Bit harsh from Hilary Mantel?

Madrigal I too have some sympathy for Hilary Mantel but am also aware that all this sound and fury signifying nothing has, in fact, massively increased sales of her books.

I do hope that Kate herself has had the sense to read the original article and put the insensitive remarks in context.

The author is not being a bitch. If she is disparaging about anybody, it is not Kate or the Royal Family, but rather the media's and the Public's treatment of royalty. She is pointing out that the notion of royalty and how we expect them to behave can dehumanise them. Monarchy having lost it's original point in the scheme of things has been reduced to entertainment;an exhibit. Don't we say how they help the economy and bring the tourists in. This article is satirical, but please read it properly before condemning the writer.

I think most of us have done, yearofthetiger.

Thank you Mamie, for the article. I was in Spain and the catty comments were reported on Spanish TV. I had also paid money for the Cromwell books on my Kindle and wondered how to get money back as I no longer wished to read this nasty woman's work. However I now realise it is just the press making mischief. Free speech?? They should be gagged.

Glad to have helped. Apparently Anne Enwright had the same problem when she wrote an article about the McCanns in the LRB in 2007. The same newspapers stirred it all up as an attack on McCanns themselves when she was writing about how the media makes us feel we know and can comment on people in the public eye.
I am enchanted by the notion that people might rush to subscribe to the LRB as some kind of sensationalist paper. They will be in for a bit of a shock!