Not long ago, I was on vacation in Europe. At that time, a tall, slim figure in a bikini passed me. I was standing on a wooden flopoon and watching my daughter swimming in the sea. Only when the person sat down and talked to her husband and son and was playing underwater on a paddleboard, I realized that I was shocked to see the Duchess of Cambridge in a completely private, unsuspecting moment. I did.
I remember her talking to them with a soft voice, gently smiling and laughing. I wanted to stare, but something stopped and looked away. Only when a man in unobtrusive shorts and a T-shirt approached my husband lying nearby and asked him to put away the phone (he was reading an online article at the time, but his phone was them Did I notice the discreet security details around us (direction) that seemed to point in?
Like Diana in front of her, I think we know everything about Catherine, but unlike her mother-in-law who has the ring she wears, she’s behind her protective shield. Skillfully obfuscated a more natural and private self. Aside from her public face, how much do we really know about her 20 years later?
Over the years, I’ve heard stories about how disciplined Catherine is, but also about how unconfident she is. How often a close friend I talked to said something like “I made a mistake, I need to get it right” after she went out into public. Tell me if it’s in. The same friend told me how open she was and how scary she was after Harry and Megan interviewed Oprah last year. “The way she was drawn is so far away from who she is,” they add.
“She has a good understanding of what the royal family represents and what’s ahead, and she’s not obsessed with flippers,” says an old royal friend. Not being raised as an aristocrat is an advantage. But it’s her particular personality trait, which, combined with the obvious lack of natural silence and narcissism, and the quiet but growing self-confidence, makes her a much more interesting study. She deliberately made her look boring to survive. It’s smart.
Anyone who knows her emphasizes the importance of Carol and Michael Middleton in protecting Catherine and William. In 2011, I was asked to report live on CNN’s wedding. I did it partly out of curiosity: I wanted to see how the family navigated such an overwhelmingly public event. Their discretion and shy attitude, and their apparent well-being towards their children, spoke volume.
The family, including brothers Pippa and James, sits at the core of who Catherine is. Carol is the head of the Middleton company, although they are a tight bunch. It’s not always a brute force way to portray her. I’ve seen her at a party and she looks comfortable on her skin. She always smiles and chats on the dance floor while Michael hovering openly.
A friend talked about sitting next to Catherine’s father when he had a supper near Berkshire’s Buckleberry, where Middleton lives, and how impressed he was with his lack of air and elegance. rice field. The honesty he talked about how he and Carol grew their party supplies business. He talked about how they initially lived spartanly and had a hard time early on.
At the end of the night, she asked him what he thought was his greatest achievement. Middleton sat down on a chair. “My kids still want to come on vacation with me.” When he left, he turned to my friend and said, “I have to go home, Kate. Is coming to gather us, it’s her turn. ” It was 2 am and the future queen promised to pick up her parents.
Whenever she has had bad news in the past, Catherine’s friend tells her how to call her parents, “Oh, this happened, it’s not terrible …”. And while they are supportive, their advice is always the same. “Remember that you chose this life. I had a lot of time to think about joining my family before getting married. You need to be strong and learn to keep going.”
It tells a lot about how she grew up, she knows she doesn’t feel sorry for herself or turn everything into a pathetic parade-her counterpart, the Duchess of Sussex, is blamed. I am. She, in addition to her friends, initially endlessly endorsed Megan, constantly leap into her defenses, and got more than a stick to do so.
But the moment Catherine couldn’t lean on her parents formed her naturally protected temperament in the glare of the world. When she visited Thomas’s Battersea’s children’s school, she learned how to be friendly without giving too much to protect those who are on track, rather than trying to stand out. That’s why she prefers to arrange play dates outside Kensington Palace to reassure people.
I was told so too She is always worried that she will always look “too perfect”.. “She knows she isn’t and has the wisdom to understand how people are built and knocked down,” a friend tells me. This confirms the whisper I heard before the event that she was keen to soften her facial expression. Don’t look fashionable. “Sometimes I think she deliberately chose things so that they didn’t look good in public,” the insider told me. “Her personal style is much younger and more fashionable in her private life.”
She is also humble in her actions. One night when I had dinner in the countryside, I heard that the hostess said the housekeeper was ill. Catherine forgave herself from the table, and when she didn’t come back, the hostess went looking for her. She found her in the kitchen, put her hands in the sink, and rubbed the oven dishes.
But there is something else at the heart of the Duchess. It’s her marriage. Anyone who has seen a couple personally will tell you how tight they are. William is always keen to make sure she is happy. People who visit them will tell you how to hurry and ask, “Darling, can you have a drink … a glass of champagne” when she is working.
In these turbulent times for the royal family, the Duchess of Cambridge was an ointment not only for the country but also for the Queen. And as she gets bolder year by year, it’s certainly this notable, friendly woman who plays the most important role in ensuring its continued relevance.