If you love The Daily Beast’s royal coverage, then we hope you’ll enjoy The Royalist, a members-only series for Beast Inside. Become a member to get it in your inbox on Sunday.
What do royals do to make a point?
Well, because they tend not to say much—unless it’s highly scripted or choreographed—they major on the visual. And so it is from what we see of what they are wearing or how they are behaving that we deduce what they want us to know.
ADVERTISEMENT
The best practitioner of this, still unmatched, was Princess Diana, who, the night that Prince Charles went on television to confess his adultery in 1994, attended a party at the Serpentine Gallery in London in a stunning Christina Stambolian black cocktail dress. It was revenge dressing, taking-back-the-power dressing, and wickedly dramatic, all in one delicious rush.
This was an indubitably fabulous moment. Who got the best headlines the next day? Diana did, of course.
When Diana wanted to transmit to the world what the state of her marriage was—way before she gave BBC Panorama an interview in 1995—she sat alone in front of the Taj Mahal. It was February 1992, 10 months before she and Prince Charles announced their separation.
Using this visuals-tell-everything mode of royal communication, it is clear from the last few weeks—specifically ever since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the SussexRoyal Instagram account such a hot destination—that Kate Middleton and Prince William want back on the front pages.
Some have argued that Kate and William’s explosion into public view and social media in recent weeks shows the feud between the two sets of couples is still very much ongoing.
That may be partially true; a kinder thesis might be that Harry and Meghan’s savvy and popularity have woken Kate and William up from their royal slumber.
This week’s video of Kate and William and their three children playing in the “Back to Nature” garden Kate designed for the Chelsea Flower Show was to show a few things: first, that they are a normal family, when of course they have unimaginable privilege.
William got to show off his normal-dadness, the kids ran around happily, and—the most significant of all—Kate spoke. Kate speaking shouldn’t be that much of a big deal, but she has shown herself to be extremely reticent to do so, and so when words come, the media hangs off them.
The words are rarely controversial, but given Meghan’s ease as a public speaker, it would seem that Kate too is no longer satisfied to play the smiling royal bystander.
Introducing the Back to Nature garden, Kate said: “An amazing fact I learned recently is that 90 percent of our adult brains are developed before the age of 5, and what a child experiences in those really early years directly affects how the brain develops, and that’s why I think it’s so important that all of us, whether we’re parents or carers or family members, really engage in quality time with children and babies from a really young age.
“I really feel that nature, being interactive outdoors, has huge benefits on our physical and mental well-being, particularly for young kiddies. [The RHS Chelsea Back to Nature Garden] is a natural, creative place for them to play. I really hope that this woodland that we have created in a huge collaboration here really inspires families, and kids and communities in general, to get outside, enjoy nature, enjoy the outdoors, and really spend quality time together.”
William and Kate’s KensingtonRoyal Instagram account isn’t lacking in love; William and Kate have 9 million followers to SussexRoyal’s (Meghan and Harry) 8.3 million.
But the nature of their posting (a lot) in recent days has been striking. William and Kate’s flurry of movies and pictures (of them attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace; of Kate in an Erdem dress at Chelsea showing the Queen around) followed on the heels of Harry and Meghan’s black-and-white, never-been-seen-before-photographs of their wedding day set to a snazzy showreel.
But the two royal Instagram accounts are spiritually different, reflecting the different public presences of their owners. Harry and Meghan make the most active and emphatic use of social media, promoting causes and images of family life, but with a lighter, more inventive touch than you’d expect from the royals.
William and Kate, right now at least, play it more straight (unsurprising, as William is set to be king after Charles). Just as in life, their social media lacks the spark and charisma Meghan and Harry seemingly wear so easily.
But they are not prepared to written off as snoozy just yet. Witness the flurry of public appearances in recent days for William and Kate. Suddenly, the quieter, more senior royal couple seem like they want to be seen—especially with Meghan and Harry off the grid since the birth of baby Archie Harrison.
But Meghan and Harry know there’s nothing wrong with a bit of mystery to leave the public wanting more (and they know they have the intrigue edge over Will and Kate); and they will be back soon, and so the duel of public images will continue. This isn’t feuding by words or deeds, or perceived slights. This is battle by hits and likes.
Ultimately, you can’t imagine the Queen minding this online jousting that much. These two grandsons have nearly 20 million Instagram followers between them. What matters to the Queen is building a healthy, continuing monarchy. Using all the modern tricks of the trade, both young royal houses have consolidated huge fan bases.
Via social media, the young royals are curating all the news they want to reveal to the world. After years of vexed media relations, here they can control their own narratives. If it is a feud, it is a constructive one, bringing in new generations of royal fans and allowing William, Kate, Meghan, and Harry to show what they consider to be the best of themselves.
As feuding—young royals-style—goes, it’s very pretty to watch.
