. I guess that is what Will and Kate hope for is people to just blindly believe everything they do. And she gets praised for it! She is honestly getting praised for caring about her charities while on maternity leave, even though she didn’t do anything! I can’t believe people are so easily manipulated. Okay, rant done 🙂

    One thought though after my rant. Do you think her people made it short on purpose so that more people would believe she really took the time out of her life to write it? She did just give birth, so a long note maybe people would see through. However, a really short one like this, seems a little more believable since she is sooooo busy with the new baby. Naturally she would only have a few moments to type this out. I just think it was short on purpose.

    1. The staff would not write something so short and she would not write it herself. So i believe in the theory that the PR guy instructed a staff member to write it short, creating the impression that Kate took her time in the midst of her maternity leave to write it herself.

      1. There are two big red flags that indicated that Kate didn’t write this and also probably isn’t involved at all in any decision to send this out.

        The first is the short note which leaves so much room on the page.

        Then the signature right at the bottom of the page.

        If this note was signed after it was written or Kate had seen it before signing it, the signature would be closer to the text. Instead the signature is right at the bottom whereas the crowned C is right at the top.

        This reminds me of tricks we often pulled on the recipients of our bosses’ letters in a job I had years ago that required personal responses.

        As our bosses were too busy to sign every piece of correspondence, we would ask them to sign a raft of blank headed paper usually about 100pgs every few months.

        Then we would print our letters on the signed headed paper as needed such that it appeared to the recipient that their letter had been personally signed. We also threw in the boss’ ‘voice’ so the letter read like them.

        This is what i’m getting from the layout of Kate’s ‘letter’. A bunch of signed blank pages kept in a drawer to be used as needed.

        If they’d done this correctly, they would have made sure to fill the space between the crowned C and the signature with a date, a longer seemingly personalised note and a sign off that landed just above the signature.

        Between the obvious floating note on a pre-signed headed paper and lack of a date, i’m thinking Rebecca and Jason are amateurs at the game of making their boss appear involved.

  10. I don’t see too many donors rushing for their pocketbooks given how much Willy and waity like to hide out and how little they actually seem to care.

    1. I’d be really interested to see the figures to see whether Kate’s involvement actually generates any revenue. Or even how many more hits to the website they get from Kate’s letters and visits and whatnot.

  11. What i do not understand why daddy & granny do not use tough love on the cambridges? After 4 years of marriage, this is it? Does chuck & liz realize that this year there might be a republic? I wonder when the british taxpayers become proactive & can’t taxpayer contact the politicians contact government officials? I do not know people inform the royals to change the situation? Is there anyone here who live in england? I am not try to offend anyone! Any one real life would have fired their was not up par! Thanks reading my rant.

    1. Both Liz and Chuck suffer from ‘head in the sand syndrome.’

      She didn’t do anything about chuck and diana until Panorama happened. Charles would have his staff parent/discipline the boys when he didn’t want to.
      The cambridges are a problem, but it’s not widespread drama yet.
      It’s more royal watchers that see the developing great leader in Harry, while willy and kate continue to slide by doing the bare minimum.

  12. Kmr, there is an interesting point on Sara Whalen’s article on lazy waity request for donations for children’s hospices. Sarah asks if the dim duo ever help out or donate money? Sarah goes into the fact the british taxpayers pay an enormous amount of money keep the cambridges in a rich & privelege lifestyle! Sarah asks what does cambridge do or say to give back to the taxpayers? It is a very well written articles! My question is could you please post in on here? I am not good at post it here! It worth reading! Just my opinion. Thank you!

  13. Yes, it is nice to have light drawn to Children’s Hospice and I suppose the “note” is better than nothing. I agree with all who think Kate should have filmed a segment that could have been released today. Even if she was pregnant. Any parent who has a child in Hospice needs attention on the issue and wants hope and help for others, as well as for themselves and their children. Yes, Kate just had a baby and nobody would expect her to be out there so quickly doing something. Still, her personal secretary must have known this time was coming up and should have arranged for a filmed spot several months ago. It would have made more of a statement, I think. And, Kate surely was doing more appearances earlier this year than ever before, I think. One other thing to do would not have been too stressful for her, right?

  14. This note kind of reminds me of the viral status games that were going around on Facebook for a while. I’m not sure if anyone else saw them, but they were things like women posting the color of their underwear or the location of their purses with zero context. Then, when people called them out for their nonsensical posts, they got their hackles up and said that it was all to raise awareness of breast cancer or something like that, and how dare anyone criticize them for that.

    Like these games, Kate’s letter reminds me of the trend of slacktivism. Without putting in any effort, you make just enough of a show that you can claim the high road when people point out that you haven’t really done much at all. When the rubber meets the road and the cause needs you to step up in a real way–with funds or with manpower–you’re nowhere to be found.

    1. Or that ice bucket challenge. Where people would dump ice water on their heads and make a cool video INSTEAD of donating to the actual cause.

  15. This is such a lame “letter”.
    Come on Rebecca, you could at least pretend like you care. They obviously have the worse staff ever. I mean, we know Kate can’t be bothered but her staff should have her back and paint her in the best possible way. The staff is just as useless.

    Yes, I wouldn’t even know about hospice week if it weren’t for this, but I find it like such an insult. Why take worthy and delicate causes if you are going to be completely absent?

    A visit when she was ” so busy working” at the beginning of the yr, with pictures released until this week or a video message would have been great.

    Anyway, I saw this old picture of Kate and she is wearing the same dress – I would burn the dress. Quite fuggly to begin with… http://41.media.tumblr.com/7f96b65099c3d57c92b92f7a85a5ebc2/tumblr_n7fyzd3p2c1reqsvvo1_400.jpg

    1. I think W&Ks staff gives only slightly more shits than W&K do. The staff put in far more work, but they either are just not good or just don’t care that much. I hate to say that because I do think their staff deserves the credit for all that they do, but given how bad W&K look it just seems like their staff aren’t that great. It could be that W&K just won’t let their staff do a good job, though. Like, the staff wants to do better, but W&K put their feet down and refuse to listen to their staff.

      Yes that pink dress is an old DVF wrap dress. I’m not a fan.

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