bitchy | The Waleses ‘raised’ £345K for a local charity & they think they invented the wheel

Almost always, commenters will say that the new Princess of Wales (Kate) looks “refreshed” after she’s been MIA for weeks or months at a time. Sometimes I see it, especially after her now annual ten-week summer holidays – she’ll come back to “work” with her hair freshly colored and highlighted, and her face will look tighter, shinier, smoother, fresher. But this month, I’m not seeing a change. Ol’ Buttons looked downright exhausted in Scarborough yesterday, her first public event in three full weeks. Again, it’s not like Kate should be judged on her looks or her maintenance, but what else is there to talk about? The one phone call she made this week?

Anyway, here are more photos of Kate and William in Scarborough on Thursday. They were indoors for some of the afternoon, and Kate deigned to – gasp! – remove her coat and just hang out in her flesh-colored turtleneck. As always, this is a copykeening exercise – everything about Kate’s ensemble is “inspired by Meghan.” Kate has a Meghan lookbook and she consults it assiduously.

Meanwhile, if you’re anything like me, you’re still curious about what yesterday’s Sky News piece was really about – apparently, Kensington Palace staffers are briefing the Rota that William and Kate are “not shying away” from talking about their keenness about the cost of living crisis. It was a real stretch – William and Kate’s visit to Scarborough was to introduce some kind of funding scheme through their Royal Foundation, only the scheme had nothing to do with the cost of living crisis and everything to do with a youth center’s mental health program. As it turns out, the whole thing was even more opaque. The Telegraph had a tortured explanation for this Royal Foundation scheme for which W&K are keen to take credit.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are to break with the classic mould of royal engagement as they combine ribbon cutting with generating hard cash for local communities. The couple are determined to change their way of working in order to create change in the areas they visit.

Rather than the traditional “away days” that have long involved members of the Royal family sweeping into towns and villages across the UK, greeting crowds, unveiling plaques and then leaving, they aim to create a “lasting legacy.” The Prince and Princess today piloted the new model, called a Community Impact Day, in Scarborough, North Yorks.

The couple announced during the “extremely significant” visit that £345,000 had been raised through a collaboration between their Royal Foundation and the local Two Ridings Community Foundation. The money was donated by local individuals and organisations and will be used to galvanise long-term support for young people’s mental health in the town. It will be distributed by a grant panel tasked with deciding where it is most needed. The panel includes young people who themselves have been supported by local community organisations. The fund is expected to grow in the coming months.

The Prince and Princess plan to roll out further pilots of this kind next year in different parts of the UK, each focused on one of the Royal Foundation’s specific interest areas. They include conservation, early childhood, emergency responders and Covid-19.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, sources close to the Prince and Princess have made clear that the couple intended to approach their new roles in their own, distinct way. Their outlook marks a notable shift in tone and is indicative of their desire for the modern monarchy to be more relatable. The couple will continue to take part in more traditional visits but will combine them with the new model, representing an evolution of the royal engagement, Kensington Palace sources suggested.

[From The Telegraph]

Look at how carefully worded that is: “£345,000 had been raised through a collaboration between their Royal Foundation and the local Two Ridings Community Foundation. The money was donated by local individuals and organisations…” Again, this was not the Royal Foundation giving away grants to local communities. This was not a fundraiser in which the Royal Foundation would “match funds” raised within the community. This is the Royal Foundation swooping in and “organizing” a “collaboration” in which no foundation funds were allocated locally, but William and Kate get credit for “creating a new model” called “Community Impact Day.” Their new model is just… charitable organizing, with their foundation acting as middleman.

Again, the Royal Foundation is an utter scam. Last year, the foundation spent £12.1 million on Earthshot, with only £5 million allocated to actual “prize money” and £7.1 million spent on embiggening William and miscellaneous keen adventures. William and Kate would rather spend their donors’ £7.1 million on themselves and their PR than actually give funds to local programs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.