Kate ❤️‘s Misogynoir

Omid’s book, Endgame, was announced in December 2022, almost a year before it was released on November 22, 2023.

There was likely a shudder larger than the one Kate makes when she hears Meghan’s name throughout the halls of Buckingham Palace and Adelaide Cottage. Because with the announcement came the descriptor for Endgame in December 2022: 

"[pull] back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the chaos, family dysfunction, distrust and draconian practices threatening its very future."

Fast-forward a year later, the UK media has whipped itself into a tizzy, and revealed the royals named in a Dutch translation as the royals involved in concerns over Archie’s skin tone. 

Two days later Catherine, The Princess of Wales, arrives at her scheduled, November 30th, Royal Variety performance engagement with her husband, William. There’s extra interest in what she will wear because this appearance is in the thick of Endgame, and Name That Racist Royal era. So when she stepped out of the car and gave shoulder pads—

— or more prevalently known as the 80’s power shoulder, my right eyebrow accelerated upwards. The shoulder pads in the 80’s we’re the supreme of power dressing. Thanks to women more predominantly seeking out careers in the business sector, and the popular tv show, Dynasty. It became a style that evoked taking up space, in the 1.0 version of, ‘I can do it all - work, clean, birth, feed, and be fabulous!’ 

Maybe that’s why this off the mark feminism is incorporated more and more into Kate’s style messaging. 

Or why it was the perfect choice to accompany headlines like:

It underscored the ‘revenge dress’ commentary from UK media in anticipation of the event. That storyline that Kate has been victimized, therefore she’s a Saint of Elegance to appear amidst it all, beautiful, and smiling. You can hear the ‘keep calm, and carry-on’, jingle in this, ‘being called a racist is worse than the actual act of racism’, playlist. Which seems to be the major undercurrent issue the UK has with the Dutch translation’s naming. 

DRESSES ARE PICKED LONG BEFORE EVENTS

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A fact. They also have back-ups, a fact. Another fact? This book was announced in December, 2022 with the synopsis: "…[pull] back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the chaos, family dysfunction, distrust and draconian practices threatening its very future." [aol, 2022] Which means they would have known for a year this book would be critical of them, and those criticisms would be in the headlines around the date it was released. 

The terms, ‘chaos’, ‘family dysfunction’ and ‘draconian practices’, don’t point towards a wand of decorum and positivity being waved over them. They also would have known it’s being written by the one journalist from the rota, Omid Scobie, who wouldn’t take their anti-Sussex marching orders. They know he was at one point someone various royal aides talked to about ‘dysfunctional’ family matters. He also has a following, and has written a lucrative book before. In the past when those types of cards were stacked against them, they took the time to act accordingly.

Oprah rings a bell? It was announced on February 15th, 2021, that the sit-down interview would be  aired on March 7th, 2021. By March 2nd, a few weeks later and five days before the interview, Jason Knauff, with a sound off from his bosses, had gone to Valentino Low of the Sunday Times with previous KP employees, to make claims Meghan is a bully. Despite not knowing what would be said, but knowing things would be said about them in a negative light, they put that together in three weeks. 

So with a little less than a year before the release date, that’s plenty of time to come-up with a game plan, like they had in the past. So, things like choosing a blue dress named the Poseidon, by a brand heavily associated with Meghan does a few things.

The blue is almost exactly the shade of blue in the Swedish flag. Which represents: justice, truth, vigilance, and predervance. 

Then there is the name of the dress, ‘Destiny Poseidon’. Poseidon, a God, who is most associated with his strength and perseverance. Which falls perfectly in-line with the ‘revenge’ narrative some UK news media outlets had set the tone for, for her appearance at the Royal Variety Show. Through it all, she’s stead-fast in ‘keep calm, and carry on’.

GB News had a talking point on their Thursday broadcast predicting Kate’s royal variety moment would be her ‘revenge dress’ moment. A reference to when Diana wore That Dress the same night an interview was aired of Charles confessing he had an affair with Camilla while married to Diana. 

Maybe it’s just me, but wearing a revenge dress because your husband admitted to an affair on national tv, and wearing a revenge dress for being named on national tv as one of the alleged royal family members who showed concern over your nephew’s skin tone… - well, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. One is a victim, and the other (allegedly) victimized another. 

So why make the comparison? 

Because comparing Kate’s Royal Variety appearance to Diana’s Serpentine Gallery, is an attempt to make the situations seem parallel. That in this case too, the victim and villain is as black and white as the affair situation - Charles, bad; Diana, good. Omid bad; Kate good. Therefore Kate’s appearance and shoulder pads should without a doubt embody strength, rather than Jafar, to the royal watchers eye. It’s to continue to underline the narrative that she's a victim because it’s worse to be named for (allegedly) having racial, unconscious biases; rather than having them and voicing them.

Case in point:

Two white men giving us, ‘it’s worse to be called racist, than be racist’, in action. Also, #neverforget, Harry explicitly said several times it was asked out of concern, not curiosity.

SINGLE WHITE FEMAL’ING MEGHAN MARKLE 

As we all know, since 2020, when Meghan and Harry left the royal fold, Kate began to dress eerily similar to Meghan. Suits, brands, trousers, and capes, to name a few. 

The month of November, 2023, she wore two brands synonymous with Meghan, the first being, Mother Denim. The USA based brand Meghan wore off-duty, and most-famously when she was introduced to the world as ‘Harry’s Girl’ when attending a semi-finals tennis match with Harry, at Invictus Games in 2017. It was that sustainable, woman-owned, brand she wore that day, and several times after. 

Fast-forward to November 30th, 2023, Kate wore another brand synonymous with Meghan and her big moments, Safiyaa. Meghan wore this brand to her 2019 Royal Variety show. She also wore it two other times during a royal tour, and one of her last engagements as a working royal. 

The big puzzle people have, is why wear a brand synonymous with Meghan while you’re being accused of being concerned what color her first born would be?

The SEO, first and foremost. Meghan’s numbers don’t lie, and she dominates, especially those folks in interest.  So if Meghan’s name is attached to a headline, you get more interest, then clicks, which means more revenue. Plus, for this particular moment, Kate’s name is associated with Meghan outside of the controversy.

On November 20th, Meghan was seen at a hockey game in Canada. On the 21st, Kate wore a tiara, the Strathmore Rose, that hadn’t been in almost one-hundred years at the State Banquet. Meghan still dominated the search results, as you see above. 

Then, deeply more sinister, is to erase Meghan’s impact as a working royal. The brands she brought to the forefront, the style - sleek and chic - are beginning to be associated with Kate, just as much as Meghan. While Meghan’s time as a royal is associated more and more, with just the controversy. 

To use a woman in the way Meghan’s being used, is bad. It’s a sign of the misogyny that’s been prevalent in our society, in the past and present. Kate, a white woman, to use Meghan, a black woman, by pushing racist narratives to uplift herself as the great, white, way, while dressing like her, is egregious and misogynoir.