Prince William’s ‘Low Key’ Media Strategy Is All Kate Middleton — Author

TL;DR:

• Prince William’s media strategy is Kate Middleton’s influence, according to author Tom Quinn.
• Furthermore, he says Kate Middleton has tried to ‘calm down’ Prince William’s ‘hothead.’
• The author opines the press is hesitant to criticize Kate Middleton because of her connection to Prince William and Queen Elizabeth II.

An author says Prince William’s media strategy has a lot to do with Kate Middleton. Apparently, the “low key” way the Duke of Cambridge deals with the media is the Duchess of Cambridge’s influence. Additionally, her similarity to Queen Elizabeth II plays a major role.

William’s media strategy of not making an ‘enormous fuss’ is Kate’s influence

During a February 2022 appearance on the podcast, To Di For Daily, author Tom Quinn discussed how William’s approach to the media is largely due to Kate’s influence. He explained William, like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has sued the media. 

However, the difference is the 39-year-old father of three doesn’t make “an enormous fuss.” 

“William, as you say, has sued the media, but he doesn’t make an enormous fuss,” Quinn said. “He doesn’t try to make it a world issue, as Harry and Meghan have often tried to do. So William has sued, but it’s quite low key.” 

The author of Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly continued, saying it’s due to, in large part, Kate’s similarities to Queen Elizabeth. 

“A lot of that, I think is Kate’s influence on William,” he said. “I mean, the queen adores Kate because she sees Kate as the next reliable queen. Because she doesn’t complain. She doesn’t explain, just as Elizabeth doesn’t complain and doesn’t explain. So she’s a chip off the old block as it were.”

“I think Kate’s influence on William has been to calm down that, you know, the thing that I think he shares with Harry,” Quinn added. “I think occasionally he is a bit of a hothead. But Kate says, ‘Look, we just we should just ignore this and it’ll go away.’” 

Kate’s ‘echoes’ of Queen Elizabeth mean she receives similar treatment in the press 

Kate will someday be on the throne with William but that doesn’t mean she’s exempt from scrutiny by the press. Before marrying William she had the nickname “Waity Katie.”

Although there’s certainly been what Quinn referred to as “unkind coverage” of Kate, it’s primarily “teasing.” 

“There has been some unkind coverage of Kate, but generally, it’s just been teasing her about the fact that you know, her uncle was a builder, and her mother was an air stewardess,” he said. “It hasn’t been any more unkind than that.” 

So why has she gotten by relatively unscathed? According to Quinn, it likely has to do with her similarities to William’s grandmother. 

“I think they’ve left her alone because they can see echoes of Queen Elizabeth,” he said. “Even the worst tabloids” in the U.K. “are very reluctant to criticize in a really visceral way. The queen … and now Kate, to a large extent, is getting the same treatment.” 

William and Kate aren’t criticized because they’re a team

Beyond Kate’s similarities to Queen Elizabeth, there’s another reason the 40-year-old isn’t scrutinized in the press. “Because she’s with William and the two of them are, as it were a team, they’re not being criticized,” Quinn said. 

He continued, saying the “enormous difference” between William and Kate’s relationship with the press and Meghan and Harry’s is, in large part, because of Kate. 

“I mean, a lot of people have said it’s extraordinary how Kate and William don’t get terrible brickbats thrown at them but Meghan and Harry do,” he said. “You know, there’s this enormous difference. And I think it’s largely to do with Kate.”