The public narrative of Kate Middleton has shifted drastically, a few times, since she became a fixture of the Royal Family over a decade ago. Right now, rumors of Prince William’s alleged affair, paint her as a tragic figure, doomed to suffer the same fate as Royal women before her. But Kate’s story arc keeps changing. Before this, the focus was on casting her as the traditionalist heroine at odds with Meghan Markle. Before that, she was Waity Katie, cast as “workshy,” a social climber desperate to be royal. Meghan’s absence from Royal proceedings has created a need for new conflicts around Kate – so is this why we’re seeing nonstop coverage of her supposed marital troubles and suffering? Here’s our take on Catherine, Princess of Wales, and how she’s reinventing herself, or being reinvented, as she gets closer to being the Queen.
TRANSCRIPT
These days Kate Middleton seems to be constantly plagued by rumors and scandalous news stories - so who’s really behind it all?
The public narrative of Kate Middleton has shifted drastically, a few times, since she became a fixture of the Royal Family over a decade ago. Right now, rumors of Prince William’s alleged affair with Rose Hanbury, and even more spurious — though likely fake — ones of her leaving her husband, paint her as a tragic figure, doomed to suffer the same fate as Royal women before her.
But Kate’s story arc keeps changing. Before this, the focus was on casting her as the traditionalist heroine at odds with Meghan Markle, as both women were taken up as culture war symbols. Before that, she was Waity Katie, cast as “workshy,” a social climber desperate to be royal. Today, as Meghan’s popularity has begun to wane more generally, Kate’s has risen more broadly. And Meghan’s absence from Royal proceedings has created a need for new conflicts around Kate – so is this why we’re seeing nonstop coverage of her supposed marital troubles and suffering? Actually, there’s also a deeper reason for this new portrait. Here’s our take on Kate Middleton — or should we say, Catherine, Princess of Wales — and how she’s reinventing herself, or being reinvented, as she gets closer to being the Queen.
Behind Palace Doors
A lot of what we think we know about the Royals comes not from fact but from rumor and speculation. It’s these rumors that seem to have started the recent shift in how Kate is being seen.
The idea that Will and Kate are miserable together was a central joke in the animated satire series The Prince. But as much as it may feel like people are making up this drama for their own amusement, royal expert Tom Quinn’s recent book Gilded Youth: An Intimate History Of Growing Up in the Royal Family has leant further credibility at least to the tone of some of these rumors. His revelations that she and William have screaming arguments where they throw things at each, and that William would sometimes refer to Kate as the ‘Duchess of Doolittle’ paint a picture of a marriage that isn’t really all that happy. Even though Quinn doesn’t confirm William’s alleged affair with Rose Hanbury — or the rumor that Kate objected to his continued friendship with supposed first love Jecca Craig — the picture Quinn paints allows people to put two and two together.
Still, could all this be somehow good for Kate’s image? It seems to position her as the latest in a long line of long suffering Royal women, who’ve ultimately drawn mass interest and sympathy from the people. Queen Elizabeth had to contend with rumors of Prince Philip’s infidelity, and of course, there’s the more recent history of Princess Diana too. In fact, another recent book by Royal observer Katie Nicholl cemented this link by suggesting that King Charles was initially “irritated” by Kate, because she took up too much of the spotlight – which sounds pretty familiar to anyone who recalls Charles and Diana’s dynamic. Similarly, there are new rumours of a rivalry of sorts between Kate and the new Queen Consort, Camilla Parker Bowles. Again, all of this seems pretty tenuous, if not completely unfounded, but it’s telling that the narrative is decidedly in Kate’s favour. No longer is she the middle class upstart trying to push her way into the family. Instead, it’s Camilla who’s being painted as cruel and demanding, and Kate as stoic and cool-headed.
It makes sense how, in the absence of hard facts about what’s going on behind palace gates, narratives must be created to keep people interested. But it’s interesting that Kate’s narrative always seems to shift in relation to what’s happening around her — in particular, what’s happening with her main antagonist, the one who’s withdrawn from the Royal spotlight.
As Meghan Falls, Kate Rises
So much of Kate’s reputation in recent years has hinged on her perceived rivalry with Meghan Markle. They have always been depicted as polar opposites, Meghan as the “extrovert” and Kate as “shy” as one insider put it. But their respective popularity has depended on what people have wanted from the Royal Family over the years.
Initially, Meghan seemed more popular with the press and a lot of the public. She was exciting, a breath of fresh air who had even criticized the “pomp” of William and Kate’s wedding in a now-deleted blog prior to her meeting Harry. She was independent, a feminist, a woman of color. And importantly, she was seen as a sign that the Royal family was modernizing, becoming more representative of what 21st century Britain actually was.
But over time Meghan’s newness and challenges to tradition became problems for an institution and its supporters who are primarily interested in preserving tradition. The narrative was now that it was Meghan who was making Kate cry over a bridesmaids dress. The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey painted a picture of a woman completely unsuited to Royal protocol, and contrasts this with Kate feeling more at ease with what’s expected when you finally do become a bona-fide Royal. This continued post Megxit, when the rumours were that Kate was furious at having been left with all of the royal duties Meghan should have been undertaking. We’ve spoken before about how Kate’s been more willing to play the Royal game than Meghan, and it seemed as if once the novelty of Meghan began to wore off, the fact she wasn’t playing the game — or couldn’t — and Kate could began to count against her.
Briefly, after the infamous Oprah interview, Meghan spun things in the other direction with her openness about how vulnerable she was made to feel within the family, and the impact on her mental health. Not only did she address the story about her making Kate cry, she also voiced wider revelations casting the family as old fashioned and worse. But Kate’s popularity again rebounded after Harry’s and Meghan’s move to LA and their perceived overexposure, and with the death of Queen Elizabeth, which signals a new phase in Royal history — and importantly, a new title for Kate.
From Kate…To Catherine
While Meghan may have once been praised for her vulnerability, now she’s more often accused of playing the victim. Meanwhile, the rumors that have encircled Kate have repositioned her as vulnerable. But what she’s been praised for isn’t so much her openness as her diplomacy, poise and calmness. Perhaps that signals what people are really expecting of her, now she’s within sight of becoming Queen, and she’s ascended in her title.
Technically speaking, Kate Middleton has been Catherine for a long time, even reportedly asking friends to drop her nickname when she was first dating William, as she prepared for her future role. However, it’s only recently that this shift has begun to take root in the eyes of the public. Since Queen Elizabeth’s death, Google searches of Catherine, Princess of Wales have outstripped those for Kate Middleton for the first time.
With that title comes expectations, and we can again see how the public are responding to those expectations in how the tide between Catherine and Meghan has shifted. Catherine has been branded the “royal peacekeeper”, reportedly taking secret meetings with Camilla in order to ease tension between Charles and William, as well as trying to repair the relationship between Harry and William.
It’s also telling that Catherine has embraced the conversation around mental health that, arguably, was started by Meghan. But rather than talking openly about her own mental health, she’s again tried to position herself as more of an advocate or leader in the field. Her #ShapingUs series has interviewed others about their journeys, and tried more to spread awareness, again being cognisant about what her role is
All of this comes down to legitimacy. The name Kate Middleton stuck around because of her prior reputation as a “commoner” — albeit an incredibly wealthy one. But now, she’s done her time, weathered storms, proved she can handle it, and has been granted the legitimacy that she’s always wanted.
Outro
When Queen Elizabeth died, people praised her constant, grounded, maternal presence over decades of social and political upheaval. There was a sense that while the world may have been changing, she was always there, keeping a steady course. Right now, Britain and the greater world are experiencing great anxiety and uncertainty.
So what do people look for? Stability, assurance, composure – those qualities that they felt the Queen embodied. It’s these qualities they are now seeing in Catherine, and that she is embracing. She is the future Queen — and people are already looking at her that way.
SOURCES
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Johnson, Tyler. “Kate Middleton, Prince William Still Having “Terrible” Fights About Harry’s Memoir, Source Claims.” The Hollywood Gossip, 29 Mar. 2023
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Proudfoot, Jenny. “Kate Middleton’s friends were reportedly taken aback by her email announcing her name change.” Marie Claire, 17 Feb. 2023 https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/royal-news/kate-middleton-name-change-665759
Kearney, Georgia. “Kate or Catherine? How the name of Princess of Wales changed after the Queen’s death.” 7News, 24 Sep. 2022 https://7news.com.au/entertainment/royal-family/kate-or-catherine-how-the-name-of-princess-of-wales-changed-after-the-queens-death-c-8332317
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