Catherine, Princess of Wales

[americanchai]

It doesn't even seem like something the news should be printing as "news". Like the Kardashian family Christmas card which is P-shopped within an inch of its life. Blurry pap pics of her in a car rushing into or out of a palace would be "news" - "she's alive!". Weird, nobody took blurry video/photos of her at a farm shop near their house? So hard to believe! Whaaat? Get outta here. You think the BRF organization that pays their comms people pennies has the money to hire body doubles?!!?? They won't even pay for security for that red-haired kid who used to live around here and comes around sometimes. Like they would pay someone to murder Diana. Or was she not the target and it was Dodi?

So many conspiracies spun out of nothing and to what end? She's not the prime minister. She's the spouse of the future king. Even if/when she dies, it will be sad but constitutionally nothing would happen. It affects the line of succession zero.

[luckylexie]

For a bit of a chuckle, here is what goes on behind closed doors in gov’t spaces , which I perceive is the same type of environment in the royal household. KP might’ve pushed back on the edited photo? Maybe they were overruled by Kate and her private secretary?

The proper function of government from Yes, Prime Minister.,

[Ladybug]

Whitehall figures fear hostile states have helped to spread wild conspiracy theories in attempt to destabilise nation. Engaging with conspiracy theories, even to express "OMG can you believe what this nutjob is saying about Kate?" is possibly helping amplify the coordinated disinformation campaigns of Russia and China. Russia has been doing this stuff since the Cold War, and we see it with our presidential elections, and they did it in the run-up to the Brexit vote. Social media is a valuable tool to do this. This is why Tik Tok and the China connection is a hot button issue.

The "i'M jUsT asKin QuEsTcHuNs" justification is straight out of the Fox News propaganda playbook, too. The information released by KP was clear from the beginning, also clear that no further info would be given unless it was a major update. We got a major update Friday directly from Kate. Anyone continuing to "just ask questions" or doubt that it was really her, griping that they aren't telling us enough/all, is acting in bad faith. Period.

During World War II, Hitler stated that Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum) was "the most dangerous woman in Europe" because she was so enormously popular and was an inspirational figure to the people of Britain during the Blitz. He was trying to break the morale and spirit of the British so they would capitulate. Her standing in the rubble of Buckingham Palace saying "now we can look the East End in the face" was a huge moment. Kate is not yet Queen, but she is popular and well-respected, even among republicans of the UK. Sowing distrust in what she says, hammering on about the family rift and her role in it, calling her a racist, questioning her health and the state of her marriage, etc. is likely not just harmless celebrity gossip. She can be used as a propaganda tool.

Knowing what was going on behind the scenes, I feel bad being critical of the Mother's Day photo. It was a blunder, but the reaction was way over the top. I wish their comms team had done better. Still, they were probably trying to protect her medical privacy (which we know hospital employees attempted to violate) and keep the information from getting out before she was ready. The video announcement was highly coordinated and obviously a lot of planning went into it.

[royalwave]

Mar 24, 2024 11:51:52 GMT -4 Ginger said:

The only mistake was the Mother's Day photo, and that was a failed attempt to calm the conspiracy theories, which were already rampant.

From the beginning, they announced the situation, laid out the anticipated timeline for recovery, and made clear what they intended to keep private and what they would share. They set very reasonable boundaries, and all they did was maintain those boundaries as Kate and her family dealt with the situation.

Couldn't agree more. I've worked in PR for years and I thought the statement initially issued about abdominal surgery was completely appropriate. The public is not entitled to the minute details of her surgical history and delivering those details would have set a bad precedent for anyone else in the family hoping for an entirely reasonable amount of medical privacy. I think even if Catherine had wanted to share intimate details (which I doubt she did) the better advice would be not to go there because it's not just about her but about what will then be expected of anyone in the family well into the future. Aside from that, there was going to be speculation no matter what the palace said because that's the nature of things. If people are inclined to believe the worst, don't like the Wales family for whatever reasons, or have preconceived notions, they won't accept any explanation. Might as well keep it simple and to the point. No more and no less than what anyone needed to know to explain her absence from the public eye for a designated period of time.

She is also a mother to young children whose wellbeing should take precedence over the "rights" of complete strangers to be total busybodies.

As far as the photoshop brouhaha, I have not seen any evidence to date of Kate being a deliberately deceptive person. There is zero reason to believe that if she hadn't been the one editing the photo, that the palace would have "forced" her to take the fall for it. Number 1, from what we know of William he would never have allowed that--I think he is incredibly protective of his wife and family. Number 2, it's just really not that big of a deal for an amateur photographer to do some amateur editing. I think it's relatable for a lot of people taking their own family shots, doing a bit of playing around, and posting them on Instagram. Number 3, I think she wanted to be honest and admit that she's not all that great at photoshop yet. She didn't want to blame anyone else for a mistake that she made. The Wales family probably pushed for some personal control over their own social media accounts (not unusual for public figures who don't want to be seen as having flunkies do everything for them), and once they got it they needed to take the responsibility for it.

On the one hand we want the royal family to be relatable, and then when they are they get raked over the coals for it. Do we appreciate Kate sharing her own photos or do we not? Personally I think we get more natural shots, more comfortable kids, and the family experiences less intrusion if they are allowed to shoot and release photos on their own. This was not photojournalism. It was a staged family portrait edited to show everyone at their best and reassure the public she's alive and well and thank them for their concern. Really pretty simple. They made an editing error and it probably won't happen again--lesson learned. But the amount of controversy this spun up is insane.

[Ladybug]

Colbert addressed the joke on his show last night. He did not apologize.

"I don't know if you have noticed, but we do a lot of shows, and I tell a lot of jokes and I tell jokes about a lot of different things, mostly what everybody's talking about," he told his audience.

"And for the last six weeks to two months, everybody has been talking about the mystery of Kate Middleton's disappearance from public life, and two weeks ago we did some jokes about that mystery and all the attendant froo-frah [sic] in the reporting about that.

"When I made those jokes that upset some people and, even before her diagnosis was revealed, and I can understand that," he continued. "I mean, a lot of my jokes have upset people in the past, and I'm sure some of my jokes will upset people in the future. But, there's a standard that I try to hold myself to, and that is I do not make light of somebody else's tragedy."

"Now, I don't know whether her prognosis is a tragic one," he said of Kate.

"She's the future of Queen of England and I assume she's going to get the best possible medical care. But regardless of what it is, I know, and I'm sure many of you, far too many of us, know that any cancer diagnosis of any kind is harrowing for the patient and for their family. And, though I'm sure they don't need it from me, I and everyone here at the Late Show would like to extend our well wishes and heartfelt hope that her recovery is swift and thorough."

There was no "mystery" about Kate. She told us she had surgery and needed time off to recover.

What bothered me about the original "joke" wasn't even that he was making fun of William and Kate, they are public figures and that comes with the territory. But Rose Hanbury is not a high-profile person, definitely not in the United States. Yes, she is rich and privileged and can hire lawyers to send him cease and desist notices, but that doesn't give license to people to accuse her of adultery with the future king.

As for Colbert well, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. He won't make light of another person's tragedy, but he's not sure if her situation is actually tragic. What a guy.

[tiggertoo]

Exactly. Why he had to drag Rose Hanbury into it is something I don’t get. I lost a lot of respect for him. He didn’t even address that part of it.

And I know it wasn’t just him, but C never disappeared!

[Ginger]

What a piss poor non-apology.

There was never any "mystery of her disappearance". She formally announced to the world exactly where she was: in the hospital, and then at home recovering.

Nobody needed to hear the cancer diagnosis to know that a 42-year-old woman spending two weeks in the hospital for abdominal surgery and two months at home recovering is gravely ill and facing something potentially debilitating. By Colbert's standards, that's not "tragic" enough to refrain from making light.

Even without the surgery, and without the cancer, Colbert was "making light" of rumors that a woman couldn't bear to go out in public because she was so devastated by her husband having an affair. That's totally funny and not tragic?

Jimmy Kimmel has gone up in my estimation for demonstrating common sense and decency. I haven't heard anything about Seth Meyers, so I'm assuming he didn't feel the need to ever weigh in?

[Deleted]

That… really sucked as a statement. What in the world, Colbert.

[lea1977]

That was a classic sorry, not sorry.

[prisma]

I thought this was interesting: Russian Group Spread Disinformation About Princess of Wales, Experts Say

A Kremlin-linked group known for online campaigns to sow falsehoods and distrust among Russia’s foes helped fuel the frenzy of conspiracy theories about Catherine and her health.

The whirl of conspiracy theories that enveloped Catherine, Princess of Wales, before she disclosed her cancer diagnosis last week probably didn’t need help from a foreign state. But researchers in Britain said Wednesday that a notorious Russian disinformation operation helped stir the pot.

Martin Innes, an expert on digital disinformation at Cardiff University in Wales, said he and his colleagues tracked 45 social media accounts that posted a spurious claim about Catherine to a Kremlin-linked disinformation network, which has previously spread divisive stories about Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as about France’s support for Ukraine.

As in those cases, Professor Innes said, the influence campaign appeared calculated to inflame divisions, deepen a sense of chaos in society, and erode trust in institutions — in this case, the British royal family and the news media.

“It provokes an emotional reaction,” he said. “The story was already being framed in conspiracy terms, so you can appeal to those people. And people who support the royal family get angry.”

The motive, he said, was likely commercial as well as political. Social media traffic about Catherine skyrocketed over the last three months, as a dearth of information about her condition created a void that an online army filled with rumors and speculation. For the Russian network, amplifying those posts through their accounts would enable them to boost their own traffic statistics and follower counts.

It is not clear who might have hired the disinformation network to go after Catherine, but it has a track record of campaigns to undermine the countries and people at odds with the Kremlin. Britain’s robust support for Ukraine, and London’s longstanding antagonism with Moscow, would make it a tempting target for the Russians.