Words of PR advice to Kate Middleton

Dear Catherine

Next week your life will change forever as 400 million viewers tune in to watch you getting married.  As no doubt you have noticed there is a rapacious appetite from the media and public to know everything they possibly can about you. Nothing will be off limits.

So as you start your new life as, probably, the most high profile young woman in the world, here is some PR advice for you so that you have the chance to get it right.

• Remain grounded. Do not be affected by the sycophants who will fawn around you.  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
• Don’t try and upstage your husband, whatever all the psychologists say, men do not like playing second fiddle. And your man, in particular, is rather a big deal.
• Never ever look bored…practice your default engaged look until it becomes second nature.
• Always be nice to cameramen…they have the power to make you look heavenly or horrid. The press will provoke but don’t ever rise to it. Keep your cool. Calm composure makes for a better picture than an angry fluster.
• Don’t overexpose yourself; limit the amount of access you allow the public and the press to have.
• Never become over familiar with the press…as Andrew Neil once said “As a journalist, when it comes to friendship over stories, stories always come first!”
• Don’t have a twitter page…when it comes to the Royal Family, some things are meant to be shared with the world and others are not. Press coverage of hospital visits, charitable actions and your wedding dress – yes. Twitpics of Wills’ chopper and continual status updates – no.
• Stay relevant but objective.
• Support British and Commonwealth initiatives.  Help instate a sense of national pride and we will love you for doing so.
• Become a small business advocate.

Make sure you have a team of experienced advisors that you can trust and are NOT emotionally involved with, and listen to them. Do not be influenced by what friends and relatives think you should do. You need serious professionals to help you, people who understand the media agenda and how it works.  Remember everything you say and do will be analysed, scrutinised and replayed, until even your own memories become distorted.  Keep a diary of your own, just to keep you sane.

Have a lovely day on the 29^th April and just as I would say to any bride, savour every moment.