In the past two years, it’s been fascinating to watch Prince William and Kate suddenly decide to be very keen about America. The shift happened literally the moment the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to California in 2020. There were royal reporters openly advising the then-Cambridges to travel to New York asap to nail down their popularity with American audiences. What’s weird is that the Keens are always a day late and a dollar short – they had all the time in the world to cultivate an American audience for the keenery, but they rarely visited North America and never seemed to bother expanding their reach beyond the borders of Salt Island. They truly only became desperate for American attention, American money, American tourism and American media when the Sussexes showed off how easily they had mastered all the above.
Even Katie Nicholl noted last year, in her coverage of the Earthshot Awards, that Will and Kate “are aware that their popularity took a bit of a dive post the Oprah interview, and that the focus now is on getting that support back. America is a very important audience for them.” Omid Scobie underlined the point in a column several months ago: William wants to be “seen” as very big and important outside of the UK. Well, they just can’t help but telegraph it once again:
Prince William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, want to be “more global”, a source has claimed ahead of the royals’ trip to the States. The two senior royals will be in Boston on December 2 for the second award ceremony of the Earthsot Prize, the environmental contest launched by William in October 2020.
This trip, the source claimed, is part of the Waleses’ plan to become “more visible” outside of Britain, where they are already much loved by the public.
The insider told Us Weekly magazine: “They want to be more global or at least more openly visible to the rest of the world.”
This trip across the Atlantic, they added, will also give Kate and William the chance to thank Americans for the warmth shown to the Firm following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in early September.
They said: “The outpouring of support and sympathy that was sent to the royals from across the Atlantic Ocean was immense. It touched William and Kate and the entire Royal Family deeply.”
[From The Daily Express]
Desperate and pitiful. William and Kate are throwing themselves at America, begging Americans to see them as keen and special. Their trip to Boston in December will be incredibly stage-managed and I wonder what kind of American media they’ll get, especially if they try to play the same silly games they play with their domestic media. While I can see the networks and the bigger newspapers covering the trip as a fun royal story, will it be anything deeper than “here’s a video of Will and Kate arriving to the Earthshot Awards, look at Kate’s dress”? Are they capable of more than that? Probably not, although if I was advising Peggington (perish the thought) I would arrange an on-camera interview with an American network and prep William to answer some questions about his family and his brother. It would be an ideal time to show off a “new and improved” Other Brother. Is William capable of controlling his temper and reciting some vague sentiments about “we’re on a path to peace”?
Anyway, I love that William and Kate’s pre-Boston PR is “We’re ready for Americans to love us! Please accept us as global celebrities!”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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