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Pictures of the Day: 31 January 2018
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The royals have always been able to rely on the support of the homegrown wealthy and famous, who gain in status and public perception from the association. Diana, the Princess of Wales, extended the reach of royalty internationally as a fashion icon and star of her own soap opera played out in the newspapers.
But now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are celebrities in their own right on the global stage. This has come courtesy of that glorious wedding watched by 24 million worldwide and followed by their 2011 tour to Canada and America,cheap authentic jordans.
It was at a red-carpet Bafta event in Los Angeles that we had a first hint of what the future might hold: the likes of Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks, and even Barbra Streisand were reduced to mere extras in their presence, while some over-excited stars were urged to “be cool” before the couple arrived.
Nigel Lythgoe, chairman of LA’s Baftas, described the couple as “Hollywood’s big draw”, while the American actor Jason Bateman summed up the press frenzy surrounding their visit: “They are the ultimate media stars. We are faking it and getting paid for it. They are the real deal.”
This has massively increased the couple’s own &#x201culling power” in winning the support of the rich and famous around the world to their causes – perhaps only Barack and Michelle Obama can rival them today. The global coverage of their hugely successful trip Down Under,cheap real jordans, a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand with baby George last month, has cemented that status.
Royal biographer Penny Junor has been watching William and Kate’s development closely as they settle into life as a working royal couple and agrees they have achieved “absolute megastardom”. “I think you have to compare them to William’s parents, who didn’t handle [their fame and celebrity] in quite the same way,” she says. “The reason that they [William and Kate] are so successful is because they realise that they are not average celebrities, and I think that’s the key point. Celebrities have their moment of fame and then they disappear. This couple have got to be around, and not offending anybody, pleasing everybody, for the rest of their lives.
“They’re young and they’re good-looking and everybody loves them – and that makes them celebrities,” she adds. “But it’s how they handle their celebrity that matters. I think they’re holding a huge amount back. That is key. I think what he learnt from his parents was that you have to keep a part of you for yourself. Your private life has to be absolutely sacrosanct. You don’t give away too much. They’re strong individuals,cheap jordans free shipping,http://www.wiski.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3814753cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, but they are not presenting to the public anything that could be offensive to anyone. They have this wonderful informality about them – off-the-cuff remarks. It makes people feel like they’re giving everything and that we do really know them.”
Junor also believes that William has one huge advantage over Prince Charles. “What William has is that he’s Diana’s son and an awful lot of people around the world loved Diana and love her children. He looks like her,cheap jordans for sale, he reminds people of her and so he has a big head start. Charles and Diana in their day were hugely famous all over the world. But what William and Kate have achieved is absolute megastardom.”
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, agrees. “The Cambridges are seen as complete celebrities abroad. It’s their glamour that has helped them achieve megastardom. Andrew and Fergie used to court celebrity – Beatrice’s 18th birthday was absolutely packed with celebrities. But William and Kate don’t court it. It comes very naturally to them.”
The close relationship between royals and celebrity shouldn’t surprise us, she adds. “There is a point of contact between royals and celebrities. They are both lacking in a private life, they both have the problem of being instantly recognisable.”
While Junor attributes the “Diana factor” in the popularity of William and his wife, in Seward’s view it is Kate who is key to their success. “William and Kate are incredibly glamorous and starry,jordans for cheap, but it’s mostly down to her. She looks like an American movie star – healthy and golden. She is our ideal of what a super glam celebrity should look like. On the red carpet, she out-glamours them all,cheap retro jordans, in frocks, rocks and stature.”
Mingling with the rich and famous is a difficult path to tread,cheap jordan shoes, however, says Marcia Moody,http://leonardo.zsme.pl/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=0cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, who has written biographies of both Kate and Prince Harry. “William and Kate have been carefully establishing their royal roles as a couple over the last three years, and if they had promoted too many celebrity affiliations early on, it would have detracted from this,” she says. “They and their team are savvy and realise that a liberal sprinkling of stardust is going to make people look at photographs of them – then read about the reason behind them. It’s a delicate balance to maintain. They know they need to be mindful that too much celebrity gloss would outshine what they are trying to do, but used sparingly, the effect has a lot more impact.”
It is, of course, a mutually beneficial arrangement. While stars are delighted to brush shoulders with the Cambridges,http://users.atw.hu/phake-mgaming/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=15303cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, Kate and William get a high-wattage boost for the causes that are dear to them.
“It is only with the arrival of William and Kate that this uneasy mix of oil and water – the mingling of royals and celebrities – finally coalesced in a perfect mix,” says the royal biographer and broadcaster Christopher Wilson. “There’s something for everyone when royalty meets showbiz, but it’s taken a hundred years to wake up to the possibilities.”
Tonight’s gala will be, he predicts, the first of many.
Additional reporting by Alice Audley