Kate Middleton’s sign is secretly panicking over Prince Harry’s book Spare

That damn reindeer. In late December, William and Kate, Prince and Princess of Wales, did what any proud parent would do and happily slapped their eldest child, Prince George, a work of art, avoiding their fridge and instead choosing to make it their 14. 6 million Instagram followers appreciated. his youthful genius.

The reason we’re talking about this reindeer today is not because the future King of Great Britain has all the artistic talents of a Gold Coast retiree taking a TAFE course, but because this is the last time the Wales team has shared anything. on the platform while writing, despite Kate turning 41 on Monday. So what? It `s very unusual.

For years, it has been standard practice at Kensington Palace that birthdays are usually celebrated with some kind of social media photo or a new and rather boring picture of His Royal Highness in question doing such unusual things, sitting or standing in some sort of pastoral setting. , or they publish a post thanking followers for their warm wishes, even to the point of using an emoji or two.

All in all, it’s all as exciting as a cup of warm, weak tea and a crumbling ginger nut that’s been soaked too greedily, soaked a bit, but what’s remarkable is that we didn’t even get a crumb from social media this year. pair. While King Charles and Queen Camilla’s outfit at Buckingham Palace shared their usual peppy holiday meal to mark Kate’s day, Kensington Palace, at least outwardly, has gone oddly silent. And, even if the prince and princess’s Instagram account gives something away, it will be the first time in years that they haven’t slapped anything on a real day.

Skipping a Palace birthday would be unusual in normal times, but given the events of recent days, it takes on a darker tone. The world is, of course, in the midst of a book tour by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who has to sell them all in connection with his upcoming memoir. Spare.

For most of the week, the royal family has been bombarded with a steady stream of highly unflattering stories emerging from the pages of autobiographies, all in the name of Harry and his “truth”. (I’m sure the alleged eight-figure check paid with the book played no role in his decision to become a literary defector…)

While in SpareBased on what has been found, King Charles comes across as a weak father who did not do a particularly good job of raising his sons, especially in terms of supporting them after the severe trauma of losing their mother Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. , the real targets of the book appear to be Queen Camilla and Prince “Willy”.

It was the latter, as we learn, who captured the brave hero of our story, Harry; who, he told ITV’s Tom Bradby, had a “red haze” during this altercation, and who, along with Kate, encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a dress-up party in 2005.

Perhaps the most devastating statement made by the 38-year-old current California resident is that after they agreed that they would never turn their press offices against each other, Willie did just that, essentially poking fun at the waters. Fleet Street for his brother.

So far, the royal family has reacted by doing what they do best – no, hiding German relatives with defiantly sympathetic views of the Nazis and destroying Battenberg cakes at tea parties – but saying nothing. The message they are clearly trying to send is that this is business as usual; they are all doing well with HRH trying to ride out the Sussex media flurry.

However, the biggest clue that things might not be so easy behind closed doors is Wales’ official Instagram account and the decision not to share a single thing on Kate’s big day.

This is the most visible sign that Harry’s various bookish provocations may have found their purpose, at least privately.

Of course, none of Aitch’s statements may even start as “the overthrow of the monarchy” (no one is going to start bang a can for the Republic because Kate didn’t want to share her lip gloss with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex), but that Harry made a serious attack on character of the royal family, making them look like a bunch of obnoxious, self-serving aristocrats willing to do whatever it takes to win the press game.

Camilla in her campaign to get the British masses to stop throwing buns at her in supermarkets, writes Harry in Spare, “sacrificed me to her personal PR altar” and accused her of leaking details of her first meeting with Prince William. (Interestingly, this has been disputed Telegraph who revealed that it was Camilla’s assistant named Amanda McManus, married to a media executive, who accidentally leaked details of Willie’s first meeting with the now queen.)

Meanwhile, William is reportedly being portrayed as an aggressive bully, ready to use his fists and, according to the Duke, “parrot the press” about Meghan after he called her “difficult”, “rough” and “abrupt”. (Note: Given that Willy must have known Meg for at least two years at that point, including sharing an office and staff with her, any opinion he had of the Duchess would no doubt be based on personal experience and not chatter Fleet Street?)

And then there’s Kate, with whom Harry was once so close.

Over the years, there has been a constant stream of touching stories about the duo, including one about the princess taking her son-in-law over for roast dinners after breaking up with girlfriend Cressida Bonas. She was the woman Harry famously referred to as “the sister I never had” and there are seas of photos of the duo giggling together at family events. It’s all Hallmark stuff.

However, Spare reportedly throwing away the legacy of all those cozy kitchen dinners in exchange for making Kate a princess in the most pejorative sense. Notably, Harry adds his account of what happened during the Great Bridesmaid Dress Controversy in 2018, the incident that fired the starting gun into the tsunami of stories about Meghan and Kate’s crumbling relationship that followed.

The Duke writes that a few days before his wedding to Meghan in May of that year, Kate complained to her ex Suits star after daughter Charlotte was left in tears after trying on the dress. Kate went on to insist that “all dresses need to be redone” and said she discussed the situation with “her wedding designer.”

Harry writes: “Meg asked if Kate was aware of what was going on. With Father. Kate said she was well aware, but the dresses. And the wedding is in four days! “Yes, Kate, I know…”

This selfish Kate may look bad, but then again, we’re hardly talking about a monarchy; 1000 plus years of the Crown will not be endangered by one grumpy petty prince and his publishing deal.

However, the personal element must not be forgotten here either. It’s hard to look at the revelations that Harry has chosen to make public and not see it as a betrayal of the trust, privacy, and certainty that William and Kate may have been counting on.

This week, the children of Wales return to school, and on Friday UK time, the prince and princess plan to take a walk together. It is unlikely that anyone will wink, shake hands or smile inappropriately, despite the storm unleashed by the most famous unfortunate prince in the world since Hamlet.

It’s almost like Harry was ready, umm…. donate his brother and daughter-in-law to the Sussexes’ personal PR altar. Now where have I heard this before?

Daniela Elser is a writer and royal commentator with over 15 years of experience working with a range of leading Australian media outlets.