When Kate Middleton became the Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, the world was in awe of the beautiful princess who would one day be Queen Consort.
But in the last nine years, we have seen a shift in Duchess Catherine’s demeanor as she’s settled into royal life and adjusted to her duties. And it’s been so subtle, it took a global pandemic for us to recognise.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wave to the crowds on their wedding day.
(Getty)The coronavirus has seen many change the way they work, play and interact with people – and the same rule applies for the working royals like Duchess Catherine and Prince William.
Over the last few weeks, the Cambridge couple have spoken with their patronages, hospital workers and school children just to name a few via web chat to lend their support. But while Prince William used to be the one to take the lead, we’ve seen Duchess Catherine emerge more often and take charge of the conversations.
Duchess Catherine has been speaking out more over the last few months.
(Image: Instagram @kensingtonroyal)In a chat with The Sun, royal expert and editor of Majesty magazine Ingrid Seward remarked: “I think Kate has always worn the trousers. She runs the household allowing William to get on with his own thing.
“She may not have ever looked as confident as she does now, but that was because she didn’t want to overshadow her husband. He is quite happy to let her lead the Zoom calls as someone has to. Although they are very competitive, their marriage is not a competition.”
“She may not have ever looked as confident as she does now, but that was because she didn’t want to overshadow her husband.”
(Image: Instagram @kensingtonroyal)What’s more, Duchess Catherine has often been compared to her sister-in-law Duchess Meghan, whose assertive and authoritative attitude was a stark difference to the once timid Duchess of Cambridge.
Cast your minds back to the first engagement that the former Fab Four attended together in 2018. While the then-Meghan Markle spoke passionately of girls and women’s empowerment and how she wants to throw herself into charity work, Duchess Catherine sat quietly and listened on.
But now that Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have stepped away from the royal limelight, the royal mum-of-three is using her elevated profile and voice for social change.
WATCH BELOW: Meghan speaks about “hitting the ground running” with her charity work. Post continues after video…
“They feel almost wholly responsible as they are the only influential ones young enough to be out there at the moment apart from Sophie and Edward and The Princess Royal,” Ingrid said of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
“They have the highest profile and want to use it to the benefit of the monarchy which has to be seen as being a comfort to people at this time.”
This year alone, Duchess Catherine has been flying solo on many of her royal engagements whether that’s promoting her 5 Big Questions survey via video or chatting on a parenting podcast about how she struggled as a new mum.
As one half of the most popular working royal couple, we have a feeling we’ll be hearing much more from the Duchess of Cambridge in the future.
