Prince William and Kate Middleton’s official social-media account shared photographs of the family attending the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on the event’s penultimate day. The post includes a photo of the full Wales family, William, Kate, George, Charlotte, and Louis, walking together from behind through crowds with international flags visible in the background. The Games, hosted in Scotland from July 23 to August 2, feature athletes from Commonwealth nations competing in multiple sports at venues across Glasgow.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have brought their three children to watch some of the final sporting events at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Cheering crowds at the city’s OVO Hydro were treated to exhilarating performances in the netball semi-finals where the family watched New Zealand’s 61-54 win over England.
Known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay while in Scotland, the couple also spent time meeting athletes, staff and volunteers during a slightly blustery visit to the venue on the River Clyde.
BBC News
Copycat Framing, Same Old Double Standard
The timing is hard to ignore. Just days after Meghan Sussex shared a family photograph taken from behind at Althorp, the Wales social media team published a remarkably similar image of William, Kate and their children walking away from the camera. On its own, the composition would be unremarkable. In context, however, it looks like another attempt to borrow the Sussexes’ visual language.
The difference is that Meghan often uses photographs from behind to protect Archie and Lilibet’s privacy. William and Kate regularly publish clear images of their children’s faces, so there is no obvious privacy reason for adopting the same framing. Their history with this kind of emotional PR is a matter of public record: in 2021, they released cards from George, Charlotte and Louis addressed to their “Granny Diana” through the Kensington Palace press office, turning private grief into a PR opportunity.
That makes the Waleses’ choice feel calculated, particularly after sections of the British press spent a week mocking Meghan’s carefully controlled family photographs as staged or attention-seeking.
This year Mother’s Day will be different once again.
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 14, 2021
Many of us will be apart from our loved ones, but looking forward to a time in the not too distant future when we can give our mother a hug again. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Bys6OCqtTT
Curated Family Imagery Gets a Royal Double Standard
It also exposes the familiar double standard. When Meghan curates her own family imagery, commentators call it performative. When the Waleses release equally managed photographs, the same approach is presented as warm, natural and relatable. The royal communications team appears happy to replicate the aesthetic while relying on the press to pretend it has never seen it before.
The image itself says very little about the event. Without the caption, viewers are simply looking at five people walking away from the camera. It is another example of the Waleses leaning heavily on family imagery to generate engagement rather than allowing their public work to carry the post.
Their presentation of the children also continues to feel unusually formal. Even at supposedly relaxed appearances, the styling often resembles a carefully arranged period portrait rather than an ordinary family outing. Compared with the children of other European royal families, who are frequently dressed in contemporary, age-appropriate clothes, the family’s styling can seem rooted in an outdated model of royal respectability.
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When the Same Choices Are Judged by Different Standards
Kate’s clothing adds another layer of irony. She wore a Ralph Lauren Collection jacket, while George and Louis reportedly also wore Ralph Lauren. There is nothing wrong with the family wearing American fashion, but the press repeatedly politicises Meghan’s clothing choices while Kate’s similar selections pass without scrutiny.
None of this means that William and Kate should not post family photographs. The issue is the press hypocrisy surrounding them. Commentators condemn Meghan for sharing a limited selection of images on her own terms, yet spare the Waleses when they use similar poses, styling and social-media strategies. Once again, the problem is not the photograph. It is the press pretending that identical behaviour means something entirely different depending on which woman is doing it.
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A joy to behold, to see the kids, all counted and on parade.
Where are the body language brigade when needed to scrutinized and decode the imagery
shared by the working royals – “official” engagement?
Why was William’s hand apparently glued to Louis’s back?
It’s mainly called hyper-villigance, control and stress: Anxious that the kid is going to do something the father doesn’t want him to do (and perhaps embarass him), he’s steering him to keep on walking, in that space and at the speed of the group.
It’s revealing: On one hand, an insecure and controlling father, on the other a child with behavioural issues that the family poorly addresses. I personally believe this child, like his older brother is distressed. They don’t express their fears the same way as the older one is an introvert whilst the younger one is an extrovert. They have rigid and controlling parents who aren’t well emotionally. That reflects on the kids. In spite of all the hands-on parenting we are forced-fed, the kids are probably neglected by them. What they mostly got was a transfer of their insecurities. Also those parents ask them to perform.
I personally believe that they would be much better off away from public events . Parents could always feed their ‘subjects ‘ curiosity by sharing snapshots of private moments. Supposedly they all excel at sports. Why not sharing this with the public instead of forcing these kids through such an ordeal as this?
I personally believe that those 2, like their father needs therapy. Lots of it.
I hope Eton which has a robust counselling centre and special education resources convince the parents to intervene for the welfare of their boys. The oldest for now.
I’m a retired educational psychologist and special education teacher. Of course I don’t know the kids but they have inherited more than generational trauma and I wish they were supported by therapists, kept away from the crowds and let to become healthy adults.
This is a dysfunctional family and I really feel how distressed those 2 boys are, even if they don’t express it in the same way.
@Unabashedlimburger, thanks for sharing your expert knowledge, in a very interesting and clear manner.
Pictures posted on Reddit. com shows William and Kate seated in the stands, but without the kids, who were nowhere to be seen. Seemingly, played their walk on part and made a prompt exit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RoyaltyTea/s/Su7TVW422R
I
(I have no idea what went wrong, just making sure I was logged in)
So…
Oscar Wilde wisely wrote that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
The social media team employed by the Waleses doesn’t seem to be creative, and instead of playing it safe, they feel the need to copy the Sussexes, just days after everyone in Derangerland went off on Meghan. Sad.
And them wearing Ralph Lauren — didn’t W&K want to showcase British brands, projects, traditions this year? Didn’t they announce they’d pick something they’d be featuring for every month of 2026? What happened?
What continues to trouble all of us who like the Sussexes is the issue of media injustice, double standards and judgements – allegedly made by high-ranking figures within the Palace – which lack any consistent basis for comparison, something that is, in any case, unnecessary and impossible. This is not how things are normally handled in democracies.
The unfairness, the inconsistent assessment criteria and the undemocratic foundations of all these tabloidarticles, as well as the judgemental behaviour of the London family, are facts. They have their roots in 1,000 years of colonisation, monarchy, classism, racism and misogyny.
There on the balcony stands the royal family. White, worth billions, with white women who submit themselves when they marry into this family.
This family enjoys an endless array of special privileges – particularly the King and his heir to the throne. Everyone else, above all ordinary citizens and especially Black citizens, have fewer rights or, in the eyes of the royalists, sometimes none at all.
A citizen who has to wait a year for cancer treatment has no privileges, but faces an early death.
Why are we still so surprised, and why don’t we simply demand a genuine democracy instead?
Hear, hear!!
Hello Cccc
Perhaps when the racist, mysogynist, toxic, deranged royal sychophants start showing respect to ourMeghan Sussex by using her married name, Meghan “Sussex” as she had mentioned, or Meghan, “Duchess of Sussex” instead of continuing to use “Markle” her maiden name in all their abusive and dehumanising articles against her, then FEMINEGRA might be held accountable as it relates to the other girl’s name!
The double standard reporting is never ending, and it is not only frustrating but exhausting for those of us who simply seek objective and ethical reporting from the media, which FEMINEGRA delivers exceptionally, IMO!
Until then, “what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander”!
What a weird response! Kate has been married longer and literally nobody including the media all over the world except your weird fanbase uses Sussex. The double standard started here this blog is nasty