It is Sunday morning, and I am sitting here having coffee with my husband. I had forgotten it was Mother’s Day in the U.K. (and France!) and possibly other locales, because our Mother’s Day here in the United States is not until May. As some had hoped, the Palace did release a picture of Kate to mark Mother’s Day, so I was happily surprised when I opened my Instagram to see her smiling face and her happy children.
I said to my husband, “I wonder if this merits a Substack post.” He looked at me incredulously. “There was a pixilated image of her last week that people couldn’t even decide if it was her, and the world went crazy. Now you have a clear image…” I saw his point. Yes, this picture merits a post!
I am just so happy to see her looking so well and smiling. The Palace said the picture was taken at Windsor last week by Prince William, and the caption included thanks for the well wishes Kate has received.
Inevitably some people are wondering if this image is truly a recent picture of Kate, or actually taken last fall. It’s healthy to question—take that attitude out into the world everywhere you go. But, I definitely think this picture is from last week, as the Palace says it is. Sometimes, you can just take a thing at face value. There is no real reason for us to think it is not. Kate was seen last week driving around in a car. She traveled to Sandringham for a mini-vacation some weeks ago. She is obviously up and on the move.
I am no green thumb, but I noticed walking yesterday that one of our neighbor’s trees is bare, but up the street a little there is a tree that is already flowering. More importantly, children grow quickly, as I am learning more concretely every day as my little ones advances rapidly. Someone on Instagram said that at Christmas Louis still had that baby tooth he is missing in this photo. Now, I don’t track Louis’ baby teeth, but the overall point that the children are changing rapidly is solid, and it was one of my first thoughts. This picture is clearly an up-to-date picture of both George and Charlotte, but especially Louis.
It looks like Kate is wearing her Seek by Chloe boots, skinnies, a black turtleneck sweater top, and a light coat. That coat looks familiar, but I can’t quite place it. As many have noted, Kate is not wearing either her engagement or wedding ring, and I see she is not wearing earrings either. I am sure she did not wear her jewelry to her surgery or hospital stay, and if she has had any swelling post surgery, it would make sense she’d just leave off the jewelry for the time being.
Finally, it is exciting to see just a little peek of their home at Windsor. Adelaide Cottage is a historic property. Perhaps because I have been looking at tiling for one of our bathrooms recently, but I immediately noticed the tiles in this picture.
In any event, what a lovely picture to start our Sundays. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you living in countries celebrating today!
First, thanks for pointing the tile out Jane! We are wanting to tile our back patio and front entrance and this is lovely tile that would look fine even in a Southwest home :) Second, this photo ticks all the boxes for me: Kate looks the same as she always did, no face lift, that same lovely smile but the fact that she is sitting in a straight-ish chair says that, yes, she is still recovering. But George has his arms around his mom which means the kiddos are able to hug their mom again. Their happy faces, that nothing could fake, tell the story, mom is fine, dad is hilarious (how many takes did William have to do to get this photo just right? "Papa, my eyes are closed! Papa the top of my head is cut off! Papa my hair isn't right! William, just take the photo and stop making goofy faces....") and all is well in the Wales world.
Happy UK Mother's Day to you, Jane. You get to celebrate again in May! Thank you for this post and thank you to your very wise husband for encouraging you. I, too, was happy to see this picture this morning, and to see the POW looking so well and happy. It is a nicely shot picture and I can just imagine Kate getting behind the camera to set up the shot and then handing William the camera. LOL
As I said in a previous post, I was on the fence about the picture with Carole being set up by the Palace. Now I am firmly on the side that it was not. Why would they have done that when Mother's Day was so close, and the plan was to release a picture?