William, Harry and girlfriends and the press

[ysbel]

Another idea that was thought of at the time of Diana's death was to develop a material that celebrities could wear that would destroy the image of any photograph that was taken of them while wearing it.

Therefore the celebrity by wearing the metal on a necklace could effectively prevent decent photos of themselves being taken when they so wanted and thus could drive down the price of paps photos.

[GovGen]

Part of the problem is the same as what we were seeing with Kate Middleton before they broke up. We'd see photographs of her shopping maybe two or three times a week, and people would start "doesn't she do anything other than go shopping?" Well, given that the shopping trips in question maybe took six hours out of her week, it's a fairly safe bet that she had time to do a lot of other stuff. It's just that we didn't get to hear about it in the tabloids and glossy magazines either because it was too boring for them to want to bother reporting or because they were trying to give the impression of spendthrift drifter in order to stir up people's emotions and get them buying more papers to read about this terrible person.

In some circumstances that could be true, but the British tabloids are generally favorable to Kate and promote her because they want ‘the royal wedding’. And given who she is dating, a bonafide job or career would most certainly have been reported in some way as that would be a positive for her.
Unfortunately, she gives the impression of having very little ambition beyond being loyal to William and from what we have seen so far from him, he is similar (in ambition). If they marry, this royal couple will likely be far less exciting than the press and/or public expectation is of them currently, as a future king/queen.

I must say that I have long wished Prince William would have private parties instead of going out to those horribly overrated places like Boujis. I don't understand why Boujis is better than a private gathering of loyal friends. After all, Clarence House is bound to have a nice bar, possibly a screening room and god knows what other amenities and luxuries...

It’s probably quite simple. There would be no new women for him to ogle, possibly meet, flirt, etc. And yes, whether he is seriously back with Kate or not, he is 25 and his eyes most likely wander. Despite his press complaints, he and his loyal friends go to these trendy exclusive clubs in large part to see and be seen (inside of course)!

[CasiraghiTrio]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

But, and I shall be controversial for once....

For once??! No, Sam, please be controversial some more! Your controversies bring so much entertainment to the forums. Whatever would we do without them?

Originally Posted by Luv2cruise

R&B tunes are probably about the best thing about those clubs. Certainly better than the Abba's greatest hits--enough to make ME snort vodka.

Well, I was being subjective. I'm not a fan of either R&B or Abba, so if the nightclub music is down to a choice between these two.... I'm running even further away.

Originally Posted by susan_alicia

He could be doing much worse things, there often are callgirls in these gatherings of young men, but none there as we can see, he is just behaving silly with his mates.

I dunno, as some callgirls can be mighty discreet....but in any case, the stories about him in the clubs have a way of filtering out, and we haven't heard about this kind thing.

[Franz]

Same question again. Photo or photomontage? And how can one see that?

Brittiska prinsarna kör skandalrace genom Afrika - Svensk Damtidning

[Elspeth]

The Telegraph has an article about the way William and Harry are easing into public life and being marketed by their royal handlers and the press:

Like it or not, Prince William and Prince Harry are coming of age - Telegraph

[scooter]

I think it would be appropriate, now that William is going to be doing more public speaking, if a voice coach or somone of that sort took him in hand. The speech at the memorial concert for Diana was excrutiating to listen to.

[atina]

Oh please, let him be the way he is. It's more than good enough. We don't want an "actor-like ,American -politican -type" polished speaker anyway.

[Mermaid1962]

I wouldn't like to see Willliam become "slick" or more polished than he is--if that means that he'll be artificial. I'd just like to be able to make him out better when he's speaking. He'll be making a lot of speeches in his life.

Originally Posted by atina

Oh please, let him be the way he is. It's more than good enough. We don't want an "actor-like ,American -politican -type" polished speaker anyway.

[AuroraB]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

I wouldn't like to see Willliam become "slick" or more polished than he is--if that means that he'll be artificial. I'd just like to be able to make him out better when he's speaking. He'll be making a lot of speeches in his life.

A little work on his diction would not be out of place. It makes it very difficult to understand what he says when he mumbles and swallows his words. Let him spend some time with a vocal coach, s/he would whip him into shape without sounding like a slick politician.

[Mermaid1962]

Yes, definitely. Just not Peter Settleton, please!

Originally Posted by AuroraB

A little work on his diction would not be out of place. It makes it very difficult to understand what he says when he mumbles and swallows his words. Let him spend some time with a vocal coach, s/he would whip him into shape without sounding like a slick politician.

[Duchess]

public speaking is hard for most people but it gets easier and the speaker gets better with experience. william will become better at in time.

[Ella Kay]

Originally Posted by CasiraghiTrio

It will be interesting to see how the media wave turns in her favor, however, when the time comes for engagement. At that point, it must certainly be in the media's interest to pump her up in a favorable light.

It really will be interesting, especially consider Prince William's reluctant relationship with the press. I would imagine that the more negative the media is about his wife, be it Kate or someone else, the more closed off he will become. It might end up that the media will have to be at least moderate in their reporting if they want any access to William at all beyond basic royal reporting.

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by Ella Kay

It really will be interesting, especially consider Prince William's reluctant relationship with the press. I would imagine that the more negative the media is about his wife, be it Kate or someone else, the more closed off he will become. It might end up that the media will have to be at least moderate in their reporting if they want any access to William at all beyond basic royal reporting.

That's a good point because at least William will need the media as much as the media will need him. He and his family will have to become much more open to convince the public that there is still a need for a monarchy.

[Incas]

Interesting how William's training in the armed forces are constantly deride as useless waste of time and money, yet Kate is berated for not working in a non-family related environment. It strikes me as a reaction to the lack of William-Kate photos than anything about the persons in question. How the discussions skids to a trickle and grinding over and over the same story when William was on the Iron Duke. IMO, papers like the Daily Mail thrive on royal stories. They have banked on William and Kate as their key to sales in the volumne of the Diana-years. The fact these two choose to live their lives in relative privacy, doesn't suit the papers' agenda. They have now latched on to two themes surrounding Kate: job and play. Judging by the comments left after each article on the Mail site, I think there are a lot more posters influenced by what's written to sell papers than they would like to admit. Most of them take the tone that the article was written, a nice Kate one gets "pretty Kate" comments. Others such as the latest about their visit to Raffles club gets "how dare they" reactions.

[Ella Kay]

Great points, Incas! I agree with you entirely about the tabloid press influencing the way people see William and Kate. The two of them aren't creating a negative image for themselves; papers like the Mail are doing it for them, and some people are jumping on the bandwagon.

[kimebear]

That is what is really scary about tabloid journalism. When you are the only ones talking, your views on things get listened to by the public at large because they are the only source of "information". Eventually, if the sames things are said over and over again, it doesn't matter if they are true or not because people have heard them so many times they accept them as fact.

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by kimebear

That is what is really scary about tabloid journalism. When you are the only ones talking, your views on things get listened to by the public at large because they are the only source of "information". Eventually, if the sames things are said over and over again, it doesn't matter if they are true or not because people have heard them so many times they accept them as fact.

That is so true. The tabloids have been influencing how people are seeing things, particularly about the royals.

[Mermaid1962]

I believe that a tabloid circulation war broke out just about the time that a certain young aristocrat married into the Royal Family in 1981 (see, I didn't mention the name). One proprietor in particular, Rupert Murdock, was supposed to have said to take the gloves off where the Royals were concerned.

Originally Posted by Iluvbertie

That is so true. The tabloids have been influencing how people are seeing things, particularly about the royals.

[putski]

Originally Posted by Incas

Judging by the comments left after each article on the Mail site, I think there are a lot more posters influenced by what's written to sell papers than they would like to admit. Most of them take the tone that the article was written, a nice Kate one gets "pretty Kate" comments. Others such as the latest about their visit to Raffles club gets "how dare they" reactions.

I'm not sure why there are so many negative comments on DM regarding Kate and Wills. Do they represent majority of the public? Are they the same Kate-haters who fuel other forums? I've heard that the DM has a preference for negative comments, but I just find it hard to believe that so many people can be influenced by clearly irrelevant speculations. Perhaps the sensible/quieter readers should start sharing their views as well.

[Elspeth]

The Mail doesn't print all the comments it receives. I know that some of our members have sent comments to the Mail disagreeing about negative articles about Camilla, and those comments tend not to see the light of day. The paper can make it look as though the article has widespread public support by being selective about the comments that get into print.