Rita Panahi: Kate-gate saga exposes failings of ‘The Firm’
It’s difficult to fathom just how badly the royal family has mishandled the Kate-gate saga, but it’s very clear they do not control the media narrative.
Rita Panahi
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For the first time ever, and it was just a fleeting moment, I felt some sympathy for the ginger and the whinger, aka Harry and Meghan, and their many grievances with the royal family machinery.
It’s difficult to fathom just how badly the Palace has mishandled the Kate-gate saga that saw both the media and social media enraptured by “where is Kate” conjecture including ever wilder conspiracy theories.
Instead of responding to the intense interest in the Princess of Wales’ whereabouts with a
10-second video featuring the princess assuring her adoring masses that she’s fine and just needs a little longer to recover – a measure that would’ve put an end to 99 per cent of the craziness we’ve seen and heard in recent weeks – they instead released a fake photo with a dozen poorly executed manipulations and then had the mother-of-three take the blame for the stuff-up.
It was then that the public’s interest went from acute to nuclear with all sorts of scuttlebutt, including many mainstream media outlets reporting, for the first time, about Prince William’s alleged affair with Rose Hanbury.
What was the Palace thinking? Through their inept mishandling of this issue they have damaged the future King’s reputation and put additional pressure on Princess Catherine, arguably the hardest working royal, who had her last public appearance on Christmas Day.
The Palace should’ve known that in the absence of any formal explanation, including a genuine image, rumours would take hold.
After all, we are talking about the future Queen and the woman who polls show is the most popular royal not being seen for months after undergoing abdominal surgery in January.
Questions surrounding the surgery and why she spent two weeks in hospital have also had royal watchers in a spin.
The Palace’s failure to provide a single undoctored photo, video or just release some information allowed wild speculation to fill the void.
That is likely to end now that TMZ has released a short video of a smiling, healthy-looking princess shopping with William in Windsor.
One thing seems clear, “The Firm’’ is not as media savvy as their detractors, including Harry and Meghan, suspect and they certainly don’t control the media narrative.
They failed media management 101.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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