With Kate Middleton and King Charles III largely out of public view while they deal with their health battles, Prince William has been the face of the royal family — and it hasn’t been smooth sailing. The palace has always operated on the idea that their narrative can be controlled anytime with the help of the Royal Rota, but there is a change in the air and the British tabloids really can’t help William and his family out anymore. There’s a new sheriff in town.
Who is in control of the royal family story right now? One glance at social media — from X to TikTok —proves that Prince William is learning a hard lesson in real-time. His adopted motto from Queen Elizabeth II of “Never complain, never explain” has bit him more than once over the last few weeks. Kensington Palace’s inexplicable silence over shutting down some of the downright bonkers rumors has done nothing to help the situation. As the Daily Mail noted, William has never had “an easy relationship with the British media,” he and Kate backed themselves into a corner and they couldn’t get out of it.
William, and Kate once she’s healthy, have to figure out a way “to retain the confidence of people” because there’s a lack of trust that is lingering in the air, not only from social media, but also from respected news agencies. That’s why Kensington Palace has “learned the hard way that this degree of control does not extend to the sump of social media – let alone foreign publications and even prime-time US television.”
As royal insiders have noted to the Daily Mail, William will not “publicly react” to what they believe is “the madness” of social media, they “feel their actions should do the talking” instead. And yes, there will probably be another statement or two, but the damage has been done, and it’s been a global hot topic for weeks on end. And as PR expert Mark Borkowski told Page Six, “They’ve failed to navigate the treacherous waters of social media, sticking to traditional tactics. The blunt truth is, in the realm of celebrity, privacy is a myth.”
It’s only human for William to be upset about the rumors regarding his wife and her health, but a large portion of this royal scandal was avoidable. Kensington Palace’s communications team is to blame for leading a PR campaign that stumbled more than once, and now, the burden is on Kate to clean up the mess when she’s ready to return.
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