After a week in which the Princess of Wales has been relentlessly and monstrously hammered over her Mother’s Day Photoshop mishap – accused of trickery, dishonesty and willful deception – we are entering uncharted waters.
Because her critics are surely in danger of making Kate avoid public life altogether. And honestly, who could blame her if she chose to go underground?
After being so viciously attacked, there is every possibility that a ‘shell-shocked’ Kate could choose to cut back on her future royal engagements once she recovers from her surgery. If people continue to treat her so badly, why on earth would she want to appear to them as needed?
Let’s not forget that it is entirely within her power, except when it comes to certain formal engagements such as state occasions, to do just that. She is the mistress of her diary and her presence at a large number of events is entirely at her discretion.
Just imagine where our already depleted and painfully sad monarchy would be left without its shining star. An ailing king, an elderly queen, William, Princess Anne and the Edinburghs.
We only have to remember how overwhelmingly sad Prince William looked on the red carpet at the Baftas last month without flickering Kate by his side. Without her constant presence, the light would go out of the royal family.
As we hadn’t seen her since Christmas Day at Sandringham (pictured), she also innocently tried to reassure us that she and her young children were fine
Why would she be so accused when she only did what millions of mothers do, photoshopped their family photos to keep everyone happy and released it for Mother’s Day every day?
And why would she be hounded like this when she was only doing what millions of mothers have done – Photoshopped family photos to keep everyone happy?
Insiders say she ‘just wanted a nice picture of her family’. Who does not?
Having not seen her since Christmas Day at Sandringham, she also tried to reassure us that she and her young children were fine and that the nasty rumors on social media about her health were rubbish.
Kate looked for us and all she got was mud in her eye.
It does not take a doctor to conclude that the past week would have hurt her beyond measure, increased her stress and, it is feared, prolonged her convalescence.
She is one of the most famous and photographed women in the world, with all the pressure that entails. I guess we shouldn’t say ‘where the hell are you?’ but sends her wishes for a speedy recovery.
Having sacrificed so much of her own privacy to become William’s wife, to carry the heavy burden of becoming the future Queen and raising an heir and spare, George, Charlotte and Louis – and to give them all a clue of the normal, happy family life William never had – the least we can do is respect her privacy as she recovers.
Since her engagement to Prince William in 2010, Kate hasn’t put a foot wrong. For more than a decade, she has only enhanced the image of the royals with her decency, integrity and, yes, glamour.
And all with a natural grace, like Diana’s, and an ability to appear as at home with ordinary people as she is with kings and queens.
The work she has done in early stages of learning, addictions and with homeless charities is not only tireless but highly respected. She is also a champion of mental health, which is ironic given that those who now attack her think so little of her own mental health.
Honestly, I don’t know how she does it. And increasingly I wonder why she bothers.
After being so viciously attacked, there is every possibility that a ‘shell-shocked’ Kate could choose to cut back on her future royal engagements
She’s already had to deal with the Sussexes’ departure to California, which has made life that much more onerous for her and William, with double the workload and double the worry of keeping the faltering old company afloat.
She has suffered in dignified silence the awful things her once-beloved brother-in-law Harry said about her in his book Spare, and Meghan’s sly comments in her 2021 Oprah interview.
And recently she endured being named by Meghan’s mouthpiece Omid Scobie in his book as one of the alleged ‘racist’ royals who questioned the skin color of her unborn son Archie.
She never complained, never explained, as she respects the Queen’s dictum of royal dignity. While we’ve learned a bit about how the slings and arrows of the Sussexes have enraged William, particularly attacks on his beloved wife, there hasn’t been a whisper from Kate. There is no nasty ‘Kate Camp’ leaking animal stories. But how they must have hurt her.
Because no story about Kate and William goes without a nasty story being leaked by friends to Harry and Meghan. An unnamed member of the ‘Sussex camp’ reportedly pounced on the photoshopped image, claiming: ‘This is not a mistake Meghan would ever make.’
A day later, the Sussexes issued an official statement via a spokesperson, denying that a source close to the couple had made the comment.
Good, but the damage was already done. And let’s not forget that when it comes to photo retouching, there are the airbrushed pictures of Harry and Meghan in glossy US magazines – one of which ridiculously gave the follicle-challenged Harry a full head of ginger hair. The couple’s 2021 Time Magazine cover was even ridiculed by an American pundit for being “the most airbrushed picture I’ve ever seen.”
Does anyone seriously think that the recovering Kate planned to fool the public by having William take a photo of the family in the backyard so that she could spend hours tweaking it herself to add it to a scratched tree , adjust the window sill incorrectly and adjust the cuff of Charlotte’s cardigan?
It was a picture for Mothering Sunday, for crying out loud, a day when we should all be celebrating mothers instead of pouring bile on them because they might have made a mistake trying to do the right thing.
Let’s all give Kate a break. Because if we don’t, she may very well take a break from us.