One Month Until Kate's Back!
A story in the Times sheds light on the Prince and Princess's thoughts and plans
Hello Dear, Loyal Readers! And welcome to our new subscribers! It’s nice to have you here at HRH Royal Tea. Many of our newest readers this week found us via our most read posts: “A Key Witness Pours Cold Water on the William-Rose Rumors. Will People Finally Listen?” and “Princess Catherine Goes Raving with Rose” In these newsletters, we unpacked the origin of the debunked affair rumor as well as provided an update to the main drivers of the rumor strongly recanting their words. In short, the “facts” behind these rumors have about as much veracity as a £2 note. If you haven’t read this article or want a refresh on why these rumors are baseless, please peruse the newsletter I’ve linked below.
For my new subscribers, while I understand the way of absorbing news in this day and age consists of quickly glancing at a headline or taking a viral tweet at face value, this isn’t how we do things here at HRH Royal Tea. As a historian by trade, my responsibility lies in prioritizing tangibles that social media and the 24 hour news cycle simply can’t: Archival history, the reputability of sources, verified records and most importantly, freely available information released about and by the subjects we’re discussing. It’s the best way to get a clear picture of the subjects and topics we discuss here. For a main course on how deeply we dig, please see another one of our most read posts “We’re Not Asking the Right Question”. We did a deep dive into the Oprah interview and the claims made in Sussex biographer Omid Scobie’s Endgame. It was a hard but satisfying newsletter to write for many reasons. It’s a free post so everyone should have access to read.
So with all of that that said, let’s head into the topic for this newsletter: what I believe is a well-sourced story on next steps for the Prince and Princess of Wales. The long and short of it? The Kate Drought’ll soon be over!
Yesterday, Times royal editor Roya Nikkhah, released an exclusive story sourced from “friends of the Prince and Princess of Wales” which detailed how they’ve been handling the last several weeks, how they’ll handle the insane ramblings interest in Catherine’s death illness and when exactly we can expect her back to public duties. Before we dig into the quotes, I want to preface why I believe this story isn’t made up wholesale. Nikkhah’s been a royal editor at the Times for several years now. While she has a penchant for editorializing, she’s also the journalist who interviewed Prince William for his Homewards charity initiative in June of last year. She’s also interviewed Prince Harry in the past. She’s a member of the Royal Rota and I’d say, has contacts she can rely on for scoops. I’d put more stock in this story over anything I read on Reddit. So what’s next for the Will and Kate? They plan to keep calm and carry on.
Though much has been made about Kensington Palace no longer “being a trusted source”, William and Catherine plan to continue their well-honed tradition of releasing photographs of their children on their birthday:
She and her husband, Prince William, are still expected to uphold the annual tradition of releasing a new photograph marking their children’s birthdays. Prince Louis turns six on April 23.
“They appreciate the public’s love and affection for their children and know there is a public appetite to see them on their birthdays,” an aide said.
In my newsletter earlier this Monday, I mentioned how, when the Prince and Princess of Wales began having children, they forgoed the usual way of introducing them to the press, which at that point was inviting them over to their homes to film, photograph and accost them. Check out this archival footage on YouTube from the Smithsonian. It’s a one year old Prince William getting cameras and microphones shoved into his face before he can barely string two words together.
I hypothesized that the furor from the AP and other photo agencies about “killing” their photo was them trying to prove a point. Saying, nay demanding, “Let us back in”. I’m happy to hear Will and Kate’s retort: “Nothing has changed”. They’ll continue to do what they’ve done before. They understand that as senior members of the royal family, there’s a vested public interest in their children by people in England and the world over. What they won’t budge on is protecting them from what both William and Harry had to go through as children. (I find it fascinating that the same people who had sympathy for Harry’s struggles growing up in the royal family have no such understanding for what William and Catherine try to do with their family, but that’s a newsletter for another day). When this photo of Prince Louis’s released, the same photo agencies and publications stating the Wales’s can’t be trusted’ll be climbing over each other to share them on their front pages As for who is taking the photo?
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