Unnecessary and nothingburger are redundant but take that for emphasis. Exactly a year ago at this time, the internet was popping over Princess Kate’s whereabouts. She’d cancelled all public appearances and was dealing with health issues. The palace was not forthcoming with details. In the absence of information, social media went crazy with theories. This was before the whole photoshopping mess. And, of course, eventually it was revealed what Kate was going through but my point here is the public relations chaos that was happening and how those working with Kate and Prince William seemed to have no strategy around how to handle the situation, which contributed to the uproar.
Eventually the royal comms team was able to figure out a better way to keep the public informed while still protecting the princess and during the back half of 2024, Kensington Palace had it under control. Kate is now in remission and gradually returning to the royal schedule, this is great news for the British royal family and monarchists who consider her the firm’s MVP.
But now, only a couple of months into her comeback, another PR stumble, totally an own goal.
A story came out last week in The Times, “Princess of Wales: Focus on my work not my wardrobe” with sources telling the publication that they don’t want people to be talking about Kate’s clothing, implying that she “wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting”. The sources added that while there “will always be an appreciation of what the princess is wearing from some of the public and she gets that. But do we need to be officially always saying what she is wearing? No. The style is there but it’s about the substance.”
Reaction to this wasn’t great, and they couldn’t even blame it on Meghan Markle who is their usual scapegoat whenever there’s a royal fumble.
When I first saw the original article, I eyerolled. Not just because it was a stupid issue to bring up but also because it’s Hollywood 2016. This was the weak sh-t that actresses on the red carpet were trying almost a decade ago when they thought it would make them sound more serious and important. Example: Blake Lively when she reprimanded a reporter at the Variety Power of Women Luncheon in 2017 for asking about fashion.
That kind of nonsense doesn’t happen anymore since celebrities have come to Jesus about the fact that the presentation is part of the work. That clothing is also a form of expression. That there are talented people behind the scenes who should be credited for the looks they produce. That there is nothing “unserious” about caring about fashion.
Where the princess is concerned, with her platform, her clothing choices can also be a huge support to emerging creatives, and this was pointed out in the subsequent criticism. As I have always said, the British royals are OG influencers – they don’t want to admit it and they would never, ever use that term to describe themselves, but if we’re talking about their purpose, their whole sh-t is basically about promoting a product: the monarchy. Everything they do relates back to that. It’s not like they make anything or write anything or invent anything, they don’t code, they don’t design, they don’t compute, calculate, or craft. They influence, and their appearances are a huge part of the influencing. Nobody was out here screaming – in a meaningful way – that Kate shouldn’t care about how she looks.
So there is no reason this article needed to happen, they just manufactured a nothingburger!
And now they have to clean it up. Per PEOPLE:
“After a week of discussion surrounding the Princess of Wales' clothing and the possibility of changing the formal policy on sharing her fashion details, Kensington Palace issued a rare statement.
This follows a Feb. 1 Sunday Times article titled "Princess of Wales: Focus on my work, not my wardrobe," which quoted a royal source saying that Kate “wants the focus to be on the really important issues, the people and the causes she is spotlighting.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, a Kensington Palace spokesperson responded with a statement to PEOPLE: “Over the last week, I have received numerous questions about a story regarding The Princess of Wales’s clothing and how Kensington Palace shares information about her outfits."
“To clarify, the comments that appeared in the article were from me, not The Princess of Wales," the statement continued. "The comments that were reported should not be directly attributed to The Princess of Wales. To be clear, there has been no change in our approach to sharing information about Her Royal Highness’s clothing.”
This is so dumb and it is so messy. In other words, amateur hour. First of all, they just told on themselves, LOOOOLLLL.
In The Times article, even though we all knew those quotes were coming from inside the palace, they kept it generic. A “source” is the one who said those things, because that’s how the royals work. They want to send a message but don’t put their name on anything and we’re all supposed to pretend not to care about how the sausage is made.
The reason why PEOPLE says this updated statement is “rare” is because it is – they rarely clarify, and they rarely clarify to the point where they reveal that THEY themselves originated the f-cking story that nobody was asking for, FFS!
But, more importantly, in addition to telling on themselves, another embarrassment here is that they’ve also called out their own lack of imagination and incompetence. There was an opportunity here for Kate to add dimension to a conversation about her clothing, by making it personal and relatable to the health crisis she’s recovering from.
Most of us know someone who has had cancer – that’s the evil of this disease, it touches everyone. My ma has been treated twice for cancer, two rounds of chemo and a stem cell transplant. For many people like my ma who have gone through this experience, even though it’s not a cure, fashion and beauty matters. My ma rotated through a whole collection of fabulous turbans and scarves when she lost all her hair because she still wanted to look cute. When she came out of the hospital and started going out again, she put even more thought into her wardrobe, because she had spent too many months in a hospital gown, feeling ugly, feeling weak.
Not all people who’ve had cancer want to dress up when they’re recovering, but my ma’s perspective on clothing and cancer is not unique. There’s a program called Look Good Feel Better that acknowledges this fact and helps survivors address their appearance issues. Here in Toronto at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, where my ma was treated, there are programs offered to assist with patients and their beauty and fashion needs.
If civilian cancer survivors, who don’t live in the spotlight, care about their appearances, it’s completely understandable that the future Queen of England would as well. This was an opportunity for connection, this was a missed opportunity for the palace’s comm’s team to expand on the message that Kate has already been sharing herself about her own cancer experience – that it has brought her closer to the families who’ve been affected by the disease, that she is now in a position to better advocate for them, as unfortunate as that may be.
Instead of recognising this opportunity though, instead they reacted out of fear and, once again, outdatedness. These people are so behind the curve on the discourse around fashion and how it can be an asset, of course they flopped on this occasion. Of course they failed to recognise where the princess could add value. Of course they conjured up a nothingburger, and let it explode in their face. Tired of asking this but we have to keep doing it: why are they so bad at their jobs?
Here's Princess Kate today at 'Action For Children' Mother and Baby Unit at HMP Styal.
