Kate Skipping Earthshot 2023
The Princess of Wales has been criticized for skipping the awards, but she is protecting the monarchy.
Kate’s world has been pretty quiet of late. Lambrook is on half-term break, which is why Kate has disappeared from public events. As has become the norm, Kate (and William) take holidays to spend time with their children. Half Term ends on October 30th.
I have been a bit AWOL myself. My husband and I moved late this summer in the midst of some health challenges I was facing (in addition to being pretty freshly postpartum). This past weekend, my in-laws came to visit us for the first time in our new house, and I have been underwater trying to get us all moved in and looking put together before their arrival. I will try to make it up to you with some posts I know a lot of you have been waiting a long time for. In the meantime…
By now, you have heard that the Princess of Wales will not attend the 2023 Earthshot Awards in Singapore, which will be held on November 7th. Today, the Palace released further details about William’s trip, which will include several days of activities in the run-up to the awards. From a purely fashion perspective, I am disappointed that Kate won’t be at the big event. The Palace announced some time ago that the Princess of Wales will stay back in the U.K. and let it be known to royal reporters that Prince George will be testing that week; Kate wants to be home to support him.
These tests that George will be taking are the start of a multi-step application process that will ultimately determine whether he is admitted to his preferred senior school, likely Eton.
Most of us are probably not worried that Prince George, the future king of England, will be admitted to Eton. In years gone by, some of these schools have certainly agreed to accept royal students who—absent their royal status—would not have made the cut academically.
In 2006, a teacher who was fired from Eton claimed she helped Prince Harry cheat to get into Eton.
Ms Forsyth told an employment tribunal, where she is claiming unfair dismissal, that the evening before a moderator was due at the school to look at the students' AS-level work - which counts towards their A-level grade - she was asked by the head of art, Ian Burke, to prepare text to go with some of Harry's work for his Expressive Project, in which a pupil is required to explain some of his work and relate it to that of great artists.
Ms. Forsyth won a £45,000 settlement for wrongful termination from Eton, but in his book Spare, Harry claimed he was barred from defending himself by the Palace and was cleared of cheating by an investigatory committee at Eton.
Whatever the truth, Harry is right that the accusation “stuck.” It is one thing to suspect that a royal would have been admitted to a prestigious academic institution regardless of grades, but it is quite another to have some ammunition to make an allegation that favoritism was at play. In an increasingly egalitarian age, William and Kate will be very keen to make sure their children are academically qualified for the placements they are awarded as they progress through their education.
Kate caught some flak on social media when it was announced she would skip Earthshot. But Kate’s support for George as he begins this application journey is very important both to the Wales family personally and to the reputation of the monarchy. She should be applauded for being a good mother and an excellent royal defending the future of the monarchy.
To assuage the disappointment of missing Kate in Singapore, I will be reviewing on Instagram this week some of her wonderful fashion from her trip to Singapore in 2012. Come join the conversation!