Kategate: the silence, the picture, the apology. It hasn’t just strengthened calls for a republic, it’s evidence of a transition already in motion. 

There has been much scrutiny over the supposedly personal tone of the statement credited to Kate. 

But regardless of if she wrote it, or if it was brainstormed by a war room of reptilian shapeshifters, the need to adopt the tone of an impervious influencer reflects the state of the Crown’s reputation. 

It reads: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. 

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.

“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C”

The tone is actively casual; “I do occasionally” rather than “I occasionally” shows words are being added to depict an agitated voice. 

And the second line includes the classic ‘non-apology apology’ favoured by influencers around the world – ‘I’m sorry that you’re offended’. 

There’s nothing wrong with Kate feeling like this, she likely is annoyed that her photo is being scrutinised for a comparatively low amount of editing, but it’s evidence of a changing Royal Family. 

Thanks to social media, they are forced to exist within the domain of the influencer, and that demands a certain amount of informality. 

You can see this with viral marketing campaigns with companies like Ryanair posting sassy comments without punctuation or capital letters. 

This is the new standard. Everyone knows everyone else is affecting this language on purpose, but it doesn’t matter, they still demand it. 

It’s not about sincerity, it’s about informality and the breakdown of social division. And without these two things, what does the monarchy have left?