bitchy | Royalist: Princess Kate ‘made the king look disrespected’ by pulling out of Ascot

We’re still talking about the Princess of Wales’s sudden withdrawal from appearing at Royal Ascot last Wednesday. She was due to ride in a carriage for the royal procession, alongside Prince William. The carriage seating charts – which included Kate – were revealed by Buckingham Palace on the day, and less than 30 minutes later, Kate had pulled out, citing nothing specific. Kensington Palace staff briefed the Telegraph and other outlets that her withdrawal was “no cause for alarm,” and yet Buckingham Palace staffers chatted anonymously that the whole thing was bewildering and no one knew what was going on. In the past few days, it honestly feels like KP is trying to blame BP for the mix-up or snafu, claiming that BP for publishing the carriage seating chart before they knew that Kate had withdrawn. It’s quite odd. Well, lending some credence to the idea that this whole incident is more about palace intrigue than anything else, the Daily Beast’s Royalist published this interesting piece:

Kate Middleton’s decision to cancel an appearance in the Royal Ascot carriage procession, citing “slightly vague” reasons of “balance,” has highlighted simmering tensions with King Charles over their differing priorities, The Daily Beast can reveal.

One friend of Prince William and Kate insisted the couple were right to prioritize Kate’s health, and said that if she was feeling unwell it was absurd to expect her to be paraded in front of the public on a boiling hot summer day, with little shade or air conditioning. They added: “Catherine and her children all enthusiastically attended Trooping the Colour on Saturday, and Catherine was also on duty in Windsor on Monday for the Order of the Garter ceremony.”

Kate’s office has not given a specific reason for her decision not to go to Ascot. It has not, for example, fallen back on the trusty excuse of a severe cold, instead briefing media that Kate was “disappointed” not to go but wanted to find the right “balance” in her return to full-time royal duties.

Asked how Charles would have seen Kate’s last-minute cancellation, a friend of the king said: “Charles is a very thoughtful and considerate man. He is going through cancer himself so he will be entirely understanding. He knows all about good days and bad days, physically and mentally.” Asked whether the incident highlighted a difference between how William and Kate and Charles and Camilla approach their jobs, the source said, “Charles has been very insistent that the show must go on, come hell or high water. Kate and William tackle their public duties differently, which is their privilege, for now. Charles has been very clear that he supports their decisions.”

However, another source, a former royal staffer, was more skeptical about the circumstances of Kate’s no-show Wednesday, telling the Daily Beast: “There is a perception in some quarters that Kate just doesn’t like racing and so didn’t make the effort. That is probably not fair, but you have to wonder if she would have missed Wimbledon, which she adores. I am sure she was genuinely unable to come, yet the last-minute nature of the way it was announced makes the king look disrespected. Would she have dared miss Ascot at a moment’s notice when the queen was alive? Her late Majesty would have been not best pleased to have the great honor of a coveted place in the carriage procession rejected an hour before kickoff on slightly vague grounds.”

“Clearly, Kate wasn’t feeling up to it, but there is no denying that the whole affair was badly handled. You can’t blame their office as they are the last to know, William and Kate make their own decisions on their own time, which is another source of frustration to everyone else trying to steer the tanker. They pulled the plug at the last minute. It’s interesting that briefing is now coming out of the palace saying that the racecourse made a bureaucratic error by publishing the carriage list with her in it, but that doesn’t change the fact that her team didn’t announce she wasn’t coming until late in the day.”

[From The Daily Beast]

“I am sure she was genuinely unable to come, yet the last-minute nature of the way it was announced makes the king look disrespected.” It also appears that Kate’s office kept Buckingham Palace in the dark about her withdrawal – so it’s not just that it LOOKS like Kate disrespected Charles, it’s that she actually didn’t respect Charles enough to send word directly to his people about any of it. “You can’t blame their office as they are the last to know, William and Kate make their own decisions on their own time, which is another source of frustration…” LMAO. William and Kate take their own sweet time not doing much of anything, and they barely communicate with their own staffers about their schedule, and the whole thing is “frustrating” for everyone else. The point about how none of the royals would have dared treat QEII this way is accurate, and this has actually convinced me that Kate intentionally disrespected Charles, and that there’s a simmering beef, as always.

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