Why Kate Middleton is so Key to the Future of The Firm

Plus, the joy of theatre.

This week at work I’ve been thinking about the Princess of Wales.

The fact that we haven’t seen Kate since her abdominal surgery, and indeed haven’t seen her at all since Christmas Day, is something that is starting to be increasingly remarked on. Kensington Palace always made it clear that she would not return to public duties until after Easter and that they would not issue regular updates, but the absence of one of the the Firm’s key players for so long was always going to be keenly felt.

I would like to point out upfront that this post is not in any way intended to be a call to Kate to get back out to duties asap. She is committed to and diligent about her royal responsibilities, and I don’t believe that she would be staying away from them for so long unless it was medically necessary. Of course she should take the time that she needs to recover.

However, the Princess’s absence, and the fact her recovery has put her in my thoughts, has made me reflect on what it is about this woman that has become so key to the future of the British monarchy. I have observed her in her work many times over the years, I have met her, I have interviewed many people about her and I have been interviewed about her by many others. Time and time again I have considered the ways in which she has navigated her position and become increasingly pivotal to the royal family today.

A word, if I may, on calling her Kate and even Kate Middleton, something which sparks endless backlash online. Critics of this approach often label it disrespectful or are keen point out that it is technically incorrect as the Palace calls her Catherine and she is no longer a Middleton.

I know from having spoken to people that there are those who still call her Kate behind closed doors (William called her Kate in their engagement interview and Harry called her Kate in Spare). Like many of us, she has used a mixture of her full and shortened name throughout her life and would understand why people may use one or the other.

As far as Middleton goes, this is largely to do with how people search on the internet for her, with media organisations responding to what people still overwhelmingly look for. Kate came into the public consciousness many years before she became engaged and married to William, and as such the name Kate Middleton had truly stuck in people’s minds for almost a decade before she was given an official title.

Yes, there is an argument that using the correct and formal title should be a default, but in all the years I have covered the royals I have never heard anyone from Kensington Palace express any kind of frustration or negativity at the use of the term Kate Middleton to describe her in reports. I have heard lots of commentators moan about it, but I have never found a true insider who has a problem with it or thinks it’s a priority for it to change.

With that out of the way, let’s reflect on the substance. As the next Queen Consort, Kate is automatically a key player in the future of the monarchy. However, her background and character have elevated her significance and kept the royal family on a path that maintains its relevance and popularity in the 21st Century.

Humbleness and relatability are essential components for the monarchy today, but would undoubtedly have been much harder to achieve had William married an aristocrat with a sense of entitlement to a life of luxury (I’m not saying all aristocrats are like this, I’m saying he might have chosen one who was). The fact he chose a woman whose parents worked in ordinary jobs and who taught Kate to value relationships over material things has meant everything in how they have shaped their lives.

Kate’s upbringing also gave her a certain reverence for monarchy, which has been relevant. Undoubtedly nervous and keen to please, when she joined the institution she was eager to listen and learn. Much has been made of the fact that she didn’t really have a career of her own, but her unwavering commitment to building a life with William and everything that has involved has been of benefit to the monarchy.

The Princess has clearly grown in confidence throughout her time in the public eye, with her improvement in public speaking a clear example of this evolution. However, right from the beginning she displayed intuition for many aspects of the position; an ability to put people at ease; a natural understanding of how much to share about herself to be welcoming and relatable while maintaining some mystique; and a sincerity that has made countless people come away from an interaction feeling like she really cares.

I have said this in many interviews, but I have always felt that Kate had much in common with the late Queen. While there was an understandable, if somewhat relentless, desire to compare her to Diana, I never felt they were alike, and they certainly did not have similar relationships with their husbands.

Kate is much more emotionally reserved in public, much like Queen Elizabeth, and also much less impulsive than Diana. She has been able to survive and thrive within the confines of the royal system and the spotlight through tolerating its restrictions. An ability to compartmentalise and shut the door on her public life is, I think, key to this. So too is the capacity to perform within a team and leave control of certain areas to others. Both of these qualities were also displayed in Queen Elizabeth.

The Princess has, however, been assertive from the beginning when it comes to how she and William raise their children, perhaps bolstered by the way in which he so readily embraced the Middleton family unit. This influence has been pivotal in how the royal family is seen today, with images of them in jeans and toasting marshmallows or playing outdoors prominent in how they present themselves.

Finally, I think Kate’s influence when it comes to how she and William have shaped their charitable work, and will do so moving forward, should not be downplayed. We now know that it was her suggestion that the young royals should focus on mental health that paved the way for some of their most successful and important campaigns. Her repeated efforts to get through to the public on the importance of the Early Years, despite the restrictions of her position, have been commended by many in the field. They have also set the tone for a consistent, immersive and long-term approach that the Wales’s are adopting with their areas of interest.

In a modern democracy, monarchy can only survive if the public wants it to be there. Key to this is the popularity of the individuals based on how they conduct themselves and use their positions. And Kate’s approach to her royal life remains truly pivotal.

All The World’s a Stage

This week at home I’ve been thinking about the theatre.

I took my seven-year-old daughter to see Matilda at the weekend at the Cambridge Theatre. It was a treat because my husband was in Belfast with our older daughter and I spotted tickets for the well-timed 3pm Sunday matinée relatively last-minute.

One of the things I always have on my “do better at” list is going to the theatre more. We live in London and so really there is no excuse for not seeing the West End shows that people travel across the country and even the world for. But somehow other things so often get in the way.

However, on Sunday afternoon off we went on the underground to Leicester Square complete with a pre-bought packet of sweets (I love the theatre but not the confectionary prices). Matilda is already a well-loved musical in our household. Much to my husband’s despair, Matilda songs frequently accompany us on car journeys. My eldest daughter, who likes to sing constantly, has been known to recite “Naughty” on repeat in any location. The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the musical is truly ingenious, and I found myself feeling quite emotional to be lucky enough to be spending my Sunday afternoon introducing my seven-year-old to it.

Yet as I was reflecting later that night I realised that one of the reasons going to the theatre sparks something in me is not just about the shows themselves. It’s also the fact that they bring back the feelings of what I can only now describe as a past life.

I studied music and drama at university and even went as far as completing a musical theatre MA in London for a year and performing with a children’s theatre company immediately afterwards. For many reasons, most of them very good and very sensible, when I was about 23 I quickly swerved into journalism, a profession that suited me much better and that I discovered I was much better at.

Interestingly, I don’t really miss being in theatre performances and certainly don’t regret pivoting to being a reporter. In many ways, some of the elements of my current profession, such as the adrenaline from working on a breaking news story or doing a live television interview, actually spark similar feelings to being involved in a theatre performance. But what I can feel nostalgic for, and what comes back to me when I go to the West End, is that feeling of being at the start of my career; the feeling of youth and of endless possibility.

When I was 22 and careering around central London during my MA, working front of house on The Producers at the Drury Lane Theatre where I watched the show many nights in a row for months, most people I knew were in the same boat. We all lived in overpriced and under-furnished rooms in shared houses and most worked multiple jobs. We drank too much on the weekends (mercifully this was before smart phones) and then had loud, ranty exchanges with friends, friends of friends, and strangers and danced for as long as we were allowed into the early hours.

It was a time when we thought about our futures, but we were also very much in a bubble. The educational institutions that we were part of were like a protective coating that gave us an identity and a sense of purpose and belonging, masking whether or not we had found those things within ourselves in the wider world. For me, it was a time of great joy and great freedom.

The irony is, you might say, that at that time I was hoping to get to somewhere like where I am now. If someone had told my 22-year-old self where she would be at 40 I would not be disappointed. But I’ll always look back with nostalgia at those years in early adulthood when I did not know and could not have known. Because then it was all possible.