The Princess of Wales has not been credibly seen in public for nearly five full months. Her last public appearance was Christmas Day 2023. I’m not counting that stupid Windsor Farm Store video because that was so clearly something deeply weird and fake. Arguably, Kate was seen in a car with her mother in early March, but that was far from a verifiable sighting. And I still have some unsettling questions about the March 22 cancer-announcement video, and once again, no one has verified anything about it. My point is that Kate is still missing in some sense, only the conversations about her disappearance have dried up since March 22. You would think that the British papers would be gently trying to find a way to reintroduce conversations about when we might see Kate in public. But they’re not. Instead, they’re running stories like “Kate is popular not just because she always looks perfect… but because she refuses to be a victim. She’s starting to eclipse the other Princess of Wales.” Refuses to be a victim??? The same woman who started rumors about her sister-in-law making her cry? From Liz Jones’s latest Mail column:
It was a startling statement, perhaps a rash one – reminiscent of John Lennon’s famous declaration that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Speaking on The Reaction, the Mail’s current affairs talk show, presenter and columnist Sarah Vine dared to utter the sacrilegiously unsayable: ‘I think the Princess of Wales is fast becoming as popular if not more popular than that other Princess of Wales.’
Yikes! As a long-time Diana devotee, I was instantly outraged. I’d always loved and admired Diana because she seemed, however perversely, to be humble – one of us despite the aristocratic birth right…. Diana was a lucrative if broken mirror to so many of our lives, meaning we clung to her – and still do. If a beautiful princess can be so desperately unhappy, then we all felt less alone, less to blame. But the world has moved on.
And the reason I believe that Catherine has now topped a recent YouGov poll of most popular Royals – surpassing even William and Charles – is that she personifies a more modern, self-assured ideal of womanhood. Catherine refuses to be a victim. She will not allow herself to be tossed on the choppy waters of whatever fate befalls her.
It’s notable that occupying third position in the YouGov rankings is Anne, the Princess Royal, another woman who refuses to whinge or whine or buckle under the weight of self-pity. Catherine is popular not just because she is never creased or caught wearing the wrong thing but because she is strong. Even when telling the world of her cancer diagnosis, there was no hint of Poor Me, no hysteria, no man at her side to prop her up. She knew that, had she broken down, we would have done the same.
Catherine possesses the quiet dignity of those like the late Queen Elizabeth who were fired in the kiln of wartime, a steely stoicism that seemed to skip a couple of generations. I can’t imagine Kate bleating about the menopause when her time comes. So, reluctantly, I agree with Sarah Vine. There is a dignity and strength in just getting on with life. Putting the needs of others first. Diana fulfilled a need: she opened the floodgates. Catherine’s role today is quietly and serenely to close them.
Imagine comparing Diana to Kate and arguing that Kate comes out ahead??? Diana was far from perfect, but she was a spark of life, fire, destruction and chaos. She loved to work, she was vivacious and mischievous and funny and cool. Kate is…none of those things. She’s not even some stoic figure with a can-do attitude. Kate seems an almost pitiful figure by nearly every description of her, from Harry’s Spare to all of the royal reporters desperate to embiggen her.
“Catherine refuses to be a victim. She will not allow herself to be tossed on the choppy waters of whatever fate befalls her…[she’s a] woman who refuses to whinge or whine or buckle under the weight of self-pity.” Kate threw a tantrum about “baby brain.” She lied about Meghan making her cry. She had concerns about Archie’s skin color. GMAFB.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instar.