What the what is going on with the Royals

[gatorsmom]

Like why didn't KP photog take the pic? Or even if for privacy William took the pic, why wouldn't KP do the editing to do it correctly? It just seems like an odd move for an institution the carefully manages every aspect of public (and private!) life.

Kate has given the media numerous photos she has taken in the past of her kids and their family. There are even photos of Kate taking family photo released by the media. I think the bigger question is why is the press making such a big fuss about this particular photo? According to some reports when they saw that it had been edited, they killed the photo and said they wouldn’t use it. Why this time?

[mom2binsd]

Tiktok is crazy with videos. The most interesting is that the photo released is actually a redo of them from Nov of last year, just manipulation of the color of Kate's sweater, Charlotte wearing the same boots, sweater and more instances where they have put together this new photo but it's not at all new. Not sure why the royal PR can't figure out how to make this better.

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[MSWR0319]

I went down the rabbit hole a week ago. Something is way off. She was glammed up and propped out on the stairs hours after giving birth. But now some sort of surgery has her out of the public eye until June?? It doesn’t make sense.

Exactly! I had forgotten about that until I read the article.

The article also brought to my attention how differently Kate is being treated when she wants privacy vs how Megan was treated when she asked for a little privacy.

Something seems off here.

ETA: I'll also admit that when I saw the picture of her in the car with her mom, neither of them really liked quite like themselves. I just brushed it off to no makeup, but did think Kate looked more like Pippa. Apparently there was also a fifth wheel in the original photo, but no idea if that's true either.

[dogmom]

Kate has given the media numerous photos she has taken in the past of her kids and their family. There are even photos of Kate taking family photo released by the media. I think the bigger question is why is the press making such a big fuss about this particular photo? According to some reports when they saw that it had been edited, they killed the photo and said they wouldn’t use it. Why this time?

There are two issues. Some press outlets, like the AP, have rules that they enforce with any news picture that they enforce. Since Kate hasn’t been since, and questions have been increasing, this has crossed the line to newsworthy vs just posting on her Instagram. So the agencies that did “kill it” were news organizations and they were in keeping with their previous decisions.

The second issue is the edits could mean it’s a composite photo. Which in itself is not wrong, but once again it’s not the first photo you want to put out in months of none. Couple this with the royal press telling the UK press NOT to publish the photo of Kate with her mom in a car last week, and then this and it’s all very strange.

For many people, like me, it was: oh yeah, princess, surgery, secretive vs private, Easter, blah, blah. Forgot about it. Then this all happens and it almost seems like there is some kind of tipping point of weird pieces of information that don’t make sense. It’s really not so much about Kate or what you think about her, but a whole drip, drip of feeling that the image they are projecting doesn’t match the reality. I think the Queen was so long lived people just gave it a pass. Things were nostalgic after her death and the coronation of King Charles, but now it’s back to the reality of the royal institution.

As far as PR blunders I have to wonder is some of it is these kind of positions have a weird overlap with the tradition of the court and peerages. That it’s more who you know, or who your family knows, vs ability. I mean that’s true everywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more true here.

[khm]

Kate has given the media numerous photos she has taken in the past of her kids and their family. There are even photos of Kate taking family photo released by the media. I think the bigger question is why is the press making such a big fuss about this particular photo? According to some reports when they saw that it had been edited, they killed the photo and said they wouldn’t use it. Why this time?

This particular photo held meaning, to calm the questions and the speculations - "Kate is OK, see, here she is!".

But the photo seems to have been a COMPLETE fabrication. ie, it was taken months earlier (prior to the mysterious surgery) and edited in a way to change their clothing so it wouldn't be tied to the earlier timeframe.

This wasn't minor editing of a stray hair or hiding a bra strap - it was crafting a narrative that just wasn't true. Like, creating a fake vacation photo in front of a green-screen or editing in a person who wasn't even at a particular event. (Which the Kardashians have done.)

If things had been normal, if we'd been seeing Kate it wouldn't have been such a media story, it would be WEIRD, just not conspiracy level weird. They were looking to tell an entire false story with the photo, not just a quick bad iPhone-edited social media post of no consequence (a la Kardashians).

They'd have been much better off continuing to say nothing at all. Or, just posting some flowery mother's day words "from" Kate with no photo.

[georgiegirl]

Funny that you posted this since I just read that long article with timeline. Something is definitely off. I’m guessing mental health/substance abuse. Or she had a hysterectomy and things went really badly (but that doesn’t seem likely.) releasing the photoshopped pic with the kids wasn’t the best idea, but it doesn’t seem like the royal family (or whoever manages this press) is up to date on technology and social media and they aren’t good with PR (judging from my knowledge from watching The Crown…lol.)

I can’t imagine being in the public eyeball of the time


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[mackmama]

I'm not a royals watcher but just figured royals might get special treatment after surgery like a 2 week stay to ensure full healing before release? Now reading your responses, maybe that doesn't make sense.

[gatorsmom]

There are two issues. Some press outlets, like the AP, have rules that they enforce with any news picture that they enforce. Since Kate hasn’t been since, and questions have been increasing, this has crossed the line to newsworthy vs just posting on her Instagram. So the agencies that did “kill it” were news organizations and they were in keeping with their previous decisions.

The second issue is the edits could mean it’s a composite photo. Which in itself is not wrong, but once again it’s not the first photo you want to put out in months of none. Couple this with the royal press telling the UK press NOT to publish the photo of Kate with her mom in a car last week, and then this and it’s all very strange.

For many people, like me, it was: oh yeah, princess, surgery, secretive vs private, Easter, blah, blah. Forgot about it. Then this all happens and it almost seems like there is some kind of tipping point of weird pieces of information that don’t make sense. It’s really not so much about Kate or what you think about her, but a whole drip, drip of feeling that the image they are projecting doesn’t match the reality. I think the Queen was so long lived people just gave it a pass. Things were nostalgic after her death and the coronation of King Charles, but now it’s back to the reality of the royal institution.

As far as PR blunders I have to wonder is some of it is these kind of positions have a weird overlap with the tradition of the court and peerages. That it’s more who you know, or who your family knows, vs ability. I mean that’s true everywhere, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more true here.

About the enforcing photo rules, I read that different publications fudge annd sometimes outright ignore those rules all the time. They just chose not to this time and that’s what’s weird. Why enforce the rules now and not with other royal photos?

And for the whole feeling of “what’s really going on?” I keep turning to photos of Prince William out and about making appearances and meetings. He seems happy and relaxed. Given how he’s acted during other stressful public moments (like around his brother in the last few years or years ago when photos of him and Kate topless in the South of France were published), his demeanor now seems different. He doesn’t seem like his wife is in serious trouble. He seems friendly and outgoing rather than reserved and worried.

KP reuses photos of the family all the time. I think it was last November they published a photo of Kate from a shoot they did several months earlier. So it doesn’t seem that unreasonable that they would take an oldish unpublished photo, doctor it up a bit, and give it to the press without expecting much trouble. They’ve done it several times.

All this hoopla- I honestly believe Kate had a photo she tried to edit a bit, did a crappy job, and the royal PR folks didn’t look closely at it before it was released. Thats all. I think Kate’s sighting in the car with her mom was also planned so as to calm the hysteria, and maybe KP asking the news not to publish it was intentional too (to give it more credibility). If you remember, Queen Elizabeth on the advice of her PR people wasn’t going to speak to the public when Princess Diana died. She went for several days staying out of sight without saying a word before she finally felt it necessary to address her people. I’m guessing, William’s family is doing the same. If it hadn’t been for the crazy hysteria, they wouldn’t have sent out a photo or arranged other sightings. They would have kept all of this private.

[gatorsmom]

Or more specifically the Princess of Wales. Or even more specifically, the freaking PR a department.

I was mildly interested in the “She’s in the hospital for TWO weeks for an ELECTIVE abdominal surgery?!” Yeah, no fairly healthy woman of her age has any kind of elective abdominal surgery needs two weeks in hospital unless something went major league sidewise. Even a she needs a temporary colostomy for a diverticulitis scare (would explain a lot) can get home sooner than that if it’s not serious badness. Especially someone with resources and privacy to be home with her family. (Source, myself and 20+ years in a surgical ICU.)

But I shrugged, figured it’s her business don’t care that much. More of a professional curiosity, like guess the Kings cancer. But then all heck broke loose this last week and then the picture. I’m just what the what? So I went down the Rabbit Hole, so you don’t have to. Found I really good article that talks about the Royal press and a timeline that is bananas. (It’s a conversation from Buzz Feeds forms Royal reporter that wrote the excellent piece comparing coverage of Kate vs Meghan’s pregnancy.) Also, had not idea of the Spanish writer’s speculation. I am now fully invested in this.


https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/03/th...-in-the-media/

Edit: Just to be clear, none of this is about spreading bad gossip about the Princes of Wales, which I don’t rally have an opinion one any way. It’s more just getting a little bonkers. My favorite podcast did several episodes about Princess Dianna, also no strong opinions, but I found the episodes interesting. Especially when they said the way the royal Family is treated is sort of a human rights violation on that they really can’t lead a full life, while having none of the power that went with monarchy, at the same time being obscenely rich. It’s all quite bizarre.

One thing I forgot to mention about the hospital stay is how differently things are done overseas. I can’t speak to England’s hospital policies, but when I was a nanny for a doctor in France, I was astonished the things that were paid for by their national health system. Week-long vacations in the sun were “prescribed.” I heard of that happening more than once. When I had a GI bug that my host-mom didn’t even give me an exam for, she prescribed me 5 different medications that the health system filled and paid for- an anti diarrheal, an anti-cramping, 2 pain killers and something else. All prescribed and paid for by the system. I didn’t need or take half of those meds but she said to have them “just in case.” Their whole system felt overly cautious. If the British NHS is anything like that I wouldn’t be surprised if her hospital stay was different from what’s normal here.

[DualvansMommy]

Honestly, as a whole with the PR within Royal family does not surprise me one bit with their blunder over the latest photoshopped photo. I’ve always said, the RF is a whole serious institution and their PR is as Prince Harry described in his book; lots of secrets among each team, inter fighting and power control from each “family” within the RF.

Also, while Kate was treated in a private hospital so it’s bit different from public hospital/NHS, I wasn’t *really* that surprised for the length of stay from something major; even planned. Hospitals are very different in Europe, not like here where it’s truly treated as a business with everything open 24/7. Over there; labs don’t run on weekends, elective surgeries if can plan doesn’t happen on Sundays. So things take time. Need an X-ray? It’ll be several hours or a day wait, need bloodwork, it’ll wait till next business day, and so forth. They also did mention she was in the ICU for few days (can’t remember where it was mentioned-so not sure how accurate) but if that is true then yes that timeline isn’t that suspicious.

The whole PR should be overturned and new system and people brought in, but because this is the RF where trust with “outside” world doesn’t come easy, a lot of staff often comes with connections. So it’ll never happen to see a brand new PR system there.


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