Trusted royal, Duchess of Cambridge, turns 40

by Danica Kirka | The Associated Press

London – At least Kate is.

The Duchess of Cambridge, who turned 40 on Sunday, has emerged as Britain’s trusted royal.

After Prince Harry and Meghan moved to California in 2020, Prince Philip’s death last year, and now sexual abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, former Kate Middleton remains in the public eye as a smiling mother of three, who What can comfort grieving parents is a children’s hospice or wow the nation by playing the piano during a televised Christmas concert.

Katie Nicholl, author of “Kate: The Future Queen,” said: “This is the woman who was the common woman to marry into the royal family and who didn’t get trapped, took no embarrassment.” “It hasn’t been an easy year, and yet somehow Kate seems like a beacon in all of this.”

At a time when the House of Windsor is facing more controversy than its share, Prince William’s wife has won praise for her commitment to early education, the arts and music. She supports the charity which is about her desire to be personally involved in their cause.

Olivia Marx-Woldman was touched by the care Kate cared for in photographs of Holocaust survivors Steven Frank and Yvonne Bernstein for an exhibition sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Before the shoot, the Duchess spent time learning the stories of her subjects and used the knowledge to create the photographs, said the trust’s CEO, Marks-Woldmann.

“It was a really involved, thoughtful partnership,” she recalled. “But even after those photos were taken, the Duchess supported the project and took an interest in Steven and Yvonne and sent them Christmas cards, invited them to a carol service at Westminster Abbey recently and just been amazing “

Tracy Rennie, deputy chief executive of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, has a similar account, when Kate visited one of the organization’s facilities in 2019. The Duchess agreed to speak with the parents and other relatives of a child who had recently died because they wished. To meet him, even though his pain was still raw.

“It was actually a really helpful conversation, laughing and joking together as a family before we left – you wouldn’t imagine being in such a difficult situation,” Renee said. “They felt absolutely honored that she took the time and were overwhelmed by the fact that she was a ‘normal person’ – their words, not mine. They felt she really cared.”

Kate is royal by choice, not by birth.

The daughter of a flight attendant and a flight dispatcher, Katherine Elizabeth Middleton was born on January 9, 1982, in Reading, England, and grew up with a younger sister, Pippa, and a younger brother, James.

Middleton, from an affluent area in Berkshire, west of London, moved to Jordan when Kate was 2 years old because of her father’s work. They returned to England in 1986, and Kate attended the exclusive Marlborough College, where she was active in sports including hockey, tennis, and netball.

At the University of St Andrews in Scotland, Kate first met Prince William, the late Princess Diana’s eldest son, and second in line to inherit the British throne after her father, Prince Charles.

First friends and then housemates with two other students, William and Kate were romantically linked around 2004, when they were pictured together on a skiing trip in Switzerland. Kate graduated in 2005 with a degree in art history and a budding relationship with Prince.

William complained about press intrusion, and Kate’s lawyers asked the newspaper editors to leave her alone. Nevertheless, the British media followed every turn in their relationship, including a brief split in 2007. William later admitted that the couple’s romance faltered for several months, adding that they were both young and trying to find their way back.

The tabloids dubbed her “Waitty Katie” for her patience during their courtship. The couple eventually married in 2011 at Westminster Abbey. they have three children.

During 11 years under the royal microscope, Kate has avoided criticism by adopting the royal adage “never complain, never explain”.

This was evident last year when Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, alleged in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that Kate made her cry during a disagreement over the dress of the flower girl for Meghan and Harry’s 2019 wedding. Kate and Mahal responded with silence.

Yet Kate still has the ability to surprise.

For a Christmas Eve carol concert at Westminster Abbey, she sat down at a piano and accompanied Scottish singer Tom Walker to sing “For Those Who Can’t Be Here,” a song inspired by loss and isolation during the pandemic.

While it was no secret that Kate studied instrumental, a previously recorded performance during a nationally televised concert was something new. Walker said he didn’t know what to expect when Mahal suggested the Duchess could join him in a performance of the new song at the event.

“It was essentially, for the Duchess, a huge gamble,” Walker told the AP. “It’s really jumping into the deep end and hoping you can swim. Because I’d have my own reservations about rocking a spot to play with someone else’s band on a song called I didn’t write and pulled it off with absolute grace. It’s not easy, so it must have been quite challenging.”

Biographer Nicole, who has watched Kate over the years, said the performance provides an insight into Kate’s character, describing her as courageous and self-confident – ​​a man who is aware of her strengths.