Chapter 12 Part II: Kate: Suddenly Front and Center
Kate does not like public speaking. It makes her nervous and she mumbles. This is why she prefers outings that "involved interacting with children or sporting activities, where it’s more about her actions than her words." Probably this sounds reasonable. It is not.
Kate has a small work load. This is because she has children and her real duty was to produce an heir and a spare. The entire institution is very obsessed with the production of heirs and spares. It's all heirs and spares all the time. It defines everything.
Sometimes, she gets so nervous that her husband William has to check in on her by text to make sure she is doing ok, especially before she does her first interview with Blue Peter. Don't worry, she was worried for nothing and it was fine. She might be willing to do an interview again! Scobie writes "Given that Kate was in a public-facing role for eight years up to this point, the journey to this breakthrough took longer than anyone expected. Still, progress is progress."
She was slow to start her early years project and maybe if she had advocated for it sooner, the government would never have cut funding to the program the Labour party introduced in 1999 when she was 17 years old. But remember- the royal family is not supposed to be political.
The media focus on what Kate wears rather than what she does "to such an extent that often what she says and does is usually an afterthought. Compared to other royals, mainstream coverage of Kate in the British papers is overwhelmingly positive, often bordering on infantilizing the princess, with articles marveling at her ability to perform the simplest of tasks (think enthusiastic reporting about kicking a soccer ball or flipping a pancake, or how amazing it is that she can assume the perfect “princess pose” in photographs)."
You know, she's boring, but they don't even criticize her when they conceivably could if she didn't build up so much good will by being boring.
This is not like Meghan, who was also a "shiny thing" for the monarchy. But the difference is that "[Meghan's] outgoing nature and leadership potential, qualities for which Kate isn’t known, early coverage of Meghan’s royal engagements were far less about fashion choices and more about her work or her role in the Firm. Until they weren’t."
Meghan was wonderful at being a working royal. "With her acting experience and upbeat demeanor, Meghan was supremely comfortable in her public-facing role, even when she initially knew very little about it." The palace found this intimidating and obnoxious.
I really need to include all the gushing description, don't I? "Before it all went wrong, the Firm’s American outsider and underdog was becoming the star of the show. Whether it was guest-editing an entire September issue of British Vogue while heavily pregnant, releasing a bestselling book for charity, or collaborating with British fashion brands to launch a capsule collection to raise money for her patronage of the women’s employment coaching charity Smart Works, Meghan got things done fast. It was Princess Diana all over again."
It is news to me that Princess Diana did all that within the first few years of her role. Silly me, I thought she was once called "Shy Di" and known for being a bit awkward and that this is part of why the public liked her so much. I must have got my facts wrong.
Back to Kate. Being all scared of being a royal and being very afraid of talking and unable to take leadership, it looked like she would be very dull compared to the new, more modern-looking royal the world was seeing in its new star. So Kate took a lesson. She even started dressing more like Meghan, "Slowly transform [ing] into the more relaxed, business-casual attire chosen by the California duchess."
Despite Kate's general shy, dull nature, Meghan really hoped they could bond, but Kate is cold when she doesn't like someone and she didn't like Meghan. She didn't like her right from the start. "She spent more time talking about Meghan than talking to her."There are no rational reasons given for this, so we are left to speculate about what prejudices might drive it.
Also, did you know Kate says she supports mental health treatment but also ignored her own sister-in-law's cries for help? Seems out of character for someone who should be available for all of this and definitely didn't have three young kids and a brother going through major mental health struggles requiring family support at the same time.
Kate watched in silence as the press wrote lies about Meghan. Kate has no idea what that feels like and probably has never had to stay silent as the press wrote harmful lies about her.
Now Meghan is gone, and the "sometimes Stepford-like royal wife" (get it, she's like a fembot) now looks more assured and confident. She sure has benefited from Meghan being gone, hasn't she? She even released a photography book during the pandemic that was "reminiscent of Meghan’s 2018 Together cookbook in aid of the Grenfell survivors of London’s Hubb Community Kitchen" in that they are both books.
Kate got married in 2011. Remember how she's like a Stepford fembot? That's because "In many ways this is where Kate’s personal story comes to an end: she traded in Carole’s training for the Palace playbook, and the young woman disappeared behind a Palace-constructed mold." In fact, she has no inner life at all anymore because she has been "Transfigured by her new role and completely dedicated to indiscriminately supporting William, Kate—with institutional assistance—successfully sublimated her authentic self, becoming an enigma to the public and perhaps even to herself." She doesn't even know herself anymore. And she doesn't care what her husband does, because her job is to support him without even thinking about what she's supporting and why.
You'll be happy to know that Scobie believes that sometimes, "The misogynistic and snobbish way many of the tabloids wrote about Kate was reprehensible." After reading this chapter, I trust we will all be very assured of his consternation on her behalf.
(Or at the least he received a personal video.)
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