A British Reporter Admitted That Kate Middleton's Absence Is Causing Press Problems for Royal Family

During Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, things were pretty buttoned up at the palace, but since her September 2022 passing, the royal family has struggled to find its footing. In her era, the monarch would never see a member of the Royal Rota speak anonymously to the U.S. press about what is really going on behind palace walls, but that’s exactly what’s happening during King Charles III’s time on the throne.

An unidentified member of the British press spoke to New York magazine’s Intelligencer and revealed that things aren’t so rosy for them without their superstars in action. Charles’ absence is one thing, but Kate Middleton’s health crisis is causing a whole other set of problems. Without her regular royal engagements, there isn’t much to report. “To be frank with you, I think Edward and Sophie are lovely, and Princess Anne is very popular and is admired for just doing that old-fashioned work: opening the hospitals, going to charity shops, whatever,” they said. “But it’s really just the king and queen and William and Kate who are the box office.”

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The reporter noted that “the British monarchy is going to need to make a bit of a splash perhaps in the second half of this year or early next year to get things back on track because it does feel as if things have been derailed.” Of course, that all hinges around the recoveries of King Charles and the Princess of Wales — and that is an undetermined factor because their good health is way more of a priority than showing up to shake hands with the crowds. The anonymous media person also talked about the U.S. press forcing them to respond to the rumors in ways they never would have in the past.

“The working day has partly been reacting to all the rumors,” they shared. “It was pressure from editors to come up with a fresh story, a fresh line, trying to weigh how seriously to take some of the stuff that you are reading from elsewhere, from abroad in particular—because don’t forget, the American press has been deeply involved in all of this.” When the U.S. press published the photo of Kate and her mother, Carole Middleton, the Royal Rota caught heat for deciding not to run it. Some critics speculated that it was because they were in bed with the palace, but this reporter saw it very differently.

“As far as I’m aware, that’s not the case. I think papers decided it’s probably not going to be a good look if we run those pictures,” they claimed while admitting that they should “have used those pictures of Kate with her mother” because it was such big news. The reporter (sort of) admitted that the criticism of not running the snapshot had everything to do with their relationship with the royal family. It’s a complicated — and messy — situation for the Royal Rota to be in because they rely upon the palace to feed them the news, but these are unprecedented times and without Kate in the mix… it’s crickets out there.

Before you go, click here to see more of Kate Middleton’s best royal fashion moments.

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