The Prince of Wales and Princess of Wales made a joint appearance today at the Windsor Foodshare, a food bank located not that far from Windsor Castle. As you can guess, they arrived empty-handed! I think they’ve only brought food (and not donations) once while visiting a refugee center, but they’ve made numerous empty-handed visits to refugee children, food banks and baby banks. Are they incapable of thinking ahead? Literally, just go through the pantry at Adelaide Cottage and put extra soup cans and vegetables into a bag and bring that one bag to the food bank. I promise, it won’t kill them.
The whole point of the trip was to show everyone (the British media) that William and Kate “care” and that they are “volunteering” in Britain’s cost of living crisis. This event was also to mark the tenth anniversary of the Windsor Foodshare, which is part of Windsor Christian Action. A decade of food insecurity in an area close to Windsor Castle is not really a good news story.
Kate wore fuchsia – a Hobbs coat which retailed for £299, and a matching sweater, with flared black trousers. The Sun already has a story about how Kate was getting a dig at Meghan by wearing this bright color. You get it? Because Meghan said she tried to wear a lot of neutral colors when she was in the UK.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales visit Windsor Foodshare in Windsor, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited the charity to learn about their work providing food parcels to those who are struggling financially. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales Where: Windsor, United Kingdom When: 26 Jan 2023 Credit: Cover Images
“Let them eat smiles!”
And waves!
And “Jazz hands”
But they are the gift! The mere sight of them will banish all thoughts of hunger and instead fill the people with their godly presence!
Could they not have brought a cheque? Quietly arranged for a few pallets of eggs and bread to be delivered. Food banks are busy places and rely heavily on community volunteers. It would’ve been a great optic if they’d done anything other than just show up: William could’ve driven a van that picked up expiring food from a grocery store. Catherine could’ve worn more appropriate clothing and been photographed stocking shelves or filling food boxes to be delivered to the elderly and disabled. But this couple doesn’t understand what “service” really means. At all. The constant digs and/or copying of Meghan’s clothing is beyond tiresome and childish. This entire outing was a waste of everyone’s time. Another huge opportunity was missed.
Knowing the food doesn’t even have to come out of their own pockets, how difficult would it be for these two to have the nearby supermarkets graciously offer their supply that are coming close to the expiry date? It doesn’t take geniuses to implement a few measures locally to help a food bank while fighting wastefulness.
Bully and Showy’s public appearances are all about showing that Bully and Showy are making a public appearance: the deep significance and efficacy of such visits seem lost in an egocentric attempt at placing themselves at the epicenter of every social sockwave that will reverberate and magnify their persona.
In other words, Karen and Willain hijack attention from every cause they pretend to help, and redirect the attention to themselves: it’s become a circular pattern, and the fawning medias are complicit.
They only care about being photographed “working” so their pictures will appear in all of the tabloids, and adding one more engagement to up their work numbers. That’s it. So this BS fits the bill with no further thought required.
They just do. not. care.
Didn’t they say at some point their visits to charities would include fundraising drives?
Kate needs a haircut. She’s not 17 any more.
She didn’t even have a Tic-Tac, which rich women have one of, generally.
To paraphrase that guy in Superman: “Whoa. That’s a bad outFIT…. Whoa!”
Seriously, it’s truly ugly. Like mockingly so.
Anyway, these people expect to be GIVEN gifts, they don’t bring any to anyone, ever. And if you don’t get them Easter presents (?!), well then you’re banished for life!
LMAO love the reference, but they actually meant bad meaning “good” in the Superman movie 🙂 lol
Yes, he did. But that’s why I was only paraphrasing, and didn’t give context, lol. And why is William so wrinkly all the time? It’s like no one is even trying anymore? Is it because they no longer have “competition”?…
@ThatsNotOkay, yes I agree, William always looks wrinkly and shabby. Give his father his due (though it grieves me) but Charles always wears a suit and looks smart. I’d be affronted if Willy fetched up at anywhere I worked or volunteered looking like he’d just got out of bed and picked up his clothes from the day before off the floor to wear.
It looks like Willy dries his clothes on the radiator like Harry had to.
Usually I think that raspberry-ish color looks good on Kate (the dress she wore to Eugenie’s wedding comes to mind), but this, it’s TOO much. Too bright, too…almost-red, I don’t know, but it’s not good.
Are these clothes (aside from the pants & shoes) all new? Did she seriously spend all of that money to show up in never-before-seen clothing at a local food bank??
Whoever is in charge of this entire outfit. Fire them! K looks really beat up, even more so than usual (didn’t know it was possible either), but then her hair was styled like a hideous bird’s nest. Her outfit is terrible too! Super boring, despite the bright color and I have the feeling that she has worn something like this a hundred times! And she’s dressed totally inappropriate for this appointment, which shows once again what kind of personality she has. Wants to steal the show from everyone even on dates like this.
Yeah, the wiglet was just plopped on today.
I have never seen her hair this bad.
It did not look like this yesterday!! What the hell happened? Did they plop on a few more wiglets along the side or something??
Hi Becks1 and happy new year (first comment I’ve posted under you this year!). As ever, the photoshop for her roundtable event yesterday was on high alert, including giving her some more hair and layering on a healthy sheen. What we see here is the reality. I think it’s got to the point her stylists have nothing of quality to work with. Add in daylight and the breeze disturbing the fall, and her hair is shown up for what it is. Outdoor events and badly lit interiors are harder for her photographer to work with and rush out on time, hence the difference between today and yesterday. I was waiting for an event like this to see whether she’d had some serious work done over the holidays, but whatever she’s had done hasn’t worked. I believe Christina Hendricks and Nicole Kidman have problem hair like this from years of overworking it.
Her hair colour looked dark in the indoor photos yesterday and so I suspect there was a lot of photoshop then.
Being outdoors that makes photo shop harder and why the hair looks dry. She should also be going to a dark colour because the blonde doesn’t suit her and it never has. She has the time to keep up the dark colour and hide the roots so her hair stylist needs a real tall with her about avoiding the blonde. And maybe even suggest a trim. Her hair is not healthy looking here and the difference from one day in a controlled environment to the next is pretty revealing. Hair doesn’t look unhealthy and dry after just one day. It was always looking like that.
It’s giving Britney Spears when she was growing her hair out after she shaved it and she started wearing long extensions when it was still pretty short and you could see all the short real hair.
Omg, when she was in the UK…for 3 years… 3 years ago?! Such a sad stretch.
I would think Kate would avoid this colour, my first association is “that time she wore hot pink on a visit to the 9/11 memorial”
That was the first thing I thought of too
Same here, that was my first thought. She was terrible at her job then, and she’s terrible at her job now. Will needs to work on his ‘concern’ face. Both of them need to show up in more practical outfits if they’re actually there to work.
Yep, 3 years but STILL they have to copy everything Harry and Megan do. Remember the later part of last year when Harry and Megan went to a refugee centre, to meet the people THEY HAD ALREADY HELPED, took more aid to them and won an award for it. Maybe Billy bully and botox barbie were hoping they could get a parcel given to them (just so they could be photographed handing it back) the spin then would have been, look how kind and caring they are, giving a box of goods (bloody royal muppets
William and Kate are useless at this but Charles is anything but. He has apparently visited lots of Foodbanks and donated at least £1M towards them.
The Fails headline makes it out that she ‘donated’ a coat and jumper but declaring she ‘recycled’ which in the context of the visit would mean donation but we know she would never. I will never forget the time she ‘donated’ a baby box that she had been given to a charity auction – it was missing items that came with it, needless to say it didn’t sell.
Also they now have access to the Duchy Originals brand – surely they could have pulled strings there to get products sent to the food bank.
They look SOOOOOOOOOOOO uncomfortable.
WHAAAAAT?! I dindn´t know this, please elaborate, I´m dying
WHAT? She raided and then regifted a donated baby box? I’ve never heard that story, do tell!
And yeah, that’s what most corporations do – donate their own products. It would even be good publicity for the Duchy brand.
It would be good PR for the duchy brand AND for W&K in their roles as duke and duchess of cornwall. They are just so bad at this.
If they’d just shown up with a grocery bag, filled with suggested items, that would have set a good example for others. As in, this is what people need, what the Food Bank suggests. Our local grocery store does this every year.
Where are the pants police???
Anyway as for them arriving empty handed, it’s not the first time nor are they the only royals to arrive empty handed. I think even harry and meghan once visited a foodbank (of some sort) without bringing anything. Would it be smarter if they would make a donation? Absolutely.
These 2 are “working” hard this month. This is like kate’s 4th outing. And we still have that major announcement awaiting us.
I am not sure why we keep going about the empty handed thing – all Royals have always done this…would it be nice if they did, of course, but W&K follow the traditional path for their engagements and I can’t picture that the Queen ever walked into a charity carrying a bag of donations. M&H did things differently, which was great.
@canadian
Agreed. The royals can never and probably should never “give” these kinds of donations. Why? Because their existence is completely pointless and the only way it can be justified is via some intangible benefit like “tradition” and “tourism.”
Once they start doing things with measurable value, the question immediately becomes: why not do more? Why not just use the money RF sponge to fund food banks or education, because if bringing 10 bags of food is good, surely funding a school lunch program is better. Another reason a certain Duchess creating projects with measurable deliverables (like a best selling cookbook) was a huge threat.
Yeah, sure, true enough. Their contribution instead could be their time; instead of the pretend packing of a couple of bags (one each, looks like), with Kate in heels & not even taking off her coat, they could instead have set aside an afternoon, showed up in jeans & sneakers & sweatshirts, and helped out with whatever needed doing, sorting, packing, whatever. Zero reason they can’t do that. And William’s saying he’ll come back without ‘the entourage’? I call BS on that. He’s not going back to put in some real work. And certainly not without photographers.
She could have at least donated the extra fabric in her pants.
“Hi, we’re your neighbors in the castle down the road. We hear you are food vulnerable. We’d like a photo-op.”
Two photo calls this week in Windsor for Kate. She is making the bare minimum of effort in her outreach. Which means if you are within a fifteen minute radius of Adelaide Cottage, you’re in line for a very special visit from the Odd Smilers. Otherwise, it’s just much too far for the Princess to travel when she has young children.
On the outfit I’d say Christmas is over and way too attention-getting. Look at me I’m visiting the peasants in their hovels. But no Christmas basket!!! Haven’t the royals made a basic rule for themselves that they don’t give charitable money or goods? And clearly that’s because it’s a slippery slope. As in you should give more. Better to maintain the charade that their holy presence and blessings are sufficient. But truly who are they and what does it matter? They quite transparently are there to prop themselves up. Their visit has ZERO benefit for the food bank or its clients.
Perfect post @Dee!
@Dee, slow clap. That’s all that needs to be said about this farce
All I can say is: 🤦♀️
Also, I think Kate really needs a haircut. I honestly like the lob hairstyle she had when pregnant with Louis.
Same. A shorter do seems to suit her better. This long hair drags her face down even more. And she’s in serious need of some colouring
That hair ages her. I don’t understand the obsession with long hair.
The only way you’ll get Kate to cut her hair is if Rose or Meghan do it first.
There was a creepy part in Spare, actually, when Harry is bringing Meghan to meet Charles and the queen for the first time and Harry mentions that Charles and the queen love long hair (ew) and that the queen is always complimenting Katie’s “beautiful mane” (also ew). What a family.
It’s meghan-hair. She usually have sausage curls but didnt for her windsor meeting with children experts and this today. The long bangs are meghan’s 100’s. Gurl, you need a team with inspiration
We know she styles her hair just the way meghan does. But the colour kate’s hair is right now doesn’t look nice. Plus the long hair doesn’t suit her.
With meghan long hair actually does suit her. It makes her look younger. Plus her colorist has done a fantastic job with the brown streaks. It warms up her whole face.
Kate’s hair makes her look old and cold. I recently saw a picture of her (from a couple of years ago) where her hair was just past her shoulder and it was a deeper brown. It looked nice. And i thought to myself she should wear it like that again.
Kate’s natural color is such a pretty shade of chocolate brown, but she seems to have been lightening it for years now.
I know that once we start going gray, stylists often suggest going a bit lighter so that the grays don’t stand out as much, and touch-ups don’t need to be done as frequently. But this isn’t as issue for Kate, since she has all the time and money in the world to get her roots done in the privacy of her own palace every damn week if she wants. Her color now doesn’t suit her, and often looks a bit brassy. She should have just stuck with her original brown, because IMO her hair really was beautiful before she started messing with it so much.
I don’t think it looks quite as bad today as some of you do, but I do think that considering they planned the photos to be taken outside, and it looks a little windy, she would have been better off with a ponytail. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it looks unkempt (for a normal person), but *for Kate*, it’s unkempt.
I’m honestly surprised at how bad Kate’s hair looks here, and that colour is not great on her. Like you Lorelei, I think she looks her so much better with her natural colour.
Kate has been going grey for many years now and her natural colour at this point is likely all grey. There are a few photos from several years ago that show a lot of grey in the roots if she doesn’t have them touched up on time. and since she has to dye the hair completely she should go to the dark brown she had in her youth.
The blonde highlights trick to conceal grey is only for when there is a slight amount of grey in your hair and the grey can also pass as blonde. She’s well beyond that.
Soooo 10yrs from now she’s still going to wear what Meghan wore in 2018/2019? She’s never going to deviate and try on different types of professional wear or suits? She’s just going to stick to the Meghan look book?
Yes, unless someone else comes along whose skin she can try to wear.
In like 15 years will she move on to copying her kids girlfriends’ outfits and hairstyles?!
This is why she needs Meghan to start making more public appearances, lol – for the inspiration.
(which is silly bc Meghan is now a full on professional woman, albeit a famous one. We won’t see her unless its at a public event, so we probably won’t ever see her in her “office wear.” So Kate isn’t going to have that many ideas.)
This narrative about KKKHate and the other royal females taking digs at Meghan for her statements about wearing neutral, boring colors while working for the Firm (it’s true, she did, that can’t be disputed) is getting silly. This is not the own that they think it is, and it just makes them look even worse. But, do go on.
Oh, ETA — I forgot about the “empty handed” part! How difficult would it be for the staff who staged this shenanigan to just send a flunky to the nearby Waitrose or whatever to collect a box of canned goods?! Slap a bow on it and make it look like some thought was put into it?! This is unconscionable, and if they really do read CB, they’d do well to take our advice.
But, Meghan said she wore neutral colors mostly when she knew other royal women would be present so as to not upstage and to just blend in. She was fine wearing color on engagements when it was her alone or with Harry. That’s the point they seem to, I believe, deliberately omit.
Kate has always worn color. Long colored coats are Her Thing. If any of the Sun’s readership actually believes that garbage, there’s really no hope for them, is there?
Long coats only became her thing when Meghan came on the scene.
Coat dresses have always been her thing, so in a sense you are right. However after discovering trousers (after meghan wore them) the coats she wore started changing too.
I just wish she had had those pants hemmed up by another inch. Just seeing the bottoms dragging on the wet asphalt is kinda disgusting.
Kate does copy Meghan in tons of ways (never before would she have worn pants like this), but in all fairness, she’s always worn coats.
I remember envying her coat game starting around 2010-2011. I loved the DVF one she wore leaving the hospital when her pregnancy with George had just been announced, and the Burberry trench with the sort of flared hem that she wore to one of her first events after her engagement was announced, I think — both of which we’ve never seen before.
She also had a long, chestnut brown coat with little leather belts at the ends of the sleeves (I’m sure there’s a name for these but I just don’t know it, lol), and a Temperley that she was seen in once at a Starbucks.
These are only the ones I remember really liking, but there are a million more; she’s *always* worn coats. The difference is that pre-Meghan, she always wore dresses underneath them.
She’s always worn coats because she often never bothered to take off the coat during indoors engagements, like today.
To quote Willy, we can only offer odd smiles ….etc
LOL He said the odd smile but I like ODD smiles better! 🙂 So odd.
Turning up at a food bank empty-handed is nothing but bad manners, especially during a cost of living crisis. Give the good example!
Exactly! I have a colleague who volunteers at a food pantry like once a week. She’s not rich at all but she is good at couponing. She always shows up with something when she volunteers. It might be canned food or toothpaste or peanut butter and it might not be a lot but she doesn’t show up empty handed.
W&K don’t have to bring something every time but it would sure help if they brought something even just every other visit.
A food bank up the road from their home that they are JUST now visiting? How long did it take for Duchess Meghan to become involved with the Community Kitchen when she moved to England? They are both lazy and unfortunate. What terrible examples.
Her hair looks really off to me. Too much texturizing spray? too many wiglets/extensions? IDK. It just looks….not great.
I think this is one of her new work uniforms – black pants, sweater and coat in the same different color (i.e. different from the black pants.) I feel like we’ve seen her wear some iteration of this many times over the past few months.
Kate wearing fuschia just proves M’s point about the neutral clothes. She wasn’t told she HAD to wear neutrals. She said she was kept out of the loop in terms of what other royal women were wearing so she wore neutrals, assuming that Queen, Camilla and Kate wouldn’t wear neutrals. So Kate wearing fuschia just proves that.
I honestly think she must be quite grey judging by the coarseness and persistence with the unflattering switch to lighter colouring.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/hair/Nicky-Clarke-grey-hair-duchess-of-cambridge/
This is from 2015 so that is likely a lot of the issue. But grey hair isn’t always coarse. There are lack of nutrient issues going on here too.
Re: the hair … this looks like her Cousin It hair, with multiple over-long wiglets. It’s waaaaay too much. How can they with a straight face have articles about her wiglets pulled when at every event she shows up for the hair is longer or shorter, two-tone, massive or limp?
This color makes her look washed out and dull, dig or no, lol.
K first wore this outfit (with different pants) to Nower Hill High School in November 2021. During her closing remarks to the students she let slip two of her biggest trigger words: “babies’ brains”. The video of this awkward performance is still up on YT.
Do you have a video? I can’t remember it!
Blonde really isn’t her color and it’s time for her and her hairstylist to look to something different. Every time she tries to move towards blonde or do blondish highlights, it looks terrible.
And yep re: your last point. I remember when people were criticizing Meghan for wearing olive to Louis’ christening when everyone else wore blue and white, or when she wore that gorgeous blush outfit to her first Trooping while Elizabeth, Camilla, and Kate wore light blue.
Obviously we don’t ‘need’ the royals but when you think about the hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothes she has stashed away (or sold? what happens to the stuff we only see once?) the fact that they then show up at organisations like this at all, never mind empty handed, is disgusting.
The older I get the more angry I become about the massive inequalities in wealth (and everything that goes with that) in this country.
@SarahCS, I couldn’t agree with you more. Well said x
Her hair looks a mess – unkempt, rats tails that are different colours on top and underneath. How much does she pay her hairdresser? Either they don’t gaf or its not enough.
And don’t get me started on turning up empty handed, again.
William and Kate looked awkward and out of place. As Kaiser said if they were genuinely interested in the work of the foodbank they would have come with some food items. Plus considering that they were going to pack some boxes Kate was overdressed.
What could have been very helpful is if they came with the items that food banks desperately need and highlighted those items. For example, if you’re bringing canned goods, either make sure they have a pull-tab to open OR donate a can opener or two as well. If you’re bringing boxes of cereal, bring evaporated or powdered milk as well. Bring some spices so that people can make their food taste better. If you’re donating boxed mac and cheese, again think of milk and butter. If you’re bringing peanut butter bring a loaf or two of bread. and so on.
People so often just go into their basement and grab their old cans of vegetables but with a little bit of thought you can make a big difference because so many food banks have rows of canned grean beans but no protein or starches (rice, pasta etc) to go towards making a complete meal.
Ever since I read an article about this a few years ago I have been a lot more deliberate in what I donate, food-wise and its less about me cleaning out my pantry and more about buying a few extras of things at the grocery store to help make meals etc.
(obviously for perishable items you should check with your food pantry but ours has a big fridge and freezer and they say that things like chicken breasts, ground beef, butter are the first to go, always.)
So anyway all this to say that W&K actually talking about this and highlighting what are useful items to bring could actually be helpful. Did they do that? Doubtful.
Agreed. I also find everytime William and Kate do an engagement they get centered in the visit instead of the organisation. KP’s PR has to do better.
@Becks these are all such smart tips and I can guarantee none of them once ever crossed W or K’s mind— but it’s surprising that they STILL don’t have staffers who can do a better job with details like this
Did comments in the Sun article criticize them for coming empty-handed?
Honestly, don’t their advisers have a clue, even if these two obviously don’t? Making a donation would have been a nice gesture. Would that have been so hard?
As it is, this just looks like what it is – a meaningless photo op for the benefit of the Waleses only (and close to their home so probably 30 minutes tops).
@Jensa, I just said something similar about their advisors before seeing your comment. Seriously, it’s not rocket science—all they need to do is request that along with the photos of W&K (🙄), a little sidebar be added with many of the suggestions Becks listed in her post.
If people are given specific information like that, they’re more likely to remember it, and donations to food banks all over the country would probably increase. But as you said, the focus is on the photo op. Their staff just wants to make sure they’re seen “working.” Apparently once the photos are taken, they’re done. That’s where their job descriptions end.
For two of the laziest people on earth, they look dehydrated and exhausted here.
They look dehydrated because they are so thirsty for the attention Harry and Meghan get
And I swear William is starting to look more like Charles. Is it me or are all their “engagements” done at the end of the week? Thursday and Friday. Maybe it’s so they have a long weekend to recover from all this backbreaking work of visiting places empty-handed.
No wonder. Charles has put them to work. They have now done 4-5 engagements this January alone. And the month isn’t even over yet. I have never seen them out so much. Poor things must be exhausted
Denying reality and pretending is hard work, and takes it out of you. Hence they look tired and joyless. There’s a large space between their internal values/interests and those that they are required to project. They are not interested in the problems of everyday, ordinary people, yet are required to ‘show’ empathy and caring. Based on what actual empathy though? So there’s a dissonance that starts to show up on the outside too…the hair and clothes are just props.
Tired and joyless is exactly what these two deserve.
Seriously. Two ridiculously privileged people who don’t do a damn thing of worth are looking like they work 80 hours a week. They both look at least a decade older than they actually are.
Must be exhausted, after all they are up all night reading up on what Harry and Megan are doing and have done, plus we have the fact that they have to travel from their SEPERATE houses so that they can turn up together
I would SO love to see someone IMPARTIAL do a deep dive of the charities and organizations with royal patrons, to get a REAL, ACCURATE sense of how much the charities actually benefit from them. From what I can see, the royals seem to do nothing more than show up, chat for a few min, take some pics, and leave. How much ACTUAL benefit is there??? It looks like a friggin RACKET to me, a total fraud.
Of course this does NOT include the organizations that don’t need royal patrons, never DID need royal patrons, yet have them anyway, such as Wimbledon and UK Football.
There was a study done in 2018/2019. They have little to no effect on the charities.
There’s an organisation called Giving Evidence (a charity consultancy) that has done research on this, and (surprise!) concluded that having Royal Patronage makes little or no difference to charity fundraising, and they also highlighted that, in reality, charities shouldn’t even expect royal patrons to show up (!).
On what planet is this debacle “volunteer work”? Seriously, if you’re not going to do anything to help or make a meaningful donation, get the fuck out of the way and let others continue their work. These outings help no one.
Ameerah & Jensa- thank you for the info. Im both happy and also not surprised to hear that studies have been done whose results further support claims that royal patrons are totally ineffective. Now if only the media could make more noise about these kinds of findings, which MIGHT prompt people into questioning the royal family’s long outdated business model. But why would the media do that, when they’re in the royals pockets, and the royals are in theirs? …..
It’s almost like they are afraid of setting a precedent of giving. If they do it once, they will be expected to do it every time. Can’t have that! I’m sure they clutch their stolen jewels at the thought of it.
I know you are being sarcastic but you actually bring up a good point. It seems like they are afraid to actually deliver substantial work, because then they’ll be expected to do it every time they go somewhere.
This is the only thing that makes sense. They don’t want to be expected to always bring something so they just always bring nothing. It’s beyond horrifying that they just roll up to food banks for photo ops. Bring something! You live off the people, are funded by the people. Bring something!
They literally live down the street from the food bank and in —— a castle!
At this point it makes no sense for any of them to show up
The gig is up
Ding Ding Ding we have the winner! If the BRF are anything, it is cheap. What other family evades inheritance tax yet demands to be supported by the people who have to pay it?
I guess there’s also the possibility that Charles doesn’t give them the money to donate stuff at every dang charity event.
This obviously cannot be the reason because Baldemort has inherited the Duchy of Cornwall’s multi-BILLION dollar estate. Nor does he even have to allocate that money or share with anybody else other than himself like Charles did (or barely did) with Harry and Meghan. And if he has freely had money to run an estate at Anmer Hall, KP, Adelaide, scotland and likely a suite in windsor as well as flying his chopper like an UBER all over the UK- he can afford to make a small but meaningful donation to a dang food bank. Especially when they are doing photo ops for these food banks because people are literally starving and they are getting backlash.
That hairpiece is still dyed vastly differently from the rest of her hair. Doesn’t it bother her hairdressers? Doesn’t it bother her? Is she trying to economize? “It’s fine if the hairpiece is balayage blonde and the rest of my hair is mousy brown, nobody will notice”?
I need her people to hem those trousers another quarter inch. Take them up by one centimetre.
@mazzie I was thinking more like an inch! They are literally dragging on the ground 🙄
Im not sure whose pants are worse. FreeWilly looks like he just rolled out of bed wearing his and SpecialK looks like she’s going to trip over the hems of hers!
W&K business model/motto:
Giving to others – literally unthinkable. Taking from others – mandatory
These 2 really believe they are God’s gift to the world…
Concerned looks and g u r n s. Good number of negativity in dm comments
I do like how the fuchsia coat and turtleneck match in color and I like a 3/4 coat like this with pants. Now the pants; there is nothing good I can say except she doesn’t need to ever wear them again.
Your last line is hilarious! Thanks.
There’s no point giving these two free advice and consultation here. They hire people. Let them figure it out. If they cared, they would.
They don’t care. They’re empty handed because they are the gift. It is a privilege for them to visit. You know they believe this.
She needs a good hair trim.
And some sort of conditioning treatment
The wiglets are earning their paychecks today.
Considering how bad the look it won’t be much of a pay check. They look so obvious as they hang very differently to her real hair. They literally look like clumps – surely they could be blended better? Or maybe her real hair is just too thin/bad condition?
Her hair is damaged through restricted dieting. That’s one of the first things to go, along with skin, as your body shuts down running things that aren’t essential to its basic functioning. Attaching extensions and wiglets to hide this reality is a short term fix that brings with it many long term issues. Her hair is now a mess.
Were they empty handed though? Cause from what I see they brought their odd smiles, bad fashion, and social awkwardness and I’m sure that made a huge impact. I wonder if Kate had an opportunity to tell young mothers there to get food that this is such a fun time in their lives.
It’s time for another trip to the Caribbean. They look exhausted, washed out, and yes dehydrated and under nourished.
Kate really really needs a haircut. Her hair doesn’t suit her and ages her by a decade. I always have to remind myself that she is younger, not older, than me.
This is who the RF and BM threw Harry and Meghan under the bus for. They had filet mignon and said, nah, we think we’re gonna stick with this expired canned liver. It’s mind blowing.
William – would it kill you to go shopping or visit a tailor? Your pants don’t fit and they look like faded chinos that someone found in the frat house basement at the end of the academic year. You have the money for new clothes. Enough with the sweaters under sport jacket. Just enough. And if you’re going with the casual pants/sport jacket combo, don’t match the color, that just makes it look like a bad suit. What’s next, fake glasses to add depth?
His attire shows how little he cares about what he is doing, ie his “job”.
@Gabby, oh, we’ve already seen William in glasses. AT SPORTING EVENTS. Because he actually cares enough to be able to see all of the action clearly when he’s at one of those.
He’s modelling Harry, pretending that he also doesn’t really care what he wears because clothes aren’t that important to him. Neither W or K have an independent idea between them.
The sheer number of DM photos means that her photographer/editor couldn’t quite do his usual level of work on some. And the outside and less favourable interior light hasn’t helped, either. So, yes, we’re back to seeing more of the real Kate. Less “fantastic” than jowly and wrinkly. See the pictures of her inside the store with a trolley. Thing is, is this relevant? She’s prematurely aged, so what? It does matter, though. Two reasons. One, young women identify with this person and believe being unnaturally thin (for her previous body weight) can look attractive, when the reality is weak skin and hair and a body that is running on empty, plastered over with loads of photoshop. Two – the spiteful narrative of the lovely (white) English Rose falls flat.
I am still in a dilemma as to the food bank. The irony and hypocrisy is stark and I don’t like them visiting. Does it highlight the issue? No, lots of people know about these banks and lots of people use them. Lots give. They are controversial – we shouldn’t need them and people are running the social welfare a government should tackle. Are they trying to be soft power political? I seriously, seriously doubt it. Back to the palace, and they’ll tick it off and wipe it from their memory. Should they take food? I’m not sure they’re allowed, albeit they took cakes to the Ukraine event. In any case, if these two did bring some food, what would it look like? Here’s some of our leftovers. In Kate’s case it would smack of hypocrisy: I have all the money in the world but restrict my diet through choice, and yet you do it through hardship. And, yes, I fully believe she has an ED. And, no, I am not body shaming. She needs help, and taking her along to a food bank is like taking a person with a drink problem to an off licence.
I am trying to better myself so I say this with the nicest intentions possible, what the heck is wrong with Kate face? It’s looks like someone took her real human face apart and put her back together with Playdough . Also for two people who have access to so much money, I am embarrassed for them that they don’t show up to share something, anything to people who desperately need it
She’s aging and her face is sagging. There’s nothing wrong with aging. But it’s obvious kate cares about looking as young as possible because the photographers always get clear instructions. It is also why you always see her grinning and smiling (look at a few video’s of the event with the advisory group— it’s almost creepy how she keeps her face in a fixated smile). When she smiles her cheeks look fuller and her wrinkles become less noticeable
Exactly. This is the first series of photos this year that aren’t back lit or taken in hugely favourable light. There hasn’t been time to photoshop them that much, either (although there’s been some editing to all of them). She looks more like her real self, which is a shock considering the money that must go into her skin. And, yes, the smile and gurn lift her face, but they are damaging her under eye area in the long run thru wrinkling so much. I also see a level of sadness and resignation.
I would be mortified to be seen grinning at a food bank so close to my home (or any food bank, ffs). Sure, a polite smile when you arrive to the person greeting you. But it’s so inappropriate for them to look so stupidly happy when they’re visiting a place where freaking starving people are forced to go.
I think Kate really believes that if she shows up in a bright color and smiles at people, that’s enough to “lift spirits,” and her job is done. I can’t with her anymore
It’s her Picasso look don’t you know 😂😂😂👀
So, are the Keens just never venturing out of Windsor now? I guess that’s one way to get those numbers up, make all of the events literally in their backyard so that they have to come. Still absolutely no excuse to arrive empty-handed.
Royals have never arrived at their patronages bearing gifts. Kate and William are not the trailbalzers. THEY (the royals) get gifts- flowers, gifts for the kids, etc. Remember, the royal patron’s job is to listen, learn, and highlight. However, in this case, people should reflect on why the great need for food banks.
I do understand that once they start showing up at engagements bearing gifts, it will always be expected, no matter where they go. That said, actively encouraging local businesses to match a food or donation drive would be effective. Use your huge public platform to say ” here we are and we brought some helpers” . That would be a huge photo up and isn’t that what they want?
I know it’s the same as giving food to the hungry but the queen used to always give smarties or other sweets to children she met, when she was young. I don’t know if she still did when she was older.
Didn’t Charles just donate fridges and freezers to food banks to help them store donated food? So sure his son and daughter-in-law could follow the example and think how they could ease the work of food banks now that the demand is rising?
You can not like someone to feel pity for them. Hence the following. She is thinner than Diana ever was. There was a DM article put out the other day about her “healthy” lifestyle and how she maintains her body through exercise. It came out of nowhere. DM posters weren’t fooled and said her size has alarmed people recently, and her publicity team has responded with a get in quick approach. When restricted eating becomes public it is hugely derailing. When I had anorexia it reached a stage when people outside family, inc people I didn’t even know, started commenting on how I looked “sickly thin” or “ill”. I felt caught out and embarrassed. I thought I looked naturally skinny, but I was rumbled as someone who had worked to look like someone I wasn’t. I think this is where she is at.
I really hope they weren’t offered any refreshments.
So they show up, pack a few shopping carts and f*ck off. Gee thanks royals, this will really help us get food to people in dire need. Just load up a van with food, hand over a cheque, do SOMETHING for god’s sake. Utterly useless twats…
I read on Twitter she said “…Too much nattering going on” to the volunteers. The audacity of showing up to a foodbank empty handed and then saying this
She apparently also promised that they’d return without the entourage. Yeah, sure, Jan.
As others have pointed out, why couldn’t she have worn a more casual outfit, tied back her hair, and then done some actual work at the food bank?
And yes, bring some bags of recommended items and explain why, for instance, shelf-stable foods that don’t require the addition of eggs are needed … Use the media attention for the good of people in need, not just to sell papers or to beef up your Court Circular stats. Ugh. These two.
No, William said that to Kate. They were in competition to fill up their bags, apparently. And he’s the one who said he’d return, ‘without the entourage’, which I don’t believe for a second.
This pisses me off no end. GIVE SOMETHING, you welfare recipients. Donate A LOT of food, give a check, give SOMETHING, morons.
No kidding. This empty-handed touring is beginning to give off medieval scrofula or king’s evil vibes, when it was thought that the king could cure tuberculous lymphadenitis (scrofula) with just a touch. Of course, Bulliam and Khate think they can solve food insecurity with their mere presence! Which would be nice, because they’re not about to touch anyone if they can help it …
My husband and I are pensioners so have a limited income, plus I have cancer so I have to be careful what I eat, but, every time we manage to go shopping I make for the offers Isle, like buy one get one free. I buy what I need there when I can, because that way the (free) one can go to our local food bank. Then I pop in a couple of boxes of cereal, it’s not much, but if I can do it, SO CAN THEY
@Mary Pester: that is very sweet, particularly considering your circumstances. I’m inspired by your actions.
I have a fraction that they have and donate to the local food bank every year.
Why they couldn’t get the foundation to give a donation is beyond short sighted
I read “empty-handed” as “empty-headed” and that also tracks.
Showed up empty headed and empty handed. That is how it should read.
Apparently they did do some volunteer work, so that is a step forward. The obamas used to do this sort of thing all the time. I think that is the most one can expect of William and Kate. They went beyond listening and learning to doing.
I can’t really remember, but I doubt very much that Michelle showed up in heels & kept her coat on while actually volunteering. And President Obama was never a wrinkly mess!
William and Kate showing up empty hand not surprised as William said they can only offer a smile and kind words. I think that the only people here fully understand that William and Kate don’t give a damn about charity work this is just a photo op for Kate and for William a Chance acted like he cares . They could have easily brought boxes of can goods when William show up at that center where children of color were learning to prepare food on a budget he decided to tell a bunch of unprivileged kids how he loves a good steak while some of this kids are worry about their next meals . William is bragging about how he loves steaks he could have brought dozens of boxes of steaks for the kids and their family instead the kids were used as a prop because of the color of their skin to prove William isn’t a racist. What exactly are Kate and William or the royal family purpose beside taking tax player money while people are struggling and hungry I’m surprised Kate didn’t say anything stupid.
Kate’s skin looks sallow and pasty. She looks better in her early education meeting the other day . Today she looks really aged. The poster above is right— there is no lighting set up today (unlike the previous days where it was obvious that her photographer took photos of her under controlled lighting so that she’d photograph better). She totally looks unhappy.
And this sums up my problem with Kate and Will: What TANGIBLE benefit is there to them making these appearances? Apparently even their patronage’s don’t have a noticeable difference with them at the helm so these visits are actually self-serving. Their PR people should be smart enough to tell them to put some non perishable food items in a box, have Will carry it, have Kate pull her hair back in a ponytail and get some action shots of them working at the food bank. Maybe do a press conference or speech with their Royal Rota goons present, to speak about the cost of living crisis and what they personally are doing for their part. A fundraising dinner? A charity event of some sort? Do something! They have all that Duchy of Cornwall money, they can afford at least to bring a can of beans to the food bank.
They could promise one truckload of food every month, or a monetary donation. No, Bill is keeping his new duchy money all for himself.
My husband — who could not care less about the royals — saw one of these photos and said, “What is on her head? It looks like a Halloween wig!” I thought that was pretty funny, coming from him.
1. Even if bringing things needed by your charities sets a precedent for always bringing something to your charities…good? That should be the precedent? They get taxpayer money – spend it ON the taxpayers??
2. I do think Kate’s hair looks pretty, but very Meghan. It also looks like mine used to when I straightened it every day. I’m a curly gal and my hair turned into straw (awful) after a few years of constantly straightening. It would be so kick ass if Kate did a big chop and started wearing her natural texture (and laid off the ‘tox and started aging more naturally).
3. I would be able to enjoy her new work uniform if it wasn’t such and obvious and creepy Meghan cosplay. Yikes. Find a new style muse, please.
4. Speaking of the clothes, I wish they had shown up in more casual clothes to volunteer in, similar to the person greeting them. No one actually volunteers in their heels.
5. Abolish the monarchy and we don’t even have to think about this sh*t.
Ok, these are just comments based on the photos: beautiful color she’s wearing, really like the coat. The pants, however, look like cheap polyester double-knit from back in the day. They’ve twisted on her leg & are dragging on the ground. Ok, will go up to read Kaiser’s article now.
This is from the Windsor Foodshare website’
‘CRITERIA
We seek to help individuals or families where one or more people in the home are not able to eat one or more days during a week because they cannot afford it. We also seek to help people who would find themselves in that position without our help. We help people living in and around Windsor.’
So they showed up with NOTHING to donate. That is infuriating. They should be ashamed to show their faces. Jeremy Clarkson has been dreaming about the wrong people.
So much for noblesse oblige 🙄
Re: Noblesse oblige 100%
They are just calling it in. Basic fashion. Basic gesturing. Basic eye contact & concern. Ticking a box so they can resume spending spree.
Willy looks seriously hungover. Is Royal Daddy keeping younger and more zealous bedfellows of late? Or was it his week with the kiddos?
Maybe Kate has a new male companion – as she should. A few surges of dopamine / week may help her find some happiness outside of her children, filtered photos, buttons, bows tiaras.
Bucky beaver and the mannequin:-)
Well, yes. They eat almost nothing, and people like that regularly inflict it on others. Kate is more obvious, but from what Willy has said, he’s also got some serious issues there. And the entire royal family was raised to be eating disordered. Remember how no one could keep eating after QEII was done? And she was a teeny tiny little old lady.
ETA: Give MONEY to food banks. Not food! At least in the U.S., that helps them way more than any canned items or whatever. Food banks have deals that get them fresh produce and other goods at a massive cut rate if they’ve got the money for them.
William and Kate are useless at this but Charles is anything but. He has apparently visited lots of Foodbanks and donated at least £1M towards them.
Just before Christmas Charles made a “substantial personal donation” towards a fund to buy hundreds of fridges and freezers for foodbanks across Britain. He has also made significant personal donations of items to a Caithness foodbank last year, and it seems at least some of those items were items they were short of. I’m sure more examples could be found if I searched longer. There might be a lot to criticise Charles for, but he has always been prepared to actually do something rather than just talking and turning up gracing others with his royal presence. He has given an enormous amount of his time and money to do constructive things to help others. It’s too bad his elder son didn’t inherit this quality from his father.
Charles still should reconsider the super expensive coronation flaunting his wealth.
I’d second all of that, Margaret. And additionally I’d welcome an explanation as to why W hasn’t been made to take over all of Charles’s commitments to the Prince’s Trust & Prince’s Foundation. Was it too much like hard work?
Chuck donating 1 million is like me donating a dollar.
@emily *you donating a dollar of taxpayer money
Does Will only own like two suits? He wears the same thing over and over. Maybe Kate uses up all the clothes budget.
Kate has a habit of emulating the women she knows Bill has admiration for, so I wonder if that is what is going on here with the hair?
If Charles and Camilla don’t kill the monarchy, Will and Kate will finish it off.
Sadly, agree with this too. Today on the UK News crazy new high levels of average rents revealed and climbing, while this lazy pair revel in their four homes. Four homes! KM’s hair extensions alone would pay more than half most people’s rent.
£1M is £1M and Charles didn’t need to. I agree K and W are terrible but I wonder how many on here criticising Charles have had affairs themselves and donate nothing? Charles did ask William to take over the Prince’s Trust. Also Harry. They both refused. Wanted to do their own thing. I believe David, Earl of Snowdon, has something to do with the running now.