Dispensing priceless pieces from the royal jewellery collections is another one of Her Majesty’s go-to gestures, such as permanently lending Kate the Bahrain pearl drop earrings, or the four-string Japanese pearl choker which the monarch herself used to regularly wear.
Prince William Duke and Kate Middleton travel in the Queen’s Bentley to the Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday. Picture: Richard Gillard/Australscope On Sunday, before the Cambridges’ noteworthy exit, it was Kate who had taken the sovereign’s usual place after the Queen pulled out less than two hours beforehand with a sprained back. With the distribution of the HRHs across the Commonwealth and Foreign Office balconies overlooking the Cenotaph likely having to be quickly rejigged, it was Kate who got to take the primo spot between Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex.
Sure, she might have been largely written off by Fleet Street and social media in her early days of HRH-dom, attracting a steady stream of criticism for her penchant for zipping off to Mustique on the reg, but now she enjoys buoyant public approval with a November YouGov poll finding 78 per cent of Brits having a positive view of her.
Kate at a discussion to mark the launch of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood's inaugural report, ‘Big Change Starts Small’. Picture: Richard Pohle / POOL / AFP In April, it was Kate who stepped in and played peacekeeper after Prince Philip’s funeral, drawing Princes William and Harry together in conversation and thus saving coverage of the sombre event from being wholly overtaken by stories of feuding brothers and bad blood.
She is the future Queen that is a big role.
After a decade, please 🙄🙄🙄