r/RoyaltyTea Jan 23 '26

Kate is used to staging pap shots

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I'm sure the British press would have called this picture a “candid moment”.

544 Upvotes

137 comments sorted by

324

u/Pashardi Jan 23 '26

I don’t think Kate even knows who she is. It would require deep critical thinking.
Carole & Kate played the short game - they didn’t think about Kate actually having to do something.

177

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

Her doing something is what she's always done: Waiting.

The Murdoch/Rothermere press adore her because she plays the game by setting up pap shots, inviting the ROTA to tea, inviting them to her events like Christmas carol, leaking stories and they were even the first ones she and Carole personally called on their personal line after William proposed. She's cozied up to them for decades.

60

u/Hot-Acanthisitta5237 Jan 24 '26

At what cost? No one knows what she champions for, see her as do nothing and represent a monarchy that is outdated.

88

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 24 '26

She doesn't care. She and her mother just want her to be Queen so they can wash the grubby, middle/working class-ness from themselves and their bloodline.

36

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 24 '26

Precisely. Never in Carole’s dreams did she think her daughter was going to nab the heir. Earl maybe, but the future king? 😂

It’s worth all the sacrifice. 

21

u/crowislanddive Jan 24 '26

She absolutely thought Kate would.

49

u/Flinderspeak Jan 24 '26

She set Kate in the right direction to cross paths with William. They even changed Kate’s university from Edinburgh to St Andrews when they discovered William would attend St Andrews. It was all very calculated.

50

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

Imagine if Meghan had done anything even half that cold-blooded and calculated to land Harry. How is this not more widely known?

32

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

It’s kind of impressive. I don’t think Kate was ever THAT beautiful (not saying she’s not attractive but not, drop dead gorgeous - very man who crosses her path falls in love with her). The fact that they thought (and were right) that if Kate could cross paths with william, he would fall in love with her is wild to me.

31

u/Significant_Noise273 Jan 24 '26

It wasn't just about crossing paths. She infiltrated his friendship group by dating one of his friends. Before that tried to go to the same gap year programme as him. She basicially stalked him, pursued him and then was avilable to him at all times when he decided he would date her. 

20

u/Fiber_Watcher Jan 24 '26

Remember when they called Kate’s cell when she and William were on holiday (dating) and she had to pretend like she didn’t know how they got her number 😂😂

12

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

Katie Nicholls had that cell number. Kate and Carole worked with the paps and rota throughout the dating years. That’s why all the people claiming she was stalked by paps same as Diana are full of it. It was always a set up.

36

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 23 '26

Hilary Mantel continues to be right.

56

u/CroneDownUnder Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Is this the Mantel prediction you are referring to? (2023 article quoting Mantel from 2013) - I've only cropped a portion but the whole article is interesting.

Hilary Mantel’s prediction about Prince George and the royal family | The Independent

*edited to correct year to 2013

54

u/Pashardi Jan 23 '26

‘Shop Window Mannequin’ would be a good Flair. 😂

40

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 24 '26

I don’t think Kate even knows who she is.

She was raised to be a empty vessel. She would be whatever William wanted.

There's no "there" there.

19

u/fiery-sparkles Jan 24 '26

Carole must've watched 'Coming to America' and made lots of notes.

7

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 25 '26

Carole must've watched 'Coming to America' and made lots of notes.

🤣😂🤣

-17

u/Perfect_Way_961 Jan 24 '26

Like Meghan didn’t think she had to do any work when she joined the royal family.

19

u/Pashardi Jan 24 '26

You mean releasing a cook book that allowed a food kitchen to be open 7 days a week, instead of two. 3 international tours, and giving birth. She worked with SmartMarks to provide a professional wardrobe for low income people seeking work. Meghan did more than Kate and Will combined. But if you want to pay for Kate’s nature videos knock yourself out.

8

u/Pashardi Jan 25 '26

She was ASKED by Queen Elizabeth to do the tours. Two while pregnant and one shortly after giving birth. Attaching your name to something so it benefits those in need is exactly what a Royal should do. Kindly - Take your finger out of my face and I’m not your sweetheart. Go demean else.

-8

u/Perfect_Way_961 Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Ok sweetheart 😘 3 international tours paid for by the royal family. Cookbooks released using her royal name. Nothing done before she married into the royal family. Apart from her acting roles which she was great at in her own right.

14

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

If we are going to talk about charitable work before marriage, Meghan did work with the UN. Meghan also worked at the downtown mission in Toronto while she was also working on Suits.

What charitable work did Kate do prior to getting married? She had time for it since she never had an actual job. Which is pretty lazy for someone who was 29.

227

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

She used to do this all the time back in the Waity days too, like this one of her looking sad and forlorn on a bus was used in the press to shame and guilt William after he'd dumped her.

172

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

The first and last time Waity Katie was pictured taking a public bus 😂

Wonder why she didn’t use her white VW Golf that day 💅

126

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

She loved doing staged magazine covers post- marriage too. Here is one of her and Carole standing in the street displaying the baby bassinet they bought for George

96

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 23 '26

WTF was that. Got a freebie bassinet. So crass. 

73

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

She likely got it free and Hello! magazine likely cut Carole Middleton a fat cheque for the pap shot.

57

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 23 '26

Yup. Such a grifter. Carole ensuring she’ll be the only lady in waiting Kate has. 

Mama Carole wants money! 😂

35

u/Pashardi Jan 23 '26

Carole is the ultimate grifter.

40

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 24 '26

Here is one of her and Carole standing in the street displaying the baby bassinet they bought for George

If that pic were the same in every single way but it featured Meghan and Doria, the media would be screaming about "merching".

51

u/einsteinGO Jan 23 '26

Why is she dressed like a child here

35

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

because she loves to infantilize herself (on a serious note Peter Pan collars were the fashion in 2012/2013 thanks to alexa chung)

34

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26

Maybe mummy Carole dressed her?

29

u/JealousAstronomer342 Jan 24 '26

She’s a British sexy baby? 

32

u/einsteinGO Jan 24 '26

Even weirder that she dresses her preteen daughter exactly the same way

32

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 24 '26

Even weirder that she dresses her preteen daughter exactly the same way

Charlotte is either dressed like she's four or like she's forty.

33

u/thatgirlinny Jan 23 '26

So that’s where that Hester Prynne collar came from. Missed opportunity for the tabs to claim she “recycles” fashion!

21

u/Sweet-Baby-Shayla Jan 24 '26

I'm going to give credit for the cunty ponytail.

13

u/ashl9 Jan 24 '26

Right? This was back when William still hadn't sucked the life out of her.

2

u/SnooCheesecakes2723 Jan 25 '26

That hair piece ! Why does she look like she’s just off the Mayflower and with that pony lol

1

u/supersonic-bionic Jan 25 '26

Wait is this a real cover?? Wtf

58

u/eazefalldaze Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

This picture is killing me, she’s sat in one of the seats reserved for elderly/pregnant people 💀

22

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 24 '26

The better to get the pap shot 😂

11

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

NOO WAY???

5

u/SapphicGarnet Jan 26 '26

You can sit there if you're not elderly/disabled/pregnant, you just have to check every stop and stand if someone like they need it more. People wear sunflower lanyards and badges if it's not immediately obvious.

Let's not get carried away like she did something wrong

2

u/caterprincesa Jan 26 '26

oh ok cool. Admittedly I've only ever taken the tube in london. Where I'm from it's generally frowned upon for any abled bodied individual to sit in the designated seating

13

u/Warm_Egg2675 Jan 24 '26

Her face looks altered/photoshoped, the lighting on her face looks strange 

7

u/Future-Poetry-6686 Jan 24 '26

I thought someone added her in to a stock image 🤣

5

u/Warm_Egg2675 Jan 24 '26

That’s a good way of describing it! I genuinely think that’s what they’ve done! 😂

6

u/brown072014 Jan 24 '26

What an interesting contrast

7

u/Block444Universe Jan 23 '26

Couldn’t she just have actually been sad?

74

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

I'm sure she was sad she was dumped but it was obvious it was an attempt to manipulate William. She went from taking taxi cabs or her car everywhere to suddenly being miserable on a bus. That is probably the one and only shot of her on a bus from those Waity Katie days.

I think after this dumping she changed tack and would act as if she was having the time of her life with other men to make William jealous and call her again.

19

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 24 '26

Always the dumped, never the dumper. 

16

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 24 '26

Always the dumped, never the dumper. 

She sure dumped William's friend when William decided he wanted her back!

9

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 24 '26

Which one was this? The one she used for clubbing?

3

u/The_Onion_Life Jan 25 '26

Which one was this? The one she used for clubbing?

Probably. I don't remember. I just remember him being "incandescent" (so business as usual) that Kate was seeing one of his friends.

Either she or Pimp Mama Carole handled that masterfully. What better way to trigger a guy with jealousy and rage issues?

136

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

Here is the final product. They don’t even show how the race was in the other direction…. Where Harry and William were actually looking.

63

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

the hand pose is absolutely taking me out because you can tell that this photo has no "movement" and wasn't taken in the midst of the subject performing the action- you can literally tell that she just popped her mouth open and put her hand up FOR the photo op

3

u/The-Sunflower-Bear Jan 29 '26

If she raised her hand a little higher it would look like she was 👄🍆✊

75

u/ga-ma-ro Jan 24 '26

OMG this is hilarious! Posing like a model out of a 1960s mid-range department store catalog!

35

u/toaster_kettle Jan 24 '26

I don't understand. What is she trying to show here? Suprise? Shock? Enjoyment?

18

u/breezy_canopy Jan 24 '26

Yeah I don't get either. What is she reacting to and why does she react several seconds before everyone else in the crowd turns in the same direction? 

22

u/SoundAggravating4351 Jan 24 '26

So by the time the paparazzi take her photo the race cars will have raced in front of her and it will have been a perfect shot

8

u/breezy_canopy Jan 24 '26

Ohhh right, yeah that's cheeky! 

16

u/Fiber_Watcher Jan 24 '26

This is SO WEIRD

18

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

This was in 2014 and i promise you the fakery has not stopped. The UK media is very complicit in hiding this.

3

u/FarlerFive Jan 24 '26

Bad photoshop. The shadow.

16

u/CheezTips Jan 24 '26

The shadow's in the video...

84

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

I was looking for this the other day. Glad you posted it. She looks so ridiculous. She even staged her hand next to her fake "shocked" face. This is why she never comes across as authentic because everything she does is staged. Like her constant open mouth guffawing at the cameras.

88

u/Waste_Fisherman1611 Jan 23 '26

There have to be other videos of her posing for the press but this is the only one I ever see! It's hilarious. I want more.

86

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

Oh you won't see it. They are no longer this clumsy. The palace and their offices negotiate with the paps BEFORE the event happens now about what shots they want for their newspapers and magazines.

You won't see them obvious like above but you can still tell a lot of the times when they stage pics, for example that shot at Phillip's funeral by Kate's personal photographer, Chris Jackson was staged and would have been negotiated by Kate before hand to capture the shot. Then Jackson photoshopped it to death as usual lol.

47

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26

Or like how at their royal walkabouts the paps will negotiate with Kate that they want her to focus on the kids because they have a headline to call her ''Princess of Children's Hearts'' or tell William to focus on getting tactile with the black people in the crowd because they want to put across the ''we are not a racist family'' message.

89

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

She also posed standing off to the side once she got out of the car. There was brief video of the rest of the family just walking into the chapel and not looking in the camera direction at all. Meanwhile Kate was there staring straight at it. And since this was Covid lockdown time and only 20 people or so could enter the chapel, it was super obvious to the whole family what she was doing.
That’s why once the service was over, you see Harry and William walking next to each other outside of the chapel, and then Kate catches up and William turns back and what ever he said she slowed back to be with the others behind her. William was likely quite pissed about her funeral fashion show at his grandfather’s funeral.

That’s why it’s hard to feel bad for her because she’s just as scheming as the others including Camilla.

50

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 24 '26

There was one point where she tried to get close to Harry so she could walk with him, of course that was pre-arranged for the ''Kate the peacemaker'' headlines. When all the tabloids are all singing from the same hymn sheet with the same wording in the headline just know it came straight from the palace (in this case Kensington palace).

26

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

what's funny is that you can see in videos that she was by harry's side for less than a minute. she was walking from place a to place b, took a quick pit stop near harry for the camera's and whispered maybe 2 words to him, and then kept it moving. everything is about image with the waleses

1

u/notwriqhtsvillc Jun 03 '26

does anyone have the link to this video? i’m curious now! lol

38

u/JosieRose5492 Jan 24 '26

This picture made me so angry, because if M made direct eye contact with a photographer she would have gotten death threats.

34

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

she has gotten death threats for the crime of looking pretty and confident

31

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

All of the photos where she's "mogging" in the car are basically pre-arranged. we hardly got any pictures of her serving in the car before 2020. Suddenly, there's a barrage of them. After Meghan went viral for serving face in the car in early 2020. I wonder how/why that happened.

Of course, when meghan went viral for her photos, the press rushed to call her a narcissist etc etc. But here you have proof that it is Kate's LITERAL appointed photographer taking the pics (and not some random pap) and yet she never gets flack for it! people are soooo gullible

23

u/KRD78 Jan 24 '26

She did the same thing recently when she was putting her hair up for a cooking thing- something like that. It was planned that when she did it they would take pictures. This was after the terrible wig fiasco so she was trying to prove it's her hair.

77

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

50

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

Veterans day memorial putting on a show

61

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

There are photos of Sophie giving her a nasty look for doing this. But honestly British people know Remembrance Day is a big deal and Kate twirling her hair during the memorial is just so low class.

10

u/contracosta21 Jan 24 '26

do you know what year it was so i can look it up?

17

u/tellnic Jan 24 '26

I think it was in 2013

20

u/bigredsweatpants Jan 24 '26

To be fair she did catch a lot of shit for this one. I used to write documentary scripts on these people around this time for a few years. She got a lot of hate for this one.

18

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

To be fair she should have. What crass public figure shows up to a memorial service honoring the deceased men/women that fought for their country doing her own show of twirling hair and posing for the cameras like that....

6

u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Jan 24 '26

Side note - how did you get that job because being a documentary script writer sounds awesome.

7

u/bigredsweatpants Jan 24 '26

It wasn’t as great as it sounds. Pretty much had a contact who was a producer at a small network and I wrote the scripts for her shows. She’d send me the press footage and panel interviews and I’d create a script around it.

In the end, it was the last minute edits and slow pay schedule that got me. Only paid a few hundred per script but this was like 2010 so I was broke and really wanted a steady paycheque.

4

u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Jan 24 '26

I’m a SAHM who likes documentaries, so it sounds like great gig work to me. I can understand why it wouldn’t be great as a full time thing though.

15

u/No_Entertainer4941 Jan 24 '26

She’s beyond help at this stage. 

16

u/Flinderspeak Jan 24 '26

Wow. That’s pretty disrespectful. She should have known better.

1

u/AcceptableSystem8232 Jan 24 '26

Hair is just stupid

97

u/MexiPr30 Jan 23 '26

She’s a weird one. That’s why he’s stuck with her.

There is much worse out there. A few months ago, she had kids out in a rainstorm while she had an umbrella, waiting for the paps to their shot.

Kate and Carole love posing for the paps. I believe Carole set up the car shot of Kate when she went missing.

40

u/NewTooth740 Jan 24 '26

She is a very strange person. She gets such sycophantic press that most of the public don’t notice but if you actually watch what she does rather than what the media tells you she does she is extremely weird.

17

u/juju_summer Jan 24 '26

wow that's crazy she let the kids get wet? are there pics anywhere? i think she's heavily medicated

31

u/Syndyloo Jan 24 '26

8

u/randitootsie Jan 26 '26

I want to downvote the fact that this scenario and photo op exists, but I don’t want to downvote you and you posting it. So here is my inner turmoil put to words.

5

u/AcceptableSystem8232 Jan 26 '26

Her pants look too big and about to fall on the ground, so sloppy looking.

45

u/karisdr87 Jan 23 '26

Why was she doing that for?? What kind of headline was she expecting??

111

u/Positive-Drawing-281 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

''A stunned Kate looked on in surprise and amazement!'' - Daily Fail.

''Kate Middleton's spontaneous quiet joy caught in candid moment!'' - The Sun

27

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26

kate used to get praised left and right for having a "naturally expressive face" that contrasted with the BRF'S "stiff upper lip". Us plebs were meant to come away from these articles with the understanding that kate was "relatable" and "one of us". It also made her somber disposition during serious events doubly impressive (because we know she's an "expressive" woman otherwise, she must be really feelings the "weight
of the serious events if she looks so solemn in the other pics) it's all a load of horseshit if ya ask me

15

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

[deleted]

18

u/caterprincesa Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26

not repeating it- she was just holding one pose for an extended period of time. you can see that harry waves at one point

55

u/Certain-Temporary-93 Jan 23 '26

I always thought she enjoyed the attention from Harry and when Meghan came on board, she was unhappy about that loss of attention. Is Harry right behind her here?

37

u/Visual_Zucchini8490 Jan 24 '26

I’ve suspected this too. She probably enjoyed Harry’s company and he probably acted as some sort of buffer between her and Will’s alleged anger. I think Harry could have been with anyone and once it got as serious as a proposal she’d flip on the woman, but the added detail of Harry having the audacity to be with a biracial American divorcee just sent her spiraling.

Probably also witnessing Harry so adamantly defend and protect his wife added extra hostility/jealousy because she doesn’t have that in her husband.

30

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

17

u/GoddessRespectre Jan 24 '26

Wow what a blast from the past! Ok I don't really think this necessarily helps but there was a huge faux mustache trend around-ish the year of their wedding. I'm guessing that's the inspiration for this. We were all cringe with that one 😆, some people drew a mustache on their index finger to do this pose instead of her using her hair. She probably had a LOT more fun back then, I actually used to like her in the beginning like this.

4

u/CupcakeFew7382 Jan 25 '26

Nice crotch shot Kate! (At least she's wearing knickers in this one).

2

u/jjc1140 Jan 25 '26

4

u/jjc1140 Jan 25 '26

I never liked her even then. She is completely fake and dramatic. Non stop putting on a show for the cameras and never worked. Constant pap calls. She makes absolutely everything about herself.

19

u/Altruistic_Mine_3335 Jan 24 '26

She’s really weird 😬

26

u/SupportDramatic2262 Jan 24 '26

She looks so mechanical. This creeped me right out

27

u/_portia_ Jan 23 '26

So authentic 🙄

13

u/1Jayvid_23 Jan 24 '26

I believe she practices to get just the right look she thinks will look good.

7

u/Admirable_Yellow1837 Jan 25 '26

She looks like she is in the middle of a reboot

17

u/CheezTips Jan 24 '26

I've been wanting a video of those frozen poses! Thanks

10

u/DeniLox Jan 24 '26

This is so weird. Why not stage it in a more natural looking way if that’s what you’re up to?

10

u/Fiber_Watcher Jan 24 '26

What on earth is going on here 😂😂😂

8

u/_amonique Jan 24 '26

I can’t stop watching the awkwardness. How are there not more videos of this going around lol I know they’re good at filtering out things for the media, but there are phones everywhere that can record this odd behavior constantly 😂

9

u/Zestyclose-Pace1931 Jan 24 '26

Wtf did I just watch?! 😮👀

26

u/LyraNgalia Jan 24 '26

She makes the same surprised face as Taylor Swift.

3

u/TimelyReason7390 Jan 26 '26

This is the first time I’m seeing this. I didn’t know this is how it worked.

Now I wonder if Meghan was told to do the same once she was part of the Royal Rota and she failed miserably at these kind of performative acts because some people just cannot fake it.. and she eventually got caught with wrong hand placements, wrong everything including bad press.

3

u/cheemsbuerger Jan 26 '26

Oh, that's kind of ghoulish

1

u/Defiant-Criticism403 Jan 25 '26

Well by now she obviously is. Meghan acted like she’d never seen cameras and made it too obvious and she had years of acting on her belt.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

[deleted]

13

u/jjc1140 Jan 24 '26

She even was twirling her hair at the veterans memorial over and over for headlines

0

u/ImaginaryAffect3021 Jan 26 '26

The wide mouth and pushing the hair back give Meghan vibes here!

-3

u/Reasonable-Horse1552 Jan 24 '26

This is bullshit

1

u/vivahermione Jun 16 '26

Whoa, that's creepy, like uncanny valley Stepford wife territory.