The transition of Kate Middleton and Prince William to their public roles as the new Prince and Princess of Wales has been “seamless” — while they’ve stayed true to the causes and interests they’ve always held.
Author Katie Nicholl says the royal couple has “stepped up to the plate” despite the difficult circumstances of Queen Elizabeth’s death that led to those new roles.
Kate and Prince William, both 40, are only five weeks into this new royal era.
“William’s years of being mentored by his grandmother and his father have really paid off because the transition to Prince of Wales has been seamless,” says Nicholl, author of The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown. “Kate has also effortlessly moved into a role with so much weight and history and is already making it her own.”
Their first trip to Wales in their new roles came on the day after royal mourning ended, underlining the importance they and their staff have placed in both the roles and the respect they want to pay to the Welsh people.
“Making their first visit to Wales was a significant move, and we saw them very warmly welcomed,” Nicholl says. “He and Kate want to forge a close relationship with Wales and its people, and they put that into action immediately. I think that’s quite telling about who they are and the image of royalty they want to project.”
But their key interests — like Princess Kate’s work with families and children’s early years as well as William’s support for the homeless and his Earthshot Prize project — will continue too. On Thursday, they continued to support young people getting trained to be sports coaches.
Nicholl adds, “While they have both taken on new titles and more senior roles within the royal hierarchy, they have done so while staying very true to who they are and the causes they have championed. It’s no coincidence that one of Kate’s first engagements was to a maternity unit in Surrey, and as Princess of Wales, she’s going to bring even more attention to her Early Years foundation.”
