Captain Big G at sea!

The Cambridges spent the day on the water today participating in The King’s Cup inaugural regatta to raise money for eight of their patronages. Here’s more on the purpose behind today’s royal involvement:

Prince William and Catherine were joined by Big G and Charlotte on an accompanying vessel, with their grandparents Michael and Carole Middleton. As you can see, Big G had on his captain’s hat and, according to Bear Grylls,ate his first ant today? Both were dressed in sailing stripes, extra adorable on children, and at one point, Charlotte stuck her tongue out, apparently when she was asked to wave, LOL. I wonder, if Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor does that one day, is Meghan Markle going to be judged by the Daily Mail to be a bad mother who doesn’t teach her son manners? Sorry. Sea water is salty, though I wasn’t there so I don’t know what my f-cking problem is.

Anyway, as you can see, some of these photos of the Cambridges at sea are spectacular, particularly the shots of Kate. She looks really, really comfortable out there, in her team shorts and polo, getting right in there for the action. Check her out at the beginning of this video (we have a lot of discuss about this video) with the wind in her hair, steering confidently. At least I think that’s what she’s doing as I don’t know sh-t about boating.

Look at the Cambridges putting up a fancy video on social media though! It’s the most production value we’ve seen from them, maybe ever. But we’ve been building to this, right? Over the last few months, since House Cambridge and House Sussex separated, Cambridge has been turning it up on social. Their social media strategy, previously, was pretty flat. Now we’re getting edited videos with a travelogue vibes turned around pretty quickly to post. Which means, of course, that this was likely planned in advance as part of today’s media message. It’s a solid effort at the introductory level. And to be expected. House Cambridge is just getting the feel of this new social media energy so they’re not going to nail it right away. What’s missing here is the personalisation. This is very, very generic. If you came across it while looking for activity ideas for your upcoming holiday or it rolled as a commercial for an investment firm before the in-flight movie you selected on your seat monitor, you might not even notice that this is royal-related. People on boats always just look like rich people on boats. So there are definitely areas of opportunity, there is room for improvement, and something to keep an eye on as the Cambridges continue to develop their independent communication identity.

You’ll note though, and this isn’t about competition, it’s about inspiration – the Sussexes have taken the lead on their House communication identity, with a clear focus on how they’ve managed their social media messaging that feels more fresh and modern by royal standards. Clearly the Cambridges are paying attention and this is a good thing. This is how they have to proceed going forward in order to be able to connect to the public on digital platforms.

Final thought – this hilarious photo of Kate with a little girl with a VERY impressive bow: