#throwbackthurdsday

The last #ThrowbackThursday ended with Will and Kate’s graduation from St Andrew’s . This one is going to cover their press coverage up to this point. My recollection (as a US person) is that things were fairly low-key throughout the university years, and the girlfriend craziness didn’t start until the fall when this cover story came out in People. Again, this is kind of a crowd-sourcing project, so anon me if you have corrections or additional info.

https://people.com/archive/cover-story-is-she-the-one-vol-64-no-16/

Apparently it was a different story across the pond. The Internet is now full of pics of Kate and Will at St. Andrew’s and Kate was already an old hand at dealing with the press. The infamous charity fashion show pics had already been published., and basic information about her family, schooling and likes and dislikes had been disseminated.

However, things really got crazy in the fall of 2005, and Kate had her lawyers send a letter to the media asking for a reprieve and claiming that photographers were stalking her house 24/7. The letter was counterproductive, however, because she use Harbottle & Lewis, who also acted for Prince Charles. My recollection is that when the letter came out engagement rumors went into overdrive and the paparazzi got even more aggressive.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/15/mondaymediasection.themonarchy

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/10/newsinternational.royalsandthemedia

The coverage was so extensive that the Independent could publish a few years late a list of  Kate’s “worst” 2005 outfits.

https://www.independent.ie/style/fashion/style-talk/throwbackthursday-things-kate-middleton-wore-in-2005-she-never-would-now-34253314.html

Sadly, the Uggs pic couldn’t be included in the article because it was taken in 2006.

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/kate-middleton-out-and-about-in-london-britain-25-apr-2006-585239c/

And you can find Pinterest boards composed solely of 2005 pap pics. She was followed to the supermarket, to the shops, to bars, horse fairs, etc…

https://www.pinterest.com/skeeter9033/kate-2005/

Her phone was hacked 155 times, starting in December 2005.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27413632

This article has a breakdown of Kate’s pre-wedding coverage.  In 2005 there were 351 print articles about her in the UK press. Mind you, this was before internet coverage became a thing. These were mostly print articles.

https://www.prmoment.com/pr-research/brian-merron-director-at-media-evaluation-firm-kantar-media-analyses-uk-med

This was a typical “Kate update.” You would see an article like this pretty much every week.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2006/11/29/kate-middleton/

LOL, I’d forgotten the “locked-out” incident. Guys, this is the kind of coverage she got. The paps got pics when she got locked out of her flat and Will had to bring her his set of keys. I know the videos where she is chased by paps are more impressive, but this is the one that really brings home, imo, the kind of coverage she got. According to her lawyers, she had about half a dozen paps following her around every day. That’s how you get pics of pedestrian stuff like this,

https://waity-katie.skyrock.com/3061838173-Kate-Locked-Out-Of-Her-Flat-12-November-2006.html

The coverage often carried classist overtones with Kate as the sexy middle-class siren seducing the heir to the throne so as to improve her family’s finances and standing.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-441343/Prince-William-savvy-young-lady-.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-259626/The-middleclass-girl-shares-Williams-life-NOT-bedroom.html

https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/kate-the-coal-miners-girl-7212369.html

Her new Audi, for example, raised a few brows. It also fueled the engagement rumors as it appeared she was participating in the Windsor car deal.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-439015/Kates-car-fit-princess.html

And was a frequent guest of the royals.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/exclusive-prince-williams-love-hide-577342

The class opprobrium was so obvious that people would eventually write sociological articles about it.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17530350802476954

https://books.google.com/books?id=S8y4DwAAQBAJ&dq=steph+lawler+kate+middleton&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Kate’s lawyers wrote to the press again when a photograph of Kate riding a bus to a job interview was published. I often say that Kate should have done more during her post-uni years, but I do realize that the situation was insane. Every single gallery she applied to was leaked and she was stalked on the way to job interviews. It was a stark contrast to, say, Eugenie’s job hunt. It probably didn’t help that the Middletons were posh, but they weren’t “friend who has an art gallery” or “friend who runs a museum” levels of posh.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jan/15/mondaymediasection.themonarchy

The Jigsaw job she eventually got was apparently one of William’s connections.

https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2006/12/01/kate-middleton-job/

Their office was stalked by photographers, and Kate was often papped arriving at work. LOL, even her car got papped.

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/jigsaw-fashion-label-headquarters-kew-london-britain-08-jan-2007-631386d

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/jigsaw-fashion-label-headquarters-kew-london-britain-6-dec-2006-628221c

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/kate-runs-the-paparazzi-gauntlet-on-her-25th-birthday-7275842.html

This documentary (in German, unfortunately) has an interview with a pap who waited for Kate to go to work at 8:15 every morning. He got paid around 3k pounds for a pic in the UK and more overseas.

The Jigsaw guy also got Will a Mustique rental.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-385384/William-Id-like-to-Mustique-Im-poor.html

https://waity-katie.skyrock.com/3061721153-Beach-Holiday-In-Mustique-2-May-2006.html

They also went to Ibiza to stay with Uncle Gary, where Kate upgraded her bikini style.

http://newsconner.blogspot.com/2011/05/william-larks-around-on-boat-in-ibiza.html

https://waity-katie.skyrock.com/3061820911-Love-On-Ibiza-31-August-2006.html

Engagement rumors were rife. I particularly remember people expecting a proposal in Summer 2006.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1922792&page=1

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/just-the-ticket

Then she attended Will’s Sandhurst graduation in December 2006, which raised the engagement rumors to a new level of crazy.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/exclusive-prince-williams-love-hide-577342

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1537070/Kate-reigns-at-Williams-parade.html

LOL, this was when Carole was lambasted for chewing nicotine gum during the parade. You can see her chewing away in that video.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/chewing-through-a-royal-romance-20070417-ge4ogr.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1548738/Divided-by-family-misfortunes.html

The attention reached a crescendo in January 2007, when Kate turned 25. Around 50 paps showed up on her doorstep to take pics of her as she left for her job at Jigsaw. William addressed the press personally and asked them to lay off.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-12499572/2007-kate-middleton-in-the-media-spotlight

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1539043/Stop-harassing-Kate-pleads-William.html

https://metro.co.uk/2007/01/09/william-please-leave-kate-alone-542849/

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/kate-runs-the-paparazzi-gauntlet-on-her-25th-birthday-7275842.html

Some of the more aggressive tabloids agreed to back off, at least for a while.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/snapped-is-the-game-up-for-the-paparazzi-431540.html