Here are some photos of Prince William in London on Tuesday, where he did an event in Sheffield. He went to the “Homewards Sheffield Local Coalition meeting,” and this is all about his Homewards initiative, where he’s “solving homelessness” by giving some grants to local homeless charities and maybe creating some low-income housing in Cornwall. While in Sheffield, he spoke to Kate Joseph, chief executive of Sheffield City Council, who mentioned something about childhood experiences. William was quoted: “That’s my wife’s area. She needs to sit here.” This mention of his wife made national headlines in the UK, because Huevo has bungled this situation so badly. At his previous public events, he refused to make any reference to Kate or her health. Speaking of, there seems to be a steady stream of royal experts criticizing William and Kensington Palace for all of their communications f–kups.
As the best selling royal author Christopher Andersen told The Daily Beast: “Every time Kate pops her head above the parapet, it only serves to remind us that we still don’t know what the hell is going on. Throwing gas on the fire every few days is no way to put it out.”
Rumor or not, the idea of a sit-down interview with the BBC must have crossed the minds of Kate’s staff as one way to definitively end the speculation. However, one reputation and crisis manager, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Beast: “I deal in outcomes, so I wouldn’t advise doing an interview with the BBC because interviews with royals on the BBC have not gone well in the past. The truth is that the correct thing to do entirely depends on what is wrong with her. If, for example, it is a hysterectomy, as has been widely rumored, it might make sense to do an interview with a newspaper explaining what was wrong with her.”
“It would also be sensible to release the originals of the Mother’s Day photographs. That would go a long way towards re-establishing trust. Don’t forget that, on the plus side, they do now seem to have both the Sun and the Mail on-side, basically saying, ‘She’s fine, leave her alone.’ That is a huge part of the British press and it’s no small accomplishment. They might decide to stick to Plan A, ignore the social media stuff, have her appear on Easter Sunday and hope it all goes away.”
The idea that Kate would actually deign to do a sit-down interview is a pipe dream. She’s not doing that! Nor should she, honestly. If this whole thing is about “protecting Kate,” then they shouldn’t have to prep her for days/weeks to answer questions and add to all of her stress. Of course, it’s not clear to me that William actually gives a sh-t about protecting Kate – he and his staff were happy to toss her under the bus for the Mother’s Day photo fiasco, so that certainly wasn’t about protecting her.
Robert Jobson also wrote a curious piece in the Mail, all about how William and Kate are handling everything brilliantly – such mystery, such magic! – except he also points out that William was wrong to pull out of King Constantine’s memorial so abruptly and William has been wrong to be so furtive and secretive. Jobson even writes: “William and Kate are the stars of the Royal Family now and will be in the future. After a series of own-goals, there is less cause for confidence elsewhere, however. This has not been the British Monarchy’s finest hour.” Jobson’s Buckingham Palace sources are telling him that this is purely a KP problem, but Jobson points out that the credibility of the entire British monarchy has been damaged by KP’s shenanigans. Anyway, the piece is overwrought but gently critical, and I think that’s significant.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.