4 lessons from the Wales' weekend
The Prince and Princess of Wales and their kids dominated news from Friday to Sunday
The long weekend of the Waleses started with a thunderbolt at 6 p.m. London time on Friday — Kate, Princess of Wales issued a personal message on her health and announced that she’d be attending the next day’s Trooping the Colour. From that moment, an avalanche of news, fresh images, and heartfelt sentiments didn’t let up until Sunday. It was a dizzying change for a family that has been largely out of the public eye for the past six months.
I’ve spent the last few days thinking about how we got from there to here. And the four lessons learned by the media, the public, and the royals and their staff.
THE WORLD IS FASCINATED. THAT ISN’T GOING TO CHANGE.
The intensity of the coverage over the weekend should have come as no surprise given that wall-to-wall coverage garnered by every event involving Kate this year.
TIMELINE OF HOW WE GOT HERE
Dec 25, 2023: Last time we see Kate in public
Jan 17, 2024: Announcement that she's had major abdominal surgery and will be out of the public eye until at least Easter (March 31)
Mar 10: That photoshopped image of Kate and her kids released for Mother's Day in the U.K. launches thousands of #WhereIsKate conspiracy theories into the social media stratosphere
March 22: Kate reveals she's undergoing preventive chemo in a video message
June 14: Personal message that she's going to Trooping the Colour and still has months to go in her treatment
June 15: Her first public appearance since Christmas Day at Trooping the Colour
June 16: Prince William as well as his children release personal social media posts for Father’s Day. It’s the first such message from George, Charlotte, and Louis.
The media devoted such blanket coverage to Kate’s first public appearance in six months because they know their audiences can’t get enough of the story of the popular royal undergoing cancer treatment. Sure enough, social media and news sites were flooded with images of the princess and her family.
What they saw was a woman in her element — at ease with the formality of a formal military event. Sometimes, she stood by the window of the Major-General’s office to get a better view with her children, sometimes she sat a bit back from that window, away from public view, safe in a room filled with royal relations.
Even her outfit was a classically “Kate” outfit — simple, perfectly tailored, and very photogenic. She modified a plain black-trimmed white dress, originally worn last year for a coronation reception, by adding dramatically striped bow to the collar and adding a matching stripe to the waistband. The Jenny Packham dress was set off by an equally grand Philip Treacy hat. Aside from pearl earrings, her only piece of jewellery was the Irish Guards brooch that she wore as colonel of the regiment. The style was so classic that the images from Trooping could have been taken at pretty much any time in since she married Prince William in 2011.
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