A famous mummy influencer lives not too far from me in Sussex. I often see her and her very photogenic family out and about, photographer in tow as they set about capturing images for her army of devoted followers.
Her Instagram page is full of cute pics of the kids eating ice cream on the beach, going for woodland walks and picking strawberries. How wholesome! How adorable!
Except, having witnessed one such family outing, I know the reality is very different. Those ‘spontaneous’ shots of family life require about 20 takes as invariably one child is pulling a face, another isn’t smiling, her hair has blown out of place or her lip gloss needs retouching. This influencer will constantly march over to the photographer, view the image, instruct it to be deleted and another to be taken.
I was reminded of the incident I witnessed when I saw the new photograph of the Prince and Princess of Wales, released this week to mark 15 years of marriage.
There was Kate, looking like a glossy Boden mum in her Breton top and pristine white jeans, surrounded by her barefoot family and two spaniels. It’s a previously unseen photograph taken on a family break to Cornwall. There’s William with a golden tan, showing off his muscular thighs; cheeky Louis is linking fingers with his mum, while Charlotte is laughing and showing off her trendy blue-painted fingernails. Only George looks uncomfortable and unsmiling, a quizzical look on his face as if it ask ‘how much longer have we got to stay like this for?’
And if George was wondering that, who could blame him?
While, at first glance, the photo looks like a casual holiday snap (and I have no doubt the Waleses are a happy family unit), it’s certainly not a spontaneous image that happened to capture an intimate moment.
It was taken by Matt Porteous, a professional photographer and favourite with the Wales family, and looks to be the result of a carefully thought-out and highly stylised shoot.
There’s William with a golden tan, showing off his muscular thighs; cheeky Louis is linking fingers with his mum, while Charlotte is laughing and showing off her trendy blue-painted fingernails. Only George looks uncomfortable and unsmiling
The family’s clothes are all in complementary colours and every one looks as though they have been told to point their legs one way and look in a certain direction.
In addition, the picture is taken from above.
Was Porteous in a tree? (He has actually photographed the family in a tree before.) Did he have a stepladder with him perhaps? Or maybe he utilised a drone to capture the shot? Whatever the story, it certainly reveals that a great deal of time, effort and planning went into what is actually a tightly controlled ‘holiday pic’.
You might ask why it matters; it’s refreshingly charming, so what’s the problem? The reason for my discomfort is that it’s all a bit showbiz and buys into the damaging world of social media perfection.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see pictures of the couple in a messy house surrounded by muddy dogs and sulky siblings arguing with one another, just something a little more honest.
Professional portraits that look like professional portraits? Fine. Professional portraits dressed up to look like relaxed, informal holiday snaps? No.
A keen amateur photographer, Kate has previously taken many of the family portraits released to the media to mark family occasions. However, following the debacle in March 2024 when she had to admit to ‘editing’ a Mother’s Day picture taken by Prince William, I wonder if she’s decided that it’s safer to rely on the professionals.
If so, it’s a shame because since then, we’ve been treated to a glut of glamorous, Hollywood-style photos and videos of Kate and her family, the videos often accompanied by some decidedly woo-woo voiceovers.
In September 2024 to celebrate the end of her cancer treatment, Kate released a three-minute video via the family’s official social media channels. The content was a complete departure for them in that it was truly personal and intimate.
Filmed by videographer Will Warr, it showed the Wales family in Norfolk enjoying picnics, a game of cards and days out on the beach – there was even some decidedly fruity footage of Kate and William rolling around in the sand dunes. I say!
It went down a storm and so far has garnered 2.1million views on YouTube and 2.4million likes on their official Instagram page.
Ever since then, the Princess has taken to releasing nature-inspired videos to mark the arrival of each new season. I hate to say it, but it’s all become a bit cringey and ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ for my liking.
In her video to celebrate the arrival of spring, set to the sort of plinky music you’re usually forced to listen to during a spa treatment, Kate says: ‘It is through nature that we can fully understand the true interconnectedness of all things, the importance of balance and renewal and resilience.’
She goes on to tell us that ‘spring is a season of rebirth, of hope and new beginnings, from the dark days of winter the outside world quietly awakes with new life. Let us celebrate a new dawn within our hearts, it is often from the smallest seeds that the greatest chance can happen’. Er… what?
My other issue with this type of picture and video is that it’s all a little bit ‘Meghan’. It’s the sort of thing we expect from a Californian former lifestyle blogger fond of using phrases about ‘living authentically’, ‘speaking my truth’ and ‘thriving not surviving’.
Harry and Meghan have a good eight years of form when it comes to these types of barefoot-on-the-beach, love-heart-drawn-in-the-sand snaps and oh how we’ve mocked them for it, too. It would be unfortunate if Kate and William continued down this path. At times it’s starting to feel like they’re one small step away from writing inspirational quotes on bananas.
This type of picture is the sort of thing we expect from a Californian former lifestyle blogger fond of using phrases about ‘living authentically’, ‘speaking my truth’ and ‘thriving not surviving’, writes Claudia (pictured, the Duchess of Sussex in With Love, Meghan)
Meghan recently shared this clip of her children, Archie and Lilibet, running in their quest to find Easter eggs
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We love Kate and William because they’re not Meghan and Harry.
When Meghan revealed that, eight years ago, she had turned up barefoot for dinner at Kate and William’s Kensington Palace apartment and it hadn’t gone down well, most of us Brits thought: ‘Quite right too, put some shoes on woman!’
Today, I feel like I’ve seen enough of the Waleses’ bare feet to last me a lifetime.
I understand that the Royal Family need to adapt to the times and update their way of communicating with the public, but surely there’s a limit? There are a million influencers we can follow if we want staged perfection. I want my royals to rise above it all and be detached. It’s hard to imagine no-nonsense Princess Anne rolling around on a picnic rug in the sand dunes.
