The Possibilities of Seeing Kate in New York UPDATED With Specific Locations

We’re back with a number of updates, beginning with details regarding Kate and William’s trip to New York; we now know specific locations for events. Tthe Duke and Duchess will be staying at The Carlyle, a storied address on New York’s Upper East Side.

More from People magazine:

Not only was the landmark where William’s mother, Princess Diana, stayed when she first wowed New York in the 1980s – the hotel then became her residence whenever she visited the city – but more recently it was the home of Broadway and 30 Rock legend Elaine Stritch.

President John F. Kennedy maintained a suite in the towers …Diane von Furstenberg, Jack Nicholson and Steve Martin were among the familiar faces at the hotel in the ’80s and ’90s, when John F. Kennedy Jr. also could be found there…

We are beginning to receive inquiries via email and comments about possible “meet-ups” with other Kate fans during the visit, and the best places to see the royals. This is also becoming a popular topic on the WKW Facebook page, along with Twitter. While this was covered somewhat in a previous post, in the interest of offering updated information we share the following.

SUNDAY/MONDAY/TUESDAY:

• The Carlyle (map here) is probably one of the better locations to see the couple as they arrive and/or leave for engagements. However…the Carlyle does have a private underground entrance the royals may choose to use for security or privacy reasons.

SUNDAY:

• It’s possible one can see the couple arriving or leaving the hotel for their specific appointments.
• The location has not been released for the reception & private dinner being hosted by the American Friends of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Should that site be made public there is always a chance one might have a glimpse of them as they arrive or depart, depending upon the venue and security.

MONDAY:

• It’s possible one can see the couple arriving or leaving the hotel for their specific appointments.
• William is in Washington, DC most of the day; Kate’s daytime engagements are solo appearances. In the morning the Duchess will visit the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem with Chirlane McCray, New York’s First Lady. This could offer a good chance to see Kate. (As an aside, don’t be surprised if the First Lady has her wrist bandaged or in a sling; she injured it while playing soccer over the Thanksgiving weekend.)
• Midday the Duchess will be the guest of honor at a luncheon hosted by Danny Lopez, the British Consul General in New York. The event is at the Consul General’s residence in Midtown.
• One of the better options is Monday night’s basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center. There are multiple entrances to the arena, as well as underground access.

• • If one’s bank account can handle the expense, there are plenty of tickets available via the Nets and also on the resale market. The pricier seats, especially those in the Loge sections, are sold out or very expensive. Those seats that are in the $90 range are unlikely to offer much (if any) of a view of William and Kate.
  • The game will be televised by the YES Network, but if you’re not in the NY/Connecticut area it could be difficult to find via your cable/satellite provider. To see if/where the network is shown in your area click here.

TUESDAY:

• It’s possible one can see the couple arriving or leaving the hotel for their specific appointments.
• In the morning the Duke and Duchess will visit the National September 11th Memorial Museum
• Kate and William will then go to The Door, an inner city youth development foundation center that works in partnership with the City Kids Foundation. The organization was founded in 1985 by Laurie Meadoff, who was “…inspired to create City Kids after a visit to the Albany Empire in London, a social services and arts program for London’s youth, pioneered by Jenny Harris with support from Princess Diana.”
• Mid-afternoon William and Kate attend a Creativity is GREAT reception at NeueHouse (map here), located in the Flatiron district. The venue is a new shared work space for entrepreneurs. The event will celebrate “the wealth of British talent in the creative industries based in New York.”
• The Duke and Duchess will then go to another GREAT event, the Innovation is GREAT reception at the Empire State Building.
• Tuesday evening’s function at the Met (map here) offers arguably the best opportunity to see William and Kate. The place to be: the Museum’s front entrance on 5th Avenue; see more information below. (As an FYI, the Met is only 6 or 7 blocks from the Carlyle.)

A few thoughts as we wrap up this portion of the post:

• The best unofficial place to gather up-to-the-minute information is probably going to be Twitter. Below, a list with some of the royal reporting corps you may want to follow. While they may not be able to divulge location information, they all offer great updates:
  • Richard Palmer, The Express
  • Rebecca English, The Daily Mail
  • Victoria Murphy, The Mirror
  • Max Foster, CNN
  • Simon Perry, People magazine
  • Camilla Tominey, The Sunday Express
  • Valentine Low, The Times
  • Gordon Rayner, The Daily Telegraph

We do know a bit more about Tuesday night’s gala fundraiser for Saint Andrews University, now one of the hottest tickets in town. From a story in The Saint, the University’s student newspaper:

The couple will be met on the steps of the Met by an honour guard of fellow St Andrews alumni wearing the University’s traditional red gowns before attending a dinner in the museum’s Temple of Dendur.

The evening will finish with a charity auction with lots donated by many prominent individuals such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Ann Gloag and Ian Rankin.

The glamor factor is high for this function, celebrities expected to attend include Sean Connery, and Sting. The Museum’s Great Hall is the location for Tuesday night’s cocktail reception.

This is the Temple of Dendur at the Museum, a spectacular location for the dinner and auction. The Business Insider reports Tom Hanks is giving the formal after-dinner toast; the publication also says opera singer Renee Fleming will perform.

There are reports the price for a table of ten at the dinner is £64,000, roughly $100,000.  Doing an American fundraiser makes eminent good sense, Saint Andrews says 20% of its current student body is American.

For those interested in following the visit on social media, Clarence House has decreed #RoyalVisitUSA as the hashtag. (If unfamiliar with ‘hashtags,’ go to a social media site like Twitter or Instagram and do a search for #RoyalVisitUSA”. You will see all of the posts made with this hashtag.

As far as what Kate might wear, we’ll have more specifics on that topic in tomorrow’s post. In advance of that piece, a portion of a recent Yahoo! Style story on what Kate might be packing for the upcoming trip, your correspondent was flattered when asked to offer input:

Yahoo Style: What do you anticipate that Kate Middleton will bring to New York?

Any royal heading out for travel away from home always packs those things needed for “Plan B,” when a backup or contingency plan has to be implemented. That includes having things needed to cover any unforeseen circumstances, such as the spilled cup of coffee on a dress or unexpected weather events, like heavy winds or torrential downpours. I wouldn’t expect Kate to have every dress and coat in duplicate as the Queen does when she travels, but there will certainly be items on hand to cope with any fashion or hair emergency, including extra dresses. Extra shoes would be on that list, and possibly coats of different weights for this trip, required because of New York’s ever-changing weather and the winds that sweep in and out of the city’s skyscrapers. That infamous wind will boost the need for extra hair products, although Kate will not be outside for extended periods of time as she would be on a formal royal tour. Because this is a working visit, the couple won’t need to engage in those walkabouts we see when they are officially visiting UK and Commonwealth countries.

To see the entire Yahoo piece, click here.

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We also have some quick Sales & Savings opportunities to share. The first involves one of Kate’s party shoes, the Jimmy Choo Vamp.

• The Vamp is on sale at Saks for $542.50, more than $200 less than the original selling price of $750. The size selection is limited.
• Jimmy Choo is offering the Vamp for almost the same price, $543. As at Saks, not all sizes remain available.

Another shoe many readers are fond of, the Dune Imperia, is also on sale.

• The Imperia is discounted 40% at Nordstrom. All colors are on sale, and there is a solid selection of sizes available

We will see you tomorrow.

NOTE: If you are planning on being in New York during the visit and want to connect with other WKWers, it might make sense to leave a comment here with an email address.

LINKAGE:

• to read the official news release with all of the events and background info, click here
• you can visit the UK in the US website here, the Facebook page is here, UK Ambassador to the United States Peter Westmacott’s Twitter feed is here
• for additional reading, the UK in the USA Tumblr is here,  the British Consulate-General in New York Facebook page is here, and its Twitter feed is here
• if still interested in learning more, the UK in USA Pinterest page is here, and its Instagram feed is here
• First Lady Chirlane McCray’s website is here, her Twitter feed is here
• to read the entire news release about the Saint Andrews dinner, click here