Princess o Wales. All the speculation confirmed.

Devil#20

Brave decision to admit more to it following all the furore. We all suspected something more was going on. I'm no royalist but wish her the best in recovery. 

Tannin

We are a bit behind the times here in Australia. Here is a screenshot of a headline from this morning's ABC news. Mrs Tannin brought it to my attention, saying - "What's wrong with this headline?"

I stared at it for some time.

"Umm ... the punctuation is a bit weird" I said, "though I've seen worse". 

"Keep looking", she said. Eventually the penny dropped.

DavidR

Privacy.

the_jaffa

Tannin said:

We are a bit behind the times here in Australia. Here is a screenshot of a headline from this morning's ABC news. Mrs Tannin brought it to my attention, saying - "What's wrong with this headline?"

I stared at it for some time.

"Umm ... the punctuation is a bit weird" I said, "though I've seen worse". 

"Keep looking", she said. Eventually the penny dropped.

Prince Charles (sic)

munckee

I thought you meant because Meghan and Harry wished her well. 

Emp_Fab

 @Devil#20 Please edit the thread title...  I keep thinking this guy started it.....

Devil#20

Emp_Fab said:

 @Devil#20 Please edit the thread title...  I keep thinking this guy started it.....

I spelled it like that so that it would be all inclusive for @Hootsmon

RichAC

Given that I’ve seen speculation that Kate is a) a body double, b) a clone, c) dead - that’s a bold use of the word “all” in the thread title!

Offset

Poor Kate - I thought she looked extremely unwell in her video.  What with the Ginger Whinger problem and Wingnut's recent diagnosis, the royals are going through the grinder at the moment.  You don't have to be a royalist to feel a strong dollop of sympathy for them.

boogieman

Offset said:

Poor Kate - I thought she looked extremely unwell in her video.  What with the Ginger Whinger problem and Wingnut's recent diagnosis, the royals are going through the grinder at the moment.  You don't have to be a royalist to feel a strong dollop of sympathy for them.

Meh I’ve got no sympathy for Harry and his “we’ve been so mistreated” missus at all. Just fuck off the pair of you. 

Charles and Kate though, sure… cancer is a bastard for anybody no matter where you are on the social scale, I hope they both get through it ok. 

Emp_Fab

It's no different to what a lot of families go though.  Families with infinitely less money and only access to bottom-rung healthcare.  Families where they still have to get up and go to work to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

At a human level, I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who gets diagnosed with that, but I don't see why the royals should really get any special concern / public sympathy over any other normal family in a similar situation.  At least the royals will have the absolute best healthcare available whilst not having to worry in the slightest about their income or housing or longer-term repercussions - unlike the thousands of regular families.

springhead

Emp_Fab said:

It's no different to what a lot of families go though.  Families with infinitely less money and only access to bottom-rung healthcare.  Families where they still have to get up and go to work to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

At a human level, I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who gets diagnosed with that, but I don't see why the royals should really get any special concern / public sympathy over any other normal family in a similar situation.  At least the royals will have the absolute best healthcare available whilst not having to worry in the slightest about their income or housing or longer-term repercussions - unlike the thousands of regular families.

Agreed they’ll get the best medical care. However other families don’t have the added upset of endless speculation about their health, online vile trolling about it or hospital staff trying to access their medical records - presumably to sell or publish on the web.  

Timcito

Emp_Fab said:

It's no different to what a lot of families go though.  Families with infinitely less money and only access to bottom-rung healthcare.  Families where they still have to get up and go to work to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

At a human level, I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who gets diagnosed with that, but I don't see why the royals should really get any special concern / public sympathy over any other normal family in a similar situation.  At least the royals will have the absolute best healthcare available whilst not having to worry in the slightest about their income or housing or longer-term repercussions - unlike the thousands of regular families.

That 'she's no different from anyone else' line misses the kind of affection and reverence that many British people feel towards the more dedicated members of the royal family. People like George VI, the late Queen Elizabeth, and I would say Kate, too, represent a devotion to duty and to the people of the country that is much loved and valued. In rough times, I think their tireless work and gestures of concern provide a real boost of morale for many people. When George VI and the Queen Mum went to in the streets of London and talked to people in the East End during the Blitz, it meant a whole lot to a whole lot of people. The royal family has almost no executive power now, but it does have significant power to generate goodwill and build a sense of unity, I think.

So when someone like Kate, a young mum who has quietly and undramatically given the position she stepped into her all, suffers something like this, it does touch people's hearts. Yes, at root she's just like everyone else, but I think her role, both in its real and symbolic senses, does put her on a different level.,   

Iamnobody

Emp_Fab said:

It's no different to what a lot of families go though.  Families with infinitely less money and only access to bottom-rung healthcare.  Families where they still have to get up and go to work to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

At a human level, I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who gets diagnosed with that, but I don't see why the royals should really get any special concern / public sympathy over any other normal family in a similar situation.  At least the royals will have the absolute best healthcare available whilst not having to worry in the slightest about their income or housing or longer-term repercussions - unlike the thousands of regular families.

I think you’ve spectacularly missed the point that the royals (and certain celebs) are not ‘normal’ and are seen as fair game for endless media and public interest, whether that’s affection,  critique and scrutiny and whatever else that typically comes with being in the public eye. The good, the bad and the ugly as it were. 

So she’s obviously going to be given a higher profile than old Maud round the corner who’s maybe terminally ill, lost the postcode lottery for the latest treatment, but isn’t known to millions around the world. 

I hope that now it’s public knowledge the media frenzy stops asap and she’s allowed to fight this without constant front page headlines and speculation about her condition. 

ToneControl

All the speculation confirmed.

really? All of it?

ToneControl

I would ask everyone to pay attention to anyone they know who has been propagating weird crap about this, and be wary of anything they in future

It was obvious something was seriously wrong, surely the most ethical choice would be to wait to be told what was going on, rather than (as some people have) publishing lurid and insensitive fantasies.

It reminds me of the Nicola Bulley case, or the Joanne Yeates case
Murder of Joanna Yeates - Wikipedia
People/press demanding the final verdict instantly, being content to vilify anyone, and having no concern at all for those more affected.

BTW I am mildly anti-royalist: for me, they can keep their titles, have less onerous PR calendars, and live in their private accom, pay normal tax and not get allowances, or live in Buck House, etc

Devil#20

The thing is that the whole media circus could have been avoided if the palace advisors had been upfront in the first place. Not sure how they thought they were going to keep this under wraps. She didn't look well in the video to be fair and she's not going to look any better if she undergoes chemotherapy. 

You can't have digitally manipulated photos in the newspapers unless declared as such when asked. Just for example, if a prosecution was to submit photo evidence in court of a crime using a digitally manipulated image it would be quite correctly thrown out as admissible evidence on the basis it was a falsification of the truth with a subsequent charge of contempt of court following. Media couldn't publish the fake image without declaring it as such and merely asked for the original. No problem with that so why was it not forthcoming unless they were hiding something. 

As far as privacy is concerned then yes, on a detailed level of exactly what the problem is I agree. However, wingnut came clean about his cancer so why not Catherine? As far as it goes they, to an extent, forego their right to absolute privacy as we, the taxpayers, keep them in the luxury to which they are accustomed and so that privacy is somewhat tempered by things like this being in the public interest or being public domain. 

Another thing whilst I think about it. All the millions, if not billions, that has been raised through cancer research and we aren't that much further on treating this horrible disease. Yes, survivability of certain cancers has improved but that's down to early detection. Detection technology is used for many conditions (ultra sound, NMR, CT, blood screening etc) and would have come along anyway and wasn't the sole preserve or down to cancer research funding necessarily. We are still treating it with chemo and radio therapy as we have done for decades now. That treatment is brutal and isn't directly directly at the cancer and attacks the whole body in a kill or cure approach. If it doesn't get rid of the cancer then it kills the patient. All that funding and little in advancement to show for it. The jury is still out on alternative, largely experimental immunotherapy, with some mixed results and worrying lack of effectiveness. Seems to me that it's the one disease (and I know there are many forms of it) that we just cannot find an effective cure for. It's still the death sentence it always was for many people. 

Cancer recently took a member of my family and in my opinion, and others, it was very badly managed and mistakes were made but that's a different matter. I think he should still be here and so does an oncologist friend of mine. An inexact treatment coupled with poor healthcare 'professionals' isn't a good prognosis. 

Apologies for such a downbeat post but I think it's true and had to say it. 

Devil#20

This is the real issue regarding that doctored image. Great article this and says it much better than my clumsy efforts. 

https://www.dpreview.com/opinion/6670302971/kate-middleton-s-photoshop-manipulation-is-a-wake-up-call-to-the-threat-of-misinformation

euan

That’s the correct approach to call what the Royal Family have engaged in this year as misinformation. When you carry out such blatant attempts then the only result is wild and rampant speculation. 

I have great sympathy for the individuals suffering, but they are part of a wider institution and it is fair to be critical of that and their actions within it. That includes either actively or passively participating in that misinformation.  

It’s also clear that the Royal Family is now trying to use the situation to gain sympathy and public goodwill cache. This is just cynical as any of the press fuelling speculation. 

What I’d say is that with so many of the working Royals out of action either directly or indirectly, it just proves how little they are really needed. 

Timcito

euan said:

That’s the correct approach to call what the Royal Family have engaged in this year as misinformation. When you carry out such blatant attempts then the only result is wild and rampant speculation. 

I have great sympathy for the individuals suffering, but they are part of a wider institution and it is fair to be critical of that and their actions within it. That includes either actively or passively participating in that misinformation.  

It’s also clear that the Royal Family is now trying to use the situation to gain sympathy and public goodwill cache. This is just cynical as any of the press fuelling speculation. 

What I’d say is that with so many of the working Royals out of action either directly or indirectly, it just proves how little they are really needed. 

I have great sympathy for the individuals suffering, but ...

There's the magic "but" which so often invalidates the concession that precedes it. Did you not consider that she might actually be scared and that broadcasting her infirmity serves to reinforce that she might die prematurely? That the royal family did not seek maliciously to "engage in misinformation," as you put it, but were rather trying to spare Kate the brutal exposure that she might die soon before the nation?

And then to accuse her and them of "cynically" "using the situation to gain sympathy and public goodwill" - for real? I got nothing of that. I saw a young woman, visibly ill, talking with great dignity and self-control about something that probably frightens and upsets her because she's been hounded by ignorant and idle-brained speculation.

Your sympathy does not seem to run too deep, from what what you say here.

JezWynd

Jesus Christ, can't you just leave the poor woman alone.