From my perspective, bad faith actors are bad faith actors, horrible people are horrible people. Many times they are hidden behind a veneer of decency or professionalism but in certain situations or crisis, the veneer drops and they reveal their true character.
Knowing what we now know, there was absolutely nothing, in my view, that KP could have done differently while respecting the wishes of the PPoW. It is not their responsibility to stop horrible people from exposing themselves on social media or spewing out the fantasies of their twisted minds. That mess lies with the people that indulged and facilitated that not with those that rose above it and did not acknowledge it. Their responsibility is to give out information and make statements as and when their bosses require them to do so. This they did clearly with the information they had at hand. If this were to happen again. I don't see that they would or need to do anything differently. The only thing that would have been done differently might have been restricting the MD picture to their social media pages or not releasing it at all.
I have been deeply moved by Catherine's personal statement and the overwhemingly positive response to it and have been reminded that, eventually, good overcomes evil. Bad faith actors will always exist and are often loud but the decent people, while often silent and going about their business, are in the majority. Catherine's video was not in response to the loud bad-faith actors but to the decent majority who offered support and well wishes, and always knew that at the right time, more information would be given. Even while going through a difficult time, she thought of and chose a personal way to connect with and reassure the decent majority.
What that video showed was that there was no 'KP PR strategy' but a couple who, though public figures, are first and foremost a devoted husband and wife, and devoted parents. At a time of personal/family crisis, their first thought and reaction was not as public figures but as parents, as a wife, as a husband. The sequence of their actions flowed from that. Their focus was not on managing their image but on ensuring they process and manage this as a family firstly. If people behaving indecently on social and mainstream media is a consequence of that decision, then that's fine. They haven't complained or even acknowledged that bad behaviour themselves. They made their choice and, I imagine, would repeat it in a heartbeat if faced with a similar choice. Their staff do not create a PR strategy in their private lives which they front. They live authentically according to their values and bring in their staff when they want to share something private with the public. When things go wrong, they do not throw their staff under the bus but take any blowback on the chin without veering off course.
In my view, a sleekly-run PR strategy would not have brought the returns their authenticity brought. The simple and wholesome video of a mother stating with dignity, grace and poise why she and her husband put their children first at a hugely difficult time and offering reassurance to the public, set against the backdrop of the deplorable madness of the past few weeks (which she did not acknowledge or make reference to) really cut through to the public and press rooms worldwide. What was meant to harm their image has strengthened it. She demonstrated what it means to rise above ill and repay evil with good. The video was broadcast on tv channels all over the world and generated a surge of support from the public and global public figures. It has over 500k likes and 100m views on KP twitter, 4.8m likes and over 93m views on KP instagram. This is unprecedented. Authenticity always trumps PR, in the long run.
While praying for the speediest of recoveries for the princess, I also pray that as they go through this challenging time, they remain true to their values and are strengthened as a family. They will be fine. In due course, their strength and values will continue to underpin their service to the nation.
