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Kate Middleton Prince William royals

Prince William & Kate are ‘arguing’ over Prince George’s role in the coronation

In recent years, Prince William and Kate have shown a willingness – if not an eagerness – to put their three children front-and-center at all times. They made Prince George wear a little banker’s suit on a hot day at Wimbledon. They were fine with Prince Louis having a tantrum in the middle of the Jubbly parade. They were fine with Princess Charlotte’s visible discomfort during the Commonwealth games. And on and on – we’ve seen so much of the kids in the past two years, especially since Will and Kate like to use the kids as human buffers. In any case, I wouldn’t think that William and Kate would be in any kind of disagreement over the kids’ roles during the coronation, but some people think they’re arguing about it:

Prince William and Kate Middleton are proud parents to three children, but the couple is reportedly arguing over their eldest son, Prince George. George — like his father — is the heir to the British monarchy, but his role in King Charles’ coronation might be too much for a 9-year-old to handle.

Royals expert Tom Quinn analyzed the possible concerns both William and Kate have surrounding Charles’ big day. “I’ve heard from my contacts that there is a bit of an argument going on about whether George should play a more formal role,” the author shared in an interview. “I’ve heard that Kate and William are worried that it will be too much for him. It’s almost an echo of the way William and Harry were sometimes made to attend formal occasions that they shouldn’t have been made to attend — most famously, the funeral of their mother, and walking behind her coffin at their age,” Quinn added.

While Quinn shared his thoughts on the possibility of George attending Charles’ crowning, the writer discussed the judgment His Majesty received following Princess Diana’s death. “A lot of people criticized that and said that it was a horrible thing to make two boys that young, and especially Harry, do,” Quinn explained of Prince Harry and Prince William. “So I think people are remembering this and thinking, ‘Well hang on a minute, if George is some sort of a pageboy, or has a similar role at the Coronation, is that going back too far towards the traditional roles?’”

Considering William and Kate’s focus on providing a sense of normalcy for their kids, Quinn doesn’t believe George will have a major role at the event.

“So I’ve heard that there is a debate going on quite fiercely at the moment about how to do that. And, as far as I’ve heard, it hasn’t been decided yet,” Quinn said while noting that the youngster’s responsibilities “won’t be too prominent.”

[From MSN]

Whatever argument between Will and Kate, I bet it was mitigated when they learned that the coronation was going to be all about Queen Camilla and HER family. I believe that when the Waleses heard about Camilla’s insistence that her grandchildren have significant roles in the Chubbly, that’s when the Waleses decided that all three of their kids MUST be included and that George MUST be front and center. That being said, I agree that a big, dumb coronation is not the place for three kids. I doubt Charles even wants George front-and-center?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Instar and Cover Images.

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Kate Middleton royals

Princess Kate is the personification of ‘this could have been an email’

Remember in 2021, when President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden visited the UK, and Dr. Biden did an event with the then-Duchess of Cambridge? It was supposed to be this simple event about early childhood education, Kate’s “specialty.” Except that being put beside Dr. Biden completely exposed Kate’s incompetence, her inability to form complete sentences, her lack of expertise and all of her embarrassing hand-flapping and fake-accent work. It was especially bad because the palace couldn’t control it – Dr. Biden was there, and as such, the American media scrum had followed her to the event. It was a slow-motion trainwreck with international coverage.

Ever since that moment with Dr. Biden, Kensington Palace has taken pains to tightly control all of Kate’s busy-work projects. Shaping Us is just another in a long line of lightweight, do-nothing busy-work setpieces given to Kate. She’s told to go somewhere, make a speech and the palace controls the optics and the videos. So it was on Tuesday, when Kate debuted her Business Taskforce on Early Childhood. There is no plan, no fundraising campaign, no project to invest in. This was Kate in her keenest Meghan cosplay, making a big-girl business speech in front of big businessmen!

I ask again: are you not embarrassed? Because this is embarrassing. Kate is the personification of “this could have been an email.” The coverage really emphasized the entire keen endeavor too, that it was style over substance, that the important thing was that Kate got her big-girl business photo-op with business buildings in the background, looking businessy. That unhinged nutjob Daniela Elser even made this whole mess about Prince Harry, as in – look what Kate is able to accomplish as a royal, eat your heart out, Prince Harry. Meanwhile, absolutely no one has said what Kate’s Keen Business Taskforce will actually DO.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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Fashion Kate Middleton royals

Princess Kate wore McQueen to address her Business Taskforce on Early Years

The Princess of Wales was seen today in London, as she attended the first meeting of her Buttons & Business Taskforce on Early Childhood. That’s right, people. Kate now has business partners and a “taskforce” helping her… raise awareness for the importance of business taskforces, pie charts and early years. Who even knows at this point? The important thing is that Business Keen was there and she wore a £1,945 Alexander McQueen blazer so she would look like a real businesswoman! The blazer is actually a repeat – last year, she bought a surprisingly good and crisp McQueen suit, and she’s reworn it a few times. This is the first time she’s worn the blazer solo. Probably because she really loved the effect when the Duchess of Sussex wore black trousers, a white blouse and a cream blazer during the You Coulda Had a Bad Bitch tour. Kate has tried to copy that look a few times.

For months now, I’ve been unsettled by the state of Kate’s famous hair and her even more famous wigs. Since she became Princess of Wales, the wigs have been BAD. Like, she’s just plopping them on her head and no one bothers to blend them or take care of them when she’s not wearing them. Today was a whole new hair look though – her hair seems conditioned, healthy, freshly styled. Whatever she did today, I hope she keeps doing it. Meanwhile, Business Keen made a speech:

Giving a speech at the event, Kate spoke about how the first five years of a child’s life are critical to lay the building blocks for life, but their environment plays a huge role in that development.

“This, however, is not just about supporting children in the earliest years of their lives. It is also about building healthy communities in which they can grow. Because the healthy development of our children relies on healthy adults. So this is why we all have a part to play,” she said. “And that is why I’m standing here in front of you, to ask you, some of Britain’s most influential business leaders, for your support in helping create the societal change that is needed.”

Princess Kate continued, “I have spoken before about the need to make early childhood the societal equivalent of climate change. In the way that the business world has embraced the net zero target to protect our environmental ecosystems, you also have an important role to play in ensuring that our social ecosystems are protected too. Your business organizations are living examples of these social ecosystems, so building healthy environments both in and out of the workplace is fundamental.”

Kate acknowledged how many people in the business sector are parents or carers, but encouraged them to “think a little more radically.”

“I know businesses are feeling the pressure across the board. However, I truly believe that by investing in early childhood, with a specific focus on social and emotional development, businesses in turn will see in the future… better communication, better working relationships, improved resilience, employees finding better work–life balance, less stress, more patience and understanding and increased job satisfaction,” she said. “Not only that, but the societal impact we could have, if we work together on this, could transform lives for generations to come. As the saying goes, it really does take a village.”

[From People]

So she did use the word “invest” and she seems to be asking these business leaders to take child development seriously. But… is there a follow-through? Is this it? She assembles a Business Taskforce and just makes a speech asking them (vaguely) to prioritize “investment” in Early Years? Business Buttons, do you have a plan? Are you telling them WHERE to direct this investment? Do you have a list of nursery schools and programs which are desperate for funding?

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.

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Kate Middleton royals

Princess Kate has created a keen ‘Business Taskforce for Early Childhood’

As I’m writing this, the Princess of Wales is due at an event in London but it hasn’t started yet, so we don’t have photos. The event is what I want to discuss, though, because Kensington Palace gave the Daily Mail’s Becky English a preview and we need to discuss it. Remember “Shaping Us”? Shaping Us is Kate’s latest “awareness-raising campaign” for Early Years. Most days, I believe the awareness Kate is trying to raise is the public’s awareness that she “cares” about Early Years, and that she alone has identified the “importance” of Early Years. It’s especially notable at this moment, where nurseries and children’s centers are being defunded and shut down in the UK, mostly from lack of funding. Instead of using her platform and her ability to fundraise to actually help parents in a real, tangible way, Kate is once again using her position to… create a “business taskforce” to help her raise awareness.

The Princess of Wales will today bring together some of the biggest firms in the UK to create a new ‘business taskforce’ to back her campaign to prioritise early childhood. Kate, 41, is determined to transform the way society views the importance of the early years from birth to five in shaping society and is now taking her initiative to the City.

Companies worth tens of billions of pounds including NatWest, Unilever, Aviva, Deloitte, IKEA, Co-op, The LEGO Group and Iceland will join the royal round-table to launch her new ‘Business Taskforce for Early Childhood’ later. Run by business, for business, Kensington Palace said it will play an ‘essential role’ in The Princess of Wales’ work to transform the way in which society prioritises and supports children in their earliest years.

In a statement it said: ‘Early childhood is vital to the health of our economy and society, now and for generations to come. Given the key role of the business community in both the growth of our economy and in shaping our society, as well as the clear interest in developing a strong future workforce, this is an opportunity to come together to affect long-term change.’

The Taskforce will hold its inaugural meeting today at NatWest’s headquarters in the City of London, building on the recent launch of the princess’ Shaping Us initiative.

[From The Daily Mail]

So, it’s actually a huge problem for businesses when their future workforce is currently falling through the cracks of society because of lack of educational and healthcare funding. Instead of using these business connections to, you know, get businesses on board to fund the faltering childcare and educational systems in the UK, Kate is just going to use the Business Taskforce for Early Childhood to… raise awareness for the importance of all of the child-development programs being slashed in real time. What bugs me is that these businesses should be much more concerned about their future workforce, but instead, they’re happy enough to tread water with Colonel Keen’s Busy Work Extravaganza.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, KensingtonRoyal.

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Kate Middleton Prince George of Cambridge Prince Louis of Cambridge Prince William Princess Charlotte of Cambridge royals

All three Wales kids will be included in the coronation procession

For weeks now, there’s been talk about whether Prince William and Kate’s children would be included in the coronation. It was said that King Charles felt strongly about including Prince George front and center, to create a visual reminder of the line of succession. Then Queen Camilla decided the Chubbly would be her victory lap, and that her children and grandchildren all needed to be front-and-center for all of the coronation activities. Suddenly, William and Kate seemed… less than pleased. There’s definitely a feeling that Camilla is pulling “rank,” and using her authority to write out Diana and her sons. So, obviously, William’s reaction is to put all three of his children in the coronation procession. That’s what this is about: William vs. Camilla, despite the Telegraph trying to make it seem like it’s about Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are all expected to take part in the King’s Coronation procession from Westminster Abbey back to Buckingham Palace, it has emerged. The three children, who will be aged nine, eight and five by the time of the May 6 ceremony, all feature in the Coronation rehearsal plans, according to reports. They will join their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, in a carriage behind the King and Queen, who will be in the Gold State Coach.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are not currently factored into the plans, The Telegraph understands. The couple have not yet confirmed their own attendance but if they do come, they are not expected to take part in the post-Coronation procession that will be reserved for working members of the Royal family, according to The Times. Kensington Palace has not yet confirmed the attendance of any of their children and is unlikely to do so until the day, given their tender years.

The Prince and Princess are still said to be “pondering” whether to take the lively Prince Louis, who turns five next month, but are thought likely to include him. Prince George, as a future king, is expected to take on an official role in the ceremony.

It comes after it emerged that the Queen Consort’s grandchildren will also have an official role at the ceremony. Her son, Tom Parker Bowles, has two children aged 15 and 13 and her daughter, Laura Lopes, has a 15-year-old daughter and twins aged 13. It is thought that the boys may be pages.

[From The Telegraph]

Ah, the “procession.” Yet another thing to which Prince Harry must be excluded. No wonder William suddenly wants all three kids involved in that. What are the options for the actual ceremony though? Louis and Charlotte will get to ride in a carriage through the streets of London, and then they’ll be fobbed off on Nanny Maria as soon as they arrive at Westminster Abbey? Cute. Anyway, I maintain that this is mostly about William’s irritation over Camilla’s grandchildren being front-and-center, but yeah, some of it is about Harry too. William and Charles are so obsessed with visually snubbing Harry that they refuse to consider how wrong it will look to exclude the king’s younger son, the fifth in line to the throne, from the procession. Oh well, if they’re too stupid, vindictive and racist to see it, it’s not our problem.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid, Instar.

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Kate Middleton Prince William royals

Are you ready to see how ‘The Crown’ handles William & Kate’s college years?

The Crown’s Season 6 has been filming for months, but in the past week, paparazzi have gotten a lot of shots of the two young actors playing Prince William and Kate Middleton. Ed McVey is the late-teen William and Meg Bellamy plays College Kate. The Crown is actually filming in St. Andrews, and some of these photos definitely look vaguely like the paparazzi photos of William from his actual university years. The Crown’s casting can sometimes be all over the place, but I think Bellamy and McVey appear to be well-cast. Is McVey more attractive than William? Yes.

Vanity Fair had a piece analyzing the photos from the set, and they suggest that the scenes being filmed are of William seeing Kate around campus and “longing” for her or something. So… maybe we should have another conversation about William and Kate’s actual history? Because Kate had been trying to throw herself in William’s path for years before she even followed him to St. Andrews. Even Kate’s hagiographer Katie Nicholl said that flat-out: Kate had been trying to get in with William’s crowd for a while, they met before university, she copykeened his gap year plans and then followed him to St. Andrews. Robert Lacey confirmed it too – William ended up dating and marrying his stalker.

So… yeah, I will be curious to see how the start of Will & Kate’s relationship is handled on The Crown, especially given Robert Lacey’s involvement as a royal historian/advisor on the show. Will they show even a smidge of the real history? Also: I love the late ‘90s and early ‘00s college fashion. Yes, everyone wore super-flared bootcut jeans back then.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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Kate Middleton royals

Princess Kate celebrated Mother’s Day with a ‘new’ photo with her kids

Here in America, Mother’s Day is in May, after Easter. In the UK, Mother’s Day fell right after St. Patrick’s Day, on Sunday. Thus, we got some new photos of the Princess of Wales and her children. We’ve been seeing Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte a lot in the past year, to the point where even the Daily Mail columnists are calling the kids “overexposed.”

I wish I understood why Kate is so obsessed with trees and tree-climbing, but whatever, maybe it’s not that deep. Photographer Matt Porteous positioned Kate and her children in a leafy tree. This photo is months old – it’s from a photoshoot last year. I recognize the clothes! Kate and the kids are wearing the same clothes they wore in their “Christmas card photo.” I presume this was taken in Windsor, around the time when William and Kate finally moved into Adelaide Cottage. That’s what I thought last year too, with the Christmas card. I guess Kate didn’t feel like hiring a photographer and doing a new photoshoot. She prefers to just parcel out these random, off-season pics. Oh well.

King Charles and Queen Camilla also posted photos of their late mothers too. Hold on, Charles had ginger-y hair when he was a kid?? And Camilla really takes after her mother.

???? To all mothers everywhere, and to those who may be missing their mums today, we are thinking of you and wishing you a special #MothersDay. pic.twitter.com/v3ugcnH8pJ

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 19, 2023

Photos courtesy of Matt Porteous for Kensington Royal.