Ever since the Princess of Wales stepped outside for Trooping the Colour, the British media has been ready to canonize her for sainthood. I understand why it’s a relief to see Kate, because I felt relieved as well. It was a feeling of “oh, thank god, she’s okay.” This family doesn’t have a great track record with keeping holders of the Princess of Wales title safe, healthy, happy or alive. For the British media, the relief quickly turned into a narrative so offensively saccharine, there was basically several days of backlash. Let’s not forget that the Telegraph – one of the biggest newspapers in the UK – said “When lesser mortals would have stayed at home, Catherine proved that the show goes on.” Well, People Magazine said “hold my beer” because their cover story this week is all about how Kate has shown the world (?) that she’s the most important higher mortal in the family or something. Some highlights from People:
Kate is not resuming public duties: “She has been doing what’s right for her and recovering privately at home. She is dealing with it the best she can,” a source close to the royal household tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week’s cover story. The public will need [to be patient] until the royal receives clearance from her doctors, but the hope is that her healing is well underway.
A corner has been turned: “The monarchy is going through one of the most difficult sets of challenges,” says Ailsa Anderson, former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth. “But it just felt like a corner had been turned.”
Kate looked happy at Trooping: “She looked vibrant and mounted and dismounted the carriage without losing a step,” says royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith. “She couldn’t have picked a better moment to reappear in public. She didn’t seem to stop smiling. She looked so happy to be there. It was spellbinding to watch her.”
They still swear that Kate has been running errands: Aside from Kate’s personal health update and Trooping the Colour appearance, there have been encouraging signs of improvement. Princess Kate has been spotted running errands and planning activities for the children, including a day at the beach, where she captured in a photo to mark Father’s Day.
Kate wanted to be at Trooping: “There were three generations there,” Bedell Smith says of the royal family’s united front. “It was a perfect way for Kate to reenter the public sphere at this event, which is so full of tradition going back hundreds of years and is a symbol of the continuity of the royal family.” Adds a royal source: “Family is really important to the Princess of Wales, and she wanted to be there to support her family.”
An act of service to combat conspiracies!! Princess Kate’s appearance couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, as rumors about her well-being had begun to recirculate. “Queen Elizabeth used to say, ‘I need to be seen to be believed.’ She said that before the days of online conspiracy theories, but she meant that in order to do the job of royalty, they need to be seen directly,” says King Charles’ biographer Catherine Mayer. “However difficult, or otherwise, this has been for Kate, appearing was an act of service under the terms of the institution she is part of.”
It rained on Charles’s parade: “The family will take great comfort from that kind of support — that people did stick around to see them all in such ghastly weather is a real testimony to them,” says Anderson.
That last quote… I’ve seen photos of the crowd at Trooping and let’s just say that people didn’t actually stick around, if they were even there before the downpour. Not to make everything about crowd size, but it does feel like the Carolean Era is being marked by a steady decline in crowd size and a complete lack of enthusiasm. I’d hate to think how much smaller the crowd size would have been if Kate hadn’t announced her Trooping appearance the day before. I will give her that – more people tuned in to see her and see if she was okay.
Catherine Mayer’s comments are interesting too, talking about how the royals “need to be seen directly… However difficult, or otherwise, this has been for Kate, appearing was an act of service under the terms of the institution she is part of.” Basically, Kate HAD to show up contractually because it’s bad business for a princess to go missing for six months.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of People Magazine.
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