Perhaps the first is his role in trying to dismantle a “stiff upper lip” culture within the monarchy. While it would certainly be incorrect to describe Kate as an open book, it was the Duchess who came up with the idea for Heads Together: “It was Catherine who first realized that the three of us were working on mental health. in our focus areas, ”Prince William said in a World Mental Health Day speech about the foundation, then headed by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as Prince Harry. “She had seen that at the heart of adult issues like drug addiction and family breakdown, unresolved childhood mental health issues were often part of the problem.” While the royals have certainly tackled stigmatized topics in the past – Princess Diana’s work on AIDS, for example – mental health wasn’t really one of them. Their advocacy worked: In 2018, two years after the launch, the ONS found the UK male suicide rate to be 15.5 per 100,000 men, its lowest point since 1981.

And then there’s her, well, normality. Unlike most former royal husbands, the Duchess came from a non-aristocratic background. While it sparked cruel comments during her courting with Prince William – his family were publicly referred to as the ‘Middle Class Middletons’ – it has become one of his greatest assets, because it means people can identify with it. She brings Zara to official engagements. It is spotted in school collections and grocery stores. She takes photos of her children on their birthdays wearing soccer jerseys and camouflage t-shirts, then shares them with their millions of followers. She didn’t stop doing regular things when she became royal – she remained, in a way, seemingly like us. “The Duchess brings this pragmatic awareness of what it’s like to be from a decent, down-to-earth family,” the couple’s former private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton said. People.

Republicanism is on the rise, with many questioning the role of the monarchy in the 21st century. (Barbados, for example, recently impeached the Queen as head of state, although she is still part of the British Commonwealth.) Those born there can, of course, try to be anchored. But the reality is that they are blessed with crowns and castles by the birthright alone. Kate serves as a foil to the often disconnected fantasy and may very well help the Monarchy stay alive through modern times. (It should be noted that her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, would have been a similar asset to the Royal Family, but she stepped down as a senior royal with Prince Harry in 2020.) Notably, the couple have recently changed their Instagram runs from the rather archaic sounding ‘Kensington Palace’ to the more direct ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’.

Getting married and staying in the British monarchy, at the end of the day, is no easy feat. Princess Diana and the Duchess of York have divorced their husbands. The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry have decided to leave. Yet Kate continues. On Christmas Eve, the couple shared a clip of the Duchess playing the piano alongside musician Tom Walker during a singing service that aired on ITV. Eleven million people have looked at Instagram alone. It turns out that she had been quietly practicing the instrument for months, a symbol, it seems, of her approach to her royal role.

Voguethe favorites of