Royal sources are rallying behind the Princess of Wales this week after a brewing storm in Britain’s cultural and tourism sector was wrongly linked to her patronage work. On August 9, 2025, several tabloids hinted that Catherine’s absence from recent high-profile events had somehow contributed to a dip in visitor numbers at certain heritage sites—an accusation that palace insiders are calling “unfair and misleading.”
.jpg)
According to The Daily Telegraph, the controversy began when a leaked Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) briefing revealed a 12% drop in attendance at major royal-associated attractions over the past year. Some commentators drew a hasty connection to Catherine’s reduced public schedule during her recovery from surgery earlier in 2025. “It’s ridiculous,” one senior aide told the paper. “The Princess’s role is ceremonial, not operational. She is not responsible for ticket sales.”
The real cause, according to DCMS analysts, appears to be a mix of post-pandemic tourism volatility, increased ticket prices, and government funding cuts to site maintenance. Yet, the Princess’s name made for easy headlines—fueling what some see as a pattern of scapegoating senior royals when wider economic or political issues hit the public mood.
The backlash to those headlines has been swift. The Times reports that leading figures in the heritage sector, including English Heritage chair Sir Tim Laurence, have defended Catherine’s long-standing commitment to promoting Britain’s cultural assets. “The Princess has been an extraordinary ambassador,” Laurence told the paper. “Blaming her for macroeconomic trends is absurd.”
On social media, royal supporters have taken up the hashtag #LeaveKateOutOfIt, countering the narrative with clips of her past engagements—from opening museum exhibitions to fronting campaigns for rural crafts. The posts highlight that many of her projects are voluntary and do not involve direct operational control.
Government ministers have also waded in, perhaps mindful of public sympathy for the Princess. Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer told The Guardian that “the challenges facing heritage and tourism are structural and long-term” and that Catherine’s absence from a handful of events “cannot reasonably be described as a factor.”
For now, the Palace is keeping its official response low-key, but the message from insiders is clear: Catherine may be the public face of certain causes, but she’s not the CEO of Britain’s tourism economy. And while the headlines may fade, this episode underscores how quickly a royal can become the convenient headline when bigger forces are at play.