A controversial new book about Chelsea Clinton, called “Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns and One Intact Glass Ceiling,” says aides to the Clinton dynasty heir studied the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, to get ideas on how to repair and rebuild Chelsea Clinton’s public image as she prepared to give birth to her first child.
Chelsea has already publicly chastised the book’s author, Amy Chozick, for embellishing, if not fabricating, salacious details of the former First Daughter’s life as the top aide to Hillary Clinton, for Chozick’s tell-all on Hillary Clinton’s swift and dramatic demise, but Chozick appears to be standing by the claims she makes in her book.
Chozick was one of several reporters who covered Hillary Clinton during both of her presidential campaigns, and had unprecedented access to Hillary Clinton while on tour.
According to The Daily Mail, Chelsea was concerned with her public image and thought the birth of her first child, Charlotte, might help to smooth over any rough spots she had in the public relations department. To that end, Chelsea’s aides closely studied Kate Middleton while Kate was pregnant with Prince George. Her aides took notes on how the duchess handled herself in public, how the Palace announced the prince’s birth, and how Kate’s aides managed messaging during her pregnancy and after her delivery.
As a result, it seems, Chelsea Clinton copied — nearly frame-for-frame — the duchess’ post-partum public reveal, stepping out of the hospital with her husband, parents and new baby, dressed in a smock similar to the one Kate wore as she introduced Prince George to a throng of waiting reporters (Chelsea even copied Kate’s nude shoes).
The implication, of course, is that the Clintons — Chelsea included — see themselves as some sort of American royal family, akin to the Windsors across the pond, and as important to American life as the British royals. That’s no surprise, but it is interesting to have the revelation down, finally, in black and white.
Chozick’s book hits bookshelves soon, to the dismay of the entire Clinton family.