It’s interesting that those who didn’t know Kate Middleton thought she was work-shy and lazy, just hanging around Prince William for those hazy days under the sun on holiday in Mustique. When she was dating William, people didn’t know who Kate was or what she was like, including Queen Elizabeth.
It is fascinating how Katherine has won over the royals with her work ethic and attention to detail, but she worried some when Kate was still a Middleton. She understood the need to work around William’s schedule, and he was devoted to his military training after university. Catherine tried to have a career, but honestly, her career was William in a way. She had to be available when he had time, and Prince William had a crazy schedule.
Catherine ended up working for Party Pieces, and we now know Catherine has a talent for art and photography. She is a gifted artist as well, though I doubt most people know this. The Middletons and William knew, so she worked for her parents and dated William. The Queen was worried that Catherine wouldn’t be up to a senior-level royal workload, and it took several years of marriage before the Queen realized Catherine had a disciplined approach to her work, her parenting, and her marriage.
Catherine doesn’t want to throw her name to patronage; she wants to study them and how they operate and what they need to work better. The Cambridges are the ones who modernized the monarchy most recently by saying they want to interact and have a relationship with their patronages and charities, so they’re going to scale back on how many they will support. This is new. The old way was to show up and speak and smile. The detailed approach where many behind-the-scenes meetings take place came from Catherine and now, William.
I’d say Catherine is strong. She’s a first-born child, as is William, so they both have ambition and the drive to succeed; which was proven by them attending an illustrious university and flourishing there. William had a real career as an air ambulance helicopter pilot. Flying a helicopter is more difficult than flying a plane, which was news to me. William had a lifetime of cutting ribbons ahead of him, so I think he wanted to be a regular guy with a job to do.
Catherine stayed at home in the country while her husband did this, and then she had a tough pregnancy and Prince George was born. The fact that Kate was so ill throughout each pregnancy and still chose to do it three times speaks to the strength she possesses. Many women would have decided to give the monarchy an heir and the spare and said “enough”. Catherine loves children so much that she went through the gravidarum hyperemesis three times. I think she would have gone through it a fourth time if they had the time to fit another baby into their schedule.
But the death of Prince Philip changed so much. It made the monarchy and the people of the United Kingdom realize the reign of Queen Elizabeth will come to an end too. And the Queen has decided to slow down now that she is ninety-five and a widow. Prince Charles and William are gradually moving into their next roles within the monarchy, and their wives are stepping up alongside them.
I’d have to say there is a flaw in Catherine’s character, and we all have them, is she seems like a perfectionist. It’s a real thing! Look at how flawless turned out she is, even to the point of wearing a hairnet at times, so her hair doesn’t have any errant strays sticking out anywhere. Catherine wants to look good in photographs, so she diligently exercises (which she has been doing) and she slimmed down from her slender frame while dating William to being thin once they became engaged.
Catherine does not like having the spotlight on her, so being married to Prince William made her do things she wouldn’t seek out on her own. She has to speak in front of groups, but when Catherine focuses on others or talks about children; she seems to forget her natural hesitance. But I wonder if people say she’s an introvert because Catherine looks like she enjoys being out and about. Maybe she really would enjoy a night in with Netflix and a glass of wine, but when it’s time to dress up Kate looks like she really enjoys meeting people.
I do think Kate would love to be at home with her children full time, but she has to be a working mom. Work means living in London, and I think Catherine likes country life; but again, I don’t think these are flaws. She wants to make her husband look good (which is remarkable), and Catherine had enough time to see all the Queen and Prince Philip were doing. She knows the workload only increases, and with a slimmed-down monarchy, it will be interesting to see how the monarch changes things. The change will happen, even if Charles doesn’t have decades of being king.
Maybe the changes will benefit the family-loving Catherine. But I don’t believe she’s lazy at all. In fact, I’d say her calm and steady demeanour belies an ambitious mind and a desire to make a difference in the world.
I’ll finish with this: Prince Philip once noted how the Queen didn’t look for the cameras, since her job as a royal wasn’t about being popular or looking good for the cameras. He noted that Diana did search for them, but a good sign was the way Catherine didn’t look for them. Philip was saying Catherine is more like the Queen, which is a good thing since she’ll be married to a king one day
