The pathetic headlines about how Princess Kate greeted Princess Anne says so much about the state of the Firm

I saw a pathetic headline late yesterday at PEOPLE about the British royal family, a whole ass story about how Princess Kate greeted Princess Anne, “Kate Middleton and Princess Anne Skip Their Usual Kiss Greeting in Moment Caught on Camera”, and the inanity of it says so much about the state of the Firm.

The British royals gathered yesterday in limited quantities for the first time publicly since Just Andrew was arrested under suspicion of exchanging national trade secrets with a billionaire convicted sex offender who sex trafficked young women and girls to his collection of wealthy and influential associates. King Charles and Consort Camilla were joined by Prince William, Princess Kate, and Princess Anne. They were all at Westminster Abbey to commemorate Commonwealth Day, a major priority for the royal institution and several Commonwealth countries have called for the removal of Just Andrew from the line of succession. Some of those same countries have been, for a while now, considering leaving the Commonwealth altogether. Just Andrew’s ongoing scandals only reinforce the inclusion to exit for those who are determined to make it happen.

There were protestors outside yesterday, calling for the fall of the British monarchy, and also demanding answers from King Charles about how much he knew of Just Andrew’s associations with Jeffrey Epstein and why Andrew was protected for so long. Going back to that ridiculous story about Anne and Kate’s non-kiss when they greeted each other then, it was basically the only sunshine cutesy story anyone could generate about yesterday’s royal outing while ignoring the spectre of the alleged sex pest in the room… conveniently just as this photo was released.

Seriously. A large hat and a stiff ass greeting is the best they can do right now to combat the negativity. Uptight family members saying hello to each other, pretending it’s all fine, fine, fine while people are shouting outside that they don’t deserve to be glorified. But we’re expected to be distracted by this…?

It’s embarrassing all around. It’s embarrassing a member of the public seeing a reporter attempt to spin this … laugh… into something golden. And it’s embarrassing for them, this family who throughout history operated on the belief that it was enough for them to just… be… and that it would be enough, to now watch them TRY. SO. HARD. Because remember, their whole sh-t is looking down on people who have to put in the effort. For a century they’d just show up with a title and that would suffice and everyone else would literally have to bend their bodies in deference. And now, suddenly, they’ve been forced into trying to grow personalities so that we might remember why we thought they were so dazzling in the first place, when the rot was festering in the floorboards and the walls all along. An affected laugh and a hat and an aborted kiss isn’t going to change that.