Rumor has it that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is very good at performing royal duties. A likely story! No, I’m kidding, I’m sure the duchess is quite skilled at duchess-ing. Though it does feel like we’ve been hearing a whole lot of glowing praise for Catherine lately, doesn’t it?
Amanda Foreman, author of Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace, has told People that Kate has the same natural warmth as Queen Elizabeth while another insider adds that she always preps for royal outings. “[Kate is] able to make each person feel that they are being seen for the three seconds she talks to them,” Foreman said. “[This] projects immediacy and makes it feel intimate, which is amazing—there are people who simply can’t do that. It is training plus innate talent.”
People‘s unnamed insider told the mag, “Catherine always does her homework and doesn’t go on visits on a wing and a prayer. She has read the papers and puts in the effort. She is a hardworking person.”
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Another royal historian and author, Sarah Gristwood, told People, “It’s a personal willingness to conform to the requirements of the institution.” The Elizabeth: Queen and Crown author added, “That sounds like an unappealing, unglamorous virtue, but it’s an important one if you’re going to be a successful cog in the royal wheel.”
Not to be That Person, but it does seem as if there’s a bit of unspoken comparison to Meghan Markle going on here. Objectively, the Duchess of Sussex has not been willing to conform to every requirement of the institution—notably the Anglo-Saxon ones. Royal experts tend to castigate Meghan and Prince Harry for not following the rules, speaking out of turn, and widening the family rift. Kate Middleton, on the other hand, is basically never censured. Very, very curious, eh?
