There’s absolutely nothing funnier than the quarterly promises to be keen from the Princess of Wales. The “promises to be keen” have been a longtime feature of royal reporting since Kate married William in 2011. Kate never exists in the present or makes concrete plans of action in real time. It’s always off in the distance, her future keenness will always happen somewhere along the line, eventually. Well, People Magazine has put Kate’s promises to be keen on their cover this week, alongside some more immediate promises to have a “summer of strength.” Wait until Kate saunters into the Wimbledon men’s final and then disappears for four months. Summer of strength, if “strength” means “vacations.” Some highlights from People:
Kate’s appearance at Trooping: “She projected the confidence of someone who has enthusiastically reconnected with her public duties,” royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue.
Kate’s challenging year: “She has not been able to have the privacy that a person who faces this kind of illness is normally afforded,” says a source close to the royal household. But with her public announcement in September that she was done with chemotherapy, followed by news in January that she’s in remission, this summer marks her first stretch of true respite.
Kate loves nature, haven’t you heard? “She gets so much sustenance in nature, and she’s lucky to have homes in some of the most beautiful parts of Britain: in Norfolk and on the Windsor estate,” says Queen Elizabeth’s former spokeswoman Ailsa Anderson. “She’ll be able to reenergize herself.” As Kate and William emerge from their most difficult chapter, the princess is carefully pacing herself. “She’s being sensible, listening to what her body is telling her and easing back into public life,” Anderson says.
Preparing for the transition: The shadow of King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, which aides now describe as a “managed” condition, means that Kate, William and their inner circle are preparing for an inevitable transition. “There are some major shifts coming behind the scenes,” a friend tells PEOPLE. With their future roles as King and Queen drawing closer, the couple are focused on building a trusted team of top advisers. “They are really finessing what works and what doesn’t,” the friend adds.
Kate is the only working royal with pulling power, LMAO: When it comes to her own support network, Kate has been relying on family and a small circle of trusted friends as she’s navigated cancer and then returned to duties. Her relatively limited public appearances — she has made far fewer than many of her royal counterparts — have only heightened the impact of each engagement. Says Charles’s biographer Catherine Mayer: “She was already the only working royal left with any special pulling power. Now her scarcity means that it has risen.” Mayer adds that this carefully measured presence, combined with an air of mystery, echoes the late Queen Elizabeth’s approach: “She is the one who generates excitement. For her, less is actually more.”
Reassessing: “They were able to step back and reassess their priorities in all aspects of their lives,” the friend says. During this time, Kate has found “sanctuary” in nature, she says. Chief Scout Dwayne Fields, who accompanied the princess on a spring outing in one of her family’s favorite spots, the Lake District, recalls, “She told me, ‘During my recovery, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors, because that’s where I felt at peace.’ She’s a wonderfully warm person and invites you into a conversation. That’s her superpower.”
Kate’s summer plans: As the school year winds down for George, Charlotte and Louis, the Wales family is looking ahead to a summer filled with restorative time together. “They have a quiet life out in Norfolk, with a lot of freedom to go to places like the beach, and no one bothers them,” says Bedell Smith. Plans may also include a trip to the idyllic Isles of Scilly or even a Caribbean getaway, as in the past. As always, they are expected to join the extended royal family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, a tradition Kate has embraced for decades.
Catherine Mayer said: “She was already the only working royal left with any special pulling power. Now her scarcity means that it has risen.” Let’s break that down, because I feel like that’s one of the major points of this cover story. It’s not just Kate’s keen promises for when she’s keen queen consort – this is about Kate’s people and the royal reporters reemphasizing that the whole thing falls apart without Kate. Kate is the ONLY one with pulling power, the ONLY one they want to talk about, the ONLY one who can disappear for months and no one says sh-t. Now, does the whole thing fall apart without Kate? Is Kate the only one with special pulling power? Not really. She’s just the most glamorous one of this frumpy, terrible group. As we saw last year, the whole thing only falls apart when the Windsors can’t prove that Kate is alive and unharmed. Once people saw that Kate was okay, that was over.
As for the “her scarcity means more people are paying attention to her scarce appearances” thing – that’s demonstrably false as well. Kate’s few events are barely one-day stories this year. The papers have largely stopped giving her multiple gold stars for gawping and jazz-handing her way through one event a month. There was very little buzz or excitement about her Trooping appearance this year, and that’s true of her other public events as well.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of People.
