Okay, I’m only going to agree to half of that. ALL royals know where the cameras are and ALL use that to their advantage. That is why you see them slowly turn their heads from side to side when walking the red carpet. They are not supposed to stand and pose like some celebrity so this is how they stay in connection with their “good side” and the cameras. QEII does this, Camilla does this, William does this, Harry does this, etc. Additionally, celebrities do many things like this as well. I recently read a book about stars and the red carpet, and it detailed how some celebs get there before the event starts so that they know where the cameras are and how their positioned so that they can walk the carpet gracefully and always be in the proper position for a good photo. It’s just how things are.
Now with the last part of your statement, I do not think she was trying to “manipulate them to capture how sad she [was].” I think she was trying to really portray how “moved” she was by the ballet dancers’ performance. Like I said in my post from last night, many public figures will exaggerate their emotions or responses to an engagement so that the photogs can get a good picture (or many good pictures). I think Diana was trying to give the photogs a good shot of her enjoying and being enraptured by the performance.
I was actually talking with a few people about the glitzy engagements. They all say something along the lines of William and Kate not listening to their PR team. Because really, their team is the best in the business and are professionals in their fields. So with that in mind, they had to of known that going to only glitzy events (even if there’s some sort of charitable endeavor behind them) would not go over well with the public and/or would not look good on paper. So, I think (and others agree) that William and Kate just do what they want because the thought of an entire PR team not thinking something like this through is just completely unheard of.
I don’t think it’s a big FU though. If anything, I think it’s a more of “I know what I’m doing” and/or “let’s just try to up our numbers before the numbers of the Court Circular are published!” I think like many people they think they know everything and have everything under control. It’s when something bad happens, numbers slip, and/or they hit rock bottom that they will find out that they don’t know everything. I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while since SJP and the media has been trying to always make William and Kate the victims to something instead of holding them responsible.
# Kate Middleton
# Prince William
# debate
# economy
# favorite
# holiday
# money
# opinion
# royalrealist
# vacation
# dislike
# suspicious
# PR
This article, which appeared in the Mail today, is a great example of how PR is constantly at work brushing up Kate and Wills’ image. It basically spins a story out of how the royal couple took a cheap flight back to the UK, how they’re so down to earth and how they ‘don’t have any airs and graces’. Excuse me, but wasn’t this just after they had taken a skiing holiday because poor old Will had six weeks of training and while he was away Kate did a handful of engagements?
I mean, this time last year they were cancelling skiing because it would not be ‘prudent in the economic climate’ or something. To then go on skiing with the Middletons and try to justify this holiday as to ‘make up for [William] missing Valentine’s Day’ reeks of an over-oiled, over-worked PR machine. The families of servicemen and women around the world have to endure much longer separations than six weeks, missing events like birthdays or Christmas, and they also don’t get to have six weeks of less than part time work. Their loved ones also go to war zones and face real danger, rather than fairly peaceful and uneventful training areas.
Other comments were hilariously off-key, such as how ‘the couple have obviously made the pennies stretch as this is their third break away together this year’. Someone crown Will and Kate the King and Queen of Thriftiness, because limiting yourself to three holidays in four months is certainly economic. Not to mention their ratio of working to shopping/hair-care/’charity researching’ days.
But what’s saddest about the PR desperately trying to paint over Will and Kate into the stereotypical ‘Brave RAF pilot!’ and ‘Faithful military housewife!’ roles as well as adding a dab of thriftiness is that it means Prince Harry’s good work goes entirely unnoticed. He recently featured in his own article in the Mail describing how the prince performed first aid when a rival polo player fell at a charity match - far from promoting Harry’s participation in charity matches to, I assume, benefit his charity Sentebale, or his quickthinking First Aid, the BRF PR machine allows the article to fall down the right hand side of the column of stories.
If this had been William - or even Kate - giving vital First Aid, we wouldn’t hear the last of it. I just think it’s tragic that Harry is being sidelined to prevent him overshadowing the constantly holidaying golden couple.
Bravo! Just three things though: 1) ‘It-was-not-prudent-in-the-economic-climate-for-a-ski-vacation’ was outed shortly before Harry went on his ski trip and Kate with the Midds tried to leave the country without anyone finding out. So therefor Harry would look terrible and everyone would think Kate was still hanging out in Anglesey. 2) William only did one mission while in the Falklands. He spent the majority of his time on the beach, eating out at restaurants, and drinking in pubs. 3) William spent an extra week in the Falklands after everyone else left so he could have his own vacation. So that would make technically 4 vacations for him (though he only went to Mustique on the last day). Also, he decided that after 6 weeks he would stay an extra week away from his wife. Definitely sounds like he missed her!
