On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the Princess of Wales’s little stunt photo-op in Windsor, the British Ministry of Defense announced that Kate would attend Trooping the Colour, the big “birthday parade” held every June. MoD announced Kate’s attendance because tickets were going on sale and Kate’s presence and name will give ticket sales a bump. The fact that it came right after we saw the first photo of Kate in 70 days was also kind of pointed – it was like MoD was saying “if she’s well enough for a staged photo-op in March, she’ll be well enough to review the troops in June.” In any case, Kensington Palace subsequently freaked out and “ordered” MoD to remove any trace of Kate’s name from the upcoming Trooping events. This has caused a lot of consternation – is this actually about Kate’s health, or is Kensington Palace simply incompetent? The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes is on the case!
Confusion over whether or not Princess Kate Middleton will be attending the royal family’s marquee summer event, Trooping the Colour, has reignited speculation about her health as she convalesces from abdominal surgery. The extraordinary debacle unfolded after Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a web link on Tuesday inviting the public to reserve places for the rehearsal ceremony on June 8, saying it would be overseen by Kate. The listing generated excitement (and bookings) after British news websites flagged the event, noting that it was the first public event featuring Kate to be scheduled since she disappeared from public view following abdominal surgery in January.
However, when The Daily Beast checked with Kensington Palace that Kate was planning to appear at the event, sources in Kate’s office pushed back furiously. They implied the Ministry of Defence had published the listing without checking with Kate’s team, and pointedly added, “Kensington Palace, no one else, confirms attendance of the Prince and Princess of Wales at events.”
By Tuesday evening, all mention of Kate had been scrubbed from the listing on the MOD website. It seems likely that the publishing of the listing was a digital snafu, perhaps based on a provisional schedule. It is likely that the many dozens of people who are required to know who is doing what at big state events like these have been given documents stating, provisionally, that their planning should take account of Kate being there. But that does not change the fact that the palace was clearly not ready to announce Kate’s attendance Tuesday, and had her name taken off the listing.
Of course the removal of Kate’s name (presumably at Kensington Palace’s demand) inevitably prompted speculation that the palace was effectively saying Kate was not going to be fit to return to duties by June. This would be a dramatic development, given that after she was admitted to hospital, her team said she would recuperate “for two to three months.” The palace gave themselves leeway by saying her return to official duties would depend on medical advice and likely not come “until after Easter.” But such speculation is not accurate.
While neither the MOD nor Kate’s team replied to questions from The Daily Beast asking if Kate would be at the June event, and even in off the record briefings palace staff were noticeably not saying whether Kate would or would not be there, the general understanding is that the advice given at the outset of Kate’s period of convalescence still stands. The Daily Telegraph reported that Kate is expected to attend the event.
Kate’s team made it clear they would not be bounced into making a comment last week by hysterical and ill-informed social media commentary, and it appears they are equally unwilling to make a hasty announcement in reaction to what one source described as “an MOD cock-up.” The source added: “I’m sure she will be there. I think the point is that she wants to be in charge of stage-managing her return to public life, not the MOD.”
But… it wasn’t an MOD cock-up, clearly. They were told that Kate was expected to attend Trooping, so they announced it to sell tickets. Kensington Palace is the one who f–ked up – instead of rolling with the announcement, William began furiously bitching out government officials for daring to suggest that Kate would be recovered by June. KP is making a big, bold stand that they alone can “manage” this ongoing PR crisis over Kate’s disappearance and mysterious medical issue, when KP is the whole reason why there IS a crisis. Instead of Kensington Palace simply making a statement of “yes, we certainly hope Kate is recovered enough to go to Trooping but we’ll double-confirm it at a later date,” they’ve once again turned everything into utter shambles.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid, Avalon Red.