Opinion
Kate, Princess of Wales, has known for weeks that she is seriously ill. And chose to remain silent. In view of the wild conspiracy theories surrounding her health and her person, the question arises: Have many people forgotten what role public relations plays in the monarchy?
It is perhaps one of the biggest misunderstandings of our modern times: that royal press work serves the truth. Now one can debate whether public relations departments should generally be committed to the truth – but royal PR has certainly not been for centuries.
The large oil paintings by the German painter Hans Holbein showed King Henry VIII in full regalia, but of course not the festering wounds on his legs that tormented him for years. And William’s great-grandfather George VI. was not sick at all to the public. When doctors operated on one of his lungs in 1951, it was sold to the public as “structural abnormalities” – even the king himself was initially left in the dark about his true fate. When he died quite suddenly in 1952 from lung cancer, the news of his death came just as the Times went to press; morphine injections from the royal doctors at the right time probably helped to achieve the perfect PR effect.
Kate and William: picture of a perfect family
The work of royal press secretaries is always focused on one thing: making the royal family look good. In the case of Kate and William, the Prince and Princess of Wales, this meant presenting the image of a perfect family at all times and everywhere. Two adults in harmonious service to the people between kindergarten openings and soup kitchen visits and every now and then pictures of the little heir to the throne George, already perfectly prepared for his future role.
Kate and William’s press work is therefore not designed to convey one or even the truth. Rather, it serves to represent their royal roles to the outside world – these impossibly perfect people in an increasingly impossible institution.
The royals are not celebrities: Kate & Co. have no interest in publicity
Because here we come to the second part of this misunderstanding, which particularly affects the public outside of Great Britain: The royals are not celebrities. They have no interest in publicity. You must always and always protect yourself from the public.
On the one hand, because too much publicity could damage the principle of the idea of the monarchy: that this family has something so special within it, which is why they are allowed to wear crowns, ride in golden carriages and have children who will do all of this at some point.
And on the other hand, the Windsors have to protect themselves from the public because these modern royals want to live like (almost) normal people. Extremely privileged, but as parents who bring their children to school as often as possible – and without being photographed by paparazzi. Who throw parties with friends without pictures appearing in tabloids afterwards. Who go on vacation without having photos of Kate in a bikini printed afterwards.
And part of this normal life is that Kate, as Princess of Wales, has herself photographed with her children in front of the clinic a few hours after the birth. But she has just now decided to keep the public in the dark for weeks about how she is doing.
It’s squaring the circle that the Windsors are trying to do here. You, as a royal family, are the epitome of publicity. Their privileges, their roles, their entire raison d’être rests on being seen. And yet they want to protect themselves from this public and not reveal everything to them.
Where there was no information, there were conspiracy theories
Are you allowed to do that?
And perhaps this question shows how absurd the debates surrounding Kate have become in recent weeks. Where there was no information, there were conspiracy theories. The Princess of Wales needed privacy. And the public demanded “the truth.”
White House, Trudeau, King Charles
“Demonstrated enormous courage” – these are the reactions to Kate’s illness
Which leads to the next question: Can we demand that the royals tell us everything, at any time?
Now the British can certainly ask what is actually going on – after all, as taxpayers, they pay for the royals’ appearances and pomp and circumstance. But all of us who simply allow ourselves to be entertained by this pomp, we must not demand that this woman, this family, reveal her soul to us.
We should remember what these royals are: above all, people with roles that now show once again how inhumane they really are.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
