The vibe I’m getting from the coverage of the Macrons’ state visit to the UK is that British-French relations are very strong these days, and that King Charles and Queen Camilla begrudgingly called in “reinforcements” in the form of Prince William and Kate. All of the energy ahead of the Macrons’ visit to the UK was that Charles and other minor roles would do the bulk of the hosting duties. Something shifted on the eve of the visit, and William and Kate were put front-and-center. Kate was even allowed to come to the state banquet, her first evening event (and tiara-wearing event) since November 2023. It really is starting to feel like Kate was being shadow-banned from tiara-wearing for several years – she wasn’t even allowed to borrow a tiara for King Charles’s coronation, for goodness sake – and that Kate’s presence or lack thereof was entirely Charles and Camilla’s call. So why was Kate allowed to steal all of the headlines? Because the palace didn’t want people to talk about Charles’s bloody eye or his grim pallor. Still, Kate is taking the dub and already looking forward to Wimbledon!
For the first time since her shocking cancer diagnosis threw the British royal family for an existential loop last year, Kate Middleton attended a full state dinner Tuesday night—and comprehensively stole the show. After the debacle of her last-minute Ascot no-show two weeks ago, which sowed panic and confusion at the palace, and her stunningly honest admission that she has struggled to get back to normality since being given the all-clear, Kate’s decision to join the dinner for President Macron of France—having attended the formal welcome earlier in the day, which was well-flagged—was kept a closely-guarded secret until the last possible moment.
Kate’s attendance at the dinner capped a rollercoaster day for royal spinners when the carefully choreographed pomp of the state visit of President Macron threatened to be derailed by not one, not two, but three bizarre stories that cut through with the global public in the way only properly authentic examples of things going really wrong can do.
First, Brigitte Macron seemed to coolly refuse her husband’s hand as she descended the French state jet on arrival on British soil, reviving memories of “le shove,” when she was filmed angrily pushing her husband at the top of airplane steps on another state visit.
Then, King Charles showed up with a gory, bloodshot eye. His palace spinners did their best to reassure the media it was absolutely nothing to do with his cancer treatment, but the images did little to project an image of a hale and hearty king, when that was exactly what was needed.
A third story that cut through with the public was when cameras caught the French president’s luggage van speeding away from Windsor Castle with the boot wide open, shedding luggage all over the immaculate driveway of Windsor Castle.
A palace insider told The Daily Beast: “Kate has saved the day. The only thing the newspapers will be reporting on [Wednesday] is her presence.”
A friend of Kate’s told The Royalist they believed that Tuesday’s engagement bodes well for Kate to be at Wimbledon on Sunday to present prizes on the final day of the tennis tournament.
“Tuesday’s engagement bodes well for Kate to be at Wimbledon on Sunday to present prizes on the final day of the tennis tournament.” For years, I’ve noted that as soon as Kate’s patronage of Wimbledon was formalized, it became “work” for her and therefore she tried to avoid it as much as possible. She’s been skipping important Wimbledon events for years, and now she’s lowered the bar to the point where she’s only committing to show up for the men’s final. The women’s final is on Saturday! I guess no one expects her to support women. Anyway, people kept saying “oh, Kate needed to do that hospital event and the state visit appearances so she would be allowed to go to Wimbledon!” But ol’ girl doesn’t even want to watch tennis anymore.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
