Exactly a week after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey catapulted the royal family into crisis in March 2021, Prince William and Kate Middleton released a photo on Mother’s Day in the UK.
The picture, posted to their joint Instagram on March 14, 2021, was of a cake they said their three children made to remember Princess Diana. It was endearing and casual, far from Kate and William’s typical social-media content.
Fast-forward three years, and the royal family has found themselves surrounded by controversy yet again. But this time, Kate and William are at the center of it, igniting weeks of speculation with a match in the shape of a digitally altered Mother’s Day photo.
Kensington Palace … sounds exasperated and very defensive.Kristen Meinzer, royal commentator
The scandal has been breathtakingly swift, turning the once-golden Prince and Princess of Wales into joke fodder for American late-night hosts — not to mention all of social media. The publicity has been so bad that even the British tabloids’ loyalty is starting to crack.
Where did it all go wrong? When Kate and William stopped acting like a united front.
A comeback for the ages
The royal family went on the charm offensive after Harry and Meghan’s interview with Winfrey, and they knew Kate and William had to be on the starting lineup.
As the world slowly emerged from lockdown, William and Kate were suddenly everywhere. They visited Westminster Abbey to mark their 10th wedding anniversary, hung out with children on a farm, launched a joint YouTube channel, played soccer with more kids, and hosted a drive-in movie night — all before June.
The ensuing photos were a PR dream for the royal family: Kate with a goat! Kate laughing with a golf club! Kate holding a tarantula! Kate in sneakers!
There were also plenty of snaps of the couple together, and many noticed that William and Kate were suddenly more affectionate in public. That May, they visited the University of St Andrews — where they first met — and an Access Hollywood story noted that William “even affectionately put his hand on Kate’s back in a tender moment we don’t often see from the perfectly poised heir.”
It came just a month after the couple released an anniversary portrait, accompanied by a playful Instagram video far more relaxed than their previous pictures.
The royal family went on the charm offensive after Harry and Meghan’s interview with Winfrey, and they knew Kate and William had to be on the starting lineup.
As the world slowly emerged from lockdown, William and Kate were suddenly everywhere. They visited Westminster Abbey to mark their 10th wedding anniversary, hung out with children on a farm, launched a joint YouTube channel, played soccer with more kids, and hosted a drive-in movie night — all before June.
The ensuing photos were a PR dream for the royal family: Kate with a goat! Kate laughing with a golf club! Kate holding a tarantula! Kate in sneakers!
There were also plenty of snaps of the couple together, and many noticed that William and Kate were suddenly more affectionate in public. That May, they visited the University of St Andrews — where they first met — and an Access Hollywood story noted that William “even affectionately put his hand on Kate’s back in a tender moment we don’t often see from the perfectly poised heir.”
It came just a month after the couple released an anniversary portrait, accompanied by a playful Instagram video far more relaxed than their previous pictures.
