I wasn’t going to cover this, or at least I was going to wait a while before I mentioned it, but the inane coverage of William’s charity dinner/gala (for the Royal Marsden Hospital, held at Windsor Castle) has made me want to say something. There are SEVEN (7) articles on the Daily Mail website dedicated to this thing. And guess what, they’re pretty much all just fashion posts. Yet they still claim, in the articles, that Kate decided not to attend because she didn’t want her clothes to pull focus from William’s charity. That is some utter BS right there. If William didn’t want fashion to pull focus, then he shouldn’t have invited so many fashion girls to his event. And if he is willing to invite so many fashion girls to his event, then there is no reason for Kate not to be one of them.
I understand that Ralph Lauren was sponsoring the event since he donated funding for a new breast cancer wing at the hospital, so of course the event would be filled with fashion girls and the night would pretty much devolve into a fashion event rather than an event for the hospital, but if that’s the case, then there is no reason for Kate not to be there. And the “she’s still on maternity leave/she’s on baby-sitting duty” excuse that the articles also try and use is null and void since they have a FULL TIME NANNY. Then they try and claim the “Kate and Will want to keep their engagements and charitable projects separate” excuse, which the author of the article even debunks by saying that Kate has visited the Royal Marsden with William before, so that excuse is also BS.
And it gets even stupider. The first thing William said to Ralph Lauren and his wife when he met them was, “I’m sorry my wife’s not here, you probably would far rather you saw my wife.” Disregarding the fact that the last half of that sentence makes little sense, why the heck would Will apologize for Kate not being there when the only reason she wasn’t there was because he didn’t want her there? Seriously, his (the palace’s) excuse for Kate not attending was that she and Will want to “spread their influence” by doing separate engagements. If Kate not attending was something Will would need to apologize for, then just let her attend! It’s not like she didn’t attend because she had somewhere else to be or something. The excuse given was that they didn’t want to do engagements together. She could have easily been there. If Will hadn’t apologized for her non-attendance, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but apologizing when he’s the one that didn’t want her there? Ugh. Own your opinions and decisions, William.
You know, this engagement was thrown out as Will’s alone, and I was okay with that—it seemed odd that Kate wouldn’t be his date since it’s a dinner/gala, but I was fine with it. It’s when they started making excuses for Kate’s absence that I took an issue with it. If this is Will’s engagement alone, that’s fine, but then just come out and say it. Say Kate was never supposed to be there. Don’t make excuses for her absence like she was ever supposed to attend. It’s like when Kate kept saying that she wanted to bring George with her to engagements while in Oz and NZ, but she couldn’t because he was sleeping. That was dumb because George was never scheduled for those events in the first place. Ugh. This is so stupid. Make a decision and defend it, Will and Kate, and stop making excuses for dumb sh-t and flip-flopping all over the place as some lame attempt to PR your way out of culpability for anything. It only hurts you in the long run.
Okay, rant over. Let’s talk fashion, since that’s pretty much the only point of this event. Oh, wait, there was a point: “to celebrate the innovative work of The Royal Marsden and bring together the Hospital’s world-leading consultants, supporters and philanthropists.” Sure… except that’s not what anyone is talking about. All anyone is talking about is the fashion from random celebs that happened to be there. I totally understand inviting celebs to charity events to get publicity—why do you think the royals do charity work in the first place—but when the entire coverage is all the fashion, and not even Will or his speech that he must have given since there are pics of him with note cards, then that’s a problem. UPDATE: Here is the transcript of William’s speech via his website. /UPDATE Anyway, fashion…
Cate Blanchett: This woman is gorgeous. She looked flawless in a white, one shoulder gown. Her hair and makeup were flawless, too. Cate for the win.
Emma Watson: I must admit, I have loved Harry Potter for a good 14/15 years—first the books, then the movies. So I still have a soft spot for all things Potter, including the actors—Emma played Hermione Granger. While I have a soft spot for Emma, I don’t particularly like this outfit. I’m not a fan of the button-down shirt tucked into a long skirt, and her makeup seems too dark.
Helena Bonham Carter: Helena wore a dark blue gown with layered ruffling on the skirt. I don’t know if I would like this dress on anyone else, but on Helena, I kind of love it. She makes it work. Helena for the second win.
Margot Robbie: Margot wore a long-sleeved silver dress with an exposed back. The exposed back would have been too much had the dress not had long sleeves (maybe it is still too much given that this was a royal event, but whatevs). I’m not a huge fan of what the dress is doing to her breasts in front, but overall I think she looks nice.
Jessica Michibata: I don’t know who this is, but she wore a red drop-waist, strapless gown. I think it may be a bit pagenty for the event.
Zhang Ziyi: I don’t know who this is, but she wore a grey long-sleeved, embroidered gown with a giant feather shawl thing. The dress may be pretty on its own, but the feathers are too much.
Sophie Turner: She wore a black, one shoulder gown. Meh.
Lily James: She wore a black dress with beading on the top and feathers at the bottom. Hm… it’s not terrible, but not great either.
Cara Delevingne: I have no idea why this chick is a thing, but whatever. She wore a black dress with… whatever, she’s boring.
Kate Moss: in a black one-sleeved, tank dress with a thigh-high slit. This is so ugly.
Ricky Loew-Beer (Ralph Lauren’s wife): Oh my. She wore a white gown with tiers of ruffles at the bottom, a neckline that makes it look like the dress is trying to swallow her head (or her head was chopped off and placed on a cake plate), and a satin, waist-length jacket. Man, this is awful.
Here’s Benedict Cumberbatch, just because.
Oh, by the way, I want to point out that most of these women wore their hair up. I can almost guarantee if Kate had been there, she would have worn her hair down. Speaking of Kate, maybe the reason she didn’t want to go was because she knew she would get out-fashioned by Cate Blanchett.
[Here is a video of the event; part of Will’s speech is at the end, starts around 3:20 mark–again he just reads off the note cards.]
Links: Daily Mail 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. OMG there’s an EIGHTH article from the DM, this one is about Kate Moss asking where Kate was and maybe flirting with Will when he said Kate wasn’t there (I say maybe because I don’t know, it’s not overt, but it seems weird). Express.
Here are links for Will’s appearance at the re-dedication of HMS Alliance on Monday, May 12, if anyone cares. Express. Daily Mail.
William and Harry participated in the first polo match of the season over the weekend. The match ended in a tie. Here is the Hello article about it.
Speaking of fashion, check out the Least Favorite Outfit Poll. I think it’s the green Erdem for the win on that one.
prince william is embarrassed of his wife, shes no match for this ! Yep its good she locked herself up wherever she is!
I can’t see why he should be embarrassed of her. Yeah, her hair sometimes gets in the way and she wears too much makeup, but everyone has imperfections, like his baldness and arrogance. Yeah, she doesn’t converse all that great, but he doesn’t either. Something more is going on here. They are separated IMO, but don’t want the world to know it.
It’s a good thing that William is going solo to events as Kate is an embarrassment. He was backed into a corner by Kate’s forceful mother and probably felt that he had no choice but to marry Kate. He has done that and an heir has been produced. Is it time to cut the ties and start moving away to a life separate from Kate?
I agree with you about their inane excuses they are using for (lack of) appearances that have already been announced. It seems they feel guilty about something…
It was difficult for me to even understand this event was for the Royal Marsden – everything was about supposedly high fashion (yuck!) and money. To me, the whole purpose of the evening was lost on clothes and money. Nothing about the accomplishments RMH has had.
I thought Kate Moss had a loaded question asked of PW, asking first where his wife was, then asking – rather suggestively: “Must be nice to be home, now?” I took it as a double entendre for being back from their Oz/NZ trip, but also an opportunity for Kate Moss to be with PW, since Duchess Kate is now at home.
Did any of you see the Celebrity Dirty Laundry article from a few days ago – it skewers Kate on her lack of work ethic. Here is the link:
http://www.celebdirtylaundry.com/2014/kate-middleton-princess-diana-lazy-charity-photos/
You know, for most of the events Kate does, the main focus is on her clothes and not the charity, but they at least do devote some time to the charity. With this event, it didn’t even seem like a Royal Marsden thing, since it was hardly mentioned. All anyone cared about was the stupid celebs that attended. I think that was a huge mistake inviting all those dumb celebs.
As far as Kate Moss is concerned, I think she’s a a-hole. If she was flirting with him, that’s just gross.
Right- it seemed like it was “The Ralph Lauren Celebrity Dinner & Gala featuring HRH Prince William for someplace called the Royal Marsden Hospital to benefit something called cancer research” – my take on it anyway.
And why was everyone dressed in some hue or another of blue/gray with either ruffles or feathers?
yes she works very hard,picking flowers, grinning and waving,
My goodness I do love your spot on fashion commentary!!!
Thanks 🙂
It is quite strange how absent she seems to be. There is another event I read about that she won’t be attending as well. Odd
Which one?
This is just getting more and more obvious that they live separately, and Will plans for them to work separately, too. The only time they have been really spent together this year was after he went on vacation with Harry and Jecca, and on tour. This year’s anniversary was supposedly spent “quietly, alone” and last year’s was “he popped in for a romantic private dinner.” The awkward hand holding at Christmas, announcement that she would be working alone, his living in Cambridge taking fake classes…one doesn’t have to be a genius to see it. Of course, we still have the media touting how in love they are. The only reason for a wife not to attend a dinner her husband is hosting is that they are not really together. Why else would Willy-boy not want her around when there are lots of attractive and well dressed young starlets in the vicinity? A real husband would want the support of his wife at high profile events.
I agree something weird is going on, and has been for a long time. It seems to me the more they try and pretend nothing is wrong, the more is shows that something really is wrong. That hand holding at Christmas was the most obvious thing ever.
I firmly believe they are hiding something from the world. Only time will tell-perhaps. I don’t buy any of the excuses they have made for her lack of work or working separately–either to co-parent PG or spread influence. I don’t think she is around because he doesn’t need or want her around for the time being. The only thing she has mastered in three years is how to look good in front of the cameras and produce beautiful glossy photos of herself. When the cameras are off and the doors are closed she is sorely out of place. She could change that with hard work and determination, but I don’t think she has the desire. I believe over time she will live at Anmar most of the time and we will not see much of her except for Royal ceremonies and the occasional times when she is required to join PW. Meantime, she gets a place in the history books and other riches to boot.
It’s not as if Willy doesn’t have stellar role models for him in his father and grandfather. His father’s married to his former No. 1 mistress, in case anyone’s forgot b/c of the slick Palace PR machine. I’m not saying I feel sympathy for the late Diana, Princess of Wales; the woman had a hundred problems of insecurity, depression, etc., all without help from her husband. She’s been dead for 16 years and I would really wish (without sounding cruel) we could keep it that way. Constantly talking about Diana, or comparing Waity to her, or speculating on what she’d think of this, that or whatnot, is not worth our time. But no, there are cracks showing. I truly wouldn’t be surprised if Willy and Waity announced in September or October that she’s pregnant again. That way it distracts the press from the fact that the cracks are showing, will give Waity an excuse to not do any royal duties for seven or eight months and will rally the pro-royals (of which I count myself as one) to gather outside Buckingham Palace and sing “God Save the Queen”. The upper class in Britain has done this for centuries: Marry for social advantage, pump out an ‘heir and a spare’ and live separate lives if the match doesn’t work out (it rarely did). Charles and Diana (and a few socialites) blew the lid off that. It still continues, it’s just more blatant.
I agree about leaving Diana in her grave.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate announced another pregnancy sometime this year, if only to give her yet another excuse to not go full time. Of course, what will happen is Will will say he’s taking some BS job and will remain a part time working royal, and Kate will announce a pregnancy. I hope I’m wrong.
Re the living separate lives thing, that may be the case for the upper class, but it goes against the PR image Will and Kate are trying to sell. In this day and age, keeping the fact that they live separate lives a secret will be more difficult, and when that comes out sh-t will hit the fan, PR wise. So stupid if you ask me.
I agree with the pregnancy. A I don’t think a divorce or separation will happen. RF has to much to lose. There is something they are hiding, pregnancy seems the logical choice… But you never really know what’s going on with PW, he can be so secretive about the smallest of things (his hate of the media issues). I can’t see Kate agreeing to stay away from PW in public, she fought long and hard for her position in the RF.. She want just give that up! Besides I believe they are in love!!!
I don’t think a divorce will happen either. The only way a divorce would happen is if them staying together is more damaging than the divorce–like a ginormous scandal or something.
I understand wanting to keep your private life private, I really do, but Will takes it to a whole other level. William doesn’t realize that the only reason people still keep the royals around is because of what the royals give them. The royals bring awareness to causes and such, the royals give people a nice rallying point and sense of country (I was amazed by the support of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; we don’t really have stuff like that in America), the royals give people entertainment (seriously, they are a soap opera). When Will takes these things away the way he does, he takes away the public’s reason to keep and pay for him. William needs to stop being butt hurt by every little thing the media does and realize he needs to give the people a reason to keep him around, or else it’s bye bye William V. And part of that is giving some insight into his life and family. And if he really doesn’t want to do that, then he needs to abdicate his title and place in line and go live off his inheritance from his mother (and when that runs out, and it will the way he lives, then he needs to get a real job and not BS around).
Their excuse is even more BS since the next scheduled event they just announced (Kate’s first since the end of the tour) is a JOINT engagement for both of them in Scotland. Just a few days after they claim they “want to keep engagements separate to spread the influence”, they schedule a joint event. So dumb.
Have you seen the latest DM article which states that Ralph Lauren was rip roaring mad when he found out Kate was going to be a “no show” at his soiree? Apparently, he found out 6 weeks ago, and was so angry he threatened to cancel the whole thing. I guess that is why William made that apology. But now that Kate is making the movers and shakers (i.e. monied people) angry, I can see support for the RF taking a major dive, and quickly.
Yes, I just saw that. I still think it’s ridiculous that if Kate’s non-appearance was going to be such an issue that William had to apologize for her absence, why couldn’t she just throw on a dress and show up? It’s so dumb. If you are going to anger your chief donor by not being there, then show the f— up. There is no valid reason for her not to be there. So f-ing stupid.
Yeah, right? Especially if they already knew he was upset, I mean how hard would it be for her to put on her RL dress, get her hairdresser to mess up her hair (for 500 pounds per hr), and just attend for an hour? I can imagine, because of this, other philanthropists may think twice about donating anything associated with the Duke and Duchess, as she is so reluctant to do anything. Complete shame, too, because it will be the needy that will suffer the most (as usual), and not any of the HRH’s.
waiting game by waity is going on after 3 years of marriage, she cant COPE, she does not like competition, she does not want to support her husband, kate brings NOTHING on the table except, taking and taking and selfishness
I don’t want to make a whole new post for this, but want to bring up two new articles coming out of this event. The first article is about how Ralph Lauren was angry when he found out that Kate wasn’t going to be at this event. And the second article is an opinion piece about how the royals are becoming too concerned with the rich and famous, to the detriment of the monarchy. Basically it leads with the fact that having two well known coke heads (Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne) at Windsor Castle is not exactly great for the royal’s image, and concludes with all the other shady people the royals have taken money from/hung out with.
Interesting analysis. Very true. I’m surprised there wasn’t any mention of Prince Harry’s skiing trip in Kazakhstan or the Duke of York’s partying with a known pedophile, his ex-wife’s attempts at procuring $40,000 cash in exchange for access to his influence, or his attempts to get his titled daughters’ jobs. The problem with the younger royals is that people conflate them with vulgar celebrities like the Kardashian sisters or pop stars. In the Cambridges’ case, I would agree. But the Queen is the de jure head of the government, head of the armed forces, head of the Church of England. She isn’t a “celebrity”, but the Queen of fifteen nations. That’s what makes the royals different from celebrities, is the head of the Family is part of an unbroken line of rulers dating back to the 10th century. It is unhealthy as an institution for the royals to associate themselves with such, b/c people will continue to conflate them with celebrities and eventually will conclude that like all celebrities, their time is past. Then say hello to “President” Cameron or God forbid, “President” Miliband.
I think part of the problem with “modernizing the monarchy” and letting in the celeb culture, is that they’re turning the royals into celebs, and that’s only going to destroy it faster. Why should the people pay to keep the royals if they are nothing more than celebs?
I have no proof, maybe bill is embarrass by waity’s nudity in Canada & New Zealand?
Did I miss something? When was she nude while in New Zealand? Are you maybe referring to the nude pics taken in France but released while they were on their Asia trip?
Oh yeah – of course – the flashing just as she was leaving the plane. How could I forget that one? Sorry, Halia!
When was Waity nude in Canada? I can’t speak for Willy, but if my girlfriend wanted to sunbathe nude in front of me, I would be totally okay with that. I think most men would.
I think Halia is referring to Kate’s 1st (?) “Marilyn” moment when the wind kicked up her yellow dress at the airport, just as she was to meet children suffering with cancer, I believe. For a split second, you could see Kate’s bottom, as it appeared she was not wearing underwear – or else she was wearing the world’s tiniest thong!
Ok, that makes sense. 🙂
med4kmd your right & Recently in New Zealand waity arrived carrying the baby doww the stairs. Her red dress was blown up by the wind! I am not a prude. I also wonder is billy is preventing kate from attending these gala, because of envy of sharing the spotlight! I have no proof!
Thanks, Halia. Don’t worry – I for one don’t think you are a prude. What we are all talking about with Kate’s “Marilyn moments” I think is just common decency. Sure, we can all forgive an occasional mishap on an especially windy day – or if a gust of wind kicks up unexpectedly. However, I think most people understand airports are notorious for being extra windy, even on an otherwise calm day. It’s the nature of the wide open spaces, the powerful engines and propellers, and the strength and momentum of the planes themselves as they move. It’s puzzling that she has not grasped this understanding, unless of course, she is a true exhibitionist.
We also understand, Halia, that it is very likely no one on these boards has any direct proof of what we say (for example, overhearing a conversation, knowing specific schedules not otherwise published, account info). We are going on what is publicly known, published reports, pictures and the like. So – no worries. It is all good! 🙂
And yes, I do think at times PW is at least a little jealous of the attention shown to Kate. Charles had the same problem with Diana.
It’s not prudish to expect a Duchess to keep her clothes on when in public, so no worries there. And I go back and forth with whether Will is envious of Kate’s attention. Part of me thinks Will likes having Kate to distract the public from when he wants to f- around, but part of me thinks it irks him that when they’re on duty, she gets more attention. Maybe it’s both.
I think Willy would be hard-pressed to be able to actually KEEP Waity from attending these events. Maybe she prefers “taking care of Georgie” (ie. watching TV, shopping on-line and eating Haagen-Dazs) to having to stand around awkwardly fiddling with her hair and walking two steps the wrong way in front of Willy. God knows if I could do nothing for two weeks at a time but whatever I felt like and then carry out an “engagement”, I would.
If all she wanted to do was be a stay-at-home mom with luxuries, then she should have married a billionaire, not a prince.
Well said KMR! I agree. I will personally NEVER criticize anyone for wanting to be a stay at home parent. However, I feel that perhaps someone who is a titled public servant should always be aware of the needs of the public and his/her power and ability to positively impact people who are less fortunate. If she only worked one day a week or took on one longer term project requiring only a minimal daily effort it would go along way toward her success. For me it’s almost not how frequently she works–if she could bring one idea or project or initiative to fruition and have one major success or take on something REAL and meaningful for her or somehow influence other people to get involved in things she is passionate about that would go a long way. The fact that she isn’t seen or heard from for large periods of time doesn’t allow her to come across as being dedicated to the Queen, her country, or her role. It just feeds the criticism we have all heard said about her.
You took the words right out of my mouth. 🙂
Maybe this is how it’s going to be – keeping it simple for she’s too vacuous to do any more than the bare minimum.
A few undemanding bits for charity here and there and a few dumbed down smiling and waving tours in sunnier, friendlier climes.