Anna Hopi
The palace refuses to release an unedited photo of the princess to the public, even if it specifically silences some of the speculation. Completely incomprehensible PR strategy, writes journalist Anna Hopi.
The court’s PR strategy failed in the image scandal of Princess Catherine of Wales. PDO
For years, Brittihof’s PR strategy has been to reveal as little as possible about the health of the royals to the public. We don’t traditionally take a stand on wild rumors and various commotions. Queen Elizabeth’s while he was alive, there were various rumors about the old monarch’s health, but Hovi remained silent and the monarch waved smilingly to the people. Things were mainly in the hands of the court and under control. Even Harry’s and Meghan’s in the furious exits, the traditional “do not comment on anything” line of the British royals systematically held.
Until the year 2024 came. At the beginning of the year, the royal family experienced a big change related to the health of two key people. First announced in January was the Princess of Wales Catherine’s about the operation in the belly region, and a couple of weeks later came the news of the head of state, the king Charles’s from cancer. Two different recovery stories – and two different PR strategies from the court.
Charles has been exceptionally open about his cancer. In his statements, he has thanked for the support and poured faith and hope around him. The king has said that he wanted to bring his illness to the fore, so that fellow-fatalities would seek treatment. Above all, he has been seen in public – a picture is worth a thousand words. He has published videos and appeared in public to be cheerful.
Could it be that Charles’s openness is actually a cunning strategy to cover up Catherine’s health? By directing attention to the king’s condition and the tears of emotion when he reads congratulatory messages from his citizens, the princess got time to recover at the beginning of the year. It would be appropriate especially if there was something serious in the background.
However, there is another motive behind Charles’s openness. If the king had received, for example, a serious diagnosis of an incurable disease, it would be reasonable to bring the matter to the public as soon as possible. In any case, with his actions, he has skillfully diverted attention away from his recovering daughter-in-law.
Catherine, on the other hand, has disappeared like ashes in the wind for several months. Kensington Palace has given little information about the princess’s condition and has told all round that her recovery is going well. The long recovery time tells its own story about the fact that it is not a small operation. He is said to be recovering at home. TMZ immortalized him in silly pictures in a car ride with sunglasses on his eyes. In dim lighting, the inaccurate pictures reveal nothing about the princess’s condition.
On Sunday, Catherine posted the expected, first photo after her operation on Instagram. After that, an uncontrollable chain of events began: sharp-eyed people noticed signs of photo editing, speculations began to fly, and finally Catherine admitted that she had edited the photo. Also, he apologized.
Sure, it’s an honest act, but in the PR mind, the fact that he messed up in the first place to the point where he has to apologize is quite a brain fart. Someone at court should have told Catherine that she can’t photoshop pictures properly. Or was it Catherine who edited the picture? He is known to be a talented photographer, and by no means an amateur photographer, as he claimed in an article published on the messaging service X. The claim has been made in the British media that in reality Catherine’s background team failed to handle things.
The recent scandal has already branched out in many directions. The princess is sorry for the escalation of the innocent Image Editing and the proportions the matter has taken have shocked her. The British are angry: confidence in the royals is shaken. It is worth questioning how much the photos distributed by the court are generally modified? Conspiracy theories about Catherine’s health have been rampant. According to the Daily Mail, it is suspected that she even underwent butt lift surgery. The most suspected is that Catherine ended up being operated on because of a very serious illness.
What does Kensington Palace do? The palace refuses to release an unedited photo of the princess to the public, even if it specifically silences some of the speculation. Completely incomprehensible PR strategy. The princess is photographed next to William on the way to London. According to experts, this is a desperate attempt to alleviate curiosity about the princess’ health.
Like a royal expert Fairy tale Jaatinen Iltalehdelle commented, Catherine will soon be in a situation where she will have to tell the public more about her health. The long recovery time in the blackout and the above-mentioned course of events have raised the pressure to the power of ten, and the Princess of Wales and her spouse have to seriously consider the next steps to calm the publicity mill.
In Catherine’s image scandal, the court’s PR strategy failed once more. The world’s most interesting and glamorous royal couple ended up being mocked by the British. One can imagine how the tight-lipped King Charles, who has succeeded in his own PR strategy, is probably gritting his teeth.
Difficult choices lie ahead. The court should make a conscious decision to cut back on dealing with royal-related publicity. At the moment, things are resting, and it shows. It is hinted in the British media that someone from the Princess of Wales’ background team clearly deserves to be fired.
Catherine has to think about how much she tells the public about her health. It is entirely up to him to decide. He does not have an obligation due to status to share everything. However, openness at this point could alleviate the inflamed situation.
In the future, the court and the British royals should also have a zero tolerance for edited pictures and only publish genuine shots with errors. It would rekindle the trust that is now faltering.