First of all, this People Magazine cover is so bad, it’s actually quite funny. While I believe that the Duchess of Cambridge gets some Botox here and there, her forehead is never THIS smooth. Someone at People Mag went a little too crazy with the retouching. As for the headline… oh my lord. “Princess Kate: The Mom Who Will Be Queen” is so sugary and vapid, it’s driving me crazy. Do you *get* the branding? Let us bash you over the head with it! Kate is a Princess! Kate will be Queen! AND SHE’S A MOTHER. She’s just like you, homespun, with family values, but she’s also a princess who will be queen! (Meanwhile, Camilla, the actual future queen, seethes.) Anyway, in case you didn’t get all of the information you needed from the cover, allow PeopleMag to underline the Nu Branding. After more than eight years of marriage and 18 years with Prince William, Kate is “finding her voice.”
A week after settling daughter Princess Charlotte into school, Kate Middleton is cementing the most important public role of her own: future Queen.Multiple sources close to the couple tell PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that they have observed a growing confidence in Princess Kate, 37. While raising her own three children with husband Prince William, she has found passion and purpose in helping mothers and children everywhere. “She is finding her voice,” says a well-placed palace source.
Her commitment to learning about early childhood shined through in the many meetings — some three hours long — that she attended during the past year with a panel of experts. “The Duchess wouldn’t just join us, she would stay for the whole meeting,” says Kate Stanley, director of strategy at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a prominent child protection charity in the U.K. “She has a deep curiosity to really understand the issues.”
As a family friend tells PEOPLE, “She is now more open with what she wants to say, and funnily enough, she is more relaxed as well.”
“She is an adoring mother, and she is contributing publicly in the way we would want her to,” adds a source close to the royal household. “You see it more and more. The young student has turned into our future Queen.”
I suspect that People Mag’s editors did the same thing I did – saw that Kate made another speech this week and decided to build a story around it, because we all wanted to use the new photos of Kate repeatedly. Plus, none of this is breaking news – this has been Kate’s branding for the past two years. The “future queen” narrative was being pushed on the very same day that Prince Harry announced his engagement. As for Kate being more comfortable and confident in her public role… yes, she is. Truly. It took eight years of marriage and a new sister-in-law, but yes, she’s confident now.
Also: I find this quote shady – “she is contributing publicly in the way we would want her to…” Unlike the other duchess, who is contributing in the way people do NOT want?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
IA about the branding, which tends to gloss over how little she works in general but especially in regards to her patronages.
When was the last time she did anything for EACH? Or has she abandoned that to Rose Who?
@(TheOG)@Jan90067, you are 100% correct.
There are other heavy hitters involved with EACH besides the Cholmondeleys. However, we CBers would not recognize the names as they are just plain old garden variety British rich people who keep a low profile and write big checks for good causes in their communities.
Ed Sheerhan does quite a bit for EACH from what I understand. They call on him when the Duchess is “unavailable”.
Both the Marchioness of Cholmondeley and the Countess of of Leicester are listed on the EACH website as patrons. I take for granted that UK Patron = USA Director.
People love to hate on her, but she does look happier and more relaxed. Shrug.
It’s important that she feel relaxed. One of the main goals of a duchess.
For the record, I don’t hate her at all. Why would I or anyone hate her? I think she’s useless in a position where she could do so much good, and that’s wrong and so frustrating, but doesn’t elicit hatred.
I’m glad she’s happy and relaxed….
Yeah, maybe she’s “happier and more relaxed” because the media is no longer criticizing her and her husband for being lazy bastards. They can lounge as much as they want and the press will still go after Meghan. I suppose I’d be quite happy and relaxed too if I was her.
+1
@Jules, nobody enjoys hating on Cathy and Bill. Many people, myself included, blame any Cambridge problems on Bill Normal.
Dying at the “she stayed for the whole meeting” statement, lmaooo. Woww i think she deserves another months long vacation for working that hard y’all!
REALLY!! THREE WHOLE HOURS!!! WOW!! I hope they had someone to mop her brow! That’s hardcore! /s My eyes rolled so hard, they should almost be at the beach by now!
I’m not usually one to criticize her too much (mostly because I don’t really care) but that had me cracking up too. The whole meeting! Some as long as 3 hours! I don’t think they had any idea how tone deaf that sounds.
This is People Magazine and they write fan function for their subscriber base and ladies in the beauty salon sitting under hair dryers. I have never been to a USA beauty salon that did not have a subscription to People Magazine and InTouch.
And, the meetings were literally in her house. In.her.house.
I attend three hour meetings at least twice a week. It’s really not hard.
Seems to imply she didn’t used to, or that they didn’t expect her to. Interesting.
That’s exactly it. Staying for the whole damn meeting should be the norm not something special. So clearly she wasn’t doing this at some point.
Its like her engagements, it got to a point she’d turn up very late and then be in and out in 15/20 mins. Lets not forget the HuffPo guest ‘editing’ gig where the team were pitched at KP for the day and she turned up and spent about 30 mins with them for the photo op. She was then papped shopping down Kings Road a few hours later.
Yeah, she stayed the whole meeting. Okay…..
I posted a comment on the kensingtonroyal IG asking when we were going to see the children of broken Britain initiative as it was supposed to debut this year- I would love to see this and support it.
Got nothing but anger, not sure why, lol.
I don’ t like how the media, including this website, always make it seem like Meghan and Kate are competing against one another. That stuff is old and baseless.
Haha, Meghan will launch the capsule collection tomorrow. It reminds me of last year. KP via the DF wrote an article about Kate was working on a new project: the Broken Britain two days before Meghan’s cookbook project.
Cannot wait to see it!
First of all, Eugenie is Princess Eugenie. Kate is not Princess Kate. Second of all, she will be queen consort, not queen. Third of all, did Jason do this ish?
Jason isn’t their PR person anymore, its the Brexit guy – Christian Jones. Jason got promoted as CEO of the Royal Foundation.
A Brexit guy as PR, it’s perfect for racist Cambridges!
Maybe Kate is waiting to launch her Broken Britain initiative until Britain is broken by Brexit. Then she can put on her cape and come in to save the children (sarcasm).
Maybe this garden IS her broken Britain initiative.
Poor Jason left a legacy of ineptitude for the new guy to manage, and I’ll bet he’s still keenly involved in their overall strategic communications plan. Regarding “Broken Britain”, I think Katie is trying to tackle to the problem one plant at a time.
“one plant at a time” – dead. I’m going to laugh myself to sleep.
Technically, she could be called Princess William (like Princess Michael), but Princess Kate simply is not her title. It’s so ridiculous that People Mag is still clinging to this.
Katherine, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, The Princess William. (married into BRF)
HRH Princess Beatrice of York. (born into BRF)
HRH Anne, The Princess Royal. (Princess Royal by decree of QEII)
What does Princess Royal actually mean? Are there non-royal princess’s in that family? I’ve never understood that term. She’s royal from birth on.
@Lady D, In the BRF, the “Princess Royal” is the single highest ranking princess in the kingdom. There can only be one Princess Royal at any given time and the title is the personal gift of the sovereign to anybody the sovereign wants to give it too.
However, the title has usually, but not always, been granted/given to the eldest daughter of the monarch.
@TBT she’s not quite “The Princess William” yet, the “The” modifier gets placed when Charles becomes King. It’s reserved for children of the monarch.
Until then she’s just Catherine, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, Princess William.
There are so many variations of her titles, but Kate’s correct title is actually styled HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. If William hadn’t gotten his title of Duke of Cambridge, she’d be HRH Princess William of Wales. The first name becomes part of the title if you’re divorced i.e. Diana, Princess of Wales after her divorce from Charles. During her marriage, Diana’s legal title was The Princess of Wales, no Princess Diana since she wasn’t a blood princess but gained the title through marriage. And Sarah Ferguson is now titled Sarah, Duchess of York since her divorce from the Pedo Prince.
Thanks, BTB. I should have asked years sooner.
Why does Sarah get to keep her title after her divorce? If she’s no longer married to the D of Y, shouldn’t she have lost the title?
Lady D, since I’m on a roll, I’ll jump in to answer your question. In the divorce settlement, Sarah lost her title of HRH The Duchess of York and is now styled Sarah, Duchess of York. It’s a variation of the title, but not the official royal one. Same as with Diana, Princess of Wales after her divorce. Both retained a version of the title, almost as a surname, but no HRH and no qualifying “The.” If Andrew ever remarried and has a new Duchess of York, Sarah wouldn’t have her post-divorce title anymore.
@Feeshalori sorry to respond late, but tiny correction: if Andrew were to remarry and give us a new Duchess of York, Sarah would still be “Sarah, Duchess of York”. She would not lose her post-divorce courtesy title. She would only lose it if she herself got re-married.
There might be confusion between the two duchesses, and the press for example in their coverage would have to carefully note whom they were discussing. A few non-royal Dukes in recent years ran through several marriages during their lifetime (thinking of Sunny Marlborough for ex) and there was always confusion when you saw mention of “Duchess of Marlborough” as to which wife was being referred to.
Well, I guess the article was just trying to be casual, and as Americans, we take the title thing only so far. So, it’s okay to refer to them casually: Eugenie can be Eugenie, Kate can be Kate, Meghan can be Meghan, etc., and Queen Consort is a bit of a mouthful, so just Queen Camilla will do just fine.
These people are not gods after all.
I agree with that in general (like I don’t go around correcting people on social media who insist she was Princess Diana, when that was always incorrect), but unless they are using Princess Meghan, which I don’t “think” People mag does, then they should just say Kate or the duchess or whatever. (I could be wrong about how they refer to Meghan though.)
Himmiefan, I’m as American as you but always had an interest in titles and their correct usage. But People always had that fawning Princess Kate misuse going on, most likely because they’re playing to the Americans who adore the royals, when even Diana was the first to correct reporters that she wasn’t Princess Diana but The Princess of Wales.
Who knew all you needed to be queen material was visit the gardening section of Home Depot?
The embiggening of DS9 begins at 7pm tonight!
No amount of sugar-coated whitewash can make me see the British monarchy as anything other than:
A). A cesspool of trash that capes for Pedo Andy;
and
B). racist and so tone deaf that they don’t even realize the outrage their behavior engenders.
I don’t care if she’s queen. I don’t care about the she’s-a-mom story. I don’t care. I care that Pedo Andy thought it was a great, clever stroke of luck that Epstein died and I care that the palace and the press won’t let up on a woman of color who joined their family.
And if I were British, I would sure as he// care that my money supported them.
Felicity is wearing a lot of makeup in that picture. I guess she gave up on courtroom grey. She’s in court Friday for sentencing.
I thought the she is contributing was a dig as if she’s *finally* doing what she’s supposed to but maybe it’s a dig at meg
Meghan will launch her capsule collection tomorrow. It’s a big deal. I think KP wants to remind us that Kate is important.
Every year in September there is the usual PR Kate article. Last year we had the broken Britain and that Vanity Fair article who said that 2019 will be the Kate year (I would said that at the end it was Meghan’s year LOL) and this year we have the “mom who will be Queen one day” LMAO
Did People airbrush away the black eye liner on the bottom of her eyes as well?
The 14th is the year anniversary of Rebecca English’s article announcing Kate’s solo charity campaign to help disadvantaged children failed by Broken Britain. I wonder if we’ll get an annual update heading into the Sussex royal tour.
Meghan’s Smart Works starts tomorrow and KP knows it will get a ton of press especially in the US. I bet the US Open appearance scared KP – Meghan on the Jumbotrom getting a ton of applause. Throw in Ellen talking about Archie on her show. The Cambridges don’t have big name surrogates that have bigger microphones than their minions in the British press.
Yep. The popularity of the Sussexes scares them.
Hmmm. What anti-Meghan story will also come out tomorrow?
*checks calendar*
It’s September.
*checks royal calendar*
Meghan’s capsule collection launches this week.
Yup, this all looks about right.
😂
So very true. I wonder what will get more traction with the plebs, the clothing line that ACTUALLY is helping people or the garden that you have to pay an entry fee to see (am still not sure WHEN its supposed to be going to the hospital so patients etc.. can make use of it – is that still the case?). Who is benefitting from the door money for her garden?
Hahahaha.. So true. Glad to see her happier and more relaxed but the timing of this is so suss. I find it hilarious how low the bar remains for her. So very, very low.
Only semi-on-topic: Did anyone see The Duchess of York’s twitter today? Did she get a facelift?
Just checked. She does seem to have had some work done.
Ah yes, the typical “don’t forget about meee!” Cambridge PR piece that happens whenever Meghan or Harry has a big engagement coming up. Right on schedule!
What about Camilla? Where is her aggressive future queen PR?
Is the American People sold in the UK?
Camilla perfectly understands the old adage, “all good things come to those that wait”.
I find it interesting that all these publications tend to forget that Camilla will be Queen Consort before Kate and frankly, William might not ascend the throne for another 20-30 years given the longevity of the Windsors. Instead People and others like it make it sound like William is being crowned tomorrow.
I can’t see Camilla seething. She knows she’ll be Queen and probably plans to sit on the throne in her tiara and have a martini.
I’d love for Cams doing a pub crawl the day before the coronation 🙂
Oh, that would be so great!
Camilla visited a distillery today and seemed to have a blast lol
You know what I really love about the Cambridges? It’s that subtle deft hand with which they gently nudge their PR… 🤦🏻♀️ poor Jason needs desperately to learn a bit of restraint. This feels like PR by a 4 year old.
Kate is the queen England deserves. The english white rose that has no cause. Camilla has many great causes but no one cares. Kate has none of just cutesy ones. No voice at all. Meanwhile other European women royal queens or princess work for causes all over the world. Thumbs up England. Brexit a hot mess, protecting a prince that has been seen hanging around a sex trafficker and a future king and consort that does the bare minimum. 👍
Perfectly said, and agree.
Assuming the monarchy does remain, I do wonder how their reign will be? Charity stuff aside, some of the political stuff happening right now in Britain would scare the heck out of me. If William was in the position of the Queen right now and Boris Johnson came to him asking him to prorogue government, would he do it?
It’s off-putting to me that women are pigeon-holed into “motherhood” and “children” as the be-all, end-all of their existence, generally — and the only real reason to praise Kate, specifically. Would any MAN be given praise for doing nothing with his life except fathering children and playing with them? Wait, let me clarify that because we’re talking about public figures here — would any MAN LIVING OFF PUBLIC FUNDS be praised for doing nothing else except fathering children? Yet we accept that’s all Kate is good for, which is (1) insulting to her if she ever realized it, and (2) insulting to women everywhere. I thought society moved beyond this, but I guess the British royal family is an example that we really haven’t. Kate is praised for being decorative and motherly, which is all a woman should be.
“MAN LIVING OFF PUBLIC FUNDS be praised for doing nothing else except fathering children?”
Example 1.) Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Example 2.) Prince Albert, Prince Consort
Both of the above had problems with the role of Prince Consort and the UK public in general.
Were Philip and Albert really praised for being fathers, and nothing else? That they reached the epitome of prince consort because of their fatherhood alone? Also, how old is Philip? I think he was born before women could vote on equal terms with men. My point is Kate (and all women) should not be judged on antiquated standards.
Yeah, I doubt there was ever a headline about “the dad who will be prince consort!!!” regarding Philip or Albert, and I doubt there has been one today about Daniel, who will be Victoria’s consort.
Somehow or other I see it as a deliberate ‘lessening’ of women. I see it in headlines a lot. 104-year-old grandmother thwarts thief, mom of five wins lottery, and so on. Do we ever see the reverse?
@Mrs K, People magazine are running SM poll about whats the most important rule for a future queen: 1)Be humble&discreet 2)Know your causes 3) Have a consistent style 4) Be a supportive spouse
This old pr approach is so tired. Why cant they see how weak and insecure they make the Cambridges look if they have to remind the public that they are heirs to the throne?Everybody knows that. And yes it is obvious that Meghan’s confident speechmaking has pushed Kate to improve. What is bad about that? It’s’ good for the monarchy. They should just be proud,even give credit to the tips and example taken from your new sister in law. They act so scared; that’s a bad look.
She’s being praised for attending entire meetings at an age when Diana was campaigning against land mines. She and her husband have allowed their entire public identities to become defined by their future status.
So true!
This old pr approach is so tired. Why cant they see how weak and insecure they make the Cambridges look if they have to remind the public that they are heirs to the throne?Everybody knows that. And yes it is obvious that Meghan’s confident speechmaking has pushed Kate to improve. What is bad about that? It’s good for the monarchy. They should just be proud, even give crefit to the tips and example taken ftom your new sister in law. They act so scared & that’s a bad look.
This just proves, inconclusively that there is no oneupmanship going on with the Cambridges in regards to the Sussexes. Nope nothing to see here at all. KP must have the fail and People on speed dial 🙄
Kate attended a 3 hour meeting?! Wow! I wonder who will play her in the movie?
Now that’s a movie I’d walk out of.
Ha! Coming to soon to theaters–Keen and Bored’s Excellent Adventures.
Kate’s cover photo here looks like they photoshopped the face out of a picture of the Paul Emsley portrait of her. 😆
Warmup post. #Smartworks 9/12/19.